November 28th-30th, 2011- Geraldton- Belair Gardens Caravan Park

Monday morning saw us up early and packed up for our trip to Geraldton. Spent a very frustrating 30 minutes on hold with QBE Insurance only to be transferred to an overflow number that was unable to help me. I was anxious to connect with QBE before I left Carnarvon, as knew we would be out of Telstra mobile coverage most of the day; and they wouldn't be able to call me back as promised.

I'll just take a bit of time, for a short (but very sincere) rant against the Federal Government. Why the hell are they spending untold billions of taxpayer's dollars on the Bloody NBN (National Broadband Network), that hardly anyone cares about or needs, when so much of Australia is without basic mobile coverage???

Most anyone that travels extensively throughout Australia realizes the following:

1. Mobile Coverage in remote areas of Australia is woeful. Even major roads connecting major centres are not covered in several areas. Carnarvon to Geraldton for example is almost completely without coverage for most of 500KM. The same can be said for many other major roads in the Northern Territories and Western Australia.
2. Mobile broadband speeds (if coverage is available) are more than adequate for the average individual; and becoming faster and more affordable everyday.
3. The lack of coverage creates grave safety concerns for travellers, and considerable inconvenience; given modern societies' requirement for phone and Internet connectivity.

For my money the government would be serving the Australian public much better by investing a fraction of the NBN money in infrastructure ensuring quality mobile coverage throughout Australia. They could still offer the upgraded infrastructure to multiple Telecom Companies (Telstra, Optus, Virgin, Vodafone, etc) to ensure competition and even lower mobile and mobile broadband pricing. David Thodey, CEO of Telstra, must be laughing at the government like crazy as he takes their 11 Billion dollar cheque for outdated technology and continues to invest in mobile upgrades to continually increase the speed of mobile broadband making the NBN even less viable.

Whew! Sorry about that but I feel better getting that off my chest.

We left for Geraldton around 8am. As we were repeating the first 125km for the 3rd time, it was very boring. Stopped at the Gladstone Scenic lookout about 150Km south of Carnarvon and took a few pictures and had a stretch.

Funny coincident happened; as just before we got to the turnoff for Denham we saw a white SUV vehicle and Jayco (like) caravan pull out in front of us. I thought to myself, "that wouldn't be Di and Terry, would it?" Sure enough when we pulled up behind we saw the "Dun Dreamin" logo on the back. Pulled up on side of road, had some big hugs, and discussed our plans for the next few days. They are off to Kalbarri for a week and we hope to catch up with them there before they leave. Although we have known them only a short time, they have become great friends! Can't wait to rejoin them in our travels.

The drive and scenery picked up quite a bit after we crossed the 26th parallel as we continued south. More vegetation; and finally a bit of colour! No mobile coverage for most of our trip as expected. After we passed the turnoff for Kalbarri the scenery definitely picked up with lots of green, agricultural fields, historical buildings, etc. We pulled into Batavia Coast Caravan Land about 1pm to find our caravan there and waiting. The Rans had called earlier to say they saw it being brought in and unloaded. They were already well into the analysis and quote when we got there. Sounds like it will be expensive! Still unable to get a claim number from QBE as closed in NSW by time we were able to contact.  Picked up a few more things from the caravan before booking into Belair Gardens Chalet (booked by NRMA). Very nice park with friendly service. Unfortunately, our Chalet is very old and basic, although clean.

Carol and Stephen had already booked in there with their caravan after their 5 days in Kalbarri. We had a lovely dinner out with them at a local pub; with lots of gluten free options. Had a great night and visit. As usual they were wonderfully supportive and helpful with dealing with our travel problems.

We saw Carol & Stephen off Tuesday morning before heading out to explore Geraldton. A very nice little city with lots of history and modern conveniences. Went for a grocery shop before touring the HMAS Sydney Memorial. Beautiful and moving!

From there we carried on to the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral before returning home for lunch.

We went out again in the afternoon for a lovely drive around the coast where we saw the lighthouse, coastline views, lovely parks, and some beautiful housing. It was very windy during the afternoon and evening.

We had an easy late afternoon and steak dinner.

