Day 11 / 2014 - Wave Rock to Kalgoorlie

Leaving Wave Rock we took the road from Hyden to Narembeen via Mt Walker. We were unsure of the condition of the road we wern't even sure it was sealed all the way. The road ended up being in quite good condition and very little traffic and a bonus of a tail wind. We passed through Narembeen without stopping and ended up on Great Eastern Highway at Merredin.

We fueled up at Merredin then headed east towards Kalgoorlie. Tony had said he didn't like using Great Eastern Highway in his trans Australia crossings as it was quite rough. He wasn't kidding, some stages were rougher than some of the gravel roads we had been on. Not what I was expecting for a major highway between the eastern and western states.

Anne used the Camps Australia Wide book and located a rest area we could stop for lunch called Bodallin. Rest areas are much better than a parking bay as you can get a bit further off the highway and not get buffered by the wind of each passing truck. Quite a nice stop, had a toilet, and is adjacent to a roadhouse if we needed fuel. This was also where we came across our first push bike rider heading off to cross the Nullarbor. I tips me lid to him as he is either a brave determine soul or is not fully aware of what's ahead of him.

After lunch we continued on, after a couple of hours I needed a toilet break and Anne was able to look up a rest site called Boorabbin which had toilets. It was quite a nice site with clean level areas. While there we spied a caravan parked which had "Oma and Opa's Cubbyhouse" written on the back so we just had to go over and introduce ourselves. We though they might have been Dutch but it turned out they were from Germany. We talked for such a long time we decided to stay for the night and share a happy hour with them. Another fellow called Des who was travelling on his own also came over and joined us. Retiring for the night all we could here was the passing of the occasional truck or car.

Morning came we had a slow start getting away about 9am after saying goodbye to our new acquaintances and started heading down the road towards Kalgoorlie. This is where we came across our second push bike rider destine for the Nullarbor and in true Murphys law as we are about to pass the bike rider a rather large and long road train was coming the otherway. I calculate we would all pass each other at the same time so reduced my speed and as added insurance the truck driver also moved as far to his left as he possible could as he could see what was going to happen as well.

We stopped at Coolgardie Anne had visited the old Museum when she travelled with her Oma and Opa on their visit to WA many years before and wanted to have another look. She though not much had changed between then an now as it looked almost the same. She also happened apon a curio shop across the road which had a lot of items from yesteryear such as old matchbox toys, Appliences books ect...

Leaving Coolgardie we head the last 40 Kilometres to Kalgoolie arriving about 11am. We booked into the Discovery Tourist Park on Burt street. Not much grass but neat and tidy. The park was quiet as this is the off season apparently the busy time is between June and August. They gave us a site which we moved onto and started to setup. I spied a site opposite us which I though would give us some shade from the afternoon sun as our original site would cop the full sun the whole day. Anne went to check it was available which it was so we moved over before anyone else could grab it. If you are stopping in Kalgoorlie for a few days then grab Site 38 if its available.