Welcome to TiddlyWiki created by Jeremy Ruston, Copyright © 2007 UnaMesa Association
[[Introduction]]
[[Preparation]]
[[Packing]]
[[Day 1]]
[[Day 2]]
[[Day 3]]
[[Day 4]]
[[Day 5]]
[[Day 6]]
[[Day 7]]
[[Day 8]]
[[Day 9]]
[[Day 10]]
[[Day 11]]
[[Day 12]]
[[Day 13]]
[[Day 14]]
[[Day 15]]
[[Day 16]]
[[Day 17]]
/***
|''Name:''|CryptoFunctionsPlugin|
|''Description:''|Support for cryptographic functions|
***/
//{{{
if(!version.extensions.CryptoFunctionsPlugin) {
version.extensions.CryptoFunctionsPlugin = {installed:true};
//--
//-- Crypto functions and associated conversion routines
//--
// Crypto "namespace"
function Crypto() {}
// Convert a string to an array of big-endian 32-bit words
Crypto.strToBe32s = function(str)
{
var be = Array();
var len = Math.floor(str.length/4);
var i, j;
for(i=0, j=0; i<len; i++, j+=4) {
be[i] = ((str.charCodeAt(j)&0xff) << 24)|((str.charCodeAt(j+1)&0xff) << 16)|((str.charCodeAt(j+2)&0xff) << 8)|(str.charCodeAt(j+3)&0xff);
}
while (j<str.length) {
be[j>>2] |= (str.charCodeAt(j)&0xff)<<(24-(j*8)%32);
j++;
}
return be;
};
// Convert an array of big-endian 32-bit words to a string
Crypto.be32sToStr = function(be)
{
var str = "";
for(var i=0;i<be.length*32;i+=8)
str += String.fromCharCode((be[i>>5]>>>(24-i%32)) & 0xff);
return str;
};
// Convert an array of big-endian 32-bit words to a hex string
Crypto.be32sToHex = function(be)
{
var hex = "0123456789ABCDEF";
var str = "";
for(var i=0;i<be.length*4;i++)
str += hex.charAt((be[i>>2]>>((3-i%4)*8+4))&0xF) + hex.charAt((be[i>>2]>>((3-i%4)*8))&0xF);
return str;
};
// Return, in hex, the SHA-1 hash of a string
Crypto.hexSha1Str = function(str)
{
return Crypto.be32sToHex(Crypto.sha1Str(str));
};
// Return the SHA-1 hash of a string
Crypto.sha1Str = function(str)
{
return Crypto.sha1(Crypto.strToBe32s(str),str.length);
};
// Calculate the SHA-1 hash of an array of blen bytes of big-endian 32-bit words
Crypto.sha1 = function(x,blen)
{
// Add 32-bit integers, wrapping at 32 bits
add32 = function(a,b)
{
var lsw = (a&0xFFFF)+(b&0xFFFF);
var msw = (a>>16)+(b>>16)+(lsw>>16);
return (msw<<16)|(lsw&0xFFFF);
};
// Add five 32-bit integers, wrapping at 32 bits
add32x5 = function(a,b,c,d,e)
{
var lsw = (a&0xFFFF)+(b&0xFFFF)+(c&0xFFFF)+(d&0xFFFF)+(e&0xFFFF);
var msw = (a>>16)+(b>>16)+(c>>16)+(d>>16)+(e>>16)+(lsw>>16);
return (msw<<16)|(lsw&0xFFFF);
};
// Bitwise rotate left a 32-bit integer by 1 bit
rol32 = function(n)
{
return (n>>>31)|(n<<1);
};
var len = blen*8;
// Append padding so length in bits is 448 mod 512
x[len>>5] |= 0x80 << (24-len%32);
// Append length
x[((len+64>>9)<<4)+15] = len;
var w = Array(80);
var k1 = 0x5A827999;
var k2 = 0x6ED9EBA1;
var k3 = 0x8F1BBCDC;
var k4 = 0xCA62C1D6;
var h0 = 0x67452301;
var h1 = 0xEFCDAB89;
var h2 = 0x98BADCFE;
var h3 = 0x10325476;
var h4 = 0xC3D2E1F0;
for(var i=0;i<x.length;i+=16) {
var j,t;
var a = h0;
var b = h1;
var c = h2;
var d = h3;
var e = h4;
for(j = 0;j<16;j++) {
w[j] = x[i+j];
t = add32x5(e,(a>>>27)|(a<<5),d^(b&(c^d)),w[j],k1);
e=d; d=c; c=(b>>>2)|(b<<30); b=a; a = t;
}
for(j=16;j<20;j++) {
w[j] = rol32(w[j-3]^w[j-8]^w[j-14]^w[j-16]);
t = add32x5(e,(a>>>27)|(a<<5),d^(b&(c^d)),w[j],k1);
e=d; d=c; c=(b>>>2)|(b<<30); b=a; a = t;
}
for(j=20;j<40;j++) {
w[j] = rol32(w[j-3]^w[j-8]^w[j-14]^w[j-16]);
t = add32x5(e,(a>>>27)|(a<<5),b^c^d,w[j],k2);
e=d; d=c; c=(b>>>2)|(b<<30); b=a; a = t;
}
for(j=40;j<60;j++) {
w[j] = rol32(w[j-3]^w[j-8]^w[j-14]^w[j-16]);
t = add32x5(e,(a>>>27)|(a<<5),(b&c)|(d&(b|c)),w[j],k3);
e=d; d=c; c=(b>>>2)|(b<<30); b=a; a = t;
}
for(j=60;j<80;j++) {
w[j] = rol32(w[j-3]^w[j-8]^w[j-14]^w[j-16]);
t = add32x5(e,(a>>>27)|(a<<5),b^c^d,w[j],k4);
e=d; d=c; c=(b>>>2)|(b<<30); b=a; a = t;
}
h0 = add32(h0,a);
h1 = add32(h1,b);
h2 = add32(h2,c);
h3 = add32(h3,d);
h4 = add32(h4,e);
}
return Array(h0,h1,h2,h3,h4);
};
}
//}}}
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '13 April 2003' 'Home' 'Camp 1' '260' '~SH50-14 Perth, ~SH50-10 Moora' 'n/a'>>
[img[Day 1 Map|day01map.gif][day01map.gif]]<<imagebox>>
----
Dad got started first, by lowering the camper top onto the Land Rover. Later I filled the two fridges, with a little help from Mum, and got the clothes bags together with the sleeping bags and set up the camper top.
Dad also checked the tyre pressures and filled the water bladder. By this stage it was nearly lunch time. The water pipe and mudflaps //still// hadn't been done, and Dad decided to give them a miss, otherwise we'd still be home Monday.
It was 1:50 in the afternoon, after we'd had some lunch, before we were ready to go.
[img[Stuart and Andrew about to leave|04130002.jpg]]
Dad needed to get a new battery for his head-mounted torch. We tried Bunnings and two camping stores before finding the right battery.
We headed east and filled up on diesel and a jerry can of unleaded for the generator.
We drove out to Toodyay, turned east and on to Goomalling. Just after Goomalling, we stopped for a break.
[img[Highway from Goomalling|04130003.jpg]]
Further north, we zipped past Konnongorring, which had a lovely looking church - very well maintained.
We stopped to camp at 6:15, after the sun had set. We were near Pithara, a small settlement with few people, although one property had a couple of cars in a carport, and another house had lights on inside. In this part of the country, it's mostly wheat farms. There is lots of cleared areas and little bush to provide good camping spots.
We cooked up a tin of Minestrone soup for dinner, with some toast. Dessert was half a tin of fruit each and a cup of tea. The gas stove was up to its old tricks, flaring up and going out at intervals. Towards the end of the cooking it finally seemed to settle down.
At 7:40, we tried to radio home to Mum. We tried until 8:00, but while we could receive the Indonesians loud and clear, we couldn't hear anything from home.
The night is clear, cloudless and //very// cold.
After dinner we went for a walk following some power lines. They led to one of the dams supplying the water for Pithara. It was empty. We returned to camp following one of the many channels that have been dug through the area.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 1' 'Home' 'Dalwallinu' 'Geraldton' 'Kalgoorlie' 'Lake Mason' 'Mount Beadell'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '22 April 2003' 'Camp 9' 'Camp 10' '455' '~SG51-15 Throssell, ~SG51-16 Westwood, ~SG51-12 Yowalga, ~SG52-09 Talbot, ~SG51-08 Browne' "Tjukayirla Roadhouse, Steptoe's Corner, Len Beadell's Tree, Camp Beadell">>
[img[Day 10 Map|day10map.gif][day10map.gif]]<<imagebox 512 508>>
----
[img[Great Central Camp|04220001.jpg]]
We got up early this morning so we would be away with the convoy by 8:00.
Our first stop was the Tjukayirla Roadhouse at 10:30. We each bought ourselves a coffee, followed by a Magnum while we waited for others to refuel.
[img[Tjukayirla Roadhouse|04220002.jpg]]
Then it was back on the road.
[img[Great Central Road|04220003.jpg]]
We drive until about 12:45 when we stopped for lunch, just after we turned onto the Heather Highway at Steptoe's Corner.
After a quick lunch of a tin of tuna each with a can of Coke, we were driving again.
[img[Heather Highway|04220009.jpg]]
Following the Heather Highway, it turns north while the access road to the Tjirrkarli aboriginal community continues on. Immediately on leaving the access road, the road condition dropped dramatically. The corrugations started almost immediately.
[img[Heather Highway|04220016.jpg]]
We stopped a couple of times while people let the air pressure in their tyres down to improve the ride over the bumps.
<<panorama 'Convoy on Heather Highway' '0422_0017-0019.jpg' 55.0 110.0 160.0 'yes'>>
At about 4:00 we arrived at Len Beadell's Tree and took a few photos.
[img[Len Beadell's Tree|04220026.jpg]]
[img[Len Beadell's Tree|04220024.jpg][04220024.jpg]]<<imagebox 384 512>>
About 1km to the south of there is a pump which brings slightly salty artesian water to the surface. Fine for washing if you're a little short. Good for drinking if you're more desperate!
[img[Water pump near Len Beadell's Tree|04220027.jpg]]
It was questioned whether we should camp there or continue on the extra 50km to Camp Beadell. It was decided to continue on.
The sun set just after 5:00, while we were still more than 20km from the camp site.
[img[Sunset|04220028.jpg]]
Darkness fell and by the time we arrived, around 6:20, it was black. In fact one of the people behind us had trouble with their trailer, and were held up even longer. I decided to wait at the turnoff to the camp while Dad went on ahead to ensure the followers found the camp OK.
Dinner was pasta with bolognaise sauce, followed by a container of fruit with the usual cup of tea.
After dinner, I set up the telescope for a little viewing, but due to the late camp, Saturn had set before I got things ready.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 10' 'Carnegie HS' 'Home' 'Mount Beadell' 'Warburton'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '23 April 2003' 'Camp 10' 'Camp 11' '0' '~SG51-08 Browne' 'Mount Beadell'>>
[img[Day 11 Map|day11map.gif][day11map.gif]]<<imagebox>>
----
[img[Camp Beadell|04230060.jpg]]
[img[Camp near Mount Beadell|04230001.jpg]]
Near the camp is Lynette's Bore. It was drilled in April 1989 by a CRA exploration party. It is reportedly good drinking water. The bore is 69m deep and cased down to that depth. There is about a 43.5m head of water.
