Forgive Me ..It has been... ummm WAY too long since my last confession/ blog!

OK OK you all know what I'm like and it got too hard to Blog, between travel and the lack of ability to use the computer when we free camp it got too hard but here goes for a quick catchup!

Last I wrote and we were in Victor Harbour SA and heading for Hahndorf, well we are now in BEAUTIFUL Busselton WA but here goes with the catchup!

All of this come courtesy of my lovely wifs written travel diary (cause she can write it while I drive)

Day 7 - 20 April 2009

Funny both Tanya and I were very keen to see Hahndorf but didn't know why, It was a bit of a trip from Victor Harbour and very hilly. There is only one caravan park so we went to check in, it was weird with a capital W. It had obviously been a themed park but now it was just run down, the girl behind the counter said "We are a BASIC park please go and have a look and if you want to stay just setup on any site and let me know, because we cannot give refunds!", we drove down the hill past the weird looking cabins to find about sixty sites but only three caravans, and one of these was on long term storage! We setup checked in and headed into Hahndorf. Hahndorf just NQR, lots of cheep tacky "fake" German souvenirs. The museum was interesting to read about how the migrants came out but that was about it. Oh and Lachlan was in heaven in the knife shop. We decided to have an early "traditional German" dinner at one of the pubs and then retire for the night. I had the three wursts (bratwurst and what ever the other two were) , Tanya and Lachlan had chicken schnitzel and Nicholas had fish and chips so i don't think it ended up being traditional German food!!! While we were in the Tourist Office we saw the add for a ferry that went from Wallaroo to Cowley, which meant we didn't have to go through the gutter aka Port Augusta and saved us about three hours and roughly 300kms, the best news was there was a 50% discount on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the only catch was you had to book and pay the day befor travel, we tried to book but they were closed so we decided to call in the morning.

The next day we tried to call at opening time of 6:30 and there was no answer, still no answer at 7:00 finally got through at 7:15 and they said they would have to call back and let us know if there was room on Weddnesday. Got the call at 8:30 to say we could get on and the total cost was $209. We headed back into Hanhdorf to go to the cheese shop which we missed yesterday as we were too late and then we finally departed the beautiful metropolis of Hahndorf and headed for Wallaroo via Adelaide. We got straight onto the highway and all of a sudden we were diverted onto a single road through the back blocks of Adelaide, and if i thought it was hilly getting to Hahndorf this was ridiculous, the brakes on the van were continually on for about 3/4ers of an hour. Finally back on the highway and into Adelaide (funny neither of us were interested in looking round and all Lachlan wanted to see was where the V8 raced!). We went to Ray's for a couple of things had Maccas for lunch then headed for Wallaroo.

Day 8 - 21 April 2009

Up early after camping next to Cletus Spuckler and his three yapping dogs in a small cage and onto the Ferry, it was a beautiful morning without a cloud in the sky, the trip across was great and I watched a movie while the kids did their homework. We were heading for Port Gibbon which is a free camp just out of Cowley. We did a bit of shopping in Cowley after we landed and headed for camp. We turned off the main road and headded down 5kms of dry dusty road, in what felt like the middle of nowhere we came across the town of about 4 houses and about 20 caravans and what looked like no room for us, thankfully there was another couple with two kids who were just leaving. Tanya got talking to the other lady and found out they were traveling round Australia for 18 months, he was a painter and was picking up work here and there, we were disappointed to see them go it would have been great to get some more tips! We set up camp on the edge of the cliff (with a great view) in the dry dust bowl. The kids went to the beach and played and joined them and went for a snorkel to see if there were any fish for Nicholas to catch, nuttin but blue swimmer crabs and me without a net, I looked at one in Ray's the day before but decided it was a pain to cart all over Australia (even if it was only $8!). We went to bed that night and it was a beautiful still night, once again at 3:00am the wind and the rain came and Tanya and I were up and pulling in the awning! From now on if there is any hint of wind we are putting the awning in before we go to bed. We woke the next morning to more rain so we went for a drive in the nothingness to Arno Bay and fished (in the rain) off the pier, only to catch nuttin! We came in and wanted to warm up so we went to the Arno Bay pub for a $7 counter meal. I had the roast (which included some lovely boiled veggies and the kids had bangers and mash which they said was GREAT! We headed back to camp and did a bit more sight seeing. I had been GUARENTEED that I would get a snapper of Flat Rocks so we headed there only to get snagged every cast and gave up within 10 mins!

Day 9 - 22 April

We headed for Port Lincoln (which Tanya's parents had loved only a few month before) and prayed for no more rain. We found the caravan site (which was a welcome relief from the dust of Port Gibbon) and got a very small site on the side of a hill. I connected up the water hose and within 2 mins the thing had blown the hose apart (apparently the water pressure here is EXTREMELY strong) so I had to go and buy another connector.