With my new tyre fitted I had a very quick whizz around Mt Magnet and then headed further south to wildflower country. Poor Brutus! He looks like he’s got Blundstones on 3 wheels and a sandshoe on the other, but we’re mobile again at fairly minimal expense. I’ve now stayed in a few excellent camp sites but my first night of Spring I was in Paynes Find, behind the roadhouse – not the most exciting place to be but the showers were hot, the toilets clean – and it was only $10 for an unpowered site. If you’re like me you are wondering why it’s called Paynes Find, so here’s the answer!

The map following shows my journey as I made my way south and then west towards the coast. I was ready for some salt air, sand and the sound of the waves.

I made an early getaway the next day and headed to Wubin where I met some fellow travellers in the information centre who told me that Buntine Rocks was a nice free camp so I made my way there and set up camp for a couple of days. I parked amongst the everlasting daisies and then wandered along the bush track to the main rock which I clambered up to get a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.

Coorow (pronounced Cooroo) was my next stop and the council caravan park had a special deal on for Wildflower Season. $22 a night but pay for one then get one free. Great showers and toilets and a good laundry, too. I ended up staying for four nights as the weather turned foul with driving rain and gale force winds but before that I was able to wash most of the curtains in my van and get them dried and rehung. I had put my awning up when I arrived and then it got too windy for me to manage to take it down so it buffeted my van around as the wind caught it until at 2.30 in the morning it got the better of me and I decided to drop the ropes from it and just leave it hanging down the side of the van. Imagine my surprise the next day when it had disappeared! The wind had lifted my heavy canvas awning right out of its track and blown it 50 metres away. I quickly salvaged it, folded it up and tucked it away before the rain came down again. Then I rang Les and Wilma at Three Springs, not far down the track, and they invited me to escape the windy weather and park in their front yard – a most welcome invitation.

Les was a great tourist guide when I arrived and we jumped in his ute and he took us out to the Talc Mine and then to see the amazing wreath flowers which grow in this area. The Talc Mine is the oldest and most productive talc mine in the southern hemisphere, and the second-most productive talc mine in the world, with recent annual production of 240,000 tonnes. If you want to know what talc is used for, and it’s not just talcum powder, click here.

The information centre gave us a map showing how to find the wreath flowers and even though they had been described to me it is hard to imagine flowers growing in such an unusual shape…really quite lovely!

I only spent one night with Les and Wilma before I headed off to Lake Indoon. I had overheard a gentleman in the bank at Carnamah talking about this camp site so I asked him about it and he inspired me to go there. It was such a lovely spot I would have stayed more than the two nights I did except my gas bottle ran out overnight and I needed it for my little fridge to keep working. I was shown where some beautiful spider orchids and cowslips were growing by a motorhome couple, Pat & Jim and then had great pleasure sharing their location with some of the other campers.

One of the other couples, Phil and Dallas, had been at Yalgoo when I limped in with my flat tyre and that night we had happy hour in the barbecue shed with a few other couples. I tested out my latest poem, The Finger, (after a couple of drinks), and it got the nod of approval from the Happy Hour crowd too. A couple of wines can make anything sound good!

This is a camp site I would be happy to come back to.

Lake Indoon was not far from Leeman, on the Coast, so I headed in that direction, filled the gas bottle, did a bit of shopping in Jurien Bay and then headed to Point Louise, which I had found details of on WikiCamps.

A couple of nights there was enough, the beach was full of weed and we were literally camped in the car park, so I thought I’d go to Cliff Head which I had heard good things about. What a great choice that turned out to be! It was a lovely grassy camp, the other campers were friendly, the cliff gave us some protection from the southerly wind, and Happy Hour was fun every night – for the whole six nights I stayed there.

I discovered that Ron & Cathie, who were my closest neighbours in the camp, came from Runaway Bay, my old stomping ground, and actually lived in a house that I had sold to the previous owners. They had also been neighbours with one of the salespeople from Ray White that I had worked with, George Bobolos. Talk about a small world! Ron and Cathie, with their Staffy Jake, were just some of the people that made my stay here so pleasant. Everyone was so friendly and we all got on really well together.

It was sad today when most of us packed up to move on, although I think I might have been the only one heading north, while everyone else was heading south to begin the long trek home to the east coast.

I will definitely go back to Cliff Head – it would be one of my favourite stops. I wonder if it was the people or the campsite that made it a favourite?