Going west again.........part 3

 Here we are and it is the last day of 2024. Perhaps I should update newsfromjude so I am up to date!!

Following on from part 2, we left Perth on Friday morning and headed north towards Geraldton..... the sign is a bit blurry as I try to get a photo while the car is moving.........

                                             This map shows the road north............

...........and our destination for the day was to Cervantes..................which is a small coastal town.....

......the caravan park was very full, but they had overflow sites at the local oval............we knew that bookings would be a bit tricky, seeing as it is Christmas/New year holidays and also school holidays as well.................but can manage a couple of days without power and water supplied........

...........there was about 40 vans camped at the oval that night.................

The reason for stopping at Cervantes was to visit the Pinnacles............and the roadside to there was a mix of scrub and sandhills.............often the scrub had been burnt............

The Pinnacles are the most amazing geological limestone pillars and these photos just don't do them justice!!

                                           

                           

          

                                   

After we visited the Pinnacles, we drove around the area. The day was very windy, as you can see in this photo of the local beach, with the sand blowing..........and we ended the day by spoiling ourselves with a seafood platter which included crayfish (lobster).

We left Cervantes the next morning and headed north along the coast road. We called into other coastal towns..........this was at Green Head, and the water here was actually a green colour, but don't ask me why??

Not long after this we were detoured back onto the Brand Highway from the Coastal road, due to road works............we were aiming for Dongara .....but the road was closed due to a fire further on, and traffic was being turned back..............

...............we took a short cut around the fire in an effort to reach Dongara and came in on a back road..............all the time watching the fire.......

We arrived at our destination and left the car hitched to the van as Dongara was on alert watching the fire progress......you can see the fire in the background of this photo..........

We were staying with Maria and Blue. This is the first time we had met them, but I felt I knew Maria from our years of reading each other's blogs and joining in zoom sessions with Chooky. Barry and Blue got on well, talking cars and engines and men things......

Barry had noticed an issue with the braking on one of the wheels, so the guys set to work to find what the problem was.........sometimes 2 heads are better than one?????

Maria and I liked to think we were supervising?????

The problem turned out to be the brake shoes which had collapsed and disintegrated.............

Later in the day Maria and Blue took us for a drive around Dongara and Port Denison..........

The next morning Barry and Blue drove about 70km to the next larger town of Geraldton to see if they could purchase the parts needed to repair the brake shoes.......... they had success, and it wasn't long that afternoon before Barry had it all fixed.

It was lovely to spend time with this couple, and we thank them for having us. The blogging world has been lots of fun and I have made lots of friends from this.

We left Dongara this morning and headed further north. We called into Geraldton for a look see, and had lunch in the van at the Port. 

Geraldton is the largest town north of Perth and one of the most attractive coastal centres in Western Australia. It is both a seaside resort and an important port. Historically it attracted wheat farmers from the eastern hinterland for seaside holidays. 

There was much more that we could have seen, but were on mission to go further north..............

Our next stop was at Northampton which is a small town on the on main highway going north. We are using this as a base to tour Kalbarri which is about 100km in towards the coast. 

Stay tuned for Part 4 in 2025!!

Blessings, From Jude (oh, and Bazz!!)

Going west again....................Part 2

Part 1 finished with daylight at 4.11am in Balladonia. So as a result we were awake and up ready to depart quite early for a change. The weather was still drizzly and we arrived at Norseman before lunch. We got more fuel there and I made lunch in the van while Barry was checking the pressure in the tyres. The air at the roadhouse was not working correctly so he used his little portable compressor.

 The temperature was not reading very hot, but it felt very hot to me. From Norseman we took the road to Coolgardie. We were not going to Kalgoorlie this time as we had stayed there last year.

On the roadside we came across a caravan with a flat tyre, so we stopped and Barry helped them change and put on their spare..............

