Having got a taste of travel from the comfort of a train (we did the Ghan to Darwin last year), Barbara and I planned a trip on the other great Australian train ride, on the Indian Pacific to Perth. But which way to go? Fly to Sydney and do the whole trip by train then fly back to Melbourne?. Altogether that looked too pricey.
So why not drive to Perth and take the train back.But Southern rail only take your car from Perth to Adelaide.
In the end we decided to drive across to Perth, go north as far as Monkey Mia, then return to Perth and take the train back to Adelaide. Then we would drive to Broken Hill, Mildura, Bendigo and home. For this we allowed five weeks with plenty of two and three night stops along the way. Then Barbara's sister Sheelah expressed an interest in doing part of the trip, (Adelaide to Perth) so we were a party of three. On March 19th Barb and I took the ferry across the bay to Queenscliff to stay the night at Daniel's in Ocean Grove. Sheelah would join us in Adelaide. In the morning the real adventure began First destination Mt Gambier.
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| At the Blue Lake, Mt Gambier |
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| The Blue Lake, Mt Gambier |
The next morning after a good breakfast we headed off again, along the Eyre Highway. We had a couple of stops on our way to Adelaide. The first was Penola, which is where Mary MacKillop, (Australia's first recognised saint) began her order of nuns, and set up a school.
The school site is now a park with memorial sculpture and a couple of plaques.
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| Where Mary Mackillop's school was |
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| Memorial plaque Penola |
After Penola we decided to take the coast road, stopping for lunch at a pretty little seaside town called Robe. We bought sandwiches and drinks and relaxed under the big Norfolk pines which lined the foreshore.
We followed the coast past places such as Kalangadoo. (We do have some great names don't we. More on that later)
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| Robe |
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| Lunchtime on the Robe Foreshore |
We arrived in Adelaide right on peak hour and thanks to the GPS, found our way quite easily to our rather quaint old hotel in North Adelaide. There we met up with Sheelah who had flown in earlier that day. We had another day in Adelaide but we decided not to do any trips outside of the city, having visited here before. Instead we spent a leisurely day wandering the rather elegant streets of North Adelaide.And enjoying an al fresco lunch at one of the many local bistros.
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| Brougham Place Uniting Church |
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| Houses - North Adelaide |
The place was full of heritage buildings and a street not unlike Lygon St, full of restaurants and bistros.
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| St Mary's Catholic Church |
After dinner at one of these we went back to our hotel and packed again for a morning departure.
Our next drive took us inland along the Eyre Highway and our first sight of the Great Australian Bight. This really is the very edge of the continent, dropping straight down into brilliant turquoise seas and around the distant curve of the coastline, a ribbon of white dunes.
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| The Great Australian Bight - First sight |
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| Not that one! |
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| This one! |
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| Australia's southern edge |
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| Stopped for lunch |
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| Onwards to the Nullabor |
We drove along the highway running parallel with the Bight and eventually on to the Nullabor Plain proper. Accommodation is limited here and we stopped at the one and only motel for a few hundred kilometers, appropriately named the Nullabor Roadhouse.
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| Big Sky - morning on the Nullabor |
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| Hazard warnings |
The drive the following day took us westwards past never ending plains of saltbush and low scrub.
At last we crossed the West Australian border, At one point as we climbed higher we could look across the plain and it looked almost like the African veldt.
Next stop was the Wedgtail Inn, another remote roadhouse at a place called Cocklebiddy. In an aviary behind this place we found two rather bedraggled looking wedgetailed eagles. Hence the name!
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| Cocklebiddy Roadhouse |
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| Wedgetails |
As we continued west in the morning the thing that impressed me in some ways more than the wide open landscape, was the sky. It simply dominated everything.
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| Lunching with the flies |
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| Salmon Gums |
We had lunch by the roadside shaded by salmon gums and shared with pesky bush flies.
As we drove along we saw families of emus crossing the road, and a herd of feral camels.
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| Feral Camels |
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| They just stood and watched us |
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| Mine tailings near Norseman |
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| Mullock Heap - Norseman |
Finally we drove into the gold town of Norseman. The gold that was this town's fortune was discovered not by a man, but a horse.The story goes that this animal whose name was Norseman, picked up a piece of gold in its hoof, and the rest is history.
