Nannup Flower and Garden Festival and a BIG grocery shop

 Sunday 9 August - 180660

While it was a cold night, it wasn’t much colder than the day. Bluff knoll reported snow and hail yesterday, we were about 100km north of this when it was 6 degrees at 2pm yesterday. I explored the river and campground – there are rapids upstream which cause clouds of bubbles on the water surface.

Driving toward Nannup we saw rabbits crossing the dirt road, sheep country, free range chicken farming and large-scale tree farming. We crossed the Bibbulmun track on the Brockman Highway between Bridgetown and Nannup, north of Donnelly River. We arrived in Nannup just after 10am and had morning tea. We then set off to explore the Nannup Flower and Garden Festival. Despite the cold drizzly weather there were plenty of people and the tulips were beautifully mass planted. Nannup Flower and Garden Festival

We drove to Busselton and have booked into Discovery Parks Busselton for two nights. After setting up and a late lunch, we set out to purchase supplies for the Cape-to-Cape Track and Bibbulmun Track. We went to Anaconda, Woolworths, Coles and Aldi – we still need a few more things for the Bibbulmun which we will get after the Cape-to-Cape.

Dinner in the camp kitchen with a lovely travelling family from Tasmania.

Esperance Foreshore Parkrun and travel in miserable weather

Saturday 8 August - 180114

Esperance Foreshore Parkrun – lovely blue skies at the start, just starting to rain as I finished and by the time we ran back to the van we had been drenched in icy rain. Esperance Foreshore Parkrun

We packed down the van in the rain, since we were already soaked. We were both absolutely frozen by the time we finished. Hot showers and dry clothes before leaving. By the time I had finished my shower I had warmed up enough for my teeth to chatter. Drew had icy fingers, which is unheard of. We left the caravan park just before 10am, refuelled the car and headed towards Ravensthorpe.  Our original plan had been to go to Jerramungup tonight and then hike the Mamang trail over the next two days, however the bom is forecasting a lot of rain and some small hail, so we changed our plans.  We stopped for lunch in Ravensthorpe – freezing wind and 12 degrees.

Today’s drive varied from sunny stretches to gale force wind with rain and back again. Our fuel economy today will have been dreadful, due to a predominantly head wind. The temperature dropped to 6 degrees just before 2pm – the weather today can be summed up a very cold, wet and miserable. The countryside was mainly cultivated farmland, which was in bloom – bright yellow. We saw a few sheep, with lambs, and the occasional group of black cattle. We saw a lot of large groups of Australian Ring Neck Parrots, quite a few galahs and some black cockatoos.  There were several spots where we needed to drive on the wrong side of the road to go around fallen trees.

We have camped for the night at Jayes Bridge Blackwood River – all to ourselves.

Jayes Bridge Camping

 

Esperance Great Ocean Drive and Pink Lake

 Friday 7 August – 180060

This morning we worked out a shopping list for our Cape-to-Cape Track hike and a preliminary list for the Bibbulmun Track hike. It is a bit of a freaky, and daunting, list – including such itemss as 230 nut bars, 95 cup of soups etc. We did our gym programs mid-morning when the caravan park was quieter. Drew cleaned the red dust off the caravan and car, while I completed the 2026 Census online.

After lunch we went to visit Pink Lake, which is not pink but apparently was at some point in the past.  Pink Lake - Esperance

We then drove the Esperance Great Ocean Drive to see the stunning beaches the area is known for. The sea was a little rough, a marine wind warning comes into effect at midnight tonight and it was starting to pick up a little. Great Ocean Drive 

I finished the day with a haircut, to a short style suitable for hiking and not blowing in my face.

Esperance - Tanker Jetty and Rotary Lookout

 Thursday 6 August - 180044

Continued washing, finances and repairs. We visited Esperance Ag Services who were able to supply the necessary washers to repair our tow ball and even offered us the use of their vice to fix it while we were there – great service. 

A trip to Just One More Stitch enabled me to purchase slides for handbag straps which solved my missing piece on the strap of the towing mirror from our Nullarbor crossing with the road trains. Just One More Stitch

Phoned places we wished to drop off resupply boxes along the Bibbulmun Track to find out there preferred packing. Booked campsites and transfers for Cape-to-Cape Track.

We walked out the Tanker Jetty and looked back at the town of Esperance. It was very windy in patches along the outer part of the jetty, but not uniformly.  

The view from the Cannery Lookout was good, but not exceptional. 

The view from the Rotary Lookout at Dempster Head was much more impressive. It gave views back over Esperance as well as toward Twilight Beach. We watched thunderclouds roll in, then headed back to the van before the rain hit. Rotary Lookout Esperance

Life Admin

 Wednesday 5 August - 180035

Today began with a run along the Esperance Foreshore at dawn – magical light.

The rest of the day was taken up with life’s chores – cooking, washing, finances, repairs etc. In the afternoon we visited the Esperance Visitor Centre to find out about WA Parks pass options and camping/hiking in Fitzgerald River National Park.

Esperance Visitor Centre

WA Parks Pass

And more miles again

 Tuesday 4 August - 179736

Overnight was warmer than the previous night. We had hot showers, did gym, had breakfast and packed down. We left just before 9am in light patchy rain. Coming into Norseman the car got filthy from muddy puddles. We stopped briefly in Scadden – they had some nice murals on the facilities of the roadside rest area.

On arrival in Esperance, we headed straight to the supermarket to get fresh fruit and vegetables before having lunch in a park. We have checked into Esperance Bay Holiday Park and unhooked the caravan for the first time since we left home.

Esperance Bay Holiday Park

We also went for a short walk to watch the port and look at the ocean.

Fraser Range Station Stay

 Monday 3 August – 179736

I woke about 5:45am but stayed under the covers until 6:30am as it was cold, windy and dark outside. After a lovely hot shower and breakfast, we set off the explore Fraser Range Station.

Fraser Range Station

The station has four marked walks, all with their own maps.  In hindsight, the walks could all be linked together with options of returning to the caravan park at various points – an overall map showing how they connect would be good.  Our first walk was the Woodland Walk. We could hear a lot more birds than we could see. This is a different type of woodland. The trees have bark that appears like a heavier duty version of paperbark. Our second walk was the Slaven Pass Loop with Summit Walk.  We saw Sturt Desert Peas in bloom, kangaroos, an emu, magpies and Australian Ring Neck Parrots. Walking across the plains it was obvious we were walking on herbaceous plants by the smell – similar to thyme and marjoram. There was also a less common plant that smelled a little like fennel. The view from the summit of Mt Pleasant was wonderful in all directions.

After lunch we walked the Wallaby Ridgeback Walk to Fraser Gorge and back. We did not do the remainder of the walk as this would have taken us back over terrain we covered this morning.  Total walking today just over 20km, 5.5 hours.  A lovely change after a week of sitting in the car.