DAY 77 – Cervantes - Fremantle

Good Morning Cervantes!
 
Low 12°c (54°F) – High 20°c (68°F)
230km
 
Another freezing cold morning this morning however we had to get up and move on again, tempting as it was with a forecast of mostly sunny at Cervantes.  Despite everything being packed away outside last night, we still didn’t head out of the park until around 9.30am.  It seems to be our default departure time lately.
 
The journey to Perth was at least a little more interesting with the road sitting along the coast for some of the trip.  The surrounding land moved between salt bush to pastures and a massive amount of Xanthorrhoea plants growing everywhere. The Xanthorrhoea is uniquely Australian and endemic to our southern climate. It is a very slow growing but long living plant with some elderly specimens being among the oldest living plants worldwide, some have been found to be up to 600 years old.
 
Xanthorrhoea plants are also known as Balga Grass Plants.  ‘Balga’ is the Aboriginal word for black boy and for many years the plant was fondly known as a “Black Boy” because after a bush fire the blackened trunk of the plant would be revealed beneath the burned lower leaves, and would resemble a child like black figure.  The Xanthorrhoea was invaluable to the Indigenous people. It was a source of food, drink and building material:
·        Food; Fleshy white parts of leaves and the succulent roots of the plants were frequently eaten. The seeds were collected, ground into a powder and used to make damper. They also collected grubs from the base of the plant.
·        Drink; The flower of the Xanthorrhoea was soaked in a trough of water extracting a thick sweet nectar which could be enjoyed as is or fermented for  3-5 days in order to produce an alcoholic brew.
·        Material for tools; The leaves of the Xanthorrhoea produce a hard waterproof resin, which is liquid form when warmed, but sets hard when cooled. The resin was used as a super glue type of material to attach blades to spears and as a waterproofing material for canoes.
As the years have passed, Black Boy was seen as a racist name, so the plants are more commonly known as Grass Trees. 
 
As we were driving towards a hill we could see lots of birds flying back and forth across the road and on drawing closer we could see that they were all black cockatoos and there must have been close to 300 of them.  Quite a sight and their cries were able to be heard even with the windows of the car up.  It was a bit beyond this that we also encountered quite a few pine plantations as well.
 
We hit the outskirts of Perth around 12.30 and immediately noticed the railway lines contained in the space between the north and south bound lanes of the freeway with interestingly designed “stations” and connecting walkways to transport train travelers to either side of the freeway.  Perth is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020, so it was a bit of a stark contrast to once again be driving through such a populated area after 3 months on the road in relatively remote areas.  For now we were focused on getting through to the other side of Perth to our planned stay at Fremantle.  The weather had been pretty surprisingly sunny and the forecast showers didn’t appear.
 
We pulled into the park around 1.30pm – a strange park with a circular design and although the sites were wide it was fairly difficult to get the van in due to the narrow streets and the raised garden beds of the cabins opposite.  Once we did get in we found that the site we had been allocated was quite low and the sullage point would mean our waste water would be running uphill.  We had a narrow area beside the van to set up a pen for Miss Kitty but the grass was short and green and she enjoyed some time sitting outside until it got too cold.  I had to smile as she went shopping in her toy basket for her favourite toys – the eyes may not work so well any more, but she still loves to play even at 11 ½ years old bless her little heart.  One thing we have been grateful for is that she seems to have gotten over her anxiety of travel – perhaps in part thanks to our extended stay at Geraldton. 
 
By the time we had everything set up my ankle was quite tender and swollen so some time to just sit and rest it was in order.  Shane headed out to grab a few essentials, milk, bread etc.  We sat outside for a while during the evening enjoying watching the birds, until the mosquitoes appeared and that was it for me!