Dallwallinu to Karalee

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We went into the town of Dallwallinu to check out the sights and discovered there were none. The attraction is all about the wildflowers in the area. It is a tidy pretty town with lovely landscaping. Chris was amazed that there are some of the most spectacular native wildflowers in the region and the main plantings down the middle of the street were petunias!

We really liked the tractor on display in the main street park.

There is an excellent craft shop with nothing but quality offerings, we purchased some homemade lemon lime cordial, some 4 fruit and ginger marmalade and another in the series of WA wildflower books. Talking of wildflowers it has taken the combined power of Chris and Alan Graham, multiple books and online databases to finally isolate the name of white line bush. It is Eremophlia cuneifolia and the best images are on florabase. 1 identified about 350 to go.

Dally has a great butcher, we went back for more of the crumbed cutlets to take with us. The IGA is a bit of an anachronism, you cannot select your own vegetables, you have to be served. On our last night in the Dally caravan park (recommended) the couple who parked next to us were loudly discussing how out of touch it was to not be able to make your own selections.

Something we have noticed down in this wildflower area is that the average age of the nomads about was much older than ourselves. We have also noticed just how much they all bicker. We figure we are very well behaved compared to the rest of them.

Parked in the tent area of the CP was a Can Am Spyder roadster (3 wheeled motorcycle) with everything that opens and shuts. This one was especially made for touring with a volkswagon style front boot, panniers, armchair for a seat. Stereo with speakers, GPS and a special pair of pajamas to wear at night. The fellow who was driving it was pulling what appeared to be a specially made, very high class motor cycle sized camper trailer. Very impressive rig. Made the BMW with double enclosed swag look like the poverty pack. He was also displaying a Ulysses sticker, bikers who are growing old disgracefully.

On Wednesday we moved off, we had been stationary so we could get information about a friend who was having an operation in NSW. It is over but he has a big recovery to undergo and it is happening very slowly.

New Norcia was our next destination. This is where Chris was in boarding school for two years at St Gertrude’s College.

NN is the only monastery town in Australia. It was founded by Bishop Salvado in 1849 and at its peak had 80 monks, two orphanages and two boarding schools. Today there are 9 monks and all the institutions have closed. Initially the community was totally self sufficient, today they buy in most of their goods but are still producing grain, baking bread (which is famous) and running sheep for meat and wool. They have also entered the tourist industry big time. The guided tour we did had 34 people in attendance. All the buildings are inspired by the Spanish heritage of the monks who came to establish the mission.

For Chris it was a deeper look at the place where she spent two years. As you can imagine we were not allowed any freedom whilst at school and really did not know what was happening in the rest of the town. The tour lasted 2 hours and we missed the one thing Chris was hanging out for. You can no longer see the library, it houses the largest collection of incunabula in the Southern hemisphere. Incunabula -hand printed manuscripts done prior to the invention of the printing press.

The chapels in the two boarding schools are in excellent condition. We were told that the one in St Gertrudes had not been restored which I am sure is wrong because when Judy and I saw it when we went back for a reunion it was in an appalling state. The one at St Ildephonsus was spectacular; I had forgotten what a work of art it is. When we went into the Abbey church it was an absolute shock. The year after I left they let some artist in and gave him open slather to paint the stations of the cross. To Chris’s eye they were horrible. After the fabulous murals we are used to in this village these stark images almost crude in their execution looked amateurish, confrontational and just wrong so we didn’t take a photo.

After the tour we headed off to the hotel which is also an impressive building built in the Spanish style. GMan tried the Abbey Ale (7%) and Chris was allowed a sip to check it out. It was very nice a lovely hoppy brew. We both dined on the ploughman’s lunch, which while not being the absolute traditional offering was very good and the bread was New Norcia which still tastes as good as remembered.

We headed back to the gift shop to get some bread and Feral Sheryl, I managed to purchase the first part of your Christmas present at the gift shop. Remember this is a catholic town.....

We were heading towards Wogan Hills to overnight there and we saw a sign for Lake Ninan. It is not in Camps 7 but we went in and discovered a very nice lakeside parking area where we overnighted as there were no signs to say we couldn’t. Very peaceful, we will come back again we are sure. A most spectacular sunset.

