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Well that’s the 2019 Roadtrip done and dusted. We travelled 14526 kilometres and paid out $3281 for fuel. The most expensive fuel was at the Nullarbor Roadhouse at $2.09 per litre – I must remember that next time. We were able to visit some beautiful places in the west – Broome, the Pilbara, the Pinnacles and much more. We missed out on getting to see the old historic ghost towns and gold mines around Cue and Meekatharra but we intend to catch up on them next year. A big thanks to Bob and Deb Williams for their company and good humour, makes a world of difference having great travelling companions. So until next year, happy travels

Resting at Echuca

We treated ourselves to breakfast at a cafe in Swan Hill before heading down to Echuca. Only a short drive under sunny skies to reach Sharon and Paul’s around ten-thirty just in time for a cuppa. We’ll stay here for a couple of nights enjoying their hospitality before heading home on Thursday. So far we’ve clocked up just over fourteen thousand one hundred kilometres and made heaps of new memories.

Swan Hill by the Murray

Finally back in Victoria after travelling from Morgan today. Weather sunny and cool with a frost forecast for tonight. We called into the Renmark Patisserie to have a vanilla slice in honour of our old mate Bob Bentley- it bought back memories of the “finger dance” as Bob consumed his vanilla slice without getting sticky fingers. On to Swan Hill Riverside Caravan Park for a long hot shower and change into clean clothes, the pub beckons for dinner tonight. We’ve travelled just over fourteen thousand kilometres in our travels to date with Echuca our next stop tomorrow night before heading home Wednesday or Thursday.

Reached Morgan SA

We put in some big days crossing the Nullarbor – 2100 kilometres in 3days. We have now reached Morgan, South Australia. It’s the first day that we haven’t had any wind, it was really quite bad crossing the Nullarbor. It was especially dangerous when confronted with Road Trains travelling the other way as they would suck you towards them and then spit you out the other side. Needless to say we are pleased to be rid of both the road trains and the wind. We decided to stop at a Caravan Park tonight as we have been free camping for a few nights now and are starting to miss the home comforts of an undercover toilet and showers 😃. We are transporting Bob’s precious fish (and his Kranski Sausage) home in our freezer so luckily we can report that we have had no freezer issues (but the fish has been tempting). Now we can sit back and listen to our music through our recently acquired JBL Bluetooth Speaker. Swan Hill tomorrow then Echuca on Tuesday

Back on the Road

After spending three nights in Mount Magnet, we decided it was time to leave Bob and Deb and start heading back across the Nullarbor. Turtle is being shipped back to Mirboo North and the Williams will fly out of Mount Magnet to Perth and then to Melbourne tomorrow. We had the”Big Breakfast” at Molly’s Cafe as our last supper, then we headed down the highway to Kambalda West some 725 kms away. A solid days driving but we set up camp around quarter past four so we were happy with our effort.

Endangered Turtle

We had a bit of a sleep in as we knew the tow truck wasn’t coming until mid morning. It duly arrived at nine o’clock and Turtle was unceremoniously loaded onto the flatbed truck for the trip back to Mount Magnet. The mechanic confirmed what we thought and advised that the gearbox was knackered and a replacement gearbox was unobtainable at the moment. A lot of chasing around by Adam back home at Mirboo North resulted in a gearbox being located but unfortunately its on the East Coast so it looks like Turtle will have to be shipped back home. More on that tomorrow

Turtle going for a ride on the tow truck.

On Toward Mt Magnet

After travelling over ten thousand kilometres so far on this trip, trouble struck with the Turtle running out of gearbox oil and, as a result, all sorts of sounds emanating from the vehicle. We made it to Kirkalokka Rest Stop where Debbie was able to contact RACV Total Care and arrange for a tow truck to collect turtle in the morning to go into Mount Magnet. Our fire lightened the mood but it was still a relatively early night

On to the Pinnacles

From Kalbarri we travelled well south to the Pinnacles National Park where we were able to travel around the Pinnacles Loop in our vehicles and get some great photos and footage of the area. Really a lot better than our previous visit. We travelled out of town to stay at the Banksia Reserve in the Badgingarra National Park.

The oddly surreal Pinnacles

Kalbarri National Park

Our wedding anniversary today and we celebrated by taking the Williams to see Nature’s Window at Kalbarri – they were suitably impressed. Then we went into Kalbarri to have a coffee before heading into the Anchorage Caravan Park where we had the last two sites available (for emergencies only) Another cold night with no fire so early to bed.

Nature’s Window, Kalbarri National Park, WA

Monkey Mia Must Do

Up early to go out to Monkey Mia for the wild dolphin feeding. It was packed, around 200 hundred people crowded around to watch the show. We then returned to Denham for breakfast, refuelled in preparation for our trip down to Kalbarri NP tomorrow and headed back to camp to check over our vehicles. We’ve done just over 9000 kms and spent around $2000 on fuel so we’ve been moving fairly steadily. The temperatures are more moderate now, cool nights and low twenties during the day. I think we’re ready to hit the road again.