Wednesday we were up early and off to Batavia Coast Caravans to update them with our insurance information and check on status of our caravan. Good news as they have started on the repairs and actually already installed our new fridge (3rd one). It was working beautifully on 240v (-10 degrees in fridge) and they will test it now on gas. The axle upon closer inspection, now appears to be OK which should speed up our repairs. We picked up a few more things and dropped some off that we won't need for a while. Our plans are to move on to Kalbarri tomorrow for 5 days or so. We have maximised our NRMA benefits now and will get only 5 days alternative accommodation through our QBE Insurance. We are looking forward to rejoining Di & Terry and other friends in Kalbarri. Will try to put our troubles behind us for a few days and get back to enjoying our adventure. We will reevaluate our next moves during our stay at Kalbarri based on the progress being made on our caravan repairs.

Talk to you all soon!

November 25th-27th, 2011- Carnarvon- Wintersun Caravan Park- Top Tourist

Yes you are reading correctly; we are back in Carnarvon although this time we are staying in a cabin.

We headed off before 8AM for Denham on Friday morning. Made it about 120KM South when our front left caravan wheel blew off the caravan. I don't just mean a tyre blowout; the whole bloody wheel came off the axle. Sheered off, hit the side of our caravan, then flew across the highway in front of Di and Terry who were following us. Luckily I was able to safely maneuver the van off the road and no one was hit by the flying wheel. That's the limit on the good news however. As you can see below the caravan was not going any further on its own and considerable damage has been incurred to our caravan.

As there was no Telstra mobile coverage we left the girls with the caravan while Terry took me 5KM further south to the Wooramel Roadhouse. No mechanic or mobile coverage there either. At least there was a Pay Phone so was able to contact NRMA. Eventually got routed to a special area of NRMA that deals with caravans and people with Premium Coverage. They arranged for a tow truck to come from Carnarvon and called me back on the Roadhouse phone to advise it would arrive around noon. Terry came back and picked me up and we waited by the side of the road for a couple of hours until Tow Truck arrived. We all got sunburned as we weren't prepared. Terry and I nicknamed the Tow Truck driver Flash as he didn't do anything very quickly. The first time he loaded the caravan was quite difficult because of the angle the caravan was parked on. In the end he couldn't pull the caravan up off the ground safely as looked close to tipping.

Eventually got the caravan back off the truck, which was harder than it sounds and caused some more damage to the caravan (hand brake assembly & spare tyre). I then reconnected Pajero and backed caravan up to a more level location. Second attempt from flat ground worked well and much more quickly. As you can see the truck was just big enough and the load looked quite precarious.

We drove back to Carnarvon, contacted NRMA Premium Service again, and got ourselves booked into an ensuite cabin at the Wintersun. It is nice and clean and well equipped. We won't know ourselves having a full kitchen, with a working fridge, and a big spacious bathroom. We then went to Carnarvon Auto Service and Towing to meet with the owner. We picked up some things from the caravan, discovered the door is damaged, and some breakage inside as well. Only cupboard that opened had to be the crockery, so broken plates and cups, that managed to go everywhere. Did a quick clean and grabbed our necessities, before heading back to caravan park. Terry, the owner promised he will have a look at Saturday before lunch so we can make further plans.

Lots of phone calls with NRMA, QBE Insurance, and Carnarvon Auto Service on Saturday. Bad news as Terry says the damage is too serious for him to work on in his shop and needs to be sent to a caravan repair facility in Geraldton. We had hoped for a temporary fix so we could proceed on our own and have the final repairs done in Geraldton. That being said it will be safer this way and probably better having one place look after all the repairs. NRMA Premium Service has arranged for him to tow it the 470KM South to Geraldton and for our extra two nights accommodation in Carnarvon, and our first night in Geraldton. NRMA has been absolutely fantastic and I would recommend their premium service to anyone. Fast, friendly, professional service! The downside is that the tow to Geraldton (over $2200) will mean we max out our yearly benefit of $3000 on this one incident. No more NRMA benefits until after we renew next November.

Saturday afternoon we took a short drive around Carnarvon downtown again. Bought some Christmas cards and drove around the park area and new housing estate again. We stopped by our caravan and picked up some more things as won't see it again until late Monday afternoon.

We enjoyed a swim and a bit of a relaxing afternoon. Lots of phone calls updating family members of our situation. We have been advised by the mechanic, Gary Holman, and Gary Grant that it looks like the bearings have seized on that wheel. Would appear to have not be serviced properly which is disappointing as we only had the bearings redone in Broome in October.

