After such a long time in one place, it felt quite odd to be packing up and hauling out of Bussellton, but, as always, we felt that sense of excitement which invariably accompanies a day on which we are about to see something new.
Then a drama.....one of the locking bolts which holds the safety chains to the tow bar 'D' shackles had disappeared. It is both illegal and very risky to tow without both these chains attached. We suspect it had shaken out whilst we were banging over some of the unsealed roads in the area of Cape Freycinet a week or so earlier.
Irrespective of cause, we were not going anywhere until I came up with an alternative method of securely attaching the chain. I was not in a mental mood for a challenge, but in circumstances like this there is no choice but to don the fast thinking cap and get on with it....we were on the verge of running late for our appointment with The Caravan Doctor and the installation of our new hot water heater.
Now I have never pretended to be mechanically minded....quite the opposite in fact, although I have to say life on the road does force a sharpened focus from time to time. And I am proud to report that what ever part of my grey matter deals with these problems did the right thing..."where's that long shank padlock? Where it should be....in the locker with the anti-theft cables". (these are the high tensile steel cables we run through the freezer, BBQ etc and lock off to a wheel or the rear bumper to prevent some little feral (s) making off with them in our absence).
Viola! It worked. Highly irregular but of sufficient strength to give me the confidence to make the relatively short drive to Busso's industrial estate and our rendezvous with the long awaited heater...and a new shackle!
So, after unhitching, it was off on a final drive around Bussellton (mainly to keep Max quiet..he can be like a bloody fractious infant on the road....will only settle and snooze when we are underway, preferably at 1900 revs!). Fortunately my phone rang within the hour. System installed, tested and all ship shape and re-hitched, (I was over hitching and unhitching by the end of the day!) we were off.
Our route took us back to Bunbury which we by-passed and on north along the banks of the Leschenault Inlet through the small town of Australind. This may ring a bell. It was here, a month or so ago, that a local idiot had been experimenting with the manufacture of a highly volatile explosive, currently favoured by the world's terrorists. This clown had set charges in the Inlet, and, as you might imagine, their subsequent discovery caused quite a flap. In any event, the local bobbies recovered all the bombs and exploded them in a nearby oval.
These controlled bangs, covered extensively by local TV, had Liz in fits....they looked for all the world like the golf course explosions set off in that zany comedy movie 'Caddy Shack' (for those blissfully ignorant of this film it had Bill Murray attempting to rid the course of a gopher....finally, and as you would expect, unsuccessfully, with explosives). For some unknown reason this film features large in Liz's childhood memories and this news footage triggered fond recollections.
At this stage I must report that we did not take photos of our short journey to our destination for the day, The Estuary Hideaway Caravan Park, some 20 kms south of Mandurah. There was little of real interest to see, and, apart from that, I was so far behind with my blog I just wanted to catch up before clicking away again.
After the initial hiccough of the day, our trip was delightfully uneventful. Here we were, the gateway to our new home for four nights.
The entrance driveway soon beckoned and we followed one of the park workers mounted on a quad bike (standard vehicles in these parks)
past the somewhat tired looking tennis courts,
the much more well cared for pool,
the excellent camp kitchen, library and recreation room complex
and on to our allotted patch of grass (that's us mid shot in the distance amongst the trees)
Our site, as they say in the vernacular, was a ripper. Reasonably level (completely level sites in grassy parks are virtually non-existent), wide expanses of grass all around us and a fair degree of shade without the threat of immediate branch overhang. Wonderful.
And as you can see we had oodles of elbow room. Not another van in the park after day two. This was most unusual and we took full advantage with some very loud happy hour music. And, if you look closely mid-shot, you will see that the waters of the Harvey Estuary are a mere stone's throw away.
An arrival at a new park always sparks a touch of limited curiosity/anxiety. There are so many variables which go hand in hand with caravan park life, variables which may sound quite banal to all settled in the immutable domestic stability of your own homes which have been built or renovated to reflect your personal tastes.
The state and set-up of the amenities block is always of particular interest. What size are the shower heads?....please, not those horrid, piddling, water saving versions under which one has to run around to get wet. Will the cubicles have plenty of hooks and a shower curtain so the whole area doesn't resemble a flood plain after a good scrub? Will the loo paper be at least 2 ply or that rotten, money saving, flimsy, raspy, see-through tissue with which so many park owners plan to make their fortunes through cost cutting.
Believe it or not, one park actually advertises it's soft paper. We stayed there! Here at The Estuary the 'heads' were brand new, and whilst the cubicles were cosy, there were large shower heads, curtains, plenty of hooks, great loo paper, and paper towels for hand wiping as opposed to ineffectual blow driers (has anyone come across one of these things...apart from the extraordinary 'Dyson Blade'...which actually dries hands inside five minutes?) Well done, The Estuary.
