Home Sweet Home

What an amazing 12 months we have had.  Such a beautiful country with wonderful people.
After 43,412 kilometres and WAY too many photos to count, we have set up camp in the caravan park around the corner from home for a week before the tenants move out and we can move back in to our house. We'll use this week to get a few jobs done and prepare for getting back to reality!
Thank you all so much for sharing the trip with us.

Feel the serenity...Pt Sinclair, just out from Penong

Pildappa Rock at Minnipa has the highest and longest 

wave formations on the Eyre Peninsula.  

The view from the top

These are called gnamma holes.  

The holes are quite deep so were a good source of 

water for indigenous and early pioneers

The wave formation

The Big Galah at Kimba

Sculptures of Edward John Eyre and an indigenous bushman 

A squeezy cave

An emu sculpture on the Roora Reserve Nature Trail, Kimba

Roo sculpture (and Peter)

Peters Humpy  A house made out of flattened kerosene cans, Poochera

Port Broughton

This is where we have been - 43,412 kms

Soooo much more to see!

Bec made us a delicious "Welcome Home" dinner

Homeward Bound

Our trip across the Nullarbor is still underway.  We've  stopped at many places for a look around and the scenery has been amazing.  We also took a detour to stay at an abandoned Station Homestead and Roadhouse which was just on the Old Eyre Highway.  The road in was pretty rough but worth it – at one stage I had to get out of the car and hold the trees back so we could get through!  

So far, we haven’t seen any whales but are still hopeful.  Only another 8 days before we get back to Adelaide!   

I've spent 24/7 with this bloke for the past 351 days and I still like him!!

Madura Roadhouse

Such a big country

The sand dunes are taking over this old Telegraph Station at Eucla

Back in South Australia!

Peter-in-a-pouch

It rained ALOT

The view from one of our camps on the Nullarbor

The amazing Bunda Cliffs, Great Australian Bite

Abandoned Koonalda Homestead  

Our camp at Koonalda

The old roadhouse and petrol bowser at Koonalda

Many cars didn't make it across the Nullarbor so were taken 

to the roadhouse and there they stayed

We walked a bit of the Old Eyre Highway

Just amazing coastline

We felt like we were on the edge of the world

Don't get too close - those edges crumble!

We had BIG fires on our trip across the Nullarbor because it was so cold

One of our campsites along the Nullarbor.

First time we've seen so much green for a long time

We are at Penong now.  A lovely little town where 

my friend Ros spent some of her childhood

We had a good snitty here at the Penong Hotel

The sun has been shining since we arrived in 

Penong so took the opportunity to get on our bikes

Almost on the Nullarbor

The shorts and thongs are away and the tracky dacs and uggies are out.

What a difference a few kilometres south makes!  We have had a very long summer so it’s a bit of a shock to the system but our excitement for home will keep us warm!

Since my last blog we have visited Menzies, Gwalia, Niagara Dam, Lake Ballard, Kalgoorlie, Boulder, Kambalda, Lake Cowan and we are now in Norseman. 

Tomorrow we leave to start our journey across the Nullarbor Plain.  People who have come across in the last week have seen the whales so we are really looking forward to that.  We plan to take our time as there is a lot to see and plenty of nice places to camp.  

A ghost town just down the road from Leonora

The locals have done their best to keep these old buildings

the town was abandoned when the gold ran out

I love the bed pan!

The original miners made homes out of what ever material was available

an outdoor dunny

This was the towns Guest House

  

Beautiful abandoned shops

Doorways are so short

This ghost town called Kookynie has its own resident horse.

Apparently it lived on a station but when the owners left, the horse 

wandered into town and has been there since

On an early morning walk around Niagara Dam.

Still looking for gold!

A nice view from the Breakaway

Niagara Dam - not very full

Across the Dam wall

Lake Ballard is a massive Salt Lake and the artist Antony 

Gormley was commissioned to create 51 sculptures that are scattered all over the Lake.

The Flies were bad, hence the fly net!

We didn't visit all 51 because the lake got a bit soggy in places

This one is a child (The Sculpture...hehe)

Our shadows at Sunset

I had Fly trousers!

Sunset

We climbed to the top of the hill after sunrise

A couple of the sculptures from the top of the hill

The town of Menzies.  Lovely vacant shops and buildings

The Brothel in Hay Street Kalgoorlie

We were shown some of the rooms

This is the Torture Room!

Kalgoorlie Town Hall

The Stage from the Dress Circle

AWESOME!!

We had just watched the blasting in the Super Pit - thrilling!

OK Hun, you can come down now!

This is the Goatcher curtain in the Boulder Town Hall

It is an amazing three Dimensional painting and even when you stand up close, it still looks like the red curtains are separate from the silver but it's all flat!  It is thought to be the only remaining stage painting by Goatcher in the world.  A very interesting history in Boulder and Kalgoorlie 

Sitting in the Mayors chair in the Kalgoorlie Town Hall

From Norseman in WA to Norseman Avenue SA