Back again , thought we'd disappeared ?, well we did for a while , but here's a condensed version of the year so far .
Starting back in March , we headed toward the goldfields again , stopping in several towns along the way to Kalgoorlie . You have to stop and check out the superpit , as it changes so much year to year . It's being expanded and more and more ground being dug up . It's like watching ants move around - very busy !!
Then we headed back to Leonora , stopping overnight at Lake Goongarrie , a salt lake that we've stopped at previously - it is huge !!
Leonora has had plenty of rain over summer and it shows , with lots of water still around .
We spent 3 months in and around Leonora trying our luck , some good , some bad . This is a good spot .
It wouldn't be our blog without a sunset or 2 .
And yes , it did rain while we were out bush , this was one downpour .
We met a few of the locals as well .
And a Gecko .
And a Pebble Dragon .
Campfires were a popular addition .
There are plenty of old mine shafts around the place , some nearly 8m deep - a decent hazard !!
Yes another one .
As the Winter was starting to get colder , the gold disappeared , so we headed north to warm up . Even the termites have attitude . This was up north about 30 kms south of Newman at a great campsite we'd stayed at previously .
This is a sculpture at Newman - it's been done in stone , and looks cool .
We had a few wide loads to negotiate , fortunately we met them in wider sections where we could get off the road far enough .
A drive north always has to have a stop at Albert Tognolini Lookout , the views and scenery are stunning .
Fires had burnt through the area in the earlier part of the year , it changes the look of it a lot - it's also a very popular free camp now - there would have been 50 vans staying that night .
Up to Karratha so someone could have a look at our fridge - making strange noises . A service call and a few adjustments made , the noise had gone ( it has returned again , but not as loud or regular ) .
Sturt Desert Peas are out in flower , and are a stunning flash of colour .
From Karratha we head to Port Hedland for a hectic night at the free camp at the racecourse - people everywhere , it's unbelievable how many people are travelling now !!
From Port Hedland , we drove out toward Marble Bar , finding a nice free camp at Coongan Long Pool , lots of people there as well , but we went further up the track and picked a good spot away from the soft gravel beside the river , it also had no one really near us . This is it , we are on the left of centre .
This is looking down the river bed to the north - the river bed is about 500m wide , and would have been flowing all over that and some more in the floods earlier this year !!
This hardy old grevillea was out in flower .
We drove out to Dooleena Gorge - only a few kilometres south of us . It's another popular camp site , but had been washed out badly by the floods - we drove through bull dust and gravel to get there - glad we didn't bring the van here to stay , it would have been a huge challenge just to get it in without getting bogged down, so much gravel , dirt and silt has been moved and deposited here .
Into Marble Bar and a look at Chinaman's Pool , it also changed with the flooding ( it's the same river as where we are camping ) . It's now very wide and long since we were here last .
After a week here we decided it was time to go further north to Broome and beyond , but that's another story .
