23/8/23 Just when you thought we weren't coming back

 

       Here we are again , hadn't forgotten you , just got busy doing other things . We had an excellent Christmas with our family together again , the London contingent had a great holiday as well . 

  We bought ourselves a different present - a gold detector !!! , so that's where we've been for the last 4 months and probably another couple yet !

    First though , here's a recap of our movements , we had to get to the goldfields first . After Christmas we spent some time with Emma , then headed off again , visiting friends and enjoying our time out & about .

Lake Kepwari was a highlight , we stayed there with friends and had a great few days . It's an old coal mine that's been rehabilitated , and is now a water ski lake . The following photo shows the before & after 

    Around the shoreline there are covered picnic facilities , Bbq's etc , very well done !! The shoreline has a sandy beach all round the lake - definitely not there originally , it has all been imported .

    This is the boat ramp area , and a safe swimming area between the island and the beach .

    This is the view from above , there are 2 main camp areas , this is the newer one that we spent our time at .

   The lake is situated not far from the town of Collie , inland from Bunbury . 

We spent a few days at Donnybrook - we found there were old gold mines down there , and there was an area we could go detecting in - didn't find anything except some rubbish and a bent up old silver fork !

  We managed to fill in a couple of months , and before we knew it April had arrived and we were getting a bit excited about heading to the goldfields . All our preparation was complete , warmer clothing had come out of storage - this was going to be our first Winter for 8 years !!! and we weren't looking forward to that part . We left Perth near Easter and made it out to Coolgardie for Easter , spending 3 nights at the free camp , then another 3 out on a lease where we could go detecting . Well we found our first piece of gold !!! we were a little bit excited , the look on Lyn's face was priceless !

  Funny story - we moved out of Coolgardie to another old mine lease , while we were out detecting , the local policeman called in after seeing us on site . I went over to have a chat and next minute he's telling me that there's nothing but rubbish on this lease , but there's a better one not too far away - he gold detects in his spare time , so we chatted about where to go and what to check out - we packed up and moved to this other lease !! Didn't do any good there either , but it was a good camp site .

   This is the main street in Coolgardie 

   Here's some of the bush around Coolgardie 

   Here's some of our valuable finds .

     And here's our first piece of gold !! all 0.50 grams of it !!

   Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1hlwhqfOvf6TH6bcIQF6nW1R-7dxbKA8&usp=sharing

   Had to remember how to do all this again 🤣