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We have crossed the Tropic of Capricorn! Sadly no photographic evidence, the sign totally snuck up on us and with vans behind us we weren’t in a position to pull over. The weather has changed substantially ever since we left Albany – it’s warm and dry! YAY! Since we mainly packed shorts and T-shirts, the warmer weather is a relief to all. We are taking pleasure in the small things already, like clean clothes.
Perth was a wonderful break; we saw our new nephew (and cousin for Elizabeth and Jonathon), Charlie, and of course his big brother Lachy, and Tim and Ness, Dave’s brother and his wife. With children in tow, our time was mostly spent at playgrounds scootering around, drinking coffee and just chatting, which was lovely.
Geraldton delivered some awesome playgrounds and a waterpark which of course was too tempting for Jonathon despite the lack of bathers. But our mission was to get to Exmouth for a few nights of R&R including a day trip swimming with the whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef, so we didn’t hang around. We saw the Pinnacles, stromatolites (‘pond scum’ for those ‘Terry and Andy’ fans like Jonathon), a beach made entirely of shells, and dolphins up close at Monkey Mia, but bypassed Kalbarri NP, Coral Bay and what seemed like the bush/tropic border town of Carnarvon.
Today’s drive has been both desolate and fascinating. The red dirt and scrubby bushland around Denham (and Dirk Hartog Island, which Elizabeth did an assignment on last year) gave way to dirt and dried up rivers around Carnarvon, which in turn has given way to mostly grasslands near Exmouth. We have seen kangaroos (both dead and alive and a generally smaller breed/subspecies than we are used to seeing), wild goats and sheep by the sides of the roads, an echidna crossing the road and many interesting looking birds. We have listened to a few Richard Fidler Conversation podcasts, Gangsta Granny by David Walliams (hilarious for all) and even managed some maths problems.
The car and van are travelling really well (touch wood), we have been watching the tyre pressures and temperatures with interest as they increased today in the 37 deg heat, but so far all is going well and we haven’t had any nasty surprises.
We are watching the waxing moon and although swimming with the whale sharks will be a hugely exciting thing to do on Monday, Elizabeth and Jonathon are similarly keen to get to Broome by Wednesday and see the Staircase to the Moon over Roebuck Bay. After this we expect our pace to slow; it’s amazing looking at the map and seeing where we are, and typical of travel, as we tick things off our list of places to go to, we add many more.