29/10 Esperance

    After a few days at Coolgardie that didn't get us any gold , we headed down the highway toward Esperance . We stopped for an overnighter at Bromus Dam , where there's room for lots of vans - we had about 6 overnight . 

  From there we headed to Esperance to meet Frank & Margaret from Peterborough in SA - they have the same van as ours , and we hadn't seen them since last year , it was good to catch up again . It was a bit strange seeing both vans together , even stranger looking out from ours to see the other beside us . 

    We went out for lunch to Lucky Bay Brewing , they have a great cafe and the beer was great as well , with about 12 types on offer .

    The next evening we had a meal at the Pier Hotel , which was also great . Frank & Margaret headed off back to South Australia the next day , a great few days spent with them .

On the side of the Esperance Yacht Club is a long mural , depicting a lot of the activities that are undertaken in Esperance , yachting of course , fishing & cargo ships taking wheat & iron ore .

     See we do still exist , here's some proof haha .

    Esperance has the most magnificent coast line , this is Blue Haven .

    The local cruise boat / cray boat came and anchored here for morning tea .

    There were some flowers about , this one being most prolific at the moment .

   On the west side of Blue Haven is Salmon Beach , and is linked by a bike / walking track from town. Some view when you're going downhill , there was a chair a little further down where we took in the view for a while .

    Here's Blue Haven from above .

Another shot of Blue Haven and Salmon Beach

     This view is toward Observation Point and is taken from the side of the road .

    There's a great view of the coast from Rotary Lookout , it's on top of a huge lump of granite rock , that is the backdrop to the port operations . We managed to find this pink orchid there .

    A couple of drone shots give you some idea of the size of this rock , there's also walking tracks around the top , one also that gives access to the beach in a private cove just past where the rock jutts into the ocean to the right .

   Here's the view of town and West Beach .

And here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1sZLo0BOvXFD16qCRRTDqOVIjse0G6f4&usp=sharing

 

6/10/23 Kalgoorlie

 

     Leaving Goongarrie , we head to Kalgoorlie . Time to replenish supplies , get a new convection microwave - our old one was working fine , but one day back in the bush , the door suddenly opened and fell apart !! It has been used non stop for the last 9 years , the door surround is / was connected via screws into the plastic ?? frame . Where the screws screwed into just broke away due to old age / heat damage . It wouldn't have been so bad except the control panel was also in the door , so duct tape wasn't going to help , it was a new door or new oven , the 2nd option was probably cheaper !! 

   We purchased what we thought would be okay and what was recommended to us - an air fryer , that roasts , grills & reheats just as well as a microwave does . We took it home and washed the racks and preheated the oven to clean the coatings off the elements . The bench was very hot , the cooktop was also very hot , so we had a look in the manual and it stated this appliance was to be used on bench top not in built . We rang Hardly Normal and took it back , coming home with a convection microwave that suited , they swapped it without argument and gave us a good deal on the replacement .

   Another day we headed out east of town to a locality named Bulong to do some detecting and maybe take the van out there . That would be a No for the van , and the detecting was a bit average where we went as well .

   As we headed out , we had to go past the growing spoil mountain that we called Mount Superpit . It's all the soil, rock etc from the superpit and it's only going to get higher as the superpit is being extended to the south , giving it another 11 years life . Here it is .  

   This is one of the old miners huts not far from the mine head .

   It was good to see big trees again in with the red soil and saltbush .

   The track into the pending leases we went to was challenging in spots , this was a creek crossing over a rock shelf .

  Here's Mount Superpit again from about 15 kms away .

    More spare time saw us head out to Red Lake , it's more orange , but would go red when wet .

    There's a lot of salt lakes in WA and the locals like to go out and drive / hoon around on them .

    Another day , another drive around the goldfields , this time north of Kalgoorlie to the locality of Broad Arrow - consisting of the tavern and 2 houses . The tavern is popular judging by all the autographs left on the walls , doors , tables etc .

    They're not allowed to let people sign the walls any more , now you buy a tag or 2 and put your names on the tag , attach a magnet and throw it at the ceiling or outside roof . Of course you have to pay for the privilege , which doesn't seem to worry people , looking at how many were outside .

