On our Way to Albany

It was going to be a long drive so we decided to stop over in a road side stop. It was just a pull over so while I was getting cups out of the caravan, Warren set up the tables and chairs under the trees.

It was nice enjoying a coffee and waving to the caravans that travelled south and north of us.

Staying the night at a small place, when we drove in, there was no-one in the park not even any one staying but there was a button on the door of the office. We were instructed to press and wait a couple of minutes. We could hear it ringing and a man answered and he told us just to select a site and set up and his wife would be along about three.

S and I used the laundry and have most things dry but it turned a little chilly, too cold to sit outside after dinner which we have been doing.

I have the heater on in the van and the guys are watching TV in the camp kitchen, all that for $30. 

Lucky Beach

It was a lazy start to the day this morning and then we thought we should do something. We went for a drive to Lucky Beach, and this is what we saw.

What a beautiful beach.

As we turned the corner further back to get there, we all spoke at once (Except Warren) "There's a cafe there!" Warren said he didnt see the sign. The cafe/coffee van is to the bottom left of the photo.

S taking a photo of the beach and the sand.

Warren about to go in for a swim but first he was casting a reflection on the sand. It was very white and squeaky, very nice to walk on, quite solid.

The kangaroos were pretty friendly and allowed patting, we saw five altogether.

I had a dip and the guys had a lengthy swim, then we enjoyed a coffee sitting in front of the coffee van, they supplied chairs, while our swimmers dried on us.

Home for a nana nap and then we were tracking down barramundie for dinner.No luck so had snapper, prawns and seafood chowder with a watermelon and feta chaser.

Esperance

What a busy little place this is, we had trouble getting into a park. The one we wanted to go to was full and she said that there was very little accommodation in town because of the long weekend and the activities that were to take place. The caravan park owner offered to ring another one and ask if they had spaces left, luckily for us they could fit us in.

The next thing was shopping, we had only an hour or so to stock up as the shops were closing at five and wouldnt open until Tuesday morning although there were two IGAs that were seven days a week but their prices were dearer. As we needed some things S and I went out, it was very busy and the shelves were pretty empty.

The guys went to a car and bike show and then we heard about a fish leather place as none of us had heard of such a thing we thought we had better check it out.

We watched a short movie and learnt about how they started and what they do. All the leather is from fillet fish, they skin it, dry it, tan and then dye it using natural dyes from nature around this area.

These are car seats that a local had made, the blue inserts are the fish leather pieces.

This was a set of table place mats and coasters, eight pieces in all for $96, I didnt buy any.

Lots of wallets purses, handbags, a man's wallet was $200.

After we went for a drive and the beaches are just stunning.

Kalgoorlie

What a great place. S and I went to the art gallery while the menfolk went to shop for mens stuff.

There was an out door theatre behind the art gallery. Oh the gallery featured paintings of different banksia's close ups, they were quite stunning although there was only about twenty of them so it was small but worthwhile. We then walked to the main street and checked out the shops.

The top of the spire does have gold plate/leaf in it. The buildings were quite different and interesting looking.

Leaving Kalgoorlie this morning, I had to take a photo of the weather predictor.

Good old Aussie humour!

Super pit Mine in Kalgoolie

We visited the blasting at the mine on Wednesday night, the caravan people came over to tell us that there would be four blasts at 5.30 pm. Unfortunately my camera needed charging and so did my phone but I got plenty of photos the next morning when we went on the mine tour.

This is at the entrance to the mine, it was a Toyota Landcruiser which was run over by one of the big trucks.

It was an excellent tour which went for almost three hours with a lot of info and we were taken down into the pit and around. ?Had to wear hi-vis shirts and one place hard hats.

Jordan in the middle.

40 % of the workers are women and they do not have FIFO so all workers are from the area..

Cocklebiddy to Kalgoolie

Got an early start as we had a loong way to go. We had thought to only go to Norseman but Sheridan talked us into going all the way to Kalgoolie by starting early and taking a long break in Norseman then going the final 180kms.

It wasn't

as dry and sandy as I expected it to be and there was a lot of vegetation.These were the only wild animals that we saw, there were lots of signs warning of emus, kangaroos, camels and wombats.Can see three emus just off the top left hand corner mirror.

It was a long drive thankfully the weather stayed quite cool. We had lunch in Norseman and just got going again, roadworks slowed us down so instead of two hours it took almost three.

I was surprised by the trees as we got closer.

 Some had red bark or trunks.

Got to the caravan park that Sheridan had booked us into and backing up into the site (we were to go alongside a motorhome) two people got out of it and came over, both wearing hats. The woman said "Would you like to share a beer with me?" It was only our friends from Canada! They had been in contact with Sheridan and arranged with her to meet us in Kalgoolie! As far as we knew they were home in the snow.

The last two days have been a talk fest even though they will be here and will travel with us for almost all of March.

Nullabor plains

We left here this morning and Sheridan wanted to call into each look out.

This was the first one.

and the second one

I expected it to have less vegetation but it was like this all the way.

We pulled up at the quarantine place near Border Village and finished up the rock melon, binned a couple of tomatoes and half a cucumber. Warren had heard that the inspection could take up to two hours, either it has changed or we got a good lady. She checked the fridge in the car and had a quick look in the back, I had opened the pantry so she looked in there and the van fridge and freezer and then asked where we kept the potatoes and onions. Damn, I had forgotten the potatoes so handed over about four small ones. She told me that if i'd had cooked them, it would have been alright. Probably took five to six minutes all up.

Made it!

Fuel can be an issue and Warren had been noting down the best places to fuel up but I think South Australia has been experiencing good prices for the month that we were there. Streaky Bay was $1.02, then we filled at Nundaroo for $1.14, Nullabor was $1.50, gave that a wide berth, didnt need fuel anyway. Border Village was apparently expensive ($1.16) but we had been advised to fuel up at Eucla just thirteen kms inside WA but at $1.43 we moved on to the next place where it was the same price, had to bite the bullet and buy fuel. Stopped the night at Cocklebiddy, $25 for the caravan park but fuel was $1.52 for diesel and $1.62 for unleaded. Expecting to pay higher prices from now on.