What a trip! The weather has been absolutely dreadful for the last two weeks.
12th Nov. Pulled in to Forrestania Plots which was an absolutely delightful campsite. It was a trial back in 1920 or so to try to develop the area for farming but failed. The campsite has some beaut Rottnest Island Pines which were planted as windbreak and they provide some great shade and shelter.
The area is all heathland so it is quite dense scrub and not really suitable for rambling. Still thunderstorms every day and night, so I will stay here for a couple of days until the weather sorts itself out.16th Nov. The weather was still lousy, but I moved on anyway. The road is is very good condition, draining well but of course it is throwing red mud all over the van. I had planned to stop at "The Breakaways" but the ground was very muddy and the sandy areas were very boggy, but the area is very picturesque and would be a very nice site in good weather.
Still pouring with rain so I kept on going. Pulled into McDermid Rock which is nearly as big as Wave Rock. It has the same surf wave type formation, but not as extensive. 
One thing about this rain, the water cascading off the rock is very impressive. 
This whole trip along the Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail is very well marked and signposted. Every area has information panels illustrating the attractions. The walk trails at McDermid Rock and at Disappointment Rock are well worth the wander.20th November. Still raining although no thunderstorms and there are a couple of hours sunshine each day. I pushed on and refueled in Norseman and bought some essentials and then to Dundas Rocks which is an abandoned mining townsite 25km south of Norseman. Nothing left but the old dam. There is no trace of any of the old buildings, just signs indicating where they were. Plenty of opportunity for bushwalking, there are dozens of tracks all over the place. One thing, there are HORDES of March Flies all over the place - definitely long sleeves and trousers required around here. There is one drawback to this site as a camp. There is not one level spot in the entire area. I must have tried about 7 or 8 spots before I found one that was even approximately level. Thank heavens I bought a pair of levelling wedges when I was in Perth.
28th Nov. The weather has improved a fair bit although it is still very variable. I'm not getting much value out of the $1000 I spent on a solar panel when I was in Perth. On Wednesday (25th) the temperature got up to 39 degC during the day and by 6pm I had to put a pullover on, it got down to 7.5 degC during the night and the next day the temperature never got over 18 degC. Crazy! There have been plenty of fine spells however and lots of bush walking to do and very few travellers stopping, only about one or two a night and then not every night so I am stretching the friendship a bit by staying on.
30 Nov. Three days in Esperance to do some shopping, banking, wash the car and van etc. I spent many pleasant holidays in Esperance many years ago when I lived in Kalgoorlie, so there isn't too much that I want to do around here. Tomorrow I'm off to Cape LeGrand and Cape Arid and then up the Balladonia Track to the Eyre Highway.
I'm not sure when I will have coverage again, perhaps Balladonia in a week or so - see you soon.
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