The Derby Jetty

No longer in use, it has been retained as a tourist attraction. Here it is shown off by some subtle lighting enhanced by the twilight hour.

Tomorrow we leave the vans in storage and head off with campers to do some proper exploring of the magnificent north west.

Derby Fish & chips

Spent the say preparing for the Gibb River Road. Every serious traveller to the Kimberly aims to travel the Gibb. Some make the journey without difficulty, many more tell horrendous stories of mis adventure, ruined tyres, and broken vehicles. But regardless of it's difficulties it continues it's magnetic attraction for all serious outback travelers.

Preparation is essential and so when I found a cracked fuel tank mounting bracket, (a casualty of the CSR a couple of years back), I went looking for a welder on Saturday morning, the day of the Derby Races not really thinking I would have much success. Wrong again! Without fuss or fanfare this rough looking young fella left the job he was on and climbed under. I don't think he spoke more than six words the whole time, just did the job, then said if I was comin' back this way to drop in and pay because the boss was away and he didn't know how much to charge. I gave him $50 and as I left, thought how much like Cobargo.

The view is from the Fish & Chips cafe as we waited for a delicious Barra Chips and Salad. The meal was good but no better than Bermi Saltwater or Taylors on Wagonga.

Derby Delights

Ten years ago we visited Derby, drove into town, out to the jetty, remembered the mud flats, sandflies, town dogs and a run down struggle town, and drove on out regretting the 40 odd k trip in.

How Derby has changed. The mud flats, mosses and sandflies are still here, but this is lovely little town with the most helpful and friendly people. The town has bee re-vitalized and cleaned up.

We missed the sunset but were still able to get some nice twilight shots.

Port Hedland

We were saddened to have to leave the natural beauty and variety of the Pilbra and arrived in Port Hedland just in time to see this giant ore carrier being escorted to it's berth.
The size of everything from the trains, ships and road trains is humongous!
At any given time there are 20 or more ships at anchor 16k offshore awaiting loading. Loading takes 30 hours and ships sail on high tide with only meters to clear the keel.
It was really something to stand in the street of town and see this huge ship sail past just meters away and then be turned around in little more than it's own length for berthing.

The Pilbra

We were sorry to leave the ever changing beauty of the Pilbra. Mist people appear to prefer the coastal route north of Perth, but for interest and beauty of scenery the inland route offered us an ever changing variety.
Perhaps we are also spoilt by the beauty of the far south coast of NSW with it's unsurpassed coastal and hinterland beauty.

Gorge out of Marble Bar

On the bitumen now between Marble Bar and Port Hedland and we took a detour into this Gorge, who's name escapes me. We had smoko in here.
We will be leaving the real Pilbra soon as we head for the coast.
We are constantly amazed by the size of ore carrying road trains, it is common to see four huge ore trailers in excess of 50m in length and cruising at 90k come up behind. At first this can be quite daunting, but we soon learnt to communicate with the driver as he prepares for the overtaking manourver.

Chinamans Pool

I don't think the pool always has this amount of water in it, but it looked very inviting when we visited.

Marble Bar

The famous Marble Bar. When first discovered, it was thought to be a bar of real marble. That proved not to be the case but I expect the same people never dreamt of the riches that the gold, diamonds, iron ore and other minerals held for the whole of the Pilbara.
The town is more generally known for the dubious distinction of being Australia's hottest town. Incidentally on the way in this afternoon the temp got up to 34 in the truck and the town thermometer showed 27 as we pulled in.

Custom Border Patrol

Not far out of Marble Bar we were pulled over and interrogated by two very efficient Customs Investigators.
They were looking for Australian fauna smugglers and I suspect our past criminal record with the Fruit Fly Gestapo had been relayed through ahead of us. It's a sad fact, but once you get record it takes some living down.
Well after we finally convinced them that we were not Budgie smugglers, and the only birds we had on board were both legally married to us, they quickly changed their tune and appointed us unofficial Flora and Fauna Protection Agents ...I'd like to tell you more but because of the sensitive nature of our work, we must maintain a high degree of secrecy whilst operating under cover as we are.
I can tell you however, that we were issued with very nice little plastic bags of informative pamphlets outlining our area of responsibility and given personally engraved biro pens by courtesy of the Australian Government in appreciation.

