Day 14 - Kalgoorlie to Perth [650 km] - The Last Day!

Marg and I went for a walk around Kalgoorlie town last evening. It's big town with lots of lovely old pubs (mining town prerequisite)

Railway station...

... and our accommodation - The Railway Hotel.

Despite being our last night, the dinner was quiet (but most enjoyable). Perhaps some were a bit tired.

After an early breakfast we started on the last leg of our journey. The first stop was Coolgardie, an old mining town with lots of marvelous old buildings. It was still quite cold at that hour.

It was a day for driving rather than visiting places. The countryside was distinctly changing; we were in the Wheat Belt where WA produces a large percentage of its wheat. It's very productive wheat & sheep country.

On the way we did a slight detour to have a look at some painted grain silos near Merridin.

More wheat country and we stopped at the small town of Cunderdin for lunch. Although this town boasts 'an Ettamogah Pub' Marg and I refused to take a photograph as we thought that the original pub with that name was to the north of Brisbane. However a simple web search shows at least two pubs with the same name in NSW (as also pointed out to us by one of our travel companions)

No more adventures, no more pubs. Clear drive to Perth.

Although we were (kind of) sad to finish the trip it was a happy crew that we said goodbye to. They were a good mob - helpful seasoned travelers. Wish them all the best, especially Jessa and Barb for delivering us to Perth safely.

A welcome sight at the East Perth Railway Station - Chamara & Niroshini there to pick us up.

 Day 13 - Laverton to Kalgoorlie [350 km]

Last night was really enjoyable - a few drinks in the pub, a good meal and a noisy game of Rugby league to watch. The pub wasn't too crowded - apart from our group (mostly Queensland supporters) and a noisy group of NSW supporters, there were only two or three other people in the pub.

Our 'donga' was better than last night's and the pub was excellent!

We lost the rugby very badly!

The morning was cold when we had breakfast near the bus but there was a colourful sunrise (and a tree that glowed in the morning sun)

We walked round the Laverton town - an attractive little place. There is a statute of Dr Charles Laver, after whom the town is named.

From Laverton we drove to Leonora where the Sons of Gwalia mine is situated as well as the well preserved 'Gwalia Ghost Town' and museum. We parked the bus in the Ghost Town and started the tour after a cup of coffee. The town is well preserved and well looked after as you can see from the pictures.

Ghost Town layout - streets and buildings

'Petronis Guest Home' where many miners lived (singles' quarters on the side)

Garage (or what's left of it) and house and transport.

Pub (State Hotel)

From the Ghost Town we went up to the museum and the mine buildings. Since this was a 19th century mine, there is a lot of history of the changes that have taken place here, from old transport to mining machinery. 

One time Mine Manager (and later US President) Herbert Hoover's house is also well preserved.

The mine itself is visible from the same area. It is a very compact exhibition!

After lunch we headed towards Kalgoorlie, stopping at a 'two-up' venue along the way.

Our first stop in Kalgoorlie - Boulder (twin towns) was the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme that helped these towns to survive by pumping water from Perth to Kalgoorlie via a 556km long pipeline system. a truly visionary project started in 1903. From the hill with the storage tank, one could get a good view of the city.

After the water supply scheme we visited the 'main attraction' of Kalgoorlie - the 'Super Pit'. This open cut mine is 3.7 km long, 1.5km wide and 480. deep (enough to bury Uluru, they say). From the lookout it's awe-inspiring.

Notice the tiny machines at the bottom right of the picture - that's how big the mine is!

After all that excitement, it's off to our accommodation for the night (last one on this trip). It's still early enough so Marg & I may get some time to walk the streets of Kalgoorlie before drinks and dinner...

 Day 12 - Warburton to laverton [560 km]

Last night's accommodation was slightly down-market from the previous ones. The unit was a typical 'mining camp donga' type. However, the bed was comfortable and the water was hot. As we were confined to the compound, dinner was cooked by Jessa and Barb (our guides) - the three types of chicken kebabs were excellent. The fact that the bus is equipped to provide that kind of service comes in handy on trips of this type.

Our 'donga' with some notices on the dos and don'ts above. The soil looks fertile but the lack of rain makes it difficult for plants to grow. These from within the compound.

This strangely beautiful land belongs to the Tjkayiria People who live in the countryside. We stopped at the Tjkayiria Roadhouse for our first stop of the day. The Tjkayiria are served by the Roadhouse as well as the Royal Flying Doctor Service (with the help of the emergency landing strip).

After having a coffee we headed off again over the unsealed road through dry countryside. Vegetation changes from near-barren to scrub and clumps of trees. 

One type of tree that we saw grows as a bunch of separate trunks coming from a central root ball. This was described as a Malee Eucalyptus by one of our knowledgeable travelling companions.

We pulled off the road for lunch and luckily, we were in Malee country. 

The bus is equipped to provide a cold lunch and hot coffee/tea and sweets - Jessa and Barb have got this down to a fine art (with the travelers helping in the setting and cleaning up). 

After lunch it was straight to Laverton. There's a pub in Laverton next to our accommodation and the Queensland Vs. New South Wales 'State of Origin' Rugby League clash is on tonight. The biggest event on the Rugby League calendar and we can watch it in the pub! YES!

 Day 11 - Yulra to Warburton [560 km]

We started early, with the sky looking quite something,,,

The trip was going to be one of those 'look at the world through the windows' ones. There wasn't a lot to see except dry desert countryside (we set off with one last look at Uluru in the distance)

The first stop was at Lasseter's Cave. Harold Lasseter was a gold prospector (and some say a charlatan) who claimed to have discovered a rich golds deposit ('Lasseter's Reef') near the WA/NT border. He perished in the desert. This cave is where he lived alone, for about a month .

What was most attractive to me was the wide river bed (dry) with majestic gum trees.

... And Marg was there too, under a tree...

More dry desert until we reached the border with WA.

WA - here we come!

We thought the sign on the other side of the road looked a bit better though.

In the following list of 'towns' we were to encounter along the way, Warakurna Roadhouse was the next stop (lunch), Warburton Roadhouse (sleep), Laverton (next night), and Kalgoorlie (following night) before heading for Perth.

Warkurna Roadhouse was one of the smaller ones, very indigenous flavoured.

We also had a quick toilet stop (there was no toilet) at a wayside rest before going on to Warburton for the night.

Warburton accommodation is 'inside a compound' but a rest is most welcome.