On Sunday we took a drive through the historical streets of Kalgoorlie, Burt Street and Hannan Street with many of the original buildings still standing and functioning after more than 100 years. Burt Street looked dilapidated due to a 5.0 earthquake that damaged many buildings during April 2010. That evening we had a lovely BBQ with Tony, Helen, Narelle and Gavin, a friend of theirs that was in town for the Finders Keepers Conference, he worked for Anglo American in Jo’burg for a period, so we had a lot in common.

After saying our goodbyes the following day, we did the Royal Flying Doctor Service tour, watched a short DVD on the day-to-day workings of the flying doctors, heard some stories from people who live in the rugged Outback and how they rely on the RFDS, we even got to see an aircraft in the hangar all kitted out with medical equipment. We also stopped at the Super Pit shop to watch a section of the DVD on the mining and blasting. When we went to fill Tripi with diesel there was a problem with the computer system, so we decided to spend the night at the RV stop in town as it was getting late.

We finally got away from Kalgoorlie on Tuesday, we did not travel too far before we set up camp at the Lake Douglas Recreation Reserve, we were there nice and early so I could do some washing and admin. Pete collected firewood and we enjoyed a lovely fire and braai! The following morning we stopped in Coolgardie, another gold mining town with the wide main street, walked around a bit then drove to the last rest area before you reach Norseman, I did the blog but could not post it as we had no internet coverage. Pete collected firewood for another braai, lovely evening.

When we arrived in Norseman I posted the blog before we headed out. We stopped at Dunda’s rocks, the rocks reminded us of the Murphy’s haystacks, a little further on was the remains of the old town when it was a gold mining town, not far from there we stopped at Bromus Dam. That evening we camped at Karmel Siding, collected firewood, had a lovely fire going again, getting spoilt with fires as we not sure when we going to get the opportunity again.

The following day we drove through tiny places called Salmon Gums, Grass Patch and Scaddan, passing colourful yellow wheat fields before arriving in Esperance, population 14 000. The town is not new to us as we visited to this point in 2004. What makes this town so pretty is the Archipelago which comprises of 110 islands and about 1500 islets, hence the town is known as “Bay of Isles”, really pretty. We drove to the Cape Le Grand National Park known for its beautiful beaches and several granite peaks. On the way to the NP we passed the Esperance Stonehenge, a complete replica to scale of the original Stonehenge in the UK. We camped at the Lucky Bay Campground for the night, lovely campground with kangaroos quite at home amongst the campers.

The following morning we drove to Thistle Cove Beach where the “whistling rock” is, then onto Hellfire Bay, a beautiful bay, we were lucky to see 2 Southern Right Whales and some dolphins pretty close up, then Le Grand Beach before returning to Esperance. It was a pretty windy day. We stopped at the Tanker jetty where you can normally see Sammy the seal, unfortunately he was not there today. A stop at the Mermaid Leather shop was really interesting, it is Australia’s only specialist fish and shark leather tannery. Watched a portion of a DVD on the making of fish leather and got to feel some of the leather. We then took the Great Ocean Drive, beautiful scenery of the many islands including Rotary Lookout and Observatory Point (this is where, in 1792, the two French Frigates sheltered from a storm before exploring the region), till the road veered off to Pink Lake which is not pink. The colour is attributed to high concentrations of salt tolerant algae, dunalella salina. Table salt is harvested from the eastern end of the lake.