Balladonia to Esperance

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Why don’t Western Australians do Daylight Saving Time? It was light just after 5.00am, but who wants to be up at 5.00am. The sun is going to set at 6.30pm tonight and it will be dark by 6.55pm. How much better would it be if it wasn’t going to set until 7.30pm and was going to be twilight until nearly 8.00pm? That would be an hour more of daylight to enjoy at the end of the day rather than sleep though it. It’s such a divisive concept though. People love it or hate it and the Western Australians along with the Queenslanders HATE it.

Despite waiting until 6.00pm for dinner there were still hunger pangs early this morning and just could not remain in bed after about 6.30am because the body clock still thought that was 8.00am and well after time to be up and about. We had talked about leaving a bit later today between 8.30-9.00am, but we had breakfasted and loaded the car before 8.00am. We returned our keys to reception and then decided to kill some time in the roadhouse museum.

The museum houses a collection of pioneer furniture and other household goods, the story of the Afghan cameleers who helped explore and populate this area, tributes to the Red-ex around Australia car rallies and information about the flora, fauna and geology of the region. The piece de resistance though … a piece of Skylab that fell to earth across this area of the outback in 1979. For a brief moment in time Balladonia was the most talked about place on earth.

With Tracey at the wheel, we continued west towards Norseman. Apart from having to pass a couple of oversize loads heading east the journey was entirely uneventful. The scenery has definitely changed though with a much greater variety of eucalypts that are markedly taller than anything to be found before Balladonia.

We parked the cars and headed into the Norseman Woodland Cultural Community and Visitor Centre to use their facilities. We picked up a few brochures for the southwest area that we will be exploring for the next four weeks. We asked about what we could see and do in and around Norseman. Hmmn, they had heavy rain here two days ago which meant that we couldn’t drive the Heritage Trail or visit Dundas Rocks. We could still drive up to the Beacon Hill Lookout for a 360 degree panoramic view.

But first it was time for morning tea. We walked around to the Full Moon Café and Thai and fortified ourselves with food and beverages. We had been told that we could complete a 30-minute circuit walk from the car park at the lookout. After our pit stop, we ventured up the hill and managed to park the vehicles in a meagre bit of shade. We slip, slop, slapped and sprayed on insect repellent.

The gravel path provided us with views over Norseman township, salt lakes, local mining operations and old mine workings and was set amongst a variety of different tree species. Immediately below the lookout is the butterfly tailings a massive man-made mountain of mining waste. It has not been added to since 1986 with rehabilitation works commencing in 1992. After 30 years of rehabilitation, it’s still a HUGE blight on the landscape. We also learnt that Norseman is home to Australia’s oldest, continuously operating gold mine. And in just 15 minutes we were back in the car park. So much for 30 minutes of exercise at our first stop for the day, ha, ha.

We decided to return to the Full Moon Café and Thai for lunch … even though it was only an hour since morning tea! We filled up fried rice and Thai omelettes before wandering along to the intersection of Roberts and Ramsay Streets to photograph the Robert Hitchcock bronze statue of Norseman the sturdy little horse who started it all.

The story goes that on a winter’s night in 1894 prospector Laurie Sinclair tethered his horse, Norseman, to a tree outside his brother’s tent. In the morning, he found the horse lame with a sizeable chunk of gold-bearing quartz stuck in its hoof. On the 13^th of August Laurie and his partner, John Allsop, registered a claim with the name Norseman. A gold rush was sparked, and the township of Norseman was founded.

Finally, after days of driving westward, Bernie pointed the nose of the truck south towards Esperance. Thirty-two kilometres south we pulled in at Bromus Dam and Tank since access to this site of interest was not closed by the recent rains. Hmmn, the dam was probably more a place of historic interest than outstanding natural beauty despite it allegedly being a popular picnic spot for locals? It was built in 1925/26 to create a reliable water supply for the steam trains running between Coolgardie and Esperance.

While we were there we encountered a fellow traveller with a van who was quite excited that we had a map. Does the map show a toilet block she asked? We shared the map with her, with none of us able to identify anything on it that looked like a toilet block. She was a bit frustrated because wiki-travel or some such site had told her that the campground included a recently constructed amenities block. We let her photograph the map for further perusal and wished her a pleasant stay.

I am busy typing up this morning’s activities – it’s keeping me from snoozing at this stage - and taking little notice of the acres of harvested wheat fields around us. Bernie however, seems to be mentioning every few kilometres that there is a sign for a historic school site. So many historic school sites. The area must have been quite populous at one time. We are still encountering the oversize loads on the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway. We have just passed a massive water tank heading north with a pilot car front and rear. Much easier to slow down, move left and pass it travelling in the opposite direction. I’m not sure how you go attempting to overtake something like that?

We arrived in Esperance mid-afternoon and made our way to the townhouse that we have booked for the next four nights as a bit of a change from motel rooms. We found the townhouse easily and it’s really lovely with plenty of rooms which is a welcome change from living in a bedroom with an en-suite. We have a kitchen, a lounge room, a dining table AND a laundry in addition to three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Luxury.

After moving our gear in we made a quick run to the local Woolies for some fresh fruit. It might be a couple of days since their last delivery though as the fruit and veg area looked well picked over. We managed to buy some pineapple and some kiwis and will hope for some fresher looking berries in the next day or so??

After stowing our purchases back at the house in the full-sized fridge – a welcome change after car fridges and bar fridges – we went for a walk down to the bay to check out the departure point for the cruise we are taking tomorrow morning and generally get the lay of the land and where things are in relation to the townhouse.

By the time we walked back to the townhouse it was time for dinner, so we headed out again, but in the opposite direction towards the main part of town looking for Fish Face a takeaway and restaurant specializing in local and Australian seafood. Bernie and Tracey decided to try the Nannygai and Cathy opted for gummy shark along with some chips, twice-cooked potato cakes and coleslaw while Steve opted for a dish featuring the fish Hapuka. It was all delicious.

Back at the townhouse we are all enjoying sitting in proper chairs rather than trying to sit comfortably on a motel room bed. Although we don’t have to drive to a new destination tomorrow, we still have an early start as we have booked a three-hour (half day) cruise that leaves at 8.30am in the morning, but we have to check in at ten past eight.



Steps: 13,094 (8.71kms)

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