[img[Lynette's Bore|04230004.jpg]]
We got up in time to be ready for a meeting a little before 9:00 to discuss today's work. Allan H(?) had staked a tyre on his Oka on pulling into his camping spot last night and we stopped by. He was having some difficulty breaking the bead, and it took several guys with various tools to get it off so he could fix the tube.
At the meeting we simply discussed that we were to head off to Mount Beadell, about 3km away, to put up a new memorial sign to Len Beadell, return to camp for lunch, then back to Mount Beadell for some speeches and photos.
[img[Camp Beadell|04230003.jpg]]
Instead of us breaking camp, we hitched rides with other people. I went with Graham. Dad rode with Rob and Diana in their Oka. Due to the track conditions it takes about 20 minutes to drive.
[img[Mount Beadell|04230008.jpg][04230008.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
At Mount Beadell we found the original sign wired upside down into it's old shelter frame. The original sign had been installed at the top of Mount Beadell a few years ago, but had since been blown down.
[img[Original Mount Beadell sign|04230006.jpg]]
To start the replacement, two trenches were dug for the steel supports to be cemented into.
[img[Discussing the site of the new sign|04230010.jpg]]
Next, the two sides were unloaded. The two roof frames were left on the trailer while the corrugated roof sheeting was screwed to them.
Then the two assembled roof halves were bolted to the two side frames.
[img[Assembling the roof|04230016.jpg]]
The information panel was next. It was slipped in between the two sides and was bolted in place.
Then the whole assembly was tilted up so that the bottoms of the two sides slide into the trenches.
[img[Positioning the sign for lifting|04230018.jpg]]
The assembly was levelled off by scraping out a little more dirt in one trench, and by jacking up the side in the other trench.
[img[New sign in position|04230028.jpg]]
Once levelled, quick-set cement and water was mixed into the trenches, along with some large rocked placed between the legs of the sides. A bag of cement for each leg was left to spread on top of the foundation cement to be formed to have any rain water run away from the metal legs of the stand.
While that was setting, I climbed up to the top of Mount Beadell to look at the monument and the view.
<<panorama 'View from Mount Beadell' '0423_0036-0045.jpg' 55.0 110.0 360.0 'no'>>
The new sign looked a lot smaller from the top.
[img[Looking at the new sign from the top of Mount Beadell|04230035.jpg]]
I climbed back down. It was now about 12:30 and it was decided it was time for the lunch break. Graham and I left to lead the pack home.
Lunch was about 45 minutes and we were all back at Mount Beadell by 1:30. While we were away the extra cement had been spread on the top and smoothed out. As we arrived we could see people on the top of Mount Beadell throwing stones from the top. They were pulling up and dismantling the remains of the old information board.
The next job was spreading out the dirt dug up from the trenches and breaking apart the old sign and loading it up onto the trailer.
Finally it was time to clean up the whole thing and pull off the plastic protecting the information board. Everybody stood around to read the board and all up we found six errors on it, including several simple spelling mistakes which a sign-writer should never do.
The last jobs were the speeches and photos. Bob Smith (the trip leader) said a bit, followed by Jan Scudamore, the president of Tread Lightly. We all gathered around while everybody took photos of everybody else.
[img[Len Beadell Sign-building team|04230058.jpg][04230058.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
After all that, Dad climbed Mount Beadell, while I assisted some of the 4WD club members with their group photos.
By this time it was around 3:00. We all returned to camp for a bit of rest before dinner and the following gathering around the campfire. To while away the afternoon I tested batches of old AA batteries I'd brought along, trying to find eight good enough to run my telescope. Dad tried to have a snooze, but the flies kept on waking him up.
After dinner we headed down to the campfire for a bit. Other people were handing around their business cards, so we joined them! After that we headed back to camp with Rob and his daughter Diana. They were interested in the telescope and what could be seen, so I set it up and pointed it at a few things like Jupiter and some bright stars. It was too late for some very good objects like Saturn and the Orion Nebula. I tried searching for a few things, but wasn't very successful until after they had left to get some sleep. What I got was the Omega Cluster, the brightest star cluster in the sky. It was very clear and bright this night!
By this time it was nearly 11:00, and late, so I packed everything up and we went to bed.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 11' 'Carnegie HS' 'Confluence 25S125E' 'Home' 'Mount Beadell' 'Warburton'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '24 April 2003' 'Camp 11' 'Camp 12' '140' '~SG51-08 Browne' 'Everard Junction, Confluence 25°S 125°E, Geraldton Bore'>>
[img[Day 12 Map|day12map.gif][day12map.gif]]<<imagebox 306 280>>
----
We got up fairly early again, so we could get up to the confluence on the Gary Highway, and still get a few kilometres down the track afterwards.
After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and left the camp. Two vehicles in our convoy had left about an hour before us, and we could hear snatches of their conversations on our UHF CB for a while. The rest of the convoy were planning to leave after lunch, and follow our general direction.
Our first stop was to visit Mount Beadell again for a few photos from a distance, which weren't really possible yesterday.
[img[Mount Beadell|04240001.jpg]]
[img[Mount Beadell|04240003.jpg]]
Then it was off again, travelling north-west up the Gunbarrel Highway. Soon we were passed by a convoy of four vehicles. They had travelled up via Carnegie Station and were continuing on via Warburton to Ayres Rock, down to the Nullarbor and back.
After we left them, it was just a lot of driving. A little after leaving them, we passed a CALM sign saying we were entering the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve.
[img[Gibson Desert Nature Reserve sign|04240006.jpg]]
We stopped briefly just past Mount Everard and Mount Gordon. Between the two 'Mounts' is a very nice campsite right on the track.
[img[Mount Everard (or Mount Gordon)|04240010.jpg][04240010.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
[img[Mount Gordon (or Mount Everard)|04240011.jpg]]
After the short break, we continued to Everard Junction. Just before getting there, we passed two vehicles, one a hire vehicle barrelling along well in front of the second. They had also come up via Carnegie Station.
We stopped at Everard Junction for a bit and signed the visitors book. By this time it was just a little before 12:00.
[img[Everard Junction|04240016.jpg]]
At the junction is a sign made by Len Beadell on 27 April 1963 (almost exactly 40 years ago!). It indicates the distance to various places: Carnegie homestead: 152 miles, Warburton Mission: 170 miles, Giles: 305 miles, Alice Springs: 840 miles.
We turned north up the Gary Highway heading for the confluence, about 20km up.
[img[Gary Highway from Everard Junction|04240013.jpg]]
The first 8km or so of the Gary Highway was very good. Smooth and firm, but after that the road turned very rocky and washed out. A real rough track. In places it faded right out.
We stopped as close as we could get to the confluence, then got out and walked the rest of the way. The afternoon was hot and the breeze, while relatively strong for short periods, was mostly absent.
We found the confluence of 25°S 125°E with only a little walking to and fro at the end.
[img[Andrew standing on Confluence 25°S 125°E|04240022.jpg]]
My [[DCP report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-25&lon=125&visit=1]] has more photos.
Then it was the long, hot walk back to the vehicle. We each had a couple of cups of fridge-cooled water, before having our lunch.
During lunch we noticed we had a bit of wood sticking out from one of the tyres, but luckily it hadn't penetrated and we didn't have to do any repairs.
After lunch was the 20km trek back to Everard Junction before turing right and continuing west to Geraldton Bore. Just as we were leaving, we saw two brush turkeys just walking along through the scrub.
[img[Bush turkeys|04240024.jpg]]
Just before arriving at Everard Junction, we started picking up the convoy coming up from Camp Beadell. It was about 3:00 and they were still about 8km south east of Mounts Everard and Gordon. They planned to stop and camp at around 4:00, so as to avoid driving into the afternoon sun. We contacted them and it was agreed we would continue west and keep a lookout for a campsite.
A few kilometres down the track, we found a very large campsite. We radioed back to the convoy our find, but they had decided to stop at the good campsite between the two Mounts. We decided we could get a few more kilometres into the day and continued west.
At a little after 5:00 we reached Geraldton Bore. We set up camp as the sun was setting. Called "The New Geraldton Historical Society Bore", it was drilled by a CRA exploration party in April 1989. It has a 16m head of water and is 42m deep and cased to the full depth.
[img[Geraldton Bore|04240026.jpg]]
I fixed a salad dinner while Dad checked in on the VKS 'sced'. The bugs around camp were incredible. They got into everything!
The campsite itself is very nice. Only a few vehicles would fit, but it is very pretty with a few good-sized trees in a bit of a clump.
[img[Geraldton Bore Campsite|04240027.jpg][04240027.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Just before dinner, between 5:50 and 6:00, we saw a satellite just below the Southern Cross. As it moved west to east, it flared up twice, the first time much brighter than the second. A couple of minutes later we saw a much brighter object, further around to the east, heading in a south-easterly direction. It stayed a constant brightness until it reached the Earth's shadow and dimmed from view. When we got back to Perth, we discovered they were, respectively, the satellite Cosmos 2058 and the International Space Station.
Dinner tonight was cold corned beef, with a tin of potato salad, and the last of the fresh tomatoes and boiled eggs.
It was a beautiful clear night, but I'm too tired to get out my telescope. I'm just going to do this diary entry, then go to bed.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 12' 'Carnegie HS' 'Home' 'Laverton' 'Mount Beadell' 'Warburton' 'Wiluna'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '25 April 2003' 'Camp 12' 'Camp 13' '117' '~SG51-08 Browne, ~SG51-12 Yowalga' 'Hunt Oil Road, Mt Worsnop'>>
[img[Day 13 Map|day13map.gif][day13map.gif]]<<imagebox 145 370>>
----
We broke camp just after 9:00 and set off down the Hunt Oil Access Road.
[img[Hunt Oil Road|04250001.jpg]]
During breakfast, Roy (W237) (who collects road reports for the ~VKS-737 radio network) called us to give him a road report of the track conditions. Before we left Camp Beadell, Jan Scudamore also asked us for a report, so we'll do a two-in-one report when we're done.
The road is generally very rough and overgrown. Although small stretches of smooth track in open country exist, they are short and few and far between.
[img[Overgrown track|04250002.jpg]]
The average speed we made for the day was probably only 20km/hr.
There are also few things to look at on the way. The first real feature was an old airstrip. All that can be seen there now are a couple of piles of earth and four drums.
A little down the track we scared a camel.
[img[Camel on the Hunt Oil Road|04250011.jpg]]
It ran down the track in front of us until we backed off a bit. Then it left the track and disappeared into the bush.
In places the spinifex seeds grew higher than the bonnet!
[img[Spinifex seeds|04250012.jpg]]
The next feature was a small collection of burnt stuff by the side of the track. We could recognise an old fridge, the framework it had probably been mounted on, a tool box, and various enamelled plates. Also present were some bottles with some notes from people inside. One of the maps we have called this spot the site of a burnt out Nissan, but we couldn't see any sign of a vehicle.
[img[Burnt things|04250014.jpg]]
We stopped for lunch at about 1:30 at a spot where the country was a bit more open and there were a few larger shrubs about to provide some shade. The entire area would probably make quite a good campsite for a few vehicles. The ground is flat with just some ankle-high grasses. Dead wood for campfires is also plentiful.
