From Rowles Lagoon to Menzies

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On the Wednesday night I noticed the lovely cloud formation just prior to the sunset and again on Thursday managed to get a good photo of the sunset itself.

One thing which has me disappointed is that there have been very few birds so far this trip. At Rowles lagoon it is the nesting place for the white spotted black duck one of the most endangered ducks around. Didn't see a one. They must be up north with the grey nomads.

We set off on Friday morning from Rowles intending to only travel about 46 kms and stay in the caravan park at Ora Banda and passed through some lovely bush land on the journey. When we arrived at about 9:30 am we looked at the CP set up, were not impressed. We had hoped to watch the footy at the pub next to a fire but it didn't feel right so we decided to move on.

There was a work site complete with concrete mixer out the front of the Ora Banda pub. Whilst we were there we did not see a single person moving around or any dogs who had some very stringent rules posted outside the pub.

Many people from WA will remember the interesting and high profile history of the Ora Banda hotel from the time when it was under the hand of former CIB chief Don Hancock. He ordered some bikies from the bar one night in October 2000 and later that night the one who had argued with him was shot in the back. Two bombings to the Hancocks house and the old battery happened before the family relocated to Perth closing the hotel. Don Hancock was blown up in Perth in September 2001. The mention of the incident on the information boards in Ora Banda are very low key "dramatic events in 2000 and 2001 (including a murder and several bombing's)".

Next to the hotel is an impressive number of dongas and as we left headed off towards Broad Arrow we discovered why. There is one open cut on the edge or Ora Banda and another 4 between OB and BA. Obviously the workers are based in Ora Banda which would be great for the publican.

As we were preparing to leave I noticed we finally managed to get some good red dust on the back of the van, none inside though Rudi and Delores.

On the way to Broad Arrow we came across road works but there were no issues and the gravel became tar about 10 kms out. Once more nothing moving at Broad Arrow. The tavern was shut up tight, no cars, people or dogs. We also noticed it is up for sale. I remember the last time I was in there the original hessian walls were still in place. The one remaining link to the past other than the tavern is the water tank from the railway line.

We then headed north towards Menzies. This part of the trip covers areas which Alan and Sylvia Graham and we two spent an enormous amount of time exploring. Mines have been closed and others opened. The road has been realigned making it difficult to locate some of our haunts. The Sand Queen mine which was closed just before we left in 2002 has reopened and has the smallest poppet head ever over it. The turn off to the Comet Vale rubbish tip was difficult to find (the realigned road), but we saw the sand hill in the distance. Old bottles abounded in this rubbish tip and I think this was where I found the broken porcelain doll face I still have today.

Our special little place which was a former sand pit which had regenerated with the most beautiful range of grevillea's, eremophlia's and wattles is in use again and our shrubs are long gone. Pity I wanted to pull in and take some photos for you Alan. We used to pull in there behind the shrubs and have our lunch followed by an exploration of the vegetation to see how things were growing and if there were any new species.

We took advantage of one of the road side stops to dispose of the rubbish we had accumulated over the past 5 days. There was a very posh looking Lotus Trooper off road van parked in there. Very impressive especially the height of the clearance but at a starting price of $83,000!

Once we got to Menzies we booked into the caravan park and set up. The park is fantastic. Menzies shire got money from the "Royalties for the Regions", a WA scheme, to redevelop the services. Everything is new. 27 powered sites, each has a concrete pad, water, sullage, all graveled, some planting, no weeds, dump point, camp kitchen with a flat screen TV about the size of ours at home. Excellent toilets and showers and the laundry equipment is brand new and only costs $3. Very impressive.

We decided to stay for 3 nights to be able to catch up on some football. Wish we hadn't we are not doing well with our picks this weekend. We had a very quiet Saturday doing things like washing, napping and reading between footy games.

I also picked up the Golden Quest Discovery Trail Guide Book (with 2 CD's) so we could really get the best from our time here. This has totally convinced us we need to come back and re-explore. When we get home available for anyone who wants to plan to visit the area. It's a boomerang as we will need it when we return.

Sunday morning we decided to walk about the town and inspect the various buildings and information signs. There will be another blog to deal with the two separate sets of displays for the town.

Two things impressed us. The first was the service station. This has now closed as a service point and there are card operated bowsers available 24 hours now instead. The building however is completely covered with number plates and an eclectic range of advertising signs. They are for cars, all sorts of alcohol, motor cycles, oils, Marilyn Monroe is in there. Totally politically incorrect and a couple stood out. Unfortunately the photograph of the Booze one did not come out well. It says "Booze, lowering men's standards since 1865". Collectors of car memorabilia would be truly impressed.

The other thing we thought was top was the reuse of some part of a machine to become an umbrella outside the general store. What a ripper.

When we were at the equipment exhibit there was a Fordson tractor with a grader attachment. This bought back memories of a really good present for Graham. One day out of the blue he said to brother Richard "I have always wanted to drive a grader". Strange bloke really. Well Richard arranged with a friend to give GMan a lesson on driving a grader for his next birthday. The friend forgot but we all turned up at the site and the people working there took it very well and sent one of the grader operators, Graham and a grader off to the far side of the area for a lesson. The rest of us sat in the office drinking tea whilst we watched the lesson. Upon returning to the office GMan told us his teacher told him not to give up his day job. He looked happy though.

On one of the information signs there was a photograph relating to the Menzies-Kalgoorlie Bicycle Race from 1932. When we worked at the University/College one of the groundsmen was Wes Riley. Wes told GMan and I his dad won the inaugural Menzies to Kalgoorlie Bicycle Race. Wes inherited the bike which he took with him to Malaysia when he was in the army just after WWII. Apparently he sold the bike there for a lot of money. Is this a photo of his Dad we wonder. Wes was very proud of him.

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