Heading East to Canberra

October 22:

We were leaving Margaret River today and heading down the south coast for the next four weeks, but everything changed with just one phone call that woke us at 6:00. The news that a very close and dear friend had passed away unexpectedly the night before at the tender age of fifty-seven. The family live in Canberra, and we camped with them earlier this year at Arakoon, just as we do each year. With this sad news, we both agreed that we could not enjoy the rest of our holiday but would instead head for Canberra to be with the family for the funeral. We had planned to have lunch today with "Motherhen" in Bridgetown, but of course, we didn't have time to stop and socialise, so that was unfortunately cancelled. We headed east through Nannup, Bridgetown, Boyup Brook, Kojonup, Bromehill, and Jerramungup before spending the night just west of Ravensthorpe in the bush.

Distance today: 573 km.

October 23:

Ten degrees in the van this morning before receiving another call confirming the funeral arrangements for Wednesday, October 30. We left shortly after and stopped in Esperance for a coffee before heading north to Norseman for lunch and to refuel. We still had another 167 km to travel today. Our camp for the evening is Harms Lake, and upon arrival, we found several other vans already parked for the night.

Distance today: 553 km.

October 24:
Twelve degrees inside the van this morning under an overcast sky. We have another long day ahead and will cross into South Australia late this afternoon to camp at a scenic lookout along the Great Australian Bight. We were on the road by 7:00 and stopped at Balladonia, 25 km further on, to refuel before continuing east. The information given to us at the Norseman Information Centre the day before was that we would have a tail wind as we headed east. How wrong they were— we had a quite severe head wind until we stopped driving at 6:00 that evening. We faced the van into the wind and sat inside, watching the Southern Ocean while having our first Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum for the evening. Our site was 80 km west of the Western Australian border, and there was another van camped nearby.

 

 

Distance today: 645 km.

October 25:
Another cool morning with just eleven degrees inside the van at 5:30. Thankfully, the winds we experienced yesterday were much lighter today. We purchased fuel at Nullarbor for $2.02 per litre before continuing on. We emptied our toilet cassette at Ceduna and purchased diesel at $1.69 per litre before heading further east. It was wheat harvest time, and we had to contend with B-doubles carting wheat to the silos until we stopped for the night at the Apex Park in Minnipa. The entire camp area was strewn with rubbish, including large amounts of toilet paper, so it was time to put on the rubber gloves. When I finished, I had filled a large green garbage bag. Ros then bought me a very cold Little Creatures Pale Ale for my efforts.

Distance today: 567 km.

October 26:
Ten degrees inside the van at 6:30 this morning, with a light breeze and clear skies. We left our camp at 7:30, continuing east along the Eyre Highway towards Port Augusta, where we refuelled before turning south. When we were level with Port Pirie, we turned inland, passing through Hughes Gap and stopping for lunch at Gladstone. We had planned to camp at Burra Gorge this evening, but with so much more daylight available, we decided to travel to Morgan, where we crossed the Murray River on the car ferry and camped at the Cadell Recreation Ground for $20.00 per site. The amenities were brand new and included a dump point. Because the temperatures were so mild, we sat outside the van for our happy hour and then cooked outside on our gas ring. Ros had lamb cutlets and I had porterhouse steak, which we bought at Margaret River. This was served with mashed potatoes, onions, and peas, and, of course, another bottle of red wine.

Distance today: 587 km.

October 27:

A lovely warm seventeen degrees at 5:30 this morning with light rain falling. Willy Weather predicts light rain clearing later, with winds from the south-west, so it looks like another day driving into the wind. The rain cleared as we left our campsite, and we experienced wet roads for the next 30 km until we reached Waikerie. We refuelled in Renmark and then Balranald before continuing east towards Hay on the Sturt Highway. We thought we might camp at one of the many sites along the Murrumbidgee River, but we had already covered so many kilometres today and driven for 7.2 hours, so we called it a day and camped at the showgrounds in Hay. $17.00 per site with power, showers, and toilets. Best of all, we had the place to ourselves. Another warm evening, so once the flies had departed, we cooked our meal outside again, with those wonderful meats from Margaret River.

