Esperance WA, Museum, Skylab, Wind Farm, The Dome, Radio valves

Esperance WA April 15, 2015

Overcast, windy and showering again this morning. The only thing to do was visit the local museum, at least it's inside. Actually it's inside the old Bond stores, and houses a vast collection of items. Everything looks like its at least been cleaned and tidied a bit before being put on display, and they obviously move things around a bit to try and keep it interesting. here are a few snaps

Early anaesthetic machine. Museum. Esperance WA

Stepping out in style. Museum. Esperance WA

Old farm machines. Museum. Esperance WA

Various petrol pums. Museum. Esperance WA 

Postage stamp vending machine. Museum. Esperance WA

'W' class steam locomotive. Museum. Esperance WA

One of Esperance's claims to fame is that it's where a bunch of space junk from Skylab landed in 1979, I found their display a little disappointing, perhaps all the best bits have been sold off by their owners.

No, it's not the actual Skylab. Museum. Esperance WA

Space junk from Skylab. Helium and water tanks. Museum. Esperance WA

They fined NASA $400 for littering... . Museum. Esperance WA

My favourite was this collection of radio valves, I've never seen anything like it

Radio Valves. Museum. Esperance WA

Esperance also claims to be the site of the first Wind Farm in Australia. A farm of 6, 60w generators were installed on the ridge behind Salmon Beach in 1987. These are tiny compared to todays ones. They have one cut-down in town and have left this one standing on the site

First wind farm in Australia. Esperance WA

Just down the road a bit are a series of beaches: 9 mile, 10mile and 11 mile. I guess they ran out of names after West, Blue Haven, Twilight, Observatory, Salmon and others. The coastline here is typical of WA, its quite a drop down to the actual water level and the beach, so they have these sets of stairs, which are all being replaced. This one at 11 mile is a cracker -

11 Mile Beach. Esperance WA

We were in the mood for another lunch out, this time we chose the old-world charm atmosphere of the Dome, which of course is all-new, but looks the part

The Dome (look up, its a alf world dome set into the ceiling). Esperance WA

Judy at The Dome cafe. Esperance WA

Their is this abstract whale-tail thing on the foreshore, near the site of the old Government James St Wharf.

The whale tail. Esperance WA

Speaking of wharves, there is the remains of one right outside our van park door. It was privately built in 1894 so they could load ships more easily and instantly became very busy. Unfortunately, Forrest and his mates, representing the Government, built their own wharf at James street and declared a ban on the use of the one at Newtown, which is what ours was called. It was just left to fall apart, which it has succeeded in doing over the next 100 plus years.

Newtown Wharf. Esperance WA