Martins Tank Lake

Martins Tank Lake is so aptly named after Martin, who erected his own fresh water tank next to a huge lake which is 4 times saltier than the ocean. Good one Martin.
Another 'free' camping spot in the Yalgorup National Park near Preston Beach. Lets be clear when I say free its not free but for $10 per adult per night its a great bush hideaway.
Our first stop was the Preston Beach general store (the only store) anything from beer to burgers all at premium prices. Stolen car abandoned out the front and the store manager kept making mention of those doggy guys are back and we really weren't sure where we had landed.
We knew we had a 6km journey on gravel to get to our campsite and no idea if we were too big or if there were spots available but hey, ok no. 1km of terrible corrigations, what the hell are we thinking. We nevously push on, not sure of the mess that will be the inside of the van. Finally we meet up with our lovely camp hosts Bill and Elizabeth, volunteering 4 weeks to the camp host role. Bill was definitely a have a chat kinda guy who promptly offer to help the newbies finally get tv.

Hardware supplys are put straight to use ( although Im not allowed to talk about that or I'll have to walk home). But while he wasn't under the caravan, legs dangling out, he most certainly did not ask me to protect his vulnerability (his words ) from a march fly who continuously bit him. Armed and ready with my swatting hand whilst he worked. At least it was meaningful work. I may have giggled everytime I missed the checky bugger but he didnt miss.
We ended the evening with frustration and no TV again but not really missing it anyway.
The next day had us relaxing at Preston Beach. Massive burgers from the general store/bottle shop/petrol station/only shop in town.

Bill came by and restored our TV watching days and stayed for a beer and we caught up on The Block. Still had to read Rosies recap for The Bachelorette, not allowed to watch that one.
And so the decision was made to return to civilization and stamp out the whinging with bouncy pillows, swimming pools, wifi and Bunnings. Hello Bunbury.

Lake Navarino and Waroona Dam

Alrightly, lets get out of here! We made it. Only used a third of our water supply, did well on 12 volt,  still no satellite tv.... and we are back in range.

 Onto Lake Navarino and Waroona. Checked into the caravan park only to be told we are amoungst a grey nomad convention of sorts. Caravans eveywhere, matching shirts and the soft roar of excitement from the bocce area. We are going to fit right in. They even erected a flag pole bearing their green and white colours. Where do we sign up????

 Gorgeous clear waters of Waroona Dam saw a rock skimming competition arise and us trying to discourage Juddy from throwing his rocks at the duck.  No duck Juddy.

Watered Priceys garden, a young boy killed by a falling tree in 2005 and a wander around the wall side and its back to camp for bocce presentation. We didnt win.

Juddys new favourite word is Kookaburra and they are everywhere.
Made some new friends, who despite not being next to us insisted on shouting from 2 bays down. Fun convo for the guy in the middle. He retreated to his van early for some Mcleods Daughters. 

We were somewhat kicked out of Lake Navarino Caravan Park the next morning when I tried to do some washing at 845am and realised we had no power..... apparently Western Power were doing works on the park all day and there was no power. Only time Dean had taken on  check in duties but apparently wasn't told of said power outage. Hmmmmm..... 

We hadn't expected to move but we were out, following all our new green and white friends, out to find power.

The town of Waroona didnt offer alot but we were excited about a bakery and a Mitre 10... some more than others. Two trips to the hardware store we had the necessary supplys strapped to the roof and we were off.

Relying soley of wikicamps and apple maps we are off the Lake Clifton. The caravan park is only 26kms away and boasts a 4 1/4 stars. 

The former navigator sat back and perused facebook as the electronic version gave accurate directions. Former navigator interjects as driver passes turn off to which driver announces he was day dreaming and looking at firewood on the side of the road. FOR WHAT????? We can't light a fire to save ourselves. 

Negotiating 3 point turn in caravan.

Ex navigator feeling smug.

Lake Clifton, well, um, yeah.... not a chance Im staying here. EVER....

So after much debate its onto free camping at Martins Tank.

Moving day

Moving day!!! Sees us off to our first attempt at free camping. Say what? No 240 power and running on the tank water. This will be interesting. No nespresso, no blender for my green smoothie, no 10min showers, no fast charge for my phone.... no phone service. OMG.

Well the one thing I wasn't expecting. ..how busy this place is. The Nanga Mill tenting area was full of yobbos and school groups you could hear the Cold Chisel camp fire songs ring out for miles.  Lucky we were too big for the older area we were forced to hang with the grey nomads. Only disappointment was no fire pit but I shall address that later.  Plenty of photos of Hudson balancing on anything parallel as he is obsessing over Phillipe Petite at the moment. (The guy from The Walk)

We spent time swimming at Stringers and Island Pool which quickly turned into Bondi Rescue as we sat on the rocks and every canoe with its token Daddy and daughter combo got stuck on the rocks. It was quite a comical afternoon as some occupants completely bailed and sent down watercrafts unaided, only to get stuck on the rocks, brave Daddys forced their daughters to negotiate rock formations only to be beached and have said girls screaming about capsizing and drowning and one, lonely bloke make it down without our intervention. YAY you.

