Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Goldfields

Tuesday, 9 October to Saturday, 13 October 2012

After picking up our mail from the Esperance Post Office, we set off towards Kalgoorlie-Boulder. About 80kms north we had a blow-out in one of the van tyres and after changing it we stopped at Norseman to purchase a new tyre. From there we continued on to Mt Thirsty Rest Area, 23kms north of Norseman for the night.

The following morning we made our way to Kalgoorlie-Boulder, via Kambalda, a small town on the Goldfields Highway.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is made up of two old goldfield towns, now grown together. The old buildings in the towns reflect the prosperity of the area, now and in the past. One old building, I think it is the Post Office-Mining Registrar Office has a clock tower which is capped with gold plating which shines brilliantly in the sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kalgoorlie Town Hall is also a magnificent building with a huge wooden staircase to the dress circle of the theatre area which also has cast iron seating upholstered with velvet.

 

We also visited infamous Hay Street, Kalgoorlie, when we took part in a tour of the oldest remaining ‘house’ in Kalgoorlie. This was a most entertaining afternoon with the current Madam, a real character, telling us about the history of the industry and an insight into the goings-on behind the walls.

We visited the famous “Super Pit”, a huge gold mine, hundreds of metres deep and kilometres long. We viewed it from the lookout and then Crawf went on the two and a half hour bus tour into the pit and the processing plant. The machinery used in the mining industry is huge and very expensive, for example, a dump truck costs approximately $10 million and uses about 140 litres of fuel for every 10kms travelled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boulder is also on the edge of the Super Pit and the plans are to tunnel under the town to extract more gold way below the surface. We visited the Metropole Hotel where we viewed an old mine shaft in the floor of the pub. According to the locals, several pubs were accessed by the miners in this manner as it was a safer way to get to the gold buyers who bought gold in the hotels. I think it was also a short-cut to a drink.

Many of the buildings in Boulder were badly damaged by an earthquake in 2010. Unfortunately we were unable to view the Boulder Town Hall as it was closed. It has a Philip Goatcher Stage Curtain, believed to be the last remaining curtain in the world painted by Philip Goatcher.

Sunday, 14 October 2012

While in the goldfields area we visited Coolgardie, the town where the first substantial amounts of gold were discovered by Paddy Hannan. Coolgardie is now a slightly deserted town compared to Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Many of the old buildings still stand in the very wide main street.

We completed our round trip of the goldfields area and commenced our exit trip from Western Australia by calling into Norseman for fuel and then commenced our third crossing of the Nullarbor and spent the night at a great rest area 77km east of Norseman. We also camped at Moonera Rest Area and 157km Peg Rest Area before arriving at Ceduna where we spent two nights while doing some washing, grocery shopping and indulging in some local oysters.

Albany and The South of WA

Monday, 1 October 2012 to Wednesday, 3 October 2012

We chose to stay at Kalgan River Caravan Park which is about 20kms outside Albany, set in a rural area and very spacious which suited our needs. The park is on the banks of the Kalgan River and the park is very quiet and relaxing. There are many kangaroos, birds and sometimes bandicoots wandering around the park.

While in Albany we visited the Whale World Museum, an old whaling station which only ceased operations in 1978 when the government banned the killing of whales for commercial purposes. Until then whale oil was very valuable and used for heating, fuel and in the cosmetic industry. Life was very hard for the whalers and when the station closed about 200 people were out of work. The town has recovered and is now committed to the preservation of the whales.

Albany is also the port where the original Anzacs of 1914-15 set sail for Gallipoli and the middle east. The town has honoured them with a large memorial.

 

 

This is also the site where the Brig, “Amity” brought the first convicts to Western Australia. A replica of the “Amity” overlooks the harbour. Many of the buildings from that time are still standing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While in Albany we also visited the local blowholes but due to the low tide they weren’t blowing. We then made our way to the Gap and the Natural Bridge. These are very incredible rock formations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 4 October 2012

We commenced our trip towards Esperance and had lunch at Jerramungup and then spent the night at Munglinup in the rest area opposite the roadhouse.

While in Esperance we caught up with Cyril and also restocked the pantry in preparation for our trip back across the Nullarbor.

Tall Trees and Cliffs

Friday, 21 September 2012

Between showers of rain, we made our exit from Big Valley and wandered on towards Pemberton via Sue’s Road. We arrived just before the rain set-in, it rained and hailed all afternoon and most of the night and the following day was very, very cold and windy.

