Norseman and Esperance

The one and only caravan park at Norseman was ordinary but expensive at $40 for one night. We stayed hooked up to reduce the amount of packing up in the rain in the morning. We didn't see much of Norseman but I was taken by the camel statues made from corrugated iron which are featured at a main roundabout in the town.

It is only a 2 hour drive from Norseman to Esperance and it was dry when we arrived and set up camp but the forecast was for wind and rain with the possibility of 100kph gusts. We stocked up supplies from the local Woolies and battened down.

At 2am we were woken by the noise of the wind and rain which caused the caravan aerial to bang. We finally worked out cause of the banging but could not go back to sleep because of the noise of the wind and the shaking of the van. Our caravan park is one block from the beach and that has provided a lot of protection from the wind. The two parks on the foreshore don't allow dogs so we were lucky in having no choice other than to stay here because the wind at the foreshore parks must have been a lot worse. The wind did not get to 100kph but maxed out at 82kph at the Esperance airport.

At 5am the power went out for most of Esperance. The van ticks over to 12 volt for lights etc and we turned on the gas for the fridge and the water heater. The power was back on within a couple of hours.The downpour caused minor flooding at the caravan park and we needed gum boots to get to the toilet block.

It rained on and off most of the day but the wind died down by mid morning. The dogs have been in the car all day and night except when taken for walks. Both were keen to get back in each time to escape the wind or rain. As soon as the weather clears we will be visiting the car wash which also has a dog wash!

We plan to visit Cape Le Grande national park when the rain clears on Friday so the dogs will be off to doggy day care. In the meantime we will explore Esperance between showers.