Day 70...Kalgoorlie

We went to a market at the racecourse this morning. Didn't buy anything, but it's interesting to watch the people. Country races are a bit different from the big smoke...very much a family day.

 After we'd had a look around, we went off to the museum. As we were leaving there, we heard the races ahd been called off because the track was too wet and dangerous...

someone said the sprinklers had been left on overnight??

Being a gold mining town, the main focus at the museum was the history of gold mining in Kalgoorlie. These chunks of gold were on display in the vault downstairs.

These cute little baskets were made by aborigines in the missions. It's a prayer/promise basket. Each little scroll of paper has a bible verse on it...you pick one out with a small piece of sandalwood.

People in the early days of gold mining were pretty ingenious...they made some pretty quirky furniture and bits and pieces of necessary items...this one was rather unique! It's bits of timber, branches, bits of tin and wire, put together to make a bike!

This is a very small part of the Super Pit. It was late in the afternoon when we went for a look. The road you can see had about four trucks going up full, and another four going down empty for a load. They look so small in the distance, but they're huge. There was an info area, so I photographed one of the trucks with its statistics. That's only one of about a dozen different, huge, very expensive vehicles used for mining. This huge pit was originally a whole lot of small mine leases bought up by the big boys...started by Alan Bond. It seems amazing, that to begin with, there were blokes digging out their gold in their own little mines with buckets and shovels.

Day 69...to Kalgoorlie

We left Esperance today and headed north towards Kalgoorlie, about 400km.

On the way we went through this quaint town called Grass Patch...Heart of the Mallee.

Along the way we saw several salt lakes.

This is what some of the bush was like along the way. It changes all the time, from scrubby low bushes to lovely tall trees. We were surprised at how many trees there were. We expected it to be pretty red and bare. The agriculture finished about a third of the way, a little while before Norseman, where we had a late lunch.

There were heaps of these pretty flowers growing along the sides of the roads,

 particularly in the few towns we went through.

Once we had set Rosie up, we went for drive into town, where we decided to treat ourselves to Chinese for dinner...it was delicious!

After dinner we went for a drive up the main street. There are some great old buildings here.

Days 67-68...Esperance

We left Munglinup this morning and headed for Esperance. We set up in the Bushland caravan park, then went off to look around. There was a quilt show on, so we went and had a look at that.

 I really liked this quilt. It is totally hand-sewn.

 The woman who made it did it whilst touring around Australia.

We went for a walk out on the jetty and met Sammy the seal. Apparently he hangs around the jetty a fair bit. He seemed to like the attention.

The Bushland caravan park has lots of trees and lots of birds. Dave saw this wattle bird in the park.

The following morning we went for a drive around The Great Ocean Drive. On the way we saw The Pink Lake. It is pink because of the algae, high salt content....contains heaps of beta-carotene.

One of the magnificent beaches on the Great Ocean Drive. The colour of the water is incredible.

Today was Dave's birthday, so we had fish and chips down by the waterfront....delicious!

We've spent a lot of time taking photos...we have thousands!

After lunch we went to the museum. I loved this little Austin 7.

There was also space junk from when the sky lab crashed over Esperance in 1979.

Day 66...to Munglinup

We left Albany this morning and headed for Esperance. We got as far as Munglinup, and set up at a free roadside camp stop. The wildflowers were beautiful all the way.

There is still a lot of agriculture happening....mainly canola, wheat and sheep.

Just before Munglinup, we stopped and had a look at an art display...I rather liked this quirky gate.

We went for a walk after setting up and saw heaps more flowers...these were just near the caravan.

Day 65...Albany

Albany is a major port on the south coast.

 One of the things it exports is woodchips from their forestry plantations.

Its other exports are grain and timber.

This old house is typical of the homes in Albany, especially in the area around the port.

This is a replica of the Amity. It sailed from Sydney to Albany in 1826 with about 40 convicts to set up a settlement at Albany. The poms were worried that the French or Dutch might get in first as they had spent quite a bit of time in the area too.

You could go on board the Amity. You were given a mobile-type device, and when you pushed the appropriate number you were given info about that part of the ship. It was really well done.

 I don't know how people survived those awful days...

the boat's not terribly big, and housed about 60 people, plus food and cargo.

 

After lunch we went and visited the old gaol. The best part for me was the exhibition in one area of these beautiful miniatures and dolls' houses that had been donated to the city of Albany. It had nothing to do with the old gaol, but was just housed in a part of it.

Later in the day we drove out to have a look at Whale World. It was too late in the day to go aboard the vessel, but you could see it ok from the fence. It operated in the area until about 1976, then in  1978 the whaling works was opened to the public as a museum.

Day 64....Albany

This morning we went and visited the Albany Museum. It was pretty interesting...

it had the history of the port from when it began until now.

One of the buildings in the museum complex was a one room schoolhouse.

 On the verandah was this funnel , suspended on strings.

You filled it with coloured sand and started it swinging...

it made this pattern on the surface below it.

There's a lake not far from where we're staying, with a walking track around it to look at birds. We started walking around, but didn't get far, as it was flooded from recent rain.

These magpies liked the squashed bugs on the front of the cars. They had a go at ours,

 but by the time I got the camera out, they were onto the next one.

We went for a drive to see The Gap and The Bridge...

rock formations along the coast....quite spectacular.

There's a lookout dedicated to the ANZACs. It's where the first dawn service was held.

 It's also the last land that a lot of soldiers saw when they sailed off to war.

A beautiful sunset at the end of another great day.

Day 63...to Albany

The drive down to the southern area was great...lots of beautiful tall trees.

 This was a viewing area along the way, just before we arrived at Walpole.

Just at the other side of Walpole, the is the Valley of the Giants....trees that is!

 There's a treetop walk there as well.

We took the scenic drive around to Denmark.

 On the way we found this lovely winery and cheese farm. The cheeses were delicious

 The owner was really friendly...told us heaps about his various cheeses.

We arrived at Albany and booked into a caravan park at Emu Beach.

 We got a great spot at the end of a row. The beach is just through the track behind Rosie.

This is the view of the harbour when you walk through the track to the beach.