The shared BBQs were clean, the camp kitchen held the largest 'book swap' we have ever come across and the park managers were friendly and helpful. Bliss. The only slight snag was a lack of potable water to the sites.
This park is on bore water (which accounts for the fact that in this dessicated state of WA they could pour water onto the park lawns...and did). The water was actually fit for human consumption, but WA has enacted quite stringent park hygiene regulations. These include, for example, the requirement that all sullage must be directed into a sump rather than be used to water trees or shrubs (how stupid) and that any water which is not filtered and treated in a certain way must be declared non-potable. Here at The Estuary they have overcome this problem by providing all campers with 25 litre containers and unlimited access to filtered rainwater.
This is a huge park, which by all accounts, becomes a hive of activity over the summer months. We had lobbed a week before the rush began. It also houses a large number of 'permanents' in well organised and maintained rows of cabins.
What is the attraction?.....the sheltered waters of the Harvey Estuary....where canoeing, boating fishing and crabbing, particularly crabbing, are a way of life. The estuary connects directly to the Peel Inlet at Mandurah,some 20 kms to the north, and extends south from there. Its waters are saline, and it rather reminded us of a cross between the River Murray and the Coorong (and coincidentally, there is a 'Murray River' not too far away).
I do have to say that both these environments are more attractive than the Harvey Estuary. From our site this path took us to the western bank,
from which the view to the north, complete with these strange, local small boat mooring posts, unfolded.
To the south, a portion of the estuary bank shows the nature and vegetation common to this section of the waterway. We did not travel far enough afield to discover if it is all like this. Hopefully not...we found it all a bit rough and uninviting, but, let's face it, with the Coorong we in SA are utterly spoilt.
It was the huddle of riverside holiday houses immediately to the north of our park boundary which invoked memories of the Murray, where, if not for the fact that the trees are the ubiquitous WA Peppermints rather than River Red Gums, we could have been standing at Bow Hill, Teal Flat or on the river side of River Lane at Mannum. No, an observation only....not a twinge of homesickness!
And finally, with a four night stay before us, and Xmas nigh, up went the Chrissy lights. Well at least we enjoyed their colour and sparkle even if there was nobody else to impress.
As you may have gathered by now, we did relish our stay here, which included a day trip to Mandurah and the beaches in between. I did not take the camera. I knew darn well if I had I would have snapped away with gay abandon and I really wanted to make sure that I was up to date blogwise within a few days of arriving Perth.
Suffice it to say that with the Indian Ocean on the one hand and the sheltered waters of the Peel Inlet on the other we viewed Mandurah as a boaties' paradise. Its waterfront cafe strip was appealing if not arresting, and the up-market canal mansions area could have been anywhere, Gold Coast, Caloundra, etc etc. Mandurah is the second largest urban area outside Perth, and on our observations this is obvious. High rise apartments and holiday rentals have sprouted all along the waterfront area and we noted a number of suburban streets where knock down and a rebuild were more than evident.
A confession is in order here. We did want to have a quick nosey at Mandurah given we were so close, but the real reason for our visit was Dan Murphy's....the ship's grog locker was somewhat bare. With Xmas fast approaching this was a parlous state of affairs and one not to be tolerated.
So, after a somewhat self indulgent wander around our friend Dan's place and with the coffers depleted as a result, we eventually escaped the traffic chaos of the Mandurah CBD and clinked and clunked our way back to The Estuary later that afternoon with a renewed sense that we really are into peace and quiet and the pleasure of relaxing under our own awning with a quiet glass of bubbles together rather than a jostled and noisy 'latte on the waterfront'!
Perth now awaits. We had received varying reports about the park we were to call home for the next three weeks. We now know there was good reason for that.
More on this after Christmas. So for now, to all who faithfully wade through my musings, this offering comes with very best wishes to you and yours for the Festive Season and 2014 from Liz, Pete and Max, the Mobile Marshies.
The entrance driveway soon beckoned and we followed one of the park workers mounted on a quad bike (standard vehicles in these parks)
past the somewhat tired looking tennis courts,
the much more well cared for pool,
the excellent camp kitchen, library and recreation room complex
and on to our allotted patch of grass (that's us mid shot in the distance amongst the trees)
Our site, as they say in the vernacular, was a ripper. Reasonably level (completely level sites in grassy parks are virtually non-existent), wide expanses of grass all around us and a fair degree of shade without the threat of immediate branch overhang. Wonderful.
And as you can see we had oodles of elbow room. Not another van in the park after day two. This was most unusual and we took full advantage with some very loud happy hour music. And, if you look closely mid-shot, you will see that the waters of the Harvey Estuary are a mere stone's throw away.
