2012 Around Australia: Day 88 - 90 11th May

Day 88 Friday 11^th May 2012

Out of Walkers Rock by 8.30AM. The ocean wasn’t as “noisy” last night as the previous night so managed to get some sleep.

Vania and I decided that we would take yet another detour. We decided to head inland again towards the Gawler Ranges NP (National Park). We headed towards Wudinna which is a good starting point for the NP. Arrived about 10.45AM and decided to go to the local Information Centre to find out the campsites with facilities, conditions of dirt roads, attractions in the area, etc., etc…. Well what can I say; I would have been three times better off using Google. The lady in the information centre was very non informative and additionally she really did not know her details that well. When questioned about the roads into and around the NP she was as vague as, hmm cannot remember what! Seriously she said that we could take our van all around the roads within the NP. We decided to go to a place (campsite) called the “shearing shed”. This was at the end of the supposedly “2 wheel drive road”. Well those bloody corrugations are determined to shake the daylights out of Vania, myself, WDU564 and the van. I have finally found out what I “hate” in life; Yep, corrugations.

Before we went to the shearing shed we decided to call in on Mr. Ranger. Well there were about 2-3 buildings at the Ranger station and it was like a ghost town. Nobody about. Drove onto the shearing shed and the more we snooped around the more we liked the place. Modern shearing shed and the shearer’s quarters had the bathroom facility open, mess hall open and some of the rooms open. Well talk about 5 star facilities. WOW! Not sure if we are meant to be using these facilities, however we are, until told otherwise. Vania has just come back from showering and “glamourizing” herself and she looks (and feels) like a Princess.

We also drove to some of the sights mid-afternoon, eg Kolay Hut, Kolay Mirica Falls. Well the road was a genuine 4 wheel drive track. There were sections where I would have had ENOURMOUS problems towing the van.

OK, that’s enough useless information from me for now. Cheero.

PS All you people out in BLOG land please text (contact) Vania how much you miss her writing. I am ready to retire from this task.

Shearing shed, in very good nick.

Shearers quarters. Mr. Ranger was great leaving the 5 star bathroom open. GREAT!

Illegally camped. We had this fantastic facility to ourselves.

Kitchen facility inside the shearers quarters.

Mess hall. Boy were we in a mess!

We should have been camped in front of the shearing shed, see in the background.

Organ pipes in the Gawler ranges.

More organ pipes. Nice but the road getting in was a pain in the "bum".

Guess what! More organ pipes

Can you guess what this is?

Sunset at last. Good night Mr. Ranger danger.

Day 89 Saturday 12^th May 2012

Well we found out we should NOT have camped where we did. Whilst I was having a wonderful shower in the 5 star bathroom, Mr Ranger came around and had a few words with Vania. For those followers who know Vania you can imagine how she felt. Vania confessed all to the young ranger and she felt totally guilty. Ranger didn’t have to say much as Vania was doing a major self-confession. The ranger did come up to the shower, opened the door and when he saw me “starkers” he simply apologised. I had it easy compared to Vania.

We took a different road out to Minnippa, approximately 80 k’s of you guessed it, CORRUGATIONS. This was really cheesing me off as I felt that everything including Vania and myself were being shaken to bits. My stress levels went HIGH and with that so did Vania’s. Not a great start to the day. Once on the beloved bitumen we headed towards Ceduna. Ceduna is one of the “larger” towns before entering the Nullarbor. After our mandatory visit to the information centre and having emptied the dreaded toilet canister and topping up with water we headed off to another free (cheap skates) campsite at Nadia Landing. We had the pick of the campsites as we are the only ones here; Magnificent water frontage views. I went out foraging and collecting firewood for a camp fire. However, the wind made the chill factor very low and we decided to watch a DVD instead. Vania went to bed early as she was really feeling the cold. As for me I thought if I have enough wines then I wouldn’t feel a thing, Guess what, it worked.

PS Almost forgot to mention, that I had a run in with the law as well. Just outside Ceduna there is a weighing station and approaching it the speed is 25 Kilometres. Well yours truly did not see the first sign and was clocked by the local constable doing 58 kilometres. I thought that I was history. After having the usual “lecture” I was astonished when he only gave us a warning and told us to be more careful. I’m sure the universe was looking after us as we later found out from the information centre that they have NEVER heard of anybody being warned before. Usual fine is $310. That’s $310 we could use towards our “beverages”. Thank you very much Mr Policeman.

Wish I had one of these to get over the corrugations. My car can actually fit under this beast.

Sunset at Nadia's Landing.

Vania's sunset photos. Again

And again!

Our home. Once again "packed" with other campers as you can see.

Million $$$$$ views from our lounge.

Need I say any more!.

Day 90 Sunday 13^th May 2012

Today was going to be a domestic and maintenance day. Vania got up early and took more sunrise shots. Vania is using my camera and I hate to say this, is taking much better photos with it than I am. We drove into Ceduna. Vania had the thrilling task of going to the Laundromat and I found the local car wash. It will be lovely to sleep in clean sheets that don’t smell dusty.

After our exciting chores we went on a 7 kilometre walk around the bay in Ceduna. We haven’t had “longish” walks for a while and it was good to get back into it. Having worked up an appetite it was off to find some tucker. Just missed out at the pub and ended going to Bill’s fish and chips. Both Vania and I had hamburgers with the lot.

The highlight of our day was just about to begin. We had heard about the “Nullarbor Links” golf course; the longest 18 holes in the world. Vania and I headed off to our friendly information centre yet again (poor man was getting sick of us by now) and proceeded to buy some magnificent 101 second hand clubs and bag. We bought the cards to play the 18 holes across the breadth of the Nullarbor at various stops. The first 2 holes, named Oyster Beds and Denial Bay were actually at the Ceduna golf course. Well Vania and I went off like true Pro’s and played. What a hoot. The greens (ha, ha, ha) were black sand. Before putting you had to use “sand scrapes” to make the green smooth. Despite the conditions both Vania and I managed to have really great HIGH scores. At the conclusion of the last hole (or first depending on which direction one goes) you hand your card in and receive a certificate which confirms that you have completed the longest “links” course in the world. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

After our hit and giggle it was serious shopping time. We are now professional grey nomads and are aware of exorbitant prices outside “largish” towns. We had to be very careful not to buy fresh fruit or vegies that we would not use before we arrived at the WA border as they completely go over and into cars and caravans and do an extremely thorough check. Usually this check takes 10-15 minutes. We were given the heads up NOT to be “smarties” with the border authorities as this could mean a delay of more than an hour. It feels like we are crossing from the “States” into “Mexico”.

Today being mother’s day Vania and I would like to wish all those Mum’s out in blog land a very happy mother’s day. Take care. Till next time

PS Please encourage Vania to write the “blogs”. I need to focus on important chores like…… hmm deciding to have a beer or a wine.