Another beautiful day in the south of our state today as we departed Esperance. We started the day with the traditional coffee, juice and jetty walk before loading up the car and hitting the road.
A short distance out of town and we reached our first stop, the Esperance Bird & Animal Park. We had a short walk around admiring the variety of animals they had on display with the boys enjoying feeding the goats, llamas, alpacas, sheep, miniature pony, rabbits etc. The birds were amazing with an incredible variety; I think we were all quite taken with the different pheasants and Jacobin pigeons.
300m back on the road and we were at Helms Arboretum … ummm yep nup, we were out of there pretty quickly, deciding not to look for the orchids which the area is known for. Off to Norseman we went with a quick detour to check out Bromus Dam which was originally built to store the water to power the steam trains. A much smaller dam than we expected but appears to be a spot that people may go camping in warmer weather with a rope swing to launch into the dam evident.
Not too much further up the road and we reached Norseman. What a ghost town it has become!!! There was only the IGA and one cafe open on the whole main strip. We stopped to take some photos of various statues, admire a piece of street art that came to life when you scanned a QR code, visited the Visitor Centre and attempted to go to the lookout which unfortunately was closed due to roadworks. We had lunch at the local cafe – “L” & “A” shared some fried rice while “G” & “R” both opted for BLTs. A quick refill of fuel as it is about 40c/L cheaper at Norseman than across the Nullarbor and we hit the road again.
The drive from Norseman to Balladonia saw no other cars travelling in our direction but lots heading the opposite way, mainly caravans and road trains.
We arrived in Balladonia about 4pm, a little nervous about what the accommodation may be like but were pleasantly surprised. Unloaded our bags into our room, had a little relax then headed to check out the Balladonia museum which was alright but I certainly wouldn’t recommend you make a special stop to see it.
An early dinner was in order as the kitchen shuts at 6:30pm. “A” opted for the chicken stirfry with hokkien noodles, “G” for the chicken parmigiana and the boys for cheeseburgers. All the food was really yummy. The boys grabbed icecreams and we headed back to our room for showers and an early night. Due to the drought across the Nullarbor region, water has to be trucked in from Norseman so the showers will be quick tonight!