Sunday we will do some relaxing and possibly have a picnic lunch down at the water front. Sandra will probably do some laundry and I will make sure the car is ready to go early Monday morning.
While we were both a bit shaken up and pissed off by this whole incident we are both well and being looked after well by NRMA. Hope we have some good news to share with you soon from Geraldton.
Cheers!

Update:

We did in fact do some sightseeing on Sunday at the waterfront. We did a short walk across the old tram bridge. Not in very good condition but better than the One Mile Jetty. Got a few pictures of probably the most picturesque area of Carnarvon that we saw. Very windy so we passed on the picnic lunch and had back at the Chalet.

November 20th-24th, 2011-Carnarvon- Wintersun Caravan Park-Top Tourist

Sunday morning we were up early and away from Exmouth for the second time. Had a longish drive of about 400KM to Carnarvon. Had a couple of short breaks along the way but kept moving as was 38 degrees. The road was boring again until South of Coral Bay turnoff. Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and then the vegetation increased somewhat. Started to get some wattle and a bit more colour. Lots of sheep along the highway today so had to be careful.

Pulled into Wintersun Caravan Park just after noon. Quite a nice park with clean amenities and our site has lots of shade. Quite crowded sites and I wouldn't want to try and back my caravan in during the busy season. Our hitch is barely off the road and don't think I could have got near our concrete pad if site opposite was occupied. The Ransleys and Butlers have moved to a Park area near Quobba for some free camping. We had planned to join them but given our fridge situation decided to stay at Caravan park.

We ran into quite a few people we knew from previous stays at Exmouth, Coral Bay, Eighty Mile Beach etc. One couple Phil and Donna we have met up with several times and are really nice.
Relaxed during the afternoon and Sandra talked to Carol and Maureen on the mobile.

Monday morning we hunted down the Dometic/Waeco agent in Carnarvon to pick up our new CF 50 portable fridge/freezer. A bit of a pain as the Dometic Service Manager had not told us where to go or made firm arrangements with local agent, Norwest Refrigeration. All got sorted out with a number of phone calls and we returned home and setup fridge to cool while we went grocery shopping at Woolies. We will use new Waeco as fridge and our existing Bushman as our freezer until fridge is finally replaced.

Arrived home just after lunch to see that new Waeco had only dropped 2 degrees to 22 degrees. I'll let each of you fill in your own words for what was uttered at this point! Back it went in the car and off we went to the Waeco dealer. Thank Goodness they had another new one in stock. They confirmed original was defective and offered to fire up the other new one to make sure it was working. We  got some more ice to keep our recent grocery purchases cold while they carried out the testing. All was good with second one and we picked up around 3pm. Got everything sorted into the two fridges before joining Phil and Donna for Happy Hour with 3 other couples. Well happy hour started at 4PM and we didn't make it back to the caravan until 7:30PM. I can't speak for Sandra but I was definitely much happier. She must have been too as we decided that the steak we had out for dinner could wait until Tuesday night. We quickly threw an omelette together for tea.

One last note on the day was the lid latch of the Waeco flying off when I closed the lid after tea. All Sandra heard was "Whoops!". She naturally says "what did you do now?" Can you believe she would blame me after all the crap we have been through? We managed to get it clipped back on.

Tuesday morning we took a day trip out to visit the Ransleys and Butlers at Quobba. Unfortunately due to lack of communication (no mobile coverage at Quobba) we met them half way as they were returning to Carnarvon. Sandra and I carried on to see the lighthouse and Blowholes at Quobba. The coast was very rugged and beautiful. We also checked out the camp area and went to the HMAS Sydney memorial. Got some nice pictures before returning home to Carnarvon. Stopped at the Coral Coast Strawberry farm on the way back which has been highly recommended by our happy hour crew. Almost got steak dinner on way home as a couple of cows didn't think they needed to mooove off the road.

Found out that the Ransleys are moving on tomorrow. They have already explored the areas between here and Perth so will spend some extra time with Carol's (and Sandra's) cousin Karen in Perth. We had a beautiful Christmas meal together as we probably won't be back together until after our Christmas breaks.

