27 July 2014

Well what a difference a bit of sun makes to a town, after yesterday afternoons storm clouds rolling in it should be a little bit obvious the difference in some of the pictures this morning. I started with the Esperence esplanade though there is not a huge amount of it (well near to the town as it stretches for quite some distance) as they are redeveloping it all, but what they have done is really looking great.

From here it is just a short stroll one block into the town centre and the main street. It is a very nice looking town and has a relaxed feel about it, and they even have a tank, what town doesn't need their own tank.

Then it was back up to the lookout from yesterday for a much improved view over the town and one of the beaches that are along the Great Ocean Drive as they call it, which is basically a 40 kilometre round tip that takes you out of one side and back into town on another side and also goes past the Pink Lake, which unfortunately was more a murky treatment works colour when I went by so I didn't photograph it.

Then headed off through the Mallee country

and the start of a few days of lots of driving and not much in the way of stopping, though of course the first stop along the way, 203km from Esperance, has to be Norseman as the road east goes from there. Very quiet place on a Sunday afternoon I tell you, everything apart from the Tourist office was closed and the main street was like a ghost town, all bared and boarded up really makes the place look a bit sad, despite the money that has obviously been spent there. I had a drive around and went up to the lookout, though there isn't a lot you can see from there because of the trees.

On leaving Norseman it was just driving 190km on some long lonely and quite straight roads to the Ballodonia Roadhouse to pull up on a rock hard patch of bare dirt for the night. Tomorrow it is off across the Nullabor I guess...