Sunday 11^th May Microwave Tower, west of Yalata

We ate in the camp kitchen last night, and then used the van's split for heating – the night turned quite cold. And then went and had a long, hot shower before bed – the sort of shower you had to “ambush yourself” to turn it off.

Another hot shower and hair wash this morning, fill up with water, and drove off for fuel. It wasn't so easy and I ended up getting the most expensive diesel in Ceduna, I think. We changed our empty gas bottle for a full one, and set off west. The next town of any size is Norseman, 1,200km away.

We stopped to make coffee at Penong, 80km away. While sitting at a picnic table drinking it, a man came and gave Alison a Mothers' Day present of some Roses chocolates! He was a minister from the Oasis Christian Church in Ceduna, and they were surplus after a service he'd just given – he does services far and wide. He stayed an talked for quite a while.

We made a diversion here, down a 15km unsealed road, past gypsum works (supplier of 98% of Australia's plasterboard!), and in view of the salt works, to Lake McDonnell, and over the causeway between the pink and blue lakes. It is quite a sight. We returned to Penong and made lunch at the same place we'd had coffee earlier.

Penong's big attraction is its Windmill Museum. We walked over there and looked at the range of windmills (now all disappearing in favour of solar pumps) before getting back on the road.

Alison drove to Nundroo, where we topped up our diesel; then I drove. It was very warm and we even turned the aircon on for a while! We started looking for a place for the night at Yalata, and have ended up at a microwave tower – the same spot we spent a night in 1993. Well off the road, and there's no-one else here. A little walk around, and now the sun's gone down. It's very quiet.

Monday 12^th May Microwave Tower, east of WA Border

We slept in. A very quiet and isolated spot. It was after 9am before we drove back to the highway, past the sign marking the eastern end of the Nullabor Plain, all the big trees disappeared and we drove through low treeless flat scrub. We thought about going in to the “Head of the Bight”, but there were no whales there yet; and we didn't. We got to the Nullabor Roadhouse.

Everyone stops here. We did too, and bought a coffee. Diesel here costs $1 more per litre than at Nundoo - $2.75! I'm glad the van has a long range.

On we went. We knew there were three lookout spots (which, we'd been told, all were worth going to) over the Bunda Cliffs, but didn't know just where. As it turned out, they were much further along than we expected; Alison was driving, I couldn't find out where they were meant to be; one of our little arguments. But just afterwards, the first one turned up, so in we went.

We were last here 32 years ago; since then, it has been nannified. A fenced-off path leading to a little observation area. I suppose it stops idiots from falling off the cliff edge and killing themselves, but........

We continued on and stopped at a picnic area for lunch, before setting off cross-country for the cliffs. We walked a little way before returning and getting out the compass; it's really easy to lose your bearings here. Alison began marking arrows in the dirt to guide us back home again, but then we came across bigger arrows already done; so we followed them to a 4WD track which led to the cliffs.

It was much better seeing them like this; we were careful about going too close, especially seeing a number of large cracks near the cliff edge where part of it was shortly going to slide into the sea.

We followed the arrows back home, drove off, and soon after into the second official lookout. On the way out there was a sign saying how far it was to the other lookouts! It would have been nice to know, earlier.

Where to stay tonight? We've come to another microwave tower, ~50km short of the WA border. Despite the lack of large trees we're out of sight of the highway, and we're on our own here.

It's a full moon tonight.

Tuesday 13^th May Nuytsland Nature Reserve, near Cocklebiddy

After a relaxed breakfast and packup, we got back on the highway. We're only ~50km from the WA border, now. The first expected stop was at the final Bunda Cliffs lookout; in keeping with the others, it failed to appear. But the road got very close to the coast, so we stopped and walked over for a look. The cliffs were gone; there were a series of terraces down to the sea. It was a good vista nonetheless.

A liitle further, the official lookout appeared. Not as good.

5km further on, we got to Border Village (a roadhouse on the SA side) and the quarantine station (on the WA side), and joined the queue. 25 minutes later we were at the head of the queue, where we lost our commercially packed salad (expected) and our frozen oranges (a pity; they weren't frozen hard enough). Then on into WA, to Eucla 10km away. On the way, larger trees than we've seen recently appeared. And – clouds! We haven't seen any for days.

We drove down off the escarpment down to the telegraph station ruins, in the sand dunes near the beach. The ruins were graffitied, but nearby was a large tree with a big flock of very active Major Mitchell cockatoos. After watching them for a while, we walked through to the beach and along to the ruins of the old pier, which Alison used her circus skills to climb.

