Heading North

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We arrived back in Perth on Saturday 30th April at 12.30 p.m. picked up the car and headed east back to York where we had left the van. We hadn’t had the chance to have a look at York and it is a gorgeous place that is obviously a weekend getaway from Perth. The main street is full of historical old buildings now housing shops and restaurants not unlike Berry on the Sth Coast of NSW. It has a beautiful old Catholic Church and schoolhouse and old convent buildings. The convent is now an upmarket restaurant called the “Ragged Robin” and the local bakery was the "Tatty Parrot". We could have spent a lot more time there and of course it’s another place we thought we could easily live. Decided to have a really easy first day on the road and started with Mass at York followed by morning tea at the historic old pub. Whilst eating our scones and jam and cream received news of the unexpected death of my namesake Aunty Joan Morgan. She was married to my Dad’s brother Clem who died many years ago leaving A Joan to raise 7 kids. Cousin Peter was at my Mum’s funeral on the Thursday and lost his Mum on the Saturday night. Very sad - I was sorry I couldn’t be there for her funeral but we were well represented by Rob and Pete and Kay. After that we got out of York fast - having received news of two deaths whilst there and didn’t want to push our luck any further.

Drove straight through to Merredin about 260k east of Perth. What a surprising place. It is in the area known as the wheatbelt - vast farmland holdings and quite beautiful. As we arrived at the caravan park were told about a tour of the town that leaves every afternoon at 4.30 and takes about and hour and a half to show you around town for $15 each. What is there to see you would initially ask, well a hell of a lot. The tour is a great idea because we were expecting to stay overnight but ended up staying another day because there was so much to see. Briefly they are doing an enormous amount to save, recycle and desalinate water. All stormwater is caught and used on the town’s parks and gardens. They are monitoring and trying to lower the water table by planting trees to find which ones use the most water and thereby lowering the water table and reducing salinity. That is only one minor way - there was so much interesting info you couldn’t take it all in. There are huge granite outcrops all through the area and one very large rock, called Merredin Peak on the edge of town is used as a water catchment much as you would use the roof of your house in Sydney. Many years ago they built a rock retaining wall at the base of the rock extremity that acts as a barrier to direct the water into the railway dam. This was originally the railhead for the grain to be taken away after harvest so this dam and system of water is not new but still in use and invaluable today. The other standout fact about Merredin is that it is the base for South China Airways training school for pilots. They had an airport that wasn’t earning much money so sold it to Sth China Air (SCA) for $1.00. Conditions included that it be retained as a free airport for public use. SCA have built lovely homes (using local builders) in the town for the students who shop in town and cook their own meals and are part of the community for the 6 months(?) they are in town. SCA pays $18,000.00 per year in rates for the airport alone without all the side benefits such a large organisation brings to the area. Historically the Army hospital site near the railway dam fascinated us. A field hospital was brought here from Tobruk in 1942 and only stayed 8 months or so before being moved on to New Guinea. It was based in Merredin because it was far enough away from the coast to prevent enemy planes from an aircraft carrier reaching there. The concrete foundations are all still there to be seen and information posted all around the area. All of this doesn’t even scratch the surface of this town none of which we would have known about if it weren’t for the tour on our arrival. The bus even goes inside a grain handling facility, which you can see on the website
[e-mail]
The fellow who runs the tours is a real goer. He works as a clerk of the courts, is a local councillor and runs these tours to promote the area. He has won a Rural West Australian of the Year award and is passionate about his hometown. As I said at the start who would have thought there was anything to see?????

Continued our journey east passing through Burracoppin where the rabbit proof fence started, then stopping at Southern Cross for coffee and Coolgardie for lunch before reaching Kalgoorlie. Raised a laugh from the locals when we asked for a caravan park with grass! Found a good one anyway and settled in for the next 5 nights. So much to see and do. The town has a population of around 30,000 and has the biggest open cut mining operation in the world (or Australia depending which publication you read). The Super Pit is 5 km long and 1/2 km wide. Alan Bond bought up all the small leases in the 80’s to start this huge mine and it now costs $A450 an ounce to mine the gold and as you know it is currently selling for about $A800 an ounce. Not bad huh? They are due to finish mining the open cut in 2018 when the rising water table will fill the pit and I guess Kalgoorlie will become famous for its inland sea!!! The figures are enormous e.g. how many tonnes of earth per ounce of gold etc., you can’t possibly take it all in suffice to know it is overwhelming. There are always plenty of jobs available here and the mines work 24 hours per day 7 days a week. (I hate the expression 24/7 - it is so American.) We had beers in a number of pubs over the 5 days and all (the pubs) were great. There has been a real effort made to retain the old buildings and as you can imagine in the goldfields there was so much money that the buildings both public & private were statements of the prosperity of the times. Hopefully will get the photos back on track to put some in. There are currently three brothels operating in Kalgoorlie, two of which do tours! We chose the one that still operates out of the original building with the starting stalls on Hay Street. Interestingly the large Catholic Church is also up the other end of the street where it (the street) has a different name for some reason! Anyway, we were the only ones on the tour that day and the madam said “Oh good, a quick tour then!” She then rabbitted on for two hours whilst lounging on various beds while we smiled politely. I had a headache at the end which was not what you might have hoped for after spending the afternoon in such surroundings!! Suffice to say the brothel was seedy and sad and you can’t help but feel sorry for anyone who chooses to make their living that way. The other brothel tour was at Langtrees, a much more modern place that we heard was more up market and offered tea and scones with the tour. Each to his own I guess.

