Leaving the goldfields behind , we follow the golden pipeline back to the west , we are never far away from it as it deviates and ducks under us and to the opposite side of the road .
Back to the Great Western Woodlands that surround Kalgoorlie and west to the wheatbelt , and east to the Nullabor . To give it some perspective , it's the size of England or twice the size of Tasmania !!
We just drove today and stopped at Merredin for the night at one of our favourite spots - Merredin Rock - only had 2 others there with us , far enough away to not be pests .
To our surprise there were still thousands of yellow everlastings still flowering .
There were a few other bushes still in flower , this one beside the channel into the Railway Dam .
And here's the Railway dam , more water than last year and great reflections .
The channel that feeds the water into the dam is an engineering masterpiece , all the rock is granite - giant slabs of it , laid and cemented into place and is all straight and capable of delivering a lot of water from Merredin Rock when it rains .
The Salmon Gums around the dam are great looking trees - maybe they look better after 3 weeks in the goldfields ????
There were some very tiny flowers on random bushes as well .
As the sun went down the glow on the trees around us was pretty special , making the copper coloured gums really glow .
Fortunately the wind had backed off and I was able to fly the drone - gives you an idea how big a town Merredin actually is . The Railway dam is bottom left and the golf course to the right of it , and town behind .
We are definitely into the Wheat Belt now , with wheat , canola & barley crops disappearing into the distance .
Next day the weather wasn't really good for travel , so we had a huge drive of 37 kms to Nungarin , where we pulled up stumps for a couple of days . Nungarin Shire has a population of 247 , The Woolshed Hotel is opposite the Shire Office . There's a huge Military Museum ( which we will be back to visit ) and a large Recreation Centre ( where we are staying ) . There's an Afl ground/ cricket ground , bowling green , tennis courts , hockey field , netball court and swimming pool as well as a clubhouse and function room . There's also a Men's Shed and a few other small shops and fuel available .
Being setup and lunch done , we headed off for a drive toward Muckinbudin in a round about sort of way . More wheat & canola fields dominated the scenery .
Heading toward Lake Campion Nature Reserve , we travelled many gravel roads that cut tracks through farms and through some magnificent gums .
The Lake Campion NR , we stumbled across , no signs to be seen anywhere , just a track leading off the road . It took us to a salt lake , solid enough to walk on . The salt crystallising and expanding is starting to crack and overlap the top of the surface . Dead trees were also lining parts of the lake .
Many thousands of yellow daisies made for a great contrast to the white salt lake and orange sand .
Some bush has gone to seed , and the seed pods are very red .
This next shot is beside the road , Mulla Mulla and thousands of yellow daisies .
This is another nature reserve - Eaglestone Rock - and must be a popular camping spot as well . On the side opposite the rock is Lake Brown , another salt lake - the colours of which would look spectacular from above , but unfortunately it was blowing way to hard for the drone .
Next day we didn't move from the van - rain and wind kept us inside for the day .
Next morning however was moving day as we headed west toward Wyalkatchem and Goomalling . This is part of Wyalkatchem shops , still the originally buildings and again we were surprised at the size of the towns here in the wheatbelt .
Stopping for the day at Goomalling , again we headed out for a drive around the countryside - lots more canola this way but also still plenty of wheat . This is the canola - all seedpods - and interestingly , we found out from someone that wind can be the enemy with canola - when the seedpods are ready to be harvested , the wind can dry them quickly and make them open causing the canola seed crop to end up on the ground , which equals loss of crop !!
Plenty of wheat about as well .
Here's one of the old buildings in Goomalling .
Next day we headed to Byford and stayed with friends for the night , a good day & night and morning was had before we headed off - only about 25 kms away at Bonneys Ski Park again .
That's it for the moment as the van needs some repairs , so it's off to Emma's for a while .
Back soon , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=10rGdosu_sMdIMj_pDDBoDOxfFa3C1gXX&usp=sharing