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| Norseman the horse. Maybe he'll give us some luck |
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| With Norseman |
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Widgemooltha! Once was a town, now just a roadhouse
The next day found us on the road to Kalgoorlie, a much bigger and more prosperous gold town (or rather a city). The place still produces gold from a gigantic open cut mine.
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| The Kalgoorlie Open Cut |
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Kalgoorlie shovels are gigantic
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There is a museum full of history and the main streets are lined with fine old buildings boasting of the wealth of Kalgoorlie.
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| Barbara and St Barbara, patron saint of miners. |
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Hannan St Kalgoorlie
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| Railway police station - Kalgoorlie |
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| Kalgoorlie |
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| Mining Museum |
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| Courthouse - Kalgoorlie |
Part of the reason for visiting this area was to travel 160kms to a place called Kookynie and a few kms away, the remains of the town of Niagara. Kookynie is pretty much a ghost today, apart from one pub near the railway line. But back in 1910 my father and his family lived and worked here. We had a drink at the pub and the lady who ran the place turned out to be the local historian. She showed us an entry in her book about my Aunty Mame and Uncle George. Mame ran the post office back then and we think a reference to a James Ryan at the local school also in 1910 might have been my father.As we left, a horse popped into the pub. He must have been thirsty.
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| Niagara Cemetery |
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| Not much left |
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| Kookynie pub |
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| The sign says it is open. |
It was a long drive back to Kalgoorlie, past many old mining sites but it was worth it.
Before we left Kalgoorlie in the morning we took a snap of a statue of the man who started the gold rush, Paddy Hannan.
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| Paddy Hannan |
Then back through Norseman and a town called Salmon Gums where we had lunch in a local park.
Next stop Esperance.
Once again the landscape was changing. No more scrubby plains. This was wheat country, although there was still plenty of saltbush. Then we saw the sea again, and we drove down into Esperance.
A pub dinner and then bed.
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| Esperance Clock Tower |
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| The port of Esperance |
We had three nights in Esperance and we did need a break. The town itself was nothing to write home about. It is an important regional port with sizeable wharves, and there's a pleasant foreshore area. But there were also some very pleasant drives out of town
We explored an area called Cape Le Grand. Large expanses of scrub dominated by huge rocky outcrops. We stopped at a beautiful white beach called Lucky Bay. The almost blinding white sand here was so fine and hard packed you could drive on it. There were lots of caravans here of course and even a little wallaby came down to the beach.
We sat on the beach enjoying coffee and the beautiful seascape.
Later we lunched at Rossiter Bay, but it was very windy.
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| Coffee on the beach |
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| Lucky Bay |
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| Wallabies like to visit |
On the following day I was feeling off colour and stayed indoors for most of the day while Barbara and Sheelah explored the town. By evening I felt better and we enjoyed a seafood dinner on the waterfront.
Our next destination was Albany, famous as a whaling town in earlier times. This was a long but interesting run of nearly 500kms,tracking north west up the coast. We followed long winding roads through Fitzgerald National Park. It was not the wildflower season but there were nevertheless, masses of shrubs and flowering bushes everywhere, and always in the distance, the brilliant blue of the Indian Ocean.
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| Wildflowers - Fitzgerald National Park |
After a night's rest in Albany, we visited the Albany Cheynes Beach Whaling Station, now a tourist attraction. Barb and Sheelah weren't that keen about this place's rather gruesome history but I think history is history. Back in the 1840's this place was the lifeblood of Albany. It closed in 1978.
Another piece of Albany history is King George Sound which we looked down on from a sprawling Anzac memorial.
Our next stop was to be the famous wine producing region of Margaret River but the drive took us to the pleasant town of Denmark where we lunched on bakery pies and I enjoyed a beautiful vanilla slice. Then a detour to a forest area called the Valley of the Giants. For obvious reasons!
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| Tingle Eucalypts - Valley of the Giants |
When at last we drove into Margaret Rive we were pretty tired. I had a hypo but we fixed that with a lovely Italian meal at one of the many restaurants.
In the morning we enjoyed a satisfying breakfast. The car, which had performed perfectly so far, decided to blow a brake light bulb. So I found a local service place who said they could replace both bulbs if we could leave the car there for a few hours. Fine! By this time lunch was beckoning so we took a taxi out to the Watershed Winery where we enjoyed a fabulous taster lunch, looking out over acres and acres of vines. The wine went down well too.
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| Watershed Winery - Margaret River |
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| Winery Lunch |
Then collecting the car, we drove to the mouth of the Margaret River to watch the magnificent surf rolling in off the ocean.
