On to the Nullarbor

We packed up slowly from Lake Douglas and headed off to Coolgardie to have a look.  This is an older gold mining town than Kalgoorlie, but it doesn't appear to have been as prosperous and is now a rather derelict place, with a post office, IGA, petrol station and mechanic.  That's about all that's open.  The nice old buildings that remain are either closed up, for sale or are museums.

The telegraph Office that is now the post office had the distinction of sending the most expensive telegraph ever.  It sounds expensive at around $2,000 even in today's money, and back then (at the beginning of the 20th century) it was a huge expense, as most people only earned around $6  (I can't remember what that was in £) a week!

Grant filled the van tanks with water near the dump point, and then when he went to fill the Jerry can, he realized the water was a brown colour. He had to empty the 200 litres out of the van onto the road which was a bit of an exercise.  First he had to get the van sloped the right way to tip the water out, and then he was wondering what everyone was thinking with all this water pouring out. Good thing there are not that many people in Coolgardie, although he did manage to park right in front of the town hall or something where a function was going on! Next he had to hunt for more water to fill the van with.  The last thing we want is to be stuck on the Nullarbor plain with not enough water!

We drove back down the highway to Norseman, and the turnoff for the Eyre highway which travels across the Nullarbor.  We made lunch on the free gas barbecues, used the nice loos, and put on a load of washing at the shell garage.  At $2.20 a load, they were the cheapest washing machines so far on the trip.

Driving east we noticed the trees disappearing and the shrubs and grass taking over.

We passed Tony and Val stopped for the night at a rest stop about 5pm but decided to go a bit further on, they get going earlier than us!

We have set up for the night at Newman's rock, a large stretch of rock covering a rise, with a little pond of water caught down the bottom.  It is windy, but warm, and we strung our washing line between two small trees and the washing dried in no time.  There is one other van here, but as soon as we showed up they disappeared inside. 

Tonight the stars are spectacular, our solar Christmas lights are decorating two small bushes beside our van, and we can hear the frogs chorusing from their pool of water.  A little further away we can hear the big road trains as they change gears out on the Eyre highway.  It's amazing how far noise  travels across the hard flat ground.

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Vicki