Steam Shoes and Knickers

On Thursday night we got talking to a nice couple-Bernie and Leanne from Perth. They have not long bought their van (in Melbourne to save paying stamp duty) and are pretty new to caravanning like us. They custom built their van and suggested we go look at their battery set up for free camping the following morning. It looks simple and was added after the van was built, so it seems a pretty good choice for us. Anyhow, I noticed the car next door had Traralgon on its number plates and a Yepoon Hash House Harriers sticker on the back. (I met Russell through HHH).

Ross and Joy (Steam Shoes and Knickers) have been to many Latrobe Valley and Warrnambool HHH runs, we remember them from the Balls Up at Dallas Brooks Hall and a good friend of theirs went out with a good friend of ours. We spent a lovely couple of hours with them reminiscing last night and were a bit sad to find out they would be moving on today. Hopefully we will catch up in Perth although they are not too fond of cities and may move on fairly quickly.

Bottle Brush on the Bibulum Track


Yesterday, we took the car into town for its 30,000 km service (poor thing looks more like 300,000), then walked home along the Bibulum track (part of a 1000 km track that snakes from Albany to Perth). It was a lovely 3k walk through town, then over little creeks, through groves of tea tree and past quite a few wild flowers.

The Tinny Waiting to go Fishing


We’d launched the boat before taking the car into town, so headed out and did a bit of fishing. We moved around for a couple of hours not catching anything, so I finally said to Russ it was time to go home-I was a bit bored. I said we should cast our lines out one more time then go. I thought I had caught an octopus at first, but I pulled in the biggest bream I have ever seen personally. He was 41cm. Legal size is 25 and we only keep the ones over 30. He made the other 4 we caught look like babies. We had him for dinner last night and gave Ross and Joy the other fillets.
Big Bream, Bad Hair Day


It’s Saturday now and Russ is in paying for the car service. We offered to go get cash for them yesterday, but they said “no, just drop in and pay with your key card tomorrow morning”. I couldn’t believe they could do business like that-I would be standing by the eftpos machine (with my hand out waiting) when dealing with strangers passing through. They really only had our word that we are here until Monday. Russ said we must look honest, but I’m sure jail is full of people who “look” honest.

Still in Walpole

Amongst the Tingles

Another few days have slipped by in Walpole. It certainly is a relaxing time here! The weather has been getting cooler still-we had the heater on for a while last night and I got a blanket out to watch TV. There has often been rain through the nights and the days are still clearing to sunny but cooler. Our original plan was to stay a week, but we quickly extended that to two. The park is pretty empty and the fish are plentiful so it seems a good reason to hang around.

Mandalay Beach

Last week we drove out to Deep River and on to Mandalay beach (very beautiful)so it was great to see it from a different perspective. We also took another trip to the Giant Tingle tree with our camera this time!
In the Giant Tingle Tree


Russ promised me a fish smoker for my birthday and we finally bought it at the supermarket here. We tried to make do with our wok, but it was a waste of time. We've been having a great time with the real thing and it gives us more ways to use that seeminly endless supply of fish we have.
Down at the Boat Ramp

We have been limiting our fishing time as we are catching too many! Yesterday we headed out with our lunch at 11.30 and came back in at 2.30 having caught 10 King George whiting (averaging 33cm), a good sized trevally and salmon. Russ filleted them all and our neighbours (a couple from Shepparton) scored themselves 6 beautiful whiting fillets for their dinner.
The Fish


We kept the trevally and salmon to smoke as they are almost the best fish we’ve been catching to do that with. I phoned Brice yesterday and suggested he needn’t think of defrosting anything for me to cook us Monday night as we’ll have plenty of fish with us that won’t fit in our tiny freezer. And Blair, Leah, Todd and Daniel can expect a few meals of fish and crab while we are there! When we were smoking our last lot of fish, a kookaburra flashed through the caravan awning within 30cm of me and stole a raw (but spicily rubbed) fish fillet off the rack waiting to go into the smoker! I found too, that when we were near the BBQ using the smoker, they swooped even closer. I think it is to scare people so they’ll step back and the birds can have a go at meat on the barbie. They really are very bold and quite aggressive!
Coming in Before a Storm on Nornalup Inlet


