FUN & GAMES CONTINUE
Another boring week of Jeff fishing successfully for squid and getting very fit cycling up and down the hills of Denham. (This town must be the only place in Oz where you have to actually pedal downhill because the prevailing wind is so powerful – according to a police speed checker halfway up this particular rather steep hill Jeff was doing 38Kph on ‘is bike!!!!!??.) All I was doing was pyroing, swimming, reading and WALKING up and down that hill to and from the library and the Internet office.
TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER
AT LAST!!!!! We have departed Denham!!!!! At 11:20 precisely Betty G and her intrepid occupants left this delightful little coastal town – which actually seemed to shed a tear as we drove down the road – only the second lot of rain since we arrived in Denham and the 3rd lot since arriving in Oz at the end of August.
Stopped for lunch at the Overlander Roadhouse just after we joined the main highway. Not particularly impressed, especially when, within a few Ks we passed the Billabong Roadhouse – now that looked really nice compared with the scruffy appearance of Overlander.
When we got into Geraldton we went straight round to Fishermans Wharf to find Jerry Davey, a friend of Geoff the diesel mechanic, to pick up the replacement water hose. Jerry had a bit of a workload so Jeff fitted it hisself the following morning at the Big 4 Camp Site.
WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER
After having another wander around Fishermans Wharf, we did some proper shopping in Geraldton. Bought some Chrissy lights for Betty G and finally got my glasses fixed. It must be over a month ago that I noticed that one of the side pieces was a bit wonky and the screw had come loose – no rood comments, perlease!! So that I could still wear ‘em I’d wrapped a wee bit of sticky tape around the hinge. Unfortunately the towns we’ve recently stayed in haven’t been big enough to have an optician. So I was pleased to find Just Specs and trotted in to see what they could do for me. The young lady fixed them at no charge and I trotted happily on me way. It wasn’t until I took them off that night that I noticed a deep scratch just to one side of the bi-focal part of the lens. No flippin’ wonder she didn’t charge me. Luckily it’s not in my field of vision – I guess if it had been I would have noticed when she returned them to me.
We headed down to Greenough (pronounced Grennoff) after a brief stop for KFC. I’d spotted an ad for the Greenough River Caravan Park at Cape Burney. It was only 10Km south of Geraldton so we got there pretty quickly, checked in and got ourselves sorted. We then went for a walk along the river towards the sea. It’s a very strange river mouth. There’s wide sand-bar going right the way across which has only been breached 3 times in the last 5 years. It’s a lovely place, just a few houses plus the Caravan Park. We liked it so much that we decided to stay another night.
THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER
The pitch that we were in was already booked so we moved just a short distance away. And would you believe it, the people who moved in had been in Denham and Jeff had met them whilst fishing. They were two couple who had met on the road and were now travelling together. We had a drink with them in the evening after our swim – they were all really great company.
FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER
On our way down to Cervantes we stopped off at the old town of Greenough just down the road and visited the Museum which was in a big old farmhouse which had been handed down through several generations of the same family – fascinating display of rural Australian history. Also called in at the Hampton Inn which also doubles as a bookshop – some old and rare books, too. Spent an hour or so browsing and chatting to the owner – didn’t see anything we wanted though.
Arrived at Cervantes and booked in to the Pinnacles Caravan Park, then went to visit the Pinnacles National Park. It’s an area of several hectares of limestone columns, many only a couple of feet high but some reaching 10 or 12 feet. We could actually take Betty G on the drive-through, which was on compacted sand – a great experience – Jeff wanted to go through again, but we were both getting hungry and thirsty, so we returned to Cervantes and took advantage of a special offer handed out at the caravan park – a crayfish dinner for two for $55, a saving of $20!! We had a couple of beers in the bar beforehand and discovered a very nice beer called Pure Blonde – really yummy. All in all it was a lovely end to a great day.
SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER
Carried on down to Perth through rolling hills – makes a change after weeks of almost completely flat countryside. Ran into a few locusts which spread themselves on our windscreen – yuck. We’d arranged to meet up with Marion and Terry at the Karrinyup Waters Resort and booked in, managing to find a spot fairly close to them. It was great to see them again – we’ve made some good friends there. It was pretty hot so we all headed for the pool. Oh my – what a lovely pool it is – a big hot spa too – what luxury!!!
SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER
After a stroll around the Resort’s lakes, most of the afternoon was spent in the pool and spa, followed by a shower and then drinkies and nibbles with Marion and Terry. Oh what a busy day. Actually we should have spent it sightseeing in Perth itself in view of what followed!!!!
MONDAY 15 DECEMBER
After a bit of phoning around Jeff found a mechanic who could fit Betty G in for the 1000K check on her re-built engine – Paul of Motor Express in Wangara. We left her there and headed for a nearby shopping centre. When we had finished, Jeff walked back the 4Ks to the workshop while I stayed with the shopping, reading. No sense in carrying it all back was there!!! As I sat people watching as well, who should come strolling past but Carola and Rolf, our German friends from various campsites along the way. We had a brief chat before they had to return to their nearby campsite – they’re having problems with the brakes on their motorhome.
About half an hour later Jeff appeared with Betty G. We loaded up and called in at the Centre’s gas station to fuel up for the next leg of our journey, to Kalgoorlie in a couple of days time. As we drove away, Jeff glanced back and spotted a large, fresh patch of oil right where we had stood. So we headed straight back to Motor Express. By the time we got there oil was just pouring out. Paul had a look and said that it wasn’t anything to do with the engine; the oil was coming out of the gearbox!!! We wuzn’t going anywhere today.
Jeff borrowed Paul’s car and went back to the Resort to pick up our tables and chairs that we had left at our site, and to tell the staff that we wouldn’t be back, and why. They kindly reimbursed one night’s fee as we had just booked another 2 nights on our way out this morning. We stayed overnight in our little bus in the workshop.