Lock 9, Lake Cullulleraine - Wedderburn - Home


Our trip with Cat & Keith and Jenny & Cameron started at Lock 9, Lake Cullulleraine and we thought it would be good to have our penultimate night there.  We pulled in and with just one van parked about 300 metres away, we nearly had the place to ourselves.

We commemorated with some smoked trout and a bottle of champers followed by a porterhouse and salad and a nice bottle of red and of course an open fire.
Getting the fire ready at Lock 9.
Clearly we were back in Victoria - it rained overnight - apart from the showers we had in Kalannie, WA, it's the only rain we've encountered in the 15 weeks we've been on the road. Still, we're sure it will simply be getting us ready for Melbourne's spring weather.

We had a quick catch-up with Peter McGuinness (2/22nd Lark Force) in Mildura which was great.

About the time we headed inland at Geraldton to see the wildflowers, Sandy and Jim  headed to Perth for some car repairs and to spend time with family.  They made good time travelling across the Nullarbor and caught us up at Wedderburn.

Our trip started at Hard Hill Tourist Park, Wedderburn back on 23 June 2017 and we wanted to "book-end" the trip with our final night there.  We collected some wood on our way in to Hard Hill and had a lovely fire to sit around for the evening.

Sandy taking "dining out" to a whole new level!

Our final "The Lap 2017" campsite at Hard Hill.

What a fabulous trip we've had - what fantastic memories we have.  I now understand why people leave the southern parts of the country for the northern states during the deepest parts of our winters.

The treasured bits for John:  Bell and Manning Gorges on the Gibb River Road; Broome; Cape Leveque; Middle Lagoon; Tunnel Creek; and on and on ...

For Lorraine:  as above plus the Oodnadatta Track - Farina, Oodnadatta etc; Kata Kjuta; Kings Canyon; Palm Valley; Daly Waters; the Gibb River Road; Edith Falls; Dalhousie; Quobba Stations - in fact all the Stations ... too many bits really - it was all great!

We do the blog mainly for family and as our record of the trip - but we love that our friends too have logged on and travelled along with us. Thank you for your emails - apologies for not having posts more regularly but we just have to wait for power and internet connection before we can upload new posts.  I know that Blogspot is a pain in the bum to be able to "Comment" but we've been buoyed by your emails.  Thank you.  Big hugs - we're looking forward to seeing you all soon.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leaving Melbourne Bound for Lock 9 via Wedderburn

Image
Our plans for leaving early on Friday 24 th June were dashed when Lorraine receive a telephone call telling her that the rose garden at Inala Village in Blackburn South was going to be demolished.  The rose garden was established in 1942 in memory of the men of the Salvation Army who formed the band for the 2/22 nd battalion Lark Force in WWII.  Lorraine’s maternal grandfather was one of those men and his rose bush had to be dug up, bagged up and replanted in our rose garden at home.   So, it wasn’t until 10 pm that we arrived at Hard Hill Tourist Reserve, Wedderburn, having left home at 5.15 pm.  But with Q, we were set up and playing cards with a nice hot cuppa by 10.10 pm.  Bliss!   The township of Wedderburn really took off in the 1850’s with the discovery of gold in 1852 with the population fluctuating between 6000 and several hundred, but in the 1890’s gold ceased to be regarded as a major source of income for Wedderburn.  However, th...
Read more

Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

Image
7 August - Windjana Gorge Windjana Gorge, Lillimooloora Police Station and Tunnel Creek on the map. The sign at the entrance to the Gorge tells us that, the "Lennard River has carved a 4 km Gorge through the limestone of the Napier Range which is part of an extensive fossilised barrier reef from the Devonian times, 360 million years ago."  The Devonian Reef is a distinctive feature of the Kimberley; the limestone range stands high above the surrounding plain of savannah woodlands and grasslands. It is truly majestic.   View from our campite. Windjana isn't a Gorge where you get to luxuriate in cool waters - it is the territory of crocodiles. "Freshies" as they are, there are still warning notices around telling us not to swim here - and there's also a photo of a mangled foot, courtesy of a croc, on a notice board. On our early morning walk we saw about two dozen crocs sunning themselves on the banks of the river however another camper told...
Read more

Monkey Mia - Hamelin Pool Station - Denham - Shell Beach - 18 September 2017

Image
Monkey Mia We had an early start for the drive to Monkey Mia.  Lorraine was keen to swim with the dolphins - we figure the dolphins don't know where the "imaginary exclusion line" is - but there weren't many dolphins at the early feeding session.  To protect the dolphins and ensure they retain their ability to search for their own food in the wild, only two people are offered one fish each to feed to the dolphins. Tourists patiently waiting like school children! It was a bit cool so we watched a couple of the "feeding sessions", enjoyed a caffeine fix and headed back to Hamelin Pool Station for a Devonshire Tea. Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station Hamelin Pool Devonshire Teahouse. Hamelin Pool Station   The shores of Hamelin Pool are dotted with  stromatolites , the world's largest and oldest living fossils, and they are among the most diverse in the world and show us what marine ecosystems would have looked like three billion years ago...
Read more