Not long after lunch, Dad thought the steering felt a bit funny, but it seemed to clear up. About half-an-hour later I could hear a funny noise as Dad turned around a bend in the road. We pulled over and I got out to confirm the front left tyre was deflating. We quickly changed with the spare tyre on the rear carrier and we were off again. (The location of the flat was at 25°53.051'S 124°38.337'E.)
[img[Flat tyre|04250017.jpg]]
Nearing 4:30, we came up over a rise to a very good view of the countryside to the south and south west. Straight ahead of us was an unusual mesa-like formation.
[img[Mount Worsnop in the distance|04250020.jpg]]
At the bottom of the rise the track dropped down into a creek bed. The water clearly flows here when it rains and it had gouged large wash aways out of the road. I had to get out and direct Dad around some washouts and trees at one point.
A couple of kilometres on the track disappeared completely.
[img[Where's the track?|04250021.jpg]]
Here we both got out and checked out the track ahead on foot. This is clearly a place where a lot of water flows when it rains. Some of the channels carved out were at least 1 metre deep. At the same time a couple of trees had fallen over and were partly blocking the track. The grass grew thickly here too and the seeds stuck to our shoes and socks and pricked into our feet.
Getting out of that took some time and we were glad to leave it behind. By this time it was nearly 5:00 and the sun would soon set. We started looking for a campsite, but couldn't find a nice one. Just as the sun was setting, we settled for a flat spot just off the road. It would have to do.
[img[Sunset at Mount Worsnop|04250022.jpg]]
At dinner we drank our last two beers!
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 13' 'Carnegie HS' 'Home' 'Laverton' 'Mount Beadell' 'Warburton'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '26 April 2003' 'Camp 13' 'Camp 14' '230' '~SG51-12 Yowalga, ~SG51-16 Westwood' 'Mt Worsnop, caves, bore'>>
[img[Day 14 Map|day14map.gif][day14map.gif]]<<imagebox 314 306>>
----
[img[Sunrise|04260002.jpg][04260002.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
I got up quite early this morning, with some assistance from Dad. It was so I could be up in time for the sunrise onto Mt Worsnop. As it happened, I wasn't up early enough to photograph the early morning cloud formations, which were beautifully lit when I woke up, but grey by the time I was out and about with my camera. However, I was in time for the first rays of sunlight onto Mt Worsnop.
[img[Mount Worsnop|04260001.jpg][04260001.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
[img[Mount Worsnop|04260009.jpg][04260009.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Along with the early start for the photographs, we also wanted an early start to get as much driving time as possible in today to try and finish off the Hunt Oil Road. We broke camp before 8:00!
From the outset, the road today was much better than the road yesterday, although it still had quite a few washouts, and sandy patches. The overgrowth was much less, which made for slightly more pleasant driving. The spinifex was still very high in places, and still in full flower.
[img[Spinifex in flower|04260013.jpg]]
The first point of interest for the day were some small caves. They weren't much more than overhangs hollowed out of the rocky outcrop. I found a few mosquitos in one, and Dad found some bats in another.
[img[Caves|04260015.jpg]]
From there we tried to get to the abandoned drilling camp, but rains had cut deep and wide channels across the track and we decided it wasn't worth the bother.
The next point of interest was an abandoned airstrip. It's almost unrecognisable now.
From there the road was just the usual graded road, right through to the Great Central Road. It still had some washouts, and areas where vehicles had cut it up by driving in wet conditions, but nothing like yesterday.
Some time later we came across three camels. They looked in very good condition. This time they almost immediately headed off into the bush, instead of running along the road for a few kilometres.
[img[Camels|04260017.jpg]]
Shortly after we passed an access road to the Tjirrkarli community, but the road did not appear to have been used for a long time. In the photo below it stretches to the horizon.
[img[Track to Tjirrkarli community|04260018.jpg]]
About half an hour down the track we passed a spot on the map marked as "tanks". We couldn't see any tanks, but we did find a hand-operated bore pump. After quite a few pumps, some very nice water came out the spout. Not salty at all.
[img[Water pump|04260020.jpg]]
Just after leaving the bore, a feral cat bounded across the road and disappeared into the bush.
The next interesting moment was as we were crossing a creek bed. The track changed from the remains of a two-grader-wide stretch to nothing! Grasses grew all over the track, and channels and washouts appeared. The nice track reappeared as quickly as it had vanished. Next to the road was a small lagoon of water. It had been deliberately dug up, probably to take water away from the track.
[img[Water drainage pond|04260024.jpg]]
There was a very green and grassy patch at one end.
[img[Green and grassy area|04260025.jpg]]
A little further on was a huge washout. We got out to have a look, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed. On the other side someone had propped up a sign against an old tree branch. Whatever had been on the sign had faded long ago.
[img[Negotiating a washout|04260029.jpg]]
Later on we passed an access road to the Kanpa community. It had seen a little more traffic as we could clearly see a couple of vehicle tracks, but quite a few animal tracks were on top of them, so they can't have been too recent.
We arrived at the Great Central Road a little after 3:00, much earlier than we had thought we'd arrive given the track conditions yesterday.
[img[Great Central Road|04260032.jpg]]
We had collected a lot of spinifex seeds.
[img[Spinifex seeds brushed from Land Rover|04260034.jpg]]
We turned right and started towards the Tjukayirla Roadhouse. On the way we kept an eye out for the Parallel Road No 2, down which are some caves and a confluence. We had already decided, however, not to go down this road as we simply didn't have the time or fuel.
About 40km from the roadhouse, we passed by another confluence. This one is only about 3km from the road. We had hoped there would be a track of some sort in their direction, particularly as the Babool Rockholes are close by. Unfortunately, we couldn't see any sign of a track. We did see three camels making their way across a sand ridge in the general direction of the rockholes, so obviously they knew where the rockholes were.
The sunset tonight was very red, hopefully a good sign.
[img[Sunset|04260035.jpg]]
We had the last serve of our savoury mince tonight. Even with a modest amount of rice, it was still a huge feed.
The weather tonight is very mild, due to the overcast conditions. I've decided to have a bit of a wash.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 14' 'Confluence 27S125E' 'Home' 'Laverton' 'Mount Beadell' 'Warburton'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '27 April 2003' 'Camp 14' 'Camp 15' '254' '~SG51-16 Westwood, ~SG51-15 Throssell, ~SG51-11 Robert' 'Confluence 27°S 125°E, Babool Rockholes, Tjukayirla Roadhouse, Empress Spring'>>
[img[Day 15 Map|day15map.gif][day15map.gif]]<<imagebox 319 356>>
----
[img[Camp|04270001.jpg]]
We packed up camp by around 9:00 and set off on the 3km trek to the confluence at 27°S 125°E. Starting off the country had a fair bit of spinifex cover, along with a couple of sand ridges. A fair bit of the rest of the walk was in fairly open country with short grassy plants scattered about a hard sandy surface. On the way we noticed an unusual plant with purple flowers.
[img[Pink-flowered plant|04270004.jpg]]
As we got closer to the confluence, it appeared it might be on top of a sand ridge with a good view, but it turned out to be about 50m short, ending up on the slope of the ridge.
I took photos at the confluence, then climbed to the top of the ridge for a 360° panoramic shot. Stuart can be seen standing on the confluence.
<<panorama 'Confluence 27°S 125°E' '0427_0013-0022.jpg' 55.0 110.0 360.0 'no'>>
My [[DCP report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-27&lon=125&visit=1]] has some more photos.
On leaving the confluence we set out in the direction of the Babool Rockholes. We had entered their location off a map, so it probably wasn't too accurate.
Initially, the country was densely wooded, but soon opened out into the scattered grasses again. On reaching the area we expected to find the rockholes, the country turned woody, with small rocks and stones appearing on the surface. When we got to the spot we plotted, there was a lot of surface rock, but nothing that looked like a rockhole. We searched around for a bit, but eventually gave up and headed south-west for the nearest track.
Before we got to the track we crossed a different faint track going north-south. We realized it was most likely going to the rockholes so we turned north and followed it. At the end we found the rockholes. Their GPS coordinates are 27°1.233'S 125°0.414'E.
[img[Babool Rockholes|04270024.jpg]]
The rockholes appeared fairly deep. There are two big holes and a third smaller one. Lots of birds, mostly finches with some budgies were in the trees around the rockholes. Every now and again they flew between their trees and the rockholes for a drink. I managed to get a couple of photos.
[img[Finches at Babool Rockhole|04270030.jpg]]
We left the rockholes and returned to the track we had driven on yesterday by following the faint track we had found. On the way back to the track the GPS batteries failed, but as we knew where we were, we decided it wasn't worth the effort to change with my spare camera batteries.
We returned to the Land Rover, accompanied, as for the entire walk, by a huge number of flies. All up, the walk had taken us 2½ hours, and probably covered close to 10km. The fresh southerly wind made the walk possible.
We stopped for a drink and a fresh orange each, then got in the Land Rover and proceeded to the Tjukayirla Roadhouse for refuelling and lunch.
[img[Tjukayirla Roadhouse|04270033.jpg]]
We arrived just before 12:30 and bought $100 worth of diesel (at a huge 140c/L). We also stocked up on some soft drinks and fruit juices, before ordering a burger and coffee chill each for lunch. We each had a Magnum for dessert.
As we were refuelling, a Laverton police truck pulled in from the Warburton direction.
[img[Police truck|04270031.jpg]]
The three policemen and one Aboriginal stopped for lunch, although the Aboriginal, who had been locked up in the back, didn't have anything except a cigarette from Dad.
We left the roadhouse and drove the 15km to the turnoff to Empress Spring. The 60km of road from the Great Central Road to Empress Spring was in excellent condition, better even than the Great Central Road, although narrower.
[img[Empress Spring from the surface|04270036.jpg]]
The spring is at the bottom of a sinkhole. A chain ladder has been put it to make it easier to get to.
[img[Chain ladder down to Empress Spring|04270043.jpg]]
At the bottom is a large room with a sandy floor. From there is the main way down to the spring, and another way off that is just a low crawl area.
It's a bit tight getting down to the spring. It's not really a spring, but an area where water collects after rains. The roof was wet and some of the rock were wet and dripping too. The spot where we expected to see some water was just a dry sandy bed.
[img[Empress Spring|04270039.jpg]]
The entire cave is probably not hot, but extremely humid and we were both sweating a lot. It was a relief to climb out into the afternoon breeze.
Then we drove the 60km back to the Great Central Road, turned right and drove towards Laverton until sunset when we reached the area of the Beegull Waterholes. There is supposed to be some vandalised rockart around here. We'll have a look for it tomorrow.
[img[Sunset|04270047.jpg]]
Dinner tonight is pasta bolognaise, plus a cup of tea with a choc chip cookie.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 15' 'Confluence 28S123E' 'Home' 'Laverton' 'Mount Beadell'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '28 April 2003' 'Camp 15' 'Camp 16' '300' '~SG51-15 Throssell, ~SH51-03 Rason, ~SG51-14 Duketon, ~SH51-02 Laverton' "Beegull Waterholes, Lang Rock, Rutter's Grave, Confluence 28°S 123°E, Laverton">>
[img[Day 16 Map|day16map.gif][day16map.gif]]<<imagebox 628 380>>
----
Our first stop today was Beegull Waterholes, just a little down the Great Central Road from where we camped.
The spot is easily identified by a Christian cross mounted on top of a rocky outcrop.
[img[Beegull Waterholes|04280001.jpg]]
There are also a couple of rock cairns. Further along on top of the rocky outcrop are the rockholes. Two of them had water in them when we visited, but it looked as though a couple of others at least could have water after rains.
