Day 38. Today is the final day of our Western Deserts adventure. We spend the morning in heritage town of Guildford watching the trains pass through, walking in the park and alongside the Swan River upper reaches. Then it’s time to head off to the airport. Paul departs Perth on a Qantas flight to Canberra al 4.00pm and Ross’ wife Robyn arrives from Canberra to continue another adventure. Home at last, Raechel is at the airport to pick me up. A great adventur...

Day 37. We depart Muchea and farewell Trevor and Susie thanking them for their tremendous hospitality. We drive further south in the pouring rain and detour into the Darling Ranges, the hills behind Perth. At Mandaring Dam we walk on the old dam wall and view the old coal burning pumping station. This large water storage still supplies water to Kalgoorlie over 600km away through the Golden Mile pipeline. We drive down the windy road through wooded hills into bus...

Day 36. Up very early as we are going to morning prayers in the monastery chapel with the Benedictine monks of New Norcia. The monks are dressed in long brown robes and sandals and follow a strict daily routine of prayer, work and silence. Lots of chants, hymns and periods of unexplained silences and then we are off to breakfast in the monastery. We then visit the shop and museum which has a fabulous history on the Benedictine settlement and aboriginal mission ...

Day 35. Departing Geraldton we have enjoyed our couple of days in this lovely city. Heading south down the Indian Ocean Drive we follow the coast and its many white sandhills, stopping in small fishing villages of Leeman, Jurien Bay and Cervantes. Then we head west again through some country back roads into the South Beekeepers Conservation Park and the Badgingarra National Park and photo many beautiful wildflowers. We suddenly come across 2 massive wind farms a...

Day 34. A day in pretty Geraldton with its very busy port and shops. A large Chinese tanker loading iron ore in the harbour and escorted out by a tug boat. Ross has coffee with his step sister and a haircut while I go exploring. First St Francis Xavier Cathedral, another design masterpiece by Monsignor Hawes. Inside the cathedral it looks Spanish Moorrish with its red striped arches and domes. A visit to the information centre in the old train station/customs ho...