Esperance to near Balladonia
[ Main Index ] [ Previous Day ] [ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ]
Much to our surprise we found an Internet site in Esperance that had network hook ups. So we were able to upload the last 4 days before heading into the desert. Had a nice instant message chat with my sister and got some of your e-mails. I always enjoy our Internet interludes, even though it does cost us an hour or two of driving time.
The guide book had promised the coast west of Esperance was “one of the most beautiful in Australia”. Well, we had seen some pretty amazing coastline so we were ready for something really spectacular. We headed west and were immediately stopped by a sign pointing to the harbor. We went down there for a look. A large container ship that we had seen earlier, had docked in the harbor. We were speculating as to what it might be getting filled with when we saw a guy fishing off the dock. We went and talked to him. He was a wealth of information. In fact, we’ve found fishermen to be excellent sources of information in general, and it’s pretty easy to start a conversation with them. In fact, so far all of them have started like this:
“Having any luck today?”
“Nope.”
“What are you fishing for?”
“Whatever I catch.”
Fishing here seems more like a thing to do than an activity that actually produces results. But the fishermen are always nice, have had great, thick Australian accents, and as I said, have been fountains of information. This guy told us the ship was taking on iron ore, probably headed for the steel mills in Japan. The iron ore is mined up north, west of Koolgarrie in a town called Koolyanobbing (although it took looking at the map to figure out what he said). It comes down by train. There’s also a big grain loading facility (see pictures). The other big commercial operation in the area.
So back to the beach loop road and those amazing beaches. The weather was overcast and a bit misty. Cool to cold. Although we weren’t complaining about that. The coast was very pretty but nothing more amazing than what we’d already seen and something of a disappointment because of that. If we had just discovered it without being directed to it, it would have been fine. They are quite pretty. The beaches were mostly rocky, although one or two were good for swimming. At Twilight Beach I had to twist Les’ arm to keep him from getting in “one more swim before the desert”.
We passed a wind farm with giant windmills that produce power. It has been so windy through most of the trip that we were wondering why there weren’t more of these. But it’s a start I guess.
Past the wind farm was Nine Mile Beach, Ten Mile Lagoon, and Eleven Mile Beach (named for the mile marker, not the length — apparently named before the conversion to the metric system). Ten Mile Lagoon is a nude beach. But too cold and windy today for any sunbathers. In fact there wasn’t a soul down there. That is, until Les got down there and took the opportunity to get that last swim in before the desert. Sans clothing of course, since we hadn’t brought our suits from the van. Cold, rather than modesty prevented me from joining him. And besides, someone had to take the picture.
On the way back to town completing the loop, we came upon Pink Lake. A world renowned lake (supposedly) where algae turns the water pink. Or so the signs claim. It was not pink. It was not a little pink. It in no way resembled pink. But apparently it comes and goes. We were not the only ones disappointed as the graffiti at the information kiosk showed. “Pink my arse” was my favorite comment. But there were many. And rebuttal graffiti telling people to read the sign and they’d know why it wasn’t pink. Ever helpful these Australians.
So once again, it’s after 1pm and we haven’t gotten anywhere. Time to get going. We hit the road heading north for the first time in a week, on the road to Norsemen and the gateway to the Nullarbor plain. The road was very nondescript and fairly devoid of traffic or other signs of habitation. Mostly agricultural — hay fields and sheep. But tree-lined almost the whole way. Seems like they cleared the fields but left the trees along the road.
Norsemen is a town that appears to be barely hanging on. Originally a mining town (and I guess still one to some degree) it now is largely getting by serving the needs of travelers going into or out of the Nullarbor. Although apparently those needs do not include gift shops as there were a few for sale.
We stopped for gas, water, topped off our propane tank, and Les bought himself a hat. The guy at the gas station confirmed that gas was available every 200km or so on the road to Adelaide and kindly pointed out the towns with the cheapest gas (although I think they are owned by relatives, or possibly by him).
At the main roundabout into town there are a series of large camels made out of corrugated sheet metal. Which was a bit odd to say the least. But as we headed east into the Nullarbor, a sign warned us to watch for camels so they are apparently out there running loose.
Norsemen was founded by a Welsh guy, who claimed he was a member of the Norsemen clan in Wales. He had a horse named Norsemen and the story is the horse dug up a gold nugget, which obviously pleased the Welsh guy, who named the town after him. There is in fact a statue of the horse on main street (and I use that term loosely).
Well, we had put it off long enough. Time to head out to the dreaded Nullarbor. The first thing we were faced with was the road sign that said Adelaide was 1986 kilometers away. Yikes! But other than that, it was fairly benign, at least so far. If it is a treeless plain, it doesn’t become one for the first 200km because there are still plenty of trees to be seen. Although we have already noticed that they are starting to get shorter and spindlier.
Strangely enough it was cool to cold and was raining most of the way east. Go figure, it’s been warm, sunny and muggy, we head out into the desert and it’s cold and rainy. But that means it gets dark a bit earlier too. We were headed for the first town, Balladonia (which is probably a hut and maybe a gas pump) but we passed a very attractive roadside rest area about 30km short of town, and since it was getting dark, we decided that was good enough. In fact, we figured if there was a caravan park in Balladonia, which was unlikely, it was also unlikely it had power and/or showers. So we’d just be paying money for the same experience.
We have the place to ourselves and since we’ve been here (about an hour) I’ve heard two vehicles go by in either direction. In fact, we saw maybe 10 vehicles on the 2 hour drive from Norsemen. There are not a lot of people out here. It was cold enough to put the bottoms back on my pants and get my sweatshirt out. We may even sleep with the windows closed tonight. A first.
Dinner was steak and corn on the cob tonight. We drove 435 km today. Tomorrow we get up and spend the day driving so an early night tonight.
[ Main Index ] [ Previous Day ] [ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ] [ Top ]