[img[Beegull Waterholes|04280012.jpg]]
Beneath the rocky outcrop are a couple of overhangs.
<<panorama 'Beegull Waterholes' '0428_0003-0006.jpg' 55.0 110.0 150.0 'yes'>>
These contain some aboriginal art.
[img[Beegull Waterholes aboriginal art|04280007.jpg]]
This has been noted as vandalized. I took some photos anyway.
<<panorama 'Beegull Waterholes aboriginal art' '0428_0008-0010.jpg' 55.0 110.0 160.0 'yes'>>
From there we travelled down to the turnoff to Lang Rock. Dad had read about a fellow named Peter Muir who had left a message carved onto a rock there, so we turned off the main road and headed down the track.
We first came across an old tank. It was empty, but there was an old railing fence, and some mounting points for a windmill.
We continued on and soon encountered an old well. It had old branch sticks laid across the top to try to keep things out, and branches formed into a wall lining the sides. Water could be seen at the bottom.
A little further on is Lang Rock. This is a large rocky outcrop made up of lots of boulder-sized rocks. At the top of the outcrop someone has built a small cairn. The view from the top is very good.
[img[Cairn at the top of Lang Rock|04280017.jpg]]
We searched around the rock for quite a while, without success. Dad climbed down first while I took a 360° panorama from the top.
<<panorama 'View from Lang Rock' '0428_0018-0026.jpg' 55.0 110.0 360.0 'no'>>
When he reached the bottom, he turned around to look back the way he'd come and looked straight at the carved message! He'd walked right past it!
[img[Message carved by Peter Puir|04280029.jpg]]
The next point of interest was Rutter's Grave, a little further down the track. I we were looking at the maps, we realized another confluence was very close by. We drove down the Rutter's Soak and Rutter's Grave.
[img[Rutter's Grave|04280031.jpg]]
Then we headed south-west, passing some old stock yards.
[img[Old stock yards|04280036.jpg]]
The tracks in this part of the country deteriorate rapidly in wet weather. We could tell this by the amount of places where people have got themselves bogged.
[img[Damaged track|0428_0037-0038.jpg][0428_0037-0038.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 203>>
About 20km further on we took a track to the north-west. This track was very good and led us practically straight to the confluence. In fact, we were able to drive to within 80m of it!
[img[Andrew standing at Confluence 28°S 128°E|04280044.jpg]]
My [[DCP report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-28&lon=123&visit=1]] has some more photos.
After a short drive north, we found a windmill (Murray's Bore, at 27°56.686'S 122°59.820'E) beside the Great Central Road and stopped for lunch. The next visitors to the confluence should have a much easier time of it.
[img[Murray's Bore on the Great Central Road|04280045.jpg]]
On opening the fridge, we discovered we'd had a milk leak! When lunch was over, we unpacked the fridge, transferred the milk from its carton to a plastic container, and cleaned out and repacked the fridge. It had only been a very small leak, not a whole carton.
Then we drove straight to Laverton where we refueled, bought a loaf of bread, and called Mum. Then it was just a short drive out of town, following the old ~Leonora-Laverton road, to where we stopped to camp half way between the road and an old abandoned railroad.
For dinner we cooked up a packet of satay rice that was five months past its use-by date, mixed in with a tin of sweet beef curry. It turned out to be very nice!
While fixing dinner (stirring the billy) I managed to spot three satellites.
After dinner we tried walking the 1½km to the old railroad. Although we walked for 26 minutes out (probably about 2km) we saw no sign of the railroad before we gave up and returned to camp.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 16' 'Home' 'Kalgoorlie' 'Laverton' 'Menzies' 'Mount Beadell'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '29 April 2003' 'Camp 16' 'Home' '963' '~SH51-02 Laverton, ~SH51-06 Edjudina, ~SH51-05 Menzies, ~SH51-09 Kalgoorlie, ~SH50-12 Jackson, ~SH50-16 Southern Cross, ~SH50-15 Kellerberrin, ~SH50-11 Bencubbin, ~SH50-14 Perth' 'Old Rail Bridge, Malcolm, Niagra Dam, Menzies, Lake Ballard, Riverina, Bullfinch, Mukinbudin, Wyalkatchem, Dowerin, Goomalling, Toodyay, Home'>>
[img[Day 17 Map|day17map1.gif][day17map1.gif]]<<imagebox 479 294>>
[img[Day 17 Map|day17map2.gif][day17map2.gif]]<<imagebox 512 237>>
----
We broke camp earlier than we ever had before on this trip, at 7:50!
Our first stop was just down the road at an old railway bridge.
[img[Old railway bridge|04290003.jpg]]
The rail out the Laverton has been long abandoned. The rails have been pulled up and reused elsewhere, but the sleepers have been mostly left behind, and the bridges have been left to decay.
Further on down the road, we kept an eye out for a track leading to yet another confluence. Since we were running short on time (we want to be home in Perth today), we were only going to try the track if it was in good condition. As it turned out, the track looked rather overgrown and we could see no recent signs of use by vehicles. We will have to try the confluence on another trip.
We drove on to Malcolm. Here we turned south at an loading yard with lots of unusual yellow bin things. As we drove over part of Lake Raeside, we met a fellow driving a ute from the Shire of Leonora. He was on his way to the Malcolm cemetary, where he had left a grader. He was going to make a bit of a parking lot at the cemetary. He gave us a few tips on the road condition ahead.
Much further down the road, not far from Kookynie, we stopped by a minesite built near the side of the road.
[img[Minesite|04290006.jpg][04290006.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
The plant looked abandoned, but when we stopped we could hear the hum of some equipment working, so it obviously hadn't been completely abandoned.
There are even old mineshafts with sight of the new plant.
[img[Old mineshaft|04290008.jpg]]
We next stopped at the old township of Kookynie. Here we had a look at the ruins of the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
[img[Cosmopolitan Hotel at Kookynie|04290009.jpg][04290009.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Our next stop was Niagra Dam.
[img[Niagra Dam wall|04290014.jpg]]
This was built just before an underground source of fresh water was found in the area, so it ended up never being used!
[img[Niagra Dam water|04290015.jpg]]
From the dam we followed the road straight out to the highway and turned south. On reaching Menzies, we kept an eye out for an indication of where the Lake Ballard sculptures would be. We easily found a sign pointing the way, 51km to the north west.
We were able to drive virtually right to the edge of the lake where the sculptures had been set up.
[img[Lake Ballard|04290027.jpg]]
There was already a vehicle and a couple of people there. It looked like one of them was an artist, as he seemed to look out onto the lake and then draw or do something with something in front of him.
[img[Lake Ballard sculpture|04290029.jpg][04290029.jpg]]<<imagebox 384 512>>
The sculptures are abstract representations of some of the people in the Menzies area. However, they all look rather the same, so we took photos of a few of the closest ones and called that enough.
[img[Lake Ballard sculpture|04290035.jpg]]
While we were walking between sculptures, a light aircraft arrived and circled low overhead, no doubt giving the passengers on board a quick view of the area.
[img[Lake Ballard sculpture|04290030.jpg][04290030.jpg]]<<imagebox 384 512>>
I climbed a very pointy shaped hill that sits on the salt lake in the middle of the sculptures for a better look of them all.
<<panorama 'View of Lake Ballard' '0429_0039-0051.jpg' 55.0 110.0 360.0 'no'>>
We left the scuptures to look for a place with a little more shade for lunch. We drove a little more west and found a sign pointing us towards the lookout on top of Snake Hill. When we got to the top we found a brand new looking shelter with roof (for shade) and picnic table.
[img[Lake Ballard Lookout|04290057.jpg]]
It was exactly what we had been looking for. It even had a very good view!
[img[Lake Ballard from lookout|04290058.jpg][04290058.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
By the end of lunch it was 2:00. We were running very late if we wanted to be back in Perth today. We thought about taking the track back to Menzies and the highway, but instead decided to continue on and take the gravel roads through to Bullfinch and then see where we might go.
We followed the gravel road south to Riverina. The road was good, but extremely dusty with many patches of bulldust. A little past Riverina we passed two graders levelling out the road. We spoke briefly with them via UHF CB. They didn't know the roads ahead well enough to make a recommendation, but didn't know of anything bad either.
We travelled west towards some road we had travelled on on a previous trip. On the way we stopped at Johnson Rocks. We found a waterhole next to the rock covered with sheet iron.
[img[Johnson Rocks waterhole|04290061.jpg]]
An old and now nonfunctional pump had been installed to get the water out. It also appeared as if something had fallen into the hole to try and get a drink and had pushed one of the irons sheets in. While we were in some croaking sounds from inside told us a couple of frogs or crickets had taken residence inside. The area around the rock and waterhole is flat and open. It looks very good for camping. Other people seem to think so too, judging by the number of campfire remains. We're not too sure how well tent pegs would work, though. The rock is very close to the surface.
We continued on and soon reached the junction from a previous trip. Before, we had come up from the south and turned west. This time we had arrived from the east and this time turned south, going over some old road. Before the sun had set we had passed by where we had joined this road previously and were on 'new' road south to Bullfinch.
It was well and truly dark by the time we arrived at Bullfinch. It was now the long road home to Perth. We turned west. The roads from here were sealed, not gravel. Also, they aren't 'main' roads, so the going was really very good. We were able to use all six of our lights to keep the road ahead well-lit. It made driving much easier, and because they weren't the highway, there was almost no traffic to make us turn them off.
We drove from Bullfinch to Mukinbudin, then to Wyalkatchem, Goomalling, Toodyay and finally to Perth, arriving home at 12:15, just after midnight. As we drove down the escarpment, we paused for a few of photos of the lights of Perth.
[img[Lights of Perth|04290065.jpg]]
Along the way we had tried each town to buy some diesel, but every service station was shut. We weren't sure if we'd have to top up with the 20 litres in the jerry can, but the main tank and sill tank got us there, even though both tanks well and truely showed empty on the gauge.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Home' 'Home' 'Lake Mason' 'Laverton' 'Mount Beadell' 'Sandstone'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '14 April 2003' 'Camp 1' 'Camp 2' '301' '~SH50-10 Moora, ~SH50-06 Perenjori, ~SH50-07 Ninghan' 'Dalwallinu, Paynes Find, Reids Ridge Mine'>>
[img[Day 2 Map|day02map.gif][day02map.gif]]<<imagebox 410 512>>
----
We started the day with bacon and eggs. The morning was quite cool and a heavy dew had fallen during the night. We decided to go for a walk after breakfast while we gave the tent a little extra time to dry out.
[img[Camp|04140001.jpg]]
We followed the power lines in the other direction and found a second dam. It was as dry as the first. One of the power lines going to it had fallen down. So had part of the fence around the dam itself.
<<panorama 'Pithara Dam' '0414_0002-0004.jpg' 55.0 110.0 100.0 'yes'>>
We broke camp at 10:15 and soon after arrived at Dalwallinu. While cooking the bacon and eggs we discovered we had left our "Bar-b-mate" at home, so bought a new one at the hardware shop in town.
At nearly 1:00 we arrived at Paynes Find.
[img[Paynes Fine|04140005.jpg]]
We fuelled up and then decided to stop for lunch. We had two steak and onion toasted sandwiches, washed down with beers. We got a discount on the diesel through an arrangement with the ~VKS-737 radio network, and we also got a discount ("local prices") on the lunch too!
