20 August 2019

Once the heavy fog lifted, we packed up and left Kimba via their painted silos and the big galah.

Painted silos have become quite the thing in recent years, as a wonderful way to bring a few tourist dollars into struggling rural towns. The silos at Kimba were the first painted in Australia and they have held up to what would be fairly harsh conditions really well. Unlike many of the painted silos (in Victoria anyway) these ones are still in use.

The big galah was perhaps a little less impressive.

It was a better day today, with some sun and no rain. We drove through stunning farming land and stopped in the beautiful historic town of Burra for lunch. We are bypassing Adelaide and although it is a bit further to travel, I love getting off the highways and finding towns like Burra. The copper mine outside of the town was once the most productive metal mine in Australia! No longer in operation, however the town and all it’s lovely sandstone buildings have been well looked after. It reminded me of Richmond in Tassie a bit.

The landscape changed quickly and dramatically from productive and green to dry and scrappy. We drove onto the Riverland, through Berri to our riverside camp at Loxton. The Riverland is a favourite area of mine from times spent waterskiing on the Murray River. We camped in an excellent free camp not far from town, and it was a very comfortable temperature. A great way to spend our last night of the trip.

19 August 2019

We decided this morning to cut the trip a day short. We had planned to tour the steel works at Whyalla on Wednesday, as the tours only run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However we’ve all had enough of camping in the cold and with only roughly 1500 kms to home, we can easily get there in 3 days rather than 4. So Whyalla will have to wait for another time.

So, with that change decided, we headed on to Ceduna. Bill played the last 3 holes of golf this morning, one at Penong and two at Ceduna. Penong is home to Australia’s largest windmill, which warranted a photo.

His final score was 117 strokes – 45 over par. We went to the information centre in Ceduna where we found out that the average is 120 – 150 strokes, and the worst recorded is 469! Bill collected his certificate to go along with some of the other memorabilia we picked up at the roadhouses along the way.

We had lunch at the foreshore and then with the showers continuing, drove on to Streaky Bay for a bit of a look, and then on to Kimba for the night. We got in just on dark and cobbled a meal together from the items we had left.

I had bought a hot water bottle in Ceduna, so I didn’t have to go to bed in two pairs of tights and two jumpers tonight. Winning!

Last of the golf related photos.

18 August 2019

It had been a cold night, and a cold and damp morning. First stop for the day was a few km’s down the road for Bill to play a hole of golf at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse. We then continued on to Eucla for another hole of golf and a coffee and then across the border at Border Village and more golf. The last hole of the day was played at Nundroo in atrocious conditions. Windy. Raining. So cold. Shortly after, we pulled into our camp for the night at Corrabie Farm. We’ve really enjoyed our station and farm stays on this trip and this one was no exception. We were met by the farmer who directed us to a nice sheltered spot. After we set up camp we headed over to the communal fire to chat and get warm. Dad asked how the farmer got in to the tourist game. It started with them renting out the shearers accommodation for short stays and then just grew and grew and grew. As well as the campers they now have bus loads of tourists coming out from Port Lincoln for the whale watching that is close by. They also have big groups of golfers each year coming through whilst playing the links. It was a great spot.

Bill and I went to bed early as it was so cold. This camping in the cold business really has bones in it.

The big kangaroo at Border Village

17 August 2019

We started across the Nullabor today and we settled in for what was a day of driving. Bill played 6 holes of golf, each at different locations. The first was at the Fraser Range sheep station and it was bitterly cold and windy. The links are a great way to get people to stop and have a stretch and help combat the fatigue of driving such enormous distances. We drove the longest straight stretch of road today and then camped a few km’s short of the Mundrabilla roadhouse. There are no towns along the Nullabor. Just roadhouses every so often.

Another cold night. It had rained most of the day, and kept raining on and off during the evening. A good day for driving. Not a good night for camping. Take me back north!

Fraser Range sheep station links hole.

16 August 2019

After an extremely chilly night, we packed up and headed to Kalgoorlie. I was so surprised to find a really quite pretty, busy town. Due to the gold rush in the 1800’s, there are a lot of beautiful buildings, particularly corner pubs, that have been restored. First stop was the museum which was quite excellent, then shopping and lunch.

Kalgoorlie has the first (or last depending on which direction you’re travelling in) two holes that comprise the 18 hole Nullabor Links golf course. It is the longest golf course in the world at 1,365 km. Bill has brought 2 clubs with him, a 4 iron and a 7 iron and so decided to play the course. The Kalgoorlie golf course was really beautiful. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and no wind. A lovely golf day. 2 holes down, and we popped back in to town to the visitors centre to pay the course fee, and to get Bill a Nullabor Links collared shirt.

