On The Road Again (Finale)

Up and at 'em nice and early and driving by 6am. The idea was to get to Jurien Bay, spend the night there as its then only 2 hours back to Perth. Jurien Bay is 10 hours drive from Coral Bay!!

Dry river bed

Dryish river bed

V V dry river bed

Yet another river bed, having a dry old time eh?

We past a lot of supposed 'rivers', non of which had any water in them. However, judging by the width and depth of the river banks, they must get a hell of a lot at some part of the year.
About 3 hours into the journey we came across a place called Gladstone Lookout. It has no facilities whatsoever, but its one of only a few places that you are allowed to camp legally over night. We decided this would be a good place for breaky. The views were just incredible, that's as long as you like looking at complete nothingness! The total silence at this place was simply deafening!

North

South

East

And Wend!

There was some sort of shrine to some bloke or other who had spent many days at this spot but had eventually croaked it and his missus decided this would be the place he would have wanted to rest.
This pile of junk had all sorts including lots of gnomes, thongs (flip flops), tea pots, kettles, old pairs of knickers and even bra's. Makes you wonder who had left them and if that's why the old bugger liked it so much and exactly what he was doing up there all the time!!!

Grannies bra front right.

Tea pot top right.

Whilst we were aloft we came across this dutch chap, Tom, who had left Melbourne last January with all his worldly goods strapped to his push bike.

He had cycled along the south coast of Australia as far as a ferry, hopped across to Tasmania, cycled around that, hopped across to New Zealand, cycled around the North AND South island, come back onto Australia mainland, headed north to Queensland, right across the top of Oz, and was now dropping down WA on his way to Margaret River. Then it would be along the Nullabor (5,000 km's, it also boasts the longest straight piece of road in Australia, also the longest golf course in the world, mentioned in earlier blogs),


The sign says it all!

and back to Melbourne, hoping to be back there in April 2013. He had already done 20,000 km's (about 12,500 miles), on his own, most nights camping at the side of any road he happened to be on when night fell.

Basic or what?

Oh yeah, sometimes the complete nutter would cycle at NIGHT, dressed in his BLACK cycling outfit, mental absolutely mental when you think of the size of some of the road trains that you have over here.

This coming up behind you when you are on a push bike would sort your constepation out!

We gave him a cuppa, someone else came up and gave him a beer, and another couple gave him a cup cake. All of which he gobbled down PDQ.
You should check out his blog http://thodo.nl, its all written using an Ipod he found at the side of the road at the beginning of his adventure. In particular look at the map of what he has done to date and check out his journal dated 14th October 2012, near enough a name check I'd say.
Some of the photo's are mind blowing, particularly when he is camped up and the road trains at night.
Check out the one of The Huntsman spider he found in his billy can, wow, scary.

The Girls.

Here he is, Tom The Mad Dutchman, even looks like a Smurf.

The lady on the left is Valerie. She has been on the road for 10 years +

Well, all us Knights of the Road said our good byes and set off south again. About an hour later our nightmare started, first we had a blow out on the right near side tyre whilst we were overtaking the biggest Winnebago and trailer you have ever seen.

Uh Uh!!!!!!

No, not a snake, what was left of the tyre

We were about 370 km's (230m) from  Canarvon in the north and 420 km's (265m) from Geraldton in the south. Jurien Bay? Well that was a further 195km's (122m) on from Geraldton.

