Full Circle

On the 8th Nov, exactly 10 months after we pulled out of our driveway in Keith, we were driving from Adelaide to Keith! However, we only had the briefest of stops at "Grannie & Pops" to say 'Gidday' then it was on to Mount Gambier where we will be living temporarily, while assisting Nicole and Daniel with family duties while they work and study in two different places for a bit.

Western entrance to Keith

34,000km later... and after10 months, we had seen some amazing things, met some amazing people and had some amazing experiences, and we were home again - safe and sound. Our approximate calculation is that we had 100 different places we stayed (ie pack-ups and put downs!!) and stayed an average of 3 days per stay, with the max. stay being 10 days.



Goals met:

• travel around Australia - we did that
• survive each other - we did that
• develop family realtionships - I don't think they are any worse! (and probably much better)
• learn lots - we did that
• be open to participating in giving of some time for volunteer work - we did that, but would have like to have done some more which didn't work out!
• meet and talk to lots of different people - we did that
• broaden our outlook on life - we did that

As you can see by our map, there are still so many places to see in Australia. We only scratched the surface and have a big list of places to see next time.
One of our favourite trip times, was holidaying with all our family in Darwin. Daniel, Nicole, Isabelle, Mia and Jake all flew up to see us in July and Jon's Mum & Dad were also up there in their caravan. So we had a great family time, which helped us to last the rest of the travelling time until we saw them all again - in three months time!

In all of our amazing experiences, the ones we will take with us for longest will be those that involved social and fun times interacting with other people and sharing great times.


Jed's thoughts on the Trip

Our trip was awesome we got to see some wicked things  like that Kimberly’s, Otway’s, Cape Range, Kosciuszko,  Great Barrier Reef, kinrara which was a working cattle station and the sight of the WA SA boarder. One of my favourite places was Manning Gorge which was on the Gibb River Road. Another good thing was meeting up with some South Auzzies who were traveling about the same route as us so we stayed with them in about 5 stops.  It isn’t the destination it is the people you meet and the weather has a fairly big say. Overall the trip was an awesome experience and lots of fun!!     

Lily's thoughts on the Trip

Our trip was AWESOME, but 10 months is a long time and I missed all my friends and extended family a bit. We got to go and see a lot of places and attractions. Some including: snorkelling on the great barrier reef and the Ningaloo reef, climbing Mt Kosciusko, walking to and swimming in gorges, working on a cattle station for 10 days and riding their horses, Otway’s tree top walk  and zip line tour, climbing the Gloucester tree and soooooo much more. We got to meet heaps of great people and families. We keep in contact with some families and even stayed at their house or visited them at their house. My favourite place was Exmouth, cape range national park and coral bay, especially snorkelling. We have had lots of great times, I am not sure if I would ever do it for 10 or more months again because I miss lots of people.

We dreamed the "Dream", and had a fantastic time following this particular dream of ours! And who knows what may come of it.

I wonder what the next one will be... ?

Til next time...

Adelaide

Yahoo! - in Adelaide. Time to catch up with family!

Arriving back in Adelaide mid week, and few days earlier than expected we decided to pull into the
Adelaide Shores Resort Park for a few days, prior to calling in the 'family favours'! This was a nice time of feeling like we didn't need to be tourists/trippers anymore and we could relax into being 'nearly home' - not quite, but nearly!

Our first afternoon back in Adelaide we caught up with our "big boys" - visiting Jake, at the house he began renting while we were away and seeing some of the beautiful, wooden furniture he has made while doing his TAFE course. Daniel was also in Adelaide, as he is doing the Intensive Care Paramedic Course. So he will be doing a bit of backward and forwarding to Adelaide for study. Catching up with him was a good excuse to go out for a meal together. Over the next few days we saw the boys a few times.

