Day 49 - Norseman to Mundrabilla Station By Caroline

This morning we did a quick lap through Norseman and learnt that the town was named after a horse called Norseman who scratched the ground and discovered gold.  Bill decided to have a quick ride, even though it left him with a wet bum.  Adelaide chose to stay in the car.

 

We then started the drive East, and took a few driving photos.

 

 

We drove along the longest straight stretch in Australia between Balladonia and Caiguna (146.6 k's)  and we crossed our first time zone on the way home. This was a bit weird, because we didn't cross this time zone in the North. We are now in Central West Time. ( 45 minutes earlier than the west coast.) We took this photo and all the travellers are so happy to finish this straight stretch of road that they all tooted and honked and cheered us as they went past.

 

At about 4 ish we arrived at Mundrabilla Station where Meggan Carswell ( an old music / Campfires friend of Danny's ) is the governess.   She has organised for us to stay here for the night.

We met Bree and Col Campbell, and their kids Duncan ( yr 11) Soph ( yr 9) and Ben ( yr 2). Bill and Ben spent the afternoon riding motorbikes, checking the Bulls, watching cowboy movies and playing the Wii. Everyone else enjoyed the music around a fire. Duncan and Soph also play the guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

Mundrabilla is a million acre property on them western side of the Nullabour, that fronts the ocean for 30k's, and goes about 100k's from North to South. They grow cattle here. They got rid of their sheep because they couldn't stop the dingos and wild dogs.They desalinate their own water, and they have their own wind turbine, and run the property on wind power, solar power and a back up generator.

Duncan and Soph go to boarding school in Perth, which is an 8 hour drive to Kalgoorlie, so they can catch a flight to Perth. Ben does school of the air with Megs, and his main teacher is based in Kalgoorlie. There are about 30 kids in his school of the air class. Bree does her fortnightly shop at either Esperance or Kalgoorlie, which are both 8 hours away.

I asked Megs about the time zone that we crossed today, because I thought it was weird that we didn't cross one up North.   She said that it is a strange thing, because it only applies to the highway.  It doesn't extend any further North than that.  We will cross the next time zone when we get to the South Australia border tomorrow. ( about 45 mins away).