We had three jobs to get done in Geraldton: new rear tyres for Rosella (tick), Stephanie's second Astra Zeneca shot (tick) and haircuts (tick)).  High demand for accommodation meant we were lucky to get an Airbnb at Bluff Point on the north side of town. The fast charger, the first we had used since Rockhampton in Qld, was in the city docks, just south of the town centre, so we headed down there after getting our fish and chips. This was near our point of embarkation 2 weeks later, on 20 October for the trip to the Houtman Abrolhos islands.  Numerous cargo ships were visible day and night hovering off shore as Geraldton, being "the only city on the Coral Coast" is a major port for grain, minerals and livestock exports, and imports of fertilizer and general cargo.  The commercial Fishing Harbour is also significant. Of course there are no cruise ships currently and lots of empty commercial premises in town.

The Geraldton Art Gallery is a great spot, and was hosting the local iteration of Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (theme: Blue) showcasing the work of Midwest community groups and artists. There was also a current exhibition of beautiful kangaroo skin bags (accompanied by a short film telling the story of the project) made by aboriginal women from the Midwest.  The Gallery had recently hosted the Big Sky Readers and Writers festival 2021 which we missed, sadly.  Stephanie had a great chat to the staff in the Gallery who strongly recommended that to "kill time" waiting for the Abrolhos trip, we drive out to the Eastern Goldfields and Kalgoorlie, and on the way, soak up Randolph Stow's novel, "Tourmaline", inspired by the town of Sandstone, which was en route. We sourced the book online as a recording, which added to the mass of music we had on a USB, all accessible through the car audio system.

Before changing direction for Kalgoorlie we also visited the Museum of Geraldton, which featured actual remains of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Batavia, including brick ballast and the large ornate archway destined for VOC headquarters in Batavia (now Jakarta). The Museum has a brilliant guided tour of the shipwreck exhibition.  Other Geraldton features were Champion Bay (Jambinbirri), the architectural legacy of Monsignor Hawes (the Catholic Church maintains a strong presence), the imposing HMAS Sydney II memorial, and the Point Moore lighthouse. Also, due to take place in Perth a week later was the trial of a local police officer for the shooting death of an aboriginal woman in Geraldton, the first police officer to be charged since 1926.  A teacher was also on trial in Geraldton in the District Court charged with a sexual assault on a student. Both persons have subsequently been acquitted.

The tyre shop replaced our rear tyres but was reluctant to do a wheel alignment on the Tesla, so this was left for a visit to Tesla in Perth. After a car wash, late on our third day in Geraldton, we headed inland, oddly enough to the east!  Our first destination, Yalgoo, had a 3 phase charger on the side of an old railway building  and a "chalet" motel room in the shire operated (quite common in WA) caravan park. The walls were rammed earth, which also seems quite common in commercial buildings in this area of WA. In Mullewa, we photographed Monsignor Hawes small church and in Yalgoo the tiny St Hyacinth's chapel. Helen Ansell is an aboriginal print maker with a gallery in Mullewa, which Stephanie wanted to visit but we were too late.

We checked out the museum in Mt Magnet (we'd both recently read Tim Winton's The Shepherd's Hut, in which Mt Magnet was the hero's ultimate destination) and then headed off to Sandstone, immersed in the dry red landscape dotted with unexpected bursts of bright wildflowers of yellow, purple, blue and red.  Our room in Sandstone was a donga at the back of the old National Hotel, simple but adequate. Importantly, with permission from the hotel, we removed the flyscreen in the bedroom to access the normal power point for charging the car. While waiting for dinner, we played one of our rare games of billiards, which Peter won for a change. It was easy to imagine the characters from Tourmaline in the setting of this pub which has probably changed little since it was built.

A strange experience in Sandstone was the not uncommon mosquito "fogging" by the council on dusk. This involved a ute driving slowly through the streets ("keep your animals inside" said the notice in the shop windows) emitting thick, grey smoke from what seemed like a very noisy exhaust. We inspected the local historic sites on the outskirts of town, including London Bridge, a natural rock archway, and the remains of a brewery hewn out of rock.

