Esperance WA, a nice town of nearly 15,000 people. Looks like there is money here. Tidy, clean, lovely beaches, pretty as a picture and a climate that’s pretty easy to take, mostly.

The weather forecast looks a little dodgy for today so we’re a bit flexible with plans. First job is breakfast and Dome gets another run, pretty easy option really, room to sit down, warm, food and coffee ok.

First tourist option is visiting Esperance Stonehenge. A full size replica of Stonehenge proper, only the 137 local granite stones are erected as a fully complete Stonehenge  just like 1950BC. How the f… do we know what it looked like then? Anyway, I take the pamphlets information as correct and trust they aren’t pulling my chain. There’s hundreds of tonnes of granite. The project was conceived by some people, who went broke (my interpretation of the term “deal fell through”). There is a price on everything, no discounts for seniors, and the owners drive twin late model Range Rovers with matching personalised number plates, so they clearly drag enough through to make a dollar or two. All the same, it’s an impressive structure, Bill Baillie, the pommy comedian thought so was well when he shot part of one of his travel shows here.

*** The Spell Nazi’s – a heads up – I know how a forest of trees is spelt, ok, its ” forrest”. Or is it, I clearly wasted Mum and Dads investment in my education, I fink.

We move on to the coast line west of the town, the rain starts, lightly at first, then when The Captain, The Don and Pauolo get out of the car at Twilight Beach, Mother Nature suddenly drops a bucket on us, like walking under a Waterfall, we’re soaked in 5 seconds of rain. The waves are big, crashing on to thin white sandy beaches with huge bald granite rocks holding it all in place. No doubt there are some Noah’s Arks swimming around there as well.

Next is the non pink, Pink Lake. Should be called Lake Disappointment, or nothing at all. There is a story to it but recent development has kept the water non pink.

We then head to the Cannery Gallery, which, when we manage to find the door in, is a little underwhelming. Its OK, I don’t want to seem negative, but I reckon it’s a nice place to bring kids on a wet day to get a bit of art guidance, some Lego time, or write down a bit of poetry in a book. A break for mum while the brats scribble on somebody else’s paper with free crayons.

Lunch is a Dome, the bakery can’t fit us, followed by some retail therapy and the a few of us get a look at the insides of the eye lids. Not me, I go shopping with The Navigator, and she manages to find something to buy, strange that! I’m remaining unaware of how the inside os my eyelids are looking.

The local newspaper usually sheds a little light on local culture. Here are some things I read;

A woman fell off her balcony and claims she was saved by a magpie who woke her up. I call bullshit, magpies are murderous vicious  buggers of things and would not save you, unless she fed it meat and fluffed it’s feathers every day. I’ve got scars on my ears from magpie attacks. And anyway, how did the magpie save her, peck 000 on her phone after putting to her eyeball to get access to the home screen. I somehow doubt it!!!

An electrical contractor (I’m not mentioning their name but the paper did) was fined for dodgy Multiple Earth Neutral work – Harve will tell you this is a real thing. The acronym is MEN. Who ever heard of MEN causing trouble?

There was a tradesmen’s get together organised by the council. My guess is the mob that f…d up the MEN stuff were not invited.

A walk back along the beach in town is very pleasant, the rain has stopped for a little while.

A little quiet reflection before the “Kings” card game gets into action. Now it might be just me, I dunno, but I feel like there was a sub plot to bring The Navigator and Pauolo back to earth a bit. We struggled, Wally was out of the blocks faster than Gout Gout, followed by Smurfette. Performance unenhancing Kit Kat chocolate distracts a few of us and unintended retention of the Joker devastates a couple of players rather average start anyway. Round two of the card champion ship goes to  Wally.

Dinner is at the Pier Hotel. Food is good, The Don and Harve act as advance party and do a quality check before we finalised the card game. The Ginger beer on tap is expensive, I’ll be careful next time.

Home to electric blankets, air con on 25 and get ready for an ETD of 9am tomorrow for Kalgoorlie. Two golf holes before Kalgoorlie are on the agenda tomorrow.

Ciao and arrividerci from Esperence.

Pauolo

Fraser Range Station to Esperance.