Next morning we were on the road before 8am and headed off through Wongan Hills, Koorda, Mukinbuden to Baladjie Rock. We stayed here last year and liked it. No amenities but we really are self sufficient these days. Set up the satellite dish so we can spend the next three days watching the final qualifying round of the footy. Flies are very friendly at the present time.

Saturday morning we headed off with the cameras only to discover that what wildflowers were out were very small, obviously there has not been very much rain about here at all. Saying that it has been threatening to rain ever since we have been here but so far just a couple of light showers. After about 40 minutes GMan had had enough and headed back to the van. Chris continued on carrying with her the warning from her beloved “the rock is bigger than you think, it will be along walk”. An hour and a half later she staggered back to the caravan having finally given in and actually found a low piece of the rock and gone over the top and headed back. Well, the exercise was very good. BTW, I didn’t have my stick, I never expected to have to climb over the rock.

Our football team lost the final match of the qualifying round, but still made it into the vital 8 to play off in the finals. Still very happy with the new sat TV setup. We ended up staying three days at Baladjie and others who stayed all made sure they isolated their camps, obviously loners like us.

Monday morning we continued on our journey into Bullfinch then Southern Cross. Bullfinch hasn’t changed but Southern Cross is a far more prosperous township than it was when we travelled backwards and forwards from Kalgoorlie to Perth. We saw only 1 empty shop on the main street, it used to be the chemist who has moved to much bigger accommodations down the street. Everything was neat and tidy and bustling with lots of people including tourists.

We stopped at the cemetery on the way in to town to take a photograph of the plaque on the grave of Dad’s two siblings who died very young. We did not know about Cecil and Mary Ann until we discovered this grave in our genealogy searching.

Whilst in Southern Cross we saw a “pope mobile”. To the uninitiated this is a gofer which has a classy hard top with maximum window space. BIL Jim’s Mum had one hence the name pope mobile. Anyway this one was bright go faster red and the number plate read “Hoary’s Hot Rod”. The little old man driving it was having a great time.

After purchasing some eye drops (and a nice new watch) we left to go to visit Karalee Rock and Dam planning to move on to Boorabbin for the night because they have communications. This is one of the stops on the Golden Pipeline Trail and we were gobsmacked when we arrived in at the camp spot. Camps 7 does not indicate communications, here I have 5 bars. It is spotless, there is a dump point, loo, fire pits, seating and enough room for about 15 vans easily. All nestled in amongst gum trees next to the dam.

We have been and walked around the dam and taken photos. This was of course another of the dams for the trains all those years ago. It has the most wonderful iron conduit from the rock to the dam and the actual dam seems to be lined with rock itself.

Kalgoorlie people will remember that there also used to be a hotel here at one time. Haven’t found the remains of it yet. Chris can remember driving to Perth with her Dad once and it was a very hot day, so he came into the hotel to have a lemon squash. Dad only drank the occasional ginger ale shandy, GMAN always told him he was drinking him out of house and home. Eventually the hotel closed down, but that was in the days when it was very hard to get a licence for new premises. Someone seeking a licence in Como purchased the licence and built the Karalee Tavern which is still operating.

After lunch we wandered along the walking trail to the rock itself. Along the trail we came across a well which had been used to water livestock and supply bulk water for the goldfields round about. 4/6d for 100 gallons, darned expensive even by today’s standards. When you looked into the well itself there was a large reservoir underneath whether it was natural or manmade we do not know.

Channels have been dug out around the base of the rock which lead to the aqueduct and rock walls constructed on the rock itself to channel water to the aqueduct. When we got to the entrance of the aqueduct we were amazed at the engineering of the system with the ground water and rock water input and sluices to control the amount entering the dam. It is the most sophisticated of these water collection systems we have seen around the area.

We have received news our friend in hospital is okay but not doing as well as everyone would like, so lots of positive thoughts for Dave please.

This is a nice place we think we will linger here a while as we have a few days up our sleeve.

Kisses for Fray please Andrew.

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Comments

[Silver Kestrel2]

Sunrise
The photo of Sunrise in Dallwallinu is spectacular. All the photos are outstanding but the Sunrise is my favourite this blog. You make the West Australian Outback look & sound very inviting. Well done.

[Bolarks]

sunrise
I like the mist hovering just above the ground