Down the coast to Esperance, north to Kalgoorlie & Wiluna, east Uluru to Alice Springs

After spending 3 weeks in Geraldton we headed along the coast, past Perth, to Esperance.  Then 900km north to Wiluna and 2100km east to Alice Springs via Uluru and the West MacDonnell Ranges.

Down the west coast (sort of) and then east to Esperance

We skipped Perth (except Cottesloe Beach for lunch in the cold drizzle - we stayed in Cottesloe for a few months 25 years ago).

As we headed around to Esperance we spent some time on the amazing (and varied) coast and some in the bush with massive Kauri and Jarrah trees.

The Pinnacles - We were here in 1996 and were a bit surprised to find that WA National Parks have since spent a bazillion dollars building a massive carpark, visitor centre, cafe and concrete paths over the dune.  Once away from all the concrete, however, the amazing pointy bits of rock are still pretty cool.  31/10

Busselton has a wooden jetty that, at 1841m, is the longest wooden jetty in a southern hemisphere town called Busselton (or something like that).  Pretty impressive (and windy) - it has a tourist train running along it so we went out the lazy way and walked back in.

Further south - wild coastline!

Cape Naturaliste, near Busselton:

Blackwood State forest near Augusta:

Beedelup Falls near Pemberton:

Canal Rocks, Yallingup:

Salmon Beach, Windy Harbour:

Salmon Beach, Windy Harbour:

The Windows, Point d’Entrecasteaux, Windy Harbour:

Greens Pool, Denmark:

An old fire-spotting tree at Gloucester.  We decided not to climb!

Albany has an amazing whaling museum.  This was the last whaling station in Australia - whales were caught off-shore (obviously!) and towed into the harbour where all the processing was done.  It only shut down in 1978 and when they closed the facilities were preserved as a museum.  Spent a fair while chatting to a bloke who worked on one of the boats - he was the fireman, responsible for running the oil-fuelled steam boiler (by hand - nothing was automated in the 1950s era engine room.)

More coastline... Natural Bridge, Albany:

In Fitzgerald River NP: The previous evening we chatted to a couple camping near us and by 5:30am Helen had someone to join her on a 23km run along the coastal track. The run finished at this stunning beach at Quoin Head:

Cape Le Grande National Park:

The southern coast is not known for its warm weather!

I found an upside-down banksia.

Helen balanced some rocks (in Porongorup NP)

Camping in the sand dunes in Cape Le Grande NP:

North to Kalgoorlie & Wiluna, then east to Uluru

After Esperance we headed north to Kalgoorlie, site of the Super Pit - until 2016 it was Australia's largest open-cut gold mine.  It's pretty big!

After Kalgoorlie we turned off the main road and headed due north to Wiluna.  The roads are pretty straight!

Old meets new at some stockyards - the windmill still spins and the base of the old metal tank is there, but the water is now pumped with solar power into a plastic tank.

We turned right at Wiluna to Carnegie Station (350km) and then onto the western half of the Gunbarrel Highway to Warburton (500km ish).

The Gunbarrel was surveyed, built and named in the 1950s by Len Beadell who tried to make it as straight as possible and called all his outback roads 'highways'.  He travelled in a old Land Rover and, due to a lack of OHS rules (and common sense), surveyed large sections by himself.  (After nearly dying on one trip he then was obliged to take a second vehicle with him.)

At Carnegie I took Adam for a drive.  The juvenile emu is a pet that acts more like a dog than a wild bird - sleeps on the door mat, comes to say hello, etc.

Heading east.  We were the first people along the road for about 2 weeks and didn't see anyone for 3 days.  Quite remote!

Just after a pre-sunset storm.  We had more rain in the central desert regions than at any other times in the last 6 months!  There were massive rain storms (100mm+) a couple of weeks before we travelled across the centre and so everything was very green.

One of the vehicles that didn't make it.  This one was left on top of a sand-dune.

Camping is kind of easy - anywhere will do but finding a patch of sand without much spinifex is a bonus.

One of the old boundary markers.  I'm not sure what boundary it was marking, nor why the Northern Territory was surveying roads in Western Australia.

Not much of a highway!

Loads of spinifex.  It looks fluffy but is the spikiest plant in Australia!

Due to the recent rain there were heaps of flowering plants.

Back into the Northern Territory

The Gunbarrel finishes at Warburton and it was then 550km along the Great Central Highway to Uluru.

We helped some of the Docker River mob patch a tube.

Kata Tjuta in the distance.  The photo is taken from the top of a sand dune - we were camped at the bottom.

And up close.

A VERY BIG rock!  It was interesting being here as it's almost deserted with no overseas travellers and it being the hotter part of the year.

Adam meeting Reggie Uluru - senior traditional owner of the Big Rock.  (If you want to to know more about him and his family, I highly recommend the book "I am Uluru".)

Mount Connor - just east of Uluru.

King’s Canyon:

West MacDonnell Ranges. Mount Sonder:   

Redbank Gorge:

Ochre pits:

And then to Alice Springs.