Technically, this comes before the previous post but somehow the other one got sent first!!!
Form Yornaning we continued North and noted the change in the landscape. The lush hills and forrests of The Great Southern region gave way to farm land and huge wheat fields as we headed through the wheat belt of Western Australia. We stopped for lunch in York, a lovely old town and WA's oldest inland settlement. It has a beautiful Town Hall building and many others besides. We took a day trip here from Perth and as it was on our way, we couldn't resist another look as well as another visit to Jules Cafe, a wonderful spot for lunch - how convenient!
We drove on through some lovely countryside and stopped at another winery before heading into Gingin and paying a visit to the Gravity Discovery Centre. It's a fun interactive science centre focussed on gravity and you can do a range of experiments to demonstrate various aspects of gravity, magnetic field and so on. They also have an excellent cosmology gallery all about the evolution of earth and the ascent of man. Unfortunately we arrived within one hour of closing so although we got to see everything, we rather had to skip round which was a shame. By the time we had finished it was 4pm which is when we usually aim for camp and annoyingly, when the rain really started coming down. We pulled into a rest area for the night and hunkered down with wine and books hoping the incessant rain would clear by the morning...
Luckily for us, the rain stopped and we woke to blue skies and white fluffy clouds albeit with a rather incessant wind. We took a short drive to Guilderton for a caffeine fix before heading north along Indian Ocean Drive. We hadn't gone very far, 30km maybe when the dashboard beeped at me, ENGINE HOT flashing on the display. Shit. There's not really a hard shoulder on this road, a vague patch of gravel to one side at best. When the road straightened out a bit, we found a spot to pull over and Tom took a look under the bonnet. We weren't losing either oil or coolant so it wasn't easy to assess why we had overheated. For the second time on the trip, we called roadside assistance and were towed to the nearest town, Lancelin. Thankfully, it was on our way and only 12km down the road. It would have helped if the roadside team had given the tow truck the correct instructions, but you can't have everything can you? As it happened, we were the only red commodore pulled over that day and the truck soon came to our rescue. The mechanic made a quick assessment as to what caused the issue, given that we had put in a new radiator during our time in Perth. It was the thermostat. Even more luck was on our side that day as they had the part in stock and so we knew we'd be ready to go sooner rather than later. All told we were waiting for about two and a half hours in a charming seaside community on a pretty blustery day. The heavens opened once more, just as we got back to the car.
Owing to the engine trouble, rather than make it to Geraldton as planned, we pulled in for the night at Cervantes. On the way, we called in to visit the remarkable Pinnacles Desert. The pinnacles are pretty amazing limestone formations sticking out of the flat sand around them. They are rather striking, with an other-worldly quality. We saw them as the sun was beginning to set, bathed in orange light. Not too long before the rain caught up with us there as well!!! It follows us around I swear. The discovery centre gave some interesting info on the wildlife at the Pinnacles as well as various theories as to how they were formed, but no one really knows for sure.
The next day, we woke early to beat the cleaners, that is to say, we had to access the bathroom before they closed it for cleaning. I can't understand why, when check out is 10am, you would close the bathroom between 7:30 and 8:30am? I remain incredulous.
On our way out of Cervantes, we called in at Lake Thetis to see the Stromatolites. Stromatolites are microorganisms found in certain conditions and were instrumental in the development of life on earth. They are believed to be the world's oldest living organisms and the saltiness of the lake meant that they are able to survive with little disturbance. From there it was off to Geraldton, the biggest town for quite some time.
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