We are on three months long service leave and this is the story of our trip around Australia. We are writing this blog (and the kids ones (see links in sidebar)) primarily for ourselves to have a memory to look back on but also to share our adventure with friends and family.
The last few days we have been listening to the Christians in the Media/Annandale Community Church bible talks on the podcast in the car. We've only heard the ones by Andrew Laird and Sam Russell so far and they are excellent. Andrew spoke very emotionally on the verse in Philippians 4:4 'Rejoice Allways.' That was a helpful word for us as earlier that day our campervan had just rolled back into John's mercedes.
Sam's Revelation 3 talk looking at Jesus word to the churches was also excellent. We were left asked each other was their areas of our lives where we were living inconsistently.
While Solomon and Hannah are fully engaged Abraham is tempted to drift off to sleep during the bible talk in the car. We have worked out a new incentive. He is able to watch a DVD with the others afterwards in the back seat if he stays awake.
Today was a big driving day, from Fraser Range Station to Eucla. Not our longest trip ever but a big day. We went on a short walk to the station lookout at the start of the day to burn a little energy then we got into the car.
On leaving Fraser Range we headed first through Australia's largest eucalypt forest on the edge of the Nullabor.
First stop was Balladonia Station. Balladonia has had one day of fame. When Skylab crashed on it in 1979. There was a great little story about US President Jimmy Carter ringing the petrol station to say sorry about the American Space Craft accidentally crashing on their cattle station and offering to put things right.
Then just out of Balladonia was the start of the 90 mile stretch (146.6 km) of straight road. There was another couple parked there who offered to take a photo of our whole family in front of the sign (but he put his finger over the lens so didn't succeed).
We stopped at a Blowhole - only to be disappointed that it was an air blowhole not a water blowhole. And we couldn't really feel much air coming out of it. All a bit underwhelming.
Then there was a few more petrol stations and we finally stopped at Eucla. Just short of the SA border. On;y $20 for accomodation here. Interesting though that they are so short of water that there are no drinking water taps at the caravan park to attach the campervan.
There were two stretches of highway with RFDS landing strips marked. We listened to Sam Russell's talk on Revelation 2 today. I am impressed at the kids concentration. Sam spoke for 54 minutes and they paid attention well. Then the kids watched another two episodes of Lockie Leonard and Star Wars.
We pulled in to Fraser Range Station 100km east of Norseman for the evening. We stopped on a whim a little earlier than we had planned (4pm). We stopped because we liked the romantic idea of an evening on a cattle station. They were promising station tours, outback life etc. However the owners have destocked and are selling the station, and the guy temporarily in charge of the was from Adelaide and although very friendly it wasn't really what we had expected.
It was freezing in the middle of the night (cold winds across the desert). I am sitting in the car writing this now as the cold wind blows outside and we are about to go on a walk to check out the cattle station before heading off for the day.
After six weeks of filing in the Adelaide couple temporarily running the campground are totally bored and so spoke to us more than any other campground manager.
Cheapest site so far: $25. But you had to pay a $1 for a shower.
We drove 200km north to Norseman, which marks the start of the Nullabor Plain. Norseman is a gold city. It started when a horse called Norseman got some quartz with gold in it stuck in it's hoof. The owner inspecting the horses hoof found the quartz with gold, made a land claim, the town started and the gold rush was on. In the first year or so they mined 4,000 ounces of gold and towns population boomed. Now they mine 100,000 ounces per year through the Norseman Gold Mining Company. I thought Norseman was a nice town. There were some quaint character things - most notably a statue of Norseman (the horse) and a series of galvanised iron camels.
Cathie has always been very competitive. But I found a new way today. There was a park with see-saws. Now I hadn't noticed that we don't have see-saws any more in NSW. But our children have grown up without learning to see-saw. So we gave them a go on the Norseman see saws (which were very high quality see saws). Cathie is a competitive aggressive see sawer. I am a more passive see sawer. I didn't much enjoy see sawing with her. But Cathie and Solomon had a lovely competitive aggressive see saw duel and they were both happy.
The kids have been setting up the camper trailer on their own for a week or so now. Today they did most of the packing up while Cathie and I had a chat. When we set off we headed down to the beach to look for Solomon's hat and thong that he lost yesterday while fishing (they were blown off the jetty in the wind). Someone had told him there was a chance they may be washed up on the beach.