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| Surf's up off the mouth of the Margaret River |
Tomorrow we would head for Perth.
Our first stop was at Mandurah outside Perth. We stopped for lunch and to visit our rellies, Tony and Natalie. And then on into Perth checking into a lovely hotel known as Miss Maude's. Miss Maud is a Swedish lady and her hotel featured a magnificent smorgasbord , which meant we over ate.
In the morning we met up with our niece Jane and her husband Steve, and shared brunch in Perth's beautiful Kings Park. The food was lovely and the views of the city were superb.
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| Perth from King's Park |
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| The Swan River from King's Park |
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| Me and Sheelah, Barbara and Jane |
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| A Giant Boab |
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| Exploring the native flora |
Another lovely meal in the evening, courtesy of Miss Maud and in the morning we took a train down to Fremantle, where we took in the harbourside walk and an interesting maritime museum..
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| Fremantle old and modern |
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| Old P &O Building - Fremantle |
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| Memorial to immigrant wartime children from the UK |
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| The one o clock gun |
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| Submarine HMAS Ovens |
In the evening we joined Jane and Steve again for dinner. This was Sheelah's last day with us. She would fly home in the morning.
So we enjoyed a pleasant meal in the seaside suburb of Scarborough, highlighted by an absolutely spectacular sunset.
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| Sunset - Scarborough |
After saying goodbye to Sheelah in the morning, Barbara and I set off northwards towards Geraldton. On Jane's advice we took a side trip on the way to a place known as the Pinnacles. These are hundreds and hundreds of limestone formations said to be thousands of years old. How they formed is still the subject of scientific debate.
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| The Pinnacles |
Geraldton was the halfway mark on the way to Monkey Mia. We got there late in the day and enjoyed another motel dinner featuring chips and more chips.
Before we left Geraldton in the morning we stopped to look at an impressive memorial to the sailors of the HMAS Sydney II which was sunk of the W.A coast by a German cruiser during WW2. It is composed of a dome of 645 seagulls, each one representing a sailor who died. And to one side and looking out to sea, the statue known as the Waiting Woman.
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| The seagull dome memorial - Geraldton |
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| The Waiting Woman |
Leaving Geraldton and once more along the way to Monkey Mia we stopped at a place called Hamelin Pool on Shark Bay,where there are beds of stromatolites. Stromatolites we learned, are prehistoric formations built by microbes a bit like algae. These ones are two to three thousand years old. We also encountered a couple of interesting pedestrians along the way.
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| Stromatolites - the Hamelin Pool |
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| Pedestrians |
We arrived at Monkey Mia in the late afternoon. Our room was less than 20 paces from a gorgeous beach. And a welcome bar was just a few metres away. So we settled in, bought a bottle of chilled sauvignon blanc and sat outside on cane lounges, watching the sun go down. Dinner was equally satisfying.
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| Sharing the beach - Monkey Mia |
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| From our doorway |
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| Monkey Mia sunset |
In the morning we rose early to watch the feeding of the dolphins, a very strictly regulated ritual, limited by rules which meant we could only watch from the shoreline while a staffer called in each dolphin and fed them a few fish. They don't feed them too much in case they dolphins forget their fishing skills.
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| Brekkie for the dolphins |
There was other wildlife around the place, including a group of friendly and inquisitive emus. Our American waitress at dinner called them "ee-moos".
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| Ee-moos |
After breakfast we spent the rest of the day lazing in the sun, until drinks time and another superb dinner.
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| Breakfast - Monkey Mia |
We left Monkey Mia well rested, and headed back to Geraldton via the seaside town of Kalbarri. We had lunch there and on the road back to Perth, passing the local answer to Mt Gambier's blue lake. This time however the lake was pink.
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| Out of focus but you can see the pink |
Next morning before we left Geraldton we visited the city's impressive Catholic Cathedral which was designed in a striking Spanish/Moorish style.
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| St Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral Geraldton |
Then on to Perth where we were picked up by Jane and Steve. They'd arranged a meal at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant, so we enjoyed a lively evening of pasta and wine and lots of chat.
Jane drove us back to our hotel and we packed for the next phase of our journey aboard the Indian Pacific.
It was drizzling on the following morning and we weren't 100% sure about where the station was. Saved by the GPS, we found the station in time to check the car in and then enjoyed coffee and cakes. The presence of so many zimmer frames in one place was a bit daunting, but once aboard most of them disappeared into other carriages.
