TOILET HUMOUR

We have had to use a great variety of toilet facilities throughout this trip. Anything from pit toilets, to digging our own hole in the bush, to elaborate glossy tiled bathrooms with piped music in caravan parks.

The pit toilets are usually analysed by Hugh within the first few hours. Last night's report was "gee Dad, this one is really deep" .

Most pit toilets throughout WA have a bucket of disinfectant cleaner and a toilet brush chained to the floor. Not sure who would want to steal them?

Often there are signs in toilets asking that you don't steal the toilet paper. But with the rolls locked in dispensers that are bolted to the wall, I couldn't see how this is a problem. I tried to picture grey nomads or backpackers smuggling out toilet paper sheet by sheet and selling it on the black market. Not sure of the value of sheets that aren't quite one ply, have no absorbing capacity, and don't rate on the softness scale.

In many toilets across the Top End there were signs warning of various dangers. Many signs ask you to "close the lid after use". This is generally to keep the frogs out of the water. But the main problem is that frogs attract snakes, so the main hope is to keep snakes out of the toilet. (Lights left on attract insects for frogs to eat too, so it's also good to turn off any lights.)

Jacinta would often do fauna surveys of an evening. Reporting on the number of frogs, geckos, and snakes - yes we did see a few.

I have mentioned the "don't flush foreign objects" in a previous post. But another interesting one near the Mitchell Falls states that "if you didn't eat it don't put it down the toilet - this includes baby nappies and sleeping bags" signed by the rangers.

It was really good when we got back to civilization near Carnarvon. A sign asked "please flush the toilet" this was a timely reminder since we had been in the bush with pit toilets for some weeks.

FOREIGN OBJECTS

We have seen a lot of travelers from other parts of the world, doing various routes around Australia. A lot of Europen backpackers and even some family travelers in RVs. Many wicked vans are keeping us amused (bemused?) with their crazy artwork, and often even crazier passengers.

We have spoken with families from England, France, Holland and Germany. They were nearly all on whirlwind tours of the Top End during their 6 week summer breaks from school and work back home overseas. The kids were trying to talk, but often the English translating wasn't too good. Hugh found soccer a good tool of communication - and you don't even have to talk.

Gavin conversed with many of the young backpackers. Usually late in the night when he was telling them to shut up. They seem to have a habit of congregating at picnic tables close to our camp. Often with endless supplies of alcohol, and  no need for any sleep. (well actually they often slept on grassy verges, or on warm rocky outcrops around waterfalls and gorges during the day.)

While camping at Cape Range NP there were some enterprising young pommy chefs. Obviously they were traveling on a budget. They befriended some of the more successful fishermen, offering to cook their catch of the day, then sharing the meal with them.

We came across some French boys at Ningaloo Reef - a marine sanctuary within a national park. Most snorkellers were just in bathers with mask and snorkel swimming around the coral. These blokes had full wetsuits, net carry bags and underwater cameras. They came out of the water with a beautiful spider shell, and proceeded to put it into their backpack. Gavin confronted them about this and they went the " no understand English" tactic.

Gavin then followed them to the carpark and got their rego. We went to the ranger station and reported the incident. Later that day the culprits were found with a whole box of creatures living in their shells from the reef. Not sure if they were charged or just evicted from the national park.

You can understand my amusement then when I walked into a toilet block and the sign behind the door requested 'please don't flush foreign objects down the toilet'. "Why not?" I asked myself.

We left WA at about 6.30am this morning. Well, about 8am once we changed our clocks to Australian central time. This allows about 12 days to get home, and 7 days to get to the Warrumbungles to meet up with the PM 4WD club welcoming committee.

It has taken us 2 days to cross the Nullarbor, from Norseman WA to Ceduna SA, approx 1,200 km.

So we were in WA for the past 12 weeks. Doing approx 13,000 km. It was all marvelous.

Tonight we are back in Ceduna. We left here 5 months ago, heading north up through the centre. We came in this arvo from the west, off the Nullarbor Plain - about 21,000km later.

Apparently Nullarbor is derived from the Latin 'nullus arbor' (meaning no trees). Jacinta thinks it is actually just a slang abbreviation of 'another boring road' - the notherbor.

FARM FRESH

We knew we were getting close to the Dring family farm when we passed Dring Rd.

When we arrived at the farmhouse all was quiet. The local footy team had won the grand final the previous day, so there hadn't been much sleep in the household that night. An early night was followed by a big day out on the farm.

