Day 101—Thursday, 3rd October (Hyden to Merredin 164kms)
After moving out of the caravan park at The Rock, we drove the two kilometres into Hyden to check out the bakery. Again no luck with the sticky buns, so back to the van, parked in the tow's RV parking lot. Here in town we found more tin art and lots of Gazania. The tin art was a series of storyboards sketching out the life and time of some of the original settlers in Hyden.
Another short drive day, heading northwards to the Great Eastern Highway and the end of our zig zag travel. The GEH now heads east to Kalgoorlie-Boulder, our next destination, although maybe not in one drive, I’ve got used to these short days at the wheel.
But that’s ahead. Our drive today was uneventful on quiet country roads. We stopped at Narembeen and strolled through the Grain Discovery Centre, a very informative little museum, detailing the grain industry, the major industry for hundreds of kilometres. The Centre is part of the Narembeen Roadhouse and after we’d spent an hour or so in the museum, we decided to have lunch at the café. Pie and chips! I don’t know what brought that on, except that we’d visited the bakery in the last couple of towns, not finding, the coffee scrolls we wanted. So maybe pies sort of crept into the mind?
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| More Tin Art at Hyden |
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| A patch of Gazania, one of many |
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| More tin art at Narembeen Roadhouse |
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| An interesting storyboard at Narembeen Grain Discovery Centre |
On the road again and soon set up in the caravan park at Merredin, after which we drove into town and visited the Information Centre. Merredin is not just another wheatbelt town, it started life as a stopping place on the way to the goldfields. Then, what really set the town on its feet, was the arrival of the railway in 1893 and another huge granite outcrop, Merredin Peak. As at Hyden, a wall was built around the contours of the rock, capturing every drop of rain that fell and funnelling the water into a channel which led to a storage dam. The dam could hold up to twentyfive million litres. So water supply was secured for the town and the railways steam locos. Although the need for the water from the dam ended in 1903 when the goldfields pipeline to Kalgoorlie was completed, the structure is still intact and continued to supply water to the railway until 1968. Today the water is used to supply the water fountain outside the old railway station museum. Amazing what you can learn from a visit to the local Information Centre!
Later, Merredin had been a fall back position from Perth, during WWII in case of attack or invasion and at the wars end, a major tent hospital was set up to treat injured returned servicemen on their return to Australia and the hospital site is still there, although only the concrete slabs of the various operating theatres and other main buildings remain. We also learned about a military museum and the old Station Museum, though they were closed for the day. Something to do in the morning! But still plenty of time to visit the dam and hospital site.
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| The stone channel taking water to the dam, when it rains. |
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| Merredin Peak's Railway Dam |
Day 102—Friday, 4th October (Merredin to Boorabbin Rest Area 171kms)
The Merredin Caravan Park sits on the highway, at the east end of town. On a corner, with a roadhouse petrol station opposite. On the other side of the highway, opposite the roadhouse is a truck parking area and to cap it off, the railway line runs alongside the highway, about fifty metres back. It must be the noisiest park ever, anywhere! When we were booking in yesterday, the lady at the desk asked me what must have been a trick question “would you prefer near the highway or near the toilet block”? I smartly said toilets only to find the toilet block next to the highway anyway!! We survived though but it’s on our “not to visit” list for next time, not so much for the noise but the smartalec staff.
After breakfast, we hitched up and drove into town, finding caravan parking in town, alongside the railway line and spent a good couple of hours at the two museums, which are only separated by a nice little park, complete with astroturf.
The Old Station Museum had a familiar story, marked for demolition by the railways board and only saved by the efforts of local folks who now run the complex with volunteers.
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| The old railway station at Merredin, now a museum |
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| The old water tower at Merredin Station |
Next door, the Military Museum was also a volunteer effort, with a shed full of army vehicles and other great exhibits, spread over three or four smaller buildings. We learned more about Merreden’s status during the war, as a fall back position, should Perth be attacked. Very interesting.
By the time we’d been through both museums, it was well and truly lunch time, so we moved back to the van and enjoyed our sandwiches, before setting off down the highway. We had earmarked a free camp site at Boorabbin Nature Park and arrived there about 3.30pm. This must be the biggest rest area in the country, absolutely huge and a lot of it sealed, especially near the toilet block.
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| Boorabbin Nature Reserve Rest Area |
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| Well settled in, late afternoon at Boorabbin |
I had expected the area to be very busy but found only one other camper set up, so we more or less had the pick of the place. We soon found a cosy little corner and got settled. These rest areas, designated as 24hr stops are regular on the main highways in WA and unfortunately don’t seem to be appreciated by users. The rubbish bins provided were chock a block full and there was rubbish lying around everywhere. We really hope that caravanners are not the culprits. Apart from the 24hr stops, we have noticed other smaller rest area, without toilet facilities and these always seem to be much tidier. Not sure what that signifies but many touring vans have toilets onboard and can stop anywhere. We enjoyed the quiet though, after last night’s noise.
Day 103—Saturday, 5th October (Boorabbin Rest Area to Kalgoorlie 168kms)
Staying at rest areas can sometimes result in early nights since there’s no telly although there’s still the DVD’s. So, if you get an early night, you could expect an early morning and since we hadn’t fully unhooked the van, just used the jack to take the weight of the Patrol, that’s what happened. The highway runs alongside the Goldfields Water Supply pipeline, which supplies water from Mundaring Weir, just outside Perth to Kalgoorlie. The pipeline is regarded as a major feat of engineering and responsible for the opening up of the eastern goldfields. The pipeline, completed in 1903, was the brainchild of C.Y. O’Connor. The pipeline is so well recognised in the West, that it’s route has been turned into a major tourist attraction, The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail.
