The Golden Outback

We left Niagara dam a little later than usual (it was about time for a sleep in!) to head to Kookynie – a living ghost town. Kookynie was once a thriving gold mining town, however after several mines shutdown and people realised they could live closer to civilisation Kookynie was abandoned. Well almost - there are still 7 residents remaining who are riddled with gold fever. We drove around the ruins of the town and learnt about the history of the area. 

A magical thong tree we spotted!

We then headed to Lake Ballard – the world’s largest outdoor gallery, “ Inside Australia”. There are 51 sculptures of  local residents of Menzies displayed at random on the very large (and usually dry) salt lake. The artist (Antony Gormley) definitely took some liberations in his designs, however they were pretty nifty to explore. We did have one slight set back in exploring the “gallery” in that it had been pouring down with rain that morning so the dry lake was now wet and there was a wind blowing that would have put Dorothy somewhere very far from Kansas if you catch my drift. We could hardly make it 5 feet onto the lake before the wind would blow us back. Michael braved the weather to lay hands on the first couple of sculptures, however this involved slipping and sliding everywhere as the clay beneath the small layer of water did not provide an easy walking track. I’m sure that on a bright and sunny day this area would be majestic and inspiring, however mother nature had other plans for us so we found it wet and weird and headed onwards!

Eventually we were in Kalgoorlie – actual civilisation! We had reception, access to a coles/woollies and could buy fuel and grog freely.  As we pulled in pretty late we picked up some supplies and headed to our campsite only 15 minutes from town – Lake Douglas. Some nice fellow had laid a very flat and large bit of concrete underneath some shady trees, so we took advantage and pulled up there as the weather seemed to be heading south and we didn’t want to be bogged by mud. Soon after setting up the rain was pounding down and we were stuck inside for the evening.

The Superpit. note the mega trucks looking like ants.

 The next morning wasn’t much better with drizzles of rain and some fierce winds.  We rugged up and headed into town.  We explored the local shops then headed to the city’s main attraction – The Super Pit! A ridiculously large gold mine!  Later that day we heard that the S**t Box rally was about to hit the town. Michael was excited to perve on the cars, so we put on our best detective hats and followed random cars from the rally around town to find out where they were staying and what conditions the cars were in.  Although it sounds a tad creepy, this was actually a lot of fun. Also looked like we just missed some rain on the Great Central Road because most of these cars were covered in a thick red mud, would hate to see the car decorated in crochet...

That afternoon we returned to the lake and went on a whopping big walk, eventually the track ended and somehow I was goaded into walking through thickets of bushes and through very sticky mud. Eventually we made our way around the lake, with the view you can see below it was well worth the effort!

 The next day we headed south through Norseman and camped by Dundas Rocks. Of course we had to explore the rocks before we could make camp. We jumped from boulder to boulder to view the surrounding valleys. Michael was intent on seeing how far my legs would stretch jumping over some rather wide gaps! We also explored an old dam that was full of tadpoles. Seriously hundreds of tadpoles. We fed them some bread and felt like we were three again. Eventually we had the fire roaring and settled down for the evening.

The next morning we let the tyres down and headed east to Mount Ridley where there is a “little wave rock”. We couldn’t make it to the actual Wave Rock so we thought this was a good idea. The track was long full of puddles and slippery mud, but eventually we got there. The rock was pretty cool. We “surfed” for a while then somehow got in our heads to climb to the summit of the mountain?!? The journey proved to be exhausting but well worth it, the views were amazing, except for the clouds rolling in. We slowly climbed down, got back to the Hulkie and headed south, it was time to finally see the ocean again!

We pulled into Esperance mid afternoon, stocked up and then settled down in Esperance Seafront Caravan Park for the next two nights. We needed to buckle down as Michael has one last university report to complete before he can graduate. The weather was fairly average for these days, however we still managed to go to the markets, explore the beach and get some of Michael’s report done.

Lucky Bay.

Several people had recommended Cape Le Grand National Park, and although it was east and we wanted to head west, we decided we had to call in before we headed off. The ocean down here is spectacular, the colours range from clean blue to serene aqua, just a glimpse with have you awestruck. Lucky Bay is by far one of the loveliest beaches that we’ve happened upon and has some of the whitest sand in the Australia.   We  were even able to get to see it up close and personal – on our very first beach drive. Yup thats right, we braved the beach, put down our tyres and hoped to heck that we wouldn’t get bogged from having so much on board. Turns out Hulkie loves the beach and so do we! If you thought running after seagulls was fun try chasing them in a car!!! We decided to stay at the campground in the bay that night  because we just weren’t ready to say goodbye. Oh I should mention that we finally found skippies again and this time there were some on the beach!   

We left Cape Le Grande in the most fitting way – along the beach. We let our tyres down some more, did a double check over the car and were about to go down onto the beach when a two wheel drive van pulled in from the direction we were heading. Did we think we were now over preparing? Yes. Did we care? Nope, because who knows what’ll happen when you’re McBon.

Turns out everything went smoothly, the Hulk went for a small paddle but came out ok! Eventually we were back on the real road – boring – then back in Esperance, then heading further west. We ended up staying at Quagi Beach that night, a nice little campsite by the ocean however still surrounded by giant gums and all sorts of weird and wonderful birds. Quagi also gave us the opportunity to get the hammock out, sit back and relax.

The next day we followed the coast line.  We went to Starvation Bay and various other bays and picnic areas along the way. We traversed through Hopetoun and had planned to stay at Fitzgerald National Park, however rain and roadwork meant that this was no longer an option. Our fifteen minute drive to our would-be-campsite turned into a two hour trek that saw us land at a rest area just outside of Jerramungup. Slight side note- Western Australia have some seriously interesting names for their suburbs/townships, I have had immense fun trying to pronounce their names – Yundagga, Munglinup, Gnowangerup, need I say more?!

Waychinicup National Park.

We rose early the next morning and headed off. I had picked up a brochure for a nearby National Park and on a whim we decided to visit Waychinicup National Park. Most probably just so we could say we’d been to Waychinicup (awesome name).We’re both so glad we did this as this park was spectacular. We drove to one of the only inlets in the South West where a fresh water river is permanently open to the Southern Ocean. The result was stunning scenery, masses of trees, abundant wildlife, stunning water sections and some rather kooky looking rocks. We adventured up the fresh water river following an old track. We spotted some giant (40cm + sized) fish in the river, lizards, annoying biting ants and birds a plenty. We also did some ad hock rock climbing, totally worth it. Eventually we returned (back the same crazy way we had gone) and headed to the mouth of the river, where it met the ocean. We were blown away by the beauty of the place and despite the very cold (I mean seriously cold) temperature decided to go for a quick dip, because quite frankly it was too pretty not to.

Fish the size of a hat - Amazing!

Upstream Waychinicup Inlet.

We then headed to Normans Beach, East Bay and Betty’s Beach, where we pulled up for the night. Turns out Betty’s Beach is a small fishing lease for the salmon season and luckily the season had just ended so we were able to stay the night. Around the bay were various huts erected by fisher folk that were basic but would keep a man with a swag dry and warm. Some are even heritage listed as they were built by returned service men from World War II. All I can say about our campsite was that it had a room with a view and a very curious neighbour... who regaled us with tales about giving her 98 year old mother hash brownies and cookies without her knowledge so they’d both have a good day. Apparently the mother has never complained.

Lesson of the week: @parents - be good to your kids and potentially hire a taster in later life, because you never know what your kids will be feeding you.