Sunday we headed back to Pinjarra for the Steam Ranger. Juddy is obsessed with all things trains so he was a little overwhelmed and scared as the train tooted right next to him. It certainly felt a little like we were waiting on Platform 9 3/4 for the train to Hogworts. Quick coffee at the Blue Wren and onto the local markets. Probably expected a bit too much but after a crochet stall and second hand book stall we were slightly charmed by Nola and her Lemon Butter, which if you hadn't heard was nearly sold out. SOLD, by name sake only.

Hey to the horseys, best back seat selfie, some roos and an interesting family portrait its back to camp for dinner and a sit by the fire..... say what? Ummmm yep thats right, we can't light fires only put them out. He tried, it rained, we all retreated to the caravan.
Fire 2 Firefighters 0, or should that be fires 0....

Day 2 and 3

Some days just start as any other, breakfast, dishes and washing. I have the worlds tiniest machine that'll only fit one man mountain shirt in it and thats about it....
Off the burn some energy at the local skate park. For some reason magpies love Judd and his white helmet. Me screaming like an idiot everytime he gets swooped isnt working, need a new tactic.

Onto the oval for a family game of footy to which I was last picked on the Dockers side. Felt a little like McPharlin on his retirement. 😢
Next stop the visitors centre which has a huge fire display on the 1961 fire which devisated the town. We can find this shit anywhere. 🔥

Then to the Forest Heritage Centre for a tree top walk and old loggers cottage. Enough said.

Took a nice drive out to Lane Poole Reserve and guess what? The navigator got sacked. For real this time. But in my defense my map was shite and I had no phone coverage. Thankless job anyway.
And if I had any idea where I was we wouldn't have seen this. ..

Retired early like the grey nomads we are or maybe because it was freeeezzzzing.... The Martian ⭐⭐⭐⭐

New day brings a trip to Pinjarra to the doctors for the J man. Doctor suspects whooping cough. Not likely. 5 day wait on path results. We shall see.
Shops, park, suspension bridge and harassment of local wildlife disrupted by the rumble of Outlaw Harleys crossing the bridge out of Pinjarra in their 100s. This may be slightly overestimated.

Wonder if they are headed our way? The 100 or so bikes outside Dwellingup pub may be an indication including the 2 cop cars parked across the road.

Back at the skate park and Im left by Dean to protect my offspring from my nemises with nothing but a length of pvc pipe. Screaming is still not having any useful effect and I have stuck out a number of times but Im sure those magpies felt my presence and knew what I was capable of.

Massive influx of new friends are upon us although I feel we are as alone as ever as everyone seems to know each other. Camping TV and 'Newbies Caravan Set Up Wars' it is.

We are off!

And.... with what felt like forever in the making, we are finally off.
Despite spending days getting organised it still felt like we had a million things to do. Washing, vacuuming(not ocd at all) and last minute packing done. Power points off, kids loaded, lets get this pony on the road.
Seems Judd was exhausted too from all his food scattering, unpacking and general annoyingness as he was asleep 10 minutes up the road clutching his Omo box of cars inherited from Jackson a few days ago.

Luckily we only had an hour and a half to go til our first stop.
Pinjarra was only meant to be a stop for bakery delights but we parked on the wrong side of town apparently. Sack the navigator. Or considering its a town stretching all of 1.5kms maybe I did ok. Jury's out.
We decided instead to be cultured and the first stop was the old machinery shed. Definitely more exciting for some. Ok I was done after 2 minutes but after stopping by Grandads tool shed it took a little more convincing to get the boys out. We said Hi to some Nanas knitting at the Information Shop and checked out some gorgeous hand painted tea pots, oh and thats right.... bakery goods.
Seeing the other side of town was so far away the tea rooms it was.
After watching a couple hand feeding a gorgeous green parrot at their table, I was so feeding my scones to him too but not long after they hit the table they came from everywhere. Magpies, parrots, some bird with red flapping things on its neck, I think I'll call it a Turkey and a murder of crows. For anyone who knows me my biggesr fear is birds. All birds.  Im not joking. I hate them all. This was now a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks The Birds. Get the the F#%K out of here......

Onwards to Dwellingup, to which the navigator was sacked, again. Thankless job anyway.

Beautiful foresty caravan park in which we are the only inhabitants. Not kidding. 

Had a quick look around town, checked out the saddest IGA ever, playground and some trains. Juddy was in heaven. 

Oh course Deans next stop was the hardware store, FFS!!!! Lucky for me he will not be visiting again soon.

So sight seeing it is. 

A lovely corrigated drive out to the POW camp which is located in the middle of nowwhere, with no phone reception and hidden from view. Well we couldnt find the bloody place. Felt a little Wolf Creek wandering around in the bush not knowing which fork will lead me to John Jarrat. RUN!!!!

We accidently stummbled on some weird, crazy free camping area in which everyone looked glaringly at us and looked alot like John Jarrat.... Get me the F#$K out of here. 

Back to camp to light our fire and settle in for the evening. How many firefighters does it take to light a fire????      

2

A very long time. 

Screaming match starts of the sugary pillows of fun, marshmallows are confiscated from all the children, which are more like water to gremilns and with that, its bed time.