Dinner last night was pork ribs, massive meals, tasty and nutritious. The dining room is packed, the two young women cooking and serving do a great job. Food quality has been exceptional here at Fraser Range Station. The blonde girl with the dreadies from Finland is everywhere doing everything, I hope they pay her well! It hasn’t got any warmer!!

Somebody in a van, I think, leave their Starlink open, no password – it runs at 100 Mbps whereas the Telstra link is at 9 Mbps. Interesting!!

Fraser Range Station – the story. Established in 1872, it was the first Pastoral Lease on the Nullabor. It’s about 500,000 acres, a mix of granite hills, eucalypt forests and it’s still a working sheep station diversing to include more cattle with a growing accommodation business. The old buildings, some timber and steel and some stone had some labour input from convicts and Aboriginal workers. It’s a great spot to stop.

The road to Norseman is straight, and an interesting tree appears, shiny copper/ brown bark, dark glossy green leaves, we discover in Norseman its Eucalyptus Salubris or Gimlet. A very pretty tree. There are also Salmon Gums, enough to name a village after apparently.

A coffee in Norseman after Don and I play the two Nullabor Masters holes, a par 5 followed by a par 4, we’re accompanied ( not helped) by Wally, Jenzy and Harve. Lots of good advice is given, very little is taken. The fairways were cut high, the greens were uneven and the pace was hard to read. We both had good shots and extraordinarily bad shots. Harve stood on the green waiting for us, unfortunately he was at about a safe a spot as he could be. As we head into the final round of the tournament with 4 holes to play, we are square. Not sure if there is a play off if we end square? I’m sure I’ll hear from Jesus with guidance on this, I haven’t seen any messages from him lately.

A coffee after golf settles the angst that poor golf brings to poor players dreaming of long straight drives, pitch shots that spin back towards the hole and putts that slowly wind their way to gently drop into the cup. But, I’ll keep dreaming these things.

We turn sharp South towards Esperance, initially through eucalypt and mallee country then cultivated broadacre farming commences, wheat and canola that is flowering. Bright green and brilliant yellow, in large paddocks. We stop for a few photos, the drone struggles in the windy conditions suggesting to me –  ” Be Careful – Strong Wind Warning”. I’m glad it handles the conditions and returns to me safely and I don’t have to dive into the canola crop to retrieve it.

We drive through little places like Salmon Gum, Dundas, Grass Patch, Scaddan and Gibson on the way.

Esperance is a nice looking town, about 14,500 people, modern, clean, bright and spread out, there is plenty of room for development out here.

Dinner venue is decided on, after a little toing and froing,  Lucky Bay Brewing at Lucky Bay is the winner. A boutique brewer, funky new building, very pleasant girl who serves us and gives a little free advice on  things to do in Esperance. A little expensive but ok.  The pizza is good and a bit of photo reminiscing chews up the time.

Tomorrow we’ll explore Esperance, it looks a pretty nice place.

Cheers

Pauolo

Sunday – Fraser Range Station WA.

Today is a chill day, a catch up on rest, a bit of laundry, ride out the rain.

Breakfast in the staff kitchen is toast and cereal and a cup of tea.

Captain Kirk goes on a 6km walk, its no time and he’s back with his backpack, he’s not breathing that hard.

The rest of us are thinking about a games day in the warmth of the old cook house, as long as we can get the fire going.it takes a while but it eventually gets a good flame going.

The Fraser Range world Championship ” Kings ” Cards Comp commences after a few warm up games of Bananagram.

After lessons from Linda (is there a poem in those few words?) we commence, the train wheels are taken off and we’re into it. We were warned about Smurfs Kings skill and cunning, but she talks badly at the first hurdle and comments of an errant Joker she never recovers. The Navigator ” I don’t play cards!!!” performs well, Jenzy is consistent but her eye movement is telling and The Don and Wally a slow getting up to speed. Captain Kirk drops in at a middle point but never finds form. The first round of the championship is won by Pauolo, even after he gave up his luck seat to Captain Kirk.

The 🐅 beat the bulldogs 28-14, and I didn’t tip them, what’s wrong with me!

