South Pacific cruise; pre-cruise plans: Palisade Hotel history, drinking, eating and sleeping; sailing away from Sydney; fabulous freebies onboard; storage ratios; lack of serious application on the drinking front; keeping it clean; onward to New Caledonia!
South Pacific Cruise – Part 1, Sydney and Sail-away
South Pacific cruise, HAL Westerdam in Sydney Harbout
With our 29-day South Pacific cruise to Northern America on the HAL Westerdam departing from Sydney Harbour, it was a good idea to fly across from Perth the day before and overnight at the heritage-listed PalisadeHotel in Miller’s Point in the Rocks area. From there, it’s just a five-minute walk down to Circular Quay and the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour
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Hotel Palisade, Sydney
Overall, it’s a lovely little hotel. I like the way you come through the main bar on the ground floor, and they hand you your key without ceremony. (And with minimal service, to be honest.) We also loved the atmospheric Henry Deane Bar that wraps picturesquely around the fourth and fifth floors and has sweeping harbour views.
Designed by Irish architect Henry Deane
History
Rebuilt by the NSW government in 1915-16 after the bubonic plague outbreak of the early 1900s, it replaced an 1880-built hotel of the same name with a pub that was popular with wharf workers. Its architecture is described as Federation Free Style. After serving various social and community functions for nearly a century, including as a port of call for Anzac soldiers bound for Gallipoli, and a brothel (possibly not simultaneously), it was closed in 2008 for renovations and reopened in its current form in 2015.
Cheers to our travels! – from the Henry Deane Bar, Palisade Hotel.
View down the stairs from the 5th to the 4th floor of the Henry Deane Bar, Palisade Hotel, Sydney
Accommodation
Roy had booked the Noel Banfield suite on the third floor, with a fabulous view of the bridge. I appreciated the quirky décor, but agreed with my semi-disgruntled husband that they could and should have done a lot better for A$365 a night. (Eclectic is as eclectic does.)
Should try harder
How about a corner wardrobe to conceal the crass hanging frame and ironing board? How about cleaning the sofa upholstery, or replacing the ugly dining furniture with something more appropriate and less bulky? And updating the awkward free-standing air-conditioning unit cluttering up the rest of the dining/kitchenette area? It wouldn’t be difficult.
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Dinner at Jounieh
Dinner was at Jounieh, a nice Lebanese joint on the Rocks waterfront: several dips with pita, followed by delicious, slow-roasted lamb shoulder. Interestingly, Sydney prices for food and drink seem, if anything, a bit lower than those in Perth WA.
Dinner at Jounieh, the Rocks, Sydney
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Day 1 – Sail-away from Sydney Harbour
We’ve sailed out of Sydney Harbour before, but it’s still an exciting experience. Gloomily expecting to be laid low by the heavy seas lurking just beyond the safety of the harbour – I’m a terrible sailor, generally – I put my faith in the Travacalm ginger I’d stocked up on at Rocks Pharmacy the day before. Somehow, it worked! And no drugs involved.
By Day 2, the heaving seas were starting to ease off, but I kept up the ginger habit. So far, so good!
Storage ratios
Now to settle down into our comfortable stateroom and strategically divide the various shelves, drawers and other storage hidey-holes between us. The ratio here is roughly 2:1, Verne:Roy. Suitcases go under the bed, with room to spare.
Fabulous freebies
Roy had booked this Holland American Line Westerdam cruise a good two years previously. At that time, the promotional rate included one of the nicest staterooms at this level – located on Deck 7 aft with an unobstructed view of the wake from its bigger-than-average balcony. In addition, we have free wi-fi for the duration of the voyage.
Also included in the promotional rate was the Elite beverage package* that includes barista coffees, bottled Pellegrino, all soft drinks, cocktails, wine, beer, spirits etc. That allowed us 15 beverage items each per day, which we never came anywhere near exhausting.
(*Had we paid, it would have cost us over A100 each, per day!)
Must try harder
Clearly we don’t try hard enough. Pre-dinner cocktails at the Pinnacle Bar (see above pics) are our first alcoholic beverages of the day. (No, Roy wasn’t in dinner dress every night: he got tired of T-shirted fellow-passengers trying to order cocktails from him.)