Anyway we didn't see Solomon's hat or thong, but we saw something much better, a sea lion. First we spotted him sunbaking on the beach. Then we saw him head into the water following a fisherman along the jetty. We worked out that the sea lions keep a close eye on the fishermen. They are interested in eating the scraps when the fishermen clean the fish that they have just caught. The sea lion was joined by a mate and then it headed back up on to the beach. It was a lovely surprise and enormously satisfying.
A 500 kilometer drive east to Esperance. Pretty uneventful. We arrived at 4pm and had a lovely campsite on the front row of the caravan park overlooking the kids park, overlooking the beach. Esperance claims to have the best beaches in Australia, but it was a little windy to enjoy them. (I watched the last two episodes of season three of the west wing, Cathie had a sleep. Abraham and Solomon went fishing from the Esperance Jetty.
Coming out of Esperance I was pulled over after going through a roundabout. Apparently WA has different indicator laws on roundabouts to NSW and VIC. I was traveling straight through the roundabout and so hadn't indicated (which is the correct way to do it in NSW). But as I was in WA I should have indicated on exit. I said I wouldn't do it again and was leaving the state immediately and that there probably weren't any more roundabouts between here at the WA border. They let me go with a grin!
I hadn't heard of this kids TV program. But the Smith's in Perth gave us the series one DVD. It was filmed in Albany were I am writing from now. We've really enjoyed the first six episodes which we watched over the last few days. And we are about to go looking around Albany to see where it was filmed.
When I last visited the Whaling Station in 1976 it was still an operating whaling station, the last operating whaling station on the Australian mainland. There was an extraordinary stench from where they guys worked cutting up the whales for whale blubber. Whaling was banned in Australia in 1978 and now all that is a thing of the past.
The whaling station is now a museum, a historical record of the Australian whaling industry.
We arrived at 3:08 and joined the 3pm tour. The whaling station is well set up for tourists. There was an excellent audio presentation on the flencing deck (the deck where they cut up the whales) and four video presentations, one shown in each of the great tanks where they used to store the whale oil. The video presentations were varied: one shown on the floor, another a three screen presentation, one in 3D and the third using a holograph technique.
And we were able to explore the last and largest whaling vessel used in Australia.
So why was I so disappointed with the whaling station? The information, content and presentation was excellent. But the guide made me feel like cattle. I felt rushed through. They had a work crew putting down new tarmac outside the video presentations meaning that I wasn't able to hear the presentations. They felt to me like a successful business that had too many customers and had now grown complacent.
Another night in Albany and our first bath in 70+ days - Wednesday November 12 We left the whaling station at five and didn't feel like setting off for Esperance (or anywhere for that matter). So we went to the other Big-4 in Albany (not wanting to go back to the same park that we had left that morning - as it felt a little weird to have packed the campervan, driven around all day and then driven back with the campervan to the same park). This one was excellent. It had a family bathroom and a bath.
I don't have many baths. But not having had one for 70 days it was lovely for all of us.
And we loved playing table tennis and pool in the games room in the morning.
Wednesday morning we woke up slowly, packed the campervan and headed out to the shops. There were a few things to do. We had missed buying meat for the trip to Adelaide (when we were in Perth) so we needed to do that before heading across the Nullabor. Plus we had to get our campervan's spare tyre repaired.
Anyway it took a while and it was half past two by the time we had been to the tourist info station and had lunch and were on our way to Albany Whaling Station.
On the way to the whaling station I reminded Cathie and the kids about my last trip there in 1976 when I got lost in the national park. I was running ahead with my sister Natasha when we had an argument about which way to go. She said to go one way, I said the other. She was right, I was wrong. I was lost for hours in the park.
Cathie on her way up the Gloucster tree In 1976 when in sixth class on a trip across Australia with my parents and three sisters I climbed the 60+ meter Gloucster Tree with my dad (my memory at the time was that it was the tallest tree in Australia). I am fairly sure that my mum and three sisters sat out. But as soon as our kids heard that I had climbed it the lobbying started.
I don't remember that in 1976 there was a sign against children climbing the tree. Anyway that I had climbed it when in sixth class meant that the junior lobbiers were not going to be dissuaded. Cathie and I capitulated and up we went. Abraham first, Cathie second, Solomon third, then Hannah and then me.
