Surferboys (NOT the 2020 (or the 2022) ) Nats diary

[surferboy]

Because we can't travel East for the Nats, Cathy and I are doing a Wildflower Road Trip in W.A.  to compensate (and to add some new  lines to my map 😁)


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[surferboy]

Sorry.. trying to figure out tapatalk on my smart(er than me) phone

Starting odometer reading

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[surferboy]

Q1. Can I ( or somebody with a tech brain) put a link to this forum post on the FE.FC Enthusiast Facebook page?

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[camxsmith]

Hi
   Did you try just coping and pasting the URL into a new POST on the facebook group      http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=28138.0;topicseen 

[surferboy]

Lots of canola fields North of Perth

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[surferboy]

Day 1
Headed North from Perth on our Wildflower trip. LOTS of yellow with the canola crops
Saw some BIG everlastings 😁
And some of the regular rusty car stuff 😀
Was going to stop for Tourist Information  regarding the road conditions & fuel & lunch  at Three Springs....  BUT... 3Springs was closed for the day.
Rang the pub in Mingenew to check if lunch was available. "Yes, kitchen closes at 2pm"  Arrived at 1.30pm... just after the chef went home 🙄
( I'm starting to worry about some country towns )
Got lunch at the lovely Mingenew Bakery, got fuel and back on the road.
Went 50km and discovered we were on the WRONG road 😢
After +400 miles we made it to our overnight stop at Yalgoo
( I was planning to go to Mt Magnet...
It was closed as one of the Mining companies had booked out the whole town 🙁)

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[Errol62]

Where is the mal surfer boy?


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[surferboy]

Day 4
Please note: Day 3 (and Day 2) will be posted (possibly) at some time. (Maybe) if i can figure out how to get technology to work and add pictures.🙄🤔

Back to today.. Day 4 (?)
Drove 1km to our destination
Then drove 1km back to the hotel.

Then it rained for the rest of the day 😟

I now have time to backtrack to Day 2

Geraldton.. its where you go on the way to somewhere nice

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[surferboy]

Day 2 (?)
Left Yalgoo heading west by turning right onto the Geraldton Mt Magnet Road. Because right was the right way to go. (Sometimes I learn from my mistakes😁)(and it's a looong way to the next town heading east)
Short 220km straight line to our next stop at Geraldton.

Time to stop and smell the wildflowers.
We've had a WET winter providing a bumper wildflower season.

It's a       l   o   n   g    straight road to Geraldton. Lots of wildflowers and LOTS of roadtrains along this road. Heading to Geraldton port from the minesites.

The "must do" sightseeing is to visit the Wreath flowers at Pindar. 10kms of corrugated gravel road out of "town"* to find the 500metres of Wreath flowers. These only grow in a couple of locations, Pindar is the most spectacular.
Then the 10kms of corrugated gravel back to "town"*
(somebody is going to have to wash the wagon when we get home😱😱😱)

Stopped for fuel at Mullewa. (and quick doctors visit) Would of got some lunch  but we're in outback WA 🙄
So it's a late lunch in Geraldton.

Today  +160 miles

* town = one street, two buildings (Yes they were closed)

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[surferboy]

Day 3
Heading out of Geraldton today 😊
With the sky looking very overcast and grey 😞
 heading for the second "must do" wildflower experience of our trip.
Coalseam Park
A "short" drive out of town (and the turn off is before Mullewa 😊) with just a few kilometers of corrugated gravel road at the entrance of the park 😊.
Arrived to beautiful blue skies 😊
Geologists reading this will see why people come here (apart from the wildflowers of course). The erosion by the Irwin river highlighting the sedimentary (?) layers in the cliff face.
LOTS of native wildflowers (and i think maybe a few not so native flowers 🤔) to see.
Magnificent views all around 😊
AND some smooth gravel roads 😀. We even got to drive across the Irwin river at a couple of river crossings.
The mighty FC Holden did it with no problems 😊😊😊. Who needs a 4wd when you have a mighty, go anywhere Old Holden 😍
(I'm not going to mention the depth because that would spoil the story)
After leaving Coalseam... YES, along a couple more kilometers of corrugated gravel road
We headed back through Mingenew to go up the hill too check out the views. (another "must do")(there's a few "must do's" out here)
The tourist websites don't mention anything about the "steps" and the STEEP goat track to the top 😲  Cathy wisely choose to stay with the wagon.
But you DO get a lovely panoramic view 😃

Another +200 miles on the odometer today
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

I wonder what tomorrow will bring ?