Right

in the

middle

 of F*****G NO WHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add to that, we had no mobile phone signal, the jack to change the wheel was a scissor type, the kind you would find in your everyday Ford Fiesta, how the hell were we to jack up two tonnes of truck when the offending wheel is now sitting off road on sand?
Luckily, a passing motorist stopped, who did have a mobile phone signal and they let us use the phone.
Very long story short, we contacted the RAC Roadside assist, who were based in Shark Bay, two and a half hours away, they said they would be with us asap. This took about 45 mins to sort, by this time the couple who let us use their phone needed to go, they were going to a wedding in Coral Bay would you believe? So I then decided to go to The Overlander Roadhouse, about 15 miles back north, so I could use the land line telephone and just check that the RAC man was actually on his way. I flagged down a guy going north who gave me a lift, I have never seen a guy as big as this one. He made Giant Haystacks look like a midget, I'm still not quite sure how he got in the car (it was the equivalent of a Ford Mondeo in size) and even less sure how he gets out!
Anyway, all good with the RAC man who confirmed his man would be setting off asap. Hitched a lift back to the van whereupon, Valerie who we had met at Galdstone Lookout had arrived and was asking if we needed any assistance, very nice of her but nothing she could do. I think the final ignominy would have been if Tom had caught us up and gone cycling on by, but he never showed, thank God. Another chap stopped, Kevin, who was also in a Winnebago, had a proper trolley jack which he let us use, even hooked up his portable genny to our van so we could turn on the AC and keep the kids cool.
Well, 5 guys had different attempts to remove the spare from under the van, non of which managed to release it. Nothing left to do but wait for the RAC man.
Four hours later 'Fuddy' showed up.

'Fuddy', no the steel toetectors, not even a uniform. Aren't RAC vans blue!

Well, all our man had was a trolley jack, a battery operated hand held disc cutter and a piece of cardboard (he used this to lie on to get under the truck!)
The first problem he had was he, like us, couldn't get the spare off, so he just cut the wire with the disc cutter. Then he couldn't get the remainder of the tyre off the wheel as it had wrapped itself around the wheel. It was like he was trying to remove a porcupine it was so sharp. Luckily our kind Kevin had a pair of industrial gloves otherwise we would still be there now.

'Fuddy' and Kevin

Well, 4 hours after our incident we were up and running again. I can't tell you how stressful it is driving in the wilderness without a spare tyre.We were definitely not going to make Jurien Bay by nightfall, we were struggling to reach Geraldton!

 

Finally pulled into Geraldton about 8pm, first van site wouldn't let us in as we were too late in the evening, so eventually we got into Bel-Air Gardens Caravan Park (sounds fancy eh, wasn't too bad really)

First thing we needed to do was to get some food, so opted for an Indian, we had spotted a takeaway just on the way into Geraldton. 

Got back to the site, ate the scram (its about 10.15pm by now) then Our Wend went off to the ablutions block and I went off for a shower. I'm in the shower and can hear all this screaming and shouting, just thought it was some lively spirited kids or something like that. Then I heard it again and it sounded like Our Wend. Put a towel on and went out side, Our Wend was screaming that we had been robbed. Sure enough, a couple of 'Bogans' had entered the van and helped themselves to two hand bags and both mobile phones.

The Police rang the next morning to tell us that overnight they had caught the buggers and retrieved the two bags but no mobile phone and could we go in and make a statement? What we later discovered was that they had taken the disposable underwater camera with all the shots of Little Niamh snorkeling at Coral Bay, bastards.

Burglary is the single biggest crime problem in Geraldton, with between 50 and 75 every night! Little bit of useless information.

Welcome to Geraldton eh?

 

We finally got back to Perth about 4pm Monday all in one piece, with a cool 1,800 miles behind us,

 

 

 

Great trip though, I'd do it all over again starting tomorrow.

 

 The Skerritts in Oz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Little Peter (who ain't that little anymore) has cropped this video so I could download it onto the blog.

Look for the little baby dolphin swimming close to its Mom.
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Sir Elton John

We went to the first concert held at the new Perth Arena, half a billion dollars worth and three years late. Government project, say no more eh?
We went along with Emily and Chris who we met recently.
Sir Elton John had stepped in at the last minute, should have been George Michael but he pulled out!!!!!

