Gazza, 77 y.o. aussie who left Perth 6 years ago, after his wife kicked him out. He has 4 working teeth, 2 up and 2 down and all with a nice tinge of brown. He has moved around WA staying at caravan parks for months at a time. He came over to say G'day and we striked up a long conversation. Opinionated on every topic, but a harmless fellow. He has no real estate, just a car and caravan and will spend his last days in a caravan park somewhere in WA.
And finally another 77 year old from Germany. Just landed in Perth from his home town of Bremen. His mission - push bike the Nullabour, solo and finish at Sydney. He completed 130 km today, arriving at Norseman, the start of the Eyre Hwy (ie Nullabour) and has 88 days to compete his task. It's predominantly down hill from Norseman to Ceduna, but he will tackle an undulating road, strong winds, road trains and worst of all, oldies towing their caravans. I asked him why - he said why not? Personally, I think dementia has set in, but hey - good on him for trying. Chatting with him, he appears to be like many international tourists I have spoken to over the past few months. They just don't understand the vastness of the aussie outback. Nothing for 250 km's or more if you go truly outback. No phone, water, passers by, in short, no help at all. He only had $400 au cash a debit card & no credit card. He asked was there a store in town that would exchange euro $$.
Interesting story about Norseman. Gold was discovered here in 1894 and the town grew to a population of 4,000 including 5 pubs and a hospital. How was gold discovered? A bloke was visiting his brother and tied his horse up for the night . In the morning, the horse was lame. The "bloke" ( I can't remember his name) examined the hoof of the horse and discovered a large quartz rock with gold. It became the 2nd largest gold producing area in WA and still have 2 mines working producing 100,000 ounces of gold p.a.
Go HAWKERS!!!! My car is only 2-3 mtrs from my tent, so I'm sitting writig my blog, making good progress through a six pack and listening to the football (from the car), semi final - Port Adelaide vs Hawthorn.
2.... no make that 4 beers later..... Very close match, but Hawthorn won are in their 3rd consecutive grand final. I think I might be at Newman, WA (Pilbaras) watching the grand final from the pub.
Kalgoorlie tomorrow. Could not get a site today as they had the Kalgoorlie cup today and everything was booked out. Will be staying for 2 nights as I want to get a good esky. I could not take my old faithful 15 y.o. esky as it was too big and resorted to another. So disapointed with it's performance - within 24 hrs, my salt water ice bottles (3 x 1.25lt, 2 x 600ml, 1 x 1 ltr) all back to water. Even had a beach towel covering the ice packs within the esky. Then I can buy vegies and meat and eat them with confidence.
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| De Ja Vu |
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| WA outback is famous for it's wild flowers in spring. These are on the side of the road coming into Norseman. I swear they were not there 4 weeks ago. Hope to see more!! |
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| Views from Beacon Hill. It's called that, as the hill has a navigation beacon which planes use to keep them on track. Views are spectacular and photo's don't do it justice. |
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| Cowen Lake (dry lake bed) between Norseman and Kalgoorlie. |
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