{"id":37,"date":"2014-12-28T15:38:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-28T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/travelsitewood\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2016-10-25T16:51:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T08:51:47","slug":"cape-arid-mt-ragged-and-surrounds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ourtraveldiaries.com\/index.php\/cape-arid-mt-ragged-and-surrounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Arid – Mt. Ragged and Surrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Friday, 19th December, 2014<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

We’d been planning this trip since getting back from The Holland Track in Sept. We had a little bit more work to do the car; fit a UHF radio, get the dual battery system installed, extra 12v sockets, install the compressor under the bonnet and fit the winch isolator and compressor switches. This work was finally finished, now all we had to do was pack the car and wait to knock off work on Fri. In the meantime we’ve been checking the weather down Cape Arid-Israelite Bay way and the prediction is for cool weather, hopefully no rain though as we’ve been told by the local authorities that they may close the roads if there’s any rain, fingers crossed \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

So here we are; after a hot day in Perth ( it got to 38 today ) we’ve knocked off work, put the last of the stuff in the car and we’re on our way to Bunbury ( where it’s much cooler at 34 ) to see family before we head to Esperance tomorrow. We have to go the old way via Mandurah before we can rejoin the Forrest Hwy due to a large fire in Mandogalup which has closed the Freeway. Hmmm, not off to a good start.<\/p>\n

We arrive in Bunbury around 7.30pm<\/p>\n\n

Saturday, 20th December 2014<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

We’ve had breaky and morning tea and now it’s time to leave for Esperance, it’s 9.45am. But first we top up the tank and grab an ice cream for the road. Gee aren’t ice creams expensive, $5 for one, you can buy a whole pack of 4 for that price at the supermarket!<\/p>\n

We turn on to Coalfields Road and lo and behold there’s an oversize load snailing its way along, this is going to be a long trip. We’ve encountered oversize loads on our last three trips. Anyway it turns out this one was well organised and a few kms down the track they allowed all traffic to pass via the overtaking lane, yay! Now we’re on our way.<\/p>\n

It was uneventful other than the threat of rain which reared its head 20kms north of Wagin. We fill up with fuel at Wagin and grab another expensive ice cream. By Lake King it was raining kangaroos and emus, the sky was dark and the temp dropped to about 16c, hmm not sure if we’ll make Esperance to camp so we’ll head for Quagi Beach and set up camp there unless it’s raining in which case we’ll sleep in the car. The rain has set in for good. Between Ravensthorpe and Quagi Beach with the rain still pouring down we aquaplane maybe about a meter of so just as we approach the apex of a small bend; we were only doing 80km! Phew, that was a little scary.<\/p>\n

We turn off to Quagi Beach and by the time we pull up the rain has stopped. We set up in the last spot and have some tea, watch a movie while being serenaded by a local bird late into the night. We also had a Motorbike Frog visit our camp. These carnivorous guys come out after rain. We had a few heavy showers but the awning and awning extension work wonderfully and kept us dry.<\/p>\n\n\t\t