The South Coast

We were heading for .........., packed up and on the road for 11am. It was hot and there were lots of annoying flies. The white beaches of Esperance lay 187Ks south. Warm air was blowing in through the vents. It was another 'mobile oven' day! I looked through the windscreen. The open, undulating countryside was only orange scrub. Huge road-trains thundered by, tthe force of their passing shoving us across the white line. The curtain I had been hemming was finished. I made a mental note to buy white sewing cotton, bread and a lamp for night-time. The endless, grey road lined with brick-red dust, lay ahead. It was going to be a long day....
Later in the afternoon we approached a bare looking campsite in the open scrub-land. There were rusted machines lying at the entrance which resembled a junk yard and dumping ground, until I took a second look. There was something humorous about this place that attracted my attention.
Lee screwed up his nose at the scruffiness of the surrounds. I looked around, bemused. We clambered out to book a night. The reception smelled stale and a scuffy, mean looking chiawahwah checked us out and barked, alerting his owner. . Now my nose was screwed up! There were piles of junk everywhere. A noise outside the reception revealed an scrawny, old lady with the brightest tattoos that I have ever seen. She had an old man's physique and hairstyle. She was painfully thin and wore a lumberjack shirt, despite the heat. When I said ,"Wow! when I saw her tatoos she said,
"I'm one colourful lady. Ain't I?" I agreed. It was $14 for a night. We booked in.It the cheapest site ever.
As I got out I noticed that the toilet block wall had been painted with a fabulous mural, showing the countryside and local animals. I went off to have a look around. The pathway to the loo was littered with a series of discarded household items. A cane chair had a plant pushing through the seat, there was an open doored oven with a plant baking inside, an empty television set had the same. It was hard to get inside the toilet door because of the proliferation of plan growth! By the sink a broken cup lay on its side in a plant pot. Nearby a pottery frog was suspended by its feet with a plaster over its mouth. Again, this was over a plant. My favourite feature was the real, well-weathered, leather boot with the plant growing inside. I had seen so many croc versions and here was the real thing. The next morning I noticed that a dead beetle had been removed from the toilet floor and placed carefully, the right way up, on the toe of the boot. It was both eerie and fabulous. Just so very different and hugely entertaining.