Tuesday 12th March
Last night we camped in the shadow of the Eyre Repeater station. These towers are for the UHF radio, they work by enabling a duplex operating mode. Normally we use ‘line of sight’, which should give 20ks range on reasonably level terrain, so good for vehicle to vehicle. However, since there are no telephone lines across the 1200ks of the Nullabor (apart from emergency phones and these are usually a long way apart) the UHF is the only common communication (the alternative is a satellite phone or the HF radio that we carry). Using the repeater stations and the duplex system the range improves considerably, so all the truckies use this system.
Anyway, it was very peaceful and apart from the rain we had a good night. This morning dawned bright and fair but the wind was on our port beam which wasn’t too bad, after an hour it backed to the south east, which helped with the fuel consumption. The trip was uneventful apart from an almost unbelievable incident when we were refuelling at Caiguna. We had just filled up and had the engine started and the lights on ready to pull away from the pumps, when a police car squeezed between us and the car on the next row of pumps, pulled in front of me and then reversed back towards our bull bar. This young female copper gets out proceeds to refuel her car!!! I then have to go back before I could get out from behind her and it was pretty tight. On top of that, as we were squeezing past, the guy in the left passenger seat starts to open the door!!! We were so stunned that we didn’t about videoing the event, it would have been a great hit on Utube!
The rest of the trip to Fraser Range Station was uneventful and we had a quiet night there, this was where we stayed on the outbound journey so the location information is the same. Somehow I ended up cooking pork chops tonight, the same as the last time we were here!
Wednesday 13th March
Today’s journey took us back to Norseman and then south towards Esperance, passing through such places as Salmon Gums and Grass Patch and past the very new buildings at Esperance airport. We had stopped at Balladonia roadhouse for some lunch and a mobile phone signal so we could ring our friends in Esperance and let them know we going to be around and to make arrangements to meet up.
Previously in Esperance we have stayed at the caravan park on the seafront but we found it small and difficult to manoeuvre the BT in, so this time we thought we’d have a look at alternatives, however, these turned out to be worse that the seafront CP. We eventually found our way to one out of town and a bit more sheltered and whilst the setting was nice, the facilities were ‘tired’ but they were clean. We got ourselves established then had to go out and shop, if you remember we had to ensure that we had no fruit and vegetables when we crossed the WA border on Sunday, and this is the first opportunity to stock up again.
On the way back to the CP we passed a sign advertising yabbies. These are little fresh water lobsters, about the size of a king prawn but with lobster-like claws which have a fair amount of meat in them. We turned in, got a tour of the yabby tanks and were very interested to know that when they are ready to change their shells, they produce two lumps of calcium, which is the starter pack for their new shells. The bottom of the tanks are littered with these calcium balls because the ‘soft’ yabbies are very vulnerable to being eaten by their mates! During a longish chat with the owner and his wife we discovered that he doesn’t breed his own yabbies anymore but buys stock that the farmers have in their dams. We bought a kilo of 90–110 mm fresh yabbies and a jar of pickled ones (shells removed). It was almost time for tea when we got back to the van and so we cooked them straight away. They made a very nice starter, washed down by a glass of good Clare Valley chardonnay.
Thursday 14th March
This morning we caught up with Jane and Dave and Bob Jones, our friends, for morning tea. Some of you may recall that Dave, Bob and George are extremely busy building things, not the least of the structures is the Station Clock tower.
Very briefly, 7 or 8 years ago they decided the model railway (150mm gauge) station should have a clock, all stations have clocks and Dave set out to design a clock tower. On a trip back to the UK he was taken up a church tower to see the bells and he decided that the clock tower should also be a belltower. This is where I came in, as he contacted me for advice on acquiring and installing a ringing peal. However, when I saw the tower construction drawings I was very doubtful whether a full-circle ring was practical. To cut a long story short, we installed a 15–bell (7 cwt) carillon which is programmed by computer and rings a repertoire of music including several touches of bellringing, Stedman Cinques, Erin Caters, 8–spliced etc.
As you can see from the pictures below, it is a substantial structure, the quality of the workmanship is very good and as each bit gets finished it becomes more and more aesthetically pleasing. The statues at the corners are 2 mtrs tall and cast in bronze. The design, moulds, casting and finishing is all the work of these three characters, all in their middle to late 70s. In fact, almost the entire structure is their handiwork, the leading in the windows and clock faces, the hands on the clock, every single piece of the clock’s movement is designed and made by Dave, although the casting for the brass gears was done by a mate in Dawesville.
