Almost a year ago I was travelling west on the Nullarbor with my beautiful Skye … and now here I am travelling east, this time with a new loyal companion, Levi — it's difficult to imagine two such different animals, both in looks and personality — two wonderful and special dogs.
After finishing the last WA petsit we headed down to the coast and camped for 4 days at Cosy Corner near Albany.
We actually camped in the same spot as in 2008 when Danni Skye and myself stayed here for a very enjoyable week — we had Italian very keen fishing neighbours who shared many meals with us. No such luck this time … we did have good neighbours but no fisherfolk.
Camped down the far end one night were a group from Albany Secondary College — they were on the final night of a one week cycling/camping tour. Initially I was a bit apprehensive (having encountered noisy all-nighters in school groups before), HOWEVER this group were all asleep by 7.30pm — nothing like a bit of exercise to calm teenagers down.
The flying rabbit Levi enjoying one of many runs and sniffs on the beach
Before leaving the area we had a farewell morning tea at Gilbert Wines with the dog walking folks from Kendenup. Joining the group were Neil and Laurie from California, they are housesitting their way around the world — Kendenup will cerrtainly be an "experience" for them!
I did succumb and purchase a bottle of Gilberts' Two Lads Cab Sav. It's supposed to be cellared for a year or two don't know how much it will appreciate being bounced around under the sofa!
The other reason for heading up that way again was to try and sell a few dog collars to help finance the long trip. Mt Barker Anglican Church holds a monthly market, so I booked a stall for the enormous price of $7. They gave me a great location at the door to the church hall and it was such a lovely sunny morning that I went prepared with sunscreen and a hat. All went well until 10.30 when the heaven's opened — most outside folks packed up and left but as I'd just been given 3 orders I moved into the store-room with Levi (in his warm coat). In the end 5 collars were sold which is a help towards the diesel.
The Eyre Highway starts at Norseman — a small town that's your last chance to fill up with fuel at a reasonable cost. The next reasonably priced fuel is at Ceduna in South Australia, a distance of 1,200 kms. Eucla, just over the SA/WA border, is probably the best bet for fuel on the Nullarbor itself.
Camped down the far end one night were a group from Albany Secondary College — they were on the final night of a one week cycling/camping tour. Initially I was a bit apprehensive (having encountered noisy all-nighters in school groups before), HOWEVER this group were all asleep by 7.30pm — nothing like a bit of exercise to calm teenagers down.
The flying rabbit Levi enjoying one of many runs and sniffs on the beach
The other reason for heading up that way again was to try and sell a few dog collars to help finance the long trip. Mt Barker Anglican Church holds a monthly market, so I booked a stall for the enormous price of $7. They gave me a great location at the door to the church hall and it was such a lovely sunny morning that I went prepared with sunscreen and a hat. All went well until 10.30 when the heaven's opened — most outside folks packed up and left but as I'd just been given 3 orders I moved into the store-room with Levi (in his warm coat). In the end 5 collars were sold which is a help towards the diesel.
Suka, the MAGNIFICENT white Siberian Husky was the reason that Levi and myself were here for nearly 6 weeks when his owner visited family in Hawaii.
This post has been in the pipeline for a couple of years now. It began with a month long sojourn in a canal-side housing development on the Queensland Sunshine coast and continued with a stay recently in a new building development in Western Australia.
Once you've reached the outskirts of Perth City it's just new building developments for at least 50kms and they are all curiously alike because of the strict design guidelines that each developer has. Must admit that this type of medium-density building doesn't really appeal to me, it seems like the land size gets smaller and smaller as the houses get bigger and bigger.
The new estate where I stayed in Yanchep certainly had pathways and lovely landscaping but only on a couple of occasions during a 6 week stay did I actually see anyone walking or cycling on the pathways. People rely on motor vehicle transport as the nearest train station is at Clarkson (20 km) and one busline operating from Two Rocks to Clarkson via Yanchep. Shopping facilities are limited with a new small complex comprising a Woolworths and 15 other shops most of which were unlet with signs saying "coming soon" in October 2012 and still the same signs in May 2013. There is also only one medical clinic and one dentist in the area.
