Days 25, 26 & 27 (Dec 3rd - 5th)

 SUNDAY (Day 25 Dec 3rd)

It was another early wakeup and we were packed and departed from Hyden just before 8am!! Our destination was south, going through Ravensthorpe and onto Esperance.

There was an option to go straight across to Norseman, a 300km road (mostly unsealed) through scrubby bushland. We still had plenty of time up our sleeves, so decided to take a detour south to Esperance and then up to Norseman before we journeyed east back across the Nullabor.

I did an hour of driving, before stopping at Ravensthorpe for a break, when Barry took over again.

There was much evidence of mining just before and again  after the town. It was hard to get a good pic from the car, and with the trees along the side of the road. I went to the internet and googled the names of the mines which included Nindil, Mount Cattlin and Shoemaker Levy. Mount Cattlin is an open-pit spodumene and tantalite mine.

Spodumene (pronounced ‘spod-you-mean’) is a mineral that contains lithium. Spodumene has one of the highest lithium contents of all known minerals and is a proven source material for battery production     Tantalum has various uses such as for electronics, pigments, medical, aerospace, defense and chemical processing industries. The largest market for this metal is the capacitor industry.

There is major mining operations on both sides of the road after Ravensthorpe on the way to Esperance. There is a conveyor belt crossing the road to take product to the processing plant on the other side, and Mr Google tells me that this conveyor belt is 10km long!! I tried to take a photo as we were driving, but it is blurry and we couldn't stop anywhere safely.

We arrived in Esperance about 1.30pm, and drove to the foreshore. Apologies for a pic of a rubbish bin.... I was just so amazed at how blue the sea was!! Puts the blue lake at Mt Gambier to shame.

.....and of course coastal towns seem to have pine trees and this view just reminds me of Victor Harbour, in South Australia. It was a beautiful day and not too hot.

Our next job was to find a park to stay in. We had not booked anywhere for this trip, not knowing exactly when we would be at towns, and not wanting the pressure of deadlines. Mostly it has worked out ok for is. The first 2 parks that Barry phoned were both full, but there are many options here in Esperance and as a last resort we could camp somewhere if we had too.

We managed to find a space at a park close by and booked there for 2 nights. The park is very neat and tidy, the grass is green and well watered, there are Christmas decorations all over the park, and the toilets are spotless, with music playing. Is this what they all chamber music??

We unhooked and set up the van and were eating a late lunch by 2.30.

We spent a quiet afternoon, there may have been a snooze or two, and I finished reading the book, and we heated up frozen meals for tea. We have not eaten out, or bought much takeaway on this trip, as I cooked plenty of meals to freeze before we left home. Besides the fridge and freezer in the van, there is another fridge and freezer in the car.

In the cool of the evening we ventured out for a walk to the beach which is only a block away.

This is a pic of the Esperance wharf with the lights on.

     And on the way back this snap of the entrance to the park, with the Christmas decorations all lit up.

Tomorrow we will explore the town and see what we can find.

MONDAY (Day 26, Dec 4th)

It was a late start to the morning again, and we were still at the brekkie table at 9.30am!!

It was decided that we would head out for a drive around town and see what there was to see. We followed a sign that took us up to a lookout, the Dempster Head lookout. I was still amazed at how blue the water was. The views from this hill were fantastic.

There is a coastal tourist drive heading out of town and around the edge of the bay. We made several stops to take photos, and I even took a video of the waves crashing on the shore, but don't seem to be able to link it on the blog.

              Back to the foreshore and Barry spotted this sign and the van below..............

He went to the van and made some enquiries and came back to the car to announce that we were booked on a 45 minute flight around the coastline at 1pm!!  How special!!

This is where we were headed just before 1pm..........

......where we had our photo taken before getting the safety instructions, putting on our lifejackets, which are the yellow things around our waist, and boarding the helicopter.

Of course we took lots of photos.............

It was amazing to see the coastline from above. It is so different to the view from land. 

Barry had done some flying lessons in a gyrocopter a few years ago, so he was very interested in all the technical details of the helicopter, so I was not surprised to see this photo on his phone!!

After our flight we were feeling rather hungry as we had not eaten before the flight, just in case! We went looking for a fish'n'chip shop, and found one, but it shut at 2pm!! So it was a chicken lunch instead.

A friend had told us to visit the Esperance Stonehenge, so we googled it for the address. The page said it was closed, but in a message from our friend, she said that you could see it from the road!! So off we went, found the place, and all you are getting is a photo of the sign at the gate, because, you guessed, it was now fenced off!! (and also closed).

So it was then back to the van and some more sorting out of photos for a blog post. I was having quite a few problems getting the pics from my phone to the laptop, whereas it had always been very easy. Somehow my photos were now heic formats instead of jpeg, which meant I couldn't see them at all. It was ok on my phone, but not loaded onto the laptop. After a lot of muttering, Barry googled the problem I was having, and apparently an update on my phone decided it was a good idea to change the format as it was considered to be better at compressing the data for a photo!! At the click of a button in the settings, all is now well, although yesterday's pics are all heic!! I did work around that and managed to get some jpeg files for this post. Mutter, mutter, grrrr.

TUESDAY - Day 27 Dec 5th)

Our Esperance home..........

It had been our intention to move on this morning but a breakfast table discussion made the decision to stay here in Esperance for another day. We still have plenty of time left so there is no hurry. Barry checked out at the office and so we booked another night.

Barry had some more work duties to do, so out came the laptop and printer and he set to work while I did domestic duties in the laundry. I am enjoying being able to do the housework so easy, with a small space to keep clean and tidy. 

This was followed by another drive into town and this time we found the fish'n'chip shop open and enjoyed lunch of the Fish of the day.  A trip to Jaycar followed for Barry to purchase some items he needed, and then I went to Woolies for a small shop up before we head away from civilisation and the shops. as we travel the Nullabor again.

A purchase of tinsel at the supermarket is our "attempt" at thinking about Christmas coming.

Time has been spent this afternoon writing this post for the last 3 days and now I am up to date with newsfromjude. An early night is on the agenda ready for moving off in the morning.

Be back sometime, don't know when. The next part of the trip will just be the first part, but in reverse. We do have a few stops on the way home back in South Australia.

Blessings From Jude