17th, Arriving in Melbourne after the roughest trip I have ever had across Bass Strait, it wasn't too bad but not as calm as it usually is, we head for the big4 where we had the boat stored, it was a pleasant surprise when we arrived I still owed 2 weeks which amounted to over $100 they decided not to charge us. We hooked the boat up and had breakfast then hit the road toward Ballarat, the wind was horrendous and the sky was a peculiar shade we thought it may have been the tail end of the cyclone. That night we pulled into Keith show ground the wind had not abated but the show ground was pleasant with good facilities.
18th Nothing extraordinary during the days trip we stayed the night at a working sheep station that had set up a caravan park they called it Nutt Bush Retreat, when we arrived they were in the middle of shearing with the paddocks full of sheep, I tormented Merv telling him I would have to lock him up for the night. It was a nice place to stay except there was one working dog that barked a lot during the night. The facilities were good and there was a licensed restaurant for anyone who didn't want to cook.
19th Another day on the road, all was going well till we got a blow out on the boat trailer, this was a new tyre and we had done approx 300kms. On the road again after the tyre change we caught up to a wide load that took up the whole road there wasn't any way to pass so after travelling some distance we stopped at a rest area for the night.
20th We travelled along the actual Nullabour today and stopped to admire the beauty of the region it has a lot to explore if anyone wants to take the time and the coast is awe inspiring, we never saw any live animals this time only road kill and a couple of magnificent wedge tailed eagles. When we started to climb up onto the range we decided to stop at the lookout for lunch only to find another flat tyre on the trailer, this was when we noticed the springs were worn out and each time we went over a bump it allowed the tyre to hit the mud guard which in turn shredded it, we put our last one on and hoped it would last until the next day. We spent the night at Baxters rest area where we went for a walk and looked at the sink hole the rest area is named after, it is a huge rest area with space for everyone.
21st We got off to an early start as we wanted to get to Norsman to buy another tyre before the shops closed being a Saturday, we arrived with plenty of time so we organized the tyre to be fitted to the spare rim while it was being done went back to the roadhouse for a shower and some lunch. That afternoon we stayed at the Karalee Rock camp ground it was close on 40 degrees with the wind nearly gale force, not pleasant, when we set up we tried sitting in the shade to keep cool but the flies were intolerable so in that heat we had to stay inside till after dark, welcome back to WA. Later we went for a walk even though I don't like to walk around under trees in strong wind, it is such an interesting area with some great historic points and the way they have made it so they catch all the water on the very large rock area and channel it into dams.
22nd The wind has dropped today and it is only around 26 degrees much better, we arrive home and Liza was out moving some of her things but we met Ranni her dog, I wasn't sure about the dog and the dog wasn't sure about us at first, she made a big noise but was quite timid being very young.
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