Goldfields

Tenindawa free camp - nice view

After swapping our boat for the kids caravan, we left Kalbarri to spend some time out in the goldfields. Although we had travelled several times thru Mt. Magnet, Cue, and Meekatharra whilst heading north to other destinations we had never been out through Wiluna, Leinster, Leonora and Menzies.
So – the plan was to send a brief time in the wildflowers (around Mullewa) and then head up north to Meeka before heading east to Wiluna and then down to Kalgoorlie (via Leinster, Leonora and Menzies) and home from there.

Lots of wreath flowers at Pindar

We had stopped at Tenindawa Well free camp (near Mullewa) before and last time we visited the wildflowers were spectacular – not so this time but it was a pleasant stay and break. I did spend some time getting a great (IMHO) time  lapse (over 3 hours and 220 photos) of the sunrise over the main road and canola fields.
The magnificent display of the rare Wreath Flowers at Pindar more than made up for the poor display at Mullewa.







Our next stop was Garden Rock free camp outside Cue. Nice spot for a one-nighter with easy dirt road access, some interesting walks up and around the rock outcrop, great sunset and as we were the only ones their - peace and quiet. Molly the mutt was quiet excited by the presence of a large goanna trying to scab food under our van. Would be better in winter when the flies weren’t so thick during the daylight hours.

This place must rock on Sundays - walls are braced!

Next stop - Meekatharra Caravan Park – not the greatest of parks but good value at $25/night for a powered site. I talked Linda into doing the tourist river walk but we were disappointed in the amount of broken glass and rubbish in the dry creek bed and Molly is still picking the prickles out of her feet. Highlight of the stay was dinner at the “Food Van” which operated nearby every evening and lunch – highly recommended.

An old Eagle fan

We had travelled further 200 km north (sort of going backwards) to Meekatharra to avoid the dirt road across to Leonora thru Sandstone by going from Meekatharra to Wiluna. Little did we know that of the 180 km across to Wiluna - 130 km was dirt. Thankfully the dirt road was in very good condition without corrugations, so the only casualty was a drain-pipe on one of the water tanks under the van. This meant that we lost 80ltrs of water and although having plenty of reserve we cut short our stay at Lakeview free camp (just south of Wiluna) and headed into Leonora a day early.


I must admit I was a little surprised by Leonora – its quiet a nice little town and the caravan park was very clean – had some GREEN grass, and friendly locals. There were still a lot of prospectors staying at the park when we arrived and we got to check out some nuggets they had found. Some folk we met came from Victoria every year for three months to go prospecting in winter – as usual with prospectors -  no one would admit to finding much.

We had arranged to meet our friends from Broomehill in Leonora to spend a day at Gwalia ghost town, museum and mine and then to do the trip out to the statues at Lake Ballard near Menzies the next day.

Sweating it out in the desert

Gotta take your hat off to those miners, their wives and children who lived and thrived in those corrugated iron huts at Gwalia - freezing winters nights and boiling summer days without any of the mod cons we take for granted. The museum at Gwalia is brilliant and only a gold coin donation. After struggling thru the 28 degree heat ?? we forced down Devon-shire Teas on the veranda of Hoover House – tough out in the desert.




Next day we drove from Menzies the 50 km out to Lake Ballard to view the famous statues in the lake. General impression from all was it was a bit of a disappointment as the lake was large and the statues small. But – one thing ticked off the bucket list. To be fair it would be a nice spot to camp if you wanted brilliant starlit nights and photo opportunities of the lake and statues at sunrise/sunset.
Menzies is a very small town with a big history. Must say that the caravan park was great – pity we had to watch the Eagles being knocked out of the 2019 finals!

After leaving Menzies we did a long run to Pumphrey's Bridge Lion Park (near Wandering) – nice free camp on the river with clean flushing dunnies and next morning were home in Collie.
Great trip thru the goldfields – you will not believe how many large holes (mines) are in the ground out there – head that way if you get a chance (go in July though as the 35-36 degree days we struck were not great for free camping).

A longer than usual video is  HERE - hope it doesn’t bore you.

Kalbarri stop-over

Murchison river mouth - on a calm day

Kalbarri is a pretty seaside town situated at the mouth of the Murchison River (apparently the second longest river in WA at 820 km) about 6 hours drive north from Perth. The entrance to the river from the ocean (and vice versa) is one of the most dangerous in WA and was not something I was willing to attempt by myself, so boat trips were restricted to the river.

I love Nan's swag!

We had volunteered to look after our Granddaughter for a few nights whilst our daughter and partner had a few days to themselves at Monkey Mia resort. So two adults, a two year child, and a spoilt two year dog in two swags for three nights was a bit of a challenge but we managed to get thru it without any casualties 😊. Although it was good to see mum and dad pull in with the caravan and for our granddaughter to sleep in the van again for the last 4 days of our stay.

Get off that you big kid!

There is quiet a bit to do around Kalbarri with scenic drives along the rugged coastline, National Parks (yep we and a million other people did the mandatory “Natures Window” photos), pelican feeding, the Rainbow Jungle bird park and maze.

Nice view!

We stayed at the Kalbarri Anchorage Caravan Park and whilst I am not a big fan of caravan parks, I must say that this park has great facilities and was (surprise surprise) directly opposite the boat ramp on the river. Early morning walks along the grassy parks on the river was a great way to start the day.







As luck would have it, the time we were in Kalbarri coincided with the lowest tides of the year which meant there was only a limited window to get upstream to fish before we had to come back before we were stuck upstream. However - we did manage to catch some nice bream upstream and around the boat harbour near the ramp. The local shire has installed picnic tables and camping sites upstream on the riverbank (only accessible by boat) and these would be popular in summer.

On leaving Kalbarri Linda and I were heading out thru the goldfields with the kids caravan in tow and they went straight back to Perth with our boat in tow (something about having to go back to "work" - bugger!). So the day before departure we completely packed up and after 15 nights in swags Linda and I hired a chalet in the park and slept in a real bed – woo hoo (no videos of that night!)

Short video is  HERE

Coral Bay

Sandy beaches and cobalt blue water - nice!

We have stayed at Coral Bay many times over the years and consider it one of the jewels of the west coast.

 It offers snorkelling in beautiful coral, quad bike tours, glass bottom boat viewing, fish feeding, beaut sandy beaches, 4WD tracks, fishing, tennis, great pubs, restaurants, yummy bakery and sunsets to die for.

And we did them all!

Did I mention the bakery?

This was the first time that our daughter, husband, granddaughter and Molly the mutt had been to Coral Bay so we had a special time with family.

We haven't changed a bit in 30 years?

By a lucky co-incidence it was Linda and my 30th wedding anniversary so we had a nice dinner out with the family (less Molly) to celebrate the 30 years together. Boy where did those years go so fast?

Spangled Emperor and Seamus

Before heading north from Perth I had been “Youtubing” catching spangled emperor on big rooster poppers. One for the “bucket-list”! In two early morning sessions we hooked five big spangles - but large fish, shallow water, and zillions (well a lot) of coral bommies wasn’t a recipe for success. Despite high rodding and heavy drag’s there are four $20 poppers decorating coral bommies down near the five fingers reef. So - if your diving in the area and find an old gold coloured popper hanging off the reef it’s probably mine. My son-in-law Seamus did manage to get a 72 cm specimen in the boat – so he won’t be coming again!

Bugger!!

Link to my short video is HERE