Wednesday morning, the Ransleys were off by 5:30am as travelling as far as Kalbarri. Long day for them but got message by early afternoon that they had made it safely. Happy travels until we meet again! The remaining four of us did some touring around Carnarvon. Quite a pretty area around downtown port but much of the town is quite run down. Much of the tourist stuff is closed and not well maintained. We took a walk out the 1 mile jetty but could only go so far due to fire damage. Second fire in a year. Shame! The rest of the jetty is in very poor condition and wouldn't recommend for small kids or elderly people. It was a stinking hot day (39) and the flies were shocking as well! Toured a bit more downtown and bought some fish and seafood for a big meal Thursday.

The lid latch has flown off another couple of times so back we went to Waeco to get a replacement lid. This one feels more sturdy. Everyone cross your fingers for us! Really have to question quality control for Dometic/Waeco products don't you? We thanked the lady at Norwest and told her while it wasn't personal we really hoped we wouldn't be seeing her again.

Had numerous contacts with our new Dometic Service representative, Nick. Aren't we important? He was given very specific instructions from the National Service Manager that everything needs to go smoothly with our third fridge. They are fully testing it in Perth before shipping to Geraldton. They are then having the Dometic Service Agent there test it again on 12v, Gas, and 240v before we arrive for our appointment December 7th. Nick also was very concerned about our awning problem and is shipping a full replacement from Victoria to have there as well for our appointment. The awning problems were relatively minor but we wanted them to look at while still in warranty. That being said we are not turning anything down at this point as Dometic has certainly inconvienced us more than enough.

We had a short afternoon happy hour with Di and Terry before returning to our respective caravans for Tea.

Thursday was our usual preparation day for moving on to Denham tomorrow morning. Lots of cleaning and organizing. I've been busy blogging. We did a shop for groceries and filled up with diesel. Had our big seafood dinner with Di and Terry tonight. We had Rankin Cod which we had never heard about but was beautiful. We also had some scallops and prawns. Yum!

November 16th-19th, 2011- Exmouth Part Two- Big 4

Wednesday morning saw us say our goodbyes to the Ransleys and the Butlers. They are travelling on to Carnarvon while we are returning to Exmouth to have our new fridge installed. Hooray! It was sad to say goodbye to them and Coral Bay. This was one of our favorite stops to date. Hopefully we will rejoin them soon. Sandra and I retraced the 150KM North to Exmouth. The road didn't get anymore exciting the second time around!

We arrived about 10:30am and went straight to Ruby Refrigeration. It was a very hot day in Exmouth and got to about 38 degrees. We both assisted Bill Ruby with the removal and installation of our new fridge. A major job as the fridge does not fit through the door opening. Apparently they install the fridge before completing door installation. The door frame needed to be completely removed and even then the fridge was scraping against the edges as Bill and I maneuvered the old one out and the new one in. Not too much to actually connecting the fridge once the physical installation takes place. One gas fitting to be fastened, one power lead to be plugged in, and two wires to be connected for 12V. Sandra tried to keep cool in the car while Bill and I worked on the fridge and door. We finished up about 2:30 and we loaded up and took the caravan over to the Big 4 to book in for two nights. We wanted to give the fridge a good test on gas and 240V while Bill collected information with the datalogger.

We took Sandra down to the Exmouth Hospital later in the afternoon as she thought she had an infection coming on. Luckily we got in quite quickly to see someone in Emergency and both the nurse and Doctor Knight whom she saw were very nice. Got a prescription and headed home. Received an email from Dometic Service Manager acknowledging all the problems we have experienced and offering us a Waeco CF50 fridge/freezer as a sign of goodwill. While hardly complete compensation it was a fairly generous offer given our low expectations from our previous contact with Dometic.

We suffered a windy night with the awning flapping again. Not a great sleep and then woke on Thursday morning to find the new fridge still isn't working properly. Temperature of 20 degrees in fridge and -6 degrees in the freezer. S*&t! Spent most of the morning at Ruby Refrigeration with Bill trying to contact Dometic Technical support. Bill fired up our old fridge yesterday in his shop and it appears to be working although not as cold as it should be given the temperature setting and much cooler environment it is in. Bill reckons the problem is with our caravan and in his words "Dometic won't cover all the work I've done if the problem is with the Caravan" Just Great! Finally got a hold of Dometic around lunch who gave us a couple of suggestions. We connected standalone gas bottle to fridge directly to rule out caravan supply. Bill also reviewed our upgraded ventilation (ceiling vent) and decided it should be more than ample and could be ruled out as the problem.