    Further west from Broad Arrow is Ora Banda , another gold rush town that's still clutching at staying alive . The Hotel burned down , there is a caravan park behind it , and maybe 10 houses . The hotel probably won't reopen .

    Further to the west is Rowles Lagoon , a popular destination for bird watchers apparently - but only when there's some water . There wasn't any water in it this day though . 

    An interesting view of the dried up mud also revealed dead yabbies , so would be interesting to see it with water .

    There was an interesting addition to the lagoon - this old steam boiler - looks like it came form an old steam train locomotive , but there aren't any rail tracks out this way !!

   On our trip back to Coolgardie we passed through another ghost town , with the remains of Kunanalling Tavern still standing . 

   We caught up with friends Gary & Linda , who stopped with us for a couple of nights , on their way back to Queensland . It was good to catch up with them , it always is !!

   Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1o9pwlNVMOInzyJWGBCDjPCW6220_a6s&usp=sharing

4/10/23 Goongarrie

 

     Time is on our side , so we headed off south toward Kalgoorlie , but decided that we'd have a stopover on the way . We've stayed at Goongarrie Railway cottages before , but this time we chose the lake instead . Goongarrie Lake is only about 40 kms from Menzies . Set up , we went for a walk across the lake and over the red dunes for some exercise .

     An Emu had been for a walk across the lake sometime before us , leaving a good track .

      Tracks from all sorts of vehicles have left tracks across the lake surface , off into the mirage / heat haze  in the distance .

    There was some timber and the odd stump stuck in the salt & mud , showing that at some stage this lake does have water in it .

    Time for some aerial shots , here's the lake , we're parked down there somewhere - just to the right of middle .

   Did some circle work before we parked up hahaha , not likely .

    There's some interesting colours in the lakes .

Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1z3T_qEbBlZAv9zz0N8Fb6Fm9rkTNVfQ&usp=sharing

2/10/23 Menzies

 

    Well , we finally left Leonora after spending five and a half months wondering around the bush . Didn't get too far down the road though , stopping at Menzies for a few nights . 

   Pre poll voting for the referendum was at the shire council chambers , but only for 3 hours . Voting done we headed out to a pending lease to have a detect . 

    There's a great Anzac mural painted on the wall near the memorial plaques .

   

    Luck was with us , we managed to find a couple of small pieces not far from where we found our others earlier in the year .

    This is the view not far from town , up on a hill above where we found them .

    Caution has to be taken when walking around here , there are lots of open mine shafts that aren't barricaded off , it wouldn't be hard to fall in . This one's about 8m deep !

      A few days searching around various leases , picking up lots of rubbish , but no more gold .  

  Some cleaning up done , it was time to move again . Here's map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1djSy8DbeohJr34iKuya5f-zOqIO0Qes&usp=sharing

5/9/23 Near Leonora

 

    Back to Leonora again , we still had a couple of weeks access to the leases we first went onto 5 months ago - where did that time go !!! We decided to go back out there again , and got it organised - couldn't be any worse than where we've been right ??? We found a campsite & setup , had some lunch and went for a drive around to find some good ground to detect on . No luck there , so day one was a bit of a washout - no result . 

  Next day we headed over to where we'd found a small nugget when we were here before . After about 15mins we'd found 3 small pieces - we were happy !! Before lunch we'd found another couple , then more afterwards - all small , but they add up . This is where we found them .

    A nice sunset .

             A small lizard joined us , very well camouflaged .

                               Also found this flying insect about the size of a 20 cent piece .

                Something we weren't really expecting , an emu egg about 130mm long and 100mm across - it had been out in the weather for some time .

    Another storm came through , bringing with it lots of wind and red dust , before it rained and sort of washed the dust away .

    Another day we headed out to Malcolm Dam for a look , and what better way to have a look than from above .

    The dam does fill up occasionally , but not this year so far . The yellow tinge on the ground is tiny yellow flowers .

     Here's our campsite .

     Here's map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Wo4CVTWvL2FyUwFxv0dpJRvPqPuvkjc&usp=sharing