Year 2010 Summary Part Two - Adelaide to Perth

So Lou and I left Adelaide on 11th March and headed for Perth via the Eyre Peninsula, The Nullarbor and the Margaret River Region. Here are the highlights:

·Driving past signs that said 'DANGER HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES' on the way to our first night's campsite at Point Lowly, where I watched the sun set over an oil refinery (surprisingly beautiful).

·Visiting Whyalla and its steel dog, Iron k*** (yep!), Cleve with its corrugated animals, Arno Bay and our 100 km detour inland to Kimba, just because it is the halfway point of Australia and has a Big Galah.

·Finding a scorpion under our tent when we took it down in Lipson Cove, the home of lots of bunny rabbits.

·Driving around Port Lincoln looking for lookouts and having lunch by the sea at Sleaford Bay.

·Taking a scenic coastal drive surrounding by 'artistic' sculptures near Elliston.

·Camping at Murphy's Haystacks and watching the sun set and rise there.

·Lou being scared out of her skin by a big plastic replica shark in a roadhouse at Streaky Bay.

·Driving across the Nullarbor with no car trouble at all and surviving camping in rest areas.

·Seeing the awesome sea cliffs at the Great Australian Bight, but unfortunately no whales as it was the wrong time of year, no matter how much 'whalish' we spoke.

·Crossing the border into WA and having to have our car checked for fruit and veg. The woman there criticised us for not having any, saying 'I don't know how you people survive', when the only reason we didn't have anything was cos we weren't allowed to take any across the border!

·Norseman and its 'must-see' tin camels in the middle of a roundabout.

·Turning up and hour early for our boat cruise to Woody Island (near Esperance) because we got the time difference wrong.

·The best beaches I've seen in all of Australia at Cape Le Grand National Park (Lucky Bay) and on the Great Ocean Drive near Esperance.

·Pretending to be kangaroos on the beach like in the famous photos of Lucky Bay.

·A rock shaped like a dog and a replica of a boat in Albany.

·More gorgeous beaches on the South coast near Denmark - William Bay and Greens Pool.

·Walking 40m high up in the trees at the Valley of the Giants.

·Not climbing the giant Diamond tree used as a fire lookout because I got about 10 steps up and got scared cos I looked down.

·Not seeing where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, even though it is supposed to be obvious.

·Discovering the Margaret River Cow Parade and then spending the next 3 days chasing cows around the region and taking self-timer photos at as many as we could find.

·Camping in a big storm, although it wasn't as bad where we were as it was in Perth - the 'hailstones the size of golf balls' made the news in England.

·Spending my birthday in Mandurah - playing in a maze and a game of mini golf at Abingdon miniature village - then heading to Fremantle.

·Staying with Lou's boyfriend Mark's brother Jason in Freo and going on a real submarine at the WA Maritime Museum.

·Meeting up with Jen for a day cycling of around Rottnest Island. Thinking we'd cycled all the way round, but later realising we'd cut quite a significant corner, and meeting the cute little Quokkas.

·Making a couple of trips into Perth for a wander round and sightseeing of the Bell Tower and Kings Park.

·Our last dinner with Jen in Hogs Breath in Joondalup, not finding a bar open late enough on a Monday night and amusing ourselves by taking photos at a bus stop.

And that brings us to Perth, where we found ourselves a new travel buddy to come to Broome with us - a German girl named Lena…