The kids started the next day at sunrise. They were in the vegie patch collecting fresh salad and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Then they pulled the weeds to feed to the ducks.

So off to the chook pens to feed the ducks, chickens and geese. And collect all the eggs. Some eggs were for eating, and others were put into the incubator to produce chicks to sell at market.

Before we knew it, we were all in the ute ready for a farm tour. Kids were loaded in the back with Arnie the dog, some water bottles and a bag of fruit - grown ups in the front. We drove around the paddocks learning about wheat, barley, canola and sheep.

Gavin stuck to Roger like glue. Chatting for hours. Checking out all the very big, very expensive, very green machinery in the shed. They even went to town for some supplies, so Gavin got to meet some more of the locals (although most were still recovering from the footy). It must have looked cute as they are about the same build, and had matching hard yakka shorts and kharki shirts on.

Late afternoon the boys all went out shooting. The hope was to clear the paddocks of a few Roos, hence providing the farm dogs with some food. But the Roos were hiding, so they just did some static target practice.

Dinner was served. Fresh lamb chops and chicken, accompanied by fresh vegies from the garden.

KANGAROO PAWS

ACT 1
Driving into Kalbarri NP we came across our first real landscape full of amazing colours. There was masses of wildflowers including red and green kangaroo paws. The wildflower display was with us for days throughout the whole region.

ACT 2
We ran into a family at several national parks up north. After a few beers around a few campfires, we were invited to visit their wheat farm. So when we got near Carnamah, we called in for a few days.

Within minutes of being reunited, the boys were outside playing, riding, bikes, etc. Then they brought a kangaroo paw in from the freezer. The whole kangaroo leg was in the freezer for dog meat, so the boys used a saw to cut off the foot. Jacko appeared in the loungeroom (interrupting our AFL finals viewing) with the false hand, saying "look at me I'm Captain Hook."

The offending hairy digit with a big black claw was only removed from the house when it defrosted and started to bleed onto the coffee table. It was thrown out onto the back lawn to a very grateful farm dog.

While on the farm the men went out roo shootin' . There weren't too many Roos, so Hugh learnt to shoot a Big M container.

ACT 3
A last minute change of plan saw us head to Perth. Our whirlwind 6 hour tour took in the city and Fremantle. The drive through Kings Park allowed us to see the best floral display of kangaroo paws yet.

HOMEWARD BOUND

In the past 5 weeks we have travelled over 6,500 km from Cape Leveque to Cape Leeuwin, along Australia's west coast.

On Gav's birthday we were camped under the Cape Leveque lighthouse in sunny 30 degree temperatures. Enjoying many cultural experiences with the Bardi Jawi people around the One Arm Point community.

Last week we were standing at Cape Leeuwin lighthouse on a windy 16 degree day. We did the lighthouse tour, climbing to the top of WAs tallest lighthouse ( however only the boys ventured out onto the balcony to view the meeting waters of the Indian and Southern Oceans).

On the way we have seen a lot of great stuff:
Iron ore mining, rail networks and shipping ports.
Gorges, coral reefs and wildflowers in numerous national parks.
Memorabilia of a NASA tracking station.
Spent a few days on a small 20,000 ha wheat farm.
AND even 4WDrove to Steep Point, the western most point of the mainland.

Anyway ... when we got to the southwest corner we had nowhere to go except east, so we are on our way home.

yes, yes, I know ...
'always TAKE the weather with you'
(apologies to Neil Finn, et al)

I must stop trying to transpose my handwritten field notes by the dim candle light, late at night, whilst  half watching a Dr Who episode with the family

I will edit the previous post.

GREY NOMADS or SILVER TSUNAMIS

We have passed many of these older generation travellers. Sticking to the sealed roads and big towns, they often drive shiny 4WDs and tow big caravans.

They are full of information such as: where there is cheap fuel, where you can get a cheap meal, which parks have the cleanest toilets, where there are free camps just outside of town, etc. All good information BUT often hard to extract easily. In order to get this info, you must first listen to their travel tales, how sick they are, how sick their friends are, hear about how successful their children are and how wonderful their grandchildren are, etc.

One old bloke was going on about how bumpy the road was, and that he had shaken the microwave off its mounts in the caravan. He was very proud of his 100 km on an unsealed road, but soon shut up when we told him our vehicle has been unaffected by the 5,000km we had already done on sandy / gravel tracks.