I was very thankful that my Mum had "survived" the time we were away - I was all prepared to have to be flying back from 'somewhere'. However, it was pleasing to see her looking exactly the same as when we had left in January! "Oldies" can become quite tactile and Mum was trying to tug Lily's hair - fascinated by all those blonde locks! Lily also spent some time playing "balloon volleyball" with a some of oldies, as they sat around in a group. (I think she was actually being the 'ball girl' and collecting all the stray hits).

Adelaide was also a time for catching up with more family - we managed to catch up with 3 sisters, 3 brother - in -laws, 1 brother and 1 sister -in - law, 7 nieces, 1 nephew - in - law and 2 great nieces. This was at 6 different "events" over the weekend and we had a lovely time catching up on all the Forrest and Mills gossip over meals, drinks and even a few 'free' nights in real beds - LOVELY!! I did manage a walk to the top of Mount Lofty with some of the 'rels' too.

Reunited with Isabelle and Mia - opening Isabelle's late 4th birthday present! 

Some of the 'sisters' and 'nieces', and even nieces that are sisters!

     

Also time to catch up with "Trip Friends"

• We also made time to catch up with the Orr's - Mark, Ev, Jeremy and Tyler, from Seaford. We had travelled quite a bit of the WA coast, south of Exmouth, encountering the Orrs and the O'Sullivans along our various spots, but hadn't seen them since Kalbarri. The kids were of a similar age to Jed and Lily and had a "grand ol' time" together while away, and also when they kindly invited us for dinner. It was great to see them, and their home and reminisce about holiday times!
• The Southwells, from Canberra, had made similar stops to us across from Kalgoorlie and we arranged to meet them while we were both in the Adelaide Shores Caravan Park. They are great fun, and related really well to the kids as well, and "Happy Hour" had become a bit of a tradition - so we met for what we thought would be our last happy hour (until we get to Canberra for a holiday!!) and they promised they would make their way to Mount Gambier, via Keith, so they could check out our home town. As it turned out, we caught up with them for another Happy Hour at the Mount Gambier Big 4  and ... they thought Keith was a nice looking little town (well, that's what they told us anyway) and they enjoyed their Henry & Rose coffee! We look forward to catching up with them one day.

Adelaide, as part of our trip, was also memorable for another couple of reasons:

• our last 2 bikes were stolen! Only two days to go, camping in public places, and nearly home and the "****'s" (cheeky blighters, was all I was going to say!) managed to get them. We hadn't been able to find the bike lock when setting up and so they got stashed just behind the caravan for the night. Oops! Bad decision. So there probably won't be any problems deciding what will be on the Christmas lists this year!
• We tidied up the van and took some photos, ready to list it for sale. None of us are that sad for the nights in the confines of the caravan, to be nearly over. The van has been great for the purpose, and has lasted us magnificently, with no major dramas - but "Oh, for some space!"

Cleaning up the caravan ready to advertise for sale.

Then to top off the weekend, Nicole and the 'Dear Delights' had arrived in Adelaide also. Of course they came to Adelaide to see us, it just happened that their Dad was there too!? It was 3 months since we had seen them in Darwin and they had grown and 'grown up' in that time.
Although we were prepared not to see them for the whole time we were away, it made the year much more bearable for Narnie & Pop to see Isabelle and Mia midway through the year. And it was pretty good to see Daniel, Nicole and Jake during the year as well. Thanks guys for making the effort! xx

Detour to Fowler's Bay

Fowler's Bay

Some friends we met recommended we have a look at Fowler's Bay, which we did and we liked it even if it was a bit windy and damp. I was quite pleased when even the "ridgy-didge' fishermen weren't catching anything, as it meant we didn't even have to think about trying!

This little town was a very old town, with a history of being a thriving, 'bustling' little place in it's day, as it was on the old telegraph route and many people passed through on their way to the west! Now it is a small sleepy, seasonal fishing town with only a few permanent residents. However, the caravan park is always busy, according to it's maintenance man. Between fishing, summer hols, and the whale season they don't really have a quiet time. The whales, who had left just 4 days prior to us getting to the Head of the Bight,, come right up to the beach in Fowler's Bay and some calves have been born right in the bay. We might have to go back!