These guys don’t stop, if they can’t get on with the clock tower they find some other structure to build, this pagola was ‘knocked up’ in their spare time, it is all granite with a slate roof, the granite was cheaper to import from China than to get from the quarry 10 ks down the road!
Oh, and all the granite paving in and around the miniature railway premises is their handiwork.
Currently they have a bit of a slack period so they are building two more granite pergolas ………………….with slate roofs, for the city Council.
These old boys are really remarkable, Dave’s just had his second new knee and needs to go into hospital for a heart by-pass operation and Bob has recently been undergoing chemotherapy for a tumour in his lung, fortunately the treatment has been successful and he now only requires a booster every so often. They are also a laugh a minute and fun to be with.
We went out for tea with Dave and Jane this evening.
Friday 15th March
It rained all night so we had an interrupted sleep but the sun did manage to break through in time for breakfast, we decided that we would leave here today but knew we would not be near any shops for a few days so did a bit more shopping before leaving.
We could see we were heading into some wet weather but decided to continue with the plan to head for either Starvation Bay or Mason Bay for a few days before heading off to Albany. With the recent and on-going rain, the normally dusty dirt roads become slippery and driving requires a lot of concentration as the smallest under or over steer can find you sliding off the dirt road.
When we got to Starvation Bay we decided that it looked a good site and got settled in before the rain came. This has been the story for a couple of days and we have had a couple of thunderstorms during the night. However, we have been catching up on our reading, blogging (can’t send it then of course), etc., although, it is now Sunday and we have nearly run out of Times cryptic crosswords and will therefore probably have to move on tomorrow!
This is a nice spot when the sun comes out but this has been pretty sporadic and photo opportunities have been rare added to that the recent weather has washed a fair amount of seaweed up, which spoils the beach. The rain has washed a considerable amount of the red mud off the rig but it is still a mess!
Monday 18th March
Today we’re heading for Cape Riche which should take us three hours or so, in other words an easy day. We plan to visit a few camping places on the way for future reference. Mason’s Bay is the first, we’ve been here before some time ago, it hasn’t changed much so it gets a tick in the book. Hopetoun is a pretty little seaside place, its status was greatly enhanced when BHP Billiton decided to build a nickel refinery just outside Ravensthorpe afew years ago. Property prices rocketed, new land was made available, farm labourers, fishermen and the unemployed became high wage earners overnight and everyone got on the money band wagon. Unfortunately, true to form, the refinery was a complete cock up and BHP decided to close it down, leaving the area in complete turmoil; the farm labourers, fishermen and the unemployed, now had mortgages, boats, flash cars, etc. Of course, the government were called upon to bail everyone out. One of the plans was to build an Ocean Road, well, Victoria’s got one, why can’t we have one? The idea being that, a good road would bring in more tourists, not just those in 4WDs and we can all own B&Bs, fishing charters, etc. and rip people off that way.
They did get as far as grading the existing track through to Starvation Bay and back onto Springdale Rd but that was it. Someone else bought the Refinery and is now employing a few people and the local economy is picking up a bit again slowly.
We found there was a truck wash in Hopetoun, so we took the opportunity of getting a lot of the dirt off the cruiser and the van but there will still be a big job to do when we get home.
We topped up with water at Wellsted and then took the dirt road down to Cape Riche, the camp site isn’t bad, our site is not very level so we have to run the van up on wedges to get it level (otherwise the tomato sauce runs of the side of your plate!)
Tuesday 19th March
We decided to go for a walk this morning, followed a trail that took us up to the top of Mt Melville, down to the Eyre River and back to the camp site, a round trip of about 6ks. It was a bit humid this morning but not hot and there is a slight breeze so not bad for walking. At one point there were some plaques giving details of the history of this particular area. The area was first charted by good ol’ Matthew Flinders on his 1802 trip, although it was first identified by the Frenchman D’Entrecasteaux in the 1790s. The area was settled in 1840 by the Cheyne family and later the Muirs (all jocks) and their descendents are still the local landowners and farmers. The walk took us in several different environments in terms of vegetation, from low moorland type scrub, through mallee like country to flood plain plants and bushes by the river, some are in flower and the colours are vibrant in some cases.
The views from Mt Melville are very good, even though the day was overcast. Below left, Cape Riche and Cheyne Island, middle Schooner Beach, right, the less than romantic, though appropriate Shed Bay, the camp site being just above the beach.
The Cheyne and Moir family homesteads are on the west side of Cape Riche in a sheltered valley.
Alloveroz 