Last bit and ...............HOME!!!

From Adelaide we drove all the way to Kennett River and stayed in Fee (Al's sister) & Ricky's mud brick house. It was the longest drive that we did on our trip (always save the best till last). On the way we dropped in on friends Steph & Richard, Nakaya and Taram who we haven't seen for ages and now are living in Narawong near Heywood. The drive back in to Vic was really lovely through lush spring farms, vineyards and serious forest, something we haven't seen for quite some time.

Pete went sniffing around for a last GtOceanRd surf the next day at Kennett River but his luck had finally run out. On our very last day we drove from Kennett to Queenscliffe, dodging bike riders all the way who were on the road warming up for the big cycling event on in Geelong the next day. It was Pete's Mum's birthday so we met them in the park for a lovely family catchup/welcome home for a couple of hours before driving onto the ferry and crossing over to our side of the bay. Once we hit Sorrento we cranked up the stereo with all our favourite trip songs and drove home happy and admiring our natural surroundings of home.

So now we're back! It does feel a bit weird but we've had a great welcome back from lots of family & friends which reinforces all the good things about home. We've picked up our dogs, we've got stuff everywhere the washing machine is going flat knacker and school starts back tomorow. It's been a fantastic trip and we are so pleased to have done it. It's a good feeling to be home. Thanks for following us, now get out there and do your own trip!

The Cracknells are in Redhill today!

Well we finally made it to Redhill !!!!!!!!!!!

Do you recognise the Redhill Corner Store? This one is in S.A.

Today we drove to Adelaide from Streaky Bay. Another long drive but managed to get in at a reasonable hour

Streaky Bay South Australia

While we were at Streaky Bay we had an entree of pippies which were very nice. We had 6 boys collecting them including Tom, Harry and Charlie & the Cracknell boys and it was quite exciting.

Pete had another surf while we stopped here for two nights and again scored some great waves at Granites!!!!!!! Whooooo Hooooo......

Crossing the Nullabor Plain

Whale Watching

Eucla Old Telegraph Station

Yesterday we got going early and drove and drove and drove from Coolgardie to Eucla. The boys coped well with the long day, probably our longest so far covering around 900km's. There was not much going on out the window so for the first time on our trip we saddled up the laptop and put a movie on for the kids to watch while driving. I have to admit it was a sanity saver in this situation with one or two of us teetering on the edge of loosing it towards the end of that drive. Eucla was an interesting spot perched up on a small escarpment above the sand dunes that have swallowed up the original site of the town. We drove down the have a look at the remains this morning and the kids had great fun leaping around the sandy ruins of the old telegraph station. After that we headed on to Yalata, an Aboriginal community at the head of the Bight, where you can drive in and see Southern Right Whales wallowing around with their calves, if you are lucky. Well we got lucky today and had a great view of the very intimidating Great Australian Bight coastline and also a Mum and calf very close in to shore with other pods of whales mucking around further out. We have been very spoilt for whales on this trip.
We came across our first real odd-bod on the road today. A guy waved us down for help, we pulled over to check if he was OK and he asked us for fuel, then money with a weird story that seemed rather fluid and didn't make much sense. After being on the road for a while now it didn't take long to size him up smell a potential scam so we left him to it and kept moving. We had a fascinating discussion in the car afterwards about helping people out who you don't know and balancing being helpful and staying safe. All part of the education kids get on the road.
So now we are snuggled up in Streaky Bay having made it across the Nulla and only one state away from home!

