All over the map

Kalbarri has been recommend to us several times and as we come along the coast into town the wind, waves and current are churning and the dirty brown water in the river mouth is leaping about - looks intimidating. We learn that it has been 1 year and 4 days since cyclone Seroja rolled through here destroying businesses and homes, some still are covered in tarps awaiting repair and some stand as ruins like the former cafe at the front of the campground. The campground is long and full to the brim with families on Easter school holidays. We’re in the wayback far corner somewhere but are surrounded on all sides by families with boys - noisy boys who like to play laser tag after dark. It’s hard to fall asleep as our van seems to be some sort of base and one boy even slaps his hand along the van as he walks by, they’re young and I’m sure bedtime is soon.  We spend a few days off the road here, there’s all of 3 shops to look through, the pelican feeding to watch and a long undulating ...

You know those days you get up and no-one seems to be going anywhere fast, that’s today. The plan was to be at the Perth Zoo already but the girls are still in their PJs and Ben is pacing somewhere nearby. I suggest to Ben that the weather would be better for the zoo tomorrow and he looks relieved, he’s dealing with some work stuff so we disappear to the playground for an hour. We have a few issues with the van so we decide to use the afternoon to get them looked at and sort out a Telstra sim before heading into the wilderness that is the Northwestern Coast. As we head across the city the temperature hits 32 degrees, then 36. Its freakishly hot inside while they run a diagnostic which reveals nothing definitive, we borrow their breaker bar and when it comes time to sort paymemt there’s some confusion and they suggest a box of beers would suffice. The poor guy who did the work doesn’t drink so Ben throws in a bottle of coke for him. Tonight we’re stopping in Perth Hills at Ben’s...

Quokka Thud, thud, thud, thud… its endless, it sounds like we’re running down a family of kangaroos but it’s a line of large orange cones which moments ago were sitting patiently across the road guiding the traffic to merge. The open road speed in WA is 110km/h and we’re cruising along with the building traffic on a double lane highway when we notice the other lane slowing and our lane is merging, we are big so slowing down takes time and we overtake three vehicles on our left. We're closing in on the merge zone and the first car zips through, the second cuts us off too and then there is the big angry truck and trailer who plain runs us off the road. I’m angry, I’m terrified, I’m relieved, there’s so many emotions in these split seconds. He was so close and he actually just ran us off the road, I'm speechless. The cars behind him thankfully have stopped and we're back on the road debriefing after a close call when we hear a strange bumping, then a weird thud. Did we just h...

  Augusta  Does Augusta mean gust? It sits on both the West and South coasts, it is blustery and today, also very cold. The late afternoon seems dark as we follow the narrow road between the shorn paddocks, a pair of roos bound across in front of us, leaping over the fence like its a low garden wall away from our shiny roo bars. We learn later they’re found on one property around here as the owner doesn’t shoot them. It’s sheep country here too so the paddocks are neatly trimmed and sand runs along the fence lines. Kelly and Marie welcome us at their front door, it’s been a few years so we enjoy a good catch-up and a wonderful roast dinner followed up by a colourful fruit salad and ice cream, yum.  Before dinner we head out with Marie to let the dog have a run. We head down the lane past Marie’s parents house through the gate and tread carefully through the trees to the edge of the bay. Someone quickly spots a fin offshore and we watch in amazement as several dolphins...

Arriving in Albany feels a bit like a black cloud has lifted, there’s lovely wineries and big trees. We head out to see ‘the gap’ and ‘natural bridge’ which are cool but ben says on the right swell direction they’re amazing as the swell hits the rocks and shoots straight up into the air.  Down the road is a walk to the blowholes, no luck here either but the walk is nice, the weather is warm and the scenery is amazing. We spot some lizards and some hairy caterpillars playing follow the leader.  On our way through town Ben had noticed a car wash and we spend $50 and an hour here trying to make the van look new again. Alila has a go with the water blaster and the pressure is so high she manages to miss the van entirely and spray the poor man next to us. He looks so mad it’s comical. The van is mostly white again and the red dirt left on the concrete is the only evidence of how dirty it was.  We check in at 3pm and although the heat of the day is disappearing we hop in ou...