Hi again from sunny WA. At least today is sunny and calm, 25 degrees and probably the nicest day that we have had in 9 weeks. Storms are forecast for tomorrow.

Dwarfed by the Pinnacles

Sandy Cape, 20 km north of Jurien Bay

Looking for her husband, a sailor on the HMAS Sydney

Sunset at Geraldton, from the beach at our caravan park

On the way to Eyre Bird Observatory, near Cocklebiddy

Can’t believe that it is 3 weeks since our previous update. We have been so busy that we haven’t had time or perhaps we have been having too much fun to write. Since the last update we have visited:

Perth, 4 nights. Stayed in a caravan park at Gwelup, had a day at interesting Fremantle, a day in the city and beautiful King’s Park and a day with Auntie Wendy. Also spent time with an old friend of Jo’s (from 1964!). Whilst Perth was good we were glad to leave the city again.

Guilderton, 2 nights. Only drove 80 km to get to this old fishing and surfing beachside town at the mouth of the Moore River. So peaceful that we stayed an extra night and toured the local countryside.

Cervantes, 2 nights. This is the base for vising the Pinnacles, thousands of ancient sandstone spikes that stand up to 4m tall in the desert, a few km inland from the coast.

Sandy Cape, 3 nights. Drove 40 km to get here, a very nice national park camp area on the beach just north of Jurien Bay. Had hopes of a swim but didn’t have time – too busy relaxing and talking to neighbours. While here we heard that the start of June was the hottest on record for this region.

Geraldton, 3 nights. We saw lots of very nice beachside towns along the coast all the way from Perth. The 2 main attractions here are the memorial to 645 sailors who died when the HMAS Sydney was sunk off the coast of WA during WWII and a very good museum containing artefacts from the Dutch ship Batavia which sank near here in the 1600’s – 100 years before Captain Cook’s 1770 voyage along the east coast.

Since leaving Geraldton we have spent 5 nights in bush camps, travelling 1700 km through Mt Magnet, Leonora, Kalgoorlie and now near Cocklebiddy on the Nullarbor Plain. Today we visited the wonderful Eyre Bird Observatory, which was a telegraph station from 1877 to 1927 on the southern coast along a 1.5 hour 4WD track from the highway. We are camped alone in a very peaceful site about 500m from the main road, about 16 km from Cocklebiddy, just within mobile range

That’s all for now – time for a pre-dinner drink. Hope you are all well. Love to all from Ted and Jo