Monday 23rd

After morning tea at Laverton we headed out about 10ks of bitumen then gravel. For the first section about 20ks the graders were working so the road was really good. The next section about 200ks was good with the odd bad patch.

The country look good with the rain they have had there is new growth on some of the trees and scrub with a lot of grasses giving a green carpet in places.

There are mine sites right in the middle of nowhere. You would just come upon the mulck dumps and then the buildings.
We are still pushing into a cross head wind from right to left never let up all day, at least it cleared the dust of the road pretty quick.
Just after 3pm a tea break was called for and it was decided that with still quite a distance to go to our destination Tjukayirla it would be pretty late. We will camp in this gravel pit for the night.
While this debate was going on a white vehicle came barrowling up the road and pulled up along side us, turned out to be The Kalgoorlie Sheriff heading for Warbuton for court the next day. He gave us another choice of place to camp then went on his way. Off we went to check out the second site coming across and abandon car in the process so of course had to have a look at it.
Tim found a trolley jack which he kept that went into our rig, the camp site was to small so we stuck with the gravel pit.

It was a great days travel and we saw some very interesting and different country.

Tuesday 24th

On to Warbuton
Started with an overcast day the country is getting dryer does`nt look like they have had rain in this section, although there are still some wash outs on the side of the road - the country looks interesting with a combination of Morawa, Gutha, Yalgoo look to it.
The road although gravel is mostly good so far there has been a couple of rough patches, we have been on some worse bitumen roads.
There is no wild life to speak of have seen 2 lots of camels and a few birds- No Road Kill.
We had a surprise about 40ks out of Warbuton where the Heather Highway meets the Great Central Road we came across a beautiful two lane bitumen road which we enjoyed traveling on, it actually ran out before we got to the Warbuton Roadhouse back to gravel again.

Filled up with fuel @ $1.99 Litre  -  Big signs - stating NO PHOTOS ALLOWED!!!!
Everything was locked up tight like Fort Knox.
Very colourful locals and the cars they drive kept us entertained.
About 50ks out from there we found another gravel pit and camped up for the night.
When we unpacked to setup for the night found that quite a bit of dust had leaked in through the corners of the trailer so a big clean up was required then Tim got busy with his drill trying to seal things better, still overcast and we had some spots of rain during the night.
There are heaps of dead cars along the sides of the road

See you next time.

Karalee Rock - Dam

A fantastic peaceful, pleasant spot to camp it now has a flush loo and dump point tucked away from the highway by about 2 - 3ks as the crow flies.

http://www.yilgarn.wa.gov.au/about/karalee-dam/
Saturday after a phone call to the rest of the group it was decided we would meet them in Kalgoorlie on Sunday  at about 11am.
They wanted to check out the Super Pit, we picked Lake Douglas as our spot for the night.
On to Kalgoorlie we went to find Bunnings and Supercheap as Julian had some problems with the camper winch.

Lake Douglas had quite a lot of water in it so we found a spot overlooking the water, there was a bit of wind blowing, which continued overnight and at about 4:30am it began to rain which woke us up. By 6am we were up with a nice cuppa and the ducks for company.
After packing up we headed for town again to the meeting spot at the top of Hannan street.

All arrived at about 10 am and we had a great reunion.
After a cuppa we got on the road with Errol & Wendy leading then us Julian, Tony & Sue, Graham & Dezma bringing up the rear.

THE OUT BACK WAY (Great Central Road)

Malcolm Dam was the choice for the night camp. 
The story of Malcolm Dam is they were digging out a water hole when the ground just collapsed and a team of horses fell through and disappeared. The job of making a dam was abandoned. Some years later when it was found again the water hole had never dried up so they had better finish the dam walls. Now when it is full there is a very impressive body of water.
There is a warning NEVER SWIM IN THE WATER HOLE AS IT IS VERY DEEP AND VERY COLD. There has been 5 drowning through hyperthermia
 
We checked out Leonora then onto Gwalia mine museum & ghost town.
 Gwalia was a gold mining town of a population of 1000,000 people in its hay day.But now only about 50 people. The local shire has saved a lot of the old miners houses and town businesses buildings of yesteryear, so we had a very enjoyable tour of the museum and looking through the old houses in the town.
http://www.gwalia.org.au/
http://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/travel-destinations-outback-australia/Kalgoorlie_and_Goldfields/Northern_Goldfields/Leonora_and_Gwalia