Today we did a couple of loads of washing early in the hope of getting them dry on the line. After we’d done that, we packed a lunch (fresh rolls made with our own home smoked chicken and avocado) and went for a drive to Mt. Clare where we ate our lunch before walking to the summit. That sounds more strenuous than it actually was. It was a 2.4km round trip, gently uphill all the way to the top, but downhill all the way back to the car! The walk through the tingle and karri trees was pretty and peaceful and at the summit, we were rewarded with beautiful views across the Deep river valley to the coast at Mandalay Beach.
On the Summit of Mt Clare

I had some great news today. We met a couple (James and Beth) when we were in Coral Bay last year. They got as far as Broome on their travels but I had an idea they were moving on at the end of June. I got an e-mail today to say they'd be there when we arrive on 7th of July. We were only to stay a week, but I called and extended that to a second week when I heard the news as I'm sure we will be able to fill in two weeks with them there for a bit of company occasionally!

Tomorrow we are taking the car in to be serviced, so will walk the 2 ½ ks home from the mechanics. That walk takes you round the inlet and it’s very pretty at the moment with lots of orange bottle brush in flower.

Walpole the Second Time

We ended up spending just over two weeks in Bremer Bay and really enjoying it. Like I said it’s small and quite isolated, but it has a nice feel to it and plenty of fish!

Now we are back in Walpole where we’ve booked for a week. We feet like we’ve gone far enough east and don’t need to go back to Esperance as we’ve been there twice before. Walpole is a lovely little town; quiet, but slightly better off than Bremer Bay for groceries, price of fuel and a few cafes.

The day before leaving Bremer Bay, we caught a big blue swimmer crab in a fishing line (we had no idea there was crabs in the estuary) and after a chat with our neighbour John, found out they are just starting to run. That and the fact they are catching prawns by the mouth of the river made me want to stay another week. That night, we had a very loud and spectacular thunder storm with 40mls of rain. It’s always louder in the van, but it was pretty amazing. We reckon we have seen about 8 days of rain since we left home (not including Bangkok in the rainy season). 15 months ago, so we always enjoy it.

It was really windy travelling here on Monday-mostly a head wind, so we used heaps of fuel. It’s just on 300ks, but it took us 6 hours including a stop to shop and lunch in Albany. I was so excited to shop in a big supermarket after Bremer Bay and the prices seemed so cheap after the little supermarket we’ve been forced to shop at. We met some locals on our last night. They moved to Bremer from Barwon Heads for 2 years work at the Abalone farm and have now been there 7. They shop once a month in Albany and if a friend is shopping in the mean time, phone through an order and someone else collects it for them. It was nice to see that the rain we had over Easter has started to green things up. It was so dry when we drove into Bremer Bay two weeks before and although it is only painted on, the new grass made it look so much better on the way out. There are a lot of wattles and some gums and hakeas in flower too so it all looked good.

Yesterday we had a day out fishing in the estuary here. I keep trying to remember to take my camera as it’s one of the prettiest places we have ever been fishing on. The water is really shallow (mostly under two metres) and bright blue and green, it’s crystal clear and full of fish and stingrays (some as big as table tops).
Finally Took the Camera

Week 2 Begins in Bremer Bay

The Largest Site We've Had on the Trip


Today we begin week two at Bremer Bay. It’s been a quiet time for us with Easter and all. Easter has brought lots of campers to the park so there is always a queue for the toilets and showers which is something we are not used to. Also lots of feral children wandering later at night and lots of them have motorbikes and four wheel bikes that they ride out of the park to the dunes.

We did a bit of fishing before the hordes arrived, but even that becomes more difficult in the busier times as long queues form to go in and out of the water at the boat ramps. Most of our time has been spent reading and doing puzzles tho Russ has fished a couple of times off the rocks and once managed to catch us a big, beautiful breaksea cod which was delicious. We’ve also had a good look around the town-it has 4 lookouts at various high points that give really amazing views over the river and bays. The town has one wind turbine on top of one of the lookouts and it was pretty amazing to be able to park the car RIGHT under the blades. Those things are enormous!

