We got blown off the Nullarbor!
Metaphorically and literally. At one point the rainwater was being blown back over the cliff into our faces.
AND
Frodo now has graduated to big boy pants! The big 200,000kms!
I suppose when you drive 3,000kms in 3 weeks that will likely happen.
Yep, 3,000kms in just under 3 weeks - there or thereabouts. Fair whack of movement innit.
CURRENT STATE OF PLAY
I believe last time we were in touch we were getting deep into Margaret River's main export -
Hangovers.
Nah just kidding. We left the wine tasting and went (on a friendly recommendation) to go and get some Gin in us.
West Winds Distillery is the 3rd or 4th largest Distillery in Australia, or so the Head Distiller advised us. This was a super cool experience for us. Both of us have done tastings before, but never have we had a distiller give us the rundown of what their products are about. We spent about an hour sipping through West Winds entire inventory with Gary regaling us on how, why and what botanicals they use. Safe to say we remember none of his advice - 4 gin shots each ya know, glad KL was DD 😉.
What I do recall, is West Winds modus operandi is the use of Australian botanicals. They employ specialist contractors to go bush and bring them a haul of local and indigenous botanicals, including wild tomatoes (did not realise AU had indigenous toms) and strawberry gum leaves - yep, they smelt more strawberry than a Woolies strawb - cwazy.
After a lovely dinner our in the local Italian joint with some fellow traveller mates (I know, we made friends 🤓) we failed at surfing once more. We were literally unstrapping our surfboards when we saw all the surfers hoof off the beach and up to the carpark. Strange I think to myself. One fellow sees me wrestling with the straps and comes over 'Don't bother mate, we just had a 4m shark swim under us. We're all leaving'.
Righto, thanks matey. That's a definite NOPE from us too.
That was in Gracetown, slightly North of Margaret River. We then decide it's time to hit the road South.
Right.
Buckle up bois, because we are gonna cover a fair few miles!
Gracetown → Hamelin Bay → Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse →Augusta → Pemberton → Yeagarup → Tingledale → Denmark → Albany → Esperance → Norseman → Nullarbor → Streaky Bay
Yeh might be wondering why the hitlist in such a short amount of time?
Well, it's safe to say that we are fair weather sailors. We follow the sun. The further South we went the more wind and rain we encountered. Not ideal, but it is what it is.
Our travel itinerary has literally been defined by 3 things:
Is the weather good? Yes - we stay. No - we move on.
Is it easy and budget friendly camping? Yes - we stay. No - we move on.
Can we adventure nearby? Yes - we stay. No - we move on.
Literally it.
Over the course of this trip, we have stayed longer in places we thought would be an overnight stop and shorter in places we thought would be a week plus.
E.g. Esperance.
The plan was to be in Esperance for +/- 1-2weeks. We were there for 4 hours 😅.
We drove in and the wind was howling. The rain was on and off and it was cold. Perusing the forecast showed much the same as this for the next 7-10 days. Sad face. It was also Caravan Parks and/or hostels nearby with either 'illegal' camping or a big drive to budget friendly campsites. Now I'm not gonna get all high and mighty and say we haven't done a cheeky camping here and there (heh our entire time in Exmouth), but we need to feel comfortable doing it, otherwise, a certain someone gets stressed and spends all night worrying. Then another certain someone cops it from grizzly pants the next day 😂.
In the end Esperance was thrown into the too hard basket and we left.
What we were sad about thought was how quickly we moved through the area between Augusta and Albany.
It was amazing country and camping. We zigzagged in and off the coast, between forests and beaches. Granite rocks, giant trees and turquoise ocean water was magical. We camped on the banks of rivers and under massive pines. It was so enjoyable.
But, we rookied out, and didn't realise how quickly it would come to an end. We thought it was endless and then suddenly, after Albany, we hit more arid wilderness areas, again.
Bugger.
Between Margaret River and Exmouth, we were able to tick a few things off at least -
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse - from a distance though, bastards wanted $10 entry fee pp:
Swam with some nudists (I'm sure you can understand why there are limited photos 😏) in Blackwood River (largest river in the South-West):
Climbing Mount Frankland:
Walking around and through some of the largest trees in the Country - King Jarrah and the Tinglewoods
Swimming in Greens Pool and climbing on the Elephant Rocks:
Hiking our top day hike of the trip so far - Bald Head trail near Albany:
Driving the Great Ocean Drive and then swimming at twilight beach, Esperance - braving the wind and cold!
There is so much to do on this coastline! It is ridiculous. We felt like we've done so much, but then we've also missed so much. That's the roll of the dice I suppose.
Ok.
Let's talk Nullarbor.
It is inevitable. You have to drive it if you want to follow the coastal route between Perth and Radelaide.
It was wild.
The gnarliest weather we have had this entire trip.
40-50 km/hour winds with gusts up to 70kms. Rain. Lightning and thunder.
The plan was to camp along the iconic cliffs for a couple of nights with potentially a stopover at the roadhouse.
We did none of that.
We didn't even camp on the cliff. We pulled over with the intention of doing this, but the wind was too much. We couldn't use our stove to cook and were nervous about putting our RTT up. Instead, we hoofed toward the roadhouse thinking we could park up and grab a feed there. Nope. We got done by the timezone difference! Haha we thought we were pulling in at around 630pm to find everything shut and dark. We looked at each other thinking so odd everything was closed so early. I mean it was still light outside (we got sporadic glimpses of sunlight between the storm clouds. We then checked our phones and saw that it was 9:15PM SA time. What absolute rookies!
In the end we managed to bunker down behind a massive gravel mound and some trees a few kms inland.
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. The hectic weather made for some dramatic scenery and the cliff faces were insane!
A top highlight of the trip so far and a true Nullarbor experience.
LOOKAHEAD
The last few days we've taken some time off driving and chilled out in Streaky Bay. The weather has finally calmed down and we've had some beautifully sunny days. Streaky bay is a classic sleepy coastal town. Pub, a few shops, a jetty and some friendly locals - who have given us some nice tips for nearby.
The plan of attack from here is to check out the pink lake, swim with sea lions and do some backflips off the jetty into the jetty pool - we warned not to swim outside of it - sharks!
Anyways, we hope you all have had a fabulous weekend!
Keep on keepin’ on and as always.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Love KL & GL.
Key Travel Stats:
Distance travelled: 27,770kms
Wild animal of the week: Brumbies
Current Map posi:
