Leonora, Home of the Golden Gift

We had three days stop-over at Leonora, another old gold-mining service centre, the city stands today as a major supply base for several mines around the area, busy FIFO airport, busy cross roads where mining trucks and mine supply vehicles hold sway. What could have been average stay, we happened to have arrived at the weekend of the first Sunday in June, Western Australia Foundation Day, Leonora was about to be invaded by cyclists and athletes from all over Australia.
First, the Leonora Golden Gift, a foot race around the main street with several thousand dollars of prizes, apparently has a long history and attracts runners from all over. Just so happens that we were able to watch two of Australia's Olympic hopefuls, cross the line to take out both the male and female first places. Hopefully it was a fine lead up to London for both.

The other event is relatively new, only been going a few years, a cycling classic race. Originally a race from Kalgoorlie to Menzies, the race has been extended to take in a second day for the ride from Menzies to Leonora. Again, entrants from all over Australia cycled the 140-odd k for a prize and personal achievement. From the commentary as the peloton arrived in town, local riders didn't disappoint. The final sprint around town was quite exciting, to see that the athletes were able to find reserves of power for the final few hundred metres after the long climb from Menzies. A fun weekend, busy in town, we were camped at the town sports ground, a great view of the Saturday night fireworks and far enough away from the music to be able to hear in a more comfortable environment.

Leinster-Mt Magnet
Our next phase of our tandem drive north was first to Leinster, a purpose built modern small township that serves a local mineral mining community. Visit to the shop and top up fuel, a nice little place that seems quite welcoming to travellers. Fuel had to be obtained from a self serve, card in the slot servo. Bad luck if you needed fuel on a public holiday without a credit card, but handy for us, cheaper than we were likely to get for a while.

We next free camped west from Leinster at a nice stop-over, Peter Denny Lookout. This camp site has a lovely aspect over the break-a-ways, coloured craggy cliffs where weather and water has eroded the land creating a spectacular amphitheatre with view across the vast outback WA. Kangaroos grazed below as we watch again, a spectacular sunset to be followed by brilliant star-studded night, the "clouds" of the Milky Way clearly visible above. We observed a man-made satellite passing overhead, the third night running and we wondered if it was the International Space Station.

Next morning, further westwards to the small town of Sandstone, this proved to be a bit of a surprise place. Again, built around the gold rush days and early pastoral settlement, there was a good exhibition of historical photographs and paraphernalia of old. Included was an interesting article about a famous murder mystery which involved the author of the well known Detective Bonaparte novels. (Arthur Upfield). Not the author doing the deed, but someone who apparently heard him explaining how to get rid of dead bodies in one of his novels. The alleged murder was suspected of several killings, disposing of the bodies in a fire mixed with animal bones to cover up the deaths. The man was caught out, tried and eventually hanged in WA. This could well be a good example of the old adage of truth being stranger than fiction.

Further westwards, along a good sealed road, we arrived around mid afternoon at Mount Magnet, the junction of the Great Northern Highway. Had a quick visit to the information centre to suss out some of the mining and pastoral history and considered our next stop for the night.

Lake Nallan, about 40k north allowed for two days camping. We had stayed here before in 2006 and the lake had been full, not so today, a small lake at the camping end was all that remained. Inhabited by 5 black swans, several pelicans, numerous other water birds, we couldn't work out what they fed on as there was no sign of fish or shrimp. One unique resident was a single Australian Bustard; shy, he kept away from our side of the lake.

Click on the link below to view some more photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/KalgoorlieToLeonora?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCML8_ab8qKCdfg&feat=directlink

 

Smoky Bay to Norseman

On a foggy morning, we agreed to get going to Ceduna and start our trip across the Nullarbor, taking advantage of a three day good weather forecast. A refuel stop at Ceduna and we were on our way across one of the worlds famous "drives". As this was our second trip from East to West, the road ahead didn't hold as much apprehension for us as before. Having done the trip both ways in 2006, it was now a bit hum-drum. The biggest worry was, and proved to be, the high cost of fuel.
We passed through Penong, famous for windmills; we didn't think that there were as many to be counted as last time. Looking at our 2006 photos, this seems to be the case. As many were dilapidated, they have either fallen down or been dismantled.

The start of the Nullarbor (no trees) is close to the Head of the Bight, a popular whale watching location but a bit early for them. However, along the way, talking to a truck driver on the CB, he could see a pair of whales from his cab; he was sitting a bit higher than us so we missed them.
We also found that several of the cliff top look-outs between Nullarbor Road House and the SA-WA Border have been closed since we last crossed, environment concerns for where the jagged 90 metre high cliffs plunge straight down to the Southern Ocean have led to restrictions of access.

After one night camp, we passed through the Border Village into Western Australia, a photo stop at the roadhouse, a final quarantine check; we reset the clocks to eastern WA time and set off for Mundrabilla, our next refuelling stop.

A near disaster, close to empty on one tank in the Landcruiser, pulled into the servo only to find out that the roadhouse had run out of diesel. Due to a major truck blitz by WA police and Road Transport Authority, Mundrabilla had a queue of road-trains that were having a "forced" rest period; they had caused a major run on the supplies. So our next refuelling stop, about 140-odd Kilometres away, Madura Pass. Just so happens, this was the dearest diesel on the route, $1:97 c/l, over $260 to refuel, ouch!

After another night camp, we travelled the "Longest Straight in Australia" (145.6K, 90 miles) to Balladonia, famous for its "Sky-Lab" exhibit, and then on to Norseman.

Norseman doesn't hold any attractions for us so after a fuel stop, a visit to the tourist centre, we headed north towards Kalgoorlie and another overnight free camp 12k away.

