Author: admin

Posted on

Day 3 & 4 Whyalla and on to Streaky Bay

Restored bedford truck and Franklin Van
Flight
We spent a day exploring the surrounds of Whyalla, with Gaz and I heading out to the Whyalla museum. The most striking feature is the “ Whyalla” a world war II mine sweeper. The museum has the history and story of the Whyalla. 
The “Whyalla” 
The ship was built in around 1940 and commissioned in 1942 not bad when you consider the work team building it was about 25 people. It was built in Whyalla and was the forerunner to the construction of many ships at the Whyalla ship yards. Whyalla had 2 main industries – ship building and iron ore. There is only iron ore left which is a really shame because the skills these workers had was immense. After the war the “Whyalla” was sold to the Victorian Govt for maintenance work around Pt Phillip Bay and renamed the “RIP”. At the end of its service with Victoria it was sold back to the City of Whyalla and returned to Whyalla. A project then moved the ship from its moorings 2.5 kms inland to where it now sits at the museum. The museum houses many other interesting artefacts and the biggest working model rail system I have seen.
99, 100 that’ll do for today

Looking back from the old gun placements across the ore factories
After lunch a trip to the lookouts overlooking the Whyalla township and bay area. Originally the lookout area was the gun placements to protect the harbour during WWII and the area has now been converted to a parkland and lookout. The lookouts provide a fantastic and very diverse view from the crystal clear oceans on one side the ore processing plants on the other.

Tuesday we left at reasonable time to head for Streaky Bay. It was to be a 360km trip over, mostly, country we have already seen and was pretty uneventful except for “Ms Sat Nav”. Gaz I both have then in our vehicles and I don’t know how you can put the same destination in and create such confusion. Each satnav had its own idea of the fastest route with mine wanting to go via Pt Lincoln when I wanted to go via Iron Knob. I have often thought it would be great to program in a voice that would say “bugger you, you haven’t listened to my last 3 commands I’m switching off now” and see what the reaction would be. We made Streaky Bay, in spite of the satnav, in reasonable time. 
Sun setting over Streaky Bay Caravan Park

Posted on

Day 1 and 2 – I’ve travelled this road before

Well we have embarked on the start of our holiday for 2015. Three weeks of the Eyre peninsular and the seafood coast, I hope it lives up to the seafood bit for Di’s sake for me as long as I catch a few then all will be good with the world. There is not a lot to say about our first few days as it’s over “old” ground as far as Pt August which has got me thinking about how many towns seem to be a fulcrum point. Point in case Pt August heading west from Victoria to the Nullarbor or WA or down the Eyre Peninsula or North to Woomera, Coober Pedy, the Alice or Darwin you guessed it you have to go through Pt Augusta. It’s a bit like the flux capacitor on the Delorean from the Back to the future movie, you need it to get anywhere. Not that I have anything against the place but its, potential, going to feature in our 2016 and 2017 blogs. So if you by chance end up in the flux capacitor be sure to visit the arid gardens we is not a bad spot to lose a few hours. We missed the Sturt Desert pea but you can’t have everything.
We stopped at Murray Bridge the first night at a van park on the banks of the Murray. Nice park and would be worth a few nights stay if you had the time.

Sunrise over the Murray

Camp at Murray Bridge
So we made Whyalla Sunday and had a quiet day waiting for Gaz and Shaz to arrive. The van park here is right on the shore line and seems well run, clean and quiet. First impressions are it’s an industrial town built mainly in the early days around ship building and steel. These days the ship building has gone but the steel is still here. It’s the only place in Australia were railway track is manufactured. It clearly has suffered a down turn and I hope things turn around for them. This coast has so much to offer and is quite diverse.

Have to love the Sturt Desert Pea

The “Wyhalla” Tide went out quick
The travelling caravan fraternity are an eclectic bunch with the fact you have a van (or tent) the only prerequisite and the great leveller. For most it doesn’t matter the age, condition or value, of you accommodation it’s just a great chance to socialise, swap stories and generally enjoy life. I’m beginning to dislike the term grey nomad as it conjures up images of elderly citz’s traversing the country spending the kid’s inheritance. Whilst there is an element of that, increasingly we have encountered people of all ages and persuasions each with a different story and more than happy to share them with you. We need to consider how lucky we are to be able to have the freedom to do this in relative safety.
Posted on

Friday to far away – again. Seafood coast here we come

Howdy all well we are fast coming to the next adventure. As usual Friday to far away.
Preparations are well under way and “Dougal” is raring to go. For those of you who don’t know we take Dougal with us. Dougal is the Daffodil Day mascot and accompanies us on our travels.

This year Dougal is dressed as the holiday bear very appropriate. So if you have a few spare coins throw then Daffodil Day Anti Cancer way.

As for the travel blog well it will start in earnest next Saturday.

Keep in touch.
The Tagalong Tour Crew

Posted on

Our next trip – Eyre Peninsular in September

Well time to start planning the next Tagalong Tours trip. September (with a bit of luck) will see us retrace some of our WA tour. At least to Poochera then we head across to Streaky Bay and down along the Eyre Peninsular.

