Woorlba Homestead - Balladonia - Norseman - Coolgardie - Lake Douglas (near Kalgoorlie)

448kms / 8 hrs

We changed to WA time today so gained 1.5 hours. We woke up at 5:30am and tried to go back to sleep but the kids woke up so we all had a cuddle in bed and then got ready and had brekkie. We left at 6:30am and drove the 50km to Balladonia.

We stopped at the roadhouse to see the cultural heritage museum and bits of the Skylab which landed 40km east on Woorlba Sheep station (where we stayed last night) in 1979. It was very coincidental that it happened on the 12th July and we were here on the 13th July.

Once we left Balladonia Rog & I were on the lookout for Camels but unfortunately we didn't find any. The lady at the roadhouse was lucky enough to spot 12 of them about 2 weeks ago when she was relaxing on the airstrip.

We have had lot's of rain showers today whilst driving the last bit of the Nullarbor. We finished the Nullarbor by arriving in Norseman. This is a gold mining town. So after visiting the tourist information (the kids received their certificates for crossing the Nullarbor) they had a play in the park, a scooter ride in the skate park (Josh had no fear and wanted to go off the very top ramp but I wouldn't let him) and lunch. We then drove to Beacon Hill Lookout which looks out over the gold mine and the town. We drove past the famous Norseman Horse and tin camels, fuelled and then kept driving.

Next was a drive through Coolgardie which is a pretty town with older style buildings and then we arrived at Lake Douglas at 2:30pm. The kids were in heaven, they got to throw rocks in the lake and then 2 dogs came over and thought the rocks were something more fun so they kept chasing them and then the owners gave them a ball so the kids spent hours playing with the dogs. Then they had a ride on their bikes/scooters and befriended some other kids.

We had grilled fish and vegetables for dinner next to the lake and it was beautiful watching the sunset.

We saw a kangaroo, parrots, eagle (sadly no camels)