Dinner tonight is pork ribs

Arrividerci from Fraser Range Station.

Pauolo

Saturday 2nd August 2025 – more of the story, a bit more detail From Eucla to Mundrabilla the Hampton Range follows on the Northern side of the road, at a consistent height all the way to Madurah.

There is a sign before Mundrabilla saying “cheap fuel” when I call in to get our golf cards stamped I see it ain’t that cheap but at Mundrabilla you can say what you like, its cheap fuel if you need it.

The golf hole at Mundrabilla is called ” Watering Hole”. A virtual hole, its 2 pars for The Don and moi.

Golf – where do I start? Madura is where reality golf starts. ” Brumbys Run ” is a challenging par 3 with a truck to the right, a caravan to the left, luckily we find the rough left side of the green. Although Wally gave me a special Wilson golf ball for my birthday, i managed to leave it in a timber hazard. Not sure how many shots you would would call a “Truck”? Relieved that we haven’t hit a vehicular mode of transport, either stopped or moving we leave quietly.

There is a lot of saltbush on the side of the road, then there isn’t, not sure what’s going on there. Getting into more like sheep country, however when I see sheep I’m advised they are white rocks. There is no point arguing, even when I’m right I’m wrong. Just shoulda gone to Specsavers! So I don’t really know where all the sheep actually are?

Cocklebiddy arrives, another Roadhouse staffed by backpackers, this time from Asia. The golf is a challenge, a 368m Par 4, a howling wind blowing across the fairway. I’m on for 2 putting for a elusive birdie, which eludes me. Still, a fair dinkum par is OK for me. The Don battles the wind, a form slump and caffeine deficiency, which he sorts out back in the Roadhouse.

There are lots of motor bikes on the road, lots heading east riding into the strong wind, very challenging riding conditions.

At Caiguna the ” Ninety Mile Straight” Par 4 is impossible to play in the prevailing conditions, a good reason for this to be a virtual hole that we par.

The country opens up a bit, less scrubby but less or no saltbush. I thought it might be the other way around?

The weather forecast from a pilot mate in Narrabri isn’t promising, wind continuing, rain coming, cold weather remains cold.

At Balladonia the Par 3 175m hole called ” Sklab” is unplayable. Besides the trees between the tee and the pin there is a blonde woman with a fluffy white dog walking up the middle. She is a reasonable size target. Given our ability and the prevailing howling wind we think she’s probably safe but our duty of care makes the decision to go virtual easy. To keep out of the wind we would a low punch drive and her derrier was a hazard we might find. Not a pleasant thought. We lunch in the Roadhouse, served by an Irish girl and another Argentinan girl. There is a bit of the actual Skylab in the shop with some other artefacts. Skylab entered the earth’s atmosphere out of control in July 1979, I didnt think it was that long ago.

Fraser Range Station is a great place to stop. A few drinks, a beef curry, and watch the Wallabies beat the Lions in a rugby test. A good way to finish the day, but there’s more.

So, today I turned 70, my head doesn’t tell me I’m 70 but my failing body does. I have been getting messages and phone calls all day, as we go in and out of mobile phone range, and its nice to know people remember and think of me. I’m not just another forgotten old foggy. The company over the last week has been wonderful, a great trip, and the birthday chocolate mud cake is beautiful.

So thanks to my travelling mates and the people we met last night – a poem I wrote a few years ago, just for a little reflection;

The Road I Took
I glance up from my strong coffee,
Thinking of a past I can now hardly see,
Visions of a life not written in a book,
It was luck, no plans for the road I took.

The little boy, very quiet and so shy
From the coast to somewhere flat and dry,
The road that was taken wasn’t my call
But life in the west was good for us all.

The school bus, the classroom all good
Home to get the calves in and chop wood.
Then away to Dads old boarding school
The road was rough with too many rules.

6A’s and football then the study petered out
As I floundered around, a head full of doubt
The dilemma of school versus girls and sport
The road wasn’t clear, poor result, I got caught.

Trainee agent and potential auctioneer,
For a wool broker the ad was really clear,
At eighteen I had another look at the road
Not sure, but acceptance lightened the load.