Other passengers were, generally, considerably more conscientious, downing bloody Marys at breakfast to line their stomachs before laying down the lunchtime lagers. Over an afternoon game of Scrabble, cards or cribbage came the chilled Sauvignon, daiquiris and margaritas… especially for the small but dedicated band of smokers, huddled together under a blanket of haze at their Ocean View Bar hangout on the aft deck.
Keeping it clean
Laundry was not included in the fare, so we paid the extra US$305 for unlimited daily laundry and pressing. The alternative would be to pay a set rate for laundry by the bag; HAL ships don’t have laundry facilities, like the ones I had to use on the otherwise-splendid Viking Sun. (Yay. I hate those claustrophobic little rooms crammed with elderly ladies anxiously guarding their lingerie from theft on the high seas.)
Now, with clean clothes every day and relatively clear heads each morning, on to New Caledonia. See you there!
The Grateful Alive; going down south, or even way down south; my semi-apology for gabbiness; Grand Design shed; alien kookaburras… really?; couples of a certain age at Bunbury Farmers Market, Vasse Village; rump cap report-back; friends and neighbours in Marron Rise; Lamont Smith’s Beach for Sunday dinner; lunch at Wise Wine, Eagle Bay; Aravina Wine Estate; curvy Botero with understated genitalia; WA Surf Gallery museum
Talking about gratitude with Roz on Burns Beach last week, she and I agreed that it’s impossible to be grateful and depressed/anxious at the same time. And that we’re very lucky to be living in a wonderful place.
Burns Beach, Iluka – 300m from home
A health podcaster I heard the other day described how she consciously started each day with a gratitude practice, so as to flood her body with the feel-good love hormone, oxytocin. The minute she wakes up, she gives thanks for her pillow, for her comfy mattress, for her Egyptian cotton sheets – and especially for the lusty young man next to her that she brought home from the club last night. (Obviously, I made that last bit up. The rest is a true story.)
Studies also show that our bodies flood with oxytocin when we experience the sensation of awe – as happens when beholding glorious natural scenes like a sunset sky, the sea or a pristine forest. This may be part of why being outdoors is so good for us.
Verne and Roy in the bush at Yallingup, Margaret River
The House that Roy and Verne Built; blast from the past – Parts 1 and 2; our builder went bust, and we heard it through the grapevine; up the creek without a paddle; so dry your tears, woman; counting our blessings; up on the roof, or some pricey scaffolding; Bob the (Un)-builder; ceilings, windows, doors, floors and more; Roy’s stairway to heaven; be of good cheer!
It seems almost inconceivable how long this house-building lark has been dragging on for: three full years since the slab went down in May 2021. So disjointed has the progress been, and so dispiriting the experience, that I haven’t even felt like blogging about it for the past two-and-a-half years.
For Parts 1 & 2 of This is the House that Roy and Verne Built, you can look back at the archives. Or simply click on the links below.
From Part 1 of This is the House that Roy & Verne built – breaking ground at 543 Burns Beach Road, Iluka WA
Eating out in Perth WA often means heading into the city. Our northern coastal suburbs offer wonderful beaches, lots of fresh air and a healthy lifestyle, but not much in the way of good restaurants.
Sometimes, we’ll even pack our bags and do a dirty stop-out for a night or two – like we did on the first weekend of June. It just so happened that our great friends Lynn and Kim (based between Yallingup WA and Singapore), were enjoying a touristy stay-cay in the city, complete with a walking tour and a cruise to Fremantle.
A touristy weekend – but mercifully stopping short of boarding this topless bus
They would be at The Citadines. So Roy went online and booked us a studio apartment there too. It’s conveniently located at 185 St Georges Terrace. (Is it just me*, or are you wondering about the road name? I’d be surprised to learn that there were multiple saints with the same moniker. Ah… seems the Terrace was named after St George’s Cathedral, but the apostrophe simply became too hard.)
Roy has always appreciated a surprise birthday treat, and now it seems that I do too. After all, what’s not to like about a WA Midlands getaway complete with Moët, spa bath, massage and attendant kangaroos?
