Trailer repaired, bit of a hole in the budget and a few days’ delayed but back in the game.  We drove through the Pinnacles Desert yesterday.  These calcite formations are spectacular, though somewhat eerie in such a barren, almost moonscape surrounded by bright yellow sand that contrasts with the white beach sand nearby.   Which national park are they located in??

Last night was spent at a little place that is not on any but local maps called Ellendale Ponds, just inland from Geraldton.

We wheeled into a busy village, first letter K, surrounded by red Tumblagooda Sandstone that was laid down on a sea floor but contains no fossils because it predates life on earth…it is that old.  We did get to Nature’s Window this afternoon, just on sunset in time for some spectacular family snaps.  The weather and sea temperatures seem noticeably warmer than the southern climes since we last camped, which stands to reason, no longer on the Southern Ocean and about 1000km further north.

Many place names in the region end in “up” from the local indigenous languages meaning “place of”.  We spent four days in a timber town called Manjimup. This place was good for collecting Manjim berries apparently.  There are fantastically ancient and/or tall forests in this region containing Karri, Tingle and Jarrah trees.

We nearly lost a wheel off the trailer on the way here from Stirling Range and after some running repairs we were able to drive on to Fremantle (Freo to the locals) via the town with the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere – almost 2km with an aquarium at the end, of all things.  So windy on the day we visited that the visibility was too poor to open the aquarium, unfortunately.

NRMA came to the party to provide some luxurious accommodation (a cabin at least) in Fremantle while the trailer got fixed.

While waiting for parts to repair the trailer, we toured the Shipwreck Gallery that showed how easily it could have been for the Dutch or even the French to have settled in WA before the British ever did, Fremantle Prison, Rottnest Island and the Perth Mint. So much gold on display there that it is a little overwhelming.  There are some interesting stories about the discoveries of huge gold nuggets in WA particularly, but I am not holding my breath to find another…but it doesn’t hurt to look.

We head north tomorrow towards Nature’s Window.  Where is that?

• crossed the Murrumbidgee and Mighty Murray, several times each. It is good to see so much water in the river and on the floodplains as well.
• a definite highlight for me was a visit to the former copper mining town on the Goyder Highway, now a Heritage Village. Year 10s will know the name.
• paddled in a salt lake about 150km NW of Port Augusta the “Crossroads of Australia”. See if you can find the name of the lake, near a 250 000 acre sheep station called Mt Ive, first letter is G.
• we had fun making shadows at Murphy’s Haystack, near Streaky Bay.
• camped at a remote spot on the Nullabor overlooking the Great Australian Bight and
• drove the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, how long? (it is more than 130km but less than 180km)

We have also travelled through Renmark, Norseman. Stay tuned for the next instalment, not sure whether we will go towards Albany or back up to Kalgoolie.

Starting from the most heavily populated town in the Southern Highlands (the first point to plot on your map – look for place references in each of my blogs to add to your outline map) I will be driving south and then into the Riverina district via an isolated town with three letters in the midst of an expansive flat area (think: straw or cut grass for feeding to horses and other livestock).

These are the first two places to add to your outline map.  Stay tuned for more to come.  I will add some pics and other interesting stuff once we get underway.