Left New Norcia about 10am after having another look at the Museum & Art Gallery. Headed towards Coorow via Moora. At Moora we saw the Clock tower which has patterns of wild flowers on it but it didn't look much in the daylight, apparantly it lights up at night. Arriving in Coorow we headed out about 30klm to see the Wreath Flower, & we saw lots, it was great, their were many more flowers but the Everlastings were all finished so that was a bit of a disappointment. Spending the night in Coorow, at the CP.

Today we travelled the great amount of 35klm to New Norcia, we had a 2hr tour of the monastary,church & chapels, very interesting tour describing its 100yr history, as a monastary, orphanage for Aboriginal children, & school. Only 8 monks live here now, but people come in & use the chapels, especially for music as the acoustics are wonderful & some stay in the monastary.

Yesterday was a dreadful day, cold, wet, & windy. We left Quairading this morning & the weather is much improved, sun is shining & wind dropped a lot. We drove up to York then Northam & Toodyay, then drove across towards Bindoon & found a nice little camp site at Wannamal, where the wildflowers are beautiful. The drive was spectacular with fields of flowers as far as you could see.

I went out to the Nookaminnie Rock, it was a huge rounded rock which gave us views all around the area of Quairading. We saw some lovely flowers while out there, some growing on the rock.  The weather has again turned nasty, with cold winds & rain in squalls.

Yesterday we drove to Quairading for the Solo's rally, on the way we went up to John Forest lookout & saw views of Perth, then went a back road & saw paddocks of wildflowers.

Today we went on a cruise up the Swan River which was very pleasant, it is a very beautiful river.

Yesterday we left Pinjarra and headed to a Caravan Park near Woodlands Beach, then caught the bus & train into Perth city. On our return Sue & I went for a walk to the beach, a bit further than we thought, I was hoping for a good photo of the sunset over the sea but clouds got in the way.

Last night I spent the night at Norah's place, it was good to catch up again. The girls picked me up and we went to Fremantle, it has been a very miserable wet day. Judy, Denise & I went on the tram around Fremantle & enjoyed a good commentary of the area.

Today we did Perth, in the hire car, and had a great time going around King's Park, the flowers were beautiful and the Suspension Bridge is new to me, then we went down around the Swan River.

We left Big Valley Campground after a very wet & cold night and the day did not improve, in fact we had hail at one stage as we headed toward Yellingup & Cape Naturaliste. The wind was so strong it nearly blew us away. We went to the Busselton Pier which is supposed to be the longest one in Australia, they have a little train going out to the underwater observatory at the end but the wind was so strong it was all closed down.

We went on to Ironstone Gully Falls for the night. Then today we drove on to Bunbury then up to Pinjarra for the night. On the dual freeway I got a broken windscreen, so tomorrow I have to drop it off in Mandurah to get fitted with a new one, so while it is being fixed we are going to Perth & Freemantle in a hir car & leaving the other vehicles at the Pinjarra Visitors centre.

Our next day we saw the Gloucester Tree, and Sue climbed a bit of it, I did it years ago & not again. We stayed at Big Brook Dam that night then on to Bridgetown & Nannup, this is a lovely little town, then on to Sue's Bridge campground for the night.

!6th was Sue's birthday. We visited the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse where the two oceans meet. We then made our way to Big Valley Campground for 2 nights, I had a very restful day while others went on a wine tour.

On the 10th we travelled onto William Bay, and stayed at a campsite called Parry's Beach, this was another site with low trees, but again we all got in there. We saw the hugest kangaroo there he was very curious about us.

 On the 12th we went to the Treetop Walk, Ancient Empire Walk, Giant Tingle Tree & Circular Pool, before spending the night at Crystal Springs Campground in the D'Entrecasteaux NP.

Leaving Crystal Springs we went to Northcliff, and Sue & I went out to Pt D'Entrecasteaux, the scenary on this coast quite different to before, it is now limestone cliffs. We thern headed into Pemberton & out to Big Brook Dam For the night.

The next day we travelled on to Albany & out to Cosy Corner for the night, it is a cute little camp by the beach, under all these trees, quite a struggle to get 5 vans in, but between Denise & I we managed, only trouble we had no sun on our solar panels. When we walked along the beach we saw Leopard Seals basking on the beach.

The next day we went int Albany and did a tour around up to the lookpout and around the coast into Torndirrup NP, and back to Cosy Corner for the night.

Onward to Albany, had the car serviced, then met up with others & we headed for Cosy Corner for night. Had to struggle to get 5 vans in a tight spot but it was good. very pretty beach, and as we walked along it we saw a Leopard Seal sunning himself

Yesterday we left Esperance travelling through some really lovely countryside, the colours of the flowers were amazing, so many different types it is mind boggling. We stayed the night at Fitzgerald River, had a great campfire again & cooked a delicious damper with my spelt flour.
This morning we headed off the main roads towards the Stirling Ranges, stopping off at some little towns, & dicovered Ongerup, where they have a Mallee Fowl Centre, these birds are near extinction because of the overclearing of the Mallee. The wild flowers were again wonderful and the colours of the Canola fields against the mountains was striking. We went for a drive up to Bluff Knolls lookout, what magnificent views, and are stopping the night at Stirling Range Retreat, very nice with hot showers.

6th Aug

Well we are back in service again,it is very patchy over her at the moment.
We arrived in Norseman on the 3rd, & spent a while doing all the necessary things after so many days without any facilities. We drove around Norseman and went up to the lookout, what a view.
Leaving norseman we stopped of at Dundas Rocks which used to be an old mining town, the stopped at Bromus Dam for the night, had a good campfire.
Next day we drove to Esperance, and out to Cape Le Grand for 2 nights, the weather turned nasty and we coudn't do much so we had a restful day. On the way back to Esperance we stopped of at Thistle Bay & Hellfire Bay. On arriving in Esperance I had to go & get my UHF radio looked at as I hadn't been able to hear the others for several days, so I ended up having to get a new external speaker.
A drive around coastline was next, what beautiful sights, & the night in a little caravan park just out of Esperance.

3rd Sept

We have been without service since 29th. We travelled to the Head of the Bight on the 30th & saw many Whales with babies. We then travelled across the Bight popping into all the viewing spots, what views. We have then been travelling across the Nullabor, and it is quite green because of all the rain they have had. Last night we stopped at Fraser Range rest area where there was a dry lake, so red , we had a thunder storm & the thunder clouds with the red dirt looked wonderful.