Sandra was already feeling much better from the prescription so we spent the afternoon touring Exmouth Marina and a new housing estate. They have a beautiful marina and the housing estate has canals through it where you can park your boat at the back door. What a great lifestyle!
Talked to Justine in Calgary. She was tired but had travelled safely and was looking forward to her vacation. We enjoyed some relaxation time at the Caravan Park Pool area before our barbecue dinner. Decided to put the awning down each night because of the wind. Thank goodness as it blew a gale during the night. Still didn't get a great sleep but at least we didn't have to worry about the awning. Fridge was still not working so I switched to 240V before bed to get it cold for the morning.

Friday morning found the fridge still not working and temperature has actually gone up to 25 degrees in Fridge and 0 Degrees in freezer. Bill Ruby has continued to come and go trying different things but I think it is safe to say this fridge is even worse than the first one and won't be an easy fix. At least he is acknowledging that the problem is with the replacement fridge and not our caravan.

Luckily the President's Cup is on and both Sandra and I enjoy watching it each morning. We did a small shop, extended our stay at the caravan park for two more nights, and enjoyed another afternoon relaxing around the pool. Also were lucky enough to see a very young Emu chick with it's Father (apparently Dad looks after eggs & chicks after Mum lays the eggs). They are funny creatures and they make the strangest grunting noises. Sound more like a pig than a  bird.

Saturday morning woke up to find the fridge had quit completely with 29 degrees in both fridge and freezer. Contacted this morning by Dometic Service Manager who is working with us to come up with a new plan of action. We decided to ship a new (3rd) fridge to Geraldton where we already had a service call booked for December 7th. We will pickup the complimentary CF 50 at our next stop in Carnarvon. Meanwhile we have a 185 litre cupboard in the caravan and are living out of our esky and portable freezer. Our ice budget is going through the roof! We spent the day watching the President's Cup and enjoying the afternoon at the pool area. While it has been an incredibly frustrating 4 days with the fridge, Sandra and I have really enjoyed the relaxation watching golf on TV and enjoying the pool.
To Quote Monty Python from Life of Brian; "Always look at the bright side of life!" Our fridge may be dead as a door nail but we're still whistling!

November 11th-15th, 2011- Peoples Caravan Park, Coral Bay

Friday morning saw us pack up and make the short 150Km journey south to Coral Bay. We checked into Peoples Caravan Park about 11am. What a beautiful park and location. Water supply is very salty so we decided to operate off our tanks and use shower blocks for our stay. Terry & Di booked a site right on the waterfront while the rest of us booked into the back area of the park. Only a short 2 minute walk to the beach and $10 less per night. We set up and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the beach. Water is very shallow for quite a distance before dropping off quickly to the Ningaloo Reef. We saw a number of fish and stingrays in the shallows. What a great place this will be for snorkeling as only a very short swim out to the Reef. Seems to be a very popular place with young families and foreign tourists. Not much to town other than caravan parks and resorts. Very few permanent residential properties.

Saturday morning we took a walk along the beach to a secluded cove where there is a natural shark nursery. They were harmless reef sharks and we saw about 15 at fairly close range. Water is beautiful and wonderful colours. Sadly we saw a dead sea turtle on the beach. Didn't smell good!

Reef Shark Nursery

Later in the day some of us did some snorkeling. Warm weather today but windy as usual in this area.
The snorkeling was good with lots of fish and amazing coral formations. Only a short swim from the beach. Lots of relaxation on the beach.

Sunday morning saw all of us but Terry take a 3 hour cruise on a glass bottom boat. I have to give Carol credit for most of the pictures of our stay in Coral Bay as the Ransleys are the only ones with a camera that works underwater. She got some great shots which we will be showing on our Blog. We toured out over the reef for about 45 minutes enjoying all the amazing Coral formations through the glass bottom. Very shallow and clear water so we had a great view. Only 13 out of possible 30 on cruise so all had great views. We stopped for a 20 minute snorkel over this shallow reef formation. Sandra was very brave and joined me. She was a bit nervous but did very well and got more confident as we went along. She was soon freezing so climbed back on board for a hot cup of tea. The variety and amount of fish were incredible. There were hundreds near the boat and they practically came up to touch you in the water. Beautiful. The coral has so many beautiful shapes and looks like a manicured underwater garden. Mostly greens and browns because of the type of coral but some beautiful purples, blues, and yellows as well.