 

This fountain commemorates the existence of a Prisoner of War camp in Hay from 1940 to 1946, which detained interns and prisoners of the Japanese and Italian forces. It served as the headquarters for the POW group of three camps, each housing 1000 men.





Distance today: 535 km.

October 28:
We experienced light rain falling on the van during the early hours of this morning. At 6:00, it was seventeen degrees. The showground also houses the race track, and Ros joked this morning about whether we would see any horses doing track work. I commented that it's not Royal Randwick, but low and behold, while we were having our coffee, a 4wd was being driven around the track with a horse tethered to the side of the vehicle. Rain started to fall as we left the showground and continued for the next 177 km until we reached Narrandera. From there, it was an easy run through Wagga Wagga and onto the Hume Freeway. We stopped for lunch at Yass before setting up camp at Exhibition Park in Canberra. Fees for a powered site are $30.00, which includes all the usual amenities and a dump point. It's situated just off the Federal Highway near the northern suburb of Watson.

Distance covered today: 503 km.

Margaret River

October 18:
Eighteen degrees inside the van at 7:00 this morning. Another lovely day with clear blue skies. We left the caravan park at Karrinyup at 9:30, hoping to avoid the busy rush of people heading into Perth for work. We turned onto the Mitchell Freeway, which took us past the city and across the Swan River. The further south we went, the more clouds appeared, and after passing the Mandurah turnoff, we experienced light rain that became heavier around the turnoff to Bunbury. As we approached the bypass road at Busselton, the rain cleared, and the sky brightened with patches of blue.
We passed through Cowaramup before driving through Margaret River and turning onto Rosa Brook Road, which we followed for 7 km before turning onto a dirt track for the last 2 km to our camp. We are camping at the Big Valley Campground. It's surrounded by lovely green hills and is on a working sheep farm.
Distance today: 318 km. 

 

 

Their website is www.bigvalleymargaretriver.com.au, and bookings are essential. There is power, a dump point, showers, and toilets. After setting up camp, we drove back into Margaret River and wandered around the town before having a coffee. Then, it was onto Margaret River Gourmet Meats in the main street. My Godson, Robert, recommended that I go there, firstly because he knows them and secondly because they have the best meat, especially their Wagyu burgers. Along with the burgers, we purchased a leg of lamb, porterhouse and scotch fillet steaks, lamb cutlets, and pork chops.
We cooked some of the burgers over the fire on our Oz Pig that night, and they were so delicious that we will be returning for more before we leave.

October 19:

We woke to fourteen degrees inside the van with light rain falling. The rain had started in the early hours of the morning, and the weather forecast suggests it will continue throughout the rest of the day. We drove north today, back through Cowaramup. The town lies at the centre of the Margaret River wine region. There are life-sized fibreglass cows along the main streets and in the parks, and it's not just any 'udder' town.

From here, it was onto the Grove Liqueur Factory. We had sampled some of their liqueurs whilst in Perth, and we were here to purchase. We tasted many, but finally agreed on the Turkish Delight and Butterscotch.

Then we headed to Busselton, which lies on Geographe Bay and has a population of 25,000. We came here to see the famous jetty and the underwater observatory. The jetty extends 1.8 km into the bay and is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it at its best due to the rain and overcast skies. We each bought a $28.00 ticket to take the tram ride to the end of the jetty, which also included a guided tour.

 

 

 

 

Later, we had a nice lunch at the Equinox Cafe that overlooks the bay. From here, we passed through Dunsborough to view the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, which is in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Unfortunately, we were unable to appreciate the beauty of the area due to the cloud cover and constant rain.

We continued south on Caves Road but ultimately gave up due to the rain and returned to our campsite. Distance today: 185 km.
 
