Early start again on the now familiar Great Eastern Highway, breakfast at The Meckering Roadhouse. Not the best coffee in the world and microwaved sausage rolls were average but the loo was clean.

Lunch was at Southern Cross a mere 400 klms from home and a good time to give the legs a stretch. Then on to Kalgoorlie, 8 hours and 600 klms from home and an overnight stop at the Hospitality Inn. Dinner was in the Exchange of course, I don’t think we could go to Kal without stopping for a pint in the Exchange.

We skipped the now infamous breakfast at the motel and headed for Leonora, stopping off at The Gwallia ghost town and Hoover House for tea and scones.

The little settlement that grew up around the Sons of Gwalia Mine in the late 1890s thrived until the final whistle blew on 28 December 1963, closing the mine and putting 250 men out of work. Gwalia’s 1200-strong population fell to just 40 in less than three weeks.

I installed a CB Radio in the car for this trip and it had already proved its worth. When you are on the tail of a road train it is a bit of a gamble to overtake them, but if you introduce yourself over the radio and ask the truckie to let you know when it is safe to pass, the whole manoeuvre feels much safer.

Next stop was the car park at the Leonora gun club where we were to meet up with the other Pirates and create a convoy to camp (CB radio came in useful again here).