Married young to The Copper Haired Girl,
Houses built, no money, babies, life a whirl,
Food on the table and a mortgage to pay,
A track wasn’t clear but we found the way.

A career happened, a shit kicking notetaker,
Not an auctioneer, a money and deal breaker
And life happened, family and friends grow
Lose a child and take a road you don’t know.

Take a look back on things, remember the joys,
A patchwork of life and people and two boys,
It all went so quickly, so don’t waste more time
Fill in the gaps, take the roads in your mind.

Are there regrets, not many maybe a few,
No plans and a few mistakes to get through,
Got to keep taking roads to places unseen,
To challenge me to go where I’ve not yet been.

Paul Reid

Eucla Roadhouse to Fraser Range Station

I’m not going to say much tonight, I’ll write a detailed blog tomorrow when my belly gets over the kilo of gluten in the birthday cake that was arranged for me tonight.

FYI – Today Pauolo (thats me) turned 70. I’m privileged to be travelling with a great group of people (and the Copper haired girl) in a part of the world I mostly haven’t seen before, a cake was organised long ago by Sharron (aka Wally), no mean feat because this place is pretty remote. I’ve had phone calls and messages from family and friends all day when we’ve been in and out of mobile service. Thanks everyone.

Internet service is OK in certain spots, but not in our room, so I’ll only load a couple photos tonight.

Today was a long day on the road, from chilly Eucla to warmish Fraser Range Station. We played more holes in the Nullabor Masters Golf, some virtually, some for real. The wind was blowing hard today. More on that in part 2 tomorrow.

Fraser Range Station is 850km from Perth and we’ve travelled 2200km from Adelaide to get here, so we’re still pretty remote. This is a great stop point, lots of caravans are here, lots of fixed accommodation, kitchen, laundry and great dining room. ( more tomorrow)

Ok arrividerci from Fraser Range Station in WA

Pauolo

Ceduna to Eucla today, via Nullabor Roadhouse where six of us are doing a flight over the GAB (Great Australian Bight), hoping to see some whales.

Breakfast is 6.30am downstairs, the view over the Ceduna water, aka Denial Bay is a light pink and blue in the early morning light. (How’s that for a mildly colour blind fella!) There are people fishing on the pier, people running and some walking on the path around the water. Ceduna is surprising, I didn’t expect such a nice clean, pretty town on the water.

We leave Ceduna a few minutes early, first job is getting the dew off the windows, second job is to get our golf cards stamped at Penong.

Penong golf is completed virtually. Same with Nundroo. The cropping country finally ends and it’s scrubby, straight road and not a lot of traffic. Jeez its straight and flat!!!

We reach the Head of the Bight Visitor Centre where we pay $17 each at the whale centre. We walk to the cliffs and there’s a sign saying there have been 12 mother whales and 12 calves. At first we think the lumps in the sea are rocks but they are whales, lots of them. Speckled and white calves, frollicking adults with tail flicks. Southern Right Whales we are advised, numbers are still revovering from the whaling days. Pretty extraordinary really.

Then there are the cliffs of the Nullabor, they are pretty spectacular as well. Although we do get a chance to see more of the cliffs (for free) later.

We arrive at Nullabor Roadhouse about 11.30, coolish but the sun is out so it’s sort of warmish as well. It’s also muddy, the recent rain has been good but it’s created a mess, I think more is on the way.

We meet our pilot, 6 of us are doing 2 flights x 3 people over the cliffs and checking out the landscape and the whales in this small area. While The Navigator and Smurfette lounge at the Roadhouse, Captain Kirk, Harve and Jenzy go flying, The Don, Wally and Pauolo go golfing. It’s a 500 metre par 5, muddy clay, wombats holes, the ball runs like me after a dodgy vindaloo, if the mud doesn’t stop the ball dead. Sadly The Don bests me despite not reading the slick green very well, he goes 1 shot ahead.

Then it’s The Don, Wally and Pauolo’s turn to fly. Our young pilot is very thorough, very professional and he folds us into the small 4 seater Cessna to go flying. Its astonishing from the air, the hairy nosed wombats holes ( this not a joke, this is true!) and their track marks, the flat Nullabor Plain (a vast  limestone plain thats honeycombed underneath). We see, we think, close to 40 whales. It’s a fantastic

A Roadhouse lunch, eaten on the run then another cliff top stop.