My man had been obdurately tight-lipped about whether we’d be going somewhere on Tuesday, 17 January. But it was fairly obvious that we were – I’d been advised against making any plans for the next morning (the 18th), and he’d suggested that I move my birthday hair appointment back to 9am.
Once the birthday earrings had been unwrapped and it was time to rise, shine and carpe diem, he had to crack. Yes, we are going somewhere. Yes, you need to pack a nice dress for dinner. No, we weren’t going anywhere near the sea; but yes, there might be water, so pack a swimsuit.
Flashback to Crown, this time last year
Hmm… Crown Casino, where I still want to try a couple of restaurants? Or somewhere inland, like the Swan Valley? We had a lovely stay at Mandoon Estate once, courtesy of vouchers from the offspring. (Here’s my blog post about Mandoon.)
And so it came to pass that I found myself in the passenger seat of the Volvo CX40, heading – as far as I could tell – for the Perth Hills. Hurrah! – though I was better packed for a fancy night at Crown, I never mind being overdressed. (Here’s my blog post about our anniversary celebration at Crown last year.)
Across Australia: Only two letters and a sarky Postmaster General in Orroroo, plus pet threats; farewell to the Queen at the Palace, Broken Hill; bureaucratic autocracy and the herdsman-barista at Little Topar; a ray of gluten-free sunshine at Emmdale Roadhouse; a culinary snob concedes in Cobar; biblical rain in Nevertire and Coonabarabran; down by the river in artsy Goondiwindi; destination Brisbane – is it better to travel hopefully than to arrive?
So, here at last is my no-doubt eagerly awaited third and final post on our first-ever (and quite likely last-ever) drive across the grand continent of Australia, from Perth, WA to Brisbane, QLD. For Part One, click here; for Part Two, click here.)
DAY 7: Port Augusta to Broken Hill (412km)
Though I usually take the first driving shift, for no reason at all I suggested Roy start this morning. It must have been a premonition: in addition to a wiggly start out of Port Augusta across the bridge roadworks, driving side by side with massive road trains in narrowed lanes, you’re soon traversing the hills and curves of the Flinders Ranges.
Suddenly, the world is no longer flat – the road out of Port AugustaEndless wind farms near the Flinders Ranges
Orroroo coffee stop
Welcome to Orroroo
An hour’s drive from Port Augusta is Orroroo, which lays claims to having the widest main street in Australia – so wide that the median strip has a shady park. It’s also notable for being the crossroads of the main routes from Sydney to Perth (East to West) and Adelaide to Darwin (North to South).
Things to see in Orroroo include animal sculptures, an early settler’s hut (c. 1870s), the Pekina Creek walking trail, the Post Office*, and the ruins of Pekina Station and Lookout.
*When asked to establish a Post Office in the town in 1880, Postmaster General Todd is supposed to have observed: “Dear me! There are only two letters in Orroroo. What do you want a post office for?”
Orroroo, widest main street in Oz
Animal sculpture, Orroroo
Main street, Orroroo
War memorial, Orroroo
Roy parallel-parked the Prado-camper-trailer rig across half a dozen main street diagonal parking spaces; is that allowed? In case it’s not, we kept an eye out for the local Plod. Coffee and my biennial sausage roll at the one café that was open; the cuter-looking one closes on Mondays and Tuesdays, not unusual for small, touristy towns in WA, too.
Pet threat
Overheard from a woman calling her little dog to her in the famously wide median park: “Bugger, come here. Come here, Bugger! Council says you’ve got to come at first call, or they’ll take you to the pound.”
Thirty-eight kilometres from Orroroo, many times its size and just as arty-looking and pretty, is the relatively unheralded Peterborough. What it may lack is animal sculptures, and perhaps someone’s daughter working at the South Australian tourism authority.
We stopped for fuel at Yunta. It’s just that – a fuel stop. A sign warns of no further fuel for the next 200km. It’s true: there was none available at Cockburn.
Broken Hill
Did you know that the BHP in mining giant BHP Billiton stands for Broken Hill Proprietary? Incorporated in 1885, BHP’s history began in a silver, lead and zinc mine right here in Broken Hill.