Sandhills bordering the town



Miles and miles of sandhills



Flinders was good to acknowledge the efforts of the Dutch - discovering the
coastline a long time before the British, in 1627.



Matthew Flinders was at Fowler's Bay in 1802, during his epic travels and a charting of the Australian coastline. Flinders was evidently married in 1801 and lived with his lovely wife for 3 whole months, whom he then did not see for another 9 years while he sailed around the world!! What a tolerant wife she must have been. some museum, or other, has a collection of their 'love letters' - boy, they better have been good for that long!

The grain growing season appears to have been a pretty good one for the West Coast farmers. There were some really good looking wheat and barley around Ceduna and Streaky Bay, and even the more marginal area of Nundroo was looking okay. And we loved the water supply system above, for Penong - all those windmills!

Our next stop was lunch at Ceduna and on to Streaky Bay - another place in SA that we had never been before, but had heard lots about. (And something happened to the photos I took there, as they are nowhere to be found!?? The 'digi-monster'has taken them). Here we stayed for a couple of nights and had a drive around the nearby coast - more interesting and striking southern ocean landforms! And the associated cold southerly breeze, and a bit of misty rain! We knew we were in SA by now.

Our final night prior to being back in Adelaide we spent at Mambray Creek, on the south western corner of the Flinder's Ranges, about 40 kms from Port Augusta. We arrived on a perfect afternoon - mid twenties and sunshine. Hooray! This is a great camp spot, with individual sites, no power but solar heated hot water in the showers and for doing dishes etc. And ...we decided the ablution block was one of the best we had been in all trip!

There are a few short walks (and longer ones) you can do from the camp site. (Cate participated in a 2.6km walk, and got 'freaked out' by some early morning grazing kangaroos!)

And we realised that SA has a few beautiful,

big trees too. The river red gums at Mambray

Creek are amazing.

Next stop ... Adelaide!

SA Great!

Yay! Our home state - the best one in the country!

Excited about returning to SA

     

A very wet Border Village after storms the previous night. We
were under the impression that SA was the driest state in the
driest continent... and yes, this was definitely the eastern side
of the border!



Just in case we couldn't find our way back to Adelaide!!
It is now only 1320 kms away.



...and it is straight!!

The Nullabor - not 'bor'ing at all!

For all the anticipation we didn't find the Nullabor as tiresome as we had been led to believe. There was plenty to see, certainly plenty of other traffic about. And in all shapes and sizes! We lost count of how many wide loads there were from Norseman to Port Wakefield. The kids also passed a bit of time watching movies, as we had a coupleof longer days in the car than what we have had. We now know the "Bring It On" and the "Fast and Furious" series quite well!??

This happened plenty of times... and we weren't going that
slow either.

One of the many 'wide loads' we saw.
Many had escort vehicles tho, and most had mining-type equipment as their loads! There's certainly plenty of that heading to WA.



Hmmm... not fun in my opinion!



Beautiful Bunda Cliffs - to the west

Bunda Cliffs - to the East

One-legged kids - they must have been run over
by a camel!

The real sign, adjacent to the Nullabor -  And so much for the Nullabor being a "treeless plain" - this
was about as 'treeless' as it gets! A lot of it is like the road between Coomandook and Tintinara!

Jed at the Head of the Bight

Head of the Bight - where the whales usually play! They had, unfortunately
for us, left the Bight to head South again four days earlier.

The only whale we were likely to see - at the Nullabor Roadhouse

"Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

This is the first sign we've seen to Adelaide
for a long time!

 








             Norseman

 ... and we begin the last stretch, to the East and South Australia.

