Back through Kalgoorlie, and south to the coast.

At Norseman, T fails to find gold dust, but the dendritic agates at the free fossicking site out of town are more than good for her. Another market stall pays for some stones to be shipped back east for future polishing.

Esperance has the first grassy campsite for what feels like a long while. The beaches along the WA south coast are renowned for their beauty. At Lucky Bay we play beach cricket. While T & D2 swim in the surf, D1 and I walk up the sands, and are flagged down by some stuck 4WD drivers. They have pretty much done everything wrong for beach driving: tires still fully inflated, front diff not functional (so only 2WD working), no recovery gear, no shovel, their towbar is rusted on and digging into the sand, and no idea of the tides. Very luckily, they are stranded above the tideline. Some locals pull them out. We climb a peak on the way home.

Next big stop is Kalgoorlie, the 4th biggest town in WA and the biggest goldmining town in Australia. Mostly friendly, good for supplies, but a little dusty. Our booked site at the caravan park is way too dusty, and we move to one with some shade an a little grass.

Two hours north, the Great Western Woodlands start to turn to desert country. Our goal is Lake Ballard, a salt lake and sculpture park.

The west coast of SA is a series of increasingly smaller and less comfortable townships.

The first stop after Ceduna is Penong. We always play a car game of shouting “windmill!!” whenever we see one, so arriving at the windmill museum is hilarious.

First overnighter is at the Nullarbor road house. Americans would call this a “truck stop”. This one is windier, with aussie beer and more pies. The sunrise is fantastic.

We track the west coast of South Australia, waiting for the WA border to open.

First the Yorke peninsula. The inland towns are small, sleepy and agricultural. We head down to the toe of the “boot”, to Marion Bay and the Pondalowie national park. There is lots of wildlife to encounter. Eleven emus walking down the road. A Peninsula Black Snake walks through our camp a couple of times, but doesn’t seem too stressed. Another snorkel session with D2 brings us more rays to see.

Our plans to head for the West Australia border for 5th February are thrown into disarray, as their state government gets the mother of all COVID anxiety attacks, and postpones the grand reopening. What to do?

Heading north to the red centre is not wise this early in the year, due to recent floods and ever present risk of extreme heat. We don’t want to backtrack to Victoria. D1 suggests we kill more time in SA, and that we should check out Kangaroo Island.

When I moved to Australia in 2005, we travelled the east coast, from the Daintree to Adelaide. A favourite location was the Coorong National Park. We stay at the very same campsite, a short walk or a sandy drive across the dunes, leading to a log wild empty beach. Dolphins join us for a swim.

D2 had never seem Storm Boy so this seems like an appropriate time to watch it. There are tears when Mr Percival dies.

We make it into SA! Four states and territories down, three more to do. (No Tasmania on this trip. We went there a few years ago, and it’s great. But we can’t do everywhere, and the ferry with a trailer is expensive).

SA seems to be noticeably more scared of COVID than other states. Maybe a NSW number plate is making people jumpy? I guess NSW and VIC have just learned to live with it better.

Victoria is a bit of a blur. Deliberately so. We want to focus on heading west to SA and WA, and avoid getting COVID in the meantime.

After a pleasant overnighter by the Avon river in Gippsland, we head to Warburton, to catch up with an old colleague of T’s from her NT years. Warburton has the same feel of hill station towns the world over. Steep windy streets following the valley, with a central strip of shops and facilities, and fabulous views from surrounding walks. Apparently the Adventists used to run everything, but have now upped stumps. Their old hospital is for sale if you happen to need one.

Our friends in Cobargo had their house wiped out in the 2020 bush fires, and are rebuilding. We camp just downhill from the construction site; D2 gets to stay in the yurt which mirraculously survived the fire.

This is a good chance to dry out after the rains in the Snowys, and fix some niggles with the camper. Sadly my first attempt to go diving is cancelled due to high winds.