NEW TERRITORY ... for us.

Ceduna reminded us of Chinchilla! The layout of the town was comparable, with similar specimen trees down the middle of the Main Street, and side-streets with small businesses. Even the bakery sited on the corner of an arcade was like Chinchilla. But the style of WW’s hadn’t caught up with Chinchilla’s beautiful new one. 

Fish and chips at Mozzie’s Truck Stop is legendary – that was lunch.

Shelley Beach Caravan Park at Ceduna was great ... nice wide bays, with trees on either side. A stumpy tail lizard visited us. The amenities looked like no others: It was like walking into a bird aviary. The outside netting/cloth was designed to keep the pesky flies and other insects out. It worked. Which was good, because these were the best amenities we’d encountered.

Now it was Friday and time to move on. We drove into NEW TERRITORY, something we love doing – meandering on a road we haven’t traveled before. Five years ago when we were in this area, we’d followed the Eyre Peninsula Road to Streaky Bay and the Port Lincoln areas, so Ceduna to Port Augusta was new.

At one time I could identify all the crops as we drove along – wheat, oats or barley. Not now; the new strains of wheat are a different colour and new crops, such as quinoa and chia, confuse me. But I know what is in the amazing pipelines which criss-cross South Australia: water! If South Australia can do it, why not Queensland?

At Poochera, our morning tea stop, we discovered they had their own unique colony of ants ... the only ones in the world of this species. For years, entomologists had searched the Esperance area for this ant, and it was only discovered when one of them went into the bush to pee at Poochera! But poor Poochera is going the way of so many other small towns. It really only exists now for working the silos for the millions of acres of crop which are grown all around. All the businesses are closed; even the pub.

At Wudinna, a magnificently carved 8-metre high granite sculpture dedicated to the Australian Farmer had pride of place in the town. What a talent to get merino sheep looking so life-like in granite.

In the mid-sixties when W.A. was opening up more of its’ wheat-belt country in the Lakes Grace,  Varley, King and Hyden areas, a few farming sons from Kimba took up some of this land ... and drove their tractors, headers and other equipment over the Nullarbor to their new holdings. I don’t think that’s the reason, though, the “big” symbol of Kimba is a galah!

After that lovely wind-free drive on Friday, Saturday at Kimba dawned windy! We pushed on, through the mulga which broke the wind in places, until we reached Port Augusta and the caravan park at the head of Spencer Gulf where we’d stayed five years ago. What a beautiful view, across the Gulf to the freight trains being assembled before heading across the Nullarbor to Perth, or up to Darwin. The backdrop is the Flinders Ranges.

But, today the wind is nearly gale-force, so we’re bunkered down. It’s expected to drop in a couple of days’ time, so then we’ll head north to Coober Pedy.

BUDERIM BUDDIES

At Eucla, a little Shitzu dog barked at me, so its owners and I got into conversation. They come from Sunshine Coast; so do we. Not only are they from Buderim, actually Headland Park! We live very nearby. And they had recently discovered the Goodlife Centre! They think the children's activities there are great, along with the coffee and healthy meals.

We caught up again at Head of Bight ... and now we just happen to have the site beside them at Shelley Beach Caravan Park at Ceduna. But wait.There's more! He farmed peanuts in Kingaroy, Qld. and knows many of the people I know from my days with Young Farmers/Rural Youth.

It's just great who you meet in your travels.

ON TO PENONG

 After the atrocious windy conditions at Eucla on Sunday night, it changed direction and on Tuesday assisted us as we made our way to the South Australian border, lost an hour+half there, and headed for the Nullarbor Roadhouse. Now we were on the REAL Nullarbor Plain. Null = none; arbor = trees. But vegetation there was, which had been washed clean by a minuscule amount of rain making it look hydrated and healthy. Some wildflowers even made an appearance.

Bacon and egg toasted sandwiches at the Roadhouse was great value … unlike the price of diesel which was $2 per litre! I usually refuse to complain about prices; I know the situations they work with. But why one roadhouse can charge $1.67, another $1.90, and Nullarbor $2 … is beyond my reckoning.

Then to Head of Bight to see the whales. There were ten mothers and calves cavorting in the swell in the sheltered bay. They were so close to the spectacular Bunda Cliffs and we didn’t have to get in a boat to see them! My attempts to photograph them were pathetic; both the camera and me being too slow for the good action shots. But, we can see them there in the water.

