8/4/20 Hit & Run

 After a few days at Esperance , we headed back toward Albany . It was a bit eerie , not a lot of traffic  and the feeling we shouldn't be out there - not to mention the 40 klm/hr headwind we were driving into - still we were on a mission , we had to be in Albany first thing Monday morning for someone to check out the van and our other slide out problem .

  We arrived at Ravensthorpe and refuelled - plastic gloves were on all the fuel bowsers , town was deathly quiet , it was Saturday , but you still expect to see people , no today . Fuelled up we headed off again , next stop was lunch in a rest area , before the next stop at Jerramungup . This was where we turned off Hwy1 and went to the little town of Ongerup , we'd come this way on the way to Esperance last week , so it was nice to stop somewhere else on the way back .

 We setup after picking our spot , the caretaker came out to see us later on and organised payment . We headed out for a walk , Ongerup is another small town in the wheatbelt region of WA , with large wheat storage facilities , and some really good sporting facilities - a large Aussie rule field/cricket field , bowling greens , tennis & basketball courts and a large clubhouse as well .

  We're also back in salmon gum country , so it goes without saying , I've taken photos of them - beautiful trees !!

 Here's a different view .

  The colours are beautiful .

  Next day we headed south and were faced with views of The Stirling Ranges - the eastern end with Bluff Knoll the highest point .

 Bushfires devastated this area in January this year and damaged a lot of the eastern side of the park , this is looking toward Mt Trio , the fires went straight over the top of it , as well as Bluff Knoll .

 These are taken looking back toward Bluff Knoll .

Grasstrees are always the first thing to start the regrowth process off .

  One of the hazards leftover from the fires , trees that have been burnt out at ground level and fall over days , weeks or months later .

  We stopped at a free camp 30klms from Albany - it was beside the hwy but was very quiet .
Next morning we headed into Albany for someone else to have a look at the van - Cameron Caravans have stopped doing a lot of repair work for the moment and are just doing their own customers vans at the moment . The other repairer was great , but they couldn't get to the bottom of the problem , so we put it back together and hit the road again , this time it was back to Perth and to the ski park where we have spent many weeks before . We know it will be a good place to be able to isolate ourselves at for however long this pandemic goes for . Our plans to go to Europe for 3 months have been chucked out the window as well , certainly has thrown a curve ball at us all .
  From us to you , we trust you survive this pandemic without any problems , these blogs will still happen , but probably a lot slower though .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tkZooylkWmOVCaxs2E9f1xGqr9z0IuVo&usp=sharing

28/3/20 Out of Esperance

  From Borden we drove into Esperance and set up camp for a couple of days , Maree & Kevin were on their way down here as well and we'll catch up tomorrow . 

  They arrived next day and we had the weekend to catch up , before we headed out to Condingup with them . The free camp is at the Community Hall and football oval , we set up down at the bottom corner and had some lunch before heading out for a drive to Duke of Orleans Bay - we'd been out here last year and loved it , so we decided we needed to show Maree & Kevin what we have been raving about . Here's our setup .

   This is the view of the town & oval .

 Out to the bay we go , and here it is with Table Island on the left .



  Duke of Orleans Bay has a caravan park and not much else , we drove past and over to Little Wharton Beach - this is a special part of WA !!

 After walking and climbing the rocks we found another beach , then another and another . The water is so clear here and amazing colours .

  Back to the top of the hill for more views over the beach and out to the many islands of the Recherche Archipelago .

  Now we were back down to Wharton Beach - yep still as beautiful as the first time we saw it - a perfect curve of beach stretching off into the distance , crystal clear water - perfection . Maree & kevin were suitably impressed as well .

  Next day we headed east parallel to the coast and called into Membinup Beach , this is what we found .

 And this was from above , how's the colour !



  And another .



  Back in the ute and further east we got into Cape Arid NP and probably the worst corrugated road we'd been on since our Cape York trip 3 years ago !! After what seems an eternity of corrugations , we found Seal Creek Beach , so we had a break from the bumps for a while , it was pretty breezy and cool , but still a nice place to be .

 Lunch was had at the campground , then we went to Poison creek Beach , but the corrugations had taken there toll and we had a quick look & left - glad we came here for a look , but we probably won't be back for a 2nd time anytime soon .
   Next day we went back to Wharton Beach , back to paradise - here's the view from the walking track to the beach .

 We went for a stroll along the beach , while Kevin went back & got the car and met us at the vehicle access track . We all got in and went for a drive along the beach , the sand was nice & firm and easy to drive on .

  The beach stretches about 4klms to the western end of the bay - here it is .

      Getting to this end of the beach was a surprise for us , Cape Le Grande NP boundary was half way along the beach , and we found an entry sign where the last photo was taken . The map showed we were not far from Victoria Harbour beach , so we continued through more firm sandy tracks with the occasional wind blown soft sand patches , and arrived to another stunning beach and granite headland .

  We wandered down the beach and onto the headland giving us another spectacular view - WOW !

  Someone gave me a photo taken from above , pretty cool photo .

  Hard to top that , so we headed back to celebrate with a quiet beer or three .
 Now while we'd been out here the virus had started to get serious - we didn't have any reception on the phone or tv , so we were a bit oblivious to it except for what Maree & Kevin were telling us , and it didn't sound great .
 Next day we headed back into Esperance and rang Pink Lake CP and got a site - we stayed here last year & it was full , this was our view !!!



  The place was empty , people from the eastern states had mostly all headed back east before they closed down the borders a few days ago . Maree & Kevin decided they'd do the same after calling SA Police to find out for sure what was happening there - they were allowed to transit the state on their way home , but they couldn't stop for any site seeing etc , they had to drive , rest & drive some more , overnight stops were allowed . They made it through SA and into NSW before anything else happened - now they get to self isolate for 2 weeks .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hp2CKXK1GSKRyMGa7Qoah7bhYL7R795g&usp=sharing