Albany to Esperance
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Not as hot as it’s been last night so we slept a bit better (and later). After a trip to the “ablution block” for a MUCH needed shower and breakfast we were ready to head out. The Aussies use the term ablution block to refer to the building with the bathrooms, showers and laundry at the caravan sites. I don’t know if this is a normal English word but if so, we weren’t familiar with it. However, that has not stopped us from adding it to the lexicon, both as a noun and verb. As in “stop at the next gas station, I need to ablute”.
And of course, we always lock the camper, since our experience with leaving the door open, because “those aborigines will strip you bare” as the couple had warned us. That’s been a running joke as well…
“Did you remember to lock the door?”
“I think so.”
“Good, because you know those aborigines…”
“Strip you bare.”
“Damn straight.”
You get the idea. Anyway, we cleaned out another pocket of ants and headed into town looking for Internet connectivity. It had been some number of days since we had been able to send e-mail and I was really wanting some contact with home. We found an Internet site at a backpacker’s hostel but unfortunately, no WiFi so we couldn’t upload. But I did get a great e-mail from Marion with all the news and was able to send a long one back.
Of course the two hours we spent finding the place, sending mail, getting more money, etc. cost us some road time but it was worth it. We had some sights to see in Albany before heading out. Albany is in the middle of this huge natural harbor. It was a major whaling town in its day and you can see why. There are two or three large protected areas of harbor. A storm couldn’t possibly sink a ship here. In fact, they sunk a WWII ship in the harbor to provide a place for divers to go.
We headed out along one arm of the harbor. We stopped at a beach for some pictures and a group of children called to me as I was walking down the hill to the beach. Just kind of teasing about what I was doing. So I went over and offered to take their picture, which after some cajoling they let me do. Then, since it was digital, I was able to show it to them and they thought that was great.
Out at the end of the arm is an area called The Gap where a gap in the granite rock formations makes for some very wild water as the waves come crashing into it. There was also a sign describing how these rocks are actually part of Antarctica in a way. Antarctica and Australia were connected at one time and they’ve matched the rocks here to a spot in Antarctica where they used to be connected. We decided that these rocks got the *much* better deal than the ones that shipped off to Antarctica.
Nearby was a huge granite natural bridge that the ocean had carved out. We went out and walked across it. You couldn’t walk under it because the waves crashed through there but Les got pretty close. Ignoring the sign that said don’t go down there, lives had been lost, etc. Luckily, we had made an extra key to the camper in town this morning so if he had been washed out to sea, I still could have gone on. Oh, I would have tried to save him and all that. But just in case I couldn’t have, or his body couldn’t have been recovered, I was still good to go. (Note to Sharon: Just Kidding!)
So time to press on. We decided to head for Esperance since our original goal of Norseman was now out of reach. The countryside was mostly open fields, with cattle or sheep or likely hay (it was all cut). Very sparsely populated. Just the occasional mailbox often with many many kilometers between them. Some of the mailboxes were quite elaborate, sculpted into kangaroos, emus, sunflowers and other interesting shapes. We of course did not take any pictures of those for some reason.
The road was almost completely straight the whole way. There were 10 or 12 turns over the 400km we traveled but not much more than that. The highway undulated up and down over small hills. We did not see much traffic. Maybe 10 cars/trucks an hour coming towards us and only two that overtook us. The traffic coming at us was often a road train thundering along at 100 km/h or more. They create quite a cross wind as they go by.
Along the way we saw a little roadside place claiming to have the largest amethyst in Australia. We had to stop. Out front there was a little caged area with an emu and a kangaroo. We got a couple of pictures of the kangaroo who was up close. The emu wasn’t interested. The amethyst was quite large actually (see the picture) but it turns out it was not a native Australian. It was discovered in Brazil and someone in Perth had bought it. We had naturally assumed it was found here. But the sign never claimed it was the largest Australian amethyst, it only claimed it was the largest amethyst in Australia. They weren’t charging for it. Demonstrating a remarkable lack of marketing skill. In the US, it would have been $8 to get in and there would have been signs for it every 10 miles for the last 100.
Nothing to buy in the gift shop, so we pressed on. Supposedly the Fitzgerald River National Park was to our right for a lot of the way and we crossed numerous “rivers” that were mostly trickles as it turned out. But I suppose in a land of mostly desert, any moving water seems like a river.
Les’ camera (yes, the new one) got stuck trying to open and close the lens. This caused about an hour of consternation, grumbling, and swearing as we contemplated how we could get it fixed or replaced in the middle of nowhere and 1000 km from the store we bought it in. But, I was able to massage it just right and got it working again. It was just in need of a chiropractic adjustment. And just as I was kidding Les that I wouldn’t let him touch my camera since he seemed to be the kiss of death, I slipped on a hill where we had stopped to take a picture and knocked my camera on the ground so hard the batteries came out. But Casio makes a sturdy camera, not like those wimps at Nikon and Canon and it came through undamaged. Much to my relief.
We really didn’t see anything that warranted stopping, other than the occasional road picture, just to capture what it was like. So we made good time, pulling into Esperance as the sun went down. It was overcast and misty most of the day. The first day it wasn’t sunny so far. It was nice because it made everything a lot cooler so we weren’t sweltering. Might actually be good if it continued for our trip across the desert.
We’ve beaten back the ant invasion for the most part. But not completely. There are still pockets of Ant Cong putting up a resistance. They seem somewhat disorganized but then again, so did the Iraqi resistance at first. So we’re remaining vigilant. We’re mostly finding lone ants or small groups of twos and threes but occasionally we unearth a more serious cell, possibly former soldiers or disgruntled police. Massive federal funds may be required to fully suppress them and bring peace and democracy back to the van.
Anyway, the good news is, as Les said as he was cooking dinner, the food is “ant free since Tuesday”. Tonight we had spaghetti with meat sauce. Very tasty. And no detectable movement.
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