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G'day all, we have had few problems with this blog, if you what to still follow us on our travels either ring or email us & we fill give the new blog address to you.
Thanks & take care
Dale & Jenni

The Last Bit of our Holiday

16^th  - 18^th September 2012

After finishing our trip down the Canning Stock Route we camped south of Wiluna. Overnight it was cooler then what we had on the CSR; we had to put the Doona back on the bed. We kept travelling south to Kalgoorlie still seeing wildflowers along the roadside. In Kalgoorlie we went to the Superpit lookout, it’s the largest hole we’ve ever seen, the Dump Trucks working looked like matchbox toys. The pit is part of the Gold/Nickel mining in Kalgoorlie. We camped 10 Ks south of Kalgoorlie after travelling 498 Ks.

We arrived in Esperance to get Phill & Shell’s cruiser checked out as we were still jump starting it every morning; both of their batteries had died, that was better then what we thought the problem could have been. We didn’t have be back at work until October, so we decided to catch up on our washing & restock some groceries & head out to Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance.     

19^th  - 22^nd September 2012

We arrived at Cape Le Grand & made camp in the campground. We had a couple of great days touring the area with a drive around the coast to Hellfire Bay, Thistle Cove & Lucky Bay, the beaches are differently the whitest beaches in Australia & the water is so blue and crystal clear. Dale, Phill & Shell had a go at fishing but didn’t catch anything. We watched a couple of magical sunsets. On Friday afternoon the park ranger, Cameron, came around and told us to make sure we put everything away as overnight there were going to be some strong winds. Strong winds was an understatement, we found out later the winds were about 80 Ks. We had just gone to bed when it started, we didn’t get much sleep as we were shaken & rolled all night, there were a few showers of rain. We got up at 6.30; the wind had died down a bit. Un be known to us Phill & Shell had slept in their cruiser. The wind had dried out the camper so we packed up & headed back into Esperance & had breakfast at McDonalds. The winds were forecast for the next couple of days so we headed back to the farm at Cascade.

Our holiday is over; we travelled 9955 Ks in 81 days. While we were at Grand Le Grand we tried to work what was the best part of our holiday, none of us could pin point one thing that stood out, we all agreed we had seen some of the most beautiful & amazing parts of Australia, from the Sunset cruiser at Timber Creek, the Chopper flight over Mitchell Falls, all of the Gorges along the Gibb River Road & Tunnel Creek, all of the Canning Stock Route, Horizontal Falls, the National Parks - Karijini, Millstream & Cape Le Grand, all the rivers & beaches we camped near, the sunsets & sunrises, all the wonderful people we met in the many places we travelled.  All of the above made our time away with Phill & Shell a very enjoyable and memorable holiday.

 We spend our first week back at Cascade unpacking, cleaning & washing everything in & out of the camper & cruiser and getting used to the cold weather. Phill has been offered a job by Rob & Christine King, one of the neighbours here at Cascade, driving their chaser bin during the harvest. We helped Phill & Shell move down to the King’s property, it’s about 25Ks from us, the weekend of the grand finals. Then Shell flew over to Cairns to see their children & meet their new grandson Nate who was born while we were away.

Sorry No Photos

Sorry there are no Photos with the last few updates, there is a problem with the blogger provider. When its sorted out I will add the photos.

Wednesday 29th August

We packed up & left by 8.30, we had a look around Old Halls Creek, saw the China Wall it’s a large White Quartz rock wall that stands about 1 metre high and goes for about 5 Ks no one knows why it’s there and know where else.

In Halls Creek we restocked our supplies & fuel, we went to the local cafe for lunch, rang all the family to say see you as we are ready to start the Canning Stock Route.

Tuesday 28th August

After a very enjoyable week at Bunda we said our goodbyes to Reg, James & Mark. Back on the Buntine Hwy we continued back into WA we're now on the Duncan Hwy & gained the 90 minutes we lost 12 days ago.
We drove in and had a look at Marella Gorge, back on the Duncan Hwy we came across a large section of Bulldust, crossed the Fox River then came to Sawpit Gorge, we made camp there for the night on the Black Elvrie River, we travelled 202 Ks.
Each day of our travels are getting hotter & the nights are getting milder, we all had a very nice swim in the Black Elvrie River.

Bunda

Reg asked us if we could stay for a few days to keep his ringer James company, as the rest of the crew had to go into Katherine for a few days.  We took up the offer & we all had a great time. As well as the cattle on the station there are goats, pigs, a camel called Carla, a Donkey & a Buffalo.

Before Reg went to Katherine we watched him work some weaners in the yards with his 5 dogs.

The guys helped James do some cattle work, feed out some hay & lick to the cattle; they also did some grader work. We got to see some magical sunsets & sunrises. James also taught us all a bit more about the stars and gave Shell & I alot of tips & helpful advice on how to take photos.

Monday 20th August

After leaving Top Springs we turned south west onto the Buntine Hwy which was bitumen for 170 Ks to Kalkringdji. During the morning we past another 3 Roadtrains; from Campfield Station. Then we were back on dirt for 200 Ks until we arrived at Bunda Station, we called in to say G’day to Reg Underwood, we worked at Bunda in 2009/2010 for 7 months for Reg & Janelle.

Bunda Station is 1788 Sq Ks. Reg has a Brahman stud of 2500 head and about 7000 head of commercial cattle. Reg took us on a drive around the station, we saw his stud cattle & some of the commercial herd, we were gone over 3 hours & travelled over 120 Ks & but only saw a tiny part of the station. During our time working at Bunda, I don’t think Dale even got to see all of the station doing the grading of the fence lines & making fire breaks.