Next stop was the super pit. The gold mine is located right on the edge of town and it really is a super big pit. We read that from 7 dump trucks of ore, they extract a golf ball sized amount of gold. Mining is of course just the first step. They still have to extract the gold from the ore which takes an enormous amount of resources and chemicals and produces really nasty cyanide waste products.

Next stop was the Kambalda golf course where Bill played the third links hole. Our lofty expectations from playing the first two at Kalgoorlie came crashing down when we saw Kambalda. Not a blade of grass anywhere!

Another two holes of golf at Norseman, then we dropped by the visitors centre there to have showers and drove out of town to camp in the bush for the night. Luckily, it was no where near as cold as the previous night.

Mulga Bill’s bicycle. The first known bike in Australia.

Kalgoorlie golf course

The Kalgoorlie gold mine Super Pit

Kambalda golf course. No grass in sight.

15 August 2019

A late start today as we didn’t have much to do for the day except cover some distance. We called by the post office in Latham (open 1 hour a day – small town after all) to make a donation for our use of the camp and then started to drive. We stuck to the back roads and drove through some really beautiful countryside and a number of small towns. We are still in the wheatbelt so there are vast areas of green crops. We stopped in the small town of Koordo for lunch and looked around there, walking whilst eating as although lovely and aunny, the breeze was very cold.

We dropped onto the main road at Southern Cross and drove onto the Goldfields National Park where we camped at Boondi Rock. It was cold! So cold. We were all early into bed as it was too cold to even be around the campfire.

The below photo is the only one taken for the day. There is a donut for anyone that can guess why the name of this town had Bill and I in stitches. Unless he has told you about it already, in which case no donut.

14 August 2019

It rained quite heavily in the early hours of this morning. We’ve definitely come too far south….

It rained on and off all day, so the day didn’t pan out the way I had planned. On leaving Kalbarri, via the bakery for donuts, we went to Hutt River Province. I’m still a bit confused by this place, as I haven’t conducted any independent research, however according to the information of the owner (Prince Graham) the large agricultural property seceded from Australia in 1970 and is now an independent country. Of sorts. The owner at the time (father of the current Prince) cracked it with the WA government in 1969 when they brought in wheat quotas. My take on it all is that back then, the government didn’t seem to believe in the concept of a free market. They controlled the wheat market by being the only entity that a farmer was allowed to sell his grain to. Then, in 1969, they set quotas, telling farmers how much land they were allowed to put in to wheat. However, they did this after the wheat had already been sown for the year. So, Hutt River, which according to their information generally sowed around 13,000 acres of wheat, were told by the government they were only allowed to sow 100 acres for the year. Anyway, regardless of the truth to the story, I believe it is absolutely disgraceful for the government to have controlled the market in such a way, and I too would be jolly annoyed to be told who I could sell my produce to, and how much of a certain crop I was allowed to grow on my own land. Anyway, after much rigmarole, Hutt River province seceded. They have their own currency, postage stamps and flag. The real kicker though is that he showed us passports that citizens of Hutt River have travelled on. Which means that other countries recognise it as a legitimate country. Hmmmm. It all seemed like a bit of a joke, and the fella who introduced himself as Prince Graham a bit of a tool.

I had intended for us to visit the Pink Lake at Gregory next, but the stupid rain and clouds wouldn’t go away. So we headed to Northhampton for a quick look and then to Geraldton for lunch. It was still raining, so we didn’t have our customary picnic lunch, instead having potato cakes and chips. Good potato cakes though, scored a 4/5 as part of the #huntforaustraliasbestpotatocake

The upside of the crummy weather was that we were able to do more km’s that I’d originally planned, and we made it to the teeny tiny wheatbelt town of Latham to camp. It was a free camp, with toilets and hot showers! Such a thing is almost unheard of. The countryside around Latham is beautiful, and the area very aptly named the wheatbelt. At times there were just immense paddocks of crops that went as far as the eye could see, and railway line connecting the small towns with enormous grain storage sheds along side. The towns all looked pretty down and out, and it was sad to see so many empty shops.

Hutt River Province photos.

Painted sheep dot the streets of Northampton as part of a community arts project.

13 August 2019

Bill and I headed in to town this morning to go to a laundromat, and to see the daily pelican feeding on the foreshore. Only one young pelican turned up, due to it being breeding session and the adults being to busy to pay a visit.