Heading east from Sandstone into the Eastern Goldfields Region, we rolled into Leinster for the 3 phase outlet at a well-watered sports field. We were unable to persuade the administrator to switch on the power. However, while we waited the sprinklers came on and doused the car in salty artesian water that dried leaving thin lines of calcium carbonate on the duco and glass roof. Beware, it is very difficult to remove but possible using white vinegar. Leinster was established in 1976 and is owned by BHP and Agnew Gold for exclusive inhabitance of their staff and families. A little jaded by the calcium shower, we headed for Leonora that was not showing as having 3 phase available for charging.

In contrast to Leinster, in Leonora, we were welcomed with open arms at the Visitor Centre (historic former bank building). We spotted a 3 phase outlet high on an outside wall that no one realised was there! A local went home to retrieve her ladder so that we could safely reach the outlet, and the manager got permission to leave the rear courtyard open for us after hours so we could finish charging after she went home.  While we waited in comfort (invited to help ourselves to the crop of kale in the back yard) we were approached by a number of local indigenous people asking questions about the car. One woman brought her youngster who had spotted us earlier (9 year old boys are onto these EVs); he'd insisted she drive him to town for a closer look.

 Alexis came over to sell us a painting to help out her cousin who needed some extra cash (we bought it and donated it to the visitor centre as we had no room in the tightly packed Tesla), and told us about the photo portrait  of her grandmother Luxie, which we'd see the next day in the exhibition at the Gwalia Museum.  The local upper house state member Neil Thompson, based in Broome, came over for a chat, and arranged for the local reporter to interview Stephanie by phone for an article about our adventures.  Ultimately we stayed in Leonora's "Lodge", the local massive mine staff accommodation, reminiscent of our experience in Mt Isa last year. Sometimes it's a bit like sleeping in a cold room….

By this stage we were well on our way south and before we took the road to Kalgoorlie, we detoured to Gwalia (Welsh name for Wales), a faithfully preserved mining shanty town located at the foot of the stately residence occupied in the late 1800's by Herbert Hoover, as manager during his 20's, of the Sons of Gwalia mine.  (Yes, the same Herbert Hoover who later became one of the less memorable POTUS). The beautiful historic house is maintained as a bed and breakfast and we had a Devonshire tea on the verandah, overlooking the rose gardens and the huge pit which continues to produce gold. The sprawling town and comprehensive museum of early mining implements are well worth the time we invested, along with the professionally curated exhibition of photos of past residents of Gwalia and their advocacy for preservation of the old town.

A quick side trip took us along some dirt to Lake Ballard to inspect the strange sculptures by Antony Gormley.  Unfortunately the speeding traffic threw up some sharp rocks and we were fearful Rosella was going to need a windscreen replacement…she certainly suffered some small chips but proved that Elon's glassware is robust.  We climbed the hill in the salt lake to get a more "objective" view.

Next stop Kalgoorlie: we chose the motel opposite the 3 phase charger provided in the council premises carpark.  Whilst the main street is full of impressive ornate old hotels, a lot of shops are empty, and it is hoon town on steroids on Friday and Saturday nights.  The police don't seem interested in enforcing noise and speed limits. The treasures we uncovered were the local branch of the WA Museum, which celebrates the extent of gold discoveries in the Goldfields, with real gold bars kept in a strong room at night.  A local wedding within the museum (top of the derrick was closed off), the tiny old pub and a real miner's cottage that was an actual home until the 1980's were the highlights.  Stephanie was particularly taken by the old lino patterns and the classic rag rugs.  The Australian Archives touring exhibition Spy: Espionage in Australia, was visiting, and put Stephanie in mind of her friend Sandra Hogan's recently published book "With my little Eye".

