How humiliating to be carried into Kalgoorlie on a tow truck! And after two days in a Hyundai workshop the mechanics could find nothing wrong with her, even tho her battery flattened out a second time while she was there. So I consulted an auto electrician and spent an hour watching him do exhaustive tests. He felt that something was wrong but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. So I was easily persuaded to buy an expensive set of lithium jumper leads. From now on I will be a self-starter when things go wrong!
Meanwhile I enjoyed two nights renting the artist’s flat above the Black Crow Gallery and looking around Kalgoorlie. Once Bertha was restored to me I visited Boulder (the often forgotten sister city), the Super Pit (open cut goldmine over many old underground mines), the end of the Goldfields water pipeline (see entry Almost to Perth) at the Mount Charlotte Reservoir, and Lake Lefroy, a really huge salt lake. Pictures are in the Kalgoorlie to Norseman video here on YouTube. I was in Norseman just long enough to refuel and to make a left hand turn onto the Eyre Highway heading east towards the Nullarbor Plain. I spent the night just beyond Norseman and the next day visited the Balladonia Roadhouse. It has a small historical museum of the usual dubious quality, but which also has a genuine piece of space junk: a bit of Sky Lab that fell from the sky onto nearby land in 1979 (picture above). Then I set out back across the Nullarbor. Nights 203-204 - BIG4 Caravan Park, Kalgoorlie. This was a dusty place with an assortment of miners, grey nomads, and prospectors who towed interesting bits of equipment or off road vehicles behind them. Night 205 - RV Park beside Centennial Park Kalgoorlie. Convenient and friendly. Night 206 - beside an old railway siding on Lake Lefroy, a bit before the Widgiemooltha Roadhouse. Night 207 - Jimberlana Hill rest area, just east of Norseman.
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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
May 2024
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