May 6, 2009
Go West
Adelaide looked like a ghost town on Good Friday as I drove out heading north toward Port Augusta. The city might have been empty but the freeway on the first leg to Port Wakefield resembled a parking lot as everybody raced to their long weekend holiday destinations. After a couple of hours the traffic thinned out as people headed off the main road towards holiday spots on the Spencer Gulf.
By the end of the day I reached Ceduna the last major town in South Australia staying over for a couple of nights then heading out again on Easter Sunday across the Nullarbor Plain, a 200,00 km² vacant paddock without a tree as the name suggests. Somewhere toward the end of the 146km long section of dead straight road I camped overnight in a roadside stop and on the following day, Easter Monday proceeded to Esperance for a night then on to Albany where I dug in for a week.
Albany is a historical maritime city built around a beautiful natural harbour with crystal clear water. Maybe it was luck but just about every meal I had there was well above average. Breakfast at the York Street Cafe in the main street was art on a plate and the fish and chips at the Squid Shack at Emu Point was simple but superb.
Next stop was the west coast via Margaret River to Busselton for five days then on to Bunbury where I have been for almost a week. During that time I worked on a written interview for a Swiss newspaper ‘Männerzeitung’ for a friend and one time member of team WW, Sam. It has been translated into Swiss German for the paper and the original is in the previous blog.
This month’s update features the lovely Kate from Adelaide photographed at the Glenelg Pier and I have just completed a shoot at Hall’s Head, Mandurah for a future update.
We are now looking for other West Coast wicked weasels so I can continue my travels and show the talent on this side of the country. So if you are anywhere in Western Australia from Perth to Wyndham and would like to feature on our site please contact Mira. While travelling I can be contacted by email if you would like to comment.
The Eyre Highway is named after Edward John Eyre the English explorer who walked from Adelaide to Albany in 1840 - 41, the same journey that took me 3 days to drive. More than 2,000km over some of the harshest country in Australia - scorching by day and freezing by night. But not only did he survive the trip he lived to be 86.
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My mobile office all set up at Middleton Beach in Albany. The office now has a standalone table so the clip on one can stay in the van. The Brompton fold up bike stands ready to take advantage of the numerous bike paths in and around Albany.
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Emu Point about 3 km alomng from Middleton Beach. There's another caravan park right behind me so this is their front yard. Crystal clear water and not bad temperature for swimming in mid April. The channel leads into a sheltered bay and the marina.
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Emu Point Marina where I stopped to chat to a fellow doing some hull work on his lovingly restored timber boat. Try The Squid Shack 50 metres up the road for excellent fish and chips.
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Albany is loaded with great cycling/walking tracks.
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The mouth of the Margaret River. The town of Margaret River reminds me of Byron Bay. It has some old style petrol stations, three pubs, a lot of tourist shops, one big supermarket with an impossible carpark and some trendy cafes. The differences are that it's built on a hill, it's about 10km from the beach and they grow wine grapes in the surrounds as opposed to macadamia nuts.
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I was asked to do an interview for a Swiss paper by one time WW staff member and secret Swiss Agent Sam Krieg who also hassled me for a photo. So here it is whether I like it or not. The interview will be translated to Swiss German for print but the original English version can be seen in the previous blog post 'Pete Talks'
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This is my Brompton fold up bike. It probably looks a bit dorky to see a 90+kg bloke on 16 inch wheels but I have had a great time riding it everywhere and don't have to pack up the VW to go places. The bike folds up into its quite small storage bag which fits neatly behind the passenger seat of the van. You can see the bag it in the mobile office on last month's post but go to the Brompton site (link to http://www.brompton.co.uk/) if you would like to know more about this amazing bike. Photo taken on the old wharf at Bunbury which is about 170km south of Perth.
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Bunbury's skyline view from behind the lagoon at dusk
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1. Great Australian Bight from halfway across the Nullarbor Plain. Standard tourist view but the majesty of it puts all the hysteria of 3.5mm sea level rises from global warming into perspective. In some places on the Nullarbor you can actually find sea shells under foot indicating that the whole place was underwater millions of years ago.
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Arty breakfast at the York Street Cafe, main street Albany - iphone pic
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Fish and chips plus a couple of prawns at The Squid Shack, Emu Point - iphone pic
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