October 20:
Eleven degrees inside the van at 7:00 this morning before turning on the heater. It rained throughout the night, and when we woke, there were patches of blue sky, though these appeared and disappeared just as quickly. This morning, we visited the Margaret River Nougat Factory, the Dairy Factory, the Chocolate Factory, and Miller's Ice Cream Farm Shop. After lunch, we visited the Colonial Brewery, where we sampled seven of their beers. We both agreed that the Pale Ale was our favourite.

 

 

 

October 21: Another eleven degrees this morning at 7:00 with cloudy skies. The heater soon raised the temperature to a reasonable seventeen degrees by 8:15. We drove into Margaret River to buy more of those Wagyu burgers before heading south and passing through Karridale and then Augusta. We were on our way to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse that sits at the very south-west corner of Western Australia. The sky remained cloudy, and the wind was quite cool, but thankfully there was no rain. The lighthouse stands at the point where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet and protects ships from the many reefs and small islands nearby. After taking photos and doing the audio tour, we stopped for lunch in the café of one of the old caretaker's cottages.

 

  It was then onto viewing the water wheel, which, over time, has become encrusted with calcified lime. The wheel was built in 1895 to supply water for the builders of the lighthouse. The water originates from a natural spring and continues to flow today.

 We then travelled to Hamelin Bay to see the jetty. It was once used to export timber to England, South Africa, and India, and many of the streets in London are still paved with Karri from the forests around Boranup and Karridale. As the demand shifted to Jarrah instead of Karri, the jetty was abandoned and fell into disrepair. Distance today: 139 km.

 

Kalgoorlie to Perth

October 9:
The weather forecast for today predicted cloudy weather and showers, but when we woke at 5:30, the sky was clear and the sun was shining, with the van interior temperature at eighteen degrees. We are heading further west today, and after 40 km, we passed through Coolgardie before stopping at Southern Cross to refuel. The cloud increased the further west we drove, then the rain started and was quite heavy at times, continuing until we arrived in Merredin, where we lunched at the local cafe with burgers and hot chocolate. We continued on towards Kellerberrin to camp at the showgrounds. We entered the Camps 7 number into our Garmin GPS, but on arriving, there was no camping available. Backtracking, we found a sign to a new caravan park. The park looks like it had just been completed, with all new facilities, and best of all, it cost just $16.50 per site per night.
Distance today 388 km.

October 10:
A very cool morning with just ten degrees inside the van and cool enough to turn on the diesel heater. The forecast for today was rain, but we woke up to another day with beautiful blue skies. We left at 8:30 heading towards Perth. Today we were having all our batteries replaced at Alco Batteries in Belmont. Bushtracker now fit the Discover D27A 100 AH batteries as standard in their new vans, so that's what we installed. After that, we headed north up the freeway to Karrinyup Waters Resort caravan park in Gwelup, where we are booked in until the 17th of October.
Distance today 252 km.

October 11:
Seventeen degrees at 6:30 this morning. Today was cleaning day, with the van's exterior in need of a spruce-up after travelling over 2,500 km of dirt roads. Then all the sheets, doona covers, and clothes were washed and dried just before lunchtime, when the day turned cloudy with some light showers that persisted until the next morning.
 
October 12:
We left the van for the next five days while we stayed with our very good friends, who live in Menora, a lovely suburb not far from the city centre. We went sightseeing today, starting at Hillary's Boat Harbour before heading south along the West Coast Highway, passing Trigg Beach, Scarborough Beach, Floreat Beach, City Beach, Sawanbourne, and Cottesloe Beaches. We finally stopped in Fremantle for a seafood lunch at Fisherman's Wharf at the Kallis Brothers Restaurant, then visited the Little Creatures Brewery to sample some of their beer and buy some merchandise.

We then followed the Swan River through Mossman Park, Peppermint Grove, Claremont, Nedlands, and Matilda Bay, before returning to the city and heading up to Kings Park, offering lovely views of the city.

 

 

 

 

 

October 13:
Today was a rest day. After lunch, we visited my Godson and his fiancée, who are renovating their home.
Distance covered today: 25 km.
October 14:
Today, we were taken west into the Perth Hills. We stopped at Kalamunda for morning tea. The town is several hundred metres above sea level, and the soils in the area are ideal for growing stone fruits, apples, and wine grapes. Mundaring Weir is the dam that supplies water to Perth and also provides water to Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. The water for these towns in the goldfields is pumped via a pipeline that was built and officially opened in 1903. 