Some oldies however, have joined organized bus tours. These particularly old people ( probably those who have had their licences taken off them) are identified by their tour name tag. They often hobble off the bus due to their titanium hips and reconstructed knees. Only managing the short walk from the carpark to a lookout, or more often the toilet block - they certainly dont get to undergo the whole gorge walk / plunge pool experience. I also think the name tag is mainly for their own benefit, in case they forget.

We have benefited from the generosity of these grey nomads on more than one occasion. A fisherman had caught too much for him and the Mrs one day, so we scored a few fillets of fresh snapper. One old couple had purchased a hammock and decided after one day that it was too uncomfortable, so gave it to the kids. An old dear even knitted Gavin a woollen beanie during the few days that we were camped next to them on the beach.

We have spoken to one couple who are doing it hard. The old bloke had had an operation just prior to driving across the country. They are travelling with a dog, so can't enter any national parks and even many caravan parks are pet free. They had spent many nights camped at free 24 hr roadside stops, in particularly hot and dusty conditions, and the dog got sick.

Anyway, we took pity on the couple and went out to a restaurant to have some dinner with them. We thought we better spend some time with them, since it was Gav's parents.

edited - ALWAYS TAKE THE WEATHER WITH YOU

ALWAYS BRING THE WEATHER WITH YOU
( although I always thought it was 'always bring the weber with you')
Either way, that it what we are doing, and we are living in a very crowded house!

When we entered Exmouth we noticed these large white fluffy things in the sky. Not sure what these unidentified things were, we thought we'd better google it. Luckily we had Internet access for a few kilometers between the lighthouse and the nude beach (who'd have thought??)

Anyway, it turns out that these things were clouds. AND they often produce rain.

We actually thought it was raining a couple of weeks later when we were at Thunder Bay. We were driving along the cliffs on the westernmost point of this wonderful continent. There were water droplets falling on the windscreen, and we even had to use the wipers. However when the rain dried on the glass it left a salty splash mark - as it turns out it was only sea spray from the nearby blowholes.

Last night we did ACTUALLY have rain at Shark Bay - 3mm the weatherman tells us this morning. Not enough to wash the red dust off the car, just enough to smear the red dust and add a crusty film of sea salt.

With our memories being jogged, we remembered back 4 months to when we last saw rain ... It was another 30 degree night in Arnhem Land, the Sharps Leaders and Mr Nitschke had just finished dinner and the dishes, when it absolutely bucketed down with rain ( about an inch in just an hour on two). We all stood out in it, hands raised to the heavens, saying how wonderful it was - the boys actually took off their shirts and started dancing around.

long pants

A dear friend (and WA ex-pat) has recently informed me that 'there are no brooms in Broome, and no sharks in Shark Bay'. But I must disagree with her on both counts ... sorry Deb.  (I believe that she may have been under the spell of the Bundy Bear at the time.)

What she neglected to tell me was the origins of the town of Denham. I believe that it gets its name from the many southbound tourists who have to look out their jeans from the bottom of their luggage when they hit town.

The weather has got considerably cooler and I've had to start wearing pants to dinner. ( well, you know what I mean - long pants as opposed to shorts). Today's top temp at Shark Bay is only 20, so we may start heading east in the next few days. Our endless summer  (and holiday) is coming to an abrupt conclusion.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Sorry to our Dads who we neglected to ring on Sunday. We were out of phone range - honestly.

Gavin was greeted in the morning with kids bearing gifts - chocolates and a book on the NASA tracking station at Carnarvon ( yes there was only limited shopping opportunities on the Coral Coast).

We drove to the western most point of mainland Australia - Steep Point, and had a picnic lunch. It was fine and sunny, and wasn't too windy like back at our beachside camp. There were some storm clouds looming out to sea, but they never mounted to anything.

To get there is a 170 km journey across arid sand dune country, with a bit of beach driving too. There were wildflowers out everywhere. We also saw some fishermen on the cliff tops doing some balloon fishing.

We travelled along the cliff tops for about an hour. It was over 100 m down to the ocean, and the waves were huge. We came across some blowholes at Thunder Bay. They were spectacular. The noise is eerie as the sea water is forced up through some small holes in the rocks. Then the water comes spouting out, way over our heads.

It was an 8 hour day out 4WDing. Returning home in time to cook a roast pork dinner.