Eventually we emerged off the sandstone plain which is the Nullarbor. Back into the mulga and salt-bush for a while, before emerging into the agricultural cropping country at Nundroo. How long since we’d seen open paddocks growing a crop? AND here was the Dingo Proof Fence … the other end of it! We constantly travel through the Queensland end of this fence, opening and closing the gates, when we visit the Care Outreach personnel out from Miles. It’s one of the longest fences in the world, 5614 kms of it.

But what really amazed us that, at times, we were travelling a few metres below sea level – according to our G.P.S.

Next day at Ceduna, a great tradesman came to the Caravan Park at Shelley Beach … and re-attached the cover which had blown off the air-con on the roof back at Eucla. Now we really feel ready to face the still long roads into Port Augusta, then Coober Pedy.

EUCLA ENGULFS US

Our drive across the Nullarbor had been uneventful with interesting changes of scenery. Some eucalypts are flowering in colours ranging from red, through pink, yellow to white. The understorey of grey-blue saltbush makes a harmonious colour palette with the soft red/brown soil. It’s interesting noting the lines of different trees: is that where the water collects when it runs down the escarpment after rain?

Initially we were still in the Western Woodland, which is roughly the size of England, with Kalgoorlie sort-of in the middle. It contains unique species of flora and fauna, including the eucalypts with smooth-trunks displaying a variety of colours from white through bronze/green, even a salmon pink. There’s a town called Salmon Gums south of Norseman; I drove my Dad through there in 1967 just after a thunder-storm … the coloured trunks were spectacular.

After an overnight stay at Balladonia, John suggested I might like to drive the 146.6 km. straightest road in Australia. I hadn't driven the caravan this year, as a niggling shoulder is aggravated by changing gears – but we figured there wouldn't be too many gear changes on that straight, flat road – so I have now driven its entire length.

The plains are well-grassed this year, and there are signs suggesting you beware of animals on the road, but the only live livestock we saw was one kangaroo, one lizard, and a 2metre long snake!

But there was a constant nagging wind all day, coming in from the north-east. Although we weren't pushing into it – it was mainly side-on – it still raised our fuel consumption: 14.5 litres per 100 kms suddenly became 20 litres per 100 kms.

Having confused the free-stop we’d planned to stay in overnight, we suddenly found ourselves climbing the escarpment at Eucla, nearly to the South Australian border. We opted to stay in the caravan park. That was about the same time as the troublesome wind cranked itself up to be very gusty and strong … on a dusty surface. It was too strong to have the caravan windows open … although we sited the door on the opposite side from the wind so it could stay open. With every gust, another layer of grit arrived and landed on everything. Along with everyone else, we struggled to keep everything battened down.

With the windward windows closed, I couldn’t sleep. I need plenty of fresh air. I opened a window a smidgen, and got a face-full of grit for my trouble.  When something clattered and banged, John woke up and ventured outside, to find the fibre-glass cover had blown off the air-conditioner on the roof. 

This morning we looked at our options, and decided to stay put at Eucla, rather than risk the very windy roads. Several others decided to stay, too.  Even the Road Trains were struggling to maintain a straight line.

Heavy rain, even hail, is predicted for 2.00 am tomorrow. Methinks it might be another sleepless night. 

KALGOORLIE KINDNESS

We’d really hoped to be on the Nullarbor today – but the 4WD hadn't been quite completed last night. Well, what’s another day?

Paying at Reception, the computer wouldn't accept what the manageress was trying to input for an extra day … in the end she said … it’s saying $15! That will do.

After they rang, we walked the three km down to Abletek, the repairer, to find the account there was considerably less than we’d been anticipating. And at The Coffee Club they recognized my VIP card for the second time, even though it hasn't been renewed: two coffees for the price of one!

Woolworths had a lot of good specials today; then we visited the butcher whom we met at the Baptists last Sunday. What a shop! What a display! What a huge wonderful staff! And they were all working flat-out, trying to serve the shop full of customers. While John talked to owner Steve, the young lass who served me suggested she pack everything flat and Cryovac it, so that it would fit in our freezer better, and last longer as we were travelling over the Nullarbor! Naturally I purchased more than I’d originally intended.