 We visited Paul's Valley, Carmel, and then passed through Karragullen, where we had a lovely lunch at one of the many rose farms in the area. The last stop for the day was the Araluen Botanic Park in Roleystone. It's located in the Darling Range, 35 km SE of Perth.

 

 

 

October 15:

Toured the city, which included London Court, the Hay Street and Murray Street Malls and before leaving, we had a beer at the Print Hall Bar that is located on the ground floor of the new BHP Building.

 

October 16:

Our wonderful tour director, Alan was taking us to the Swan Valley today. First on our list was the Margaret Valley Chocolate Factory, where we purchased some of their lovely merchandise before heading to Cape Lavender for a Devonshire morning tea. We then visited Talijancich, who are renowned for their Verdelho, Shiraz and Aged Liqueurs, of which we brought several bottles.  Next was the House of Honey, where Ros purchased wildflower honey, as well as honey shampoo and conditioner.

Lunch was at Taylor's Art and Coffee House before we visited Mondo Nougat and Chocolate, where we bought more items. We also visited Houghton's Winery, where Ros and I sampled their Classic White, which they sell for $15.00 per bottle but can be purchased at Dan Murphy's for $8.55 per bottle. We limited our winery visits as we are heading to Margaret River next week. We finished a lovely five days visiting our friends by dining out at the Nepalese and Himalayan Restaurant in Mt Lawley for dinner.

 

October 17:

After saying goodbye to our friends this morning, we returned to our van. We grocery shopped at the local shopping centre in Gwelup and prepared the van for our trip south tomorrow.

 

Tjukayirla to Kalgoorlie

October 1: A beautiful morning, and at 5:30, it was fourteen degrees inside the van. Lovely blue skies with a light breeze coming in from the east. After breakfast, I went in search of two more caches, one several kilometres from the roadhouse and one just hundreds of metres away, and I was successful in finding both. Filled up with diesel at $2.35 per litre before heading west. Throughout the day, the road surface changed from minor corrugations to very sandy sections, then to very hard-packed terrain like bitumen with stones protruding through the surface. We stopped at a place called White Cross, which actually has a large white cross erected on a small breakaway. It was placed here by Aboriginal Christians in 1991. I also found another cache at this location.

The scenery changed often from savannah-type grasses to areas containing gum trees, and at times, we were surrounded by lovely red sand dunes. We were surprised to see grass trees, more commonly known as black boys.

We passed by another Aboriginal community called Csomo Newberry before stopping for the evening at the Giles Jindlee Breakaway. It's half a kilometre east of the access road to the Jindalee Operational Radar Network Facility run by the Department of Defence. The landscape at this breakaway is quite stunning, featuring cliffs and jagged rocks near the lookout. Our campsite was perched high on the breakaway with commanding views over the plains below, and we both agreed this was the most spectacular campsite along the Great Central Road. We sat outside having our drinks while our fire died down, and as the sun set, we could see the flickering lights of the Csomo Newberry community in the distance. We ventured inside just after 6:30, as the sun had long gone, along with our wonderful view.

 

 

 

 

Today's statistics from the navigator include three 4WDs heading west and twelve heading east, including a pop-top van. She also set a new daily record of eighty-six wrecked cars and one caravan.
The distance covered Today was 257 Km.
 
October 2:
Another cool morning with fourteen degrees inside the van at 6:00. Today, we have just 50 km remaining of our journey across the GCR, after which we will again be on the bitumen at Laverton. 21 km east of Laverton, we stopped to deposit our fruit scraps in the quarantine bin.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip with its ever-changing landscapes. These included breakaways, stunning mountain ranges, caves, cliffs, and beautiful desert oak forests. We were completely surprised by the lack of wildlife and did not see a single kangaroo. A total of 254 wrecked cars were counted, and we are sure we missed many more because the GCR has been realigned in numerous places over the years. We stopped for coffee and cake at the Explorers Hall of Fame in Laverton, then refuelled at $1.81 per litre before continuing to Malcolm Dam, about 100 km further west, where we would spend the next two nights.

