KALGOORLIE RALLY TO PERTH

Monday 10.10.2011:   Sun/cloud.   Arrived at rally site, there were a lot of volunteer first timers and the siting was not done as well as in the past, people were getting cross, once we were finally allocated a site we set ourselves up and went for a walk to see the trade stalls, food stalls and check out the tours.  There were not many trade stalls, only one food stall, so we checked out the tours and booked on a tour to Lake Ballard sculptures and a visit to Menzies on Wednesday.   We met up with the Sydney Wanderers and had happy hour at Roy and Judy‘s motor home.   Went to the Oasis Centre for the opening of the rally and entertainment, we sat through about ½ and hour of the entertainment and  both of us could not stand the noise, we don’t know whether it was because we had been on the road for six months and were used to being quiet at night because we could not pick up TV or maybe it was the acoustics of the building were wrong as it is a basketball hall.

Once everyone was on site we had about 850 motorhomes there.



Rally Site at the Oasis Sports Centre




Go anywhere




Our Street




Big Rigs



Tuesday 11.10.2011:  Sunny/cloudy/rain.   Went into Kalgoorlie/Boulder on the Smilie Bus, the cost is a gold coin donation which goes to the Flying Doctors. The Rally site was quite a long way from the town centre and we wanted to have a look around the town.  The Smilie Bus is a Coaster bus seating about 22 people and did the trip from the rally site and back every half hour, and we were very pleased to get a bus back as time marched on towards the last bus, a lot of people had a long wait. 



Di and Paddy Hannan (the bloke who discovered Gold here)



Kargoorlie Main st from postcard



Back at the Rally site we had happy hour at Peter and Wynn’s Motorhome, and enjoyed about an hour of lovely sunshine, then the wind started and blew in very dark clouds which dropped a bundle of 65mm of rain on us, but by the time the entertainment started the stars were out again.  We had a phone call telling us our tour to Lake Ballard tomorrow, was cancelled because of the rain, the roads take a few days to dry out and become safe again.  We went over to the entertainment a bit late only to find lots of people coming out and decided the presentation for the Sale Rally was over and the entertainment was not so good, turned out our thoughts were right, so we went for a walk around the perimeter of the rally, reading the different names on the vans, we then had an early night.

Wednesday 12.10.2011:  Sunny.  As our tour had been cancelled, we woke early and went to the Poets Breakfast then we went over to the tennis courts to check out the new vehicles for sale, and wandered around the trade stalls to see if any more trade people had turned up.  We practiced our disc bowls with Lorraine and Ray to be ready for tomorrow’s competition and had happy hour with the Sydney Wanderers at our motor home.

Thursday 13.10.2011:   Sunny/windy.  We were up early to be ready for the Disc Bowls competition, the Sydney Wanderers looked good in their uniform turquoise blue shirts and white shorts or slacks.  Lloyd, Peter and I were in one of the mixed teams and made it through to the afternoon, only to loose on the tie breaker, we were even and they won the last shot, so we were out of the competition.  The ladies team of Val, Penny and I were knocked out after our second game, but the other ladies team of Robyn, Judy and Lorraine made it through to the next game they were knocked out in the tie breaker.  The men’s team Ray, Lloyd and Peter were knocked out early in the competition.   With the long walk over to the Disc Bowls area and being on my feet playing and scoring as well, by the time happy hour came around all I wanted to do was to have a nano nap, but our neighbours invited themselves for happy hour and we enjoyed their company, they didn’t know too many people at the Rally. 

Went to the Oasis Centre to listen to the Boonah Presentation which is where the October Rally will be in October 2012.  Boonah is in Queensland north of Tenterfield in NSW and west of Beaudesert in Qld, which sounds very close to home, after traveling over 16,000 kilometers to get to Kalgoorlie.

We didn’t worry about the evening entertainment in the Oasis Centre, instead we went to the campfire and listened to singers, poets and three aboriginal people singing with guitars and playing a gum leaf.

Friday 14.10.2011:  Sunny and windy.  Seeing we were not in the Disc Bowls Competition, we went into Kalgoorlie on the Smilie Bus and booked our Nullarbor Links golf at the Visitors Information Centre.  The first two holes are on the Kalgoorlie golf course, which we hope to play next week,  this is the longest golf course in the world and you can take as long as you like to complete it.  It goes from Kalgoorlie to Kambalda to Norseman then across the Nullabor with the last hole at Ceduna in SA

We had lunch in Kalgoorlie, then went to the sports store to buy some secondhand golf clubs and then headed back to the Sportsground to have a rest before the Gold Rush ball.