We finish some mandarins and a bit of a tidy up of rubbish before cross the border – no fruit or veggies allowed into WA. The search/ inspection is OK, fairly thorough, we have nothing to give them concern  except for the egg and lettuce lying in the centre console (The Don’s  lunch). They don’t spot it, but we didn’t remember it until we pulled up either. We don’t hear sirens so all must be OK.

Eucla Roadhouse is our accomodation tonight. Looks OK. We duck back to the Border crossing for another golf hole. It’s a scrappy 124 metre par 3, big green a tight gap between some scrub. We’re all terrible but Pauolo regains a shot and the card is all square at the end on Day 1 of the Nullabor Masters.

A few drinks at the bar brings back some sanity after the crappy golfing. There are a lot of Spanish speaking backpackers working here, the food orders sort of remibd me of Manuel in Fawlty Towers. But in the end we get fed.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we drive to Fraser Range Station.

Ciao

Pauolo

Today we travel from Port Lincoln to Ceduna.

First stop is the busiest fishing port in the southern hemisphere, its actually Port zlincoln but we hadn’t seen it yet, its busy, big, expensive fishing boats, big expensive houses on the shoreline.

It’s a straight run to Elliston for a pit stop. Opp shop, toilet, then the big squid, well it isn’t really that big. This place is a bit of a surprise, tidy, nice protected bay, sculptures along a drive are well worth the effort. I take the drone for a little fly and don’t lose it and don’t kill anyone, that’s pretty good I think.

The next stop is Murphy’s Haystacks, a geological thing, for the keen geologist its  inselberg rock formations between Port Kenny and Streaky Bay. They are pretty prehistoric and are about 1,500 million years old.

Another pretty bay is Streaky Bay where we have lunch at a nice park above the town jetty. The weather is pleasant but there is a slight chill in the air. Some older guys on bikes rumble into the pub behind us, ” growing old disgracefully” I hope?

We drive on to Ceduna, the roads are straight and wide and I think they will only get straighter and wider the further we go. We find the visitors centre, get our Nullabor Golf cards and check into the hotel. Its a great spot right on the water, big rooms, view over the water.

The Nullabor Masters then gets under way. The winner of the Port Lincoln event declines to tee off, feigning fatigue, heart issues, words like ” I’ve nothing to prove”, you get the drift, but i won’t mention any names. Nearly everyone gets off the tee poorly. The Don’s Calloway clubs have a fair bit of  Ceduna mud on them, not much of it related to contact with a golf ball.

There is a lot of slashing, swinging and cursing, not a single blade of grass should feel safe, proving the golfer actually gets close the grass, and the ball, relatively important in the game of golf. Pauolo and The Don are in the club house tied on 2 over. Tomorrow sees another day, more of the Nullabor Masters later.

Tonight we eat at the hotel, the seafood is great, Jenzy and The Navigator are very pleased. Beef cheeks are poplular as well. The prawns are gigantic, its all really fresh. The sticky date pudding is a winner, the only criticism comes from Captain Kirk who feels the sauce is a little too runny.  A combined rating is 4.5 Spoons🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

Ciao arrividerci from Ceduna

Pauolo

Port Lincoln – The Beach Bakery on King – Smooth Clean vibrant coffee. ☕️☕️☕️☕️

Glen – Forest Tourist Park – coffee was good ( better than our golf), service efficient under pressure☕️☕️☕️☕️

Cheeers

The Coffee Nazis

Another day at Port Lukin, sorry Port Lincoln (borrowed that from The Don). Dean Lukin put this place on the map by winning the Super Heavy Weight – Weight Lifting Gold Medal at the ’84 Olympics. He famously suggested to the press that they should not focus on him but rather they should focus on the up coming Paralympics as those athletes had achieved far more than him.

The early view from our front verandah overlooking the bay this morning is of brooding dark grey clouds over glassy water. Rain showers in the background, in the foreground, is the industrial apparatus with a grey green conveyor belt running out past two tug boats to where the unloading of fertiliser and the loading of grain on to ships takes place. It looks and feels like a scene out of The TV series Shetland.