Did a tour of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Did you know that if the RFDS picks you up in their plane after an accident and flies you back to Perth or wherever for treatment, there is NO charge at all. They don’t even take your Medicare number! Of course they don’t then fly you back to your starting point, you have to get back yourself. Still it is a wonderful service that is indispensable over huge parts of Australia. The service is funded mainly as a charity with help from the government to purchase planes so if you ever see a collection point, give generously; hopefully you won’t ever need them!

We spent our last day in Kalgoorlie at the Mining Hall of Fame, which was hosting a big competition between mine rescue teams. Very topical as the Beaconsfield rescues was still happening at the time. Did a tour 30 metres down a mineshaft, which was fascinating. They showed us the different ways of mining over the years and let me tell you the noise of the current mining was unbearable. It was all very well lit but under normal circumstances the only lighting is from the miners lamps. Gives you a great appreciation of the life of a miner and it is certainly not for me.

Left Kalgoorlie on Monday 7th May and headed north to Leinster overnight and then west to Mt Magnet Tues night and back on the coast at Geraldton Wednesday. So much mining countryside both old and new mines. Menzies e.g. is a town of 500 people but once had a population of 10,000 in 1900 and the cemetery had some very sad stories to tell. Leinster is now a BHP Billiton mining town. Lots of single workers, men and women, as well as families, lots of great facilities for the workers and always lots of work available. They work a 14 day on 14 day off system, flying home for the days off. My darling husband took me out to dinner here at the dry mess. $11.00 per head all you can eat and it was better food than we had at the Exchange Hotel in Kalgoorlie the night before. He said it was an early Mother’s Day present. What a treasure! Stopped in Yalgoo the next day for morning tea and found this great bush race track. They have used the old railway station building as the grandstand/members enclosure and only use it once a year. It's in great nick as you will see in the photos and apparently they are hoping to use the building as a travel stop for tea, coffee etc in the future. Another little gem!

Spent the next four days in Geraldton at Sunset Beach CP. Sunsets were superb. Geraldton has a lot of history in the fishing industry and is the home of the fisherman’s co-op that catches rock lobster from the Abrolhos Islands for export and also Australian markets. They are able to store 90 tonnes of live lobster at any one time. The ones destined for China or Korea etc. are put to sleep and then flown to their destination within 30 hours of leaving Geraldton arriving fresh as a daisy and being sold for about $A250-00 per kilo. Not a bad little earner really. As in Port Lincoln, the industry is regulated to ensure ongoing sustainability but when you see the number of lobsters in the tanks it is impossible to understand how many lobsters there must be out there!!! Bought one for $20-00 only to find later that the IGA had the same size for $10-00. Never mind, we had a lovely lobster mornay for tea. Life’s a bitch isn’t it?
There is a lovely memorial to the HMAS Sydney in Geraldton. The Sydney left from Geraldton on her fateful last voyage and they feel a real affinity with the families of those lost. The memorial is just beautiful and very moving. The main part is a dome made up of 645 stainless steel birds all joined together that represent the sailors lost. Also a lovely sculpture of a woman looking out to sea in the direction of the battle representing all the wives, families etc still waiting for their loved ones return. Hope the photos come out.
Met some great people here in the caravan park. One couple Elaine and Keith, had spent their lives on a property at Mullewa 100 kms east of Geraldton. They and their son had sold the property to a neighbour after many years of fighting the inevitable. You have to be very, very big to make money these days it just isn’t financially viable on a small scale. The cost of machinery alone is mind boggling so Elaine and Keith have retired to Sunset Beach CP and turned their holiday cabin into a charming retirement home on the water. They are still struggling to come to terms with having an easy life but we encouraged them to get over it and enjoy. Also met a couple from Coffs Harbour, Bruno and Irene. Turns out they know Col’s brother Steve and would you believe it Irene is a quilter. You meet such nice people on the road.