We braved the elements and went to see the famous Gloucester Tree, a huge Karri tree originally used, and sometimes now days, as a fire spotting lookout.  It can be climbed using the metal rods embedded into the trunk in a spiral fashion but we decided not to attempt it because of the gale force winds.These Karri trees are about 60 metres tall.

Sunday, 23 September 2012

Pemberton has some lovely bush walks and at this time of year many wildflowers. We took a ride on the tram along the old rail track through the Karri forest where the timber industry of the area took place. The driver provided a great commentary about the history of the timber industry and the railway. Most of the buildings in the town are very old, many of the original timber-getters cottages and stores are still being used today.

Monday, 24 September 2012

Walpole was our destination today. We travelled along the very pretty, but very hilly highway lined with huge trees. Our campsite for this area was Ayr Sailean, a farm based caravan park and chalets. We made this our base for the next week because the inclement weather made it difficult to see the sites of the area.

 Walpole is, possibly, most famous for the Valley of the Giants, Tall Trees Walk. We spent a morning exploring the Red Tingle forest from both the suspended walkway about 40 metres above ground through the forest canopy and also from the ground on the Ancient Empire boardwalk. Some of these trees are up to 400 years old. They have huge trunks which with time have become hollow and in some cases the tunnels are large enough for people and even cars to pass through.

We also visited Denmark while in this area. Denmark is a pretty little seaside town with many trendy shops and cafes. The beaches and coastline are dotted with rocks, the most spectacular being Elephant Rocks.

Circular Pool is another lovely spot, also known as ‘the cappuccino” as the water in the pool at the bottom of the small rapids is frothy and the colour of coffee. The water is coloured by rotting plant matter.

We also visited an old saw pit used for the sawing of the huge tree trunk into long slabs for use in the building industry of the day. We learned from the sign where the term “under dog” came from. The person working the saw from the bottom of the pit was described as the “under dog” because he was under the log of wood and during the day was subjected to all the dust and sawdust making his working day very uncomfortable. The worker on top was usually a more ‘superior’ worker who was known as the “upper dog’.

The Winery Coast

Sunday, 15 September to Thursday 20 September 2012

We decided to make Big Valley Campsite our base from where we could explore the Margaret River and south coast areas. Big Valley Campsite is a working sheep farm about 10kms from Margaret River, very quiet and relaxing and reminded us of home.
The first day of our stay we took a “Cheers Tour” and as the name suggests we visited wineries, a chocolate factory, a cheese factory, a venison farm and finally a brewery. We were collected from our campsite at 10.30am and delivered back again at 6.15pm. A great day with lots of taste testing along the way and a lovely lunch at one of the wineries. We didn’t want much for tea that night.
Another day trip was to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin to see the lighthouse and where the Indian Ocean meets the Great Southern Ocean. At this point we were only about 5,000kms from the South Pole.

We also had a trip to the north to Busselton to see the famous Busselton Jetty and from there to Dunsborough and to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. A walking trail around the lighthouse leads to a viewing platform from where whales can sometimes be seen, but they were a long way of shore. A colony of seals were sunning themselves on the rocks below.
Jewel Cave was another highlight with a guided tour providing a spectacular glimpse of the limestone cave, an example of the many caves in the Naturaliste-Leeuwin National Park which extends from Cape to Cape along the coast.

 Cowaramup is an interesting small town on the Bussel Highway. The streets are inhabited by dozens of cow sculptures, all sponsored by local businesses and towns people as a charity fund raising idea and is now a great tourist attracting scene.

Places We Missed Last Year

Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 12 September 2012

After two nights of camping on the old oval at New Norcia we ventured on to Wongan Hills, another grain growing area with more wildflowers.
Our next stop-over was at Goomalling, much the same type of area as the last but with a really great little caravan park with plenty of space for us and the price was unbelievably reasonable.
As we were now back in familiar territory we made very quick progress by passing through Northam, Beverley, Brookton, Pingelly until we reached Narrogin for one night.
The next day we found our way to Donnybrook, via Williams and Collie. With Donnybrook Transit Park as our base for a few days, we ventured north to Dardanup to visit a great privately owned heritage museum. Set on several acres, the museum was set up by Gary Brooks who owned a trucking company and was an avid collector. The museum was about to open when Gary died unexpectedly and it is now run by his wife and family. It is a great display and takes most of the day to explore.