Scones for Breakie

Last evenings delicious baked chicken dinner was followed next morning by fresh scones, blackberry jam and cream.
Today it's Mary turn to prepare the baking.

Culinary anticipation

The girls have prepared the chicken and obligatory four vegetables, the fire has been lit and Stan waits with shovel in hand to fine-tune the temperature by skillful application of coals.

Wild Dog Creek

Every now again a bush camp site pops up that will be remembered long after the trip ends.
This was one of those sites. Shirley found it in Camps 6, but it took quite some back-tracking and snooping to find it. Apparently locals have to some length to preserve it's secrecy by removing all signage and indicators. This ofcourse makes it even more special to those who succeed in finding it.
We pulled in around 2pm with heaps of time to set up camp, for Stan to get wood for the camp fire in preparation for a camp oven dinner.

Garden Pool

Just out of Nullagine we discovered this jewel of a pool. The pool just seems to 'appear' out of nowhere and does not appear to be part of a permanent river system.
What an oasis in the hottest part of Oz with summer temps regularly in the 50's.

Pilbara Persuit

I have never considered the Pilbara to be on the "must see" list of places to visit, but within an hour or two on the road between Newman and Marble Bar we were "hooked".
The region itself has fast become the engine room of the nations economy with virtually every mining company of note keen to have a presence in the area.
But it is the scenery that captivates, the colours and the ever changing topography that is unique and Pilbara defined.

Opportunity knocks

Given the wages on offer up here, I thought it a good investment to fit Mary out in some work gear and send her down to the employment office to try for a job. She hasn't returned as yet but will keep you posted

Mt.Whaleback mine

Got into Newman Friday morning and booked in for two days.
This morning Mary and I took a mine tour with BHP. This is Whaleback mine owned and operated by BHP, the largest open cut iron ore mine in the world. It also claims to have the highest ore grade and an expected life of at least 70 years. They have not yet been able to gauge the depth of the ore seam, so large is the deposit.
The open pit is over 5k in length and 2k wide. BHP employ more than 10,000 workers and their wages earned are astronomical! It is common to hear of workers taking home $2,500 per week after tax.

Karinjini Pool

An oasis in the desert, what a place to be when the temp up top gets to 50 plus! Only trouble is it's 100m and more down with sheer cliffs on either side.

Karinjini

The environment is very dry and hot, but in the valleys, we could see pools and in some cases a waterfall cascading into beautiful cool pools surrounded by tropical vegetation.
Karinjini is found in the Pilbara between Tom Price and Newman.
It's difficult for us easterners to comprehend, but the Pilbara area is home to the lifeblood of the Australian economy. This is a vibrant area with never ending mining vehicle traffic of all sizes and description and yet the Hammersly ranges and other ranges look so unspoiled and beautiful that we get the impression we are the people to discover some of them.

Kirijini National Park

The road was very corrugated and rough, but 150k journey was worth every bone jarring rut.
We have seen many famous gorges, Kings Cannon in the NT, Catherine Gorge and the list could go on, but I think WA has the most spectacular, unspoiled gorges of any other state. There were gorges all through Kirijini. A wonderful place for the fit bushwalker, which we were not.

Cararvon's One Mile Jetty

Among some of the longest jetty's in the west, Carnarvons jetty was built to transport live cattle and sheep to Fremantle but was put out of service by the advent of road transport and improved road construction.
The wharf jetty boasted the longest cattle race in to world at the time. It fell into disrepair until local efforts revived it as tourist attraction. We first travelled the rickety old train ride out to the end in 2001 and little has changed. The hand rail on the one side still wobbles precariously and we stepped around friendly workers with chainsaws as they worked replacing the odd sleeper that had rotted away.
Couldn't help thinking how different the attitude in the west is to OHS issues and fear of litigation. It's refreshing to be expected to take responsibility for ones own safety.
We have had a lay day here and restocked with provisions before heading off in the morning for Port Headland. The north coast of WA is remembered for long distances between towns and very isolated rural stations, some hundreds of kilometers west of the highway.