The music at the Ball was very very loud and not many enjoyed the music, half the people left before 9.30pm, we had a few dances and left by 11 pm.

Saturday 15.10.2011:  Sunny and windy.  Open day for the town folk and a market, we met a few of the people and chatted to them about the motor home club.

Sunday 16.10.2011:  Sunny.   8 am Ecumenical Church Service with a visiting Mine Chaplin who gave his testimony, it was very moving about the boy from the bush as he had grown up in the area, his father had a small gold mine and they were very poor and had to walk great distances when their truck or motor bike broke down, he didn’t come to know the Lord until well in his 40’s, he told us how his business went bust and he then came to know the Lord and put his trust in the Lord for everything, it changed his life completely.

We had happy hour at Peter and Wynn’s motor home to say our goodbyes as we could all take off when we were ready in the morning.   After dinner we went to the Oasis Centre for the Presentations of prizes and Rug presentation, the lady club members made about 350 rugs and they were presented to different Nursing Homes from Geraldton to Kalgoorlie, lots of people would be delivering rugs as they returned to their homes.  We listened to the entertainment for a short while and went back to the motor home for an early night.

Monday 17.10.2011:   Sunny up to 37 degrees.   The rally being now over, we left the rally site and went to the Goldminer Van Park and did the washing then went into town for Lloyd to see the doctor for another prescription as the chemist seems to have lost one, he was also told to go to the skin specialist in Perth as his skin cancers were not good, instead of waiting until we get home in mid December, turns out the waiting list is so long it will be quicker to go home to Sydney, so our appointments are booked at home for 9^th December. Very hot and tiring day.

Tuesday 18.10.2011:  Sunny 33 degrees.  Took the Coaster to Repco for a grease and oil change at 9am as previously arranged, but the guy was still finishing a vehicle from the day before, so we went out to the new (one year old) Kalgoorlie Golf Course to play our first two holes on the Nullarbor Links Course, it was beautiful thick green grass fairways and lovely putting greens. Two holes just wetted the appetite, but we could not play more as we had to get back to Repco, who were still having problems with another vehicle, so we had morning tea in the motor home, then walked the seven blocks up to the town centre and had lunch and did a little shopping.  We ran into Val and John Cloury who very kindly drove us back to Repco with our shopping.

 

After we picked up the Bus we drove to the Kalgoorlie super pit open cut gold mine lookout to see how much it had changed since we were here five years ago. It has changed a lot is much larger and deeper. It is now 3.7km long, 1.5 km wide and 460m deep. This mine is among the largest in the world and is only the fourth to have produced more than 50 million ounces of gold.

We drove around Boulder to have a look at the damage caused by a recent earthquake and then back to Kalgoorlie where we stayed the night in the Centennial Park 24 hour free parking area.

Wednesday 19.10.2011:  Sunny, cloudy and windy, temperature 24 degrees.  Drove to Kambalda, 56 kilometers south of Kalgoorlie and played the third hole of the Nullarbor Links Course which is the first hole of the Kambalda Golf Course (the fairway has no grass mostly fine  red pebbles, we hit off using a bottle top as a tee, and the putting area is black oiled sand greens), we then stayed in the Kambalda Van Park to catch up on our blog. Kambalda is a mining town mainly Nickel but also has a large salt mining industry harvesting salt from lake Lefroy an extensive salt lake.



Part of Lake Lefroy salt lake



Thursday 20.10.2011:  11 - 24 degrees.   Windy and sunny.  We drove south for 20 kilometers then headed north to Coolgardie, the road was not good Lloyd felt like he was fighting the steering wheel the whole way.  We stayed in a 24 hour rest area west of Coolgardie.

The Golden Pipeline that brings water to Kalgoorlie from Perth. The pipeline also supplies all the intermediate towns



Road to infinity?



Friday  21.10.2011:  14 - 25 degrees.   Sunny and slightly windy.  Drove west to Southern Cross then traveled north to Westonia where we stayed in the Van Park.  The caretaker came over to our motor home, gave us lots of brochures about the area and also a pack with thick gloves, a pair of tongs and a thick bag and small plastic bags to collect rubbish when we come to rest stops that are littered with rubbish to help keep our country clean, the pack is put together by the Western Australian Main Roads, I told him we already had garbage bags from the Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia..