Mid-morning we went to the national park and did some short walks. Flies were still shocking, preventing the idea of any longer walks. Anyway, a pub lunch was calling followed by feeding the local fish through this fruitless activity referred to as ‘fishing’. We tried two spots along the river, but came up with naught. With rain threatening we packed up and headed back to camp to get the washing off the line. Unfortunately we ran short of time and didn’t get a chance to do any of the walks in the coastal section of the park. Bit of a bummer as I’m sure they would have been lovely.

We went for a walk around the station in the late afternoon. It is all bushland and very beautiful. They make their money off tourists, and also rangeland goats which they muster once a year. Not much farming infrastructure required for that. Bill found some kids that live there kicking the football and immediately joined in. In his element!

Above photos all taken in Kalbarri National Park.

Bill pretending to catch a massive fish.

12 August 2019

On the road today heading towards Kalbarri. Kalbarri is both a seaside town, and the name of the national park that mostly surrounds the town. The national park is split into two sections, the inland river gorges, and the coastal section.

We stopped on the way to camp to complete a short walk in the park. The flies were full on though, so we didn’t really hang around and enjoy the scenery too much. We made it to camp at Murchison Station by lunch. It is a great camping area, and very popular. They don’t allow too many people in, so it didn’t feel crowded at all and we got a great riverside campsite. Lucky I had booked, as they were already turning away walk-in’s for the night. After lunch we drove into Kalbarri town with the intent of snorkelling at Blue Holes. Unfortunately, the tide was fairly low, and the water not deep enough for snorkelling. After having a bit more of a look around, we headed back to camp for our usual evening routine.

A view over the mouth of the Murchison River and Kalbarri town to the right.

11 August 2019

Today was a pretty exciting day. Another bucket list item for me – sighting stromatolites. These living fossils are extraordinary. I first became aware of them after reading Bill Brysons book ‘ Down Under’ (which I thoroughly recommend to all). They are believed to be largely responsible for creating the oxygen rich atmosphere that then proceeded to give rise to the world as we know it. They can survive in environments like Hamelin Pool, which is twice as salty as the ocean and they take in carbon dioxide, and expel it as carbon and oxygen. What are they you ask? Masses of cyanobacteria! The Hamelin Pool population is one of only two left in the world, and I think that is pretty special. Australia is home to one of the first known life forms. Amazing!

After I finished being wowed by what essentially look like rocks in the water (other people’s wow factor not quite as great as my own) we headed over to the old shell quarry. Because Hamelin Pool (not really a pool by the way just what that section of Shark Bay is called) is so salty, it has enabled a particular type of cockle to thrive as they have no predators. They’ve thrived to the point that the shells in the area are 10 m deep and so compacted that in the past, they have been quarried and used as building materials. Humans always find a way…

From there we travelled to Denham via the Eagle Bluff look out (didn’t see any sea animals but still a beautiful view). Denham is a lovely little seaside town. It was a beautiful day and quiet in town. It was delightful. We had a picnic lunch on the foreshore and then went into the visitors centre and watched a short 3D film (2D for Bill who is unable to see 3D) about the fight between the HMAS Sydney II and a German vessel during WWII. It occurred off the coast around the area of Shark Bay and was Australia’s worst maritime disaster with all of the ships crew (well over 600) dying in the conflict. Another reminder of how close the war came.

We went and checked out the local church, one of only a couple of buildings left in the area made of the cockle shell bricks, then too Francois Peron National Park, not far from Denham. We had a look around the heritage precinct, comprised of the old woolshed and shearers quarters and then Mum, Bill and I changed into our togs for a dip in the artesian pool. The water comes up from approx 500 m down and is a constant 40 degrees. We couldn’t stay in for too long due to the heat of the water, however it was lovely all the same.

Back to Denham for fuel and ice-creams. And – exciting news – the IGA supermarkets over here stock the chocolate covered butternut snap biscuits. Bill has been looking for them for years, and here they are! We bought 3 packets. They won’t last long.

Our last stop on the way back to Hamelin Station was shell beach (different location to the aforementioned old shell quarry). The beach really was just shells. I decided to go for a swim, wanting to see how much difference water twice as salty as sea water makes to floating oneself. I walked out 60 – 70 m and was still only up to my knees. I plonked in anyway. I think it was easier to float. Or maybe I just wanted it to be.

Back to camp and straight in the shower. That salty water certainly was icky on the skin.

The stromatolites. Amazing aren’t they!

The old shell quarry.

View from Eagle Bluff.

The artesian pool. Looks a bit gross, but the water was actually clean and was constantly flowing through the pool. The colour is from all the minerals in the water.

Shell beach

Trying to swim off shell beach.