We headed north to friends near Dongara for a few days and then to a 70th birthday at Horrocks beach also for a few days. We then headed towards Kalgoorlie after spending one night in Koorda,a very small town which was a nearly six hour drive from Horrocks beach. The temperature on the way reached 43degrees but it was a dry heat.
Maurice had thought he had twisted his ankle before we left Perth but by the time we got to Kalgoorlie in the campervan it was no better so after an xray he found that he had fractured the long bone in his left foot so it was on with a moonboot for many weeks.
It meant that I had to drive for the rest of the five week holiday down to Esperance, on to Albany, Bunbury and back to Perth which didn’t bother me after I got used to the gears being higher up than in my car and the brake on the right hand side of the driver’s seat.
The weather in Kalgoorlie was nice and hot as we like it 33-35 degrees as we explored the historic town and saw the Superpit for ongoing gold extraction. Kalgoorlie has been a gold mining town since 1893 which brought people from all over the world to find it.
There are many beautiful historic buildings in the town and most of them are well preserved and in use,even if not used for their original purpose.
After four days I drove the 4 1/2 hours via Norseman to Esperance on the south coast of Western Australia. It was a lot cooler there when we arrived. Esperance has many beautiful bays and national parks and it’s turquoise waters are pristine and the white sand like silk.
We were going to do some hiking in Cape Le Grand national park but because Maurice was in a moonboot it restricted our movements to short strolls along the waterfront and going to the cinema. The wind was unending and very strong which is very normal in Esperance and we had some cool and slightly rainy weather. It only died completely the day before we left after ten days there. I did manage a swim that day in the beautiful waters at Twilight Bay just a few kilometres out of town.
We drove the five hours without stopping through to Oyster Harbour in Albany where we stayed with our friend Francoise for a couple of weeks and caught up with other friends there.
I even ventured into the cold water with my friend after we walked her Jack Russell Sam every day for an hour.
The weather in Albany was also cool with some rain and after we left it got up to 37degrees! It was very changeable and unusual weather for Summer and we even had some humidity thrown in. We also caught up with Maurice’s brother who is a Podiatrist in Albany and South African friends who are now running the Albany Gardens Caravan Park.
On the 16th March we left Albany to have lunch with Maurice’s cousin in the pretty town of Balingup three and a half hours north of Albany and then continued on to Bunbury an hour away. The weather there was warmer.
Our artist friend took part in a local Art trail which a friend and I attended and we both purchased a couple of items.
We arrived back in Perth on the 19th March and our pussycat Barney was happy to have us home even though our house sitter Caitlin loves him and he loves her.