During the climb the NRMA rang to ask me about Sunday's accident (I had lodged the claim yesterday). I explained that I was halfway up Australia's tallest tree and they offered to call back.
Cape Leewin is the windiest part of Western Australia. It's the place where the Southern and Indian Ocean's meet. There have been 23 ships wrecked off Cape Leewin but only one since the lighthouse was built 100+ years ago (a visionary decision by the Perth Colony unsupported by the Eastern Colonies).
Although the winds were only 27 knots when we were there, they told us stories of the lighthouse keepers cat being blown off the top landing of the lighthouse and being blown several hundred meters through the air and landing bruised and shaken half a kilometer away.
Cathie had a nice time in the coffee shop while the kids and I climbed the lighthouse.
Lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, the corner of the continent. Southern vs Indian Oceans.
We arrived at Cape Leewin just after six. The lighthouse was closed but Cathie had a bit of a look around while the rest of us waited in the car - it was freezing. Cape Leewin is the far south western tip of Australia. We decided to stop for the night at Augusta and to come back in the morning.
We were heading for the continent's south west corner but on the way Abraham was looking at the South West West Australia tourist brochures and as we drove asked if we could stop at a cave - so we headed to cave road.
We stopped at 4pm and after paying they gave us flashlights and helmets. We headed into the cave. You could turn right and go underground in the dark for 200 meters and then come back to the entrance and go left for 200meters. First we went right as their was a school ground doing abseiling in the left hand wing.
The caves were great. On the first trip we enjoyed seeing stalagmites etc. Two children got in trouble for touching the columns and had to sit out for part of the exploration.
When we headed left it was great to watch a year ten group absailing down a tunnel into the caves and to think that in just a few years our kids will be old enough to do this.
The jetty at Brusselton is 1.5killometers long. I took the kids fishing. Well Solomon and Abraham fished and Hannah and I walked to the end of the jetty and back. We met a couple of guys over from Lismore for a friends wedding who coached the boys in fishing which was good and left Brusselton after lunch.
Our friend Kym Fuhrmann used to work at ABC Bunbury and frequently commuted back to Perth to see her parents and attend St Matthews, Shenton Park. We sought out the ABC and had our photos taken there.
The ABC in Bunbury is on Wittanoom street. We have seen lots of Wittanmoon streets in WA. But as reported below the town itself has vanished.
Lunch with the Wheelers and afternoon with the Smiths
It is a wonderful thing the Christian gospel. I was able to apologise. John was able to forgive me. John explained to our kids that in this situation one should give thanks that no one is hurt and there is no point being angry. They treated us to a lovely lunch at their local Chinese. (The campervan is insured and I'll sort it out with the NRMA tomorrow).
Steele family with Shelly Smith at Dalkeish Anglican
After lunch we headed back to Peter Smiths where I discovered that I had damaged the campervan's right hand wheel. So Peter helped me change the tyre and then we headed out to a coffee shop before heading south.
Now here's an embarassing story. Siew came in our car to the resteraunt. Cathie went with John in their mercedes. First mistake I forgot to take the security lock off the campervan wheel and drove off. The lock dragged on the ground making a huge amount of noise, damaging our tyre in the process, but didn't hinder our progress (and we couldn't hear the noise from inside the car).
We stopped on Alexander Road in Dalkeith just ahead of the Waratah Avenue intersection (there was honking from the car behind). It was John urgently trying to get our attention to let us know about the dragging lock.
I stopped on the road which is almost level but is a slight uphill incline. John stopped about three meters behind me and hopped out to point out the problem. I felt like an idiot.
It was clear I needed to reverse a little and relieve the pressure of the lock pressing against the tyre and wheel and pray that this fixed things and didn't make the problem worse.
Second mistake I reversed a little then stopped, put the handbrake on and hopped out to see what I should do next (had I gone too far or too little?).
Then I made my second mistake: Although I did put the handbrake on (when I hopped out) I failed to put the car into park. There was a slight incline and the handbrake wasn't on tightly enough to stop the combined weight of the car and trailer rolling.
Our car and van rolled down the hill in reverse. Siew (in the passenger seat tried to stop the car by pulling the handbrake on harder but the momentum was too much). I raced back to the car jumped in and slammed the gears into park. But it was too late. The spare wheel on the back of the campervan crashed into John's mercedes' front light. The mercedes' right front light was smashed, the light's windscreen wiper bent and the car's right front grill was bent.