The Jackaroo appears to be running well. It’s been a good morning.  We like Kalgoorlie.

THE NULLARBOR

My first crossing was by air in the middle 1960’s, when Shell Oil paid. [I won a competition they sponsored.]

The second time we drove: Dianne, Duncan and I in Duncan’s 1960 Holden which had bench seats. We all belonged to Lilydale Young Farmers Club, and he and I worked at the same place. We’d both got a bit disgruntled and resigned, saying we were going to Perth. When Di heard this she said to wait a week while she tossed in her job, and she’d come too.

What a trip! Our tinned and packet food was stored in the boot, with a gas ring, billy, frying pan and a cane picnic basket. Plus tools. Car fridges had yet to be invented.  ⅔ of the back seat was covered with our three suitcases stacked on top of each other. We each had a sleeping bag, and alternated the position of sleeping each night; one on the floor under the dashboard, on cushions packed either side of the transmission tunnel; one on the front bench seat, and the third one sitting up in the back … because of the suitcases on the seat. One night in three you had a decent sleep on the front seat.

Our meals were three course: the billy heated up a can of soup, while something was either grilled or ‘stir-fried’ in the frying pan, after which we had tinned fruit followed by milk coffee out of a tube when the billy boiled again. We’d spent hours working out the menu while we drove along.

There was still 600 miles of unsealed road then which we completed in one day by making a 5.00 am start and stopping for breakfast at 8.00 am; bacon and eggs that day. When we returned over the Nullarbor, we put the car on the train at Kalgoorlie, getting it off at Port Augusta, which was a common practice then. As we were driving back into Victoria at Mildura, we decided we were having too much fun to go home [none of us had jobs to go to], so headed back up to Queensland, where we’d been earlier in the year, taking a route north from Wentworth to Broken Hill, then to Wilcannia, and following the Darling River through Tilpa and Louth to Bourke, Cunnamulla, St. George and back to Kingaroy. We broke down north of Louth when it looked like it was going to rain … but that’s a story for another time.

My third time across the Nullarbor was by train … four different ones. You changed at Adelaide, Port Pirie, and Kalgoorlie [near where we are now]. Why did you change trains they ask today. Pre standard- gauge is a mystery to many. The last leg into Perth was a nightmare, with four women in the sleeping compartment, one of whom was hallucinating. Subsequent trips to Perth were by air.

   

Five years ago we drove the iconic Nullarbor road again. It’s all sealed now, and realigned in places; It goes much nearer the Coast. Roadhouses have replaced the outback pubs …. no doubt an improvement, but losing the frontier corrugated-iron uniqueness.

We’re still looking forward with anticipation to crossing it again, though, hopefully starting tomorrow.

KALGOORLIE’S SUPER PIT & EUCALYPTS

The hole is so big, it can be seen from space! When you visit Kalgoorlie, you must see the super pit. You can drive up the overburden to the designated lookout where interpretive boards explain the history.

In the 1980’s, Alan Bond was systematically buying up all the individual mining leases to combine them so that bigger equipment could be brought in to ‘open-cut’ the area, to dig deeper and also salvage what had been missed. He never completed this enterprise. In 1989 Kalgoorlie Consolidated Mining Group was formed to manage this enormous task for the new owners. Eventually the super-pit, as it’s become known, will be 3.8 kms long, 1.65 kms wide, and 600 metres deep.

It’s hard to visualize the enormity of the pit, and the piles of tailings, which have been created in the past 25 years. This pic only shows a small portion of the pit, but those little dots on the far side are great big haul-pacs shifting the spoil.

Millions of ounces of gold have been extracted from this richest gold mine in the world.

Growing up in Seville, Vic., i.e. the cold Yarra Valley, we had a eucalypt on our nature strip. Mum always referred to it as a “West Australian Gum” – she wasn’t into botanical names. It struggled to survive there but eventually became a nice specimen tree … just as the road needed widening so the Roads Board hacked it down. At the Kalgoorlie Arboretum today we saw these lovely specimens.

DISABLED DRAWBACKS

The interaction of people in caravan parks, and free stops, can be one of the highlights of travelling.