Four bridges on the Murchison

The stillness of the morning is revealed in the four bridges on the river.

River reflection

A beautiful still morning heralded stunning reflections on the still river.
As beautiful as the river looked, we were reminded that it is rare to see water in the Murchison, but the recent floods have provided the river with a welcome flush.

Bush camp on the Murchison

A long drive today from Cervantes, making camp on the bank of the Murchison around five.
Quite a warm night with clear sky and no wind.

Organ with a difference

The monks commissioned the building of a new organ, but at the time there was a shortage of white ivory. And so, the ever resourceful monks of New Nocia suggested this practical solution .....because there are more white notes than black on a traditional keyboard, then why not reverse the order ... Brilliant!

St Adopholos Chapel

Another beautiful chapel. This was attached to the boys college.

St Gertrude Chapel

In all we visited five separate chapels, each in it's own way very beautiful. But my favorite was St Gertrude's. This was built the centre piece of the ladies college.
The iPhone camera has played tricks with colour and lighting, but still makes for a nice shot.
The chapel is renown for the excellent acoustics and many choirs come from Perth to record.

Mass Exodus

Stan, Shirley and Mary pause for a kodak moment on our return from early morning Mass celebrated in the Abbey Church.

St. Gertrude

The first rays of sunshine wake a sleeping St Gertrude to a new day.
We have just returned from celebrating Mass with the monks in the beautiful old Abbey Church.

Statute Blessing

The statue of one of the founding bishops appears to confer a twilight blessing upon Australia's only fully owned monastic town, New Norcia. So named after the birth town of the Italian monk St. Benedict.
The statue was a gift of the Italian government to the Benedictine monks of New Norcia.

New Norcia

What a gem of a place this is, it just exudes such a peaceful ambience despite it being just 130k north of Perth and situated on the Great Northern Highway.
I tried to capture the pink and purple hues of the fading twilight light with limited success.
Everywhere I look I can find beautifully built Spanish architecture still in pristine condition.

Coolgardie

A freezing day in Coolgardie where spent a few hours in the excellent museum situated in the old courthouse.
Unlike Kalgoorlie, this town has seen it's day. It lays claim to the start of the gold rush era, and is remembered in particular for an amazing mine rescue that captured the imagination of the nation. It spanned more than two weeks and involved the saving of one miner trapped underground following torrential rains that flooded the mine.
The rescue involved heroic efforts by three divers, a breakneck record train dash from Perth, and round the clock efforts to pump water out to keep the miner above water level.
As we read the account we came to realize just how great was the effort when compared with Tassie mine rescue and all it's technology

Ceduna Sunset

Sounds like good name for a song. When it comes to artistic beauty, the majesty of creation reigns supreme.

Scones on the Nullabor

Nothing beats the early morn on the road with hot freshly baked camp oven scones laced with blackberry jam and thickened cream.

Keeper of the koals

Whilst it may be true that a watched kettle never boils, it holds equally true that a watched camp oven never burns the roast dinner .... Yum yum!

The Bight

The perpendicular cliffs of the Great Australian Bight never fail to fascinate in their awe inspiring majesty.

The Super Pit

Section of the largest open cut gold mine in the world

Mary meets Paddy Hannon

This statue of Paddy Hannon is a replica of the original which was classified by the NationL Trust and relocated to the miners museum.
I have no doubt Mary was as cold as Paddy on this occasion.
Now old Paddy was an Irishman who has been credited with finding gold in the area from which started the largest and the last gold rush in Australia.
Kalgoorlie soon grew to be one of the largest and richest cities in Australia around the turn of the century.