Argent Street, Broken Hill SA
An important city from the late 1800s to the early decades of the 20th century, Broken Hill is apparently doing well, despite the plethora of closed shops on its main street.
According to the receptionist at our hotel, once the pandemic lockdowns ended and citizens were allowed to travel within their own states, though not yet interstate or abroad, hotels like the Royal Exchange, the Palace, the Astra and others have been flourishing due to new interest from city-siders itching to go somewhere, anywhere. (We saw a similar phenomenon in WA.)
Wow… the Workies Club (no apostrophe)
Art Deco facade, Broken Hill
Broken Hill street corner
Civic building, Broken Hill
The Astra, Broken Hill
Mural art, Broken Hill
Argent Street, Broken Hill SA
Broken Hill pub
Review: Royal Exchange Hotel
The highly recommended Imperial Palace, Red Earth and Astra hotels had been fully booked ten days ago, when we were making our bookings. In fact, the Royal Exchange was perfect for us. Our spacious and elegantly furnished Deluxe Double Room ($180) had a big en-suite complete with deep, old-fashioned tub. (You’ve come a long way from Cocklebiddy, baby.)
The Royal Exchange Hotel, Broken Hill SA
Royal Exchange Hotel reception – a pity the bar was not open during our stayDeluxe Double Room, Royal Exchange Hotel, Broken Hill NSW
Several recommended restaurants mentioned by the receptionist at Royal Exchange were within walking distance: The Astra, The Barrier Social Democratic Club and the Palace were just three of them. We’d definitely need to book for dinner at the Palace, she said, as it’s famous for having been used used in the filming of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Palace Hotel
So, having parked the Prado and camper trailer in the nearby civic parking lot and ferried what we needed into the hotel, we strolled the couple of hundred metres to the Palace.
Roy had his eye on a cerise-sequinned beret in the Palace’s souvenir shop, but I managed to gently distract him.
Palace Hotel, Broken Hill NSW
We had a rare afternoon drink in the Palace’s Sidebar, followed by a gentle stroll up and down the main drag (pun intended). It’s called Argent Street, along with other road names like Oxide and Sulphite, reflecting the town’s mining history.
The Sidebar, Palace Hotel
Palace Hotel, Broken Hill NSW
Later, after a long soak in the deep tub of our olde-worlde and stylish en-suite at the Royal Exchange – aah! I do miss a bath! – it was back into the Sidebar for a G&T before dinner. The atmospheric interiors are all black-and-white tiles, lofty ceilings, crenellated mouldings, original Art Deco fixtures… and the ubiquitous gaudy wrap-around murals of Outback scenery.
Dinner at the Palace
After half-a-dozen oysters ($18), Roy had the porterhouse ($35) with salad; I ordered grilled barramundi with steamed sorrel potatoes and zucchini ($36); and both were very good. Just then, the swelling tones of church organ pipes and choral song from Westminster Abbey, screened live on the large TV on the bar stage, called us to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
For anyone who might not know it, Australia is not just part of the Commonwealth of Nations: it’s actually ruled by the British Monarch of the day, if only constitutionally. Oz’s new PM has said this is not the time to debate the Republican question. And of course it’s not; not when King Charles III is slated for a Royal Visit in 2024!
On a more practical note, when you look at the appalling *embarrassmentof politicians (though they may arguably be no worse than those of many other countries), it’s hard to imagine how they would find a suitable President to head a future Republic of Australia.
*embarrassment: used here as a collective noun
DAY 8: Broken Hill to Cobar (458 km)
We’re still on the A32, the Barrier Highway, with nothing between Broken Hill and Cobar… except for Willcannia (after 200km), a small town that heartily annoyed me because the service station where we stopped for fuel didn’t have a toilet.
Broken Hill to Cobar NSW, along the Barrier Highway A32
Fortunately, I’d already pulled over earlier at Little Topar Roadhouse for an unsanctioned pee-stop – even though we hadn’t covered much ground yet and I could hear Roy’s eyes rolling.