Another thing we've had a bit of fun with was making ourselves a smoker we were happy with! They are available from hardware and camping stores for very little cost, but we can't afford the space for more gadgets. We decided our big Scanpan wok might do the trick. Anyhow, first attempt we brined the fish and used the wok with a foil lid on our electic hotplate with so so results. The second time, we rubbed a salt, sugar pepper mix on the fish, put the wok on the BBQ flame and used the BBQ hotplate as a lid. This gave us a much better result. We are smoking herrings over mesquite chips and will keep trying until we get it right.
A First Attempt at Smoking

It’s actually raining quite heavily this morning (Easter Monday) and has been for 24 hours, so we are feeling the cold a bit and looking forward to another day spent indoors! I hate to be a sook, but it’s nice to see some of the campers heading home. Although it’s still school holidays, I’d guess the park will be a quieter by lunch time. The toilets will appreciate that-they have been having a hard time keeping up with the crowds and aren’t flushing properly now.

Bremer Bay and Point Anne

Monday, we had a sleep in then a lazy morning and early lunch of soup (which I’ve been dreaming about), then went fishing. We looked at putting the boat into the bay but decided it was a bit rough so decided to go back to the river instead. Neither of us was too keen as the river at Molloy was a bit sad, but this one was great. It’s shallow around the boat ramp for about a kilometer any way you leave it and we didn’t want to go too far so we ended up anchoring in about 1 metre of water. Just as we were about to give up and move from our first spot, it went nuts. We were pulling in fish after fish. Most were undersize, but Russ caught 4 good size bream, I caught 1 bream, 2 snapper and 1 whiting we could bring home.


Royal Hakea Fitzgerald NP
Today we woke to a beautiful morning so decided to take a picnic out to Point Anne (about 60ks away on a gravel road). It would have been a perfect day for fishing, but you can only eat (or freeze) so much fish and it really is nicer to eat it as you catch it. Russ made a smoked trout pate and we took the makings of really yummy sandwiches (smoked lamb pastrami, avocado etc). We couldn’t leave though until the fresh bread arrived in town at 11 am!


The Road in to Point Anne

Point Anne is in the Fitzgerald National Park and is very remote and spectacular. There are a few small mountains rising off the plains and several more further along the coast towards Esperance. The water is very blue and the sand hills very white. The sky was very blue and was criss crossed with jet trails heading to and from Melbourne and Perth. It looked a bit like the skies over London.

Point Anne

The woman that runs this park said FNP wasn’t really worth the visit as it is dry with the drought (she forgot to mention burned out by bushfires too in much of it) but arriving at Point Anne and Mary’s Inlet is worth the drive. On the way home we went via Quaalup Homestead then back into town the short way over a 4WD track and across the river mouth back into Bremer Bay. What a great day out!

Walpole, Albany, Bremer Bay

Don and Judith left front, Joan back left and Brian on the back right

We ended up spending a full week in Walpole and could have happily have spent another one. It was one of the nicest parks we’ve stayed in and once again we were a bit sad to leave. Still, it’s good to leave feeling like that rather than vowing never to return!

After leaving Walpole, we went to Albany where we’d arranged to meet our friends Don and Judith. By the time we got there, they’d met the neighbours Brian and Joan from Taree NSW and the 6 of us had a great time. We met Don and Judith in Streaky Bay last year, and they have just come from there again. This is their first trip to WA and so far they are having a wonderful time-they’ll be away from home for 10 months this trip. I think we’ll be able to catch up with them again further up north or even in Darwin towards the end of July.

Yesterday after a visit to the best farmers market we’ve been to so far, I spent a nice couple of hours showing Don how to set up the blog he wanted to start, then in the evening the 6 of us went out for Japanese. It was the first time for the other 4 (eating Japanese) and luckily everyone enjoyed it a lot.

Russ and I arrived in Bremer Bay about 1.15 today. Bremer Bay is about 180ks east of Albany and about 350 west of Esperance. About 5 years ago, we drove our car over to Perth and called in here to eat our lunch and have a look. It’s somewhere I have always wanted to come back to. Now with 2 weeks here, we can see if it was really such a good idea. The park is nice (with a pizza restaurant lots of travellers have recommended to us) and our site is very big and reasonably private (which will be good over Easter). We are right by the pool, but I don’t think I (or anyone else) will be wanting to use it as the days are getting much colder.