Farewell, Esperance

 

We've been in Esperance a week. In addition to all those chores and repairs David outlined and completed, the huge loads of laundry we did and the re-provisioning trips, we've also had the chance to do quite a bit of touring and sightseeing. I told you there'd be compromises between work and fun!

Without a doubt, the Great Ocean Drive and the LeGrand National Park top the list of to-do's here.

As always though, it's the people that we meet who make the difference and saying goodbye is one of our least favorite things we do. We are always amazed and grateful for the unbridled generosity that we receive from people we've never met before. Time to say farewell. During the short time we've been here, we've met some very hospitable, lovely, outgoing people. Del and Mark on Norlee were wonderful to us. We shared cocktails, lunch, dinner, morning coffee, rides to the “bolt” shop, their car, their friendship … thanks! Sue … It's great to know that it's just not our mothers who read our daily blogs (and perhaps not even them!). Please keep reading and keep in touch.

Fay and Fud Mackenzie … of the famed Mackenzie mob … thanks for your hospitality and show of friendship to absolute strangers. What a splendid couple! All the folks at the ultra-friendly Esperance Bay Yacht Club.

Thanks for letting us use the club mooring gratis (wow!). Thanks for taking the time to stop by and say hello. Thanks for being so welcoming to visiting Yanks.

As if to cheer us on our way, the local seal celebrity, Sammy, appeared in the shallow water off the yacht club as we made our last trip ashore.

With E/SE winds forecast, we're once again heading west. Next anchorage, Bremer Bay, we think. Next port of call: Albany. Come on. Take your Stugeron, get on some warm, comfy clothes, and join us for the next leg of our trip. We'd really enjoy your company.

Huge Littering Fine in Esperance, WA

 

Walking by the Esperance Museum the other day, we did a double-take. There sitting on their front lawn was a rather large replica of the US space station, SkyLab. “What on earth for?”, we wondered. A huge banner on the side of the building proclaimed “In 1979, a spaceship crashed over Esperance. We fined them $400 for littering.” They had us … we had to go in for a visit and learn more.

On May 14, 1973, Skylab, the United States' first space station, was launched unmanned by a Saturn V at the Kennedy Space Center. Three manned missions to the station were conducted between 1973 and 1974. The orbiting workshop was designed for research on scientific matters, such as the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body. Though Skylab was devised for just a 9-year lifespan, NASA hadn't really planned for bringing the craft back to Earth at the end of its mission. Oops! In late 1978, when NASA engineers discovered the station’s orbit was decaying rapidly, there was a mad rush to come up  with a solution … one alternative … alter its orbit and let it become space junk. That didn't work and it became evident Skylab was coming home … in a blaze of glory. In the early morning hours of July 12, 1979, in Skylab's final orbital path, it's 34,981st, the craft began breaking up over the Indian Ocean, but many of its pieces cascaded to Earth in the Esperance area. Miraculously, no lives were lost and minimal damage was done.

One large glass display in the museum encased numerous pieces of Skylab.

Some were so large, they didn't fit into the display case.

About the littering fine … The Esperance municipality fined the United States $400 for littering ... someone had to collect all those spacecraft parts strewn hither and thither about the area. The hefty fine was never paid. Nevada-based Highway Radio's host, Scott Barley, happened to read about the unpaid fine and, on a lark, challenged his morning show listeners to raise the funds. He was successful and the fine was paid on behalf of NASA in 2009. The check was cashed, but a copy remains in the museum. It seems Esperance forgave the 30 years of late fees and interest and even accepted the paid fine in US dollars. Pretty generous of them!

Skylab's crash was obviously not a surprise and therefore bets were placed worldwide on the time and place of its re-entry to earth. The San Francisco Examiner offered a $10,000 prize for the first piece of Skylab to be delivered to their offices. Stan Thornton, a 17-year old Esperance fellow, climbed onto his roof, collected a few pieces of Skylab, caught a flight to San Fran and collected the prize. How cool is that.

A little Skylab trivia for you …

The Skylab program cost $2.2 billion from 1966 to 1974, or $16 billion in 2014 inflation-adjusted dollars. Its three missions of three-man crews spent 510 total man-days in space; each man-day costs $21 million in 2014 dollars.

… the rest of the museum. It's been housed in an old railroad goods shed (1902) and a Customs bonding shed (1895) since 1976 and it's crammed full of local memorabilia, railroad cars, farm implements, a pilot boat … pretty much every facet of life from the 19th century to present in Esperance is represented.

They even have a tin dunny (outhouse) on display, a single-holer complete with a large spider hanging in the corner. It seems redback spiders like hiding in dunnies … especially under the toilet seat. Ouch! There's even a song about it. Have a listen.

Around Town - Esperance, Western Australia

 

One of things we enjoy doing in a new port is learning and identifying things that differentiate it from all the rest. It might be the way the Esperance foreshore is lined with Norfolk pines or the way the town embraces these beautiful trees and makes them the centerpiece of the town center with benches that wrap around the huge trunks.

There's a lot of history here in which Esperance folks obviously take pride. There's the Mackenzie waterfront garden we've spoken of, and various ocean and historical sculptures and artifacts displayed along the foreshore.

They've even embedded historical markers and brass castings of marine life into their sidewalks.

The shire's first school, a small, but handsome stone building, is now the RSL (The Returned and Services League... like the VFW organization in the US) headquarters in town.

There's a tribute to Sammy the Seal and great views at the end of the historic tanker jetty, we're told. However, nearly the whole foreshore is currently cordoned off for construction, including the jetty access, and we never got to see Sammy. And that “boutique aquarium” that Lonely Planet described has been gone for a couple of years … probably taking the “pink” from Pink Lake with it.

There's a park near the museum with a lotus pond and an interesting sculpture. Pleasant, circuitous paved walks take you through a thick copse of gum trees, alive with bird song.

Also near the museum is a huge propeller from one of the first wind turbines erected in the area as a research facility near Salmon Beach. There's an overlook platform you can climb up to give you a first hand idea of how huge the props are, not to mention a good view of the harbor.

This area is known for its wildflowers in Spring, but since it's autumn, there's not much in bloom. I spotted a yellow daisy-like flower that at long range I passed off as a dandelion, then did a second take when I saw it up close growing along the side of the road near the beach. Subsequently, I saw it growing everywhere. I couldn't identify it, but a local fellow has a great blogsite on Esperance flora and fauna and when I contacted him with the pic, William Archer answered immediately. My mystery flower is a South African weed, gazania linearis, known popularly as a treasure flower. Weed or no, it was a bit of bright color along the roadside.

Here's a bit of Esperance trivia for you … In January 2007, the national media claimed that Esperance experienced "the perfect storm" with wind gusts of up to 110 km/h (70 mph/hurricane force) which brought 155mm (6”) of rain in a 24-hour period, causing significant flooding (and the loss of the pink from Pink Lake). It wreaked havoc in the area, destroying homes, boats, livestock and part of the bridge which connects Esperance with Perth. We read the article and hoped there was no “perfection” around while we visited.

And I leave you with this trivia tidbit ...Beatles guitarist, George Harrision, used to visit Condinup, a farming region near Esperance. Makes you want to say ... wow!

There's more … when NASA's Skylab fell from the sky in 1979 in a blaze of glory, big chunks of it landed here in Esperance … we're heading to the museum tomorrow to check it out. Come on along!