Sep 24-30

24th September Sunday
Week 23
Anniversary celebration in York for our 29th year of wedded bliss.

York is holding their annual Medieval celebration in the park opposite where we are staying at Avon Pioneer Park and it looks like a big event, people dressed in full costume, mock tournaments and entertainment.

In between rain showers we walked back into town, with less shops open being Sunday, fewer people were about which was easier to around. Lunch back at the van with entertainment from the medieval events continuing into the later afternoon.

Russell thought it was a good idea to check the air conditioner in the van and found the bolts for the fan had vibrated completely loose, most likely from the corrugations on the Gibb River a few months ago, and found the bolts sitting in the base of the AC frame. So the next dilemma is to locate a ladder at some stage soon so he can climb onto the roof and check.

Tonight, we are celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary at Alice at The Palace- the reviews on the food have been excellent, so we should be in for a great night.
Beautiful food on the menu-
Sue had Crispy Skin Salmon served on green pea risotto with goats’ cheese.
Russell ordered the fillet steak with crispy spud smash and leaf salad, topped with garlic butter.

25th September Monday
This morning we did a clean up inside the van while the rain was gone and topped up our water tanks before leaving. A lady came past with her dog and we got chatting, and she offered to lend us her ladder to complete our repairs. She was a local and was only to happy to assist us, asking us to drop by her house and have a cuppa whilst there. We have found so many lovely strangers whilst we have been on our travels 😊
So, after we packed we drove a very short distance to her house in York, she showed Russell where to get the ladder from her shed, and while he was busy on the van roof, Pauline offered us scones and tea.
Pauline showed us her property while Billy enjoyed running around her acre of land with Leo her dog. Her house at present is at the front of the land, but her plan is to re build at the back overlooking the Avon river, then subdivide selling off the house at the front.
As luck had it the AC repair was an easy one and after spending a lovely hour or so in her country kitchen enjoying her company, we swapped emails and contact numbers before leaving. Pauline assisted us with new placed to visit on our travels, and with this rain setting in, dirt roads may have to be avoided if possible.
We followed Wiki camps and decided on an overnight camp at Toapin Weir at Quairading. This is the largest and most comprehensive privately constructed reservoir and water scheme in WA. The weir is constructed around a natural granite rock outcrop, and is unique because of its scale and construction by a private landowner.

This rain has set in for the night and the weather has become very cool- time for the diesel heater to warm us up. We have TV and mobile service here which is very fortunate as The Block is on tonight😊

26th September Tuesday.
Rainy morning so we take our time packing up. We even made a nice omelette for breakfast to use up some organic eggs given to us the other day. Russell was checking under the bonnet of the 4wd and found what looked like a marsupial had chewed apart old foam wedged under the bash plate, and had left a small pile of rocks amongst it as well.
After a clean-up under the bonnet, we drove out of the rest area and headed onwards, looking at a few points of interest along Quairading Road. We pass through a town of Shackleton to view The Smallest Bank that once operated as an agency for the Bank of NSW from the 1930’s and then for Bankwest until 1997.

During the War, it was used as an aircraft observation post, and at one time as a Child Health center.
Our next point of interest is Bruce Rock situated 245km East of Perth and 50 kms south of Merredin.
A thriving agricultural town with an approximate population of 700 people, with 1200 people making up the Shire. Things to see here at Bruce Rock are gardens, amphitheatre and sculpture park, historic buildings, museums and federation style veranda’s.
The rain continued most of the day making our travels onto muddy tracks interesting and finding a camp even more so. Our Wiki rest stop for the night was Merredin Peak Heritage Trail, according to the reviews has a lot to look at and in town has a great coffee shop, which we shall visit tomorrow.
Excellent TV and mobile service.



27th September Wednesday
Before we left we walked up the granite outcrop which was very close to our camp, and spotted a brown snake sunning itself, thankfully not in our way. This view point overlooked the town of Merredin and was quite spectacular.
Merredin is in the Central Wheatbelt roughly between Perth and Kalgoorlie on the Great Eastern Highway. Our temperature remained in the low 14 degrees with a very cool breeze, a bit different from the last few days of 24 degrees coming down from York.
We drove into town and parked in the RV allowed area, and made our way across the road to Café 56 and ordered a coffee and muffin. Outside weather was very cool so Billy was outside on his own, while we enjoyed the warm interior.
A lot of families around today as school holidays is well and truly underway, with people departing the train from Merredin station and spending time with friends here in town.
Russell decided to spend some time updating the blog while I had a look at the shops, bought some clothes and visited the Information centre for more travel maps. We spent most of our day in this interesting town before continuing our drive, looking at interesting and historic points of view past the Rabbit proof fence before we stopped and walked up to Edna May Gold mine at Westonia.
Edna Gold mine opened in 2010 and is scheduled to produce more than 100,000 ounces of gold per annum. Historically, the Westonia region has produced 600,000 ounces of gold between 1911 and 1991.
We took footage of the mine site and watched the massive trucks driving down into the mine shaft, the place was huge and
Wiki camps suggested Southern Cross First Gold discovery for an overnight stay, it was off the highway but still could hear the traffic.

28th September Thursday
This morning we had plans to follow an unsealed road to Marvel Loch and see what was there, but Sue was researching the books and thought why not head out towards Kalgoorlie and see what The Golden Outback scenery has to offer. Neither of us have been out to this region before and it seems to have a lot to offer out towards the goldfields area.

Along the way we stop and look at interesting things and often divert off the road to explore tracks.
We decide to go into Boorabbin National Park and look, which had a nice campground with a dam close by and only a few campers here.

We stopped and took photos of more wildflowers on the verges of the road, some were extremely dainty and pretty comprising of Sundew, Lavandulacea and the larger shrubs of grevilleas, honey myrtle melaleucas.
First small town we drove through was Coolgardie, 558 kms east of Perth with a population of approx. 1,000 people. Known as a tourist town and a mining gold ghost town Coolgardie was once the third largest town in WA.
Just 38 kms further we drive into Kalgoorlie, recognised as a city in the Goldfields- Esperance region of WA.
A very unique and famous goldmining town sitting on the edge of the Golden Mile and once had an economy which was driven by gold since 1893. The buildings are testament to the wealth that was once generated and worth taking a walk down the main streets.
In its heyday beer was cheaper than water, and there was a pub on every corner-93 hotels and 8 breweries in total.
Today remain 25 iconic outback pubs each with style and history to be explored whilst we are here.
This town is RV friendly offering 24-hour free camp to travellers, so we make our way to Kalgoorlie Centennial park for one night.

29th September Friday
The ranger came through this morning checking number plates, making sure we are all moving on from here, so I suppose we had better pack it up.
Today we will head into town for grocery top up, fuel, water and laundry washing and general sightsee if we get time.
By midday with all our stuff done we decide to stay another night in Kalgoorlie, as we haven’t looked at anything at all in town, so on Saturday we will enjoy being a tourist.
Tonight, we stay at Kalgoorlie Foreshore Lake Douglas amongst the gumtrees, it was a massive area with a lake in the lower section but no camping next to it.


30th September Saturday
First stop in Kalgoorlie is Coffee Club and breakfast then walk it off looking at shops. We were surprised at how cold it was as we continued our walk past many shops that were still closed at 9am.
The streets for the moment were not busy so it was nice not to have people crowding around us. We noticed at almost every corner there were pubs and wonderfully restored as well. A most relaxing morning wandering around Kalgoorlie before heading back to the van for lunch.