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| Waiting to board the Indian Pacific |
Our cabin was very comfortable and we spent the rest of the day watching an amazing variety of landscape slide by outside.
We visited the saloon car, chatted with fellow passengers and enjoyed good food and wine.
This was repeated at dinner time, and then bed. It was great not to be driving for a change.
Our second day aboard saw us well across the Nullabor and into South Australia. By now the landscape was very different from what we had seen along the coast.
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| Our cabin |
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| It beats driving |
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| The Nullabor from the comfort of the train |
We had one stop at what was virtually a ghost town on what was the longest straight section of railway in the world.
This was Cook. It was built in 1917 and used to serve the Indian Pacific with water and supplies, as well as being a base for repair workers.
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| Stopping at Cook |
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| Not much left |
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| Cook - old school |
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| The VW Golf on top |
We stopped in Cook for about half an hour and then we were off again.
This would be our last evening aboard the Indian Pacific before we'd arrive again in Adelaide.
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| Early Morning before Adelaide. |
We stayed one night in Adelaide before getting behind the wheel again, this time bound for Broken Hill.
This was a long drive (580 kms) but it took us across some very pretty country. Lots of greenery interspersed with sections of forest and every now and then a country town.
We stopped at one place called Burra.
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| Burra Sth Aust |
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| Burra War Memorial |
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| Local bank building |
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| Church at Burra |
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| Burra Creek |
This was once a flourishing copper mining centre and some fine looking buildings bore testament to its prosperity.
Once again we were skirting the edges of the Flinders Ranges before crossing into NSW.
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| Highway outside Broken Hill |
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| Flinders Ranges from the highway |
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| Wide Open Spaces - Near Broken Hill |
And then Broken Hill. To us it looked like one of those wild western towns. Broad streets and many houses built of corrugated iron. We enjoyed dinner at one of the local pubs. Expensive but good food.
We stayed that night in a B&;B called Lillimay Cottage. It was over a century old and although it had all mod cons, the floor literally creaked with age. It was quaint but comfortable.
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| Lillimay Cottage - Broken Hill |
After breakfast the next morning, we drove out to the town of Silverton, once a thriving centre for silver mining, but seemingly empty now. Again there were some impressive old buildings and another interesting museum set in what used to be the jail.
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| Silverton Museum - once the jail |
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A Silverton House
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| The thriving hub of Silverton |
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| View from Mundi Mundi Lookout, near Broken Hill |
We drove back to Broken Hill and looking for lunch, came across Bell's Milk Bar. This place looked like it hadn't changed a bit since 1950. Laminex tables and a juke box in the corner! But the sandwiches were OK and I enjoyed a lime flavoured malted milk in the spirit of the place.
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| A delicious lime malted! |
We dined at our cottage that evening. Tomorrow we'd be heading down to Victoria and Mildura.
We had a leisurely breakfast before heading south to Mildura, a mere 300kms away. The only problem proved to be imaginary. We looked like we might run out of petrol and for kilometre after kilometre past seemingly endless open country inhabited mainly by goats, feral and domestic, We worried that we would never make it to a service station/roadhouse.
Our fears were unfounded and we stopped for coffee and fuel at the one roadhouse between Broken Hill and Mildura. The Coombah Roadhouse.
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| The Coombah Roadhouse |
Having refuelled ourselves and the car we continued on arriving at Mildura mid afternoon.
We stayed at the famous old Grand Hotel and relaxed over wine and later an Italian style dinner.
In the morning we rose late and enjoyed breakfast downstairs.
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| The Grand Hotel Mildura |
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| The garden at the Grand |
It was a Saturday morning so we spent an hour so just strolling around town looking at local markets and shops. After lunch we took a relaxing cruise on a paddle wheeler along the Murray.
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| The paddle wheeler Rothbury (circa 1887) |
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| Going through the lock |
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| Travelling down the Murray |
In the evening we dined again at the Grand, and Sunday morning saw us on the road again, this time for familiar territory...Bendigo, 400kms south.
Our travels pretty much ended there. Monday was Anzac Day and we arrived home by lunchtime.
We had travelled over 10,000 kms in just over five weeks. But it wasn't the distance that left a mark on us.
It was the fantastic vastness of this country, and the beauty of the amazing places we saw.
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