Kalgoorlie
Well the weather has not improved much, very cold 13-16 I guess with biting wind. Went unto Kal.. This morning and the girls done the shops while Stan and I looked for a good pie shop. Found a beauty!
Kalgoorlie is a city with a population of 30,000. Wonderful old turn of the century architecture. It is a typical workers town with friendly people and few signs of an idle youth culture save the obvious gatherings of groups of aboriginals sitting in what looked like clan or tribal groups around small camp fires on the verge of open grounds.
The city has had it's booms and busts as is the case with most mining towns but seems to be thriving at the moment. To me, two events stand out that gave stability to Kalgoorlie's gold mining, firstly PM Menzies devalued the currency and introduced on bounty on gold production. This stabilized the town and gave the industry certainty. The second was the controversial move by Alan Bond to buy up all the mined out leases on the golden mile amalgamate them into one giant lease! Well Bondy sold the super lease to a public listed mining company and the rest is history. The Super Pit is now the worlds largest open cut gold mine and is in the process of mining all the area between, above and below the original leases,and cashing in on the record world gold prices of recent years.
Bondy was certainly a man of vision!

Boulder WA
Writing this in the cozy comfort of the van. We pulled into Boulder, kind of a suburb of Kalgoorlie, following a great crossing of the Nullabor. The temp. Today climbed to 12o in between showers, a marked contrast to the balmy 19-20 of recent days.

Highlights of the Nullabor? The perpendicular cliffs of the Bight stand out. I am sorry that I have not yet worked out how to upload photos via iPhone, but I expect it will come in time. We had two very memorable bush camps. The first, west of Nullabor roadhouse where we met Alan and Anne from Townsville.They informed us they knew Cobargo well, having visited the 2011 folk festival. The second bush camp was near the end of the crossing and was memorable for a warm still evening and a great camp fire upon which the ladies cooked a sumptuous baked beef dinner in the camp oven followed by a batch of fresh scones in the morning.

We look forward to the weather clearing tomorrow so that we can take in Kalgoorlie before moving on Wednesday.

Ceduna SA

We have been here at Ceduna having pulled in on Tuesday, 31st May. Stan is having a little trouble with his shoulder and is looking forward to a break from the driving. I think it is easy to overlook the importance of breaks on long journeys. I tend to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and tend to keep pushing on. It is easy to overlook the real benefits of travel by doing so.
Last evening I took some pretty good photographs of the sunset over the jetty here at Ceduna and will attempt to retrieve them from my iPhone camera at a future time. Technology has come so far, just a few short years ago one needed to have considerable photographic skills to capture quality photographs but with the advent of the digital camera in all it's forms, it is now possible for novices to take passable shots. Another thing that has progressed a lot is the accessibility of internet connection in caravan parks. Since our trip where I had to attend the office and log into a static desk top computer, I can now purchase access and go back to the caravan in the park and do my computing. I have just completed some Internet banking in preparation of the end of financial year, had a look at our dwindling super fund and logged on to post this blogg.
About the trip so far: we have enjoyed good weather and company. Stan and Shirley are great traveling companions and Mary feels right at ease with no pressure to maintain time tables etc. This in itself is vitally important for a PD sufferer. We have enjoyed a camp fire on the Hay Plains with fellow travelers at a bush camp and met up with the Wilsons from Gloucester NSW near Berri at another bush camp. Lovely people who we ran into again at Mt. Remarkable. Funny how we keep running into the same people as we travel, perhaps two or three days will pass and then out of the blue there they are again.
We are really surprised at the extent of grain production on the Eyre Penninsula SA. Rainfall averages around 10-12 inches and last year they had a bumper season with 13inches. I noticed that SA grain industry is valued at $3.4billion and they are very concerned at the impact of carbon tax on this industry. We have been traveling in grain country for more than two days and am told that it will extend almost to the WA border, another 500k yet.
Just outside of Mildura we got nabbed by the fruit fly police for one tomato carried as contraband. The officer was very nice but gave us a stern warning and advised we will either receive a fine or a warning letter in the mail. We had intended to eat it for lunch but did not realize we were so close to the check point. It wasn't for the lack of warnings of fines to $12,000 for tomatos. But if you think we are in trouble spare a thought for Stan and Shirley, they had TWO tomatoes! I have suggested to ease the pain, that they will probably get twice the fine for two.