John's car was parked behind me at the time. It was completely my error. The significant damage was to his front right headlight and front grill.
Steele family with Shelly Smith at Dalkeish Anglican Yesterday we visited my father's old home at Darlington. On the phone from Sydney my dad had suggested that we knock next door at the Wheeler's house. Dad became great friends with the Wheeler boys when he was living in Darlington half a century ago. Anyway for various reasons we didn't.
This morning (after a very efficient campervan packup) we were thinking we might go to St Alban's in Perth where John and Siew Wheeler go to church (John Wheeler was dad's best friend from childhood and late became the father of Jeremy (husband of my sister Natasha).
Anyway we decided not to go to St Albans and instead to see another friend Peter Smith, the minister at Dalkeish Anglican. As we arrived at Dalkiesh Anglican, I attached the security lock to the campervan trailer wheel and we headed into church.
Then what a surprise as we were singing the opening songs I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was John Wheeler. He and Siew had transfered to Dalkeish Anglican four years ago.
It was great to see them and they took us out to lunch at their local Chinese resteraunt.
While we were at church and the kids were at kids church there was a fire in the Sunday School. I'm planning to post a video of the kids explaining what happened.
Photo of Dalkeish Anglican's excellent teenagers space!
Solomon has been wanting to visit Fremantle mainly I think because it is the home of the dockers. So having been to the Bells, the Chocolate Factory and our ancestral home we headed west to the Port city of Fremantle.
We went to the jail because that was the only place in Fremantle we had heard of. Apparently Western Australia began as a free colony, but they ran into trouble and needed more labor so they asked Britain to send them some prisoners (NSW and Victoria had said they didn't want any more at this stage).
The convicts arrived and were immediately set to work to build a jail. This jail stayed in operation until 1993. It was finally closed because it didn't have any toilet system and the buckets used smelt so dreadful (two men per cell, buckets only emptied once per day).
We saw the gallows where they executed prisoners. They told us of the 44 people who went into the room and never left. One of them I think was 15 year old John Gavin.
My father's childhood home only 3999 km from Sydney
We headed east to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and then visited my dad's childhood home: Blackwood in Dalry Road, Darlington. I asked Solomon to do a little explanation piece for the camera about this house. Solomon William Michael Steele was named after my father's father: William Michael Steele. I thought I would include that here.
Around that time I checked on the NAVMAN how far we were from home. At that very moment we slipped back from 4000km to 3999km. This is the closest we have been to home for a long time.
We've tried the last two days to check out the Swan Bells and missed out both days. Abraham was really keen so first thing this morning we headed into town (amazing that one can easily get a park two blocks from the center of Perth). Anyway we paid our money and headed up.
The bells were a gift from the London church St Martins in the Fields and are spectacularly displayed. I was interested to see inside the tower a clock from a church in Bishopscourt in London. The church was destroyed in an IRA bombing and the clock rescued and later given to the city of Perth.
We were able to climb right to the top of the Belltower (which they claim is the world's largest musical instrument) and I was able to take these photos. This one shows how close we are to the center of the city. This one shows how close we were able to park (see if you can spot where the jeep is!)
Then we caught the Perth tram around the city and Kings Park. The tram is actually a tourist bus with an excellent commentary and is a great way of seeing around the city before heading back to pick up the car.
It was an excellent day. Perth is a lovely city (Kym are you reading this?).
In the evening I took Solomon on a car ride to check out the AFL ground Subiaco Oval.
At the mint we heard about the two men who's statues are out the front who first discovered gold in WA and started this states first minerals boom. It was amazing to hear about the many people who arrived in the colony and then discovered they had to walk 600km's to Kalgoorlie. It was great to see the gold pour but they wouldn't let us take photos inside. Abraham's holding a plastic model of the biggest gold chunk ever discovered. Afterwards we went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
The things that were closed yesterday were open today.
We walked past the old Supreme Court building that was closed and this time the front door was open. Inside there was a year eight class on a school excursion about to enact a trial. We stopped to watch. It was the trial of 15 year old John Gavin. He was an apprentice farm hand who early in the Colony's history killed his bosses' son. He was found not guilty, but then confessed and was then hanged. They gave out scripts to the child playing the judge, the barristers, the witnesses etc. It was great. At the end our kids dressed up in the trial clothes and we checked out the history of the court.