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[my8thholden]

you lucky , lucky ,lucky bugger ..good on you , we just want to go 21/2hrs to Bathurst and cant...what a cracker of a spring for WA wildflowers ..have a ripper ...vern .

[RET]

Wow SB, some cracking photos there. Over here in the plague states we are SO JEALOUS.

Look forward to seeing your continuing travels.

cheers
RET

[surferboy]

Day 4
Whoops 🤔🙄
I already did the E.D. visit at Geraldton hospital didn't I ?
Cathy has problem with her asthma (?) we are sorting out 🤞

Total miles for the day...    1

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[surferboy]

Day 5
Heading south today, starting the journey home. Taking the long route because there are still some lines I haven't done on my map.
So we headed East out of Geraldton (🤔)
Stopped for a toilet break at Mullewa (why else would you stop there !?) Before turning right (because right was the right way to go 😊) and headed South to start adding those new lines on my map 😁😁😁
We've seen lots of Roadtrains on our trip.
But when you get stuck behind some slow caravans    you get to see a scaryier view of a Roadtrain 😱
Spent a bit of the journey southbound trying to decide if we were 2 wheel drive or four wheel drive. The local council must save a fortune by not putting bitumen across the whole road !

Then we found Canna 😊🤗😍 (which now is basically a grain storage depot)
Another "MUST DO" thing on the list of "must do" things. Most normal people come here for the native flora, especially native orchids...  but we came for something much more exciting 😀

Further south and the scenery starts to change. There's fewer pretty wildflowers amongst the mud flats and wheatfields.
Every square inch of land is dedicated to farming. If flowers can grow in this soil so can wheat.
Obviously the farmers don't want the wheat to get hot, so they have built Big fans to keep it cool.
And they need BIG lawnmowers to trim it.
We got stuck for a while behind this new one being delivered to a local farm near Wubin. I was suprised that this was the first overwidth load we had seen on the trip. Then we discovered Wubin was the "Overwidth Vehicle" Capital of Western Australia 😁
Reached our destination of Moora mid afternoon. Staying at the Drovers Inn ( formerly the Commercial Hotel.. I think all these towns had/have a Commercial Hotel) Had a terrific dinner here tonight 👍.
But it's getting late and it's time for bed, before a short trip home on Day 6.
Goodnight everyone 😴😴😴


Oh.  Approx 300 miles today

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[surferboy]

Day 6
The final day 😥 of our ...
"Alternative to cruising to the 2020 Nats (and the 2022 Nats) because of Covid Lockdowns"   cruise around the the North of Perth Wildflower region of Western Australia .

BUGGER !!!

Apparently Tapatalk has a limit to the number of photos i can post 😟

Guess what...
Yep, I've hit the limit 🤨😡😢

So if you could just imagine the images attached to my diary entries 👍

Left the hotel in Moora (picture a hotel)
Quick run home... until (picture on oversize load blocking the full width of The Great Northern Hwy).
Didn't see many wildflowers (picture mud flats)
Still lots of the colours of Australia (picture GREEN wheat fields for miles on the left side of the road and GOLD canola fields for miles on the right side of the road)

I was going to add some random trip photos here to finish of my diary. (Picture random holiday photos)

Sorry. Thats the best i can do
 
I hope you still enjoyed our journey as much as we did (except the hospital visit bit)

Looking forward to catching up with you all in person when we can.

Keep cruising
😎😎😎 & Cathy


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