Janet and Peter On Tour: To the West Coast, then back inland

After our bone jarring journey along Skull Springs Road, we pulled into the little town of Nullagine and two other couples pulled in at the same time. We compared roads, as each of us had come into town from a different direction. After telling of our experience one of the couples decided to take the long way round to Carrawine Gorge via Marble Bar. The other couple had come from Marble Bar and where heading to Newman and on to Meekatharra. They told us of their metal detecting adventures and we ended up going down the road and pulling off into the bushes near a creek with them and they showed us how to use the detector and we found a piece of lead. They also showed us the gold they had found previously and we ended up staying the night with them and planning to meet up again at Mount Magnet. The next morning, we headed off to a caravan park in Newman for one night and then a night at Albert Tongilini free camp where we ran into some people we had met at De Grey River. A local character arrived as we were sitting around chatting and he was thoroughly entertaining. He offered to cook me Kangaroo Tail stew the following night but we were going into the National Park.

Karajini was wonderful, lots of walks and beautiful scenery but not much wildlife.

The walks we did were quite demanding but worth the effort. A week later, a man died, falling when a ledge gave way and in a separate incident a woman was injured during a fall. I can understand how it can happen. After two nights camping in the park we made our way to Tom Price for supplies and free camped a few nights before getting to Hamelin Station which is at the start of The Shark Bay World Heritage Area. The weather had turned chilly by now and we had encountered quite a bit of rain and flooded roads on the way. Thankfully the rain had stopped and the days were back to sunny but the wind had a bite to it. The National Parks were closed due to the washed out roads but we managed to get to Monkey Mia and see the dolphins and there were interesting things to see at Hamelin station. Besides, it was nice to cosy up with a good book! After a few more nights free camping along the west coast to Geraldton, then heading inland, we arrived at Mount Magnet Caravan Park. We hired a minelab 5000 metal detector from the post office (as you do!) and spent two wonderful days prospecting for gold with the couple we had met prior and another couple they had met along the way. One piece of gold was found between the six of us (and it wasn’t us) but we had such a good time. We dug for bullets, bottle tops, lead, tin cans, tacks, nails and an assortment of other things not gold.

After leaving our friends (and the metal detector) in Mount Magnet we went to Sandstone and then headed off road to Lake Mason where there is an abandoned sheep station, complete with homestead, shearing shed and shearers quarters. We had the place to ourselves. Not another soul or even a car went by in two days. We had a campfire going all day and cooked rice pudding, porridge and a lovely big casserole. We went for rides on our bikes looking for the lake but couldn't find it until we got in the car and went cross country for about 8kms. It was bone dry!! On the map it is huge. We looked lustfully at all the ground around us wishing we had the metal detector. We would have detected around the homestead and other buildings for old coins or jewelry. Everything was open and the house was large with pressed metal on the ceilings and walls. The shearers quarters had the old wood stoves in them and there was lots of old bottles and crockery etc. It was great to look around. We are now in Leinster which is a BHP gold and nickel mining town. We had dinner last night at the Village Mess which is an all you can eat buffet with lots of yummy meals and desserts. We certainly had our $20 worth! Today we have been exploring the heritage trails between Leinster and Leonora.