Heading Home .......... Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

After a day of denial we pulled ourselves together and packed up our dusty camper in preparation for the long haul home. We're not exactly sure what route we'll take so in the spirit of having ditched our itinary long ago, we'll make it up as we go depending on how everyone is faring. Our first leg was Kalbarri to Dallwallinu via Geraldton and along the so-called "wildflower Way". It was odd to be back into farmland and civilsation again. We enjoyed seeing the wildflowers that were out along the way but definitely not the infinite swathes of flowers as far as the eye can see as depicted by tourism marketing. Perhaps we missed the best bits and it was going on somewhere else. Still what we saw was lovely and it was good to get a taste of it. Dallwallinu is not WA's top tourist destination, being in the heartland of wheat farming. It was a convenient place to stop but that was it.
Next day Grand Final day, leg 2 of the haul was from Dalwallinu to Coolgardie. We spent the morning tuning in to the Coodabeens in the lead up to the game and then tried to follow it on the ABC as we travelled along. We made a couple of fuel stops and took the opportunity to look in on their TV to check on Collingwood's progress. Midway throught the last quarter it was all getting too exciting to try and follow on the raddio so we pulled in at a dot on the map called Yellowdine and raced inside to watch the last 10 minutes. The barman joined us and got swept up in our excitement and was barracking along with us despite being an Eagles fan. We walked out of there stunned with the drawn outcome. Oh well, at least we'll be home for the rematch! When we eventually got to Coolgardie we dropped off the camper and zoomed in to Kalgoorlie to check out the super pit- an absolutely MASSIVE open cut gold mine that goes on and on and we wondered just how far they could (and will) take it. It was good to see but hideous as well.

Kalbarri

After Denham & Monkey Mia we belted down to Kalbarri chasing more surfing opportunities at the (apparently) famous "Jakes". Pete was in luck again and scored some cranking swell, accommodating locals and a pile of new-found confidence post Gnaraloo and tore up the waves at Kalbarri - 3 surfs in two days and the desperado was temporarily satisfied.
Kalbarri was a lovely spot where we could have spent more time if we had it but alas our trip time is dwindling so we made the most of 2 nights here. We caught up again here with friends we'd met at Karijini & Cape Range Richard, Rox & Lucas from Adelaide. Had another crack at fishing off the jetty too. I pulled in a fish that was too small and had to be tossed back and Finn caught another small one and then a ........dishwashing sponge!

Denham & Monkey Mia

After Gnaraloo we headed south past the big blowholes near Quobba and then on down to Denham. We really loved this area but were running short on time so only had a couple of days around here. We used this up by visiting the Monkey Mia dolphins which we all enjoyed, despite the orchestrated nature of it all, and a great day driving up to the tip of Cape Peron where my wish came true and we spotted a Dugong family. The day at Cape Peron was topped off by sausages on the barbie at the Peron homestead and a night swim in the artesian hot tub they have there. We had it all to ourselves and it was a great end to the day.

Gnaraloo ..... the surf trip and more

The word had reached the Cracknell household that this Gnaraloo spot was a place worth visiting for a surf. That was all that Pete needed and the destination was locked in! We made our way down another dirt track for 80km (no major issues this time) and found Three Mile Camp and booked in for 4 nights. We had a great camp site right next to the beach and the snorkeling was quite spectular in a little bay.

One of the friendly locals enjoying the warm rock.

Pete and Al's favourite spot for a cuppa (yes another amazing sunset)

We camped along side Kathryn (Duke), John, Jack, Will and Pete Myers and spent time exploring the area. The boys found the sand dunes and had great fun surfing down the slopes doing all soughts of crazy tricks.

The waves were cranking and Pete and John enjoyed the challange of 4-6 foot waves at Tombies on the Saturday. Pete had the best surf of his life dropping into some heavy waves.

The lads of Gnaraloo.

One final photo before we say good bye.

Coral Bay Part 2

We took the chance to catch up with Debbie, John, Flynn and Nash in Coral Bay and we all had a good catch up on travel news and also what was happening down south.

It was also a good chance to see their new caravan.

Swagging in the sand dunes

Josh and one of his mates decided that they wanted to camp in the sand dunes while we were staying at Cape Range National Park and so went about their campain of convincing the adults that it was a good idea. Well the momentum grew and in the end we had Josh, Lachy, two other mates another dad and Pete. It was an exciting time with the boys spending an afternoon scoping out the best place and making a wind break. Everyone slept suprisingly well and the four boys emerged out of the sand dunes talking of how they were going to plan the next adventure.

Sunrise from the swag.

Coral Bay

We continued south along the Ningaloo Reef to Coral Bay and found a nice spot to stay for a few days.












We had a feast on the beach with prawns, sausages and soft drink while the sun set over Coral Bay. It has been amazing some of the sunsets that we have had on the west coast, something that we don't have down south.

Peter doing the cook up on the burner while the kids enjoyed the freedom of the beach. Most people had stayed until the sun dipped below the water and then left. We stayed a bit longer and the sky and clouds were painted with amazing colours.

Enjoying the feast!

Cape Range National Park Ningaloo Reef