Steve and Dee's Australian Tour - Part 2: January 2013

Surf Central.SA.

Now we are back in South Australia and staying at McLaren Vale for 6 weeks. We fly to Onslow on the 03/03/13 and return 26/03/13 (Maybe)and We will manage The Ashburton Resort while the managers are on holiday. So of course one of the first places we visited when back in SA was the new Surf Central (SA head quarters) and what a fantastic building, the only thing I feel is missing is a Shop for all the apparel we need as Surf Life Savers.

Whyalla 2.

Some fantastic spots around Whyalla to camp. We have been 3 times before, how ever Marion & Terry still showed us new places, a great couple of days.

Lowdy Point Light house.

The Harbour - Whyalla.

Whyalla city - not as red as it used to be.

Whyalla Surf Life Saving Club.

Ceduna & Whyalla 1.

Crossed the border control and arrived in to Ceduna. Decided to stay here for 2 nights, so we could have a big clean down and relax after our long drive. Went to the pub for evening meal, which was a real treat!! After leaving Ceduna we moved on to Whyalla to visit some friends we meant on the road, Terry & Marion. We had two nights and were spoiled rotten, we even slept in a house!!

Me & the Big Ant at Poochera.

Granite Statue & Steve at Wudinna.

Giant Galah at Kimba (Kimba is half way across Australia).

Whyalla from the look out.

Marion, Terry & Steve at Whyalla Lookout.

A stunning beach near Lowdy point.

Nullarbor.

Arrived at Balladonia road house to have coffee and fix the lights on the trailer. After heading off, we soon hit Australia's longest straight road- 90 Mile!

90 Mile of straight road!!

Lot's of Emu's crossing the road at various points.

The Nullarbor is not as boring as I thought it would be, there was always something to look at and we stopped at most of the road houses, just to get a cold drink and have a walk. At Caiguna road house we had to advance our clocks by 45 minutes!!! Cockabiddy road house was 47 degrees in the shade!!! Madura they say hit 52 degrees, which is where we camped for 1 night. It is extremely windy, dead roo's, emu's and eagles are everywhere. The Nullarbor road house had the big whale. SA/WA border village had the big Roo and the most expensive fuel.

Not sure which one is the Whale!!!

Signs unique to the Nullarbor.

Steve & Rooey II at SA/WA Border Village.

Border village.

A dust storm.

Mt Jagged - Cape Arid National Park.

Once we left Israelite Bay behind us and took the narrow, hilly track towards Mt Jagged, we saw no other traffic, in fact the track we were on didn't look like any body had been on it for a very long time!!! The road is very rocky and at best we travel at 20klm. The topography is stunning.
Once we arrive at Mt jagged, we find 3 campsites and set up camp for the night We also discover the back of the ute has dropped a lot and our stone stomper now has a massive hole in the middle. Steve checked out the ute and thinks it's the springs gone. We also have a swarm of bee's to contend with here. This place is stunning and at night we can see lighting storms all around us and hear the thunder. We also realise that if we get rain we won't be moving any where for a while!! It feels like we are the only people on this planet- just the way we like it!
Next day up and on the track early as we know we have a full day of hard driving in front of us.

A good part of the track.

Steve near a billabong and two unmarked graves.

Look at how the water has worn away at the rock.

Steve with his dirty ute & camper.

Bull dust everywhere!!!!!

A Lizard making a run for it.

So we eventually made it out of Cape Arid National Park!!! Next we move to the Nullarbor and everything is completely covered in bull dust now.

Cape Arid National Park.

Before we get to the Nullarbor, we will just do one last bit of 4 wheel driving, only about 350klm. Off we go a long a narrow track with a lot of very deep sand, our tyres are down and we are going well, until we meet other travellers on the track and we have to get up off the track to let them through, oh my word I thought the trailer was going to roll, Steve managed to keep it up right!!!

Getting the trailer back on the track.

We continue a long the track towards Dynamite bay. We hit some deep sand and had to let the tyres down even further as we got stuck, not for long!! Next it was on to Israelite Bay, where we hoped to camp, unfortunately it was not very nice so on we go.

Israelite Bay - Cape Arid National Park.

The old homestead - Israelite Bay.

The salt lakes go on for ever.

Mount Jagged with heavy cloud cover.

Oh yes we nearly had another accident on the track, there was a short, deep sandy patch on a blind bend, we needed to get speed up to get up it with the trailer on and a big ute was speeding down and we both stopped about 3 inches apart!!! It was close!!!!

Wharton Beach.WA.

New year's eve, we arrived at Orleans Bay caravan park after travelling through Cape Grand National park. Cape Grand is very pretty with several high ranges. The coast is stunning with crystal clear turquoise water and pure white sand. Lucky Bay is very pretty.
New year's eve we went to Wharton beach, well, what can we say we have been to a lot of stunning beaches, how ever this one wins!!! The sand was so squeaky it was like walking on snow. On New Year's day we visited other beaches in the area, Duke of Orleans bay, Hammer Head & Alexander Bay, all pretty beaches. How ever we went back to Wharton beach to spend the day there. The water here is icy cold, yet it was so hot it didn't matter!!! What a fantastic way to see in 2013!!!!