Back to the van, back up into the town, and we went into the cafe and had a coffee. Chatting with a motorcyclist from Melbourne who'd been to Perth on his Harley, and was on his way back again. He was enjoying it, but I didn't envy him.

Then: we drove. The WA section of this road has much fewer points of interest than the SA side. Mundrabilla roadhouse; late lunch at a roadside picnic area; Madura roadhouse; Cocklebiddy roadhouse. By now, the sun was low; the time indeterminate because we're in this strange time zone 45 minutes different from either side.

Soon after Cocklebiddy we found a road off to the left, and tried it. It lead us to the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, a nice spot in the bush, well off the highway, next to a large sinkhole / cave – fortunately fenced off. A walk further down the road, at sunset.

This is a nice place to be.

Wednesday 14^th May Norseman

Coming in here yesterday we drove across a small clay pan. No problem, provided it didn't rain.

So I was not happy hearing raindrops on the roof at 5am, and really didn't get back to sleep. The rain came and went, and in the morning it wasn't too wet underfoot and there was a glorious double rainbow over the van. But time to go; drove out past the “no camping” sign I'd not seen yesterday, and we got back on the highway.

And we drove. We drove further than we've ever done before in a day – 444km. Fortunately it was easy driving – the van just goes along in cruise, the road is good, and it's not too busy; even the road trains are able to overtake us with little trouble. Alison drove most of the 148km dead straight section and found it rather tiring!

We tried to spend some money. It wasn't easy. Caiguna roadhouse had a broken coffee machine, away to be repaired; Balladonia roadhouse didn't really have a real machine. We got to Ballandonia ~ 11am (standard WA time, which we've now changed to), and bought a couple of the worst potato cakes I've ever eaten, and an orange!

Further on we stopped and had lunch in a roadside area in the Fraser Range. Hot cross buns, which we'd bought frozen in Bendigo and brought with us. Heated up in the oven and delicious!

Soon after, we got to Norseman. A town! We went to Tourist Info (very helpful), library, back to Tourist info. A computer to do Brain Drain? $9.15 for an hour. No thanks.

We drove 10km out along a gravel road to a gemstone fossicking area. A nice spot, and much quieter than last night because we are nowhere near the highway. We did Brain Drain separately in the van on out little computer; I had a brisk walk up the road at dusk while Alison did it.

Now we just need to plan what to do from here. We had a look at maps and left things to gel overnight,

Thursday 15^th May Kalgoorlie

We woke, after a quiet night, to a sunny morning and had breakfast on the picnic table outside; and then set off back into Norseman. The trip was interrupted by a flock of five emus on the road in front of us: we stopped, and they wandered up towards us until quite close, before running off to the side. We walked up the Lake Cowan lookout, then went into town and out the other side to Beacon Hill lookout, over the enormous gold mine and the town.

Back into town where we bought a coffee. It has been very hard, the past few days, to spend any money at all!

Then we drove for 2½ hours north, to Kalgoorlie. We planned to spend money here, on a caravan park; but after a visit to the (very good) tourist info, and the supermarket, we drove to Centennial Park, where there is a free RV overnight site. It's nicer than a caravan park, and closer to town as well; we found a good spot with trees and a green lawn beyond, just outside our door.

We had lunch in the sun at a picnic table, and then I put on shorts again and we walked into town. A 25-minute walk, a bit reminiscent of Alice Springs. We walked around the centre of town – not really thriving but with evidence of riches in the past – and back home again.

We still couldn't spend money!

Friday 16^th May Kalgoorlie

Today was different – a no-driving day; lots of walking instead; sunny and warm; very nice!

We got up unhurriedly, turned on the water heater, and had a shower and washed our hair. (Despite this, having a full water tank and being quite free with water, the water level gauge still says “full”.) We had breakfast outside in the sun, then set off back into town.

We went back to tourist info, asked more questions, booked ourselves into a Hay St. brothel tour tomorrow, and left both the little computers there to get charged up. Easier than doing it in the van. Then to a couple of Op Shops, a very nice coffee at a recommended cafe (Golden Bean – which had papers to read!), and further up Hannan St.to the museum.

We'd been told that the museum was worth a couple of hours. It took us longer – it was very good. Lots of history and information about the area and its two big issues – gold and water; and a lot of historical items. Including a miner's cottage which had moved there, which reminded us both very strongly of Dave Bennett's house in Sheehan St., when we bought it.