WA as the last state to formally abolish capital punishment as late as 1984 (Astonishing!) The last person to actually be hung in WA was in 1963.
The jeep has run really well. And now that the weather is cooler it's been running at about 70 degrees - way down on the 100 degrees that it was running at in the 40 plus degree heat (I had never noticed the outside temperature having an impact on engine temperature before). But then I have never driven through hot desert before.
Anyway we are about to embark on the trip back across the Nullabor and so took it along to get a service to check all was A-OK.
We dropped it off on the south side of Perth and caught the bus into town.
I feel compelled to point out that I left for the bathroom before the stove was lit and the fire broke out and returned from having a shower after it was extinguished.
The gas was lit. Somehow the plastic plates were too close to the burner.
The plates caught fire.
Cathie put the fire blanket (that comes with the campervan over the flaming plates). This wasn't successful at putting out the fire. So she used the fire extingisher and put blue powder everywhere but successfully extinguished the fire.
When I got back everyone was up with stories to tell.
Having finished waiting for the windscreen I was impatient to explore so I took Hannah, Solomon and Abraham into town.
We arrived at Perth Mint at 4pm (too late for the last tour of the day), then walked down to the river and discovered that the Swan Bells were also closed. Then we walked up past the Old Supreme Court which was also closed.
Then we caught the Red Cat (A free bus on a circular route) all the way around the city back to our our car and drove home.
The only place that was open was St George's Anglican Cathdral, Perth.
This is a photo of Abraham in the Cathedral pulpit.
Abraham believes in the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
It's so nice to be back in a place with 3G mobile coverage (and hence a reasonable internet speed). We haven't had 3G since leaving Darwin. I am blogging from the coffee shop near Wayne's Windscreens.
They have just called me to let me know that the force with which our car driver's window was hit has damaged the automatic winding mechanism as well and that will also need to be replaced. So I am waiting while they work out how to get that part.
It's quite nice having a quiet day. When I get home we shall go exploring Perth.
We decided to have a quite day in Perth doing life admin (primarly shopping) so we headed to Belmont Shopping Center (leaving Hannah at the campervan to do her blogging and email friends).
I bought a 1 terrabite hard drive ($199 from Dick Smith) to put the video I have taken on this trip on (as the camera's hard drive is full). Then we shopped for ages, buying everything we will need till Adelaide (except for meat which we will buy on our last day in Perth).
On returning to the car park we discovered that the car driver's side window had been smashed. Nothing had been taken.
It was cold and we were tired so we headed back to the campervan. Kate came over to our campervan for dinner. The boys waited at the entrance to the yard to meet her and escort her in (which was cute).
The day began with news from Hannah that the rain in Perth was leaking onto her bed. The lining in the roof near the air conditioner had a huge puddle gathered in it.
I think what may have happened is that the roof of the camper might be completely flat (we are parked on a flat concrete slab) and so with the rain a large puddle might have gathered on the campervan roof. Anyway it's not good. But it has been managable so I will raise it with Dean at Getabout Campers when we get back to Sydney.
On the way south from Geraldton to Perth we only had one stop: The Pinnacles.
No one knows quite how they were formed but they are amazing. The fun bit was that you didn't just get to look over the top of them from a lookout, but you were able to drive through the desurt of them. This was fun.
They had a sign at the entrance to the national park saying that we were not allowed to bring the campervan in so we left it at the entrance. As it happened it would have been fine to bring it in all the way to the interpretive center (Amazing they don't seem to be calling them 'Visitors Center' now they seem to be calling them 'Interpretive Center').
It was a long drive on the Tuesday all the way into Perth. We arrived at our Caravan Park at Ascot at 6pm. We quickly set up the campervan (Hannah got changed) and then headed to west perth to Han's resterant for dinner.
On the way on the Great Eastern Highway we saw lots of people looking very well dressed. At first we thought it was a group of people heading from a wedding to a wedding reception. Then we realised that there were too many people for it to be a wedding. It was a few minutes before we remembered that the Melbourne Cup had been run (We have been so out of touch with life the last little while).
We finally got to dinner with Kate a little late and had a very pleasant evening. I first met Kate at Introducing God in 2003. Since then she has become a good friend of Cathie's as well.