While we were there, Dad spoke with Tony, one of the proprietors, who recommended we visit Reids Ridge Mine, apparently recently abandoned.
After lunch we briefly visited the nearby gold battery. A tourist information shop, looking very nice and well set-up, was unfortunately shut.
[img[Paynes Find Gold Battery|04140006.jpg]]
We left Paynes Find and headed out on the road to Yalgoo. We stopped for a break and some photos.
[img[Hills on road to Yalgoo|04140010.jpg]]
The next stop was Fields Find. Just before arriving at the mine site, we visited a nearby cemetery. There were several people buried there. The most notable being the grave of four miners killed in a mine explosion in 1899.
The mine itself is fenced off with signs reading "danger". One part of the fence was easy to get over where the ground had risen up. Inside, the mine is mostly abandoned and has several vertical shafts.
[img[Old Mineshaft at Fields Find|04140018.jpg]]
To get to the Reids Ridge Mine we started looking for a track on the map heading west. We soon found it, but the initial slope was very steep and rocky. Dad was hoping the rest of the track wasn't going to be the same. The track soon levelled out into some very easy going. It didn't take long to get to Reids Ridge Mine.
When we got there we could see several vehicles around a collection of buildings. Initially we didn't want to go up to them, but in our search for the track onwards, we didn't really have any choice. The entire place turned out to be abandoned.
[img[Reids Ridge Mine Campsite|04140019.jpg]]
There were three utes and a big truck. All the utes had at least one flat tyre, and none of the vehicles looked as if they had moved for a long time. The settlement itself looked to have been abandoned in the middle of the day! Washing up was left in the drying racks. Food on the shelves and in containers on the bench tops. I found two pairs of desert boots in one of the dormitories. One of the rooms had miners lamps still on charge (from solar panels on the roof), and working!
We then checked over the mine. The mine head, generator and air compressor all looked as if they hadn't been used in a long time.
We couldn't find the track to the south-west we were looking for, so we took a different track to the south-east towards Warriedar homestead. It too was abandoned. A front-end loader sitting out with a flat tyre. The homestead itself, complete with satellite dish, looked un-lived in with broken windows.
From there we went west, looking for a track going north towards the confluence of 29°S 117°E. We found it no problem, although the track condition wasn't so good. Large pools of water were present in many sections.
[img[Track to confluence|04140022.jpg]]
We camped late again, after sunset. We were early enough, though, to catch the 6:00 "sced" with ~VKS-737 and check in. Our later attempts to talk to Mum again proved futile.
After dinner (my camping favourite of savoury mince and rice) we walked down the track a little of the way to the confluence. We passed a bench mark and several cut lines. The night is much milder than last night.
When we got back, I wrote up my diary. Then we sat around the campfire and drank port.
Tomorrow we'll visit the confluence and then head on to Yalgoo and Walga Rock.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 2' 'Confluence 29S117E' 'Home' 'Geraldton' 'Lake Mason' 'Mount Beadell' 'Walga Rock' 'Yalgoo'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '15 April 2003' 'Camp 2' 'Camp 3' '287' '~SH50-07 Ninghan, ~SH50-03 Kirkalocka, ~SH50-02 Yalgoo, ~SG50-14 Murgoo, ~SG50-15 Cue' 'Confluence 29°S 117°E, Jokers Tunnel, Yalgoo, Chinaman Rock, Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater, Walga Rock'>>
[img[Day 3 Map|day03map.gif][day03map.gif]]<<imagebox 309 512>>
----
[img[Camp|04150001.jpg]]
We both got up fairly early this morning. We got away just after 9:00. During the night we both thought we could hear engines or motors in the distance, but it was difficult to tell.
We soon arrived near the confluence. The closest the track came was about 550m. We got out and started walking down a conveniently placed cut line. The cut line petered out after about 100m. Just as we were about to dive off into the bush, we realised we hadn't saved the position of the Land Rover to get back to! So we saved our current position at the end of the cut line and continued.
About five or ten minutes of walking brought us to the confluence. Another meter south and the confluence would have been inside a big bush! It didn't take long to get all zeroes on the GPS and I took the photo of the display, then looking west, north and east. Dad took a photo of me standing right on the spot.
[img[Andrew standing on confluence 29°S 117°E|04150007.jpg]]
My [[DCP visit report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-29&lon=117&visit=1]] provides a few more photos.
Then we returned to our saved position on the cut line. Dad took the lead and tried to get us on the cut line closer to the Land Rover, but we couldn't see the cut line! Following the GPS to the exact saved position had us in the right spot and we easily made our way back to the Land Rover.
During the walk, we could clearly hear motors working. We hadn't been hearing things last night. It turns out it was a nearby mine, called Bugeye Mine, but we didn't visit.
We followed the track north until we reached the main ~Yalgoo-Paynes Find road. The track we had been following since late yesterday had been very good, with a few pools of water on various places. The ground under each pool was firm, so it wasn't a problem travelling. The mud flying up into the windows was a little uncomfortable, though.
The road to Yalgoo is very good. With all the mining in the area, as we got closer to Yalgoo it became sealed and we picked up the pace.
At about 11:00 we reached a place that Dad had marked on the map "Jokers Tunnel near here". Sure enough, within a few km of the comment, a sign on the side of the road pointed the way.
[img[Jokers Tunnel|04150010.jpg]]
Jokers Tunnel is about 50m long, straight through a hill. It appeared to have been worked from both ends at the same time. Since it dates from the turn of the 20th century, the fact it is dead straight is very impressive.
{{panel{
!Jokers Tunnel
This prominent peak, which at the most northerly end of the Gnow's Nest Range, is called Bilberatha and it is trig point D6 in the State geodetic system. The exact date when it was established as a survey point is not known, but it is included as a reference in maps produced in the early 1870s.
William Nottle discovered gold in the Gnow's Nest Range in 1894, and when Yalgoo Gold Field was declared the following year his gold mining lease became known as Yalgoo Joker.
Within a year, sixteen further lining leases were registered, most of them taking on names associated with euchre and other popular card games-left and right bower, full hand, king and queen of hearts, spades and aces, etc.
The gold here was found in rich pockets-fifty kilograms of stone from the initial strike returned three kilograms of gold.
Although the area was originally called Nottes Find, it became popularly known as Joker. A small settlement quickly developed, including a licensed inn also known as Joker and a twenty-head gold battery.
There was no definite lode to follow; many shafts were sunk and tunnels dug in the search. This tunnel was not actually on the Joker lease (which is a hundred metres or so to the south east), but a lease called The Star of Bilberatha first registered to W Porritt in 1896.
Later returns were disappointing, returning only three kilograms of gold for 550 tonnes of rock processed. In January 1898 the battery was shifted to Fields Find, and in September 1898 the Joker Hotel was also moved and was renamed the Fields Find Hotel.
}}}
Inside the tunnel we found some bats and crickets. I climbed to the top of the hill and took a panoramic photo of the view. Yalgoo could be seen in the distance.
On arrival at Yalgoo at 12:30, we gave Mum a ring. We had been unable to contact her via radio on the previous two nights. We got in touch and decided the radio at home had been set to the wrong frequency. We'd try again at 6:30 tonight, and at 8:00 if unsuccessful at 6:30.
Our next stop was the Chapel of St. Hyacinth, on the edge of town.
[img[Chapel of St Hyacinth at Yalgoo|04150026.jpg]]
{{panel{
!Monsignor Hawes Heritage Trail
!Chapel of St. Hyacinth
In the early 1920s John Hawes brought the Dominican Sisters to Yalgoo to run the school here. He built this Chapel for them in 1920-1922, often travelling on horseback from Mullewa to assist with its construction.
Restoration of the chapel by the Shire of Yalgoo was completed in 1980.
}}}
Then we went up to the lookout which was also the town water supply. The view was good, but not much of interest other than the town of Yalgoo could be seen.
By this time it was 1:00 and we decided to make for Chinaman Rock for lunch.
We arrived at Chinaman Rock at 1:30. It isn't huge, but it makes for a bit of interest. The creek running right by the rock was dry, but all the trees and bushes were thick and green. Recent flooding or water flows had built up a huge pile of sheep manure under one of the trees. There was one kangaroo and three sheep carcasses.
<<panorama 'Chinaman Rock' '0415_0029-0038.jpg' 0.0 70.0 360.0 'no'>>
After lunch we headed north east planning on visiting a meteorite crater. None of the maps we had showed the roads with any accuracy. In fact, they disagreed with each other and with reality!
Just past a gate marked "Shut the Bloody Gate!", we met with a local driving a truck loaded with two decks of goats. He said that that gate would take us to the crater, but if we drove a little further on we'd get a much better road with signposts showing the way. We drove on and found the signs and crater without trouble.
Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater (~ 27°38'S 117°17'E), at 21m in diameter, is the smallest confirmed crater in Western Australia. It was formed about 3000 years ago by a stony rock travelling from west to east.
[img[Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater|04150043.jpg]]
{{panel{
!Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater
Of about 160 authenticated impact sites known in the world, Australia lays claim to no less than 18, with seven of them in the WA outback. As far as craters go, Dalgaranga is on the small side at only 25m diameter and around 5m deep. It is the smallest authenticated in Australia.
The eastern side is much higher than the western rim, indicating that the meteorite probably slammed into the Earth at an angle from the west.
The crater was discovered in 1920 by an aboriginal stockman, Billy Seward, when he almost rode into it full gallop during a muster on the station. He showed his find to station manager Gerard Wellard but from here on recognition of Dalgaranga site takes a slow and somewhat strange path.
Mr Wellard, realising a significant scientific discovery had probably been made, gathered up enough fragments of the meteorite from the site to fill an old gallon tin (about 4.5 litres) and sent them to the WA Museum for analysis. In those days the Museum and the Mines Department shared the same building in Perth and somehow the rock samples were misplaced. By the time Mr Wellard made the trip to Perth almost a year later, the Mines Department had moved to a separate location and no one knew where the fragments were.
It seems that then things were simply forgotten.
In 1938, one of the rock samples was found and a report analysing the piece was prepared and released. So authentication of the crater was established but unfortunately the report contained some errors-the main one being that the crater was first reported by Mr Willard not Wellard. This error was to cause a problem and inconvenience in future years which was only resolved by an extraordinary coincidence.
After the publication of a scientific paper in 1960, interest in Dalgaranga was once again revived.
In 1961, a Professor Pearl, of the US flew to WA to examine the crater and understandably he wanted to talk to Mr Wellard, but because of the misspelling of the name, he left without finding him. Disappointed on this aspect of his visit Professor Pearl had set sail for home on board a cruise ship and three days out of Perth his wife got talking to another lady on board and the subject of meteorites came up. Incredibly the other woman turned out to be Mrs Wellard on a world cruise with her husband Gerard. Excitedly, both women told their husbands the news and in no time at all the men were together discussing the Dalgaranga crater.
The Dalgaranga crater has been confirmed as one of the youngest meteorite craters in the earth's surface with an estimated age of only 3000 years. It is also one of the smallest authenticated craters recorded.
The meteorite which caused it was one of the very rare stony-iron types which, when it hit the Earth's surface at colossal speed, would have buried itself deep in the ground. It would then have exploded like a pressure cooker blowing upwards and outwards creating the crater seen today. The explosion would have almost totally destroyed the meteorite itself with only small shrapnel-like pieces remaining around the rim.