Best pic of the whole journey – delightful animals at Little Topar Roadhouse on the A32 Barrier Highway
Behind the lavatorial outhouses at the back of Little Topar were these wonderfully photogenic animals, all of which he had raised from young, said the old man in a leather bush-hat and black eye-patch who made our coffees. (As he clearly didn’t like the sound of almond milk, I don’t think he’d appreciate being called a barista; neither did I think he’d regard being photographed for this blog as an honour.)
In answer to my questioning, he said: No, he’s not allowed to milk his beasts; raw milk is forbidden. Nor may he slaughter* them; that has to be done through a government agency. He’s not allowed chickens, either; only stamped eggs may be sold, or, indeed, eaten. Posing as health and safety regulation, this just sounds wrong to me. We’re in the middle of f**ing nowhere, after all. Little Topar roadhouse was for sale, and I wasn’t surprised. If I’m this annoyed, can you imagine how pissed off he must be?
*That said, it’s very hard to imagine our barista-herdsman actually wanting to slaughter any of his respectively woolly and furry family.
Between the toilet-shy Willcannia and our destination today, Cobar, is another ray of sunshine in the form of Emmdale Roadhouse. Offering a surprising variety of lactose-free, almond and soy milk, it had a sign saying: “Life is too short for bad coffee” – and this truly was good coffee.
Emmdale RoadhouseCamera-shy barista at Emmdale Roadhouse, stubbornly refusing to look up
In such a small, out of the way kind of place, it would have been rude to ignore another sign thoughtfully advertising gluten-free muffins. That said, separate signs offered a variety of whisky and other hard tack, which I didn’t follow up on.
“Still Life with Roy and Macramé” – Emmdale Roadhouse, 2022
Cobar
Cobar is an Outback mining town in NSW, as this hoarding faithfully represents:
Cobar NSW
The huge Great Western Hotel (below), built in 1898, is said to have the longest cast-iron and timber verandah and balcony in Australia. Imagine how many miners must have graced it with their presence. (Not to mention darkened its doors.)
Great Western Hotel, Cobar NSWGumnut gift shop and café, Cobar NSW
Apparently, Cobar is a popular stop for holiday travellers in wintertime. That would explain the unlikely existence of Gumnut, a thriving and upmarket gift shop with an attractive courtyard café that brews up up a good flat white. (Extra shot, extra hot, two sweeteners.)
Cobar Caravan Park
At the time of booking, all that was available at Cobar Caravan Park was a fairly dreary Budget Double Room cabin. (For me as a Genius Level 3 member, it was just $127 from booking.com.) The new cabins to the rear of the park look, and no doubt are, quite a lot better. As for the campsite, it was the scene of much walking of small dogs, and it looked fine.
DAY 9: Cobar to Coonabarabran (390km)
Following our shortest-route-from-A-to-B plan, we took the Oxley Highway to Coonabarabran via Nevertire, Warren and Gilgandra. This was our one rainy day – and it truly poured for hours and hours, making driving challenging.
Nevertire, a rural village located at the junction of Mitchell and Oxley Highway, is described as “a typical little one-pub railway town” with a dozen houses, which exists for grain collection. Spotting the XXXX sign on a building, I requested the driver to pull over immediately. If Nevertire was a one-pub town, this had to be that pub.
Having been all but destroyed by a mini-cyclone a few years ago, the pub has been rebuilt with all the mod cons. Here it before the cyclone (left), and after rebuilding (right).
Credit: John Flickr
Credit: publocations.com.au
It was currently being managed by a couple from the UK. They explained that this work counted towards the time they were required to work in a rural environment in terms of their visa application.
He was enjoying it, he said: Truckers who stopped there had travelled throughout Australia, and were giving him invaluable advice on where to go, what to see and what to avoid.
She warned us to check with the road travel authorities about possible flooding ahead. There’d been so much rain that the rivers were high and rising… and it was raining really hard right now.
That was good advice. Parts of the road were flooded, but not yet impassable, and I was glad it was Roy who was driving.
Flooding and a bit of drama…
… on the road to Coonabarabran
Coonabarabran (Coona)
In such weather, we were not going to be able to appreciate what Coona is most famous for: star-gazing. Thanks to its pristine air, high altitude (505m) and low humidity, Coona is the star-gazing capital of Australia, and several observatories have been established in the area.
