On the road again
Trip Start
Mar 30, 2008
1
116
144
Trip End
Mar 31, 2009
Esperance,
Western Australia,
Australia
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Friday 19th December - Perth to Esperance, day 1 of relocation, Wave Rock
First off Alex left to pick up the relocation car. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were handed the keys to a huge VW long wheelbase van fitted with all mod cons including toilet and shower and given $210 towards our fuel. We now have to drive this to Adelaide for Britz and there we will pick up another similar car for the journey to Melbourne. For this leg we have paid extra for an additional day so that we can have a relaxed Christmas BBQ, probably in Adelaide.
After picking up the car Alex went into Perth to pick up an important receipt from the Irish guys. This should allow us to claim back our unused license fee with Victoria Roads, but we will see. We were then ready to leave as Clare had packed up the tent and all our worldly belongings. The plan was 700km to get us as close to Esperance as possible before finding a road side rest area. The van was a comfortable smooth ride and unlike 'Betsy' was more than happy cruising at 110kmh (the legal maximum, for those to whom that sounds too fast!)
On route we stopped to look at the famous Granite Wave Rock
1 The long straight Nullarbor Road
. A towering rock that has been carved by the wind a weather into a 20ft wave. There were some confused surfers there who had turned up with their boards! Then back on the road, we completed over 700km and stopped at a roadside rest area 100km out of Esperance. Saturday 20th December - Esperance, swimming at Twilight Beach
It was a short drive today that took us into Esperance. This is a really nice town of a reasonable size and has grown up around an important port. We really enjoyed the feel the town had and after the obligatory library session we headed out along the scenic Great Ocean Drive. There are loads of lovely beaches and fantastic views along here, but the one that grabbed our attention as we approached was Twilight Beach. It won an award for the best Australian beach in 2006. We were stunned by the azure blue water and a few large island sized rocks only a few metres off the beach. Stepping onto the silky white sand was a delight. Alex of course had to brave the current sweeping between the beach and the rock to go an explore. Once on the rock he could walk all the way out along the weathered rocks for about 300m. Swimming back across the gap the visibility was stunning at least 50m! There was not a lot of marine life about, but he managed to have a fight with a swimming crab whilst trying to take a photo.
We had lunch then and after it had settled headed out again together for a snorkel. We found some really cute box fish and terrorised them for a while all in the name of photography
Our new stead
. The plan was to stay at Cape Le Grand for a night before heading out on the Nullabor Plain Road first thing in the morning. We had hoped to stay at Lucky Bay. Unfortunately as we approached there were two problems, firstly the signs saying the campsites were full and secondly the closer we got we could see there were at least three well established bush fires in the area. Instead we decided to put a few more km's away and pointed the bus towards Norseman, finding an overnight rest area just beyond.
Sunday 21st December - 4 sleeps till Christmas! Shocking discovery Twilight bay resting home of the Ring.
Alex made an awful discovery last night. He has lost his wedding ring after three years! Just before we stopped for the evening the discovery was made as he went to fiddle with the ring whilst driving. It was that horrible sinking feeling, we had already driven a long way, making going back impractical. Worse still as we worked through where it might be and examined the photos from the day we realised it was almost certainly lost to Neptune. The water was quite cold at Twilight Bay and in order to get out to the rocks Alex had to swim fast and into the current that was sweeping by. This must be where the ring decided to make a swim for it. We cant blame it really, its a lovely place, better even than Warsash! So now that we have left a part of us in what is probably our favourite location in Australia, we will have to return to Esperance and Twilight Bay sometime to have a look for the Ring!
Waking up to the horrid memory that Als third finger was still naked we set off today on what was to be a long driving day. We were headed across the long Nullabor Plain Road towards Ceduna. On route we came upon miles and miles of not a lot really. We did see some interesting things like 146 km (90 miles) of absolute straight road, the longest straight road section in Australia, and a section of road with a runway marked upon if for emergency use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
After a long day of driving and after completing our 750km we pulled off the road to look for a home for the evening. We were right at the Eastern end of the Nullarbor and found a spot right on the cliffs to watch yet another beautiful decline of our local solar orb, before seeing the other worlds solar emitters appearing in the inky black night sky.
