Perth to South Australia

When I last posted the blog, we were just leaving Perth without having given the blow by blow description of our time there, and now we are back in South Australia!!! So, I have a lot of remembering to do!!!!!

We went into Perth to book for a Swan River wine Cruise and had the opportunity to ring the bells at the Swan Bell tower. It was really exciting – it is the biggest musical instrument in the world.

It was Senior’s week so BankWest opened up its 46th floor to seniors and their carers (I’ll leave you to work out which is which!!!). The view was spectacular, particularly from the men’s loo.



We drove out to the Swan Valley for a look. It was a lovely day and of course we added more wine to the collection. We were meeting Adele (nephew Andrew’s girlfriend) for dinner that night so spent most of the day just driving around. At one stage we stopped to check the map to see where we were when I said to Frank ‘there must have been a big accident here’ as there were flowers etc. (In WA there are road side crosses, flowers and memorials everywhere – a very compelling reminder of how easy it is to make a mistake on the road!!!) Suddenly it dawned on us that it was actually a memorial to Peter Brock, the racing car driver. There were empty bottles, full bottles, old flowers, shirts, pictures, poems – you name it. Quite incredible.



Just up the road was the remains of the tree he hit and he died instantly. We just happened to be there out of the blue, quite unknowingly!!!



We found our way to Hilary’s Boat Harbour in time to meet Adele for tea. What an incredible place that was – gift shops, pubs, restaurants, ice cream parlours, water slides, safe beaches for children, huge boat ramps and of course, millions of dollars worth of boats moored side by side, row after row. We chose pasta and it was beautiful, but very filling. We really enjoyed our time with Adele and look forward to seeing her again one day soon. Andrew is still flying missions over Iraq so she is missing him very much.

We met up with distant cousins of Frank’s who he had never met (their grandfathers were brothers) and spent a very pleasant couple of hours with them. Keimpe makes Dutch croquettes so we tasted a couple for lunch – they were yummy.

We treated ourselves to a Swan River Cruise and Wine tour. We went up the river on this beautiful boat



and we were sitting on a couch. At 10.30 the first wine tasting began (full glasses, not sips) and continued until we stopped for lunch at 12.15. I really felt I was Cleopatra of the Nile – very exotic and decadent!!!



It was great fun and by the time we arrived back in Perth at 5pm we were very glad we had caught the bus into town as the wine tasting continued all day!!!

We stayed a couple of extra days in Perth to watch the qualifying for the Red Bull air race. Quite a spectacle and Frank was enthralled. I preferred the pre and post events with aerobatics etc, but it was a good day. The weather was perfect.



We left Perth, calling into visit friends of Melita’s who live in Mundaring up in the hills to the east. Tamika spoilt us with scones, jam and cream and delicious coffee. Time flew but we eventually headed for home. This time home would be getting closer instead of further away and we were definitely ready to begin the long journey.

Bruce Rocks (our stop for a couple of days) is another of the ‘big rock’ towns – huge granite outcrops that dominate their immediate surroundings. It is in the wheat belt and, as with all the wheat country at this time of the season, looked straw coloured (I don’t understand where they get the ‘golden’ colour when describing wheat – it really just looks like straw with heads on when it has dried off!!!) We arrived into town where the flags were flying and we were duly appreciative or the welcome the locals had put on for us. We were a little surprised to see that hundreds of caravans and motor homes had come to greet us as well though – and then we panicked a bit, wondering if there was going to be room for us at the inn (well, caravan park ). It was late in the day and we were hot and hot. Fortunately there was a space we could get into and the people next door explained what was happening.

Every year at this time the local Veterans host a “Back to the Bush Veterans Reunion” and it is a full week of fun and fellowship. We had come in on the last day when most people had gone home, but we were invited to attend the final campfire and yarn telling evening in ‘the pit’. What a night. Along we toddled with our chairs and drinks and listened to and joined in with some good singing, heard some good and very bad jokes and some very poignant songs written by vets about their experiences and thoughts. Talk about a real surprise for us. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I never thought I would sit next to a huge old tank (of the military kind) while participating in a campfire.

Next day we had a look at the Window of Peace in the local church which had been rededicated during the week, although only from the outside as the church was locked up.



Then we headed back to the Tin Horse Highway that we drove through after leaving Wave Rock many years ago (was it only 5 weeks ago?????) This trip of about 300 k’s took us through millions of acres of wheat, much of it being harvested. Unfortunately one paddock was on fire and it was quite a sight. The local fire brigade tolerated us watching until the wind changed and it started to come straight towards us and the next paddock so we were moved on very quickly – not that we were going to stay anyway. We felt a bit helpless, but they were all doing a good job under the circumstances.



So, we hit the Tin Horse Highway again and this time we stopped and photographed each display. Some of them were really clever.











We found the actual picnic race track in the bush as well – it must be some event with the infrastructure that is in place. We also found another rock which Frank climbed but the flies and the heat drove me back to Bosun very quickly. I did see the big goanna though.





Frank decided he needed some exercise when he discovered camel melons on the side of the road. We had played this game with the kids in 1990 whilst travelling from Darwin to Alice Springs to try to relieve the boredom.



On the way home we stopped and watched a harvester doing its thing and it was actually quite exciting to see this huge machine eating up the wheat and spitting out the dust. A drink in the Ardarth Pub was very refreshing before hitting the last 20 k’s to home.



The trip from Bruce Rocks to Kalgoorlie (we never did see the actual rocks but it was a lovely town) was nothing spectacular (you can read that as almost boring) although it was interesting seeing the gradual change in vegetation from fairly rich country to almost desert. The wildflowers on the side of the road were beautiful. Most of them had finished, but this strip was vibrant with colour.



Kalgoorlie was a surprise and a real eye opener. Everything from a huge Superpit that produces more gold than we could ever dream of to active brothels that you could have a tour through!! It was actually exhilarating and we loved it.

We arrived mid afternoon, set up camp and went exploring. The first thing we found was the lookout into the Superpit which was mind-blowing. We both could have stayed there for hours watching these matchbox size trucks going up and down the narrow, winding roads to the bottom of the pit where diggers filled them up so they could go back up out of the pit to either the waste dump or the crushing site, dependent upon their load.



The fact that these 31 matchbox trucks are filled by 4 diggers that load 60 -70 tonnes of dirt at a time to a total of 250 tonnes onto each one in various sites is almost beyond imagining, even though you can see it happening. Every couple of days they use 60 – 70 tonnes of explosives poured into pre drilled holes to ‘loosen’ the next patch of rock. We watched a blasting and even though it was from a huge distance and quite ‘small’, it was a whole body experience as Frank described it – we felt it from our toes to our eye balls.



If ever anyone wants to go to Kalgoorlie, book the Superpit tour prior to going – there is a waiting list of the twice daily tours of 1.5 – 2 weeks!!! Needless to say we didn’t get to see more than is visible from the lookout, but what we saw will be long imprinted on our minds eyes….

We also went to Mt Charlotte, a lookout over the city and the reservoir at the end of the water pipe which starts at Mundaring, just east of Perth and the pipeline carries all of the Kalgoorlie water supply. The fact that it was built in the early 1900’s is testament to the foresight and energy of our ancestors. Where would ‘Kal’ be today without water??? The history is incredible and it sort of seeps into your psyche while you are there if you have ever read anything about the early days (I have only read novels, but it is easy to relive them there!!).

We spent a relaxing morning just wandering around the main streets of Boulder and Kalgoorlie (it is basically one town with 2 centres) and the beautiful old buildings they both have. The next day we did a big drive north and west looking at some ghost towns. That was a lovely day and the scenery was quite beautiful in a very desolate way. We had lunch and a wander in Coolgardie before heading back to Kalgoorlie for one of the highlights of the trip.



I am sure that Frank never dreamt that his first visit to a brothel would be in the company of his wife, but that is what happened. They actually have brothel tours, some of them 3 times a day and they are always well attended. What an eye opener. It was very beautifully decorated, each room with a different theme and the tour was very worthwhile and certainly informative – a window to a whole new world. It is very interesting to note that in a town which exists solely on mining should have no rapes and minimal domestic violence. The tour also explained how come the miners were paid so much – they would need to be!!!!

Our last night had to include a meal at one of the beautiful old pubs in town. We had met up with a very nice couple from Bunbury and they joined us upstairs on the balcony of the ‘Palace’. We had a beaut night and it was almost possible to imagine the horses and carts, camel trains and bullock teams going up and down the road below us, until the young locals started doing ‘blockies’ with music blaring, always coming from the direction from Hay Street where the brothels are located. They obviously had not earned the wherewithal to actually visit so had to content themselves with looking from the outside.



