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It started off as a coast-to-coast four-wheel-drive odyssey across Australia's top end.

4WD Odyssey

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 16:52:02

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minds to it, we don't always have to decimate the environment over to get what we need to thrive on this planet.

We stopped briefly in Albany to restock perishable goods (buy more Twisties) and then headed east past Mount Manypeaks to the Waychinicup National Park. Waychinicup is a recent addition to the West Australian family of National Parks and has recently had a $40,000 dollar upgrade in facilities. Once again our maps proved out of date and we were forced to detour around the park and enter from the east rather than the west as our maps indicated.

In Waychinicup the camp sites are laid out with parking spots adjacent to most of them and a few more secluded sites overlooking the inlet. We chose a more distant spot because of the view even though it meant humping most of the gear from the car down to the tent. Once established we settled in for a quick tuna-and-pasta lunch and a cup of tea.

Waychinicup proved to be a good spot for wildlife and we encountered what we think were a pair of butcher birds, some splendid wrens, a very friendly quokka and plenty of nocturnal lizards which came snuffling around the camp after dark. Richard was pretty sure we even got a visit from a bandicoot in the night (due to the sound effects) and the ranger later confirmed that this was likely.

We spent most of the next couple of days exploring Waychinicup and did some abortive fishing which proved fruitless (and fishless). The initial glorious weather deteriorated somewhat over two days so we decided to head off in search of some sunshine.

To get away from the weather and into warmer climes we headed inland towards the Peak Charles National Park north of Esperance. From Wayachinicup we went north and east about 150km to Jerramungup and then another 110km east to Ravensthorpe. There we paused to do some shopping, refuel the curry wagon and consult ...