                                 Can you imagine how surprised I was to bump into Sue Gaunt!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before the concert we went to Subiaco for a curry at a place called 'Chutney Mary's'. After leaving the restaurant we were walking to the station and we passed this cab parked at the kerb and this huge fat woman (don't know what it is with me and fat folk at the moment) was trying to get out of the cab. She was sitting with her legs out of the car and her hands either side of the door and rocking backwards and forwards trying to get some purchase on the door opening and some momentum to propel herself out of the car, but she wasn't having any luck and the driver was not assisting at all. Anyway we passed by, but after we had walked about 50 yards I looked back and she still couldn'/hadn't got out. 'Hang on ' I said and I went back to the cab.
"come on love lets have ya" as I offered both hands and proceeded to pull as hard as I could, "Bloody Hell missus you are a heavy one aren't ya?" I couldn't help it it just come out, "yes I am aren't I?" she replied. Well I got her half way out and if I hadn't applied a little more effort should would have plopped right back into the cab. I guess you could sort of say I 'pulled' again!!
Well, we had a right good laugh going down the street after that, I quipped that when she had arrived in Subiaco the cab fare was $20, but by the time she got out of the cab the fare was $65!!

'I remember when rock was young, me and Susie had so much fun'

Do you like Pete's new hat?

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Trick or Treat?

 

No Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Scary or what?

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At the Races

It was Melbourne Cup Day last Tuesday, known as 'The Race that Stops the Nation'
As the name suggest the horse race is run in Melbourne, but much like Cheltenham, Ascot and The Grand National lots of places jump on the band wagon and align a sporting day with the event.
I seem to remember I played gold at 7am last year and had bucket fulls of beer and champers both on the course and when we, eventually, got off it.
This year however, we decided to give the girlie's a chance to dress up, so we went to Ascot Race Course here in Perth.

Carol, Naomi and Our Wend.

They actually had a race card of their own but had THE race beamed in for all to watch. Our Wend won $149 for a place, but Michael (he is a Geordie and owns the chippy across from our shop) picked the winner and with it a cool $750.

The lucky Geordie git!!! (and his wife)

That set a pretty good tone for the day, with me winning $78, and Michael winning another $750 in another race. Lucky Geordie git.
Ascot was wall to wall totty, all dressed to kill, tattoo's an all!!!!

They couldn't understand why i had to go to the other side of the table to take this shot!

Not quite sure what it was but everyone seemed to want to wear Our Wends fascinator

Brody (another Geordie!)

Ben, doesn't suit you mate!

I got chatted up by this big fat bird, who I just couldn't shake off. I was waiting outside the toilets for Our wend to appear and this bird thought I was loitering and on the look out, well I couldn't miss you love could I? When Our Wend came out of the loo, she didn't come and rescue me, her and Carol (Michaels' wife) went off in the other direction pissing themselves, ta very much ladies.
After the races we set off for the Burswood Casino, not been anywhere near the place before, although its the biggest resort in Perth and owned by Kerry Packers son, James.
WOW, what a place, just like Vegas, absolutely bloody massive. We stung Michael for the champers, that dented his winnings I can tell you,

Hanahans

 then found a pub, Paddy Hanrahans, that served Guinness, and extremely drinkable it was too. Made a few purchases in there.

A familiar pose

Whilst we were in there, its only about 6pm by now, they were cranking up the volume on the music, when Carol had what I can only describe as a Ricky Gervais moment.

Just before the Ricky moment

She stepped away from our lot and commenced dancing all the moves to the song that was on, and very provocatively kept coming over to Michael and gyrating around his groin area! By this time a circle had formed around her and us and everyone was going ballistic, including a few strangers coming into the circle and trying to dance with her just as provocatively, it was bloody hilarious. Anyway, the music stopped, she stopped and she was as if it had never happened, she just looked at US as though 'What are you staring at'.
Bugger me 10 minutes later she did it again. By the look on Michael's face its a regular occurrence.

Still going strong

Fast approaching 8pm by now and we all had to go and get the kids sorted, but we all had had a great day

Well, she had been doing a lot of dancin'!!!!


The Skerritts in Oz

On The Road Again (Part 2)

So we set off from Shark Bay, for Coral Bay.

