And with the last day of Easter upon us, it was once again
time to hitch up and get the Gecko stretching her legs (or should that be
webbed feet?), heading southbound for the coast.
A largely inefficient hook up occurred due to a few nomads
being rather interested (i.e. sticky beaking) into the Andersen hitch set up we
have on the van. I’m always happy to discuss things vans, but sometimes there
are better times to do it….
We had earmarked The Hannans North Tourist Mine for a visit
before we shot through and very glad we did. A spectacular display of mining
equipment from both today and yesteryear. The crown in their jewel however is
the ability to actually climb up and into the drivers seat of a decommissioned
Tonka Truck. B has decided if she’s ever going for a career change, she’d love
to have a crack at steering one. As impressive close up as they are from afar,
I think the kids almost got whiplash from trying to take it all in.
It was also paired with a loader, which was equally
impressive, but unfortunately unavailable for climbing on.
The mine is like Pioneer Settlement or Soveriegn Hill
focussing entirely on mining through the ages. Lots of displays, signage and
sound and light shows are on exhibition to learn from. I particularly liked the
explosive storage shed, and the smart design used to keep temperatures stable
(as they could) and prevent natural light.
"Just the two of us... making Islands in the Stream..."
That's one big tyre....
"Really... it's not that hard."
"Kind of like trying to find a spot at Bacchus Marsh Shopping Centre really"
'
"Bigfoot if doing it in the air!"
"It's fun to stay at the Y... M... C... A..."
That's one small Bob....
"Right... James... Pop\ says just lure them over here. Evie... you act as decoy.."
"Mum said don't come back until we've paid for supper...."
There was also a particularly relaxing Chinese garden,
established to commemorate the immigrants that played a vital role in the
mining industry. With a pond full of Koi, the kids wanted to know if we could
go get the handlines from the van in the carpark.
Finishing off trying our luck panning for gold, it is a
great museum and one we really cut our visit short on with the interest of
hitting the road. I think you could easily while away a full day there and
still leave some parts unvisited.
From there, we hit the road, with the Hawks/Cats game on the
radio… Listening to that, we’ve come to realise that Sam’s talismanic powers
are currently sorely missed. The word ‘rebuild’ comes to mind. Still… we’ve had
a reasonable run.
And from there we trundled down the highway back through
Norseman and on to a small town just outside Esperance called Gibson. The local
shire maintain a free caravan park adjacent to the pub, both of which we’ve
taken full use of tonight. A brilliant feed of various pub grub after a long
afternoon in the car is always welcome. Arriving in total darkness, we’ve no
idea what the local area looks like so it’ll be a bit of a surprise for all in
the morning.
The drawing Evie made for me at dinner whilst we whiled away an hour or so. It is quintessential to the the personality of Evie. There is no "down time" in her mind. It's always on the move. Always thinking ahead. I love her.
Onwards into Esperance and possibly onto more free camping
at Lucky Bay if a spot is available. Otherwise, we may head into town, plug
into the wall and decide our plans for the next few days or week.
After bouncing around a bit, I’m keen for a bit of an
extended stay somewhere to rest the heels. We’ve been setting a reasonable pace
in the last week since leaving Port Lincoln and I think the area around
Esperance is the perfect spot to put our feet in the sand.
We’ll see how we go tomorrow.
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