Wildflowers and Walking

 Wednesday 23 September – 182096

The annual Albany Wildflower Show opened today – a fantastic opportunity to see samples of the different types of wildflowers from this area.  There were many wildflowers that were in fact closely related different types, but I had assumed were the same. My favourite types were predominantly banksias and proteas.  Albany Wildflower Show

This afternoon we walked the Irrerup Mount Adelaide Nature Trail (Distance 3.08km, Time 1h, Ascent/Descent 62m). This gave some lovely views in the fine weather this afternoon (contrasted with miserable drizzle this morning). As the sun had come out there were plenty of lizards basking on the trail, thankfully no snakes though. This walk wandered through the bush around the National ANZAC Centre and included a WW2 Command Post that overlooked Ataturk Channel.  We also stopped at a lookout over the water on the way back.  Trails WA Irrerup Mount Adelaide Nature Trail

Middleton Beach

Left: Lake Seppings, Right: Middleton Beach

Swimming, Markets and ANZACs

 Sunday 20 September – 181995

After a long sleep in we had breakfast and went to Middleton Beach for a swim. It was probably very entertaining for the locals watching two Queenslanders get into 16 degrees Celcius ocean water. We swam for about 15 minutes, although most of the time with our faces out as the cold made our sinuses hurt. I quickly lost all feeling in my feet and when we got out my toes were waxy yellow and I struggled to walk normally. We headed back to the van for hot showers to warm up.  Middleton Beach

Next up was the Albany Boatshed Markets which had a variety of lovely items, but were smaller in size than I had expected.  Albany Boatshed Markets  Drew visited the National ANZAC Centre in Albany this afternoon – he spent two to three hours in the main building, enjoying all the multimedia displays. He then explored outside, including the Coastal Gun Emplacement Magazine, the Naval Walk and the Convoy Lookout. We have previously visited this as a family and it is a very informative centre for all ages. National ANZAC Centre

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

Exploring the Nullarbor

Saturday 1 August – 178929

This morning our ParkRun NENDY was Coober Pedy – 445km as the crow flies, but 980km by road. Port August at only 830km by road would have been our easiest to access. Instead, we ran south from our Nullarbor Plains campsite and turned around and came back. After our run we had a billy bath and breakfast. 

We were on the road at 9:45. Lots of exploration today with both short and longer diversions away from the Eyre Highway.

Stop 1 – Great Australian Bight Lookout 1

Stop 2 – Clay Dam Cave

Stop 3 – Koonalda Station. This is a lovely camping spot and we explored the homestead, the shearer’s quarters, blowhole (yes, we could hear it, it sounded like fast flowing underground water) and the shearing shed. Koonalda

Koonalda Blowhole

Stop 4 – Koonalda Cave. This is an impressive cave from ground level. The information signs however revealed it is far more impressive beneath the surface – it is 1.8km long and has three lakes.

On the road between the Eyre Highway and Koonalda Station we crossed the old Eyre Highway which had gone right past the homestead and saw shinglebacks and a rabbit.

Stop 5 – Great Australian Bight Lookout 2

Stop 6 – Great Australian Bight Lookout 3

Stop 7 – Lookout showing beaches after the end of the Bunda Cliffs

Stop 8 – WA border quarantine station. All doors of the car needed to be opened, and the van raised so that the internal fridge could be checked in addition to the Engel in the car.

Stop 9 – Eucla.  The Lest We Forget Memorial and the Eyre Memorial had a beautiful view. 

Also the time zone changes here to Central Western Time, 45mins behind SA during winter.

We are camped for the night at Jilah Rockhole Wayside Stop, arriving about 5:15pm.