Another 250 miles of this

This

This.

And this!!!!

Not long into the journey a comfort break was required so we decided we would pull in at the next opportunity and get breakfast going while we were at it. Nothing too grand just generally no more than tea or coffee and eggs on toast, but its camping to us.

 

Welcome to Highway 12 east bound services, salubrious or what. Our Wend made me stand outside the loo (beyond and left of the yellow bin) just in case. Just in case of what? We hadn't seen a soul for over two hours!!!!!! Guess it must have been the spiders and snakes that were worrying her!
Beyond that white lid, simply a hole in the ground full of human waste from god knows how long ago. You can just imagine Our Wend's reaction, plus, not a sign of a wash hand basin!!
About an hour from Coral Bay, either side of the road for about 10 miles there were thousands and I mean thousands of termite hills. Some of them were at least 10 feet tall and 6/8 feet wide, just an amazing site.

I must admit we did leave it a little late to leave Shark Bay and reach Coral Bay before night fall. We are not insured or entitled to road side assist if we are still travelling in darkness, but I m glad to say we made it with just minutes to spare.

When the sun is where it is on the pictures you only have about 10 minutes of daylight remaining.
Coral Bay is a very small end of the road resort, literally end of the road! Only has two campsites, and a small chalet type hotel. We picked the campsite which was extensively advertised in all things Coral Bay, big mistake, absolute shit hole!!!!! They charged the most we have paid on our travels and are clearly banking it and not re-investing it. We made do, after all we are campers now!
The area is famous for its close proximatey to Ningaloo Reef, which I am told is more spectacular than the Great Barrier Reef, well I ain't been there so I can't actually verify that. Its also famous for be able to swim with Whale Sharks, (March through to July) also for having a Reef Shark nursery about 20 minutes walk along the beach. This was the first point of call. We actually stood in the water and watch about 10 sharks merrily swimming about 20 yards from us. They were only about a metre long and we are told they are harmless!! Thank God.

Off for a spot of Shark hunting.

De, den den den den den den, The Shark nursery!!!!

"Here sharky sharky"

Shit thats a big fin for a small shark.

Looking back towards Coral Bay resort, hotel in middle of picture.

Literally 2/3 yards into the water and there are Manta Rays, turtles, snapper its incredible. I spotted these two funny things too!!!! I know one is a crab, but don't recognise the other ones.

An 'OTTO' fish (One on Top of The Other)

'White Freckeled Snorkelling Babe'

Peter and Niamh talked me into my first proper snorkelling experience. Peter kept telling me that the reef was only about 30 yards off the beach, so I went for it. Well, I'm snorkelling along nicely, watching lots of white sand pass about 3 feet below me, then this piece of coral appeared and I almost shit meself, 'cus it looked just like an octopus, came up v v quickly coughing and spluttering. Much to delight of the two kids and of course Our Wend. I didn't like it at all.

That night we had a few beers around the resort hotel pool then went back to the 'shit hole' for a barby. Most camp sites have excellent and clean facilities, well this one was the opposite. The BBQ's are normally spotless and provide all the tools etc you need to leave it the way you found it. Well this site didn't and the barby we chose looked like there had been some sort of sacrificial ceremony conducted on it, absolutely disgusting.
Next day we booked a trip on a glass bottom boat which you could also snorkel from around the reef. Quite windy when you got about half a mile from shore so decided snorkelling not for me.

Our Wend & Niamh went in (Peter was feeling really unwell all morning so he opted out too)

"Are we READY?"

Rather attractive gear you have to wear for snorkelling don't you think?

Behind You!!!!

That was Noo Noo.

How was that Noo Noo?

 

Rather than have to return to the sacrificial table we opted for a night out at the local seafood restaurant, hang the bloody expense eh? The food was awesome.

The next day we needed to hit the road v v early, long way back to Perth!!!
Part three soon
The Skerritts in Oz
nnnmm,,,..