Main street Westonia friday peak hour



Saturday 22.10.2011:  17 - 25 degrees.  Overcast day.  We woke early and went on the 4 kilometer Woodlands & Wildflowers Heritage Walk Trail which took about 1 ½ hours, we saw lots of birds, salmon gums with coppery trunks, gimlet gums with smooth satiny grey trunks, wildflowers on the bush land walk, then we walked through the small town and saw the new sporting complex of swimming pool, bowling club, tennis courts and childrens play area, the walk continued on through the old shops, restored to look as they did in the early 1900‘s. 

We left the Van Park to travel 10 kilometers north east to Sanford Rocks Nature Reserve and walked up to the top of the large rock formation to the cairn, the view was very impressive of wheat fields all around and in the distance towards Westonia you could see the open cut gold mine.  We then drove 42 kilometers to Baladjie Rock and also walked up the steep rock to the cairn at the top, we must have walked at least another kilometer, the view from the top was spectacular looking down on an enormous dry salt lake, too large to fit in the viewfinder of the camera. 



Road to sandford



Ornate Dragon lizard - lives at Baladgie rock



View from top of rock looking over salt lakes





Natures sculpture




Golden wheat fields



We traveled back to Westonia and stayed another night, we intended to go to church in the old wooden Anglican Church but unfortunately the service is only held on the third Sunday of the month and tomorrow is the fourth Sunday so we miss out .Tonight the wind has come up again and there are drops of rain on the rooftop, hope its not much as a lot of the roads around here are gravel and get slippery when wet .

Sunday 23.10.2011:  17 - 23 degrees -  Sun/cloud/wind and hundreds of flies.    Drove about 80 kilometers  in the wheat belt area, saw some wildflowers along the road edge and stopped at Mukinbudin Van Park there was only one other campervan beside us, it was a lovely quiet spot.

Monday 24.10.2011:  18 - 24 degrees - Cloudy and windy.  Decided to do the washing and to stay another night.   The van park has an oval on one side with a bowling club and indoor recreation centre and on the other side is a golf course, so we decided to take time out and play 9 holes.   We enjoyed our game even though it was difficult to see where your ball went as the sown grass was at least 15 to 30 centimeters or more high, we laughed because you would hit the ball then spend five minutes pulling grass seeds out of your socks and shoes, also putting on black oiled sand is a different experience especially when there are no rakes around the green.  After 9 holes we felt we had achieved a lot, even coping with the million flies buzzing around us.

We had constant rain all night.

Tuesday 25.10.2011:  17 - 23 degrees.   Cloudy/windy/showers.   We traveled 180 kilometers through the wheat belt passing through small towns with quaint names such as Kununoppin, Wyalkatchem  and on to Goomalling where we are staying at the Van Park.  All these towns have little museums and old machinery (sorry - I mean Heritage Machinery) on display. The size and extent of the wheat fields is staggering.

CERVANTES TO KALGOORLIE

Tuesday 27.9.2011:  16 degrees - 23 degrees.  Wind/rain/cloudy/sunny.  We left Cervantes and drove down the coast through undulating sand hills covered with low scrubb and lots of grass trees to Lancelin and drove out to the jetty where the wind was wild, we had morning tea and the wind lashed the bus so much you felt seasick with the rocking, so we had a very quick morning tea and headed back out to the Indian Ocean Drive and turned west to go to Gin Gin.  There is nothing much on the coast - a few fishing shacks.

Cervantes CP

Cervantes Bay side

Sandhills devouring the scrub

Some of the thousands of grass trees

 A couple we met whilst camping at Camooweal in Queensland, told us to make sure we went to the Gravitational Discovery Centre near Gin Gin because it is really worthwhile, so we booked into Willowbrook Farm, which is quite close to the Gravitational Discovery Centre, for two nights, it was just lovely.  Lil the manager booked us in with her sheep hot on her heels, she had reared it as a little lamb and now this big sheep is a big baby and wants to be with her all the time, so I got to pat “Buddie” the sheep.   We had geese walking around the Van Park, and there were sheep and lamas in the nearby paddock and the birds were absolutely beautiful, also a couple of noisy geese walked around putting the dogs on leashes in their places, the garden was full of lovely flowers, with a lovely big weeping red bottle brush tree. 

After setting up camp the wind was still extremely strong and it was cold and wet, so we curled up in the van and red our books, the Gravitational Discovery Centre could wait until tomorrow.

Wednesday 28.9.2011:  9 degrees - 22 degrees.   Sunny a few clouds and no wind.  We cleaned all the dust out of the van, had lunch then went to the Gravitational Discovery Centre and we were very impressed, the drive from Willowbrook Farm is about 5 or 10 minutes away, and it is set in a lot of bush land with lots of wildflowers scattered among the bush.

