Willie creek pearl tour - broome

2 October 2013
Bronwyn and I had a lovely day going on a pearl tour.  We now know alot about them and have a great appreciation for them, sadly unable to purchase any local pearls as the price tag reflects how much time and effort is taken to produce just one.

I got to try one on when I was the closest to guess the price, but I should have waited and guessed the later one.  Mine was only $490 and the strand was $39500.

In the evening the kids did some kite flying on the beach and William played with a sea star out on the bay at low tide.

Broome - cable beach

1 October 2013
Today was just fabulous! We spent the afternoon with our friends at cable beach riding camels and having a picnic while watching the sun set over the ocean. All topped off by a lone bagpiper. Can't get much better than that.

Geraldton

5 - 12 September 2013
Catching up with Carl's parents for the week in geraldton.

Wind! So windy it wakes me through the night.  Luckily we had a couple of nice days but Harry liked the wind because he could fly his kite. Which he's very good at.
One day we drove to kalbarri for the day and we all decided to go there at the end of the week for another week together.

Wave rock

22 August 2013
Left esperance yesterday and spent the night at lake king. Thought it would be nice camped by the lake but it turns out the lake is about ten kms away and a desolate waste land with water.

Today we are camping at brookton but on the way we stopped at wave rock near hyden. The rock is amazing and really is the shape of a wave. We climbed it and walked around the top which gave a fantastic view of the surrounding farm land of wheat and canola.

Tomorrow we get to Perth where the job hunting begins.

Esperance

14 - 21 August 2013
Spent a week in esperance exploring the area but mostly relaxing as the weather was windy, cold and rainy. We checked out cape le Grande national park, home of the whitest beach in Australia at lucky bay. Tried to see cape arid but the road was closed due to water on it. The great ocean drive was good as it took you along the coast and then past pink lake.

The caravan park had great views of the bay and the kids had a blast in the playground especially when there were others to play with.

Nullarbor

12 - 14 August 2013
I was expecting desert while crossing the nullarbor plains however I was presently surprised by scrub, trees (except for the treeless plain) and green grass. There was even water laying in places. The first day driving was good but the second was really windy. The third was a breeze and we made it all of the way to esperance.

On Monday we stopped at the top of the bight to observe the southern right whales. They have their babies there and they feed them up before going south. You couldn't miss them, they were everywhere.

We also stopped at a few lookouts and the last one we camped at for the night. The next night we stopped just shy of balladonia.

In esperance we are staying in a caravan park looking out over the bay. The weather forecast doesn't sound great but we can always hope they've got it wrong. So far it is very windy and a little cold.

Penong

11 August 2013
Started our journey toward the nullarbor. Stopped at ceduna for fuel and made it to penong for the night.

Drove out to point Sinclair where I showed Carl how to catch fish off the jetty. Along the way is lake McDonald which is pink due to the high salt content. We also checked out cactus beach which is famous for surfing. We didn't stay long as it was quite windy and getting late.

Streaky bay

9 - 10 August 2013
Made it to the gorgeous streaky bay. The caravan park is located right on the beach. The kids loved playing there and splashing in the water.

On Saturday we drove to point labatt and observed the sea lions. I really enjoyed it, you looked down on them from a platform on the cliff. You could even hear them.

Elliston

8 August 2013
Left port Lincoln and drove up the road to elliston where we stayed the night. Did a little touring around just to have a look at the coast line. The kids enjoyed playing on the jumping pillow and also at the playground up the street.

Carl went fishing at locks well, the kids and I tagged along. To get down to the beach there are 200 and something steps. Going back up them was a struggle. The beach was spectacular though so it was worth it.

Port Lincoln

1-8 August 2013
We left arno bay and thought we would have a look at tumby bay. As we were driving around our car started making a horrible noise. Carl found our rear diff was the culprit so a quick repair job was done in the car park to get us to port Lincoln.

Turned out we needed the rear diff replaced which meant a week in the lovely port Lincoln. Luckily for us we had another car to get around and have a look.

One day we drove up to coffin bay it was  cold and rainy so we didn't stay there long. The scenery is beautiful everywhere we go.

Due to poor weather and no 4wd we didn't do very much but it was a great time to relax and make new friends.

Arno bay

30 July 2013
Made it as far as Arno bay, which isn't that far from whyalla. We weren't planning on pulling up here but couldn't go past the caravan park on the foreshore with beach and jetty out the front and massive playground out the side.

Today we borrowed some sand surfing boards from the office and headed up the road to port gibbon to surf the dunes. Needless to say it was heaps of fun and we are all tired. More me though I think. We got to see dolphins and sealions while we were there.

Carl is off fishing now. He's been doing quite well with whiting and squid hope it continues.

31 July 2013
We trekked up to port gibbon to do some sand surfing. I couldn't believe the kids, they continually walked up the dunes without complaint. They couldn't get enough of it. We would have been there a lot longer if my legs and bum weren't hurting so much.

While we were there I went for a stroll around the shore line and spotted some dolphins and sea lions. I didn't even see the sea lions until I was right near them, I got a bit of a fright.

Iron knob

We drove to iron knob for a look, it didn't take long.

It was so windy today we didn't do much else but the kids are loving this playground.

Whyalla

26 July 2013
Found a great camp at point lowly right next to a playground. The kids love it. Up the end of the road is a light house.