 The first night along this stretch we spent at Fraser Range - a station camping facility, 100km from Norseman. Itwas one of the smaller stations between Norseman and Ceduna. The owners hadn't been there all that long and were still sorting out the station - working side of things. They thought they had about 10,000 sheep 'somewhere'?? But they hadn't been tended to for a long time!

The Campsite was pretty ship shape tho' and some intersting walks etc to do.

Old quarters and shearing shed at Fraser Range

Another 'encounter' with the Cuttens! This time we camped
right next door. Carolyn very kindly delivered some yummy
apple muffins, warm from the oven, to us for a late afternoon
snack! I did miss being able to use an oven whenever I
wanted this year.

Still friends, even after "close proximity" for 10 months!

Then it was in through Balladonia, and all those Roadhouse stops on the Eyre Highway and Nullabor. Balladonia Roadhouse had a great museum, and seeing as the Skylab path went straight over this area also, they had more info about this, and a pretty big piece of 'space junk'.

A large remnant of Skylab, and no
arguments as to which country was
responsible!



Pathe of Skylab, as it reentered the Earth's atmosphere and broke
up over WA. Balladonia is marked at the top RHS.



Pretty 'all-encompassing'! I think we only saw one kangaroo, though.

 We have seen all sorts of "Yellow signs" - from camels, to wombats, to icecreams, to coffee cups, bilbies, cassowarries, jellyfish etc. But often we were past before I could get the camera into action!


"Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."    (Men At Work)The storms followed us from Kalgoorlie, to Fraser Range and then along the Eyre Highway

Out of Norseman - salmon gum country



Eucla where we stayed 'in the middle', about 12kms west of the Border

 Boy! Did we have a Light and Sound Show this night - and the next morning there were about a dozen dead birds, spoggies or something similar, in the middle of the campground on the gravel. Had they been caught up in the storm?? it was a bit of a mystery!
Some people we talked to the next day had free-camped that night but a bit further to the west, and they woke up to a flooded camp area and about 100 trees uprooted all around them! But no caravans, or campers, were harmed. I'm glad we were where we were.


Eucla, village, is up on the 'escarpment' of the plain, about 5 kms from the coast. Closer to the coast is where the old telegraph line used to go through. As you can see the sand is encroaching!

Old Telegraph Station ruins at Eucla

We were getting excited at Eucla, as it was our last stop before heading back into SA!

Gold Fever!

We decided a trip to WA, wasn't complete without making the 'detour' from Norseman to Kalgoorlie, and back again, before heading across the Nullabor. Isn't it common knowledge that WA is built on gold!!?



It all began in 1893 when a trio of Irishman, Paddy Hannan, Tom Flanagan and Dan Shea (as if they would be called anything else??) stumbled over some gold near Mt Charlotte - later to become Kalgoorlie. They soon had about 100 ounces of gold bundled up. At today's value that equates to about $167,000 worth. I wish I had've had that kind of stumble in Kalgoorlie!? This was soon followed by a couple of other 'lucky' blokes who were responsible for pegging the sites of the first two most profitable goldmines in the area, situated in what is now commonly known as "The Golden Mile" - about 5 kms south of Kalgoorlie, at Boulder.

Kalgoorlie - viewed from the Mount Charlotte Lookout

This sparked the "Gold Rush" to WA, and the Kalgoorlie area. With only an 11 inch average rainfall, water for mining, and domestic purposes was in short supply. The solution to this problem came with a fantastic engineering feat - the piping of water from the Mundaring Dam (near Perth) to Kalgoorlie, some 530 kms away. The Golden Pipeline Project was supported by the then Premier of WA, Sir John Forrest, and CY O'Connor designed and oversaw the construction of the pipeline but had to suffer lots of criticism for it. ('nay sayers' said it would never work, or the gold supply would run out and then it would be a worthless investment etc, etc). Sadly, CY O'Connor never got to see the success of the project, as he committed suicide not long before the projects completion. In 1903 the project was commissioned and the 'tap turned on'. Two days later water was coming out the other end, at the Mt Charlotte Dam and would be capable of supplying 23,000 kilolitres/day for the area. What a vision! (What about all that water wasted up in Kununurra??? - can it be got to South Australia somehow)?

