Hi,
(You can click on the photo to enlarge it)
Continuing our journey we left Newman heading to Perth. First night was a free camp just north of Meekatharra then we passed through Mt Magnet and overnighted at Paynes Find, arriving at New Norcia in the afternoon. The weather blew all the way with rain, not the most pleasant drive.
 |
| Free camp companions, 2 road trains |
Once we arrived at New Norcia we booked into the Caravan Park (ha ha) at the back of the roadhouse. Very poor but we wanted power for the heater, it rained cats and dogs that night so we went to the pub for tea which was nice but no fire to keep warm so back to the van. The following day we went on the morning tour to see the Abby etc. 2 hours of walking round looking at old building what a joy this was (no rain). After a quick lunch we moved on to Perth.
 |
| The girls school |
 |
| Carved pictures on the walls of Abby Church |
 |
| Some of the original paint walls in Abby Church |
 |
| Inside the old flour mill |
 |
| Inside the Boys school chapel |
 |
| Inside the Girls school chapel |
 |
| The New Norcia Hotel, built for the Queen of Spain's visit |
When we arrived in Perth we stayed out at Caversham again with views of the vineyards, planes and lots of birds. We visited with Shirley and Brian, Michael and Lorraine. Ian changed the wheels around on the van as the tires were scrubbing. On another day we went down to Freemantle for lunch with John and Wendy who we had not seen since 2009, we had a lovely time with them. We also decided to visit the Botanical Gardens as the wild flower festival was on. The sun shone all day, we had morning and afternoon tea as we did a free escorted garden tour. this turned out to be fantastic.
 |
| Swan River Daisy |
 |
| Little Blue Orchids |
 |
| Gum Nut and Bird walking round the garden to entertain the kids |
 |
| The bird again but not sure what type of flower the worrier was |
 |
| Gum Nuts and flower |
 |
| Kangaroo Paw |
 |
| Banksia flower growing out of the mulch |
 |
| Just loved this flower |
From Perth we moved onto Mandura to visit more friends. On the day we arrived we decided to do the river cruise, looking for the dolphins (no dolphins) good thing as the rain the next day we bad. We had dinner with Brian and Lucy on Friday night (we had not seen then since 2010 in Mt Isa ) then on Saturday we had lunch with Sue and Vic what a great few days we had visiting our travelling friends.
 |
| War Memorial on banks of the estuary |
 |
| Halls Cottage |
 |
| An unusual curved front on this multi million dollar home, it was also pink |
From Mandura we continued south west to Picton to have the van wheels aligned then onto Manjimup.
We spent a lovely couple of days with Bev, Cliff and Phyllis. One afternoon was spent doing Mottram family tree stuff, I still have heaps to do on that, then we had a visit with David and Margaret out at the farm, and went to see a little church that the pioneer families built in 1883, we had a great day (still cold and raining).
 |
| Bev and Marilyn looking at old family photos in the Mottram slab home |
 |
| Inside the old home |
 |
| Outside the old home |
 |
| David and John (on the forklift) putting up some guttering on the timber mill |
 |
| The plaque on the little church |
 |
| The little church restored |
 |
| Bev outside the church |
 |
| Marilyn and Ian outside the church |
It has been cold and wet since we left Newman, I think we may be getting used to it (NO NO) Since leaving Manjimup we have been heading EAST, we travelled the Muirs Hwy through Rocky Gully, Cranbrook, Gnowangerup, Ongerup stay overnight at Jerramungup, next day had coffee in Ravensthorpe which was nice, then onto Esperance for a few days. (Up at the end of the name means water).
Hope you like the photo's it is hard to keep the number down as I want to put them all in.
The weather is still bad, blowing with rain even in South Australia which is were we are now.
Love to all see you soon.
Marilyn and Ian