Next stop is Kalbarri at the mouth of the Murchison River. Lovely place and we are all set up ready for a great night watching the Hammers win the FA Cup. Unfortunately Kalbarri is the first place we couldn’t get SBS reception so John had to go out to the local pub at 9-30 to see the match and the rest is very sad history I’m afraid. My brother Rob is also a WestHam United supporter so we will say no more on the subject as the pain is still unbearable!!!

Highlight of the stay in Kalbarri was a visit to the Principality of Hutt River where we met Prince Leonard and his wife Princess Shirley. For those of you who don’t know, Prince Leonard seceded from Australia in April 1970. The story is too long to go into suffice to say I think the prince is a nutter but probably also a genius. The property has it’s own government building, post office and church and is a working property but very rundown now. The prince and princess are now 80 odd and just charming. They have their own Hutt River passports and I would kill to see the immigration officers faces at Sydney Airport when they present them on departing Australia. If you have your passport with you he will stamp them for you with a visa and believe me it is all kosher as they say. We chatted to a couple of backpackers, one Irish, one English and the English 25 year old couldn’t believe his ears or eyes. He commented that ‘this is just bizarre’ and ‘what on earth is going on here?’ and I guess that is a good summation. Another wonderfully eccentric Australian, sorry, Hutt Riverman. Look them up on Google to get the whole story.

Met up with Irene and Bruno again here as well as a couple with 2 sons that we came across in Nannup back in March. We all went out to Finlay’s fish BBQ for tea Sunday night. Big rough and ready open air BYO restaurant serving huge meals. John and Bruno played golf on the local 9 hole course Monday and seemed happy as 2 little pigs in ---- when they got home. We are all heading north so will probably meet up again along the road. I am writing this in the car as we drive on Highway 1 heading to Denham, Tuesday May 16. Will be visiting Monkey Mia from there and of course getting close to the spectacular Kimberleys. Have finally caught up on this blog so look forward to hearing from lots of you.

Just thought I should mention that we are often out of our internet range these days or it is so slow that I don’t have the patience to persevere. So we do eventually get all emails but hopefully you will be happy with reading the blog as a reply most of the time. Just arriving in Denham so will finish here. Hopefully I will be a little more regular in the future and keep these entries a little shorter.
Love to all.

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Photos

Merredin
Miniature Wave Rock just outside Merredin.

Super Pit
There is no way you can get the size of this place

Down the mine
The guide put this equipment into action and the noise was unbelievable!

Exchange Hotel
Just one of the pubs in Kalgoorlie.

Palace Hotel
Just another one of the pubs in Kalgoorlie.

Inside the Palace
Couldn't resist the photo on the stairs.

Casa Questa Brothel
The starting stalls - the girls stand at these doors and solicit, told you it was tacky!

Yalgoo Racecourse
On the way to Geraldton was this bush racecourse.

Yalgoo Member's
The old railway station is the grandstand and 'members' enclosure.

The Camel Lady
As we left Yalgoo we came across these 2 women and their camels. This is apparently how they live.

Geraldton
HMAS Sydney Memorial. The dome is made up of 645 stainless steel birds to represent each soul lost. The statue is the waiting woman.

Geraldton
More of the HMAS Sydney Memorial.

Comments

[Michael Stubbs]

Talking Under Water
Jo, I think you remembered to mention everything else, except that Dad finished 3rd out of 43 in the Super14 Rugby Tipping. Not a bad effort considering he has been out of contact with the real world. I love reading about all your stories. But after that mammoth effort, I think you'd better have a bex and a lie down. Take Care. Michael

[Jan and Gene]

Texas
You meet the nicest quilters on trips. If an emergency helicopter picks you up in Texas, it's $5,000 per county and there are 278 counties in Tx. Our son in law was flown 2 counties to Ft. Worth. Love the stories, wish we were there. It's 100 degrees now, just starting summer, tornado season up here, and hurricane season down south. Love u, Jan and Gene

[Anne Gibson]

Hair!
It doesn't look as tho you are using product yet!!? Refer Geralton image xx

[Jan and Gene]

Need another entry
Where are you now? Sat. May 27th, Memorial Day here, cant go anywhere, Gene feels bad and gas is so high, well, we'd go anyway if he didnt feel bad, has next chemo Wed. Still hot, but you are getting cold. Aussie won Golf tourney last week in Texas. Have fun, Jan and Gene