2024. WA to SA

Albany, Bremer Bay, Esperance, Nullarbor. Arriving in South Australia.

Posted February 20th 2024

The last post was sent out on Nov 29th 2023. Almost three months later, I’m now ready to get going again with blogs. I’ve had this one prepared for a while, but haven’t had good wifi to allow me to publish.

If you read these blogs because of the car updates and breakdowns, stop now! Nothing untoward has happened with the Landy – it’s performing perfectly. No leaky undercarriage, no broken donuts, zip.

I’ll start with a recap of some memorable moments over our 3 months in Albany.

Firstly, it was quite cool most of the time we were there, cooler than the locals remember a summer being. I had anticipated many swims in lovely Middleton beach or one of the other glorious nearby coves. The locals were swimming, but I’m just too accustomed to our warmer waters at home. A couple of times I braved the cold water, which I will say was crystal clear and very bracing, but there was no way Nick would join me.

We ate out quite often and Little Italy became our favourite along with the upmarket Garrison restaurant. We braved a cool windy evening beachside to listen to live music, along with a hundred other hardy locals. However, seeing the Shantymen singing in a crowded pub was a far more comfortable and entertaining outing. They sang the types of shanties reminiscent of the seafaring pioneers of Albany, especially the Irish ones.

We went to the Anzac Memorial Museum (spectacular), the Whaling Station museum (excellent), the Albany historic museum (very interesting), the Prison (a bit challenging); giving us a combined overview of Albany’s past. Always I saw the struggle for First Nations people. The ocean environment was pillaged by the whalers, there’s a strong history showing Albany as the launching ground for soldiers in WW1; and the township built by the early settlers, looked like olde England. The arrival of the railway to service the port cut the township off from the harbour, making the rattle of trains and heavy trucks a constant background noise, to this day. The large port complex with ships loading grain and wood chips, works day and night. Even the odd cruise ship stopped by sometimes.

One of my best memories of Albany was the people we met, the neighbours, the relatives of our relatives, friends from Perth, friends of friends. We enjoyed evenings over dinner, games in the parlour, movie outings, breakfasts out and so much more. People have stories, memories, and gardens they shared with us, while they love hearing about our travels. For them, someday we will return.

Nick found a few Land Rover buddies, his nose is always close to the ground. One bloke pictured above had a collection of 14, yes 14! in his garages and garden (scrub actually). Another local who was once the radio voice of Albany, took Nick off to view a Series 3 and another local enthusiast’s car….they’re everywhere to be found!

Over Christmas and New Year the house renovations took a break. The boys had made quite a lot of progress on the derelict back end of the house, and by the time we left, the bathroom was being fitted out, the floor tiled.  I know we both had lasting memories of our restoration effort in Lennox 10 years ago…hence we were grateful we could drive away at the end of our stay because we know just how much work still is ahead of them.

We kayaked up the Kalgan river once and Nick kayaked on Oyster Bay with George before Christmas, but the wind blew so strongly so often that it was hard to find even 2 good days over 3 months. We bicycled once or twice a week, along a lovely trail beside the sea, 11km to Emu Point for a coffee.

Earlier on our trip we questioned why we bought the bikes especially along the dirt roads of the Kimberley, but here they were perfect. And when we reach little townships on our journey east, I know we’ll ride them often.

Thank you so much to Biddy and Nick for letting us stay to experience so many different aspects of Albany. We wish you best of luck while renovating the old “lady” and I look forward to enjoying a wallow in your green clawfoot bath one day. The location and the house will serve you well into the future.

The wildflowers mostly faded away, but the red flowering gums over December and January were wonderful replacements. The bushland lost its sparkle when the unique little flowers were gone.

I joined the Albany Summer school programme for a week of watercolour painting. Thoroughly enjoyed it and now need to follow through with more practise. 

So the January long weekend was our most enjoyable finale with Charlie and Lynda at Narrogin. We had a birthday with cake and lots of bubbles for Charlie and then more of both for me 3 days later. We ate and drank and watched tennis and cricket through the dreadful heat wave enveloping WA. The countryside was parched dry, the wheat stubble remained, the sheep nibbled it. Summer in the wheatbelt is harsh, families leave for the coast, Narrogin was almost deserted. Thank you for such lovely long conversations, unbridled laughter, great meals together and the endless love.

Bremer Bay

First stop after finally leaving Albany was Bremer Bay, a 2 hour drive on a 40C day, but the car did well despite the heat and its heavy load. The beaches there are amazing, surf beaches as well as the bay. The water was so refreshing, clear and gorgeous, the finest white sand was squeaky, and the sky a dark blue. Idyllic. The reason for coming here was to tour with Cape Naturalist Charters to see the killer whales or orcas at the Bremer Canyon, 25 nautical miles off the coast at the Continental shelf. It was a cloudy day when we set off, after two scorchers. The crew said it was better to have cloud so we could sit on deck all day, except Nick forgot the suncream for an hour or so and looked like a beetroot that night. He took plenty of sea sickness pills and managed to only feel queazy on the trip home. There was a considerable swell which made a few people seasick but the crew said it was the best you’d ever get…it was a 1 metre swell, he said they get 3 metres….that would make it hard to stand up.

