2012 Around Australia: Day 98 - 100 21st May

Day 98 Monday 21^st May

Arrived at Coolgardie relatively early in the morning. Went for a quick walk around town and had some “real” coffee. Must say I was expecting something more at Coolgardie; Expected Coolgardie to be similar size to Kalgoorlie; Much smaller.

Drove onwards to Southern Cross and had a well-earned lunch. The local café had surprisingly good menu selection for a small town. Local café was also the art supply shop as well. Very interesting combination.

Onwards to find another free campsite. This part of the country is called the wheat belt area. Very flat and the parking/rest areas were not really very appealing. Vania looked in our “bible” (Camps 6) and found a campsite in Meckering. Campsite was in Memorial Park. Meckering had an earthquake in 1968 that registered 6.9. Earthquake wiped out the whole town killing 2 people and injuring 50 others. Just adjacent to our “campsite” was a horse aggistment area. Well the wonderful smells were not the best. Vania ended up putting perfume under her nose. As for me not a problem. Smelt worse. That night I felt like we had parked our caravan in the middle of a major freeway. The noise was unbelievable and continuous. Managed 2-3 hours interrupted sleep if lucky. Morning arrived and I felt wearier than the night before due to the longish drive we had just completed.

Lots of these around Kalgoolie / Coolgardie

Hey Jonny! lots of old steam trains around the country side. This is in a "museum" park in Coolgardie

Yep, you read right. This is an old "night cart". For those to young to know, google it!

Mural of the "southern cross". Guess where! Yep at Southern Cross.

Lot of history. Lot of it based around the "railways".

Sunset at Memorial Park. Had flushable toilest, horsy smells and noise. What else do you want.

Day 99 Tuesday 22^nd May

Headed towards Perth to Vania’s brother (Lester) and sister in law (Annie) home. Vania was extremely nervous, anxious, excited at seeing her little (over 6 feet) brother again. She was like a cat on a hot tin roof. Couldn’t sit still for more than a minute and making idle nervous chatter. I also detected a few “tears” of joy.

Arrived a Lester’s early afternoon. It was really great to see brother and sister embrace for the first time in seven years. Despite what may have previously happened the family unit is still alive and well.

I had asked Vania to find out what Annie and Lester drank so that we could buy something for our hosts. Lester / Annie responded by saying that the fridge was full so don’t worry about anything. Not happy with the response we decided to buy “plenty” of provisions. Well that night we attempted to make a good dint into the beverage supplies.

It was a real joy to have a wonderful hot shower again. Although we do have shower / toilet facilities in the caravan it is so much better to have room to lather up without turning off the water. Strange how the simple things in life are taken for granted.

So after a lot of socializing (drinking) it was off to bed.

This portrays the distruction people faced after the earthquake (not the caravan and car in background)

Day 100 Wednesday 23^rd May

Happy anniversary day for Vania and myself. 100 days since the start of our adventure. The 100 days has flown by very quickly. To be very, very honest it has had its moments, however the experiences, people we have meet and sights that we have seen so far, way out weigh anything else.

Annie being the lovely efficient lady she is had booked in WDU564 (my reliable baby) for a much deserved service. The RAC service centre was in Mandurah which is about 25-30 minute drive from Annie and Lester’s home in Rockingham. Vania drove Lester’s car while Lester was nursing a sore head (must be all the chilli’s he had). Talking about chilli’s and really spicy food, most people would not know what “spicy” food is really like. Lester and Annie certainly do. Burn the inside of your mouth out.

Lester and I went for a drive around inquiring about digital TV and antenna for the caravan. Not that neither Vania and myself miss TV, it is just that the Olympics is starting soon and I would really like to watch it.

Today was also a maintenance day. The caravan has been carrying a LOT of red dust both inside and out for a very long time. I spent most of the day cleaning the outside. Fortunately Lester has a high pressure gun and this helped immensely. Vania cleaned the outside mat, the awnings and did about 5 loads of washing.

Staying with Annie and Lester is really giving us an opportunity to get our “house” in order ready for the next leg of our journey. The caravan is parked in the front of Lester & Annie’s home. Vania and I will probably head south towards Esperance, Albany in the next day or so. However, we will probably not take the caravan, instead we will do tent camping. As much as I love it.

OK, caught up with the blog for the last few days. This is a LOT of hard work trying to recall what has happened. I’m sure I have early symptoms of Alzheimer’s.