22nd January - 25th January 2009

As we drove westward out of Esperance we passed through predominantly farming country - grain, cattle & a few sheep. Turned south off the highway onto dirt roads to go to Munglinup Beach. A small council owned camp area ($10 per night) in the dunes, with composting toilets & bore water was to be our Australia Day holiday destination. We had no problem getting a site, but the vacant ones filled quickly after we had set up. Generators, quad bikes,  mini bikes & mini quad bikes seemed popular amongst the other campers, making the ocean beach a little less peaceful than we would have wished for, but nevertheless there was plenty of space for all, & it was easy to find secluded spots in the dunes overlooking the ocean. Did I say "easy"? Hmm well, a slight exaggeration.......... finding secluded spots was easy, walking to them in the fine soft sand was hard work, our legs don't seem to have that 'low down torque' that they once had! Our time here persuaded us that a beach shelter to give us respite from the sun & wind would be worthwhile. Will look for one when we get to Albany. I had hoped to be able to fish in the nearby Oldfield River estuary, but unfortunately circumstances conspired to thwart me. I rode the Honda along the track to to the river, the 2 or 3 kms taking me around half an hour, & saw me totally knackered by the time I reached the river. The soft dry sand on the track meant very slow going & bloody hard work. When I stopped close to the estuary, I got off the bike & it remained standing by itself, no sidestand required in the deep sand. After further Herculean efforts to cross several steep dunes on foot, I reached the estuary, only to find it was very shallow & not flowing, a sand bar had closed it's exit to the ocean. Oh well, such is life! We had planned to stay here until after the public holiday, but found we had 'exhausted' potential activities (much of which exhausted us) & decided to leave on the morning of Australia Day. We walked the beach many times, played in the dunes & enjoyed laying on the rocks observing the antics of crabs. We had been told by friends that they considered Munglinup beach 'romantic'. Certainly we could understand this statement when lookin along the beach in the evening light, but obviously they had visited at a less busy & quieter time.

26th January - 31st January 2009

Australia Day. A hot day, saw us driving through extensive scrub in the coastal hills. "Scrub' is an unfortunate term that belies the beauty it describes. Looking out across the scrub, where trees grow to perhaps the height of the bus, we could see a never ending blur of green textures, highlighted by occasional bright colours. We found ourselves at another low cost camp spot at Millers Point, a small promontory sticking out into another estuary.

Facilities were only pit toilets & rubbish bins, no water available. Cost was $5 per night (per vehicle). The ranger came around to collect the money on our first night. We were unsure of how long we would stay, so just paid for a couple of nights. The ranger was happy with this, saying "you can pay me some more if you are still here when I return next week", adding "but I'm not too fussed about the money". He then left, having given us a couple of fresh toilet rolls & emptied the rubbish bins. We stayed 6 nights - good value for 10 bucks eh! The site was pleasnt & large enough to allow privacy for us & the other two vans there. Dave & Lex were sociable, as was Jeff who was staying for a while. Jeff has been on the road for several years & knows all the little camp spots like the back of his hand. A mine of useful info. Fishing was the prime activity here, with good catches of reasonably large Black Bream. We had several feeds. Filleting the fish made us realise we needed a sharper filleting knife, so we cooked them whole in foil. One lot we made into delicious fish patties. Entertainment was provided, just metres from our camp, by the many pelicans who live there. Up to perhaps 50+ of them. Just walk onto the beach with a bucket, & within moments they could be seen skidding in to land on the water close by. Walk across to the fish cleaning 'table' excited them still further. They really are quite majestic birds. A bush walk took us past 'Crocodile Rock' & up to Moores Lookout where we could see right across the large estuary out to the ocean. As with the Oldfield river, there was a sand bar across the mouth of the river, cutting it off from the sea. As we walked back to camp we passed a swarm of wild bees 'hanging' in a tree. Our water supplies were getting a bit low, so when it rained we were able to collect rainwater which ran off the bus & our awning. This provided enough to keep us going, including a couple of luxuriously long hot showers as well as drinking water.