Over the years their developed many kilometres of mining tunnels under the ground adjacent to Kalgoorlie/Boulder. (About 4000kms worth, evidently). Over the years this sort of mining, with so many individual operators became unprofitable. In the early 1980's Alan Bond's company began buying up individual mining leases to consolidate the mines and create greater efficiencies. Part of this involved developing the operation as an open pit mine. Of course "Bondy", went 'belly-up' and a couple of other big companies, Newmont Australia and Barrick Gold Corporation, bought him out and finished the process. And currently, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines runs the mining operations.
The Super Pit (and it is HUGE) produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year (by my rudimentary calculations this equates to $1,419,500,000.00). Even with the huge costs they have, that is a lot of money!

The operators are keen supporters of the community and the community collaboration, consultation and involvement is really evident in Kalgoorlie. Tourism is an off shoot of this and there is a Lookout over the Super-Pit as well as allowing a company to run tours of the pit and facilities.

We thought we would participate in one of these tours to learn a bit more. However, some of their 11 inches of this year's rain began to fall, as some storm clouds gathered nearby.  I'm not sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate, but we got halfway through our tour and they issued a "blue light warning". This means lightening has been detected within a certain distance from the mine and everyone must leave the pit area. So we had to leave. However, we did get our entire fee back - so only had half a tour, but it didn't cost us anything!

We did see lots still - huge trucks, loaders, water carts, tyres, ore piles and recieved heaps of info from the Tour Guide, as well as lucky enough to see them doing some blasting. The different colours in the clouds of dust rising from the exploded rock was amazing. They blast 3-4 times a week and almost immediately the trucks are lined up, ready to be loaded and take the ore off to the designated stockpile/processing area. They already know, from geologist testing prior to the blast, which ore is of higher grade. On average, 1 out of 4 trucks carries reasonably good quality ore, that contains approx $70,000 worth of gold in a load. The Chubb trucks come fairly often!!

The Super Pit

Little 'match box toys' at the bottom of the pit - drilling and preparing for blasting

  

No one was going to run over us, while we were on the mine tour.

Some interesting statistics:

• The Super Pit is 3.2km long and 1.5km wide (hard to get all that in a photo)
• they are currently down to 500m, below top and are allowed to go to 650m
• they can only mine another 400m towards Kalgoorlie
• the pit has only another 10 years of life being run as it is currently, and then decisions will have to be made. Eg. will they tunnel under Kalgoorlie (as the ore line runs in that direction. They obviously built the town on the "wrong" side of the mines! And they might have shifted Leigh Creek, but there's no chance they'll shift the 30,000 people that live in Kalgoorlie/Boulder.
• after this time, they will still have stockpiles of the lower grade ore to process for gold for a good number of years.
• KCGM employs approx 1000 people
• a dump truck costs 4.5 million dollars, and they have 31 on site
• the truck tyres cost      (can't remember) - much more than our ute!
• it takes only 45 mins to change those huge tyres
• 3 x triple road train tankers, come in per day to keep the massive fuel tanks 'topped-up

--> It is a massive operation! And really interesting to see.

Kids clowning around, next to a
replica of the "Golden Eagle", largest
nugget found in WA - 35kgs

 
Another interesting place was the Kalgoorlie Museum

And they wouldn't let us take one of these as a souvenir!??

Old wooden bike, made by a creative,
inventive miner, to get around the
minefields. Check out those tyres.

One of the houses in 'Millionaire's Row' - built from gold money?

As we headed out of Kalgoorlie, back down to Norseman, the
sky opened up and I think we had one of Kalgoorlie's precious
11 inches in this shower!

Salmon Gums, between Kalgoorlie and Norseman - glistening wet, and pink in the damp conditions.