What a busy few days. We have found internet access pretty hard to some by so hence the delay in the update. Anyhow - I guess we need to go back to yesterday morning when we were up and out at 8am in order to cover the 550+kms we had planned. Leaving Albany we headed north through the Stirling Ranges - a huge number of hills and mounts that looked were shrouded in a blue haze due to the Eucalyptus trees surrounding their bases. We stopped only for a couple of photos and to observe and photograph the many ROAD TRAINS that passed by us. For the uninitiated ROAD TRAINS (they are so big they deserve the capitalisation) are basically huge articulated lorries with anything from 3-5 trailers. They hurtle around the inner parts of Aus, where there is no rail system. Apparently they take a few hundred metres to stop and thus, when one comes along you basically get out of it's way and covered in dust. Great fun. About halway through the journey we passed through Kulin, where once a year there is an outback 'horse' race. I say 'horse' race because the only way we found out about this event was through the plethora of beer-can horses and riders that had been made and decorated. They were all life-size and there was probably twenty in all, spread through about 20 kilometres of roads. It certainly broke un the fairly monotomous journey.

Our first real stop for the day was at Wave Rock - just the other side of Hyden. Wave Rock is a rock that looks like, wait for it, a huge wave. Rather predictably we had our photos taken 'surfing' and the like. We also visited Hippo's Yawn which is a rock that looks like...well I bet you can guess...except that it didn't really - jnust more like a big cave.

So, with daylight running out ewe headed to Corrigin where stayed overnight in temperatures that could only be described as 'brass monkey'...

On leaving the campsite at 8am (again - this is becoming a habit) we headed to the Dog Cemetery where around 80 of 'man's best friends' now rest in piece. The fog shrouded the adjoining fields in a rather mysterious and sinister way, but you'll be pleased to know none of the dogs reappeared as Zombie-dogs or anything like that. The other claim to fame Corrigin has (other than the fact that it is the only place with 80 dead canines in one place, apart, of course from most Chinese restaurants) is that it holds the world 'Dog and Ute' record which stands at 1527, set last year. This means that last year they had 1,527 Utes (Aussie trucklike thingy - you must have heard them say Ute in Neighbours) with 1,527 dogs in them. Presumably there were 1,527 drivers too, otherwise it'd be a much more impressive boast. When they broke the record 4 years previous the 699 Utes stretched for over 7km whilst passing through the town...by my incredible mathematical ability I reckon last year it must have been around 16 kms...about 10 miles.

Onwards and upwards - off Northwest towards Perth. We passed a couple more 'sculptures' in fields including a car with the top end in the ground and thre rest sticking upwards. The word 'Buggar' (sic) had been daubed on the back - those crazy Aussies... As we passed through the old townships of York and Beverly I was worried we'd end up in Hull or Bradford and our van would end up on bricks as soon as we left it. Fortunately they stopped the Yorkshire-naming fascination at York (we'd already been through Scarborough too).

Last night we made a bit of a crazy decision...basically we're heading north. We've had a couple of weeks to think things over since the accident and are deternmines now to see everything we should have. Hence we are now back in Cervantes. this time with a fully functioning van. We finally got to The Pinnacles this afternoon, passing the spot where you can still see the skid marks where we crashed. There was a dead 'roo on the road nearby - perhaps another car did the damage...

The Pinnacles were well worth the return trip - huge monoliths in the middle of sand dune that have been formed over thousands of years. The tallest is about -3 metres tall and there must be tens of thousands of them in the National Park. We strolled around and got a good number of photos before heading back into town. Only one more diversion - the stromatolites. These are the reason you and I are here today - they effectively provided the first oxygen on the planet and thus helped make earth habitable. They didn't look much but for some reason I felt immensely satisfied having seen them.

So, here we are in Cervantes. We're moving on again tomorrow and our aim is to get as far North as is physically possible. This will mean we can get up to Ningaloo Reef and although we might not have enough money to dive we will definitely be able to snorkel. It'll also be our last chance to go to a beach and experience weather above 20 degrees for a few months.