Simon and Jax, a younger couple, came from Wangaratta, Vic., and they’d just taken a week to drive over the Nullarbor to Kalgoorlie. Yesterday morning Simon dropped Jax off for her to take a tour of the Super-Pit, while he was left a list, he said, of the chores to do. One item was the week’s washing.

Not difficult, you say, as the laundries are well equipped with good washing machines. Except Simon is in a wheelchair. Whilst the caravan park has a bathroom for the disabled, when Simon tried to negotiate the laundry, the steps prevented his access. He enlisted our help, and very soon the washing was done and we all pegged it on the slightly lower line.

While having a cuppa [Jax wasn’t back yet] he told us his injury was caused by falling 50 metres down the side of a cliff when he was abseiling. ‘Could have been a whole lot worse’ he said cheerily.

Their car and caravan had been adapted to accommodate the wheelchair, and they made a great team when hooking the car to the ‘van. They both work, although he’s not a teacher any more, and had 5 weeks leave to visit the wildflowers in the southern part of W.A. They don’t let Simon’s disability hinder their plans.

Then the three guys from Skateboard Australia befriended us. They spent Sunday teaching the local youth how to skate. This morning they headed west, to drive for eight hours out the Grand Central Road to a community past Warburton, to take a new activity and skill to the young people living out there.

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

v  1000 ROAD TRAINS per day leave Perth and travel up the Great Northern Highway.

v  Driving OFF the Great Northern Highway is much less stressful, and you can admire the abundant grevilleas, hakeas and other wildflowers.

v  In W.A. the truckies all talk politely to each other and other motorists on the UHF, and are courteous and helpful … unlike the ones on the Bruce Highway!

v  We’ve observed a mining map of projects in W.A. … it seems the whole State is being mined.

v   “Off-road” to some motorists merely means no bitumen.

WEATHER, and other CHANGES …..

We knew it was coming! We just didn’t expect the wind associated with the ‘severe front’ to hit us quite so hard at 11.00 pm on Saturday night in Leonora. It broke the arm of our caravan awning. But the wind abated, and yesterday was a pleasant enough drive south to Kalgoorlie, with a coffee-stop [our own] in Menzies.

Prospector Caravan Park in Kalgoorlie is nice too …. we settled in until the next ‘severe front’ woke us in the middle of the night with wind and lashing rain. Again the awning had to be rescued in the dark. We’ve come too far south too soon, methinks.

Battling on this morning, we took the Jackaroo to the Holden dealer, as suggested by my knowledgeable brother on these matters; they don’t deal with vehicles older than ten years! But they did suggest another firm. It’s booked there for tomorrow.

Next, get a replacement foot-pump for the caravan water-supply. No-one in Kalgoorlie carries spares for caravans, and there is no caravan repair place any more. Which also means, we can’t get the awning repaired before continuing on.

Let’s be positive. We can get by without everything on the ‘van functioning, and we can get the awning fixed by insurance when we get home.  The sun shone this afternoon; now the big, round moon is rising, and the wind has abated …. until tomorrow!

GWALIA GOLD

Quaint. That’s Gwalia. Just three kilometres from Leonora, Gwalia’s chequered history continues. Many of its buildings live on, restored by both individuals and the Shire Council to showcase how the town used to be. Shops, boarding houses, and individual residences are still there, plus the only hotel ever build by the W.A. State Government. Population now is 15 -20; in its hey-day 1700.

The PLUME sign reminded me of my grandfather’s servo in the days when each pump had a different brand of fuel. PLUME fuel was delivered by Mr. Pearce who had plenty of time to drink the cuppa my Nana always had for him.

There have been times when the mine ceased to operate because either the price of gold was too low, or not enough was being extracted, or living conditions were too tough. This meant the fortunes of the shopkeepers waxed and waned. Mostly they were Italian and Yugoslav migrants. Currently the mine is doing well, having gone from open-cut to underground. In fact, it has tunneled right under the Goldfields Highway between Leonora and Kalgoorlie, about 900 metres down. One of the 6 best-producing mines in Australia, over 2 million ounces of gold have been extracted.

