Norseman

Norseman is a gold mining town about halfway between Esperance and Kalgoorlie, and is the western end of the Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor. We've spent a couple of nights here, although we haven't seen it at its best as it has been in the 40s both days. The town was named after the horse that, supposedly, got a gold nugget stuck in his foot when a stockman camped nearby overnight, thus sparking the local rush in the 1890's. While its glory days are long gone, Norseman is a neat town with some nice parks and civic institutions, and they have gone to a fair bit of trouble to try and entice the tourists who stop off after their Nullarbor crossing to stay for more than a single night. We did several short walks through the local woodlands near town, each

providing lookouts over salt lakes, mine sites and the distant ranges, as well as good information boards on the flora and fauna (who'd have thought there could be so many different kinds of trees that all look pretty much the same). We also did a very interesting heritage drive winding past old gold workings and the traces of previous boom towns. Seeing how little is left of once bustling communities makes you wonder how long we can continue to ride the current mining boom in Australia, and what will happen when all those minerals too start to run out.

We would have liked to spend a bit more time exploring local rock formations, but the heat drove us inside to huddle in our air conditioned van watching the Australian Open tennis.