We drove in and had a look around whyalla. One steel looks to be their main industry getting iron ore from iron knob about 50km away.

Hancock lookout

25July 2013
Found the most picturesque campsite for the night on our way from broken hill to Eyre peninsula, a spot called hancock's lookout.

We had views of the flinders rangers and the Spencer gulf. You could even see the power station at port augusta.

Broken hill

23 July 2013
Priorities with sightseeing we head to singleton where mad max 2 was filmed. We visited the museum dedicated to it. Found an old pub for a bite to eat. Saw one of the locals.

Back in broken hill we went to the pro Hart gallery. Really liked some of his work, pity the wallet isn't big enough to acquire one, settled on a book instead.

Had a stroll around the living desert which is a nature reserve showing the local fauna and flora.

Drove up to see some sculptures on a hill overlooking the town. Thankfully there were plaques to say what the sculptures were.

24 July 2013
Took a trip to the memorial for the miners who had lost their lives in mines at broken hill. As you can see it is very large.

Had a look through the regional arts gallery. Why do they always make places where you need to be quiet, have the loudest echoing rooms with wooden floor boards. As you can imagine our boys had a blast.

Lucky for us we found a huge playground for them and we played there for the rest of the afternoon.

Onward to wa

20 July 2013
Finally we're on the road again, heading to broken hill first. We had a nice drive stopping for the best pies we've had in awhile at Dunedoo. Pulled up at a small place called mendooran with a campsite right on a river for the night.

21 July 2013
Bit chilly without the heater. Had a big day driving couldn't believe how many goats and emus we are seeing. Camped by the road west of cobar at meadow Glen. Popular spot plenty of fellow caravaners. Had a fire, pity we couldn't take it in the van with us.

22 July 2013
Made it to broken hill. William keeps asking where fix it hill is. The town is definitely built around the mine. So much history and interesting aswell.

William's birthday

7 July 2013
Happy birthday William. We started our day with breakfast at McDonald's, it was a brisk walk there was quite a bit of ice laying around.

A few presents and phone calls later it was time to go on a horse stud tour with Craig Benjamin for the day.

There is know way I can regurgitate all the information given to us but we did learn alot and opened our eyes to a whole other world. One we'd never be able to afford unless we come by, oh, 20 mil or so. If you weren't impressed by the horses than the properties certainly did. We visited vinery, arrowfield and darley. Darley being owned by the ruler of Dubai. This property has 30 houses on it to accommodate staff, which they need since he has 430 breeding mares located there. He also has his own plane that transports his horses all over the world. You'll also be glad he supports the local economy by buying everything local. His manager is an Aussie lad who has worked for him for the last 15 years or so.

I could go on and on, just a great day and recommend the tour to anyone.

Aberdeen highland games

6 July 2013
Travelled up the road to Aberdeen to have a gander at the Scottish highland games. The crowd was quite large the competitors a little lite on, however still enjoyable.

The pipe bands sounded and looked fantastic and appeared throughout the day.

We couldn't get over the guys competing in the Scottish games. One event required each of them to lift five balls at weights varying from 100kg to 165kg in the quickest time. The winner did it in 27 seconds. He happens to be the Australian champion.

Other events was to toss a 25kg weight over a high bar. Winning height 14 feet.

Flick a 20 pound sack over a high bar with a pitch fork. Winning height 28 feet. The world record is 36 and a half feet. Really don't know how they do it.

We had a great time but couldn't quite last the whole day.

Scone

3 July 2013
Mama and daddad are visiting for a bit so off we go doing the touristy things around the area. We started at hunta belle, a cheese making place with cafe at muswellbrook. The kids had fun playing with bessy and the adults had fun tasting the cheese. It was all very nice as we came away with a few purchases.

Next we drove toward Denman and stopped at pukara olives where we tasted and once again purchased, olives, olive oil and vinegars.

A quick wine taste at two rivers winery, Denman. A lovely drop or two bought there.

Took the long way home but keen to get stuck into our goodies when we get there.

Merriwa

23 June 2013
After much discussion and umming and arring we decided to go for a Sunday drive. The drive took us through beautiful hilly farming land to merriwa, a quaint little town that seemed to have a lot of eating places compared to anything else.

We had a look at the community arts and crafts shop where they had the most amazing knitted items. So cute some of the baby and little girl outfits. On the outside wall there is a scene with sheep, galas, windmill etc. Made out of iron sheeting.

After having lunch we made our way home with a little detour to find some natural springs. We didn't find them, however we did see some spectacular scenery.

Burning mountain

22 June 2013
Nakeeta and Leyton are visiting us at the moment so we thought we'd have a look at burning mountain near wingen.

We had to cover a fair bit of land on foot, the sign said 4.2km return but after walking it we think it was more like 4.2km one way. William did well walking all of the way up, however was carried all of the way back down.

After working up quite an appetite we stopped at the township's cafe/antiques shop. Will definitely be going back as the food and service was great and there is so much more to look at in the antiques shop. Oh, the cafe has a tree growing in the middle of it.

Scotts park, scone

18 June 2013
Took the boys for a ride on their bikes to a nearby park. When they found the skate park, or if you're Harry, the stunt park, they had a ball. A little nerve racking for me though.