Memorial Clock Tower, Coonabarabran
We weren’t going to be appreciating anything about Coona, to be honest. All we were really interested in was getting out of the wet and into the dry.
It was too early to check into our accommodation at Acacia Lodge (a comfortable Deluxe Double Room with balcony, $159 on booking.com; recommended). Fortunately it was lunchtime: and the big Golden Sea Dragon directly over the road came highly rated on TripAdvisor.
I should explain here, perhaps not for the first time, that it’s extremely difficult to get Roy into a Chinese restaurant. Over decades of doing business in China, Taiwan, Japan and other Asian countries, he has been treated to the best of the best in Asian cuisine. As a result of countless banquets featuring rare ghost crabs, soft shell crabs, suckling pigs and the like, he’s become a dreadful culinary snob.
But now there was no getting around it: we were destined to have a Chinese lunch in a big, glossy restaurant in deepest, darkest New South Wales. In fact, the food was excellent, washed down with jasmine tea and presided by a friendly Cantonese matriarch who wanted to know all about our journey, and particularly our children and grandchildren.
My crab and sweetcorn soup and Roy’s hot and sour soup would have been quite enough for lunch; but of course we over-ordered, and had to tapau (take away) much of the barbecued pork omelette and hot-plate tiger prawns with ginger.
(Dinner at the Acacia Motor Lodge was good, too. But I made no notes, took no photos, and for once have no memory of what we ate there.)
DAY 10: Coonabarabran to Goondiwindi (Gundy), 344km
From Coona, it’s about an hour to The Pilliga, which is how Pilliga National Park or Pilliga Forest is referred to. From there, about 50 minutes to Narrabri; another hour to Moree; and another 1.5 hours to Goondiwindi.
It’s pronounced Gun-da-windy, according to the local couple who were having dinner at the Acacia Motel in Coonabarabran last night. (Her actual words: “My mother was English, and she pronounced it ‘Goon-da-win-di’. Wrongly, apparently.) We soon discovered that everyone calls the town Gundy.
Victoria Hotel, Goondiwindi
The Victoria Hotel boasts early colonial Victorian architecture, says the tourism blurb, and has one of a dozen pubs in the town. I count myself a lucky woman if I can coax Roy into one pub, let alone 12.
Victoria Hotel, GoondiwindiCoaxed into the pub at Victoria Hotel, Gundiwindi for a lunchtime beer – and looking quite cheerful about it
Having delicately sipped his way through the smallest size of beer available (a schooner?), Roy mildly agreed to come back for dinner. That was a good thing, especially as just about everywhere else was shut: today, 22 September, was a nation-wide public holiday to mourn the death of Her Majesty, QEII.
The Vic was packed that night, they were understaffed (understandably), and we were warned we’d have to wait 45 minutes to an hour for our steak dinners. We waited for an hour, and then the food arrived so cold that it had to be sent back to the kitchen. Ten out of ten to the indefatigable manager Ben Harrison, who insisted on refunding us on the spot when he heard what had happened. (That must be a first for us in Australia.) Because of that, I would gladly go back.
Opposite the Vic – Another gracious architectural landmark, this one Art Deco
Down by the river
As the weather had cleared, I was itching to explore what looked like one of the more interesting towns on our route. (To be fair, Coona might have had a lot to offer in different circumstances. Though perhaps not.)
So I set off in the direction of the Macintyre River, and here’s a selection of what I saw both on my 6km walk that afternoon, and on my run along the same route early the next morning.