Presiding over this gold mine and the town is the impressive Mine Manager’s dwelling, on the cusp of the great open cut, with cool verandas, lush green lawns and gardens, planted with roses! Out here in the dry, dusty outback! The first manager was the 23-year-old Herbert Hoover, who later became the 31^st President of the U.S.A. Incidentally, the house wasn't finished before he was called away to the coal mines in China, but he did live in it while it was being built, and later visited the mine, with his wife, on several occasions and stayed in it.

And that’s where we had coffee and cake served to us this morning.

NOW LEONORA

Many vacated the Leinster Caravan Park this morning … new ‘best friends’ after a week together, all heading off in diverse directions.

We dined last night at the workers MESS with my brother’s neighbours from Nicholson in Victoria, Graeme and Wendy, they having caught us up again. What a magnificent meal for $20 … all you could eat and SO MUCH to choose from.

Our new neighbours in a motor home on the other side came from New Zealand, in fact they worked in the Wairarapa and John and they knew the same people. Now living in Waikanae, they attend the same church as John’s cousins, Sally and Don.

Then there was Col. He had worked in the Kimberley, breaking in horses, and was on Fossil Downs the year after I left. We knew many of the same people. He was delighted to see my pics of what the station homestead complex looks like now.

So, our week’s stay at little Leinster produced some very interesting connections. But, it was time for us all to venture further afield, so now John and I are at Leonora for a couple of nights, where we were five years ago, en route to Kalgoorlie. 

But we were all a bit sad to leave the nesting Tawny Frogmouths this morning.

Attractive gumnuts and coloured stone at our caravan site

I think this was prospective 'Dad' on the nest this morning

DARLOT DREAMS

I’d never heard of the settlement of Darlot. Like so many other places around Kalgoorlie, there was a gold-rush there in the 1890’s. It must have been total desperation which drove so many people to these places.  The harsh conditions they endured after walking, rarely riding, when they arrived is hard to imagine: no water, no heating, no houses, sometimes not even tents, nothing. Some wheeled their meagre belongings in a wheel-barrow. Suddenly 5000 people were there, with no infrastructure in place.

The mulga around these areas was all cut down for firewood, or to make humpies, and even to make coffins. Yes, there is a cemetery in each now depleted little settlement. Many headstones depict the heartbreak and suffering. Lack of sanitation meant many died of typhoid fever. Children were very susceptible to disease. Some adults and children just died of dehydration.

Poignantly at Darlot cemetery is the story told by a flock of budgerigars; in short it says “if they’d just followed us, we would take them to water, as we went there every morning and night”.

A lot of gold was recovered but the cost of the most basic items, eventually hauled in by camels, was outrageously inflated.  Did the prospectors fulfill their dreams? Some might have, but was it worth the heartbreaking situation?  Was it greed or desperation which drove them? We’ll probably never know.

WILUNA WANES

The Intersection

Wiluna is not everyone’s idea of a fun place to visit now, but when gold was discovered there it was on everyone’s ‘bucket list’. In the 1930’s it boasted a population of 7000. It even had suburbs … along with the usual collection of hotels, shops, and other means of depriving the miners of their hard-won riches. Why do you go there now? It’s either the beginning, or the end, of the Canning Stock Route, and the beginning, or the end, of the Gunbarrel Highway. They intersect in the middle of the town.

Actually, some ‘marketing licence’ has been taken with those roads. The start of the Canning today is in a slightly different place to where Alfred Canning surveyed it: Would he have sited No. 1 well 3kms off the route and taken the route 10kms away from a natural water hole? I don’t think so. Likewise with the Gunbarrel; Len Beadell finished its construction at Carnegie Station as there already was a track into Wiluna.

But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good marketing opportunity. It’s great to see the intersection of these two iconic Australian tracks in Wiluna, which traverse surely the most inhospitable sections of the Australian inland. People, like us, will travel there just to see these beginnings/ends.

Grader driver in Len Beadell's books
[We love the dog!]

The W.A. Royalties for Regions program [mentioned in previous posts] has funded lots of interpretive plaques to bring all the history of the town together so you can appreciate what has gone before. It even details the humble corner where D’Orsonga Brothers [now Australia-wide smallgoods manufacturers] first began their business.

Len Beadell in his LandRover

When the coal-seam gas and gas projects in Queensland start generating royalties, the State Government would do well to emulate the way Western Australia really supports its outback towns to help keep them viable … especially when they’ve contributed so much to the State in the past.