1st February -3rd February 2009

Having left Millers Point, we stopped at the small township of Welstead, on the highway, where we did a minor shop, & made use of their excellent hot shower facilities for $2 each. From Welstead we continued to the township of Manypeaks where we took a left, heading again to the coast, this time to another recommended spot - Betty's Beach. We had been told it was a good camp spot. It wasn't, rather it was a fantastic camp spot. Accessed by a steep dirt road (which the bus handled without drama) the outlook was stunning, blue ocean set against a backdrop of mountains, thick greenery, & granite outcrops. No water. Pit toilets. Best of all was the 'luxury' of being camped on soft grass, sheltered in amongst the scrub. Wildlife was interesting. The local goanna population (Heath Monitors) were up to 1.5 metres long, & often visited our camp. Out on the rocks were large black lizards sunbaking, which we identified as 'King Skinks'. We also had a visit from a small marsupial that we have been unable to identify....... perhaps a 'Pademelon'? I'll include a photo, so if any reader is able to identify it, please let us know.

There are other camp spots close to Bettys beach, at East Bay & Norman's Beach. I explored both in the bike. East Bay is small & tight, we would have struggled to get a spot, & would have needed to remove the trailer to turn around. Lovely intimate little spot right on the waterfront though. I did see a hire motorhome all alone at Norman's Beach but don't quite know how they had managed to get across the quite lengthy sections of soft sand on the way in.

Betty's Beach is a commercial fishing area for a couple of months each year. Fishermen with small boats net the bay for Australian Salmon. The camp site is dotted with old fishermen's tin shacks, & fishermen have priority of access during the salmon season. Not sure how they will go this year as apparently last years salmon price was so low that most fishermen didn't bother to put their boats in the water. Despite being quite a reasonable eating fish, the salmon that are netted are mainly sent over to Victoria to be processed into tinned cat food!

Our time at Betty's salso saw us having to deal with a couple of troubles, the sort that are a nuisance when on the road. Firstly I developed toothache which I managed to keep under control with various mouthwashes until we reached Albany & dental services. Secondly our Charge equaliser (CE) karked it. The CE's job was to maintain an equal charge across the batteries in our 24v battery bank, whilst allowing us to tap 12v off it, supplying power for lights, tv etc. With it failing, the result was that one of the battery pair was fully charged, whilst the other was dischrged. Not good. Luckily I sussed we had a problem before the battery was completely flat (only down to 12.6v). We were able to manage using our other set of house batteries (different stand alone system - primarily to power the fridge), but ordered a 24 to 12v converter (reducer) to replace the CE. This will take until next week to arrive, but we can manage short term if we don't watch tv, & use our LED extension light plugged into the fridge system.

4th February 2009

Arrived in Albany, finding it a friendly & historic town. The set up for travellers such as us, at the visitor info centre, in the middle of town, was very welcome. Info, long parking bays, water supplies, showers & toilets all in a central location made stopping here very easy. We had the bus serviced, & stayed in the Big4 CP overnight so that we could recharge our flattened battery on mains power & get 2 weeks worth of washing done. MrsTea reported finding an excellent book exchange in town, returning to the bus with a new selection of reading matter.

5th February 2009

Visited the dentist. Having arrived at the reception area, the receptionist smiled accommodatingly when I asked if we were at the correct 'House of fear & pain'!  :-) Thankfully I didn't need to get anything painful done, so no need for the cold sweat I'd worked up! A course of antibiotics to treat the gum infection resulting from a 'peridontal' pocket' was the outcome. Afterwards we drove out to the Torndirrup National Park to see the picturesque Albany coastline & to get a better sense of the town by seeing it from the Stoney Point lookout, from where we could see not only the town, but all the bays surrounding it. Several large ships were in the bay. Rather than return for another night at the CP, we drove to the boat ramp/marina at Emu Point at the north eastern end of town where we were able to freecamp overnight alongside the jetties where I caught a few more fish, after we had had an excellent feed from the fish & chip shop (The Squid Shack') just metres from our overnight spot.

6th February 2009

Still in Albany. I am sitting in a 'Woolies' car park typing this, whilst MrsTea is doing a 'big shop'. Once completed we intend to drive about 80kms inland to visit the Stirling Ranges NP for a few days. Hopefully when we return to Albany next week our mail will have arrived at the post office (forwarded mail from home as well as the 24v to 12v converter I (mail)ordered. We had been told the converter would be sent by 'overnight' Express mail. When  enquiring at the PO about our parcels yesterday, we were told that 'overnight' deliveries would take at least 3 working days to reach Albany. Bugger!

Please click HERE for more photos