With a bit of fishing, snorkeling, Kyaks and a dip with the seal lions are planned. Will keep you posted

Posted on

Winery tour for the none drinker

Well we have decide to have a short trip before I go back into hospital. We have planned to go to Avoca, Redbank, Mouligal then across to Halls Gap and back to Bendigo. First few nights we are staing at a winery which is interesting cause we are not that into wines. A bit of 4×4 through the Pyrenees and site seeing so we will see how it goes. Watch this space. September will be our big trip for the year when we head to the Eyre peninsular, oh yeah.

Posted on

Epilogue

 Well we have made it home. The end of another great trip doing some of the iconic parts of Australia such as crossing the Nullarbor, Kalgoorlie, Margaret River and Esperance to name a few. As usual the trip lived up to our expectations and it was a wonderful experience. Once you get over the road trains passing you for the first time the journey takes on a different perspective. I must say I found the truckies we came across very professional. I have included a few shots of some of the highlights. There is a bit of a consensus between us that there are a few places we really want to go back to, Pemberton, Albany and Bremer Bay to name a few. We travelled around 8500kms and our average fuel consumption was 15.5 lts per 100 kms. We are pretty happy with the tow tug and the van with only a few small hiccups. It was a genuine experience travelling across the Nullarbor and helps you understand just how hard these people do it in our remote areas, Consider this that between Norseman and Ceduna there is no real towns, that’s approx. 1200kms. Sort of puts things in perspective a little bit. We come across a young couple at Eucla whose vehicle had broken down and had at least a 7 hour wait for a town truck.  I keep saying how lucky we are to be able to do this with great friends and wonderful people and especially with Di in the co-pilots seat. Oh well back to work for now. D & D


Posted on

The Road home the end of another trip

Over the next 5 days we will retrace our steps across the Nullarbor back to Bendigo. Our first hop is Balladonia to Eucla. We spend 2 nights in Eucla mainly to have a bit of a rest and to try and find the ruins of the old telegraph station. The ruins disappear on a regular basis, covered by huge sand dunes only to be uncovered again over time. We found them, only partially covered and found them interesting.  
Old Wharf Great Australian Bight Eucla

Old Telegraph Station ruins Eucla

Old Telegraph Station ruins Eucla

Old Telegraph Station ruins Eucla


The workmanship required to build these structures which remain standing in the most adverse conditions was remarkable. From the ruins we found a track which wound its way over the sand dunes and on to the beach. The water was crystal clear and pretty much untouched. We did find the remnants of an old jetty but information about it was scarse. From here we took another track out on to the flats between the sea and the Eucla cliffs. It was pretty short but again we found things that throw up a lot of questions but not many answers.
We left Eucla early because we knew 10 km down the road we would lose 1.5 hours because of the time zones and pointed our noses to Ceduna, a 500km drive. Not much to say about this leg just a lot of retraced kilometres. We did stop at Nullarbor and Nundroo both of which featured in the out bound leg. Ceduna seems like a nice place and at the moment there is an oyster festival happening so sites at caravan parks are at a premium. 
Ceduna Peir


The first place we went to was full so we ended up at the Big 4. A bit of a surprise I must say. Very friendly people and at $27 one of the cheapest parks we have come across. Worth considering if you come this way.

Another reasonable start to another day and we have fell into a bit of a rhythm with the set up and pack up. Di looks after the inside of the van, I do the outside and Wendy pretty much packs the Oztent on her own. So it takes about half an hour and we are ready to roll. So we were ready to leave Ceduna for Port Augusta by 8.30. Around 480 kms today with morning tea at a town called Poochera (which is famous for dinosaur ants). It’s pretty small place and not much there but the toilets are clean and it has a really nice area (by Nullarbor standards) to pull off for a break. Found a quondong tree with fruit and a tree covered in yellow lady bugs. Morning tea over, we headed east again and stopped for lunch at Kimba. 
Lady Birds doing what nature does

Giant Gala – Where’s Dougal

On our way over we stopped here looking for the big gala and never found it (and before you open your mouth no it was not me they were looking for), disconcerting given it is 9 meters tall. However, we managed to find him this time and whilst he is in need of some TLC he still stands in all his glory. We had a bit of lunch here and were entertained for a little while by his real life cousin, who could utter a few words and almost had a conversation lined up. Back on the road and the last leg for today into Port Augusta. From here Gaz and Chaz head for Adelaide and we are heading for Renmark. It seems we have been over this leg many times so this will probably be the last post for this trip. So if anyone has actually been reading this blog I hope you got some enjoyment or even a laugh from it. We are well into planning for our next trip but more on that later.
Posted on

Day 35 Esperance – Right turn Eyre Highway

Well it was an early and complicated start to the day. Laura had to be out at the Esperance “international” airport for a flight back to Perth then on to Melbourne. The flight left at 9.50 but our hosts at the park required us to be out of the park by 10.00 which meant that Gaz and Shaz had to pack up, lug the van out to the airport then return back to town before we proceeded to retrace their trip to head out to Norseman. You would think that an extra hour on the van site would not make a hell of a difference. 

