Perth to Sydney Day 2, Wed 20 March 19

Hooray! I have wifi again. I will just write up the Wed/Thurs travel story.
We left the golden wheat stubble paddocks of Southern Cross early after a toasted sandwich breakfast at the roadhouse.
The countryside was now undulating low scrub. As we crested each rise we could see over a huge vista of uninterruped greenery. The closer we rode to Coolgardie the more trees there were. Beautiful pink barked Salmon Gums and red barked Gimlets. It took me a while to differentiate the two because a lot have similar slim trunks. I eventually picked out the bright green foliage of the Salmon Gums in contrast with the blue grey slender leaves of the Gimlets.
We had a peculiar (for us)  conversation with a recently retired man at the Coolgardie service station. He said they had just bought a new caravan and set off for a holiday in Coff's Harbour NSW. However by the time they reached Caiguna which is the 2nd roadhouse out of Norseman he decided it was too difficult. He turned around and was going home to catch the plane. His wife was tight lipped and unsmiling. Seems to me he had no sense of adventure.
It was a warm day again so we enjoyed the air conditioning at the Norseman Roadhouse for half an hour before setting off for Fraser Range. As we rode I noticed that the gums along the way were only just starting to shed their old bark so still looked a bit dowdy. It is much drier out here so it could be a water saving factor. There is resealing work all along the Highway. We were held up for a while while some tar was sprayed and chatted with the young woman holding the Stop/Slow sign. She was young, petite, tiny with full make up on her very fair skin. She told us she had trained as a make-up artist but couldn't get work. A friend had linked her into the job. She was working 14 hour days and her only complaint was that her throat and hands had coloured up in the first few days before she was given some gloves and zipped her jacket right up. She is loving the income.
Fraser Range Station is great. Our bedroom was in the old stone Shearer's Quarters and was very comfortable. Water is scarce so we were given a dollar coin to put in  the hot water system for 5 minutes worth. It was enough. Dinner was delicious and we went to bed content with our world.