Alan & Lyn's Huge Adventure: 21/3/22 Leonora & Gwalia

Hi folks , back into some service for a bit , have you missed us ??? We spent a week out in the bush above Leonora , gold detecting with our friends , Robyn & Terry & Doug & Sue . As you can gather from the next photo , we were out in the sticks - more precisely , in the rocks . We dragged the van about 50 kms down a dirt road ( which was pretty good ) , then 6klms on a not so great track to get to here , where we camped for the week . We detected here and there , trying to find an elusive nugget - it's still elusive , but we had the best week with these people who we met when we first came to WA . The ground is a bit rocky , lots of ankle grabbers if you weren't careful - fortunately for us , we were !!

Here's another spot we tried .

This is where we were , you can see the vans centre top of the photo - in the middle of nowhere - yes correct !!

Another location we drove past to get onto our detecting area , this was someone else's lease , so we couldn't play there - that ridge is mainly quartz rock , which is a similar age to gold in the origins of things, and they are generally found close together .

Ahhh another golden sunset .

And here's our haul , large & small pieces of wire , tacks , nails , bullets and bullet shells , an eyelet and a couple of shotgun pellets , a large piece of steel and a piece of aluminium foil - we thought we were on a winner with every one of them - unfortunately they all went to the bin !!

Everyone was a bit disappointed by our lack of success - no one found any !! We all headed back into Gwalia ( an old mining town ) and camped at the free camp there for the night . As it was still early on Sunday , we headed up to Hoover House . It's perched on the edge of the new Sons of Gwalia Mine pit . There is a cafe there and you can have scones with cream & jam and other treats with your coffee or tea . We opted for a pot of green tea and one serving of scones ( 2 large scones ) and a rather deliciously wicked slice of chocolate mud cake . Everyone else had their coffee and scones and we sat & chatted & caught up with emails etc as we had no phone service out prospecting . This is looking at Hoover House , you can make out a H in the brick paving in front of there gate , green grass was a novelty as well !!

It was named after Herbert Hoover who designed the house in 1897 - yes it was Herbert Hoover - the American President - he wasn't then , but he was here as mine manager in his 20's , becoming president later .

This is the verandah with very comfy chairs .

While the others were checking out their next detecting area ( we couldn't go to that one , as it was someone else's lease ) we checked out Gwalia ghost town . This is the new pit as well as an underground mine - the trucks & loader down the bottom kept working day & night .

This structure is the air vent for the underground mine , with the spoil mound behind it .

This is Gwalia State Hotel - it was owned by the WA Government , now owned by the mine . Unfortunately there's no access to have a look inside , so outside will have to do !

There're plenty of old corrugated iron houses and sheds that have been kept and looked after , and you can wander through them and check out what it must have been like to live there back in the gold rush .

This is the old garage .

This was a boarding house with multiple rooms tacked on catering for 6 or more per room .

Another view of the garage and a miners residence ..

Some more miners huts .

This is how it was back in the day as well - no grass , very few gardens if any ! Tough life for the toilers.

Back to the garage again , we like this place , various photos showing all sorts of things .

Best wall ever , number plates & signs , and the old car as well .

Inside one of the other houses , an old piano - all laid bare , probably not recoverable though !

Inside a kitchen area with the old combustion stove .

They cobbled together these houses with whatever they could lay their hands on . Check out the floor boards in this room - all from boxes , you can see the dovetail joints on the ends .