After setting up camp, we drove the 13 km into Lenora to shop and buy some alcohol before heading to view the remaining houses at Gwalia.
 
The 'Sons of Gwalia' reef was discovered in 1896 by prospectors Carlson, White, and Glendinning. The London-based firm Bewick, Moreing and Coy sought investments in the WA Goldfields and sent a young American mining engineer, Herbert Hoover (later to become the 31st President of the United States), to Gwalia to assess the prospects of investing there. The rest is history, with Hoover being appointed as the mine manager. It is reputed that he was the only twenty-three-year-old in the world earning more than $30,000 per year at that time.
The nearly deserted township once housed over 1,000 people in the late 1890s, many of whom were European migrants. They left when the Sons Of Gwalia mine closed in 1963. This mine is one of only two outside Kalgoorlie Boulder's 'Golden Mile' to produce over two million ounces of gold. Currently, about twenty people live in the township.

 

 

 

Most miners who came here were single men, and guesthouses such as Patroni's Guest House were built to accommodate them. 

 

The Western Australian Government previously operated a chain of state-owned hotels, and this hotel was both the first and the last to run. Due to limited entertainment options, the State Hotel provided a steady income for the Government. It was sold to a local residents' syndicate in 1960, which managed the hotel until its closure in 1964. The building is magnificent, but unfortunately, the timberwork at the front requires some maintenance.





We plan to return tomorrow to view the rest of the museum on the hill, including Hoover House. Distance travelled Today: 169 km.
 
October 3:
This morning, we were woken before 5:30 by the wind flapping the awning. We always secure it with two guy ropes on either end because we've seen the damage caused to a van that hasn't been secured in this way. Around 6:00, the wind had intensified enough that we both went outside to put the awning away. We are still experiencing battery problems, as the batteries cannot hold their charge overnight with the fridge on. We contacted an auto electrician in Lenora to perform a load test on the batteries tomorrow. This morning, we refuelled in town at $163.9 per litre, then bought some phone cards and drove 4 km south to Gwalia. The entry fee of $10 per person grants access to the main buildings, including the assay office, mine office, machinery shed, and, most significantly, Hoover House, which is now also a bed and breakfast. After completing our tour, we enjoyed coffee and cake on the wide veranda overlooking the lawns surrounding the house. Hoover House was designed by Herbert Hoover before he left Gwalia and was built between 1898 and 1899. Hoover departed Gwalia before its completion to work in China. However, he returned and stayed at the house several times after coming back from China in 1902.

 

Distance Today: 38 km.

October 4:

At 5:15, it was twenty-one degrees inside the van this morning. Looks like another hot day. The auto electrician confirmed that two of our batteries did not pass the load test and will need to be replaced. They were unable to supply the batteries I required, so we will have them replaced in Perth. Our option until then is to turn off the fridge once the sun goes down and restart it in the morning when we have enough solar input. We headed south Today, and our camp tonight is just 60 km away. We are camping at Niagara Dam. There are three areas designated for camping at the dam. Two of these have a view of the dam but are situated on a small hill, making them quite exposed to the elements, especially the wind.

So we chose to camp below the dam wall among the trees for some protection from the consistently strong winds. I found another cache here, located inside a small cave to the east of the dam wall. We cooked our meal over an open fire this evening after the winds had decreased. Temperatures were extremely hot Today, with the van interior reaching 37.8 degrees at 6:30 pm.

 

Distance Today: 95 km.

 

October 5:

At 6:30 this morning, Van's temperature was fourteen degrees. Another perfect-looking day with the forecast temperature not as hot as yesterday. We are heading today for 11 km to view Kookyn. It's described as a living ghost town, but to us, it looked pretty dead. In the early 1900s, the population was 3,500; however, there are now just a handful of residents. In its heyday, there were eleven hotels, a brewery, and many businesses supporting this population size. Interpretive panels scattered around the mostly empty streets described what buildings were at each site. The Grand Hotel, which is over one hundred years old and appears rather run-down, still operates and provides accommodation, meals, fuel, and camping facilities, which are located just a dirt car park to the side.

