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.