Dalgaranga may not be spectacular but when occasional visitors find their way to the lonely site and imagine what it would have been like to witness the fireball falling out of the sky and the explosion which followed, the picture is awesome.
}}}
As we were about to leave, a ute rolled up. The guy introduced himself as Dennis. He's originally from the USA, but arrived here several years ago. He had worked for Alcoa as a mechanic, but a couple of years ago started doing station work. He has now been the manager of Dalgaranga for a year. Today he'd been fixing windmills. He wouldn't stop talking, and it was about twenty minutes before we could get on our way.
It was getting a little late by now, and we decided to try to get to Walga Rock to camp for the night. We arrived at the Rock just before sunset, it time for some nice photos.
<<panorama 'Walga Rock' '0415_0044-0046.jpg' 55.0 110.0 130.0 'yes'>>
[img[Walga Rock|04150050.jpg][04150050.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
On arrival we noticed some goats on the side of the rock, having visited a vegetated ledge.
We were also in time for the 6:00 ~VKS-737 "sced", which was very busy in the lead up to Easter. We also got in touch with Mum for the first time via radio.
[img[Camp at Walga Rock|04150052.jpg]]
Dinner was steak with potatoes and peas. I had a chocolate custard, Dad had a small container of peaches.
After dinner we went for a walk to see if a fenced-off area (with a gate) we had noticed had the aboriginal art the rock is famed for. It did, and we'll have a better look in the daylight tomorrow. We also found a good spot from which to start the climb of the rock, so we pretty much have tomorrow morning planned.
When we got back from the walk, we had some port and chocolate.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 3' 'Geraldton' 'Home' 'Kalbarri' 'Lake Mason' 'Meekatharra' 'Mount Beadell' 'Walga Rock'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '16 April 2003' 'Camp 3' 'Camp 4' '143' '~SG50-15 Cue, ~SG50-11 Belele' 'Walga Rock, Big Bell, Cooldardy, Afghan Rock, Glen Station Homestead, Little ~Wilgie-Mia, ~Wilgie-Mia'>>
[img[Day 4 Map|day04map.gif][day04map.gif]]<<imagebox 411 512>>
----
We got up early again, mostly so as to be able to climb Walga Rock before it got too hot. We'd save the art until later.
After breakfast (bacon and eggs again), we climbed up the rock, starting from right where we'd camped. On the way up we got a good overhead view of the rock art area.
[img[View of Walga Rock rock art area|04160001.jpg]]
From the top the view was good. Mostly trees covering a flat plain with other rocky outcrops popping up here and there.
<<panorama 'View from top of Walga Rock' '0416_0005-0013.jpg' 0.0 70.0 360.0 'no'>>
The recent rains had collected in many pools on the top of the rock. In just about every single one we found strange crustacean-like creatures. They had a round body with a shell on top and the head, legs, gills, and body underneath, with a long tail with two pointy ends.
[img[Walga Rock Crustacean|04160017.jpg]]
We climbed back down and moved on to the aboriginal art. When Dad tried to take a photo of the entrance to the fenced-off area he found he had run out of film! He walked back to camp and returned in the Land Rover.
We took many photos of the art. One in particular is controversial, as it depicts a sailing ship. Walga Rock is hundreds of kilometres from the ocean!
[img[Walga Rock Art, Sailing Ship|04160020.jpg]]
The rest of the art is more 'typical', with animals, tracks and other abstract wavy lines.
[img[Walga Rock Art|04160028.jpg][04160028.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Leaving Walga Rock, we travelled a little down the track until we reached a corner where we expected to find a track as a short-cut to our next destination, the mine of Big Bell.
Despite getting out and looking for a good twenty minutes, we could see no sign at all of the track, so we continued on in the direction of Austin Downs.
Well before we got to the homestead we found a road not marked on any of our maps, signposted "Big Bell". 9km down the road we found the old townsite of Big Bell and the new mine. The original Big Bell opened in 1923 and closed in 1955. Recently it has been re-opened. When we arrived the first vehicle we saw was a four-trailer road train filled with ore. A number of other vehicles drove by too.
We spent a long time looking around the old townsite. The old hotel is mostly there.
[img[Big Bell Hotel (abandoned)|04160029.jpg][04160029.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
So is the church, but the other buildings are now only concrete pads, if anything at all! The town was quite large, with up to 850 people living there at one stage. There were two schools: a state school with about 100 children, and a catholic school with about 30-40 children.
At the site of the old theatre (which had three shows a week), was a metal figure.
[img[Metal Figure at Big Bell|04160047.jpg][04160047.jpg]]<<imagebox 384 512>>
We left the town and started looking for the short cut north to Cooldardy. Again, the maps and reality did not agree, as there was a number of false starts before we eventually got onto the main road between Cue and Cooldardy. Around this time we could hear over our UHF CB that the guys at the mine were getting ready for a bit of blasting.
The road we wanted went just about right into Cooldardy homestead. On arrival at Cooldardy, we found it completely deserted except for two horses. There were a number of buildings there, several vehicles and motorcycles, and a good set of tools! As no one was about, we decided to continue down our intended track.
The track north is very good, graded and probably maintained by the shire rather than the property owners.
Our next stop at the end of the road was Afghan Rock, on the main road between Cue and Glen Station.
[img[Afghan Rock|0416_0050-0051.jpg][0416_0050-0051.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 224>>
We stopped for lunch, before exploring the rock and surrounds. We think the rock was named for the afghan camel drivers who watered their camels here. We suspect the original well they sunk is still there and the new windmill is pumping from it. The windmill and tank are in good condition. The tank was full to the top with clear, good quality water, and filled the nearby trough with it too.
[img[Windmill and water tank at Afghan Rock|04160048.jpg]]
After that we travelled on the Glen Station where we wanted a track heading north east towards ~Wilgie-Mia. On arrival we found a "Road Closed" sign. As the Glen homestead was right there, we drove in to ask about it. On the way in we saw they had a small hanger with a Cessna 150G in it. A girl was at the homestead, the daughter of the station owners. She had only arrived up from Perth two days ago. We asked about the closed road and she rang a guy with the shire who said the sign was for the rains of the last week and should have been taken down by now. The road was open! Next to the station house was a familiar looking two-deck truck with goats. Although he wasn't there at the time, it turned out that Maurie, the Glen station owner, was the fellow we met yesterday taking his goats to be sold!
We thanked the girl for her help and continued on down the road. We almost went the wrong way as a junction appeared that wasn't on the map. The problem was it was right on the edge of the maps and didn't show up properly until the next map appeared.
Once on the right track, we soon arrived in the area of ~Wilgie-Mia. We decided to take a little detour to an abandoned mine called Little ~Wilgie-Mia. This appeared to be an iron ore mine, but only a very small operation.
[img[Little Wilgie-Mia|04160052.jpg]]
We looked around a little, before moving on to ~Wilgie-Mia.
This is an old aboriginal ochre mine. Some research seems to indicate the ochre mined here was traded from tribe to tribe and eventually made its way as far afield as Queensland!
From where we stopped, we could see a sign marked "Danger! No Entry!". Just beyond that we found a mine tunnel entrance that had been completely blocked off with concrete. How could anyone even enter to be in danger?
[img[Blocked tunnel at Wilgie-Mia|04160055.jpg]]
At the top of the steep hill, we could see a fenced off section. I decided to climb straight up, while Dad decided to try a track that went around the hill.
[img[View from the top of Wilgie-Mia|04160060.jpg]]
When I got to the top I found that someone had opened a hole in the fence to get in.
[img[Hole in fence at Wilgie-Mia|04160061.jpg]]
Dad radioed that he had no luck with his exploration and was returning. I went in through the hole and found a great big hole in the ground.
[img[Wilgie-Mia ochure mine|04160059.jpg]]
I walked around for a better view then radioed Dad with the news. I climbed back up to the hole to guide him up, then we both went inside for a look. After all the climbing up the very steep hill and clambering through the hole in the fence, Dad discovered that he had run out of film (again - twice in the one day!) Good thing my digital camera doesn't run out of film!
We climbed back down to the Land Rover and each had a beer to recover from our exertions. We drove back to the junction and continued down the other direction towards Beebyn. A few kilometres down the road we passed a couple of guys metal detecting. After another kilometre or two we found a rough track going north and turned down it to camp for the night.
[img[Camp|04160062.jpg][04160062.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Tonight we decided to have a wash before dinner. It has been quite a warm day and a very mild night, so it was really perfect for a wash. No wind either.
Dinner was cold - corned beef with a tin of potato salad and eggs and tomato. Some fizzy drink washed it down and we followed it some fruit cake and a cup of tea.
We built up our camp fire and started out on our nightly walk. We followed the track we were on to see if we could find out what it had been made for. We found an old drilling site with deteriorated bags of drill samples. We slid a rock down the drill pipe and waited ages while it echoed down before splashing into some water. It's obviously very deep. We only walked a short way on before the track became indistinct and we turned back for camp.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 4' 'Carnarvon' 'Confluence 27S118E' 'Home' 'Lake Mason' 'Meekatharra' 'Mount Beadell'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '17 April 2003' 'Camp 4' 'Camp 5' '177' '~SG50-11 Belele, ~SG50-15 Cue, ~SG50-12 Glengarry' 'Confluence 27°S 118°E, Reedy, Cullculli, Burnakura, Polell'>>
[img[Day5X Map|day05map.gif][day05map.gif]]<<imagebox 512 190>>
----
[img[Camp|04170001.jpg]]
We broke camp a little after 9:00 and headed towards Beebyn. Shortly after passing the station we found a creek with quite a bit of water in it. We thought it quite worth a photo or two.
[img[Creek near Beebyn|04170002.jpg]]
Further on we passed close to a confluence. I remarked that it was quite a way off, 4km. Dad then pointed out we had just gone through a fenceline and the usual track following the fence would get us closer. We turned around and sure enough, a good track headed in the general direction of the confluence.
We drove along to the spot closest to the confluence, about 620m. On the way we passed a couple of tracks heading north, but as we were uncertain if they'd get us any closer, we ignored them.
After about 500m of walking through the bush we crossed a track, almost certainly one of those we had driven by. At that point we were just 150m from the confluence. The next visitor will have it a bit easier than us.
When we got to the confluence, we again found a bush just to the south of the confluence, the same as the first. By standing with my back just about in the bush, I got zeroes.
[img[Andrew standing on Confluence 27°S 118°E|04170010.jpg]]
My [[DCP report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-27&lon=118&visit=1]] has more photos - one of which was selected for the month of April in the [[DCP calendar for 2004|http://www.confluence.org/calendar/priorcalendars.php]]!
The bush in the area of the confluence is fairly open and easy walking. After a few photos of around the confluence, and one of me, we went back to the Land Rover. On the way out, we made some notes on the track we think goes closer to the confluence. From the intersection of the main road and the fenceline, it's about 3.4km down the track, at about 27°00.272'S 117°59.581'E.
From the confluence we drove to Tuckanarra, where we contemplated our next destination. We decided on Reedy and soon found the right track.
Just a little way down (at 27°08.303'S 118°07.801'E) we found a 'graveyard' of mining equipment. Twelve large cylinder things, plus a ball mill, hopper and other junk. The cylinder things were quite large. If you look closely at the next photo, the Land Rover and Stuart are just to the right of center.
