Leg 1 - Perth to Border Village

We headed out the Great Eastern Highway to Cunderdin, a quaint historic town. The feature of the main street is the Ettamogah Pub. The highway follows the water pipe line through to Kalgoorlie. Passed through Merredin where we stopped for lunch. Near Merredin we came across the place where construction of the Rabbit Proof Fence began. After a break we continued on to Koorarawalyee rest area (68Km east of Southern Cross) where we stopped for the night. This was a good free 24 hours camping spot with clean toilet facilities and a dump site. It was however quite close to the road so trucks can be noisy at night.  Met a retired NZ couple from Queensland who have been on the road for 2 years and are now planning to spend about 2 years exploring WA.

Next day we drove through Coolgardie and on to Norseman for lunch. Met another couple today who have been on the road for the last 6 years and are still going.  We decided to stop at Harms Lake rest area for the night. This was another free camp site with fire places and picnic tables but no toilets.  A great place for an overnight stop.  There were lots of sheltered nooks away from the road.

We set off early to tackle the longest stretch of straight road in Australia at 149km long including 3 RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) emergency air strips. After crossing the border we stayed at Border Village for the night. Had a lovely but huge meal in the roadhouse - highly recommend the Lamb Shanks.