Click on the link below to view some photos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/SmokyBayToNorseman?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNnasbmH3qzZGQ&feat=directlink

Kalgoorlie to Leonora

After crossing the Nullarbor to Norseman, we started to head north towards the Gold Fields Country. Lots of history is to be found up here. Here the State of Western Australia first derived its wealth and autonomy from the Eastern States. (The Gold Field population actually voted against WA joining the Eastern States at the Federation Referendums, city slickers carried the day). Kalgoorlie remains as the centre of gold mining where the "Super-Pit", the biggest open cut gold mine, still holds sway. Many buildings in the city are tributes to the original gold miners who came from all over the world to make their fortune or to die in the harsh WA outback.

The Gold Fields Way, the road north from Kalgoorlie to Leonora and onwards, is now the gateway to many more modern mines that are spreading across the state, now there is a plethora of minerals, besides gold, that is the new wealth.

After a week of R&R at Kalgoorlie, house-work and maintenance, we headed further north and spent a night at Menzies, remaining as one of the old mining towns, Menzies is getting a bit of a make-over, new caravan park, sealed back streets and under-ground power. A must do visit from Menzies is to Lake Ballard and a walk around the salt lake to view the Antony Gormley sculptures, 51 bronze-alloy statues and to sit at the Snake Hill look-out to watch the magnificent sunset.

Next day, headed north again for a free camp at Niagara Dam, south of Leonora, the dam was built around 1901 to provide water for the steam trains hat had followed the miners. An historical report of the time quotes "....the dam cost 50 000 pounds to build and was never used for its intended market, a gross waste of money". It seems that water pipes beat the dam builders to it. Badly affected by the vagaries of the inland WA weather, we were lucky to find the dam full to the top. Swans and many other water birds had taken up residency, yabbies were to be caught but it was the lovely walks through the scrub and around the "Breakaways" that appealed to us. We found that the old dam was badly weathered and leaking quite profusely from a large crack, causing us to recount the story of the boy who put his finger in the dam to stop a catastrophe.

We left the Dam camp site to stay for three days at Leonora, home of the richest gold mine of the era, Gwalia Mine. The old mine township has been recreated and makes for a great visit to see how the old miners lived. Modern Leonora is a centre for the new mines, the airport busy with Fly-in-Fly-Out (FIFO) mining staff. Ore trucks carrying the mining materials now dominate the Gold Fields Way, 53 metres long. Several trailers, best to keep out of their way.

Click on the link below to view more photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/KalgoorlieToLeonora?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCML8_ab8qKCdfg&feat=directlink

Napperby to Kalgoorlie

Well, here we are at Kalgoorlie, WA, 2,001Km from Napperby via Smoky Bay, SA. On our way to Karratha, far North West of Western Australia; a long story that we will keep short. 2012 was to be the year that we decided would be a return to WA, a big state with plenty of choices and places to see. Vicki’s son Josh has taken on employment at Karratha-Dampier, right up in the Pilbara district of WA. With his family, Kendehl and Arthur, they couldn’t have moved any further away from Melbourne without going off-shore. They had a problem, their Toyota Hilux couldn’t be shipped with them and we thought that it would be a good idea to drive it up there for them. Google Maps measured the distance at 3,856km via Kalgoorlie, through the Gold Fields Country and up to Newman and turn left at the Great Northern Highway.

As an aside, when grandson Arthur was last with us, he left his favourite toy, a talking Elmo, (of Sesame Street Fame), and we are taking him back. We are trying to interest young Arthur in our travels by photographing Elmo at strategic locations and at landmarks that identify our route. People have a grin when they see us posing Elmo and we even have got his own “I crossed the Nullarbor” Certificate.

Three days at Smoky Bay could easily have been extended but the weather forecast predicted a good few days ahead that proved ideal for the long crossing of the Nullarbor Plains, most will tell you that it is always windy and with fuel prices of up to $2 per litre, a head wind would be very undesirable.

So we have travelled to Kalgoorlie, Vicki driving the Hilux, me the Land Cruiser with the van, four nights of bush camping; here we will have a quiet few days before heading north via the Gold Fields Highway, Elmo, Vicki and me, in convoy with places to see and people to meet. At the end of the drive, Vicki will delight in catching up with “Smurf” and he can’t wait to be re-united with Elmo.

Click on the link below to view some photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/NapperbyToKalgoorlie?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMihptuQ2_SkiQE&feat=directlink

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our readers, trust that 2012 will be a good year for you all and that fellow travellers have safe and exciting travels around this great country.
December saw us back at our “home” base at Napperby, South Australia where we joined the family for the festive season. This year we have enjoyed the extra company of my brother Pete and his wife visiting from Derby, UK. They insisted on coming to SA in December-January as they wanted a bit of sun. Well to date, they have seen the worst storm ever. Sixty-six mm of rain, hail and strong winds that blew down trees, a power pole and disrupted power for 17hrs. Since then, several days over 40 degrees, hot north winds today and praying for the cool change that might bring some rain.
We totted up the statistics of our first travels in the Truelux 5th wheeler van. We travelled a total of 16861 Kilometres, 8086 kilometres towing the van; Used 2907 litres of diesel, at an average cost of $1.49 cents/litre. We had 254 days of travel between picking up the new van, two visits to Melbourne for service and four states, one territory. We crossed state borders 11 times, changed clocks three times and had all four seasons of weather. Climbed a mountain, paddled in the sea and seen waterfalls, green hills and dry semi-deserts.
We look forward to more travels in 2012, not too soon due to family celebrations but April should see us heading North or West once more. Australia still has plenty for us to see and share.
Good health to you all, happy travelling wherever you are; we would love to hear from you soon.