These steps led to the now-demolished railway platform.

One of the remaining walls leading to the National Bank.

Ruins of one of the many hotel ruins.

 

I discovered one of two caches in the ruins of the town. Temperatures were about ten degrees cooler than yesterday, making for a pleasant change.
Distance today: 28 km.
 
October 6:
Another cool morning with fourteen degrees. I sound repetitive, but for the past twenty-eight days, the morning skies have been beautifully clear with no clouds, ever since leaving Quorn in South Australia.
With only 18 km remaining until we reached the Goldfields Highway, we turned south towards Menzies, which was another 42 km further on. Menzies is similar to other goldfields towns that rapidly developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At one point, thousands of people lived in these towns, with Menzies' case, for example, involving over ten thousand. However, by 1910, the population had shrunk to just one thousand. This decline was due to a fall in gold production and the outbreak of World War I. We stopped here only briefly for a few photos, and I was unsuccessful in locating several caches.

 

We deflated our tyres before heading towards Lake Ballard, another 50-odd kilometres north-west of Menzies. The road was in relatively good condition, with only mild corrugations, so we maintained a comfortable speed of 70 km/h. Antony Gormley created fifty-one life-sized sculptures of residents from Menzies and cast them in alloy. The sculptures cover an area of seven square kilometres and are embedded in the salt-encrusted lake bed.
 
Our plan was to stay here for two nights, but with the strong westerlies blowing and dust billowing everywhere, we decided that after taking photos this evening and tomorrow morning, we would leave. I found two caches near the lake, and we drove three kilometres to Snake Hill Lookout, where I discovered the third cache listed for this area, located about 500 metres from the lookout—hwouldn'twouldn’t find out why it was called Snake Hill.

 

Today the distance is 120 km. 

 

October 7:

Fifteen degrees inside the van at 5:30 this morning, and cloudless skies. I climbed the hill that sits on the lake this morning to take some shots while Ros prepared the coffee for when I returned.

 

We drank two coffees each outside until the flies drove us inside at 6:30. We left our campsite and continued west for several kilometres before turning south onto the Riverina to Snake Hill Road. We were heading to Coolgardie along part of what is called the Golden Quest Discovery Trail. This section of the trail is 190 kilometres long, and it is all dirt. The first 100 kilometres were quite good, with the road surface better than the Menzies to Lake Ballard road, but then the road deteriorated into corrugations and rough stony patches until about 20 kilometres north of Coolgardie.

 

 

 

On the way, we detoured into Rowles Lagoon Nature Reserve, only to find the lagoon to be bone dry, and of course, there was no bird life to be seen.

The only consolation was in finding a cache within the area. I also found caches at two former gold mining towns of Davyhurst and Kunanalling,

Before we arrived in Coolgardie, where I reinflated our tyres for the drive east towards Kalgoorlie, we had planned to camp at another free site on this side of Kalgoorlie. However, with school holidays still ongoing and trail bikes kicking up dust everywhere, we decided to continue to Kalgoorlie and camped in the free twenty-four-hour rest area nearly in the centre of town.

 After setting up, we headed into town for a coffee on the main street before returning to have our evening drinks without flies. Later, I cooked steaks and stir-fried vegetables outside the van on our gas ring with another bottle of Shiraz. Distance covered today: 271 km.
 
October 8:
Another one of those beautiful mornings with temperatures inside at 14 degrees at 6:00. Today was a busy day for both of us. We washed our clothes at the local laundromat, filled the car with fuel at $1.58 per litre, I had my haircut, and Ros had some TLC at the local beauty parlour. Then she enjoyed a great lunch at the York Hotel, followed by some sightseeing, including a visit to the Superpit.

 

 

Distance today: 38 Kms.