3,670 km later

This morning we drove out of Geraldton, leaving the McDermotts to make their way across the Nullarbor. We’re not sure if the Nullarbor is ready for their return just yet!
It was another big travel day as we retrace our route down the Indian Ocean Drive from Geraldton to Perth.
The vegetation is, generally, noticeably more green and lush than the landscape we have travelled from.
We make a quick stop at The Pinnacles to admire again these unique and mysterious formations amid the golden desert sand.
Back on the road again, we drive past huge inland sand dunes of shining white sand, and a shallow valley full of grass trees. Claire point: ‘There’s Grug! And another! And another Grug!’ Further down the road we pass fat granddady ‘Grugs’, their trunks a metre or more in diameter.
We skirt past Yanchep National Park (no koalas visible from the road!), pine plantations and market gardens (including eggplants to Helen’s delight!) to our last stop, Twin Swamps Nature Reserve, home of the endangered Western Swamp Tortoise… (Pseudemydura umbrina) which, sadly, was tightly fenced off with no public access or information why the area was fenced off (the biggest cause of decline of this species is land loss and foxes).
Daniel studied this endangered species at uni and when he came out to Perth in 1998 he got to see 1% of the entire population in one tank - there were 4. At the time they were the most threatened vertebrate in Australia.
With our detour to see the natural home of the tortoise thwarted, it was time to swap our home on wheels (the turtle!) for a hire car.
We travelled 3,670 kilometres in the van, using 540 litres of diesel, visiting 7 caravan parks over 17 days, drinking countless bottles of wine and beer, eating a tonne of cheeses!
We now sojourn back in Quest Fremantle to prepare for our flight home on Friday.Read more