25/3/21 Collie Murals & mines

 

    Collie has a rail heritage , there's still the old engine shed and turntable , it's all fenced off , due to asbestos sheeting used in the shed , but the drone got a good look at it from above .

                                   

   Here's the view of the main business area - there's a lot more of Collie to the left and right of this photo .

     At the Visitors Centre there are 3 loco's on display - here's 2 of them .

      There's also this old excavator .

 

    This would be the start of the town mural trail - outside the visitor centre .

   We drove down to the Soldiers Park and went for a walk around the 2 rose gardens  - there were a variety of colours , here's a variegated red rose 

     A beautiful pink rose .

    And this apricot / peach coloured one .

     There's also some fine old buildings - this is the Premier Hotel .

    Now for some of the murals around town - there are 40 of them , here's 6 of them .

 

     Whilst driving around town we spotted this front yard with a garden bed full of this rose - looked magnificent .

    Back for some lunch before heading out again to Stockton Lake on the east side of Collie - the drone had to go for a fly over this one - such an amazing blue colour . It was an old mine pit as well , you can camp there now for $11 per head per night . the locals water ski here , but you aren't aloud to swim here ??

 

    Further east , we drove past one of the coal mines , this one is Premier Coal Pit No 3 - it went for about 3klms 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

     Just some of the work carrying on - the coal is in thinner seams here , which you can see in the walls as the darker bands .

 

    This Electric Excavator is on display at the lookout , it's powered by a 6,600volt cable which runs along the ground . The bucket holds 50 tonnes !! that's 27 cubic metres !! and the top cables rollers are 17m above ground . It weighs 850 tonnes !!!! and has moved over 200 million tonnes of material in it's 34 year life . This excavator was used at Mt Whaleback iron ore mine at Newman digging iron ore before it was purchased and brought down to Collie to be used here at the mine , before being retired in 2010 .

    That's a wrap from Collie , here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ENPfKy_4Y40AfeAxEogo4UW6yAM2Et5X&usp=sharing

23/3/21 Collie River & Murals

         Leaving our friends place at Waroona , we headed to Collie - up in the hills - coalmines & aluminium smelters . It was another hot day , getting to 35 degrees , so after setting up and having some lunch we headed down to Minninup Pool on Collie River for a refreshing swim . There were people everywhere - it's a very popular spot for the locals . Here it is .

     After cooling off we headed off on the Collie River Drive - a new addition since we were here last and a very pretty drive through the bush beside the river . There were several spots to pull over and check out the views .

     With the water backed up by rock shelves & trees etc the river looked great until you got a bit further down where the river wasn't as deep and clogged up with tree trunks .

     Next day we ventured down to the shops to get the groceries , and found some murals . There is a mural trail in town , but these ones were outstanding , almost like photo's .  These depicted coalminers from the local area .

     The men in these murals are local miners .

     Again after shopping and lunch we went for a swim , this time at Black Diamond Lake , which is an old mine pit - another popular spot with the locals . Crystal clear water & nice sandy entrance to the water was great and it was nice to cool off in .

      After another stunning sunset and a good night's sleep we headed out to Wellington Dam . We've been there before but things have changed a bit . Our first stop was Honeymoon Pool - a camping and day use area on the Collie River below Wellington Dam . It's a magnificent place with a 600m stretch of river , perfect for swimming , fishing & kayaking etc . There is a fenced deck area to overlook the river , with steps either end to get in & out of the water , toilets & Bbq's are provided .

      There's a 6 klm walking track that takes you back to Wellington Dam and follows the river along , we did the first kilometre or so .

     Further down the river was another couple of campgrounds - all 3 campgrounds are only suitable for tents . 

     After the walk around the river we headed up to the dam and the lookout . There has been a mural painted onto the dam wall spillway - it's the largest dam wall mural in the southern hemisphere !!

     And it is remarkable , on closer inspection you can see the painting resembles old photos , even with creases and turned up edges & corners !! Quite remarkable how good a job the artist has done .

     There are different images on the mural , with cultural heritage strongly depicted .

     Leaving the wall behind we drove down the river trail toward Honeymoon Pool again . There are 4 stops along the way - Big Rock , Little Rock , Rapids & Long Pool . This is the rapids .

     This is Little Rock .

    And that's it for a couple of our days , hope you enjoyed it . Cheers .

Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1hZJ4sqKbtQTm1aQhgFLdNN-C7ELeL7pc&usp=sharing
 

21/3/21 We're at it again

     We're back again , this break took us away from our travels for nearly three and a half months - that's the longest we've been out of our van ever !!! 

      What have we been doing in that time , well , renovating a unit took a fair chunk of that time - then we needed to have some downtime to recuperate from all the hard work . There were a few events occurring that we had a look at , we went to the Christmas displays at Mandurah which were quite impressive .

A Santa Combi

A Golden Light Train - and us !!

    And we had a sunset or two that we checked out .

 This is Pepper helping ?? Emma with some curtains

      Then we had an Australia Day laser light show as well . They projected laser light onto a veil of water being sprayed in Manjar Bay - the photo's don't do it justice !

    When the reno's were complete we headed back to Bonneys Ski Park for a few weeks . It was a mix of peace , beauty and power and noise . The jet boats were on again - it's one of our favourite events , there was also a wake board competition on , treating us to some more action . First though there was the also a few sunsets - here's one .

   Okay peace & beauty done here's some action         

                                  

   And now some athletic ability .

   It's amazing what they do on those wakeboards , very skilled and looks great , unless they miss a jump , then it doesn't look so graceful .

  This was the lake they were wake boarding on .

   After all the action , we had to look after the ute and van . First came the wheel bearings on the van - they were good and were repacked and put back in . Then we started to find a few other things - tyres - while they were off I checked them and found one had a split about 25mm long , then another 3 smaller splits within about 100mm on the inside edge of one tyre - it was a blowout waiting to happen !! So that led to 4 new tyres , as a few had worn badly . Next we found a shock absorber rubber had started to break up - 4 new shock absorbers required - then after all this was repaired / replaced we had to get a wheel alignment for the van , fortunately someone could come to us to do it :- Driving Wheels is the business and is based north of Perth if you ever need this service while in Perth .

  After the van was all good again , we had to take care of the ute - 4 tyres required and I asked them to check out the lazy axle for new bushes and a general check up . tyres were easy and completed , the rest had to be rebooked and the ute had a couple of days undercover in the workshop the following week . New shock absorbers , bushes , bolts etc, etc etc . We got the ute back and it was like new again - a big thank you to Mandurah Bridgestone Select for doing the work for us and not charging the earth . So much for getting the ute serviced at Toyota - we presumed that they were looking at everything on the ute when doing services - how wrong were we !!

    With everything back to normal again it was time to hit the road - only 75klms down the road to our friends in Waroona , where we stayed for 5 days on their front lawn . Mick likes going crabbing and has done all his life , so we headed out that afternoon and got the legal quota . This is where we went - Heron Point .

 

     On one of our drives around Waroona we noticed roses were out in abundance - they grow well here !

     These ones are from Mick & Sue's garden 

     And a nice sunset as well while we sat outside enjoying a beer or two .

    Roses one side of us and the golf course on the other , not a bad outlook .

    This is a view of Waroona Dam and Lake Navarinho , about 10m below full height - it doesn't get that high very often . The water colour here is amazing and is clear .

    There we have it , all caught up and the blog should be a bit more regular - thanks for your patience .   Cheers 😎