12th July 2011 Balladonia to Norseman 240km
We had a great night last night free camping off the Eyre Highway. It’s always a good night with a glass or so of port in front of a campfire.
We were both awake at 4:40am, and had a good lie in until about 5:30. After breakfast and a very quick shower (we weren’t to sure about how much water we had left – still have lots to learn about our van), we were on the road just after daylight, a bit before 7.
It wasn’t long and we were in Balladonia, and I had to play the Par 3 Sky Lab hole on the Nullarbor Links, not being as flexible as I once was, a 6 was a fair result.
After the hole we retired into the roadhouse and I had a
Flat White Coffee (it is almost compulsory, as they have the only Espresso Machine on the Nullarbor. There is a small museum in the roadhouse which is pretty interesting with relics of Skylab in it and other memorabilia of the area.
Back in the car and our next stop was Fraser range Sheep Station, that will not be a sheep station for very long. They are changing over to cattle as the wild dogs and dingos like very blue lamb roasts too much. It is a working station that has a big focus on tourism. They had a nice little Par 3 set at the back of the camping area near the homestead. A bogey was a good result.
On the way out we stopped to take a photo of a very green powered fan. (It was plugged into a tree!!)
From there we had a drive of a bit over an hour to Norseman, and were checked in and all set up having lunch around midday.
About 20km out of Norseman we got phone and internet back.
We have organised the windscreen to be replaced in Kalgoorlie on Thursday morning and booked our caravan park up there as well.
We did a bit of washing and other domestic type things before heading out to the Visitors Centre and the local Golf Course (A bit
rough around the edges, but they did have clearly defined fairways, and the 2 holes I played had artificial grass greens.) The Nullarbor Links Card said there were 2 Par 4 holes here, the first I came to was marked as a Par 5 for the locals at about 460m. So a couple of 7’s wasn’t too bad. On the second hole I played there, I took a short cut to get around a dogleg and found myself looking very closely for snakes and other wildlife! 🙂
We then did a bit of touristy things, went into town and got photos of the Tin camels in the main roundabout, more of the statue of Norseman” (the horse after which the town was named) and then up past the old Norseman Gold Mine to Beacon Hill, for views over
town, the massive salt lake nearby, vast tailings dams and views over several mine areas around the town.
After a bit of shopping we drove passed the old “Tin dam” (Norseman’s old water supply dam, that used to be covered by a tin roof) and then went back to settle down for the day.
Around 6pm we had a very amusing Skype call from Carly, Kieran,
Ella and Ethan. E & E are two crazy kids, and we lov’em. 🙂 It was so good to see Aiko snuggled up in front of the pot-belly fire.
We are off to Kalgoorlie tomorrow and out to Lake Ballard,
50km west of Menzies, to see a unique Sculpture Park way out in the bush on/in a salt lake. I will also be playing the last 3 holes of the Nullarbor Links, which I will really miss.
Just had a Skype call from Ben, Dante and Tessa was good to hear their news, such a good way to keep in touch when we are away.
Best go so we can post this update.
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