Anyway, the amazing Orcas were on show, as soon as we got to the “hotspot”. Some of my photos were ok, but couldn’t really convey just how marvellous it was being out there. I loved every minute of the 7 hours on the boat. To have a wonderful Albatross gliding around the boat many times blew me away.

Next we moved on to Hopetoun, 200kms further east. A very small town. We had cycled to the pub for a beer, then looked out the window and OMG, it was raining! Didn’t see that coming. Raced back to camp, wet clothes and smudged glasses, to shut the van windows. But alas the storm passed quickly. Barely settled the dust. The cooler temperatures were welcome for a good night’s sleep.

Found some great Banksias near Hopetoun, in Fitzgerald Nature Reserve, part of the vast Biosphere Park. Because of the danger of visitors spreading the deadly Phytophera disease through the trees in the park, we didn’t venture down the dirt tracks. Around Ravensthorpe there was a Farmgate sculpture trail. Farmers love welding up any junk in their shed to make an eye catching creation at their front gate.

Next day, another 200kms to Esperance, our last beach destination in WA. Esperance is a big town like Albany with a port, a lot of history and Bunnings. We parked up for 3 nights and explored the coast mainly, towards the west first, then the east. The small coves with whiter than white sands, enticing clear blue sea and gigantic orange algae boulders were so picturesque. I thought about Freycinet in Tassie, but here we saw bay after bay all as good as Freycinet, and warm enough for a swim. 

We drove 22km along the beach to Cape Le Grande NP. I tried booking us a campsite there back in November but failed. The crammed full campground at Lucky Bay had a wonderful outlook, all the vans were tucked behind the bush. It’s a pity we couldn’t spend time there. On the day we visited, it was warm enough to swim and Hellfire Bay was my choice, after we’d perused them all. Absolutely icy cold, the coldest swim I’ve ever had, straight from Antarctica. I’ll never forget the brilliance of the water, and the sense of accomplishment and exhilaration I felt. Nick watched on, too cold for this Brit! It’s hard to photograph the feeling you get in such pristine nature, and hard to explain it in words. Those who’ve been here know what I mean.

We departed before 7.00am from Esperance. WA doesn’t have daylight saving. We tended to wake every day with the sun at 5.30 am. Our WA family loved sleeping in until 7.00, except Charlie. I love daylight saving!!! Once we were on the Nullarbor, the time will change back 2 1/2 hrs when we enter SA, sanity will return. 

The 200km drive from Esperance to Norseman was uneventful except for seeing the beautiful salmon gums at the small town called Salmon Gums. The trunks of the gums are a deep salmon colour, almost red/orange. Very eye catching. Norseman was a sleepy town, probably past its heyday, when prospecting was still profitable, and before corporate mining companies over-rode the town by making their mine sites mini self-contained towns.  

We still try to buy a coffee and cake from the small towns, it’s the least we can do to prop up their business. But they need to sell a lot of coffees to stay afloat I’m sure.

At the end of this day, we’d driven 580kms across open country, flourishing with low level plants hardy enough for the dry conditions. Caiguna is no more than a roadhouse with a dusty campground out the back. It suited us for one night.

Caiguna to Eucla, a journey of 300kms was easy enough. The car is not missing a beat…hope I haven’t put the mozz on it. We don’t travel fast, all the b-triples pass us, we barely travel faster than 90km/ph, and we never pass anyone. The most noticeable feature of this part of the Nullarbor is the Casuarina trees (above). I was fascinated by their form, just like umbrellas, with most of the leaves on the top. The tree has an open growth pattern below, like a vase shape. I was reminded of the trees I’ve seen photos of in the African Serengeti …. I am not sure if they are related. 

A stop at Eucla for the night was pleasant, even had hot showers for $1. The old Telegraph station was almost buried completely by sand. What hardy souls must have lived there, exposed to winds straight off the Southern Ocean. 

John Eyre walked across this piece of Oz in 1840, one wonders how or why he did it! Stupid man.

I’ll finish off with the windmills of Penong, a large collection of working machines trying to keep the town fertile. This was our last town across the Nullarbor for a pitstop.

I’ve already written some of the next blog about the Eyre Peninsula, so hopefully the next blog will be following this one soon. Love and best wishes to all of you who make it to the end of this. Not having the spectacular scenery like in the Pilbara makes for a different focus to the blog, I hope you’re still liking travelling with us.

Jen & Nick xx