We felt we had completed the Nullarbor crossing when we arrived at Norseman and saw these camels! 
We were very fortunate to find some great free camping spots along the Nullarbor then on our way to the coast. Western Australia has many huge granite rocks, some of which were utilised for water collection by the building of walls around the edge to channel the flows into a dam. This water was used for the steam trains - of course no longer in use. We were very comfortable at Boondi and Mollerin Rocks - we even had a shelter structure at Mollerin Rock which was handy when showers passed over.
We took back roads to avoid traffic and travelled through lovely cropping country and admired their beautiful trees.
Being in the vicinity, we had to detour to visit New Norcia as we had heard about this place when Tim & Di worked there! However, nothing prepared us for the magnificent buildings and we were wowed by the whole place. Its Australia’s only monastic town and a handful of Benedictine Monks still reside there in a beautiful Monastery. The Abbey Church was lovely with rare sgraffito decorating the walls. (That’s not a spelling mistake but the word used for the art work on the walls!)
The hotel which Tim & Di managed, is no longer operating except for private functions - peeping through the windows, the tables set with white tablecloths looked very classy. We are certainly very glad we made the detour as words cannot describe this place.
We are presently at this little park along side the sporting grounds at Dandaragan. As we sit here we can hear the footy siren and netball whistles, reminding of our home games. They also play hockey here and there is a bowling green plus across the road is a golf course, so they have lots of sports covered. Last night the hockey players served a meal at the community complex which we enjoyed! We sat with some friendly locals and somehow, Dennis sniffed out a chap who has an old machinery & tractor collection and he and Darryl visited there this morning and were suitably impressed.
This park is amazing - $20 for power and water plus what really excited Tops and I, the washing machine is free! Needless to say we’ve made good use of that facility.
Yesterday we did a day trip to Cervantes which is a seaside town. We didn’t realise that The Lobster Shack was in fact more than a processing place and we could have dined there, or purchased fresh cooked lobster - at reasonable prices! We did however enjoy a lovely freshly cooked fish & chips lunch - and were entertained by the owner who had many tales to tell. From there we visited the Pinnacles, and once again were absolutely blown away by the enormity of these thousands of limestone pillars rising out of the yellowed sand like tombstones. We could drive around to see the vastness of the outcrops.
Also amazing are the brilliant white Sandhills which are absolutely stunning, plus the beautiful banksias now flowering.
From here we’ll travel northwards - we’ve lots of suggestions from the locals but haven’t any definite plans. We are loving this part of WA - beautiful country, great roads, and friendly helpful people. We trust all is good back east and send our love to everyone. ❌❌❌❌ from the travellers. .
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