Woke up to a very dirty camp, everything covered in red dust from the willy willys ast night, and we had thought those days were over!
We were heade for the balladonia Road house and hoping to get advice about the unsealed road which would be a shortcut to Esperance via Israelite Bay, a new experience for us. But no, the road had been closed for 18 months and was being upgraded because it had become so terrible. So we had to go the long way round via Norseman, where we discovered one of the biggest coal slag heaps we have ever seen, and we come from S Wales, and a delightful floral bush walk with lookout over town. Turning south for about 100 kms, we stopped in Salmon Gums for a lunchtime drink, but found that the charming old pub had lost its charm and had gone over to the noise brigade so we had lunch in the park opposite, met some very entertaining fellow travellers and pressed on for Esperance.
We were determined not to repeat our error in Esp. Last time we stayed in a CVPk next to the Grain terminal and the noise of trucks grinding uphill day and night plus frequent trains blowing their hooters created a lasting memory. So we drove around (this is one of those occasions when I found the town map after we have left town the next day!) aware that we actually were at the grain teminal end of town, but the CVPk looked too nice t be the same one....so we checked in (tired and fractious) and yes, found ourselves backed up against the same hill, trucks and train, tho to be fair, it was nowhere near as bad as we remembered. We treated ourselves to an excellent pub dinner and slept thru all traffic noise!
Next morning we enjoyed the lovely Ocean Drive along the south coast with all its beautiful bays and crystal clear waters, with a firm focus to the day...we had to get to Lake King Hotel, 200kms away, because it was Melbourne Cup day, and tho we are not followers or punters, it is always an occasion and worth spending it in small town company - lots of laughs and chat, great atmosphere, great food. We had no idea who the horses were and hadn't placed any bets, but we were on a mission. The policeman who stopped us halfway to do a random licence check was not aware of the said mission and seemed inclined to chat, admire Rita, enquire about our trip and so on...We could hardly tell him we were trying to get to LKH because he would have had to warn us about speeding and his mates might have been out there waiting for us!
Eventually we got away because another car turned up ( it can go days between cars out here!) and screeched into LKH carpark at 11.57, 3 mins before the off. Well we were there on time ok and watched the very exciting race with a nice cold drink, but there were only 4 other people there! The main event was a fund raiser at the town hall! never mind, the 4 people were very pleased to see us.
We were aiming to spend our last night at Wickepin. We had heard of this tiny wheatbelt town from reading A Fortunte Life by Albert facey, a very famous West Australian. This was his home town. Using my country towns guide, I read that we should watch out for the Tin Horse Highway near Kulin, a local feature which started as a bit of fun to brighten the rather boring and continuous vista of wheat, when a few farmers knocked up horsey figures in their sheds, using all sorts of old scrap, but it became competitive and quite serious, so that there is now quite a long stretch of road lined with works of art, which become more clever and more comical as you progress. Well worth going the long way round. Also the native WA wildflower presence was increasing and the drive was very pleasant, which is wht we have found in the past when returning from holiday trips at this time of year. The aromas of the flowers is quite an experience too, can be quite unexpected and quite pungent.
we reached Wickepin in time to find the local municipal CVPk, usual patch of dirt with a few electrical power boxes and a magnificent ablutions block. We took a walk through town and have to say we were rather disappointed with the run down pub and general run down air of the place, considering old Albert became a fine statesman and WA is supposed to be proud of him. probably the highlights of the place were Alberts old family homestead, the guest house where he stayed for years, and last but not least the CVPk caretakers gnome garden which boasted a fine collection of what appeared to be any bit of debris that had fallen off something or blown in from somewhere over the last 150 years! One could only gawk at the collection and at the amount of spare time people must have when they live in a place like Wickepin!
Next day we were headed for home; a little trepidation re return to lists of tasks, but we timed our arrival to be 1100 hrs so that we could fill the spa tub from the solar hot water system and enjoy a lovely hot soak, leaving time for the system to refill and reheat while the sun was still out. You know what happens with plans like these...
We took the most rural route we could find going through Narrogin, Williams and Quindanning with its delightful old pub, putting off traffic lights to the very last possible moment, and as we went through them in Pinjarra we realised we could have missed them altogether if we had just turned 1 street earlier. We knew there would be no more till Rockingham because the new freeway extension would help us to bypass Mandurah for the first time ever.
And so we drove into our home space with that strange feeling that people with amnesia must have...we simply didn't know wht had been happening in our home town for the last 3 months.
We filled the spa, switched it on and it ran for about 5 mins and then died. To cut a long story short, 5 days and $700 later we had our hot soak - the little computer unit had died. Ah well, it is 5 years old and has made no other demands on our purse. So we wasted all that lovely hot water and the system didn't reheat because the sun went in, so we couldn't even have a hot shower!
End of trip, and what a trip, we feel so fortunate to have been able to do it.
Watch this space for summary of distances, costs, photos and other notes and musings.
