What a stunning day for a drive it was today! Autumn is particularly beautiful, with cold clear mornings easing into still and blue skied days. Today we caught up with a Landrover mate, Jeremy, who has a Defender 130 like ours, except his isn't in pieces in the garage. It had rained yesterday, so we thought we'd go off to find some tracks and maybe a little bit of mud.

The track wasn't as muddy as we hoped, but still, we drove along Gum Flats Road, just off Forrest Road, through the bush towards Angelsea. At one point we were caught up by a guy in a Perentie - a 110 Army Landrover he'd just bought from the auctions. We stopped to chat for a while and had a little convoy as we drove down to Angelsea.

After lunch, we drove down for lunch in town then back up and around the now closed Alcoa Power Mine, a huge hole in the middle of the bush. There's been a lot of talk about what to do with it over the years, including an Eden Project like they have in Cornwall.

The views from the top were just stunning, all the way to the ocean below. Jeremy runs an outdoor adventure company for those with disability, and he talked about how fun it would be to paraglide off the edge of the mine as it was likely the highest point in the area by far. We also thought it would be incredible to do some astral photography from this viewpoint as well. There's quite a few little camps in the area that made us think we might come back and stay the night - it's not too far from home but still, it'd be fun to be in the bush on a starry night.

From the lookout we travelled along Allardyce Track and Denhams Track - both were fairly easy although there were some pretty steep sections and if there was a lot of rain it might have been a bit less easy! The bush was pretty thick in sections and the grass trees and messmate were gorgeous, with pink wildflowers and banksia out as well. We didn't see anybody else but a few dirt bikers so there really was the illusion of being in the middle of nowhere. There was a few places you could camp as well - rare to find free camps around here and it makes me wonder how many people stay in the bush over summer when all the coastal accomodation is full.

All in all it was a lovely Sunday drive and yet another reminder of how lucky we are to live where we do. Most of the time people just drive along the coast with no idea about how big the bush is in the hectares upon hectares that stretch east, west and inland, and no idea about how truly stunning it is. Four wheel driving has opened up a whole new world for us that we could access in the van, and we can't wait til we get the 130 on the road and make it into our camper. I can only imagine the places we'll be able to go when we go around Australia, and hopefully one day the world!