Kalgoorlie to Norseman to Esperance

My time with Rachael was over too quickly. I had expected the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area to be practically a desert, but it had turned out to have plenty of trees, plenty of green and plenty of flowers. The towns were charming and the people quite friendly. Goodbye to another good experience.

We hopped in the car and headed to the next rendezvous point. The road we traveled on had been the main road between Kalgoorlie and Esperance. Esperance is a harbor town on the Great Southern Ocean which, at one time, was a gateway to the goldfields around Kalgoorlie.The two-lane road was treelined the entire way with salmon gum trees and low shrubs. The salmon gums had reddish-brown trunks; the bark sheds each year and leaves the trunk looking bare.

We were soon warned that we needed to watch for a multitude of animals that might jump in front of the car. Many cars here have a "roo bar," a hefty metal frame mounted on the front of the car or ute that might save the vehicle from destruction. There was a sign to watch out for cattle. There was a sign to watch out for wild horses. And then there was this:

(I was thinking, "Oh, please let me see an emu in the wild!")

Gum trees lined the road. Many areas had taller trees that had been burned, with fresh undergrowth emerging from below.

The town of Norseman was named after a horse...and a special event. A man riding through the area on a horse stopped to clean it's hoof. After he dug out a gold nugget, it gave him a little hint that gold could be found in the area. The rest is history.

We met my newest host, Belinda, at a truck stop in Norseman. Rachael spotted one of her husband's company's road trains at the diesel pump. I quickly seized the opportunity to get a picture. This road train only had three trailers. I've seen some with four. Can you imagine how much space you'd need to turn a corner?

At the same truck stop, there was this school bus. School bus??????? Yes, school bus. I'd seen them in Gingin, but couldn't get a photograph of one. The door is on the other side. No yellow in sight.

Yes, those are CAT toys. Although CAT has long supplied equipment to the mining industry in Australia, other companies are cutting in.

Bromas Dam

This is a solar water heater. I don't know anything about it yet.

Church in a small town. Note the material on the side wall. This was cheap building material for years until they found out it contained asbestos. These are now painted over.

There was a huge bush fire several years ago. This shows the tall trees that were burned and are dead and also the bush that has quickly recovered.

Guess what they have for kiddies to play with...