We all loaded back in the boat for hot drinks while we moved on to our second stop. This location was considerably deeper than the first. Sandra was brave and went back in for a short snorkel around the boat. Stephen and I went for a longer exploration after Sandra had returned to the boat. Incredible! At one point I swam over coral that was only a couple of feet below the surface before it dropped over a cliff to a depth of over 10 meters. Wow! A bit eery as you wonder what large creatures inhabit the deeper water. Saw some really nice sized fish that would have made a beautiful dinner.

We all loaded back into the boat and travelled to our 3rd location. This was a shallow area where Sea Turtles lived and breeded. Water was a very green colour because of the algae present. Saw a pair of mating turtles and had a number of turtles that passed under the glass bottom boat. Also had a large Eagle Ray which was quite cooperative and let us pass over with the glass bottom. Wonderful experience.

We stopped and saw a large solid coral growth that was about 10 meters across. Still growing about 4cm a year in width but not height as has reached maximum height allowed by the tide levels. Was only about 20cm below the surface when we were there. Looked like a giant cupcake. We returned to shore just after 3 hours. A wonderful trip and good value at $75/person.

 Ayers Rock

Spent a relaxing afternoon swimming and snorkeling on the beach.

Monday morning Sandra and I walked around the point to area close to the boat ramp. From there we were able to snorkel and gently drift back with the currents. Sandra was nervous to begin with but got progressively braver as we proceeded. Ended up snorkeling solo by the end although she still kept me in close vicinity. We enjoyed just over a 30 minute snorkel back to the beach in front of the caravan park.

Monday afternoon the boys went for a fish at Maud's Landing. The wind was very strong which made the fishing somewhat difficult. Could feel the sand peppering against your legs as you fished. We all spent some time after dumping sand out of our tackle boxes and shoes. Terry caught a Queen fish which gave him a good fight and will be added to our existing collection for dinner tomorrow night.

The girls went for another snorkel in front of the beach by themselves. Just masks with no flippers. They had a good time. Sandra is being so brave as she usually is not a water person and is reluctant to try new things. Glad she is enjoying it so much! We all enjoyed some relaxing time on the beach as was 38 degrees.

Tuesday morning Carol, Stephen, Sandra, and I went for another long snorkel from the boat ramp. We had a great time and were gone about 50 minutes. Lots of great pictures of fish and coral, as well as us clowning for the camera. Sandra and Carol are now experienced Snorkel professionals. Great fun!

Another hot day so we spent most of the day on the beach. Terry, Stephen, and I went for a couple of hour fish beside the boat ramp in the early afternoon. No luck with the fish but Terry caught us a bunch of bait fish (mullet). We took them home and froze for future use. They will be better bait than the pilchers and will save us a bit of money on our future fishing trips.

Bait Fish



Girls went for another snorkel by themselves. They spent quite a bit of time watching Di feed the fish while they watched and took pictures. Sandra actually had one nip her finger as it took the food out of her hand.  The color of the parrot fish in particular are amazing. I had another snorkel in the afternoon although it was a bit rough because of the wind.

Tuesday night we cleaned out the fish we have been collecting over the past few weeks and had a massive fish feed. Quite a varied collection as we had, Trevally, Spanish Flag, Flathead, and Queen Fish. All quite nice.

Justine left for 3 months in Canada this morning so we won't see her when we return for Christmas. Hope her and her friend Lauren have a wonderful trip and don't get too cold!

Coral Beach has been one of our favorite stays. Beautiful beach with the Reef so close for snorkeling. The only downside (although probably part of it's charm) is the relative lack of facilities (shopping etc). You need to stock up with food and drink before arriving as well as your water supplies. The only other negative would be the wind which has been strong on most days from the South. Apparently this is relatively common for this time of year. Would have to be one of the best places to go for a relaxing vacation on the beach anywhere. Highly recommended!