We started off in the main building seeing a video to explain the centre, then we progressed around the big hall to various hands on things which explained about gravity, it was most enlightening, after about an hour we were feeling a bit thirsty, so we had to try their Devonshire tea with hot scones, jam and cream and a cup of tea.  After a bit of sustenance we continued on our journey through the Centre, moving on to a large building shaped like a soccer ball with lots more, ideas on gravity, and the scientific view of the formation of the universe with a section devoted to artworks supposedly illustrating the various world religions views on the creation of the universe as well as the aboriginal dreamtime story of creation (we didn‘t think this part was particularly well done),  by the time we had been through this building it was 4.30pm, so we thought it was time to climb the  13 story tower with a 15 degree lean (more than the leaning tower of Pizza in Europe), up we went with a balloon filled with water and dropped it from 13 stories up, gravity was working as my balloon didn’t float up in the air, it fell to earth with a loud blop.

The leaning tower

We could have spent more time there checking out other gravity activities outside and going on a bush walk to see lots of wildflowers but 5 pm was closing time. If you are over this way then half a day here would be good. Went back to Willowbrook Farm and joined the others round a campfire for happy two hours

Thursday 29.9.2011:  8 degrees - 21 degrees.  Sunny windy.  Had a game of disc bowls on the lovely grass at Willowbrook Farm before we left, to practice for the Motorhome Rally.  We haven't seen much grass in places where we have stayed so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. We then drove on to the historic town of Gin Gin, had morning tea and looked around the town, then drove on east to Toodyay, Northam then on to Meckering and stayed in a 24 hour rest area and met other motor homers going to the rally.

Friday 30.9.2011:  11 degrees - 24 degrees.  Windy and sunny.  Drove south through Quairading, Corigin to Kulin  passing through picturesque farmland with many fields covered in yellow daiseys. We were looking for a free camp at Kulin but the available space was in the middle of town and very exposed so we stayed in a new caravan park the council was providing for tourists, we were the only ones in the park for an hour, then another couple joined us.



More grass trees



Daisy's all over



Lush farming country



Saturday 1.10.2011:  14 degrees - 23 degrees.  Sunny/cloudy.   Travelled north east along the Tin Horse Highway which gets its name from the sculptures which are made from junk by the farmers they are lots of fun to look at. 

We drove through Kondinin, then east to Hyden and Wave Rock where we stayed two nights.  I caught up on some washing, then Lloyd and I went for a walk along the wave of Wave Rock then up over the top where the view of the surrounding countryside was beautiful. 

We were impressed with the ingenuity of the people who came here in the 1800's, water was very scarce and they made a stone wall about 2' high along the top of the wave on the rock, this funnelled the water into a dam, the water was used to water the stock, but today the water is so pure, it is now used as the town water supply.

We came down the rock and took another walk going west along the base of the rock called The Breakers where the rock looked like a smaller wave. Wave Rock is an ozzie icon but only became so after a photo of it appeared in the National Geographic magazine back in the 60’s, it’s estimated to be around 2700 million years old.



Steel sculptures at Hyden on way to Wave Rock



Flies!!! - there are millions of little black flies out here. Every time you step out of the bus they flock around , get up your nose, in your eyes etc, and invariably some get in the bus and annoy us till we can swat them. Thank goodness for the fly nets we have on our hats

Sunday 2.10.2011:  16 degrees - 23 degrees.  Cloudy/sunny breaks.  Went for a walk east along the rock edge, saw wildflowers and the rock called Hippo’s Yawn, from there we walked north over small bridges and salt pans.  There were lots of dead trees because of the salt and the Land Care group have been in cleaning up the branches leaving them where they fall, this will eventually build up the good soil to try and eliminate the salt that is coming to the surface, but it will take many many years.  We walked along seeing a large brown kangaroo and a smaller female kangaroo, the male was being very protective of the female and we were glad they hopped away from us.  We walked out to the resort which looked deserted then on past Magic Lake and past the air field with a phone box sitting up in the middle of no where, even though it was not a red phone box, we thought Dr. Who might come out to meet us.   The walk took us a good 2 hours to walk and we were pooped when we got back to the Coaster and had to have a rest. 



Hippo's Yawn



Later in the afternoon we took another walk up Wave Rock just to look at the countryside when the sun was going down, unfortunately all we saw was thunderstorms on the horizon with lightening flashing and thought it would be wise to wind our awning in, so we wouldn’t have any damage to it.   Just got it in and chairs etc packed away when the wind and rain hit. The rain didn’t last too long then about an hour later we were starting to get our dinner ready when we heard all these voices and looked outside to see all the campers in the big shed with torches, we had a power failure, so we took our gas stove and went and joined them, and met lots of  people and we all  had a good laugh.



