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A journal of our adventures

Archive for July, 2011

Day 23 – Coronation Beach

Jul 31

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning, Geocaching | 2 Comments

Today started out early, with a quick packup … punctuated by rain … and then we were off … almost.

First issue was that the reverse camera screen wouldn’t power up.  Looks like the new one has died too … grrr.  I’ve checked out all the signals with a meter and everything looks OK … but it won’t power up.  A short detour to the shop … but they’re closed.  Something to post off for refund/replacement.  More annoying is not having any rear view of the van.  It makes it a bit tough.

So, minor detour aside we headed off down the freeway out of town.  Only to have the car lose all power crossing an uphill intersection.  I mean, all power.  Dead in the water.

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Day 22 – Perth

Jul 30

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off


Today we went to the Fremantle Maritime Museum and had a good look around there.

They’ve got plenty to see including the Australia II and a retired Ovens class submarine.

Now that’s what I call a winged keel !

The submarine tour is the highlight of the day as they take you through all areas of it explaining it all as you go.

After the submarine tour the weather turned nasty again.  So far, everywhere we’ve been has had far more changeable weather than Melbourne … and we’re famous for it.  Perth has been the most changeable so far.  There’s been intense tropical storms followed by sunshine … luckily the sunshine parts have coincided mostly with the activities we’ve wanted to do.  Our luck was about to run out though.

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Day 21 – Perth

Jul 29

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | 1 Comment

The rain continued overnight but it wasn’t as intense as Busselton.  I was up at 6:30 to go and take the car for its tuneup.

I had an appointment in the city for 11am, so I went back to get the family to have a look around.  The kids were just waking up when I got back … the lazy sleeperinnerers.

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Day 20 – Perth

Jul 28

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

Our last night in Busselton was a bit eventful. There was thunder, there was lightning, maybe even a little bit of frightening, there was lots of wind and even more rain. I thought Noah was gonna knock on the door in search of a pair of feral children for the ark … but alas no.

It was still raining on pack up and blowing a gale. The piccy below of the ‘lake’, including resident ducks, is actually a piccy of the sports field. A huge amount of rain was dumped on poor Busselton and I expect that there’s still plenty heading Melbourne’s way in a few days.

The only casualty that we had due to the weather is wet mattresses.  Not sopping wet, but wet enough that they need to be dried right out when we’ve got the chance.

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Day 19 – Gnomesville, Donnybrook, Busselton

Jul 27

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning, Geocaching | 1 Comment

Another touristy day today.  The rain bucketed down all night and was still going strong when we left this morning.  A couple of short stops in town and by the time we were on the main highway the rain had eased and we even had peeks of blue sky.

Our first stop was Gnomesville.  I’m pleased to report that the mystery has been solved.  The place that all stolen and orphan gnomes go must be gnomesville.  The place is chock full of them!

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Day 18 – Cape Naturaliste, Cape Leeuwin, Margaret River

Jul 26

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning, Geocaching | 1 Comment


Big touristy day today with lots of stops.

First up was the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.  This was built in 1903 and is still functional today … there’s been the odd change through the years, as you’d expect.

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Day 17 – Busselton

Jul 25

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

Only a 60km drive today at the end of which, Kylie (the GPS), steered us completely the wrong way for the first time this trip.  Dunno what the ol’ girl was thinkin’ but she took us completely to the wrong end of town to a lovely patch of green grass in the middle of nowhere.

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Day 16 – Valley of the Giants, Pemberton, Nannup

Jul 24

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning, Geocaching | 2 Comments


Another travelling day for us.  We started out cold due to a power failure at the park.  As a consequence of that, we were the only lights on anywhere to be seen thanks to the backup batteries, but the heater wasn’t working either, so we were probably the coldest too since we were the only ones silly enough to be out of bed this early!

Kel went to have her morning shower and bid a hasty retreat, as since there was no power the instant GAS hot water wouldn’t fire up and a cold shower wasn’t in her mornings plan.

We didn’t have too far to go today, but there was plenty to see and do.  The roads were also winding, undulating and steep with little opportunity for others to pass ol’ wobbly, so we had a fan club behind us for most of the day.  Luckily, since my van rear view camera was on the rubbish pile back at Albany I was blissfully unaware of the goings on behind me.

The Valley of the Giants tree top walk opened at 10am and that’s when we rocked up.  This tree top walk is the original.  It’s only got the walk and none of the fancy towers or cantilever sections like at the Otway Fly.  The walk isn’t the drawcard though, the trees are.  They are certainly tall and majestic.

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Day 15 – Albany

Jul 23

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

Second day in Albany today.  A bit of a rest day for us really, as it turned out.

We’d planned a few touristy things, but the weather was threatening so we didn’t do most of them.

We did get to have a look at a replica of the Brig Amity that sailed from Sydney over to Albany with the first settlers of the area.

We also did some walks down to a blow hole and along a boardwalk near the caravan park beside the beach.

Other than that, not much was done.  I had a crack at repairing the rear view mirror for the van, but I think it’s had it.  The spot finally ran out of batteries … now we see how long the ebay batteries last.

Most importantly I did get an afternoon nap while Kel and the kids got to try out the spa.

Dinner was at the local Indian and it was yummy.

Tomorrow we’re moving again…  Not moving too far, but there’s a few stops along the way, weather permitting or weather regardless … we shall see!

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Day 14 – Albany

Jul 22

Posted by Anthony in Big Lap 2011, Caravanning | Comments off

We reluctantly left Lucky Bay this morning … after an unintentional sleep in, since Kel seems to consistently fail to set the alarm clock so that it actually goes off…

Sugar and spice and all things nice ... not!

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