[img[Abandoned mining equipment near Reedy|04170011.jpg][04170011.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
The next stop were the open pit mines at Reedy. These are abandoned and filled with water.
<<panorama 'Reedy Mine Pit' '0417_0013-0015.jpg' 55.0 80.0 160.0 'yes'>>
There are also ruins of buildings and some old tanks.
[img[Ruins at Reedy Mine|04170021.jpg]]
[img[Old Tanks at Reedy Mine|04170022.jpg]]
[img[Settling Pond at Reedy Mine|04170023.jpg]]
We found evidence the area had been worked in the 1930's. Some graffiti in the old explosives store dated 1979 had a family returning to visit who had run a cafe then.
[img[Ruin of explosive store at Reedy Mine|04170028.jpg]]
The next stop was the old power station.
[img[Power station at Reedy Mine|04170029.jpg]]
[img[Power station at Reedy Mine|04170034.jpg]]
This still has four diesel engines and generators installed, along with what looks like all the control equipment. The most recent date we could find was July 1998. Someone had been through and cut out quite a bit of the heavy cabling, though. It's amazing this equipment has just been left here, and it's not worth the while of the mining company to even give them away.
[img[Power station generators|04170031.jpg]]
[img[Power station controls|04170032.jpg]]
After inspecting the power station, we had some lunch, then tried to find our way north-east towards Cullculli. We drove a long circle around what would have been the remains of the old village site of Reedy, before the road joined up with the track we were looking for. The mining company must have done up the road, because it was graded and in quite good condition. There are also a lot more roads than is shown on the map, which makes things a bit confusing.
Just after leaving the Reedy town area, we saw a natural arch in a nearby rock formation, and stopped for a photo.
[img[Natural arch near Reedy townsite|04170035.jpg]]
Further out from Reedy in the area of Cullculli North, we got onto tracks that simply didn't show up on the maps. We made a couple of wrong turns before heading in the general direction we wanted.
Nearing Cullculli (which is north of Cullculli North!) we found another open pit! It appeared to have been left quite some time ago as there was a tree a good 4-5m high growing about halfway down the pit.
<<panorama 'Open pit near Cullculli' '0417_0037-0039.jpg' 55.0 110.0 150.0 'yes'>>
Heading east from Cullculli, we had great difficulty finding the track. It turns out we made a wrong turn off a road that wasn't on the map to one that was. We should have stuck to the new road which would have easily taken us to the track on the map we wanted.
In any case, we eventually found the right track, after spending some time reconnoitring a creek bed. Only a kilometre or two down the track we were crossing a creek bed when we noticed a small cemetery in a grove of trees.
[img[Graves in creek bed near Cullculli|04170040.jpg]]
*Harry Wilson, born Sweden, died Cullculli, 1925
*In memory of, William Snell, Prospector, Pioneer & Pastoralist, Born 8th May 1863, Died 1st May 1943, Erected by his loved daughter Lucy
*In loving memory of Harold Francis Glanfield, Born 9th Oct 1904, Died 2nd Sept 1959, Erected by his beloved wife Lucy and daughter Maxine
*In loving memory of Lucy Christina Glanfield 1913-1992, Daughter of William Snell, wife of Harold Francis, mother of Maxine, dearly loved, sadly missed. R.I.P.
They were in a strange place considering it was the middle of a creek. The most recent grave was for a woman who died in 1992. Someone had been out, probably then, and restored the graves and made nice tops and headstones for them all. (27°3'10.225"S 118°22'29.843"E)
The good track took us right up to Burnakura. This is a huge operation, with massive mullock heaps and no doubt several open pits.
[img[Open pit at Burnakura|04170045.jpg]]
A lot of new roads had been put in by the mining company. It also appeared as if a new open pit had been dug right where the track we wanted to follow had used to have been! We drove around the mullock heaps and saw a road train being loaded in the distance. The road we were on didn't go there, so we drove on around another large pile. At an intersection to what looked like the main road out we found a sign reading "UHF Ch 39", so we tuned our radio for that. Seeing no other way east, we drove along the haul road, but it soon turned west, so we turned around back to the mine. We passed the road train that had been filling up and drove around the mullock heap and got to where we had seen the road train being filled up. The front-end loader was just sitting there, empty, so we assume that it was actually just the one guy doing all the loading and driving. We drove back to the mine, looking for any sign of the track east, but nothing appeared. We gave up and returned to the haul road.
The haul road turned north just a little past where we had turned around. After some distance it joined up with a road marked on the map that ran between the Great Northern Highway and Porlell Well. On the way up we had got in touch with a grader driver on channel 39. He couldn't help us with a track east of the mine, but he knew of a track east a little past a water tank. We found that track without any trouble and turned east.
In next to no time, we were driving past Porlell Lake. We stopped for a photo as it was a very large lake - not the usual sort of water body for this area!
<<panorama 'Porlell Lake' '0417_0046-0048.jpg' 55.0 110.0 180.0 'yes'>>
The water looked quite clear, and the was no salt around the outside indicating it was fresh. Dad was looking along the edge of the lake when he noticed one of those strange crustacean things we'd found on the top of Walga Rock. I took another photo.
[img[Crustacean in Porlell Lake|04170049.jpg]]
While I was doing that, Dad was having a closer look at the birds swimming on the surface of the lake. He was sure some of them were black swans! I wasn't so sure so I went back to the Land Rover to get the binoculars. Sure enough, they turned out to be black swans - three of them. Some large ducks could be seen as well as a good number of smaller black and white looking birds.
We drove on to Polell Station. It was about 5:30 at this time, so we thought we'd drop into the station to make sure it was OK to camp relatively close to the homestead. However, while Dad got out and walked around the homestead calling out, nobody answered.
It was even closer to sunset now, so we only had time to drive a short way before diving down what looked to be a cut line looking for a camping spot.
We found an alright looking spot at the top of the hill and set up camp. The ground looked to be ironstone and very hard. One of the metal tent pegs even got bent out of shape!
While we were releasing the tent ladder from its side brackets, it somehow managed to bang my right index finger quite hard. It hurt quite a bit to start off with, but then subsided to an ache.
We got onto the VKS radio network and checked in. During the "sced" we learnt that Roy, one the VKS members who compiles road reports, had broken down 90km south of Paynes Find with a busted gearbox. That blew out the usual time to after 6:30, when we had scheduled our usual communication with Mum. We switched to our agreed frequency right on 6:30 and spoke with Mum for a little.
Dinner tonight was the same as last night - due to the lateness.
While writing up tonight's diary, I noticed a bright orange light on the horizon. It was the second time I'd noticed a light in that general direction, so I pointed it out to Dad. He got quite excited about that, so I grabbed the binoculars again. They didn't help. Then I got the good idea of getting out the telescope. It still didn't help, although I managed to drop the eyepiece while fooling around with it. The light went out just as Dad found a really good vantage point in the middle of the track. I did manage to line up on Jupiter though. All four of the Gallilean moons were clearly visible. Saturn had already set by this time.
The weather tonight is very mild, still warm at nearly 11:00. There's a few clouds and the moon is bright.
Just as I was finishing up this diary entry, we heard a strange bellow from the bush. It turned out to be a group of goats eating one of the trees down the road!
I should also mention that there have been a lot of midgies around, creating a constant high-pitched whine in our ears. Noticeably different from the odd mosquitos that were flying about.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 5' 'Confluence 27S119E' 'Home' 'Lake Mason' 'Meekatharra' 'Mount Beadell' 'Sandstone'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '18 April 2003' 'Camp 5' 'Camp 6' '158' '~SG50-12 Glengarry, ~SG50-16 Sandstone' 'Confluence 27°S 119°E, Sugarstone, Barrambie'>>
[img[Day 6 Map|day06map1.gif][day06map1.gif]]<<imagebox 512 497>>
[img[Day 6 Map|day06map2.gif][day06map2.gif]]<<imagebox>>
----
[img[Camp|04180001.jpg]]
We were up early this morning. Before breakfast, Dad had investigated the goats we had seen last night. He found the tree they had been eating.
[img[Goat food|04180003.jpg]]
He also found where he thought they had slept. They appeared to have cleared small areas free of rocks so as to make a more comfortable lie-down.
[img[Goat bed?|04180002.jpg]]
We broke camp at about 9:30 and soon reached the main road. We turned north, to see if we could see any explanation of the orange light we had seen during the night. After 10km we gave up and turned around.
Our first goal was to get to the confluence of 27°S 119°°E. We turned off the main ~Meekatharra-Sandstone road and went down the road to Hill View. Nearly 50km down the road we reached Bundle Well. Here we turned south-west, following a fenceline. The fence itself appeared to be electrified, but then we noticed a large number of animal tracks getting under the fence at one point, so it seemed it wasn't turned on.
3.2km down the track we stopped at about 26°59.898'S 119°01.083'E. The fenceline here appeared to turn away from the direction of the confluence. It was still 1.8km to get to the confluence. We had no choice but to get out and start walking.
The walk took us between two largish breakaways. On the way we saw a small group of six goats. The day was hot and there was only an infrequent breeze. We found the confluence in the middle of a dry waterway. I built a small "X marks the spot" out of some quartz rocks that were lying about in the area.
[img[Andrew at Confluence 27°S 119°E|04180010.jpg]]
My [[DCP report|http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-27&lon=119&visit=1]] has more photos.
On the way back we made a small detour to one of the breakaway formations.
[img[Breakaway formation near Confluence 27°S 119°E|04180016.jpg]]
One of the breakaway cliffs had a small cave in it. Inside were some droppings, probably from goats.
[img[Cave in breakaway formation|04180020.jpg]]
On return to the Land Rover, I drank the rest of my water bottle, plus some more. Then I ate an orange. It's thirsty work walking to a confluence on a hot day!
On return to Bundle Well we turned south-east. Our new destination was Outcamp Well, where we intended turning south to get closer to Lake Mason.
When we got there we had to get out to figure out which track was the one we wanted. We easily found a nice track going south-west to Minge Well, but we wanted the one that went due south to Reid Well. A bit of walking about found the right track.
At Reid Well we lost our way a little. We found some fencelines heading east and west, but we wanted to keep going south. A bit of driving around found a track going south through a gate. Just through the gate we stopped for lunch under the shade of a tree. As this was Good Friday, we just had some tins of tuna and some biscuits, followed by some fruit cake.
After lunch we continued south passing Charlie Bore and then through another fenceline. The tracks east and west here looked better than the track we were on! This part of the track was very nice country. The bush was semi-open, and the track was fairly straight and smooth without any washouts.
[img[Track south of Charlie Bore|04180021.jpg]]
At Avanong Well,we got turned around a little and started going down the wrong track. Luckily, with the GPS and moving map software on the laptop, we almost immediately corrected our mistake and backtracked to the well. On the way we found a nice patch of green.
[img[Avanong Well|04180023.jpg][04180023.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
Back at the well we easily found the correct track. Ever since the last fenceline the track hadn't been so good and it was no better here. This track went south-west. A little over 3km down it we got to a fenceline. The track continued past the fence, but it was in such poor condition, with lots of overgrowth, we decided to follow the fenceline south. The track was actually visible, which is something over the track we had intended taking.
We followed the fenceline track south until we reached an intersection with another fence from the east. At the function we found a windmill without its fan wheel at the top. The tail and blades were scattered in the bush. Also at the intersection was a small shed.
