NeilR

Not the best day.  Headed off to Kalgoorlie early this morning without a great deal of info about the place as I was not intending to go there but after making up a day yesterday thought I would go for a look.

Got there after a couple of hours and had a look a the Super Pit which is one very very large hole. 

It then took a while to find anywhere open to get some breakfast as I did not know that there was no trading on a Sunday.  Even Woolworths, Coles, Kmart etc were shut.  After sorting that out, it took a while to find the Tourist Information.  When I did it was not a long read as there is not much to look at apart from the Pipeline Tour which was 650km.  You have to be kidding.  The other mining museum that looked interesting had a sign on the gate that it was closed until further notice and I could not find out about Super Pit tours as the office was closed.

After a quick discussion with Kenneth and Wuffy, I decided to head towards Esperance and probably stop somewhere short tonight.  Got back to Norseman at 3 pm with rain showers and as it was only 210km to Esperance I decided to press on as I could get there around five.

Unlike the early part of the day, this plan worked out and I am probably spending the next couple of days in the relative luxury of the Bayview Motel with the bike spending the night with the owner’s car. Looks like there is quite a bit to see here given my liking of coastline and beachs.

Wuffy and Kenneth have taken over bed to watch television, they are currently watching a program on Theorectical Physics and the Big Bang.

Longest day yet.   I have now completed the Nullabor crossing part of the trip.

Still trying to get my head around the time difference which is now two hours. eg 8:00 here is 10:00 at home.

Got an early start at just after sunrise out Eucla this morning and headed for the first refuelling stop at Mandura and breakfast.  As you leave Eucla you  drop off the platue and have cliffs on the right until Mandura where you go back up onto the platue.

Next refuel was Caiguna which is just before the 90 mile (146 km) straight.  $2.19 per litre.  Glad I was on the bike.

The straight was interesting as it undulating and the scenery changes a bit between no trees to lots and back.  Both Kenneth and Wuffy were doing the “Are we there yet” thing the whole length of the straight but I just turned the music up and ignored then.

Last refuel was Balladonia and after that is was mostly a run through more timbered country into Norseman.

Staying in the only caravan park in town as I needed to do some washing.

It would be far to say that Norseman has seen better days with most of main street  boarded up or empty.

Off towards Kalgoorie tommorow.

First views of the Southern ocean and the cliffs today.  Now that meets my personal definition of scenery.  Did more km than I expected to due to the all the little side trips to look at things.

Had a look around Coffin Bay, very nice and does seem to have been developed as much as some other places.  Did not go into the National Park as SA government has gone done the park pass like NSW.  Best not start me on that one.

Also came across of surfers at the Leo Cummings Monument site which was my really good view of the cliffs the Southern Ocean.  The road in was not the best near the top with deep patches of soft sand but was too steep to turn back so as a result the Vstrom came the closest yet to having a little lie down but I made it through and the views were worth the effort. 

Now about this group of surfers, they redefined the word insane.  First you climb down a near vertical 50m+ cliff to get to the water whilst carrying your surf board and then proceed to surf waves that end crashing a the base of the above mentioned cliff. Then when you done or you have broken your surf board in half when you hit a rock (this actually happened while I was there) you then have to climb up the cliff carry your surfboard or bits thereof.

Later in day did the cliff top drive at Elliston which is a 6km dirt road along the cliff around a bay.  Some of the best scenery to date.

After that is was mostly a run to Ceduna through mostly open farm country of which the most interesting bit was my first encounter with a roo for the trip.

Staying in a donga tonight as it was not much dearer than campsite and has AC plus ensuite.  That added to the fact there is supposed to storms overnight. 

Should be in WA somewhere by tommorow night as it only 481km to the border and not much to look at for the first half of that according to the brochures.

Nice easy run today mostly on a 110 kph highway with small diversions to the little towns along the way. Dropped into the Gulf Ferry terminal near Cowell and got there just as it was leaving. Good timing for once.

The SA bakery tour continues. Nearly every town has a little bakery / take-away place and so far they have all had good coffee, reasonable range and been good value.

I got the Port Lincoln and checked out the basic cabins at one of the caravan parks, I was told about by some other riders on a bit of a tour over lunch in Tumby Bay, so I have gone upmarket and am giving the tent a rest for the next two nights. Kenneth and Wuffy have been arguing over who gets the top bunk so they can share and have one night each. Pretty good view again.

Playing tourist tommorow as am staying here tommorow night.

After taking off the side cases and unloaded the front panniers on the Vstrom to going shopping this afternoon it feels a bit odd without the weight.

Interesting day.  Dense fog this morning in Port Pirie made packing up “fun”.  Good excuse to have breakfast at the bakery while it cleared up a bit. 

Did most of the run to Port Augusta on rural backroads when I could rather than the highway, which annoyed the GPS.  Mostly very open undulating cropping country flanked by hills and the odd view of water to the west. 

The scenery changed out the other side of Port Augusta to light scrub flanked by very large range of hills and the soil is now that typical red iron ore colour. 

Decided to call it a day early and stopped in Whyalla.  Was thinking of getting a basic cabin for a change but the $157 price means I am in the tent again.  Dearest site yet and I get to camp on crusher grit, which is in the running for the world stupidiest idea but the the location nearly makes up for it.   The door of my tent is about two metres from a 600mm drop onto the beach with the water about 10 metres away.  No real waves but finally got to camp on a real beach and even went for a walk on the beach before tea.

Interesting point about Whyalla was that the loader here was the primary port for iron ore in Australia during the Second World War and as such a large anti-aircraft was built on a hill over looking the works.

I realised today that, this trip for me is as much about the actual process of riding the bike around Australia as anything else.

Off towards Port Lincoln tommorow.

And on final and  unrelated note, congradulations to Brendan Tucker for winning  the Australian F3C RC Helicopter title in Perth yesterday.