Feeling good , we rode up the light industrial area to find the dump point to empty our tanks tomorrow , and came back to the park .
Lunch packed , we headed off for a drive out to Waaribanno Chimney , the site of an old lead smelter. It was out in wheat country , back near the North West Hwy . The lead mine was 5klms from the smelter , a strange place for both we thought !
After driving 10 klms down a gravel road we arrived at the smelter site , perched up on the highest hill for quite a distance , smack bang in the middle of wheat fields - these ones have already been harvested .
The design of the plant was little bit clever , the chimney was above the plant - about 105 ft ( 33m ) and had stone flues that took the smoke etc away from the furnaces and blacksmith shops , up the hill and into a tunnel , then into the chimney !!
There are the ruins of 2 cottages , the blacksmith shop and the 2 furnace rooms , plus the foundation stones of the flues , and what remains of the chimney - the top 2 layers have long since fallen down .
The last of the everlasting daisies were clinging to life on the slopes of the hill .
Views from the top of the hill were pretty good - 360 degrees - and showed lots of wheat fields and bush .
After circumnavigating the hill and chimney , we headed back out onto the highway before turning onto Binnu Rd West . Binnu is the site of a roadhouse and a reasonably large wheat handling facility .
The road , apart from 2 corners is predominantly straight and runs west for about 34 klms till it hits another gravel road , then hits the bitumen road back to Kalbarri . The drive is mainly through wheat fields again , but has some natural bush - there were grevilleas & banksias out flowering , as well as lemon coloured plants , and an orange flowering tree . We had seen a couple on the drive out from Kalbarri that looked spectacular in a blaze of orange , and hoped we would see some elsewhere .
After reaching the road back to Kalbarri , we headed back north - there is a turn into Wagoe Beach - they have chalets & caravan accommodation , but unless you are doing one of their quad bike tours or staying there , you are not welcome !! Fine we won't go in and say hello !!!
We were back at Kalbarri Coastal Park and stopped in at Pot Alley and had some lunch while watching the ocean , we saw a few whales breaching as we drove in , but the wind chill was probably enough to stop them , it was quite cool !!
Lunch was done quickly and we headed back to the ute to warm up - it was 21 degrees , then there was the wind chill - it was warmer out at the smelter - 26 degrees !!
Check out the face in the top of the photo - I can't look at anything else now !!
We headed down to Back Beach for a little walk and to check out the rock pools - nope , too cold , back to the ute and back to the park .
That's it for today , see ya !!
A bit remiss of me , we drove past Hutt River Province , but didn't go in - we didn't have our passport or a visa , and didn't really feel the need to say hello to Prince Leonard - he decided to form his own province and secede from Australia and live in his own little province since 1970.
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