...............and this is what the old tyre looked like!! We followed them into Coolgardie where they were hoping to find somewhere to get a new one, and we kept going, aiming for Southern Cross.

There is a large pipeline following the highway that supplies this area with water from Perth.

Just before we reached Southern Cross we came across some roadworks where they were doing a new road..................I don't think I would like the job of the guy on the left who was just sitting on his chair with a fly net on his head, in the sun, talking on his 2way radio with someone at the other end about when to give the green light for traffic to go through.........

We arrived at Southern Cross about 5pm and set up the van with the awning out ready for another washing session the next day. When we bought the van, I didn't think I would use the onboard washing machine, but have decided now that it is very handy for doing little loads and not having to find a laundry and the gold coins to use it. As we had been unable to book into Perth caravan park before the 17th we decided to stay at Southern Cross another night while Barry sorted a couple things out on the van. It is very comforting to know he is a good handyman and can fix things that need doing. 

We probably should have taken the van on some shorter trips before a big one, but  this is the way it worked out.

By not rushing the trip and taking our time I have had plenty of time to read books, and even have done some of my bookwork on the laptop. A very restful trip. We are not in a hurry, and happy for an easier pace as the last year has been very busy.

Next morning we left about 10am and decided to aim for Northam, which is just north of Perth. The weather was rather warm but with air con in the car and also in the van at night it was ok. We arrived at Northam by 3pm, ready for a cuppa.

Another 10am departure next morning saw us heading down the hills into Perth before long.......

.......and into the suburbs, heading for the caravan park where we were booked in for the next 10 days. All the freeways and bridges are decorated brightly...........

We are staying in the Swan Valley which is renowned for vines and features many wineries. (pity neither Barry or I are into wine tasting as we were in the right place).

It wasn't long before we were set up, and under a lovely shady tree...........

.................which was a good spot for the next few days when the temperature got up into the 40's........

.............another book was read.........

...........the park has a lot of  houses that people live in and some of them were lovingly decorated with Christmas lights, and this was one of them that I took a photo of one evening when we went for a walk around the park.

...................we even had our own Christmas light show when Barry put the awning out and turned on the lights.............

..............and another book was read..............

.............and we often sat under the awning.........

We enjoyed an evening meal at the Bayswater Hotel with Barry's 2nd son and family and this is the ribs meal that was delivered!!! Too huge for me, but delicious.

We had a few visits to the shops, spent a lot of time reading and even a few snoozes!! Barry had some work duties to do on his laptop and we visited family as well. So the days went by rather quickly. 

We  enjoyed video calls with my family members Christmas morning and then we drove 2 hours south of Perth to join Barry's DIL's family for lunch. We were spoilt with a lovely Christmas menu.

On the way back to the park, we drove through the city of Perth..............

.....and into the Graham Farmer tunnel..........

Once we got the actual time thing figured out, all was good. But the time difference between here and home is another matter. SA is 2 1/2hours ahead of WA, so we need to be aware of that when making phone calls home. And Victoria is 3 hours ahead of WA, and I know someone who didn't think about the time when she phoned me at 9am Vic time!! It was only 6am WA time, and the only night I did not put my phone onto silent, so it was a rather early wakeup call!! WA doesn't have daylight saving either, so that means sunrise and sunset is very different as well.

We have some kookaburra's in the trees close by so it has been lovely to listen to their chorus in the evenings and early mornings. We are enjoying the more mild temperatures over Christmas after the highs of 40 plus.

Just so you don't think I have forgotten all about quilting, here is a pic of the quilt on the caravan bed. It is enjoying an airing out of the cupboard, and the colours were perfect to match the interior of the caravan.

I shall finish this Part 2 post here, as our time in Perth comes to an end. Tomorrow we leave this park and plan on heading further north to see what we can see. Will be back for another report in a few days. Today it has been 20 days since we left Bordertown. Almost 3 weeks and it has gone so quick.

Blessings, From Jude (oh, and Bazz!!)