The Kowsas' Big Lap: W.A. to S.A.

Albany was a beautiful town, but still a little too windy for our liking. I enjoyed my birthday during our stay there and as I mentioned in my last post, I was lucky enough to snag the Show n Shine (yay for me!). Looking at old hotted up cars was just what I had wanted to do on my birthday. The rest of our day was lovely though and was topped off by a delicious dinner I created from our purchase of mussels at the seafood markets during the day.

We moved onto Esperance and had a quick visit to the jetty to see Sammy the seal and also get supplies. We then set up for a few days at Lucky Bay camp site in Cape Le Grand N.P. We had a great spot with views through the trees down to the beach. Lucky Bay was officially named as having the whitest sand in Australia and it was just spectacular.

After exploring many of the bays in the National Park and also trying our luck with the fishing rods, we were ready to move onto the next adventure. Crossing the Nullarbor. And it was straight! Actually, it wasn't as arid and straight as I had thought it was going to be. We travelled in good time, predominately with a tail wind and after two night stops in free stays we moved down to Fowlers Bay.

We were a little unsure when we rolled into this little fishing village, but soon warmed to the place. The van and car finally received a good wash down on our first day though, as a decent storm came through the afternoon we arrived.

The next day was great weather though, so we ventured in the car to the next bay and Scotts Beach (which was recommended by locals) and set up with the fishing gear and sand play equipment for a few hours of fun.

Paddy snagged a great Australian Salmon not long after arriving, which had us all running around with excitement...Paddy included. After a very enjoyable day, we were all on the shore line ready to pack up when we noticed around a dozen dolphins racing through the small waves just off shore. It was amazing to watch and we raced to get the camera.

We then realised that they weren't just having fun, but were actually rounding up an enormous school of the salmon we were fishing for. There was lots of screaming "look at the bloody fish!" and "get the rods!"

After a quick re-bait of the roads and the girls (and possibly Mummy) jumping around just about to wet their pants, we were ready to go. Paddy made it into the water first to cast and immediately had one on. I waded in next and watched my bait cast right into the middle of the huge mass of silver. And then it was on! We were both hooked on at the same time, but after nearly getting his fish all the way to the beach, Paddy's fish broke free and swam right past me back to the pack. I however, being the amazing fisher women that I am, managed to lure mine all the way to the sand. I won't tell you though, that his first catch was bigger than mine. I certainly got how my husband can spend hours out at sea fishing and almost felt a little sad at the fact that I have been missing out all these years.

Our last few days have been spent moving down the Eyre Peninsular. The scenery has been stunning, with acres of grain and sheep farming and many ruins of old pioneer settlements. We stopped at a free stay on the beach our first night and then enjoyed two days at Lincoln N.P. just south of Port Lincoln.

The weather has been windy and rainy at times, but we have also had some beautiful days with sunshine. Unfortunately as I type though, we are in the process of trying to get the van fixed. We were ready to head off nice and early this morning, when Paddy noticed a problem with the van. After trying to fix it for two hours, we got it to a point where it was drivable and have spent the morning searching Port Lincoln for someone able to fix it. Now most of our day has flown past and we are nearly reading to move on. Hopefully what they have done will get us back to Brisbane!