We had a delightful late afternoon visit to Kalkurla, a 200 ha regrowth bushland reserve showcasing the flora of the Great Western Woodlands, about 4 km from the Kalgoorlie city centre. The Great Western Woodlands is “the largest remaining area of intact Mediterranean climate woodland on earth (16 million hectares)” including mallee, woodlands and shrub-lands between forests of the south west and desert to the north east.  Vast areas were impacted or totally decimated by the discovery of gold and all that followed.  The woodlands of the region were clear felled (3 million hectares around Kalgoorlie) to fuel steam engines, condensers and to build infrastructure and homes between the late 1800's and mid 1900s (see below).  Only recently has the value of these woodlands been acknowledged in terms of their biodiversity (although the small mammals which became extinct during this drastic process cannot be recovered). The regrowth, which contains over 3000 species of flowering plants, is being encouraged. The diversity of WA's flora is gobsmacking, and although peak flowering was over, we were continually delighted by the vast varieties of Eremophila, Salmon gum and Gimlet.

Next stop Coolgardie, turning west.  It's the opposite of Kalgoorlie, quiet and graciously faded.  The volunteer at the Museum located in the Mining Warden's building, invited Stephanie to take a look at the Court Room, which is to be used as a set for the next series of Mystery Road. Also at Coolgardie, a Devonshire Tea at the old mining warden's home on the hill, in the hands of the National Trust.  Peter found the piano in the house had been donated by a distant Tonkin relative(?). It had been brought to Albany from Truro in Cornwall by a Clara Tonkin (nee Kitto), aboard the DSS Demosthenes in 1927-28.  She and Mary Knapp were re-joining Thomas Tonkin.  This calls for a whole lot more research…..maybe?

Having searched online for a campsite within the Great Western Woodlands we came upon Boondi rock, not far off the bitumen en route to Perth. We were desperate to return to our tent in the bush. Unfortunately, there were 40 km winds at the time that filled the tent with fine red dust, despite the fly screens. Nevertheless, Boondi was a good choice and unexpectedly gave us an education in the early use of granite outcrops as mini water catchments. There are any number of these rock outcrops in the region and several were used to supply water to early steam trains that were working the Northam to Kalgoorlie gold shipments, or were serving the woodline rail routes back to Kalgoorlie and other mines. Woodlines were supply lines of timber that branched out in every direction and formed a vast network to service mine sites, home building and condensers, which provided fresh water for the booming population. This insatiable appetite for wood was partly curbed by the advent of diesel engines that helped to displace steam power at the turn of the century. The rock water catchments and dams were also eventually made redundant by the 557 km long water pipeline supplying Coolgardie from Mundaring Dam, which was built between 1898 and 1903. It was the brainchild of C.Y. O’Connor, and a major reason for the long term success of the goldfields. Note: An early steam train required over 70 kL of water to make the return journey between Northam and Kalgoorlie and steam trains themselves were used to bring wood in along the woodlines. We had a full day of walking from the Boondi catchment and dam to a salt lake, 7 km to the north through woodland and heath, guided by our compass and GPS. The highlight was a perfect sighting of a Scarlet-chested Parrot, the downside was a very dusty tent on our return!

The most enigmatic Plugshare charging venue ever was Koora Retreat, hosted by Peter and Anna, only 30 km further down the Highway from Boondi. It is an anglican retreat house, built out of salvaged bits and pieces by extremely resourceful people. They are particularly proud that the charger is largely powered by their solar installation. They insisted that we join them for morning tea, which we did without hesitation, before we repaid the favour with an hour or so helping them pack to move to Melbourne the following Friday. The property is on the market and would be a perfect place for the right people. Apparently it was originally owned by a convicted drug dealer who sold it for cash to one of his "colleagues" who neglected to register the transfer.  At the same time the owner sold it to Anna, who was unaware of the double dealing, and who did register the transfer.  When the other purchaser turned up to take up residence, he had lucked out.  It wasn't worth his while to go to the police.