An arrival at a new park always sparks a touch of limited curiosity/anxiety. There are so many variables which go hand in hand with caravan park life, variables which may sound quite banal to all settled in the immutable domestic stability of your own homes which have been built or renovated to reflect your personal tastes.
Believe it or not, one park actually advertises it's soft paper. We stayed there! Here at The Estuary the 'heads' were brand new, and whilst the cubicles were cosy, there were large shower heads, curtains, plenty of hooks, great loo paper, and paper towels for hand wiping as opposed to ineffectual blow driers (has anyone come across one of these things...apart from the extraordinary 'Dyson Blade'...which actually dries hands inside five minutes?) Well done, The Estuary.
The shared BBQs were clean, the camp kitchen held the largest 'book swap' we have ever come across and the park managers were friendly and helpful. Bliss. The only slight snag was a lack of potable water to the sites.
This park is on bore water (which accounts for the fact that in this dessicated state of WA they could pour water onto the park lawns...and did). The water was actually fit for human consumption, but WA has enacted quite stringent park hygiene regulations. These include, for example, the requirement that all sullage must be directed into a sump rather than be used to water trees or shrubs (how stupid) and that any water which is not filtered and treated in a certain way must be declared non-potable. Here at The Estuary they have overcome this problem by providing all campers with 25 litre containers and unlimited access to filtered rainwater.
This is a huge park, which by all accounts, becomes a hive of activity over the summer months. We had lobbed a week before the rush began. It also houses a large number of 'permanents' in well organised and maintained rows of cabins.
What is the attraction?.....the sheltered waters of the Harvey Estuary....where canoeing, boating fishing and crabbing, particularly crabbing, are a way of life. The estuary connects directly to the Peel Inlet at Mandurah,some 20 kms to the north, and extends south from there. Its waters are saline, and it rather reminded us of a cross between the River Murray and the Coorong (and coincidentally, there is a 'Murray River' not too far away).
I do have to say that both these environments are more attractive than the Harvey Estuary. From our site this path took us to the western bank,
from which the view to the north, complete with these strange, local small boat mooring posts, unfolded.
To the south, a portion of the estuary bank shows the nature and vegetation common to this section of the waterway. We did not travel far enough afield to discover if it is all like this. Hopefully not...we found it all a bit rough and uninviting, but, let's face it, with the Coorong we in SA are utterly spoilt.
It was the huddle of riverside holiday houses immediately to the north of our park boundary which invoked memories of the Murray, where, if not for the fact that the trees are the ubiquitous WA Peppermints rather than River Red Gums, we could have been standing at Bow Hill, Teal Flat or on the river side of River Lane at Mannum. No, an observation only....not a twinge of homesickness!
And finally, with a four night stay before us, and Xmas nigh, up went the Chrissy lights. Well at least we enjoyed their colour and sparkle even if there was nobody else to impress.
As you may have gathered by now, we did relish our stay here, which included a day trip to Mandurah and the beaches in between. I did not take the camera. I knew darn well if I had I would have snapped away with gay abandon and I really wanted to make sure that I was up to date blogwise within a few days of arriving Perth.
Suffice it to say that with the Indian Ocean on the one hand and the sheltered waters of the Peel Inlet on the other we viewed Mandurah as a boaties' paradise. Its waterfront cafe strip was appealing if not arresting, and the up-market canal mansions area could have been anywhere, Gold Coast, Caloundra, etc etc. Mandurah is the second largest urban area outside Perth, and on our observations this is obvious. High rise apartments and holiday rentals have sprouted all along the waterfront area and we noted a number of suburban streets where knock down and a rebuild were more than evident.
A confession is in order here. We did want to have a quick nosey at Mandurah given we were so close, but the real reason for our visit was Dan Murphy's....the ship's grog locker was somewhat bare. With Xmas fast approaching this was a parlous state of affairs and one not to be tolerated.
So, after a somewhat self indulgent wander around our friend Dan's place and with the coffers depleted as a result, we eventually escaped the traffic chaos of the Mandurah CBD and clinked and clunked our way back to The Estuary later that afternoon with a renewed sense that we really are into peace and quiet and the pleasure of relaxing under our own awning with a quiet glass of bubbles together rather than a jostled and noisy 'latte on the waterfront'!
Perth now awaits. We had received varying reports about the park we were to call home for the next three weeks. We now know there was good reason for that.
More on this after Christmas. So for now, to all who faithfully wade through my musings, this offering comes with very best wishes to you and yours for the Festive Season and 2014 from Liz, Pete and Max, the Mobile Marshies.
MERRY XMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
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