KALGOORLIE TO ESPERANCE-4 MARCH 2008

Rose at 5am. Everywhere on the dark streets, men in reflector working clothing were either going to or returning from their shifts at the mine.You can appreciate the high demand for labour when you see female window cleaning contractors working early on the main street shops.Traffic is almost exclusively of the tray backed four wheel drive style and despite so many men on the streets it was hard to get a cooked breakfast before 7am.There was lots of pre-cooked take away food sitting in its congealing grease under warming lights but no sign of the Australian newspaper( a national paper printed in Perth) until after 9am.

I had been persuaded by a friend to go to see the theatre in the town hall and killed time, before it opened, on a park bench in the suburbs until I realised its proximity to a child care centre might make me a suspect person if I loitered there too long.

Again, the theatre was a bit tawdry and not like the one in Ballarat where I saw a performance of the fortunes of Richard Mahoney.At least I got some necessary banking done and international mail away.
THE SEA! THE SEA!

It was almost 500, hot and boring kilometres to Esperance where I would again be reunited with the sea. I had expected road trains to disappear after the Norseman junction with the Eyre Highway but not so, they were even harder to overtake on this narrower road and raised alarm when the third trailer started to drift to the right just as one was shaping up to overtake.A little welcome rain fell to settle the dust and alleviate the heat and it was a relief to enter Esperance and once more be by the sea.

At this moment-several days later at my former brother-in-law's house in Perth, some of his former Vietnam war comrades arrived, armed with a copious selection of red wines and ready to do damage to a spiced lamb roast(cajun powder and Rosemary) that was sizzling away in the Weber and they determined,unanimously, that I had to cease blogging for the night.As last night had not been the best in my life, I was happy to surrender and join in. To be continued to-morrow.

It was a very good night, both lamb and wine excellent and as only veteran diggers could dare to, they determined to critique and advise me on my love life.Fortunately I can't remember much of it and although the wine didn't react badly on me, because of its quality, I had a pretty sleepless night and deternined to return to the journey over to the west and get my blog up to date.

The town was nothing to write home about-a port city not unlike Portland in Victoria but similarly blessed with great scenery outside it-super white sand beaches and interesting rock formations.

Everything seemed to shut early in town and so having secured a tent spot for $20 I went in search of a chinese meal, only to find that even they were shut.
So,I fell back on the pub where,at least,I got NZ mussels in a chilli sauce and watched Australia lose to India.A tough looking character with tatoos like wallpaper on his upper torso, engaged me in bantering conversation, as Aussie blokes are wont to do with strangers.He became even more pally when he heard I was from Victoria as he was from Mordialloc (a Melbourne bayside suburb)

A much cooler night and my snow-line sleeping bag was welcome with swag's outer flap down.Cloudy night-no Southern cross to be seen.