[img[Small shed and windmill frame|04180024.jpg]]
Inside were two small dead kangaroos, two dead car batteries and a solar power regulator. These were hooked up to the electric fence that joined up with the fence we were following, but without any solar panels, the fence wasn't very electric.
We continued south through a gate in the fence and reach the corner of the fence.We followed the track around and after nearly 5km found a gate in the fence for a north-south track. This was the track we had been intending to travel on, but stopped at the fence to the north-east.
Through the gate it was only 2km to the ~Meekatharra-Sandstone road. Our next stop was at Sugarstone, 7km to the south-east. Here we saw some old diggings, but nothing of major interest.
11km to the south-east is Barrambie. As we turned up the road to the mine, we met a fellow who was mending the vermin proof fence. He normally lives 150km away near Meekatharra on his own pastoral lease, but as times have been tough he's had to contract out as a fence mender. He spends 9-10 days at a time away from home mending fences.
He also mentioned several items of interest that we wished we'd known about eariler. Near Walga Rock was another large outcropping of granite. Behind those is where an old wagon road to Wiluna had run. Near the outcrop is the remains of an old mud brick inn or wayhouse for the wagons.
Also, just up the road a little from Barrambie, he mentioned that an old pub had once stood near where a grid is today. He said there wasn't even really a ruin left to look at these days.
He also mentioned that the owner of the Coodardy station we passed through the day before yesterday, was owned by the son of the Glen station owner, Maurie.
Barrambie is a much bigger mine than the those at Sugarstone.
[img[Discard rock pile at Barrambie|04180032.jpg]]
It seemed to have been worked quite some time ago in the past. More recently it appeared that the old tailings had been re-processed in some dams. We found an intriguing chimney-type structure.
[img[Chimney at Barrambie|04180026.jpg][04180026.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
We also found several trenches, all lined up, where the seam of gold must have been followed.
[img[Trenches at Barrambie|04180030.jpg]]
A hill nearby was covered with unusual rock sliver-type formations.
[img[Sliver-shaped rock formations|04180034.jpg][04180034.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
[img[Rock formations|04180033.jpg]]
On leaving Barrambie, we travelled a little south, looking for a track heading east. It is a little-used track, but where we stopped to camp for the night, we found evidence for a lot of surveying or drilling activity.
Just before stopping to camp, we saw an unusual sight - a cloud with a sheet of rain on one side and a rainbow on the other.
[img[Rainbow and Rain|04180035.jpg]]
As we made our camp, the clouds seemed to gather around and darken, however, as the night progressed the clouds seemed to clear slightly, or at least look less like rain.
[img[Camp|04180036.jpg]]
Dinner on this Good Friday night was pasta with a tin of crushed tomatoes with onions and garlic. Plus some nice cold cans of beer and Coke.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 6' 'Home' 'Lake Mason' 'Mount Beadell' 'Sandstone'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '19 April 2003' 'Camp 6' 'Camp 7' '50' '~SG50-16 Sandstone' 'Yallahbiddy Well, Lake Mason'>>
[img[Day 7 Map|day07map.gif][day07map.gif]]<<imagebox>>
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[img[Camp|04190001.jpg]]
We broke camp at 9:10 this morning and proceeded down the track. Initially the track was in quite good condition, but with the bush crowding close in. It soon entered an extensively burnt-out area. The burnt trees and bushes, still close to the track, presented a hazard with their hard pointy branches.
At about 10:00 we reached a point where we expected to meet a track coming up from the south, but we saw no sign of it. It was a good thing we weren't looking for it to travel on. Shortly after the track moved out of the burnt-out area and over a very rocky hill. After the hill the track had almost been washed away by water running off the rocky hill and nearby outcrops.
A little later we arrived at Yallahbiddy Well.
[img[Yallahbiddy Well|04190002.jpg]]
The windmill was broken and lying on the ground. The well, a nice looking hand dug well with wooden sides for as far as we could see, was dry. It looked long disused.
[img[Yallahbiddy Well|04190004.jpg]]
Soon after leaving the well, the track condition turned quite poor. We soon determined that it was due to mining surveyors, drillers or prospectors out tearing up the track when it was wet. The track was damaged for several kilometres. In the photo below, Stuart is ''standing'' in a washed-out rut.
[img[Damaged Track - Stuart standing in washed-away rut|04190006.jpg][04190006.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
It was a bit exciting driving through that, unfortunately, the time lapse below doesn't do it justice!
[img[Rugged track|0419_0007-0012.gif]]
We drove right by Seven Mile Well without seeing a thing.
The track we were on soon joined up with a track in better condition - well graded right to the ~Wiluna-Sandstone road. Here we turned south, now on the fast track to Lake Mason.
We arrived there at around 11:30 and received directions to the area those people with generators were to set up camp. By the time we had unpacked the generator, set up the battery charger (which required rearranging the neatly packed insides of the Land Rover), and set up the rest of the camp (tent, table, stove, etc), it was 1:30.
[img[Lake Mason Homestead|0419_0013-0014.jpg][0419_0013-0014.jpg]]<<imagebox 498 192>>
We skipped lunch and walked down to the ~VKS-737 shed and spoke to Stewart, a radio operator. We registered with the radio group, bought a stubbie holder and hat pin, then wandered down to the homestead to look for some work to do.
For the rest of the afternoon, we helped clear out some of the garden rubbish around the homestead. Dad pitched in with his chainsaw (which would have been very handy had it been available at 9:00 this morning). I just lent my two hands to whatever was going, mainly loading stuff onto a trailer, hitching a ride to the nearby rubbish tip, pushing everything we'd collected off, and repeating. Three or four times.
At one stage one of the mechanics got a really old truck going. One of the tyres was flat (from exposure), the windscreen had at least three bullet holes in it, the metal bodywork was all rusty, and it belched a lot of smoke for the brief time it ran. It's now at the rubbish tip.
We finally knocked off at nearly 5:00. We each had a cold beer, then contemplated having a shower before the 7:00 barbecue.
The showers have hot and cold water, but no lighting. They even have a sink with a mirror! There's generally a queue from before 5:00 until after 7:00, but then there are more than 140 people here. The water heater is wood fuelled. It was great to have our first showers for a week.
There are also a pair of flush toilets close to where we camped! We've been told, though, that during busy times, the water flow slows down and there might be trouble flushing.
During the afternoon, we made about five trips to a nearby rainwater tank to top up our water bladder, which had been looking relatively flat. We must have been drinking a lot of water!
About 7:30 we wandered down to the barbecue. On the way we could see lightning to the south-west. The barbecue was put on mostly by CALM, with some help from the 4WD associations and the VKS radio network. It was a bit of a thank-you to all the volunteers who helped clean up the homestead area.
We got there late, and almost all the salads were gone. We got the last tomato, last two potatoes, a scrap of lettuce and a bit of the potato salad. There were plenty of chops, sausages and onions left, though!
After the meal, we had a talk from Michael Clode, the Armadale 4WD Club president and a representative of the WA Association of 4WD Clubs which was one of the organisers of this event. We also heard from Warwick who, along with Bev, were from CALM and as representatives of the new property owners, also helped organise the event. He talked a little about the history of the property. It had been held by one family from around 1911 until 1978, when it was bought by Alan Humphries. In July 2000 CALM bought it from Alan.
For the six months from June to December 2002, CALM rented the property to a group of kangaroo shooters with the expectation they'd look after it. Instead, the grass lawn was allowed to die, along with the citrus trees. The kitchen was a complete mess, and the garden in general had just been left. The bougainvillaea had grown up into the roof.
After the talks, there was a raffle, and a quantity of items were given away. At the end CALM had arranged for a little fireworks display!
We returned to camp, had a cup of tea and a choc chip cookie and discussed the day. The lightning we had seen earlier seemed to have gone.
One thing worth mentioning is the two vehicles I travelled in today. The first had a Compaq laptop hooked up to a Magellan GPS. The laptop was on a metal stand attached to the top of the gearbox housing. The second had a Compaq iPaq with a Garmin GPS. The owner had a laptop used to store the maps before they were transferred to the PDA.
<<tripstatsBtm 'Camp 7' 'Home' 'Lake Mason' 'Mount Beadell' 'Sandstone'>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<storyViewer April2003>>
<<tripstatsTop '20 April 2003' 'Camp 7' 'Camp 8' '119' '~SG50-16 Sandstone' 'Lake Mason, Sandstone, London Bridge, State Battery, Contradiction Well'>>
[img[Day 8 Map|day08map.gif][day08map.gif]]<<imagebox>>
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<<panorama 'Lake Mason Homestead Campsite' '0420_0001-0002.jpg' 55.0 80.0 150.0 'yes'>>
We got up before 7:00 so as to get to the "Sandstone" radio base before they opened for business. Just the usual 7:00 to 7:30 "sced".
After that we returned to camp for breakfast. We each had two hot-cross buns for this Easter Sunday. Then it was a bit of a rushed wash-up before we had to be at a 9:00 meeting on the other side of the camp for the trip to Mount Beadell.
Immediately after the meeting, Dad found Snow, the legendary ~VKS-737 Sandstone base operator, and spoke with him for a bit.
With the meeting over, we wandered about the homestead taking photos. We re-visited the radio base.
[img[VKS-737 Temporary Base|04200003.jpg]]
The nice showers we used last night.
[img[Shower block|04200005.jpg]]
Then the shearers quarters.
[img[Shearer's quarters|04200006.jpg]]
[img[Shearer's quarters|04200007.jpg]]
Next was the shearing shed.
[img[Shearing shed|04200009.jpg]]
[img[Shearing shed|04200010.jpg]]
The floor inside was in poor condition, with floorboards missing or rotted through in places.
[img[Inside the shearing shed|04200008.jpg]]
Warwick turned up to have a look. He hadn't gotten around to visiting the woolshed this weekend and he thought he should at least have a look before he left for the six-hour trip back to Kalgoorlie.
Our next photo stop was the homestead itself.
[img[Lake Mason Homestead|04200011.jpg]]
We bumped into Warwick again, and Bev. They'd been pulled over before leaving to discuss the plumbing problems that had been occurring.
I went inside to take some photos of the kitchen. This had been in pretty poor shape before, but it looks really good now.
[img[Lake Mason Homestead Kitchen|04200014.jpg]]
And the lounge.
[img[Lake Mason Homestead Lounge|04200015.jpg]]
[img[Lake Mason Homestead Lounge|04200016.jpg]]
For the clean-up the entire inside had been pressure cleaned with water. The ladies washed all the curtains and the tasseled light fittings.
Then a few of the outside. This is the bough shed.
[img[Bough shed|04200017.jpg][04200017.jpg]]<<imagebox 512 384>>
This shows the citrus tree with the bore water tank and radio mast in the background.
[img[Citrus tree, bore water tank, radio mast|04200018.jpg]]
Most of the homestead has a verandah all the way around.
[img[Lake Mason Homestead verandah|04200019.jpg]]
Dad spoke with Greg Bremner, the chairman of the Western Australian 4WD Association.
After our tour of the area, we returned to camp and had a bit of a rest until lunch time.
After a nice lunch of pastrami, hard-boiled eggs, tomato and cheese, we started to pack up camp in preparation for leaving to Laverton. However, we just couldn't figure out how we'd packed the back of the Land Rover the first time and we spent ages trying to figure it out again. We didn't get it like before, but close enough.
We left Lake Mason a little before 3:00 after visiting the rubbish tip to drop our garbage bag off.
We arrived at Sandstone around 4:0