Then onto Laverton where we filled up with fuel and water also checked out the Information centre and filled ourselves up with a cuppa.
The countryside looked green and fresh in places and dry in others. Reminded us of around Morawa - Yalgoo Areas. A very enjoyable day our evening was filled with fun and laughter as we all swapped stories together.
A lovely evening even though it got chillie as it got dark. 
I hope that the websites I have included will tell you some of what we have seen.
Maybe another one to morrow if I can get it done until then take care.

An Outback Way

Monday the 9^th March after helping Allan and Pat with their renovations in Jurien, we returned home to get back to normal.

Our friends Tony and Sue came for a visit the day after our return to tell us they were off to do the Great Central Road (The Outback Way) leaving on 23^rd March did we want to go with them????

Yes Please was our reply!!!

We would make the fourth vehicle travelling with them, another was to added later making it 5 in all.

Now came the fun part sorting out what we needed to take and use on the trip, as the caravan was not suitable – we would need and have to find a camper trailer.

Within 2 days of searching the ideal one in our price range appeared just up the road in Wokalup. 

Fantastic it also had an extra sunroom with walls which would give us more space if needed. Off we went to look at it and it being just what we wanted we took it home with us. 

Ok that’s sorted now came the food, clothes, water, fuel etc, etc.

After lots of talking and research of what was required it was all falling into place.

Tim decided we needed Solar Panel and batteries to give us power and lights in the trailer and outside at night, so he got busy with the welder and tubing, making a frame for the solar panel attached to the front of the trailer. Added LED lights inside the tent.

He replaced the wheel bearings with new ones, made a tube from storm water pipe to give us extra water on the front of the trailer as well, fitting an awning on the Toyota for extra shade.

Now figuring out where and how to pack things was an exercise in patience to get it to fit how we wanted.

The house now looks clean and tidy after everything is packed, now for the Toyota packing.

We decided to leave 2 days earlier on the 18^th march so we have a couple of days to get used to what we need to unpack when we first arrive at a place for the night also packing up in the mornings.

Gorge Rock was our first night, we have been here before so have an idea what the place is like the ground is nice and level with trees as well there is also a rain water tank here.

The wind was blowing quite strong when we Got things setup ok now where is the kettle???? Oh yes under the bed, Porta loo in the back of the trailer, stove in the Toyota finally everything was sorted that we could relax cook tea when we were ready.

Off for a walk to the rock it is a bit more over grown than last time, still has water in the old swimming hole with signs saying “NO SWIMMING”. We enjoyed our walk to the top almost getting blown away by the wind it was so strong.

Our Little Taj Mahal

Tim discovered while getting off the roof rack that one of the support bars had bent and was almost sitting on the roof. So he played around repacking things with the thought that when we went through Merreden we could get something to fix it.

After a wonderful night sleep and being cosy in our tent we packed up and got on our way to Karalee Rock – Dam.

Checking at Bruce Rock for a hardware shop they had none of what we required so we continued on. The country is still looking dry though in some places there is green showing.

 It doesn`t look as big now I`m all grown up

In Merreden we found Medalia Steel got some steel rod that worked in the roof rack. On our way again we arrived at Karalee Rock free camp site at about 2:30pm got setup, had a cuppa.

 Tim decided it was time to put up the sunroom to see how it all went together. A good thing we did as discovered that one wall had been wet at some

time and has some mould on it, also that it is possible to get a floor that Velcro`s in to keeps things clean. We will have to check that out.

Our Little Taj Mahal

Looks a bit wonky. 

Will keep you posted as internet coverage permits somewhere in the great outdoors.

All Finished

A quick update for you, these photos are from Allan and Pat saying that they have finished the new room. 
All the tiling is done painting finished and drapes are hung
Have to admit it looks fabulous now.

 Looking towards the sliding door onto the front verandah

 Both these look at the window

Tim and Kathy are off again shortly on another trip so there will be more blogs as we travel and internet is available.