Storm Coming



Monday 3.10.2011:   16 degrees - 23 degrees.  Rain/cloud and a little blue sky.  Drove west to Kondinin where we saw a Motorhome Safari of about 10 or 12 motor homes, they all turned to go towards Narembeen where we were going, so we ate our lunch and drove north to Narembeen then on to Bruce Rock where we found a lovely new Van Park which was built with a Government Stimulus Package, very nicely laid out beside a large town park.



Named after Lloyd's brother Bruce?



Tuesday 4.10.2011:   17 degrees - 24 degrees.   Cloudy/sunny.   Drove a couple of kilometers east of the town to Bruce Rock which was just a large  flat granite rock, not very impressive, so we traveled back into the town and west to Shackleton which boasts the smallest bank in Australia and is an example of architecture and ingenuity of early settlers. 

We drove on to Kokerbin Rock which is reputedly the third biggest monolith in Australia, this unspoilt granite outcrop has panoramic views from the top.  We found a nice spot in the 24 hour rest area, had our lunch and walked around the base then up on the rock following the markers until we reached the rock cairn at the top.   The view was impressive.  We came down the rock and walked back to our Coaster and found another five vans and a caravan beside us, the vans were solos from Queensland, going to the Rally, so we had a chat with them all and also met the caravan couple from Perth.



Road to Kellerberrin - smooth gravel



Wednesday 5.10.2011:  17 degrees - 23 degrees.   Sunny/cloudy.    Drove north to Kellerberrin on the Eastern Highway then east to Merredin, caught up with shopping, washing while the sun was out and the trip diary.

Thursday 6.10.2011:   19 degrees - 23 degrees.  Sunny and windy, storm clouds in the south.  Drove 175 kilometers east to Koorarawalyee 24 hour rest area and stayed the night, lots of motorhomes were there, all waiting to go into Kalgoorlie.

Friday 7.10.2011:  14 degrees - 23 degrees.   Dark clouds/showers/sunny/windy.  We had a few showers as we drove about 150 kilometers to Lake Douglas Recreation Reserve where we counted about 40 motor homes, we had a Rally Host who invited us all to happy hour at 4pm, so we all got to meet each other.  I met Phyllis Croke from Queanbeyan, I asked her if she knew Blair and Mareeka, explaining his brother is married to my cousin in New Zealand, and she knew them both, turned out she grew up in Beverley Hills and knew Jan, one of the girls I worked with in the Land Company, so we had lots to talk about and I promised to give her phone number to Jan.

Saturday 8.10.2011:  18 degrees - 24 degrees.  Cloudy and sunny.  We had a relaxing day reading, chatting to neighbours and walking about Lake Douglas Recreation Reserve.  I sat with Betsy in the afternoon and she showed me her Tuscan crocheting which is done with a very long crochet hook as long as a knitting needle, you cast on stitches, crocheting into the back of the stitch in the previous row, and cast off the next row, it sounds strange but you have completed two rows, then you repeat these rows and the finished product is very neat, I will be looking for a long crochet hook to try it.   I showed Betsy the two rugs I had made on the trip and the cute little baby bonnet with ear flaps and platted wool  instead of a chin strap, I think they wear them in Mexico or somewhere in South America.  Then I showed her the new rug I have started which is the Ross Hunting Tartan, she was impressed and thought she would make a tartan rug when she has finished her Tuscan crocheting.



Dianne's chrochet ruggs and bonnet
took 16000 km to do.



Once again we had happy hour at 4pm, and met the neighbours on the other side of us, hope I can remember all the faces at the rally.

Sunday 9.10.2011:  18 degrees - 24 degrees.  Sunny/cloudy and windy.  Drove into Kalgoorlie about 15 minutes, rang the Goldminer Caravan Park, to find out if they had a dump point, and the lady in the office was not sure, so we drove on into the town and found the dump point, queuing up behind about 10 other motor homers.  We then drove to Woolworths to do some shopping before the Rally, but unfortunately W.A. do not have many shops open on Sundays, so we found a coffee shop and enjoyed morning tea.  We found an IGA store open near the Rally site and ran into Penny, Wynn, Peter and Keith from our Sydney Wanderers Chapter, and had a good chat with them all.   We drove to the Goldminer Van Park only to discover they are closed between 10 am and 3 pm everyday, so I did the washing and we had our lunch and read the paper, while we waited.  Eventually got into the Van Park at 3 pm and we go into the Rally site tomorrow morning.