Unlimited red dust

Esperance held both intrigue and sorrow for us. We always wondered what kept such an isolated spot ticking and soon learn its port was busy off-loading wood chip, grain and the jewels of mining. But I felt robbed! For weeks I have been telling Doug how amazing I remembered the Pink Lake was,.......only to find it hasn't been 'pink' for twenty years!!! All was forgiven though, when we were treated to its display of picture-perfect coastline!

One final highlight before leaving the Southern Ocean for the harshness of the interior was Cape Le Grande National Park, and in particular Lucky Bay. As with our coastline at home, many of the South coast beaches had their seasonal littering of sea grass. In spite of that, we hung out with the local roos and revelled in the beauty of it all.

No wonder Matthew Flinders lingered here during his circumnavigation of Australia.  

We finally wrenched ourselves away and took the long road from Esperance to Kalgoorlie. 400km of straight roads, dry salt-pans, red dust, mine entry signs, and road trains too big to fit in the photo.

At last Kalgoorlie and our first stop was the KCGM Super Pit. Certainly made Waihi's mining hole look like a back yard sand pit.

Historically mine-workers kept two very flourishing businesses afloat. The ladies of the night and luring barmaids aren't quite so busy now, but their workplaces remain as Kalgoorlie's iconic attractions.

We enjoyed the 'wild west' atmosphere of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and admired what they are doing to restore their town centres. Coolgardie, their poor cousin down the road is now a ghost of its former self. On Saturday, only the pub was open,......in fact that's possibly the same for every day of the week!! It is amazing that Kalgoorlie gets its water piped from Perth. It would be like Auckland getting its water from Wellington! We saw several hundred km of the pipeline on our way to Hyden. Might as well include it here because the rest of the landscape hardly changed for 500 km.

Hyden was our diversion on our way to Perth. The attraction was Wave Rock, and it was a challenge alone to get this shot without swarms of Chinese tourists posing with their surfboards.

We preferred the other stark granite outcrops that dotted this wheatbelt region. It gave us another great opportunity to go hiking and enjoy the wide open-spaces.

Finally we salute the Aussie farmer, who is not only in constant drought, but is also facing dieback of important shelter trees.