Alexander Bridge 3rd to 6th April 2013

Alexander Bridge

Off to Alexander Bridge, we dropped in to One Tree Bridge, the remains of the original bridge which was a large Karri tree laid across the creek with planks attached was standing to demonstrate the harshness of conditions. the 4 Aces were 4 huge Karri trees which sprouted in a straight line from a burnt out tree about 400 or 500 years ago.

 

We found Alexander Bridge, a lovely spot this is but if you want to get close to the river, the sites are very uneven. Normally we are set up in 15 to 20 minutes, not here, over an hour later and I must say no raised voices we finally got set up. Trice was paranoid that the van was going to fall into the river so I fed her a few wines and she was ok, she was happy with the outlook.

It is only when you review the map and realise how far we have come. That 15,000 kilometres has gone so quickly, we crossed the WA border on 8th December and have only now got to the corner.

A beautiful day, Met David and Dianne from the Gold Coast, they are travelling around Australia in a CamperTrailer similar to Jeff and Shell, off to Augusta today. Visited Cape Leeuwin lighthouse here the Southern Ocean and Indian Oceans meet. Flinders bay, Augusta for lunch, Lookout 8klms out of Augusta, pretty average. Cosy Corner at Cape Hamelin which was beautiful, rock formations, blue water and white sand. The coastline did not disappoint once again.

Hamelin Bay was a complete surprise, bumped into David & Dianne, beautiful sand and clear water and enormous Stingrays which are very tame and come in on the wave to let you stroke them.

Patrice was busy sneaking up on them continually telling me to be careful of the barb. While she was concentrating I brushed her leg, she let out an enormous scream which started all these other people screaming - weird. Checked out the camp area in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Boranup Camp bumped into David and Dianne again, far too small for our set up. Back for a beer and a scotch, camp has filled up a bit while we were gone

Geoff and Dee, Steve and Maree, Craig and Maria, all from the Perth area. We went for another drive today to visit the surrounding camp sites. Sue's bridge was a great site with big sites and easy access. The same couldn't be said for the others. We travelled many kilometres of dirt road, some very rough. In the middle of nowhere we bumped into David and Dianne from Helensvale. The sites were often very small or the access was very narrow, the cruncher came when we found there was no phone service. Dropped into Margaret River, I don't know what I was expecting but it is a thriving big town with people everywhere. It is very modern and has everything you need to have a great time. We arrived back in camp late afternoon after doing nearly 200 klms, ready to start the camp oven for our roasted Silverside. It just became a natural thing to sit down around the camp fire and start a bit on banter. Craig is a New South Wales League follower and couldn't resist talking about State of Origin, could it have had something to do with the fact I was wearing my Qld State of Origin cap. He then appeared a little later with a NSW State Origin Jersey, so I put on my Qld State of Origin shirt. That is how the fight started......



Waterwheel at Cape Leeuwin

Decided to stay another day before heading over to Big Valley Campground in Margaret River. Decided to go for a paddle so I started undoing the straps on the kayak. The strap for the paddle got hooked up on the roof rack so I pushed the kayak back up to see what the problem was. Remember the sites are very uneven and as soon as I walked around the back of the car the kayak slide off the racks and and belted the side of the car. I now have a dent in the drivers side bumper and now on the top of the drivers side rear guard. I am not very happy with myself as both of the errors were just plain stupid.

I carried the kayak down to river and went for a paddle to settle down and see what is around the bend. Then to top it all off down came the rain, I may as well enjoy the view. It seems that the ducks are blind here as they must have thought I was a big duck and followed me into shore.

I was still cranky about damaging the car the next morning so we packed up to head to Big Valley.