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