Last night there were more rain showers, I reckon more rain is on the agenda for the next week.

Breakfast then a coffee at the bakery gets us ready for the Port Lincoln Masters Golf Tournament, being played at Royal Glen-Forest Putt Putt course. A field of 7 with tournament referee and scorer Harve sets off, we know the tees are set right back and pin positions will be challenging, it is after all The Masters. At the 9 hole turn Smurfette leads by one, chased by The Don and Pauolo, one shot behind. The Navigator has threatened, as has Captain Kirk but consistency sees them languishing further back in the field. Wally has pulled out the long drives but hasn’t handled the windy conditions and a couple of out of bounds ruins her chances. Jenzy is a real threat with her consistency enabling her to stay in the hunt but the inclement weather sees the tournament stopped at the 11th tee for health reasons related to cold hands and the generally sooky disposition of most of the golfers.  Travel issues related to the distance of the links from Port Lincoln have clearly affected some players performance as well ( see comment above as well). Despite all this, Smurfette claims the win, but this writer feels it’s a shallow victory when only 10 holes have been completed.

It’s pointed out to this journalist that there has been some recent bad press for the Royal Glen-Forest members related to animal cruelty. Apparently they’ve been shearing wombats, we find evidence in the signs at the course. Frankly I’m appalled! I do notice that I’ve been sneezing a little and suspect some errant wombats hairs have blown up my nose and possibly it’s impacted my golf game. I dunno for sure but……any excuse……Its also noticed that there are gluten free bulls balls for sale, surely this place has an issue that needs addressing by the authorities! Actually, we were very happy with Glen- Forest and the staff, the young lady who looked after us was terrific.

Wally calls for The Don to be swabbed after he’s spotted with a dust pan and brush cleaning up our morning tea crumbs. I suspect he’s been sipping performance enhancing coffee, so it’s a fair call.

The dirt road to Coffin Bay is greasy after the rain, and Nomads 1 and 2 are skilfully piloted over the treacherous sticky pot holed surface. I like the name ” The Dirt Road to Coffin Bay”, somebody should write a poem or song with that name, its sort of catchy.

Coffin Bay is a pretty town, oysters in the estuary right near town. Lovely clear water,  a nice looking National Park that we don’t venture into and  quiet as its 14km off the Flinders Highway. We (some of us) purchase oysters from a machine, an oyster vending machine would you believe, and we drive back to Port Lincoln for a latish lunch, which includes the said oysters and some missing hot water from an errant Thermos. The oysters are super fresh and great, either natural or kilpatrick.

Some laundry work is done, motor vehicular maintenance and refuelling completed before plans for dinner.

I walk with Wally to Makybe Diva’s statue  on the water front. Tony Santic who owned her was from Port Lincoln, I think she won about $13m and 3 Melbourne Cups. Tim looked after her at Coolmore horse stud when she was having her first foal – after Coolmore stallion was the sire.

Dinner is at the Ming Inn Chinese Restaurant just down the road from our accommodation. Food is great and we cover a variety of interesting topics including toilets of the world. Ewww!!!

Tomorrow we leave Port Lincoln heading North West to Ceduna.

Ciao and arrividerci from Port Lincoln

Pauolo

Retro Coffee Log back to Day 2

Adelaide – Maison Clement – pronounced Maysorn Clomaw ( if you’re French). 3 shots needed in the large coffee according to Jenzy, but most consumers approved of the flavour, as being as an intense bold coffee. Tea was excellent, full flavour tea. Rating ☕️☕️☕️

Moonta – Cornish Kitchen. Patrons were not overly impressed, could be stronger. Rating ☕️☕️

Whyalla – Blended Cafe – Full flavour rich coffee. Intense bold coffee. Service good, toilet was like a secret door to Narnia. Rating ☕️☕️☕️☕️

Moonta – Nook & Nourish. The skipper of Nomad 2 said full flavour  rich coffee. Rating ☕️☕️☕️☕️

Ciao  – The Coffee & Tea Committee