Less than a week from the end of the Nullarbor to the metropolitan fringe: 658km. From salt lakes and mining, across the wheat belt, with towns sitting closer together, until the reappearance of familiar fast food signs, traffic lights, road bridges and even a Bunnings store. Night 163: Norseman - RV park between the sports ground and the works depot. Night 164: roadside park 10km south of Widgiemooltha Roadhouse - so pleasant to be among trees and away from the sound of generators. The roadhouse provided breakfast and a port-a-shower in the morning. Bypassing Kalgoorlie-Boulder (to return later) I headed straight to Coolgardie and followed a sign to The Gorge, which turned out to be a man-made decal city with no water in it and a sign prohibiting swimming. There was, however the historic car club drinking coffee under a tree. The town itself has wide streets and substantial historic buildings. It was once the centre of the goldfields. It is very quiet now. Night 165: Goldfields Woodlands National Park. I continued along the Great Eastern Highway, in parallel with a rather narrow railway line and a very large pipe, stopping briefly in Southern Cross, which projected itself as the place from which the crowds set out for the goldmines. Indeed, soon after this the frequent side roads leading to mine sites (gold and nickel) ceased, and wheat fields appeared. Night 166: Baandee Lake. This was a stroke of the greatest good fortune. I chose the stop for its convenience and saw the most beautiful sunrise ans sunset camped beside the lake. The salt crystals were extraordinary, but it’s disturbing to find such a lake in a farming area. Cunderdin Museum explained a great deal about how the goldfields were opened up. The towns have such wide streets to allow camel teams to be turned around before the railway was built. Water was so scarce that it could cost the same as beer before the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, which installed the wooden forerunner of the pipe I mentioned above. Eight pumping stations were built (the museum is housed in Number Three) to move the water from a reservoir near Perth to the East. An hour later I reached Northam, where road-trains muster and uncouple, indicating that this is the end of empty roads. Northam, despite the deceitful charm of its narrow streets, turned out to be an RV unfriendly town: to the extent that I left poor Bertha out in the cold and slept in a friendly motel. Night 167: Wundowie, a small and Friendly place laid out around its recreation areas has a very swank RV park. It is curbed and guttered with a concrete pad for each vehicle to park beside. From Wundowie to Perth is just one hour. However I am hanging around the periphery and spending some time at Dhammasara Buddhist Nuns’ Monastery and the longer established Bodhinyana Monastery near Serpentine.
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AuthorIn mid 2018 I started recording each night I sleep in Bertha: sometimes just for myself, sometimes to share with friends and other travellers. Archives
February 2024
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