Leaving Kalgoorlie was a happy / sad day. We had the Nullarbor in front of us which we really weren’t that excited about; once we hit Norseman we would have completed the circle and the holiday was going to be virtually over; but the kids were waiting for us at home (or Melbourne) and we really wanted to just be there. But, we put the bit between our teeth and set off, driving 2 hours on 2 hours off to cover the 1400 k’s to Ceduna as quickly as possible. We had one overnight stop in a rest area but, while they were all clean and tidy on our way west, unfortunately too many people had used and abused them over the last 2 months. We were not happy at all with the dust and flies and pure filth at everywhere we stopped, whether it was for morning coffee, lunch or to spend the night. I get so mad when people cannot even take their rubbish with them. Never mind – we spent the last night just west of Ceduna in a place called Penong which has the cheapest fuel of nearly anywhere (Adelaide included) and a lovely clean caravan park. We did get to see the spectacular cliffs again though, and that made up for a lot.





At least we were on new territory after leaving Ceduna as we crossed over the top of the Eyre Peninsular instead of following the coast. It was a real surprise to come to a place called Kimba which claims the fame of being ‘half way across Australia’. This news was pretty devastating for us as we thought we were nearly home!!!!!! It really took us by surprise so we didn’t stop – another place to come back to one day.

Frank wanted to stay at Iron Knob as he had been there before we were married and it had imprinted itself in his memory. Unfortunately it is very quickly becoming a ghost town and the pub certainly didn’t have a look about it that said ‘come on in for a drink’ so we did a couple of blockies and headed to Port Augusta for the night – another long, hot day.



When we pulled into the caravan park on the Spencer River we thought ‘let’s stay a couple of days here’ as we were pretty buggered by this time. We were certainly sick of the heat and the flies!!! The trains across the river were pretty active and good to watch (I didn’t know I was a train enthusiast until this trip) and we were told the Ghan would come through at 9.30 and the Indian Pacific at about 11.30. I was very excited as I have wanted to see the latter the whole trip but didn’t get the opportunity (mainly because Kalgoorlie would have been the only opportunity geographically really). We felt like seafood for tea so Barnacle Bill’s (a local franchise) was recommended to us and it was beautiful – we stuffed ourselves on barramundi, snapper, prawns and scallops.

Unfortunately, the fish swam all night, the trains thumped and banged and rattled all night (including making The Mate rock and roll at one stage with the huge thump) and the heat kept on all night. This on its own would have been reasonably ok, but the party going on all night next door was the final straw so we up stumps and took off as quickly as we could next morning, not really knowing where we would end up. We were both pretty exhausted and just wanted somewhere to stop and rest.

And here at Murray Bridge we have found it. And here is where I will end the blog for this trip. From here we travel to Dunkeld to visit my cousin, then to Melbourne to spend some time with Michael and Petra and then it is on the boat to home on Sunday night. It was interesting driving to here from Port Augusta – I was thinking that I really don’t want to do any more of this long haul travelling when we came to the sign ‘Sydney via Broken Hill’ and I immediately thought, ‘Yes, I do want to keep travelling!!’

Murray Bridge is a lovely small city and we are in a lovely park overlooking the mighty Murray. It has been hot, but very relaxing as we are at the very edge of town and at the end of a road. We hadn’t planned on the houseboats tying up out in front, but that adds to the beauty (except for the all night party when two boats met up). It must have been quite a party as the second boat took about ½ hour to actually leave after blowing the compulsory 3 blasts on the horn advising he was reversing. It was quite interesting watching and I could not help wondering how my brother David would have coped had he been on board and not been skipper of the day!!!! I think murder may have been done!!!



Today we rest, clean, sort out accumulated bits and pieces and enjoy the last day of being Darby and Joan travelers and start to get our thoughts turning to tasks awaiting us at home. This time it will be strange for me to go home knowing I am not going back to work. A first for me, but definitely not a last………..

Thank you all who have shared this blog with me. It is really nice to know I am actually talking to someone as I write – it makes it a lot easier.

And, so, its ‘Over and Out’ for now - until the next time........