I decided to wander back towards the coast. Departing the blacktop at Coolgardie put me back on a reasonable dirt road. I was heading through some rough country with rather ugly mallee scrub, which then gives way to isolated growths of beautiful native bush.
While in Kalgoorlie I had invested in a new set of tyres. The old tyres had done around 44,00Km and were getting a little worse for wear. I figured that was a pretty reasonable mileage, given I had expected them to perform on some pretty rough roads over the last 18 months.
WA has many salt lakes in this area; I was expecting the lakes here to be dry and I wasn’t disappointed. Walking on the salt is interesting, as it crackles and crunches underfoot. But it can end badly; it is often soft underneath the salt crust, so you can suddenly sink ankle deep in thick gloopy goo!
As I enjoyed a quiet evening drink sitting on the lake shore, it was obvious there was a storm brewing. The storm approached quite quickly and appeared very threatening. I reluctantly retreated to the camper as lightning flashes lit the looming darkness over the lake.
But while it produced strong gusty winds and a spectacular thunder and lightning show, very little rain fell and the storm quickly passed over.
The next morning dawned clear and sunny. The area around the lake is home to a forest of Eucalypts known as Gimlet gums (Eucalyptus salubris). The new bark of these beautiful trees is an amazing copper-colour and looks spectacular, as the trees seem to glow intensely in the early morning sunlight.
Gimlet trees, which are salt tolerant, have a preference for rich loamy soils, so unfortunately are often cleared for farming land. I guess the soil this close to the lake is too salty for farming, so hopefully these are safe.
