Sunday 7th
An amazing day today. It seems anywhere below 32degree latitude (Perth) WAIT AND SEE are getting known. On the way from Esperance to Kalgoorlie, whenever we pulled in to get fuel (which is often, as the tanks only hold 6 gallons (27 litres) and you cannot be certain of getting fuel), people came over, saying they had heard we were coming up the road from Esperance and came to look at the three little lorries. Road gangs had their cameras out as we were driving up to the roadworks, laughing and snapping photos. There was a lot of work being done on the rail line from Esp to Kal, and they were ready for us too. We even saw farmers at their farm gates (mind you, 10 km apart!), standing beside their utes with cameras at the ready. At Norseman the local school teacher came over to meet us, and so now we have an invitation to visit her little school on the way back down on Tue.
The Bradfords went really well today. They made better mileage than the previous days, averaging a bit more than 1 km a minute – the hills weren’t as long as yesterday’s.
As soon as we pulled into the camping ground tonight, Bill and Barry went off in SEE to meet the Veteran Car Club members of Kalgoorlie, to see what could be done about the steering bush on SEE. Progress is being made.
The fuel economy problem seems to be in the fuel bowls. We are still investigating. We completed just over 400km today, and crossed over our first 1,000km at about 50km out of Esperance.
There were warnings of wild brumbies on the road, but we didn’t run into any of them – but I did see a black snake sunning itself on the road verge. Nobody else in the crew was interested.
The photo today was taken in a tiny place called Salmon Gums, about 90km north of Esperance. The Salmon Gums Hotel in the background is made of stone and is a really beautiful building.
Ciao for now
Susan and Bill