We watched a film about Charles O'Connor, the engineer who in the early 1900's designed and built the 600km pipeline to bring water from Perth; who was “tried” by the media, had to front inquiries and a Royal Commission, was found not to be at fault – but as a result, suicided. Ten months before the successful completion of the pipeline, which transformed the whole area here. Sad.

By the time we left, we were hungry. We went to the banh mi shop we'd passed earlier and had a very nice banh mi each, while we walked to the Mt. Charlotte reservoir and lookout; good views over the town and the various huge mines around it.

Back to town for a coffee, but the Golden Bean had closed. So we walked via Curtin University's mineral museum (and Coles) quite a long way east, to the library where we did brain drain. Better than on our little computers at home. Back to tourist info, pick up the computers, and we walked home to Centennial Park as it was getting dark, after being out for over eight hours.

(We've now been away for two weeks. And now, as I've found in the past, it takes about as long as this to get into the right frame of mind for travelling.)

Saturday 17^th May Kalgoorlie

Another non-driving day! Over breakfast I rang and booked us in for the free Sunday tour of the “superpit” open cut here, and then we walked into town using the scenic route around the back of the racecourse. This got us, eventually, to Lane St. where there was an op shop we'd not been to. So we went in, and I bought a long-sleeved shirt (needed for the tour tomorrow) and more Japan shorts.

We dropped some brochures into Tourist Info and walked further up Hannan St. We were planning on Eggs Benedict for early lunch, and found it had to be earlier than planned because Golden Bean cafe closed at midday. So we had a coffee, ate, and read the paper; very pleasant. (And were able to take the paper with us, as they were closing.)

Back up to the museum to see the photo exhibition (so-so) and the company boardroom and office, which were moved from Perth – both of which were closed yesterday.

Then a walk to the east for ½ hour, across to the cemetery (extensive and good to see) and Hammond Park – a green grassy park with lake, waterbirds, other birds in cages, emus and kangaroos, and a miniature Bavarian castle made of gemstone-bearing rock.

At 2pm we headed back to town – another ½ hour, had a soft-serve icecream at McDonalds (!), and waited outside the Questa Casa brothel in Hay St., for our tour at 3pm.

Seven other couples arrived and we had a long and interesting talk from Carmel, the 86 year old madam, who bought the business 33 years ago, before going on a brief tour of the front of the establishment.

When Carmel started, the town had a policy of “containment” which had been in force since the town was young (and actually had no legal standing). To keep it a family-friendly town, the brothels were restricted to Hay St. only, the girls had to live on site and were only allowed out in the company of the madam. So she often went out with a column of girls behind here.

The opportunity for the girls to make lots of money quickly were huge; they usually stayed only for a few months and there was a 1½ year waiting list for girls wanting to work there. (The waiting list was maintained by the detectives, not by the brothels.)

It was a safe environment with little opportunity to spend money. Pimps, boyfriends, etc., were not allowed.

Carmel thought it was a unique environment in the world for prostitution, and better than all the others.

But “containment” ended ~20 years ago and the situation is now very different.

It was starting to get dark when we finished; we put on our jumpers and had a brisk walk back home again.

Sunday 18^th May Bromus Lake, south ot Norseman

We had time to kill this am; we needed to be ready for our Super Pit tour at 10.45am. (These free tours happen only on the 3^rd Sunday of the month, so our being here now is quite serendipitous.) So we didn't hurry to get up; and, ready to leave, drove down to the tap to fill our tank with water. There, we found the source of all the coffee we'd seen people walking around the park drinking – a coffee van! Selling good coffee at a good price. So after filling up, we bought some and drove out to the arboretum – another nice corner of Kalgoorlie we'd not been to. So we walked around there with our coffees. At least ours were in keep cups, not disposables.

We drove up to the Hannan North Tourist Mine, and watched a documentary about the mining here before we donned reflective vests and goggles, and piled into the bus. Probably about 40 people – of whom some, as usual, had ignored the (very clear) instruction of wearing long sleeves and pants, and had to borrow clothing as a result.

The bus drove to, and around, the mine site, with a good commentary from the driver; and ended up at a lookout over the “super pit”. Which was enormous. The machinery is enormous. The usage of diesel is enormous.The mine is enormous. And there are something like 40 other mines within 25km! The scale of it all is mind-blowing.