Since we are now in week two of WA school holidays, we had phoned the Top Tourist park at Boulder and booked but on arrival, we found plenty of sites available. Later we worked out that half the park is closed for building units at one end, plus there was some sort of BMX trials going on, because there were kids on bikes and helmets all over the park, uniforms too. So the park was quite full.
We’d arrived quite early, so after settling in and a cuppa, we drove into Kalgoorlie for a look around. The ever present Information Centre was first stop for a map and some pointers to the things to do. The main thing to do, is visit the KCGM Super Pit but there’s also a different kind of lookout at Mt Charlotte Reservoir, where the water pipeline finishes. This one overlooks the town. We also took a drive into the Boulder main street, which still suffers from the earthquake of recent times (must look that up). Many of the shops are deserted and although the two pubs seemed to be doing good business, repairs to their facade’s were to be seen.
Day 104—Sunday, 6th October (Kalgoorlie 54kms bobtail)
The park is very deserted this morning, all the kids and their support staff (Mums and Dads) and BMX bikes shipped out early, leaving an uncanny quietness. We don’t know where the action is but can live with that, it was scary enough having them whizzing around the caravans, can’t imagine them all together in a downhill charge.
Our first visit this morning is to the lookout at the Super Pit in Boulder, just down the street from our caravan park. Described as a manmade wonder, which can be seen from space, the pit came about when Alan Bond started buying up smaller pits and consolidating them, then introducing open cut mining.
We found it quite fascinating, both of us being familiar with both open cut and underground mining from our distant past in Africa. I’m not sure how the Super Pit is promoted, it doesn’t seem as big as Newman, so maybe it’s the biggest gold mining open cut. It’s certainly known as the richest square mile of gold bearing earth in the world. That’ll do me!
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| Kalgoorlie-Boulder Super Pit |
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| Close up of current section being worked, with next section behind, being marked out for explosives |
Next we returned to the highway and turned towards Kalgoorlie and the Mt Charlotte Lookout and Reservoir, moving over at one point for a passing wide load. Here, at Mt Charlotte, the piped water ends it’s six hundred kilometre journey and supplies the town below. The pipeline has since, been extended further to Norseman and other towns. There are several storyboards arranged along a circular pathway round the reservoir, telling the story of this engineering marvel and one hopes the townsfolk realise this and don’t take their water for granted. Not much to see of the reservoir, a huge concrete tank, covered to keep out contamination. But the landscaping around the reservoir made for a very restful stroll, lots of local gums and other native plants.
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| No arguing with something this big! |
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| Good old Mulla Mulla, seen anywhere there are wildflowers |
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| A mystery plant we have yet to identify, this was the first and only sighting |
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| Growing on a very spindly shrub |
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| The view of Kalgoorlie shopping centre |
Finally, a trip to the other side of town to the Arboretum Woodlands Trial. Great specimens of local gum trees, Salmon, Gymlet, Coral and Blackbutt, plus many others. Also lots of acacias and melaleucas. Many of the trees had posts with name markers some of which the local bandits had chosen to vandalise. I suppose there are idiots everywhere, even in the west.
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| All that and a duck pond too |
Back at the caravan park, Helen decided to take advantage of the quiet and get some washing done, the laundry might get busy when the young bikies return from their downhill racing. After dinner, we decided to watch a missed episode of the ABC’s Scott & Bailey on Helen’s iPad thanks to ABC iView. Much enjoyed and feeling very clever, not thinking of the hole this downloaad would make in our Telstra plan.
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| Good to see the park has adopted the famous Bryce weather stone |
Day 105—Monday, 7th October (Kalgoorlie to Norseman 190kms)
Before hitching up and moving out, we drove up the street to the Boulder Pharmacy for some scripts, still managing to leave before 10.00am. Not that we’ve ever been hassled about late departure, just keeping to the rules.
Instead of backtracking to Coolgardie, we took the alternative route through Kambalda. The town was established in 1897 during the goldrush days but was almost a ghost town by 1908 then reborn in the sixties when nickel was found, resulting in Australia’s first nickel mine.
Lots of smaller mine sites on the way which mainly seemed to be nickel and certainly at Kambalda, nickel is the life of the area. As a result, we regularly passed roadtrains hauling ore back towards Kalgoorlie but once through Kambalda West things quietened down. Soon, we were back on the main highway, the Coolgardie Esperance Highway. No prizes for guessing where this highway goes! As far as we were concerned, it was taking us to Norseman, where we duly arrived and booked in for a powered site. The routine is well established, lunch then down the street to the Information Centre. Here, a very helpful lady marked out a drive trail on a map for us and off we went.
Norseman seems almost surrounded by salt lakes and most of it seems to be Lake Cowan. About seven kilometers out of town, a small bluff overlooks the lake and in the distance, the town. Most of the drive was actually through the lake, the salty surface catching the sun and reflecting blinding white.
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Driving over Lake Cowan
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Closer to town, another lookout, Beacon Hill Walk Trail. The lookout gave a good view of the town and it’s gold mine and tailings dump. There was a shelter with benches and electric barbecue. A short circular walk around the hilltop offered views of the surrounding area with storyboard explanations.
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| Tailings dump at Norsemman Gold Mine |
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| Lookout shelter and storyboards |