Looking over plateau Eucla Pass

Road trains Eyre Highway




Maybe they had to mow the sand who knows just know it was a mite inconvenient for our fellow travellers. We finally left Esperance around 11 for the approx. 400km drive to Balladonia, which is our first leg on the return home. I wish I had stayed in bed, I don’t know why but our trip has been plagued with some of the most mongrel weather we have had on our travels and today was no exception. For the first 200 km to Norseman the wind was either head on or on the front quarter. According to weatherzone it was 50kph gusting 75kph. In all honestly I think the car and caravan performed admirably in the conditions but it was a tough drive. At Norseman we did a Right turn on to the Eyre highway heading east for the Nullarbor. So now we have a tail wind or on the back quarter which helped the fuel economy but still was not an easy drive. As you can imagine we pulled into Balladonia with a sigh of relief, short lived as the wind had turned the place into a dust bowl. It was ugly so we basically hibernated. The weather is supposed to moderate overnight we can only hope. No Pictures today

Posted on

Day 34 Last day in Esperance – Start of the journey home

.

Today was a bit of a lazy day. We decided on breakfast at Dome with everyone as Laura fly’s out tomorrow and we head off on the journey home. So the morning was pretty relaxed and casual. After lunch it was off to the beach for all, except Di and Wendy who decided that lazing around the van was there preference. I must say I was a bit tentative as the even though the sun was out and it was quite warm. the waters of the southern ocean are still pretty cold. 
Shadows 

Sunset on Tanker peir

Sunset over Esperance




Any way I figured I had brought the snorkeling gear all this way I was going to get it wet. So in we plunged, brass monkey time, it did however improve as we numbed and was quite pleasant exploring the edges of the rock shelves. Didn’t spend a lot of time in the water but in the end it was well worth it. A couple of hours well spent. We had intended to do a spot more fishing but decided instead to watch the sunset at the wharf. Nice end to the day.
Posted on

Day 33 Cape Le Grande and Lucky Bay – Reality meets expectation

Today was a reasonably early start (8.30 ish) for the 60 odd km drive east to Cape Le Grande and Lucky Bay. To say that this particular place has held high expectations and anticipation for us is probably an understatement. From the outset of the planning for this trip we have mulled over this location, read travel info and magazine articles, which only fuelled our determination to go there. We had, initially, intended to free camp there but with school holidays, a long weekend and ordinary weather interfering we ended up basing ourselves in Esperance. The trip out was interesting with the farmland giving way to some interesting landscapes once inside the national park area. On the way in we passed a replica of Stonehenge, which we had been thinking of going to see, glad we didn’t now as the view from the road was uninspired. I guess there will be people out there that think it’s great but not us. 

Landscape on way into Cape Le Grande

Rock formations

Whispering rock near Hellfire Bay

Wild flower
Once in the national park there are heaps of natural formations to keep you busy and some very interesting monoliths dominating the landscape as we wound our way into the Cape. We stopped at the Hellfire Bay lookout and saw some spectacular coast line and decided we would call in to Hellfire Beach on our way back. First major stop was Lucky Bay which was and would be a nice spot except for the seaweed, in fact the whole coastline in the South West is suffering at the moment with huge amounts of seaweed deposited on the beaches from the recent storms. I estimated it to be over a metre deep in some places. We took a short drive along the beach and then headed for Rossitter Bay which is about 6km further on by dirt road. Same issue here with the whole spectacle dulled by the weed. 

Hellfire bay

Lucky Bay

Hellfire Bay looking west

Hellfire Bay
Don’t get me wrong the sites and the pristine nature of the place is not to be underestimated but the smell of rotting seaweed is not for everyone. We returned to Lucky Bay for a spot of lunch and we were entertained by a family of kangaroos and the humans annoying them. Lunch over we headed back to Hellfire Bay and as it turned out the highlight of the day. This is an incredible little bay and was one of the few not impacted by seaweed. We spent a little time here getting our feet wet and enjoying the place. Next stop was Cape Le Grande and whilst not disappointed I think our expectations may have got a bit skewed. Again don’t get me wrong, it is still a wonderful place but the pick for me was Hellfire Bay followed by Lucky Bay. It sometimes difficult when writing these blogs because you have so many ahhhhh moments it all becomes a bit blasé. There is no doubt for me we are the lucky country and are blessed with a magnificent country and its trips like these that just reinforce that reality for me. The sites and beauty of this area are no doubt some of the best I can imagine and we have only scratched the surface. So it was after a pretty full day of white sand, a bit of sun, sea and surf it was time to head for home. We tried our luck again off the tanker pier late in the afternoon, yesterday I had caught a king George whiting just on 30cm and Gaz got a nice size Calamari and apparently there have been some good size catches off the pier. It was reasonable successful with another calamari and a whiting. Bit of bad luck for Gaz as he hooked a Calamari which let go of the squid jig just as he pulled it out of the water. There was I fair bit of tension on the line and when I looked around it was imbedded horizontally in Gaz’s forehead. A bit of an “Oh shit” moment, Laura managed to extract the jig without much pain but a lesson for all I think. Tomorrow is our last day in Esperance and officially the start to our return to reality – homeward bound