It was time to leave Kalgoorlie. It's been a good three days here. We filled up with diesel at an automated fuel stop, and headed south to Coolgardie. On the way I pulled over to allow Alison to empty our grey water tank, near the corner of a mining road; she came back with an unusual lump of rock, which I think contains gold! Fallen off the back of a truck, I think.

We had lunch in Coolgardie – a tiny town, now, but with some very impressive old buildings on its very wide main street; and then continued south for two hours, past innumerable mining roads off to the sides, back to Norseman. We had a coffee and escargot in the van, though the day was getting late; the sun had set by the time we got to Bromus Dam, 34km south. Here there is a very widespread area in the bush to camp; ~ four other vehicles here, but all very spread out.

I think it will be a quieter night, here.

We went for a walk, found the dam, returned; and it the last light of the day moved to a slightly better spot.

Monday 19^th May Esperance

Bromus Dam was a top spot for the night. After breakfast, we went for a walk around the area, up the slight hill; in all, it took a little over an hour. We found a large area of flat rock, with walls for water collection around the base – as we've seen before, but these were very extensive; and atop the hill was a large concrete water tank, now disconnected. Where did the water go? We eventually found a wide channel leading to the mouth of a wide pipe, which fed – 300 metres away – into Bromus dam.

And we found that it was all built by the railways, to supply water to steam locomotives.

South. Through Salmon Gums where we stopped for morning tea, and Alison drove on to Esperance – achieving an average fuel consumption of 8.4L/100km! Which we found was due to a strong tail wind.

To Esperance Tourist info. Helpful, but very different to Kalgoorlie – no free camping in this town. You have to stay in a Caravan Park. We intended to, anyway; so we've come to the RAC park, ~ 1½ km from the town centre.

We put on some washing, ate lunch (late, by now), hung out the washing, and walked into town along the seafront. And into the Post Office.

(Just before we left home, Alison bought a soft seat cushion in the Post Office. It's been on the passenger seat in the van since, and it's very comfortable. I've been looking in post offices all along the way for another one, and here I finally found one! So now the driver's seat has one, too.)

On the way home, the wind swung around and strengthened. We got home and brought in the washing, and are going to cook our dinner in the excellent camp kitchen here. (Here, I met an Argentinian couple, so was able to chat in Spanish for a while.)

Then we need to plan, a bit, the rest of the trip; we don't want to get into more populous areas too soon. Already this is much busier than the Nullabor.

Tuesday 20^th May Esperance

This was a quiet spot for the night. Being a “Sunday”, we washed our hair and then put on the sheets to wash while we had breakfast. Hung them out to dry, and went for a walk back into town, with a detour out the new jetty.

It was already nearly 11am by the time we got to the middle of town, so we went to “Dome” for a coffee, and a read of the paper. The paper was not really worth reading, though.

We went to an op shop where I bought even more Japan shorts, had a pie for lunch from the bakery, walked along to the Tourist Info to give them back some brochures, went to the supermarket; and walked home. Just enough time for a short coffee in the last of the sun, bring in the washing, and we've vaguely planned the rest of the trip. So at least we know which direction we're going in tomorrow (east).

Wednesday 21^st May Alexander Bay

This morning, we had to not hurry; so we didn't. We slept in, showered, had breakfast over in the camp kitchen; and after filling up with water, and saying goodbye to the office and complimenting them on their caravan park, we drove into town and parked. A bit of last minute shopping, go to the library and do brain drain, a lovely coffee and cinnamon scroll in the upstairs cafe, and off we went.

We were headed for Alexander Bay, 106km east. We passed a camping information sign for Cape Le Grand National Park, which said, I think, that it was full! Further along Fisheries Road, to near where the bitumen ran out, where we turned onto Alexander Road.

This was a reasonable gravel road for 5km, when we got to an intersection. It wasn't very clear which way to go; but using phone and maps we took the right route; another 10km of somewhat worse gravel road.

We got to the end ~1,30pm, and looked at the campground. 20 sites, of which two were occupied. We chose the best of them; it's a nice place. (Camping fee - $15. And how to pay? Phone or internet. But no phone reception here. This has happened to us so often.)

We had a lovely walk down to the beach and around a rocky headland to the next beach, and back. It was sunny and (sort of) warm; the sand white, the sea lovely shades of blue.

Then darkness fell. It comes at ~5pm – the downside of travelling like this in winter.