We booked into the Panorama Caravan Park at Albany for only five nights as we couldn't get longer because everywhere was so busy. It was a nice, friendly little park right on the water but we had mixed weather, some sun and some cold wet and windy. We did the big loop drive out to Denmark where we looked around the town and then did the Scottsdale Road loop up around the back of the town where we visited the Rockclffe winery. We saw a mini Stonehenge and the beautiful large rock (orthesaurus fossil, over 400 million years old, apparently) found in Morocco by the owner of the winery. After buying some wine we then drove to The Good Food Factory where we tasted many cheeses, relishes, jams and fudges. Needless to say we spent way more than necessary here!

We booked the Kalgan Queen river cruise from Albany and spent four hours on the boat, enjoying the beautiful day, all the bird life we saw and the company of the other passengers. A special mention goes to the skipper Jack and his very friendly pelican mate, Perch. It turns out that Captain Jack was a Pom himself and emigrated with his parents from Essex as a child. We enjoyed homemade damper, fresh strawberries and honey. Jack was very interesting to listen to and he never missed an opportunity to throw herrings to the many raptors we saw.

Another day we visited the Historic Whaling Station which had grown in size since we saw it last. We wandered around, reading all the information and climbed up and around the old whaling boat on display there. We spent a while talking to one of the volunteers who used to work on the whaling boats as an engineer. He loved the job and was sad when the industry closed. Luckier than most, he soon found another job. It took the town of Albany a few years to recover though when the main industry of the area was gone.

Our next visit was to the Anzac Memorial where we walked to the top and enjoyed amazing views. We then headed to the National Anzac Centre where we read and listened to the history and stories of the war. We couldn't visit this museum last time we were here as it was being refurbished ready for the 100 years anniversary. This place is very well done and a great place to visit but after a while the thought of all those senseless deaths got to me and I sat and waited for Chris in the reception area. I had been watching the roll of names of service personnel who had died. I began watching as the names started coming up with Her-- so I thought I'd see if there were any Hewitt's listed as that's my maiden name. I had to wait for over half an hour and so many names had rolled past before Hewitt came up. It was sickening, all those deaths and that was just the Anzacs.

We drove around the loop of a private property to see the chainsaw sculptures by Darrel Radcliffe. These sculptures were all around us in the bush and we really had to look carefully to see them and the detail was incredible. It never ceases to amaze us how talented some people are.

From Albany we went to Bremer Bay and stayed at the same caravan park as ten years ago. Funnily enough I couldn't remember the place at all. The one thing I did remember was the old car museum that's not there anymore. We checked out the Op shop and I have to say it's one of the best, as an Op shop should be. It was well laid out with friendly staff and cheap.

Our next stop was Esperance and we stayed at Bushland Caravan Park. This place was nothing flash with permanent vans scattered around the place but it had a nice atmosphere in a bush setting and we enjoyed our stay here.

We have been enjoying the spectacular coastline from Albany to Esperance, checking out lookouts, The Gap and Natural Bridge, driving, exploring and walking around the areas. We drove out to Cape LeGrande and Lucky Bay and then Chris climbed Frenchman's Peak. He did this steep walk twice when we were here last time and was determined to do it again. Who was I to stop him! I waited in the car.

We drove past the Pink Lake in Esperance and were disappointed as it's not pink and hasn't been for some years. It reminded us though of our visit to the Pink Lake at Port Gregory in WA.

Chris managed to get in a game of golf in both Bremer Bay and Esperance before we left and started our drive across the Nullarbor. We said goodbye to Western Australia and remembered our time in this state. We have spent nearly eight months here and have enjoyed all that WA has to offer from the beautiful coast to the small country inland towns, the amazing sunsets and sunrises, the housesits we did, the friendly people and wonderful experiences. Thank you WA.

Leaving Esperance and turning right at

Norseman we start the long drive across the bottom of Australia. It took us five days and four nights with three free camp stays and one paid at Eucla. We saw four RFDS landing strips on the road along the way and only a couple of bits of roadkill. We called into the Bunda Cliffs lookout and also the Great Australian Bite with the whale watching station there. At Eucla we cooked up and froze our fresh veggies in readiness for the crossing into South Australia at Bordertown. We went through the quarantine station at Ceduna where a pleasant young lady checked that we had done the right thing.

Instead of stopping at Ceduna we decided to head straight for Streaky Bay which was a favourite of ours last time. There was a mixup when we arrived as I had mistakenly booked Smokey Bay by phone the previous day. Luckily we got into Streaky Bay and the lady at the Smokey Bay caravan park was very understanding. We initially booked three night here but extended to the week. We had really beautiful weather at the start of the week and it was back to shorts and tee shirts as we explored the town and surrounding area. We did the coastal drives and walks, checking out Cape Bauer, Hally's Beach, The Whistling Rocks and the Blowhole. We watched the seals on the beach at Point Labatt and called into Perbulie Beach which was just spectacular on such a glorious day. We enjoyed the local seafood of oysters, king George whiting and with some green and cooked prawns in the freezer. What we didn't do and we are disappointed about is Razor fishing. The tide needs to be really out for this and the timing was not right. We thought we'd got it right when we got up early one morning to see the sunrise and then to collect razor fish but we were too early so decided to go back to the van for breakfast before trying again. Strangely though the tide didn't seem to go out at all before it was back in again and this seemed to go on for a couple of days. We didn't see a low tide for days and the weather had also changed as a cold front came through bringing wind, rain and very cold temperatures. Apparently these tides are a known thing in Streaky Bay.

Now we are here at Kimba free camp for one night on our way to Port Augusta where we have the car booked in for a service. We parked up and unhooked so we could have a quick look around. Unfortunately being Sunday everything in town was closed accept the pub and service stations. We drove out of town to the Whites k*** lookout and also the sculptures and caves there. We then went back towards town and saw the silo art, the Big Galah and the "Halfway Across Australia" sign. We're only having one freezing cold night here in Kimba before our next stop at Port Augusta.