We also had a trip to Bunbury but the highlight of this area was a visit to “Gnomes Ville” where we found a crossroads corner where people have been placing gnomes and messages for many years. This is an incredible sight with hundreds, if not thousands, or gnomes of varying shapes, sizes and colours.

In Search of Wreath Flowers

Sunday, 26 August 2012

After saying goodbye to Mingenew, we ventured southwards to Three Springs, Carnamah and then to Perenjori. We checked into the caravan park and during the next five days we explored the area. We gathered some information from the Visitor’s Centre and other travellers and ventured 85kms out of town to view an incredible area of Wreath Flowers. These flowers stretched for a couple of hundred metres and in places were so close together that they touched each other.

Our return trip to Perenjori was via Camel Soak, a large rock and surrounding area used to water stock in years past. Here we found several orchids and everlastings.
Former neighbours, Ross & Brenda stayed next to us for one night and we were able to share many stories of our respective travels. A very enjoyable evening.

31 August 2012

After hooking-up and leaving Perenjori we travelled through some typical grain growing areas until we arrived at Wubin. We had a look through their machinery museum which is housed in an old grain bin. Crawf found a few interesting exhibits. After lunch we made our way to New Norcia, a small settlement entirely owned and operated by a community of Benedictine Monks. The community was started in the 1850’s to farm the land and educate the aboriginal children. The order has been very successful in all it’s enterprises and and the community is very wealthy, owning a large area of farm land, beautiful buildings, all of which were built by the monks and their helpers, and also a priceless collection of art and artifacts. There are only eight monks in residence these days but they now employ dozens of workers. New Norcia is an incredibly beautiful, interesting and peaceful place to visit.

Wildflower Country at Last

Saturday, 18 August 2012

We finally managed to leave Port Denison this afternoon after having our new awning fitted during the morning, our destination being Mingenew.

Mingenew is a small town set in a huge grain growing area, the largest inland grain receival centre in the southern hemisphere is located here.

Sunday, 19 August 2012

After a visit to the Visitor Centre and armed with our picnic lunch, maps and lots of information we drove to Depot Hill Reserve where we found our first everlastings and several orchids. Depot Hill was used as a firing range during the second world war and some of the trenches can still be seen.

Pink Everlasting

We had our picnic overlooking the Irwin River and then made our way back to Mingenew via the back roads through the farming area.

Twining Fringed Orchid

Mingenew Hill lookout provides a great view of the township and the surrounding farmland which is particularly pretty at the moment with the green of the crops and the colours of the canola crops and the wildflowers. Drovers Rest is also in this area where the drovers of the past were able to water their stock at the trough which is now days only used by the symbolic corrugated iron cows. The old water tank has been decorated with old boots and many gadgets from the past.

While in this area we visited Coalseam and Canna. Coalseam, as the name suggests, is an area were coal was found and mined but as the coal was not of good quality the mining was very limited. The scenery is lovely and we saw many wildflowers, especially on the sides of the road as we drove along. After lunch we travelled to Canna, which is now only the site of a grain receival facility but many of the old buildings remain. Behind the old shop is a hall and church with a great campsite which is very popular during the wildflower season. A walk into the scrub behind this area provided us with the chance to see several orchids and shrubs.

The Golf Course at Mingenew and a couple of walks and drives around town also provided us with a great variety of flowers.

We also took a drive to Mullewa where we visited another church designed and built by Monsignor Hawes, this one is considered to be his best effort. It is very beautiful and the detail is exquisite.

After a very interesting week we decided it was time to move on.

Port Denison

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Port Denison is a twin town with Dongara, both only 65-70kms south of Geraldton.
We decided to make this our base for a couple of weeks to wait for the wildflowers to bloom and also to get the ute serviced in Geraldton.

Port Denison is a pretty, quiet seaside fishing town where we could do a bit of fishing, well try anyway, have walks along the beach and take some great photos.

Our stay became extended when a storm hit while we were in Geraldton getting the ute serviced and the awning on the van was torn so we had to order a replacement cover and wait for it to be delivered and installed.

While waiting we took a couple of drives, one to Greenough an old historic village with lovely stone buildings, a convict built bridge and much to Crawf's delight, an antique fair at the Hampton Arms Inn.  We also took a picnic lunch and travelled inland to Ellendale Pool, where we found a very pretty waterhole with a campground and picnic area.

St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Geraldton, WA

Geraldton, WA



Port Denison, WA



Sunset, Port Denison, WA



Crab, Port Denison

Crab, Port Denison

Ellendale Pool, WA