The statue of a famous grey racing horse Gunsynd, whose connection with Gundy is remarkably tenuousStriking sandstone columns, sculpted by Chris Mackenzie in 2001Goondiwindi’s historically significant Tree of KnowledgeFantastic mural art on a water tank next to the Tree of Knowledge, GoondiwindiMore mural art along the Macintyre River – this one brightening up a public convenienceYet more striking riverside art – don’t you love the title?Macintyre River, GoondiwindiGoondiwindi Museum – small, well managed, and well worth a visit
Review: Pioneer Motel Goondiwindi
Pioneer Motel, Goondiwindi
There is plenty of accommodation in Goondiwindi, but we were well pleased with the Pioneer. Our Deluxe Queen Room ($132 on booking.com) had everything we required, and the friendly owner couple told us that whatever else we fancied in the way of toasters, crockery, cutlery and so on was available at Reception. What was more, we arrived a good hour before their 1.30pm check-in time, but they welcomed us anyway and allocated us a room right next to an extra-long parking space.*
*I may not have mentioned one small, worrying niggle that accompanied us all the way across Oz: that our accommodation wouldn’t have suitable parking for the Prado with camper-trailer attached. (In fact, we should have let each place know about this in advance.) Luckily, it all worked out fine.
DAY 11: Goondiwindi to Brisbane (354km)
Did I feel a sense of relief on this, the last day of our journey, as we made our ever-slower way, first through the busy city of Toowoomba and on to the motorway-heavy approach to our destination? No, I did not.
Though I’ve always described myself as a city-dweller at heart, happiest when able to walk to nearby stores, pubs and restaurants, there was something about this unlikely ten-day Outback journey that deeply appealed to something in me.
In fact, I felt I could have carried on – maybe not north to Cairns again, as we did last year (click here for Part 8 of that huge story), but instead right, to… well, to wherever the road might lead.
A good job well done, Roy! – outside our family’s new home in Toowong, Brisbane QLD
Next up? Well, my newly re-established editor role at Expat Living magazine will take me to Singapore next week, so I might have something to say about that wonderful city where Roy and I lived and worked for almost 16 years. My husband will be home alone in Perth, so let’s hope he behaves himself.
Across Australia, Part Two: World’s rarest coffee; Eucla, a tale of rabbits and sand; the Nullarbor Nymph – the myth and the restaurant; distressingly rum do’s at the Eucla Motor Hotel bar; over the border to South Australia; nasty Nundroo; forbidden fruit confiscation; oysters at Ceduna; Kimba – halfway across Australia; Port Augusta; a most surprising billboard
To recap Part 1, we’re driving from Perth WA to Brisbane QLD. That pink bit on the map below is the Nullabor Plain, which we’re taking three days to cross.
Location of the Nullabor Plain, WANorseman to Ceduna – the Nullarbor Plain: all those place names are just roadhouses, not towns
Crown Perth for a vintage celebration; our Keg & Thistle origin story; say “Crown”, not “The Crown”; checking in, then and now; the great bathroom quandary; High Tea vs High Cheese – cheese, please; ocean vs pool – no contest; singing the casino blues; Oyster Bar EQ diversion; Nobu bento box diversion; review: Rockpool Bar & Grill
Where does a vintage couple like us go to celebrate? – why, Crown of course! This time, it was to mark our 30th anniversary of meeting.
Roy and I met in a bar in Florida Road, Durban, on 25 August 1992. Four years later to the day, he proposed to me in the same bar: the Keg & Thistle, now long gone. And so we make a point of having a drink in a bar every 25 August to celebrate… well… ourselves.
Billabong break; take a left to Shark Bay; Shell Beach… Woman, know thy limits; a scenic lookout’s backside; one ferocious feather duster; delightful Denham; Monkey Mia – what’s in a name?’; Ocean Park Aquarium; Review: Monkey Mia RAC
Kalbarri north to Monkey Mia is 399km, so four hours. Roy took over the wheel roughly halfway, at Billabong. (Yes, there’s a place called Billabong… actually, there’s another Billabong in the state of Victoria, and for all I know there could be several others.)
Northampton, another settler town; kangaroo graveyard on the way to Kalbarri; missing Blue Holes and a Red Bluff; Port Gregory and its pretty Pink Lake; three geological marvels; dire dining prospects in Kalbarri, so thank goodness for IGA; review: Finlay’s Seafood; review: Kalbarri Edge Resort
Courtesy of the fact that I was driving, we were permitted to stop and pay our respects to the Big Crayfish at Dongara before rejoining the Great Northern Highway (GNH), first destination Northampton. Northampton would be a good stopover, with its nicely restored settler buildings and various accommodation options.
