Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Nullabor W.A and the state of South australia

good morning readers;   'We're baaacck'

Louise here and once again sorry for not getting back on line b4 this;  we were 4 days coming across from Kalgoorlie W.A  into the state of South Australia, where we are now, in a place called Port Lincoln which is very pretty.   Matt has fired up the generator to run the Mac and I am letting my fingers do the walking - make that talking -  of our adventures.

The trip across the Nullabor plains from WA into S.A of course had no wifi service and no phone service either, which makes it had to keep in contact with the outside world, as you can imagine.  Happily we had no accidents or other dramas and made it across the states and borders in one piece.   

Our Toyota motor home has now clocked up 28,000km of our journey around Oz,  we shall probably do the same again before we finish up, we are thinking.  I never was a Toyota fan before this but I am happy to say I have changed my mind big time.  

The school holidays have just finished here too, which means the roads are emptier and we do not have to queue in McDs when we stop here and there for breakfast...

Oh, and the other thing I wanted to tell you about was the hoards of Grey Nomads we see on our trip; especially the ladies - here I am about to become the fashion police, so any of you lovely men reading who do not want to be dragged into my sartorial whims, please look away now...  

You all probably know that in my younger days (when I was thin and better looking!) I did a bit of photo modelling and I was a film extra for about 5 years in UK, did some TV ads here in Australia when I first arrived and I have acted as a stylist for the odd magazine when asked....  So I feel I can comment on what I see - as we go around Australia  I see the female of the grey nomads species all dressed as follows;  Short grey hair, usually NOT permed (thank the gods) a baggy man type shirt or T Shirt (usually from that shop they all love - Millers) and  the ubiquitous three quarter trousers/pants followed under by some kind of sneakers/trainers; this awful look can be completed with cheap rubber thongs (flip flops for the uk readers), which makes me want to squirm.  Ugh! 

 If I had a dollar for every woman I have seen dressed like this I would be up to my ears in cash!  C'mon ladies, look around!  Just because you have gotten older and put a few kilos in weight on, you don't have to dress like this.   And as I always say when it comes to fashion, "be a shepherd not a sheep".

OK -  I feel better now for that, and I'll just relate under the photos below the relevant details... Please excuse them being a bit out of order, but I loaded them on at the local library, then lost some text and they appeared as below.     Oh the trials of being a blogger.

Here I am under one of the giant boulders in a field near Streaky Bay S.A; they are known as Murphy's Haystacks and there are about 20 or so here; they are 160 Million yrs old and have been weathered over that time.  Wed 20.10.10

Here is Matt with a skull of a baby humpback whale that was washed ashore at the Head of Bight along the Nullabor Plain just inside the SA Border;  Matt was pissed off they charged us $12 ea to get in and we only saw 2 whales (mother & calf) about 50m off the shore;  Most other places we have 'whale watched' have been free...  sun 17.10.10

A view of the "90 Mile Straight' road from W A to S.A (going east); this truck overtaking us here was one of the smaller road trains I should add...  fri 15.10.10  11am

Here is matt at the sign to the Head of Bight Park;  quite cold it was too;  sun 17.10.10

Here is Matt at the sign at the start of the '90 Mile straight'  - there was a tree opposite with odd socks and other junk left my various travellers;  Fri 15.10.10

Here I am at the sign for wildlife;  I have to say, we did not see any of the ones on the sign; Sat 16.10.10

Matt with the Nullabor Plain sign;  Nullabor is short for 'nullis arboris' meaning "No trees", but I have to say we only counted about 50km or so of absolutely no trees, only scrub.  16.10.10

Here I am inside the Questa Casa brothel in Kalgoorlie WA;  That's a whip by the way;  as this is a gold mining town, they had some odd rules about brothels etc;  This one is the oldest one still working, and the girls sit in booths in the front and entice the customers, this is the s&m room if that sort of thing is your fancy;  the girls get paid 60% and the house 40% of the fees, but girls here can refuse customers if they want.  Unlike other places here where the customer pays, picks a girl and she had to do the deed.

Here I am outside the place, managed to get the boob job done after all; and yes, that thing I am holding does take batteries...

One of the original hotels; the York, in the main drag of Kalgoorlie WA;  we had lunch there and very nice it was too;  they have accommodation as well, and the inside was lovely too;   tues 12.10.10

This is the 'super pit ' gold mine that is literally 1km from the York Hotel (above) in Kalgoorlie WA; this gold mine was originally hundreds of small mines, but Alan Bond in the 80s bought them up and made one big mine out of it;  its 500m deep and 3km long;  those dots are the massive trucks used to carry the rocks to the ore crushers (260 tonne) each trip.  13.10.10

this was the best beach!  Its Cape Le Grand beach, in Cape Le grande park,  just outside Esperance WA;  sun 10.10.10

Here we have Skippy on Lucky Beach, Cape Le grand;  10.10.10

Lucky Beach, Cape le Grand;  a fantastic beach, the sand is so fine, its like walking on talculm powder. 10.10.10  (west view)

Lucky beach, WA (east view)

Here I am with a dragon fly I rescued from the shore edge as a wave had washed over the poor thing; he dried out on my hand and then flew away;   Twilight Beach, Esperance ,WA ; fri 8.10.10

Head of Bight National Park;  cold & windy,  17.10.10

I will finish this post now while we have the net access;  please leave comments if you can; we value all and every bit of input from you all;

regards

Louise and Matt

(Loma)  24.10.10