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I note our last part of our travels as relayed to the group ended at Northam .. just east of Perth. The "day"
parking area adjacent to the info Centre in Northam was rather unique in that it has power outlets available for free use
to caravans, motorhomes etc. parking there. From there, we followed the Great Eastern Highway towards Kalgoolie.
Had an overnight stop at Meckering where there is an interesting display relating to the 1968 earthquake which
occurred just to the west of the town .. showing, in particular, samples of the damaged water pipe line. Kalgoolie water
is piped from near Perth!
Stayed at the caravan park at Southern Cross one night so as to catch up with our washing. The next day found
shopping in the town to be quite convenient.
Further east we camped at a spot which has some interesting large (the size of a couple of football fields) domed
rocks sticking out of the ground .. some maybe 50 feet or so. Actually these domed rocks appear over a large area in this
part of Western Australia .. Wave Rock, about 150 km to the South West is massive and well known.
Passed through Coolgardie on a Sunday .. really a ghost town on Sundays .. not sure how much "busier" it would be
on week days!
Kalgoolie is really booming by the looks of things .. mining activities .. mines all over the place and some a long
way out of town .. shopping centre appeared busy, lots of trucks running around and lots of support mine type industries. We
headed out of town a few kms to find a suitable camp spot.
Next morning we returned to town early in order to get a parking spot at Woolworths. Had our shopping finished early
and went to the associated bottle shop to stock up. We were told that some of our purchases couldn't be made till after 12
noon .. local rules (due to aboriginal drinking problems) relating to the sale of liquor mean that 2 litre casks of wine,
hard liquor (spirits), flagons of wine etc. are OK, but not 4 litre casks! This meant we had to wait around another 2 hours
or so to complete our purchase. By the way, these sorts of rules are common in West Australia and the Northern Territory ..
in some places bottle sales are prohibited all day .. the aboriginal "pay day" (dole day)!
From Kalgoolie we headed south to Norseman .. more mines. Also many, some large salt lakes .. most dry and a
brilliant white colour .. the salt! Norseman is the western end of the Nullabor crossing .. we knew we had to return. From
Norseman further south to Esperance on the Southern Ocean. Arrived midday on a Saturday, just as a large modern tourist ship
was leaving. Don't think they see too many as every man and his dog was out parked along the extensive water front. We
passed through all that and took the scenic 40 odd km drive .. the first half is really nice following the rather beautiful
coast and off shore islands. While we were there we saw the above mentioned tourist ship depart to the west. There is a fair
size windfarm in the area to the west. On the way back east towards the town, the road passes close to a beautiful large
lake.
Continued west from here to Albany, Denmark etc. Don't see a lot of the ocean, but went to a nice camp spot (Cosy
Corner) near Denmark where it's possible to stay overnight just 20 metres or so from the rear of the beach .. though it was
rather cold and windy during our stay. From there worked our way north .. lots of massive trees in that forrest area ..
karri, jarrah etc. Stayed a couple of nights at different spots in this forrest area .. one had an old saw pit where logs
were split length wise with two people manually working the large saw .. the worst job being the guy in the pit being
covered with sawdust! Probably stick to the human body rather well on a sweaty day! Also, signs of the old timber industry
at the other camp spot. Ended up at Brookton, where we stayed a couple of nights in a rather nice caravan park .. caught up
with the washing! This town is only about 150 km S.E. of Perth and well and truly back in sheep and wheat country.
Back heading east, then south east to Ravensthorpe, via Corrigin, Hayden, Lake King .. massive amounts of wheat
nearly ready to harvest. Stayed at Oneshot Hill Nature reserve (we had also stayed here on our way west) just north of
Ravensthorpe where we had a rather frighting experience. Sue was sitting in the motorhome and I was underneath changing the
oil in the gear box. There was an electrical storm in the far distance and suddenly, out of no where there was a zap of
lightning hitting the ground close by. I was "connected" between the gearbox and the ground and felt the discharge rather
severely. My situation would have been quite perilous if the strike was actually on the motorhome. Strangely, Sue reported
feeling the discharge in her arm while she was sitting on the lounge and with her arm close to the window.
We had been through Ravensthorpe when we were travelling from Esperance to Albany, so we were now covering ground we
had been on before, but the opposite direction. Yesterday we were in Esperance .. found Woolworths, so did a fair amount of
shopping. That will be last Woolworths until we are well into South Australia. Came north about 50 km to Green Patch where
we are in a small caravan park. All this is wheat country .. there is a massive handling/storage facility here and it's
working full speed!. There must be hundreds of similar size facilities in this part of the world .. am amazed at the amount
of wheat that must be produced and where does it all go?
Esperance is reputed to have shipped 3 million tonnes out of its port last year. There is a standard gauge rail link
north of Esperance to Kalgoolie where it joins the east west rail system. See trains carting some ore south, so that would
make up a good part of the 3m tonnes I guess.
From here to Esperance .. then we start across the Nullabor .. its about 1,200 km to Ceduna (the next town of any
size) well into S.A.
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