Our next stop was Esperance and was only approx. 150 k's so we got there early.
We have been there nine years ago and we could remember that time, when we had just left Esperance they had a terrible storm which had caused a lot of damage to the coast. During our walk through Esperance we noticed a whole new esplanade and also along that esplanade a whole line with new houses so we reckon that part was damaged and rebuild.
What a lovely and beautiful little town is this, look at the great esplanade,
Of course you can find on this esplanade the usual Australian facilities like free toilets, always clean and provided with toilet paper.......
free electric barbecues.....
picnic tables at the most beautiful spots.....
a nice statue
Beautiful flowers everywhere;
A little history.....
Also the jetty is great and look at this surprise we got...
Sea Lion and Sea Gull fighting for the fish leftovers ..... (guess who won)
Its Movie time;
The surroundings are also astonishing and we drove the Great Ocean Drive, not to be mixed up with "the Great Ocean Road" in Victoria!
Just enjoy these amazing views!!
Movie time;
Of course you all must know us in the mean time, we had our lunch with us and thus we had our lunch at a great spot....
And if you think it cannot get any better, just check out my next story.....
Ceduna is our last stop before the Nullarbor and we had a remarkable visitor in the caravan park;
This car belongs to a German Lady from Berlin who was travelling around the world, in this car, on her own!!
She slept in a little tent and she just came over the Nullarbor from Western Australia....
Her name is Heidi (of course haha) and she is 77 years young, isn't that amazing!!
Between Ceduna which is South Australia and Norseman, West Australia is nothing but a few roadhouses/service stations with sometimes a camping spot. The distance between these two towns is 1200 k's. There are also a few free camps along the way luckily! Of course we filled up our tank (170 ltr) and our fridge in Ceduna as you can understand that the prices will be sky high along that track!
From one of our neighbours in the caravan park we got some, already cooked, crabs which we had for a nice lunch....
What is the Nullarbor?;
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north.
"Crossing the Nullarbor", for many Australians, is a quintessential experience of the "Australian Outback". Stickers bought from roadhouses on the highway show "I have crossed the Nullarbor", and can be seen on vehicles of varying quality or capacity for long distance travel.
On the border SA and WA which is approx. 500 k's from Ceduna, will be a quarantine checkpoint again so before we come there we have to eat our fruit and because I already was aware of that, we only have cooked and can vegetables with us (I thought)...
When we left the weather was perfect for travelling , especially on that part as normally it can be bloody hot and without having air condition that wouldn't have been fun! But it's over casted, it's just 22 degrees and we even had some spots of rain.
The one thing which is annoying in Australia is that there so often wind and I'm not talking about normal wind but very much wind! And because it's also a very dry country you can imagine the dust whirling around. Our car and caravan haven't got their own colour anymore, it's grey, and when we got some rain during our trip we thought it would clean the car and caravan a bit. Crikey, it just got worse, for a cleaning job it should rain properly, not just some drops.
On our first stop for the night it took about 1 1/2 hour before more people came so we could open a can beer and have a drink. It's always a gamble because we don't really like to be on such a camp ground on our own but going further isn't an option either as it's not wise to be on the road after five because of the wildlife. Still to our surprise just one other caravan joined us. In the night we had some proper rain
and the colour of our car is back hurrah !!
Next day we drove 500 k's (3 rd of March) and passed the fruit and vegetable checkpoint (they threw away 2 onions, garlic and my honey!!) and 2 time zones which caused our day to be 2 1/2 hours longer! So, one unlucky and one lucky happening.
I must say, even on this long stretched area there were also very nice things to see;
Next day again we drove 400 k's and I will explain why we are in a hurry because actually we don have to drive that far on a day as there are enough free camps and roadhouses to stay.
On 25 th of March our daughter is coming to Perth for two weeks holiday ( really looking forward to that) and the last day we were in Ceduna, I wanted to plan these two weeks and book some caravan parks. To my big surprise and actually shock, I found out most of the parks were fully booked because it's Easter! So the night before we left I e-mailed some caravan parks but because of the time difference I didn't get responds before we left for the Nullarbor and of course, on the Nullarbor you don't have reception, not even telephone !! So we were in a hurry to get to Norseman on the other side and check the e-mails. Finally, after more e-mails and phone calls I hope it's all settled now.
(In the mean time she of course has been here already, so sorry for my delay)
Enjoy my movie about "The Nullarbor";
Just after Norseman we stopped at a free camp again, there were more people and also this camp happen to be very nice, lot of birds and a beautiful sunset! We decided to stay two nights and did a lot of reading and sudoku's of which we are addicted in the mean time......
or just sitting there, gazing at the amazing colour of the branches of these trees and enjoying the songs of the birds;
And now it's time to go to bed, good night, sleep tight.......
Sorry for the delay but you knew our daughter was here for holidays and so I didn't had time for my blog. Unfortunately she is back to Holland again but I must say, we have had a great time of which I will tell you of course later ! Little preview? OK;
But......
I now go back to where I ended and that was leaving Port Lincoln. At first we planned to stop in Ceduna which is the last town before the Nullarbor but because it would be too far in one go, we stopped at a place called "Coodlie Park" on their brochure it says; "Surprisingly different" and THAT it was!! It's a private property on which you can camp and it was really an awesome spot.
But, before I introduce you to the camp itself I first take you to the surrounding which was also awesome. Coodlie Park is situated between Venus Bay and Elliston on the coast of the Southern Ocean.
This coast line is full with pristine beaches, caves, spectacular views etc. etc.
Just enjoy;
This belongs to the Coodlie property and down these rocks is their private beach, too dangerous to go down was our opinion.....
The road to this spot was tough too!!
The Southern Ocean...
The Talia Caves....
Last but not least, movie time; The Power of the Ocean;
OK Guys, now the camp:
The Camp fireplace
The Camp kitchen.....
The Toilet......
Beware of creepy crawlers....
You had to pump water into the reservoir with that handle you see above the toilet, before you could flush....
and now; The Showers....
If you want to see how it works, just watch the movie;
Fred having a shower, enjoy:
Coodlie park has not only camp ground (which was only $ 10.00) but more accommodation so if you are interested;
