0019 Preparing to go to England

February and March 2017

And the Kimberley, and Mongolia !

Soon after we got back to the Gold Coast, Damien flew over from Perth to pick up his old Toyota van which had sat here for 3 years in our driveway.  I had put a new battery in it at the end of last year, and it seemed to start up OK, but Damien wanted to load it all up with his heavy tools, compressor, welding equipment, bicycles, surf skis, and lots more, and drive it back across the Nullarbor.  He had done some work on the engine 3 or 4 years ago when he was living here, putting on a new cylinder head, but it has over 400,000 kms on it, which is quite a lot for a petrol engine.  In addition, he brought his 5 year old daughter Poppie with him for the adventure, which Janet and I weren’t too sure about.   Hmmmm.

0018 From Perth back to the Gold Coast

6-10^th January 2017

A long, hot drive, and we lose our mattresses !

Perth to Balladonia Rocks (Day 1).

The road out of Perth

The journey back home from Perth only took 5 days because we went directly east to Kalgoorlie instead of coming round the south coast through Albany and Esperance.  This made it a bit easier, but this time our enemy was going to be heat rather than distance – It was now well into summer and I was keeping watch on the projected temperatures for the next few days, and we decided that if at any stage it got too hot for camping, we would go into a motel instead.  But it would have to be a pet friendly one because obviously if it was too hot for us to sleep in the car, it would also be too hot for Trooper given that he wears a fur coat !  With that in mind we set off east, following the amazing water pipeline to Kalgoorlie that was built between 1896 and 1903.

0017 Christmas break in Perth

21^st Dec 2016 – 6^th Jan 2017.

Relaxing in Perth.

Poppie & Trooper had a great time together

3 weeks in Perth – And after that drive, Trooper wasn’t the only one to enjoy sitting in one place for a while !!   Poppie and Trooper were happy to see each other – Mainly because it gave both of them someone to play with when the adults were not interested !!  And a new and very squeaky ball gave both of them endless hours of fun, both in the house and in the park during our morning and afternoon walks.

0014/0015/0016/0016b Coonabarabran through to Perth

16^th - 20th Dec 2016

Feral goats, Emus, and rain

  

0014  Coonabarabran to Olary Creek

16th Dec 2016

Olary Creek camp site

Through Broken Hill which doesn’t have a lot to offer, and then we kept going for  about 200 kms until I found a very nice off road area next to a dry Creek Bed, yet high enough up that any possible rain wasn’t going to cause me a problem !   Lots of emu and kangaroo foot prints in the river bed, but didn’t see a single living thing.  I had a great steak for supper, and ate up as many veggies as possible knowing there was a Fruit and Vegetable Quarantine place only 50 kms further up the road tomorrow, and turned in at about 8 pm, both of us exhausted after a long day.  932 kms completed today.

0013 Off to Perth - Gold Coast to Coonabarabran

15^th Dec 2016

A Day of Contrasts

Europe compared to Australia, size wise

Today was the day for us to set off on our 4500 km journey from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Perth in Western Australia – All the way across on the other side of the country.  Even if I had started further north in Cairns, I might have been able to do it on a shorter route by coming acorss the top.  As it was, the distance is about the same as in Europe if I drove from the Ukraine to the very far west coast of Portugal – In fact, a few hundred kms into the Atlantic !  So it is a long trip, especially when you are the only driver.  (To date, Trooper has declined to get his licence !).  I was planning on 5-6 days to get there – I will find out later how good my plan is !

0012 A boat ride in Surfers Paradise

November 2016

Big moons, big boats, and a big Healey !

A big moon over Benowa

Still working around the house a lot of the time, cutting hedges, (someone else does the lawns !), weeding pathways, and generally catching up on all the other things that need doing.  Also spending quite a lot of time working on Troopie trying to do some of the things that I found that I wanted to change after the trip – nothing major – Just trying to make things better.