“K K K”
No: 11
WA’s South-West Corner
and the Nullarbor
A fine sunny morning at Baldivis on 11 August, day128, marks
the end of our wonderful 11day visit to the ‘greater Perth region’ as we take
the divided freeway southwards heading for the Margaret River
area.
We soon enter the Peel
Region and pass through emerald-green open pastures attractively shaded with
large trees, under which graze both beef cattle and merino sheep. Angus and
other British beef breeds dominate, no Brahmans here.
It has recently occurred to
me, following weeks of fleeting casual observations, the reason, perhaps, why
Western Australians are affectionately nick-named “Sand Gropers” – virtually
everywhere we’ve been here the soil is so very sandy, far more so than the heavier
loams of the eastern states; yet it grows big trees, excellent crops, pastures
and gardens which in ignorance, I find quite interesting.
Bypassing Bunbury and Busselton we arrive at Margaret
River with its tree-lined main street and touristy village atmosphere, as
you’d expect, being the centre of WA’s famous
wine-growing region. Since we’re coming here again on our return trip in 6
weeks’ time, we press on under dark skies to make camp asap before it rains.
 |
| Pruned Vines - Margaret River |
But equally interesting is
the village of Cowaramup
(ko-warra-mup) a little further south, affectionately known as “Cow Town”, a
once major dairying centre since starting as 160 acre “settlers’ selections” in1920,
supplying much of WA’s milk; however, during recent decades many of the dairy
farms have now become vineyards. Fibreglass cows now dot the village in keeping
with the “Cow Town” theme.
 |
| One of many fibreglass Cowaramup Cows |
Just past Cowaramup we drove
25km inland to Rapids Conservation Park
where we made camp beside lovely Cane
Brake Pool, clear freshwater approx 300mtrs long on the upper Margaret River, a splendid campsite with the unusual
blessing of mountains of firewood provided, albeit green, sawmill offcuts.
 |
| Canebrake Pool - Margaret River |
 |
| Canebrake Pool Woodpile |
We had it all to ourselves
other than for some day visitors, environmental scientists doing research into
the endangered Hairy Marron, a native freshwater crayfish being attacked by
another introduced species. They encouraged my inquisitiveness, making me an
‘authority’ on these matters and I can now identify the gender of crayfish. Smart,
eh?
After two pleasant days
there, notwithstanding a few rain showers, we moved on through Witchcliffe to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park where
we stopped overnight in the Conto
campground, which was equally appealing to both us and our fearless wallaby visitors.
 |
| Conto Wallaby |
The following morning we
drove the short distance to Augusta,
to visit school-days friend Gil Goodwin, who welcomed us into his hillside home
with its great views over the Blackwood River, beside which Augusta was settled
in 1830, being WA’s third oldest European town (after Albany and the Swan River
Settlement) and today is a lovely small town loaded with history and charm.
We enjoyed this SW Cape area immensely with the three major highlights being:
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, mainland Australia’s tallest, built in 1895,
of which we took a guided tour and a memorable climb to the top of the 250
steps to the light platform with its superb views over the rugged coastline and
meeting point of the Southern and Indian Oceans. The light’s flash is visible
from over 47km away.
 |
| We've come "up" in the World |
Augusta Museum offers a wonderful insight into local history and, it’s said, many
visitors rate it the best small Museum they’ve seen, with which we totally
concur, being packed with some significant displays and pieces covering Matthew
Flinders circumnavigation, early coastal Shipwrecks, Whaling, the Timber
industry and early pioneers to name a few. Much local pride attaches to the
fact that Matthew Flinders 1802 circumnavigation of Australia
commenced and finished at Augusta.
Jewel Cave was the best by far. This SW corner comprises vast areas of limestone
and subsequently many underground caves. Jewel Cave
is a stunning crystal wonderland of timeless beauty and is home to one of the
longest straw stalactites found in any tourist cave in the world. Its glistening
array of formations left Audrey and me in awe!
 |
| Jewel Cave Stalactites |
The flora of WA’s south-west
is famed for its diversity and one of this region’s major assets is its unique
and unusual wildflowers. As spring
approaches additional wildflowers will come into full bloom with all their
shapes and colours.
However, the trees of the south-west are the regions
well-known plants, dominated by the beauty and grandeur of the tall Karri, Marri, Jarrah and Tingle hardwood
forests. The handsome multi-coloured Karri is WA’s tallest tree and one of the
tallest in the world, growing up to 90 metres high.
 |
| Hardwood Forest |
We left pretty Augusta on 17 August and drove the
320km directly back to Perth from where Audrey flew that night to Sydney on an
unexpected family matter, so Bruce and the KK checked into the Discovery
Caravan Park at Forrestfield near Perth Airport for a couple of totally
miserable days of strong windy rain.
Day 137, August 20 we depart
Perth via Roe Highway up through the Perth
Hills and nearby Mundaring Weir, the beginning of the 528km (300 miles) Golden Pipeline, completed in 1903, that delivered 5 million gallons of
water daily to the thriving, thirsty gold mining towns of Coolgardie and
Kalgoorlie. The pipeline follows the highway for most of its length.
 |
| The Golden Pipeline |
Nearby John Forrest
Nat Park
was very hilly and densely timbered but soon the countryside opened in to grassy
grazing lands upon which both cattle and sheep grazed. Continued on to the
lovely town of York, settled in 1831, with its many old
stone 2 &3 story commercial buildings and verandahed hotels.
 |
| York Town Hall |
By now Perth’s rainy weather
had gone and we continued on via a lovely country road through fields of wheat
and canola, intermingled with shaded park-like open forest grasslands, passing
the hamlets of Greenhills and Dangan, on through the village of Quairading and past Shackleton, home of Australia's smallest bank, and in to the regional town
of Bruce Rock, all part of the WA
wheatbelt.
 |
| Bankwest Shackleton opens 2 hours every Friday |
WA’s famous wildflowers were
all about and a small campground at Kwolyin,
a newly constructed Shire Council free campground, was a perfect example of
that.
 |
| Wildflowers at Kwolyin Reserve |
We had it all to ourselves
overnight but next morning finds us back on the road, passing through Bruce
Rock and on up to rejoin the Great Eastern Highway at the major centre of Merredin. Fortuitously found a garage
where we had the Land Cruiser serviced, and plenty of red dust came out of the
air filter! Camped that night in a noisy roadside rest area at Burracoppin -
you can’t win ‘em all.
By the time we reached the
town of Southern Cross we were now out of the southern
farmlands grain belt, and by Yellowdine Roadhouse, low scrubby heath was
prevalent.
Another two hours’ drive
found us in Coolgardie, the 1892
birthplace of WA’s famous gold mining boom when Arthur Bayley and William Ford
collected 554 oz (16.8kg) of alluvial gold using nothing more than a tomahawk. Coolgardie
saw the biggest movement of people in Australian history when gold was found -
the rush was on!!
 |
| Coolgardie Old Grandeur |
We stopped for lunch in this
town of barely 700 pop, a far cry from its mighty heydays as reflected in some magnificent
old buildings that remain from its rich past.
A further 40km that
afternoon and we’re in Kalgoorlie-Boulder,
where in 1893, three down-on-their-luck Irishmen stumbled across 100 oz of
alluvial nuggets when forced to stop to replace a shoe on their horse. Paddy
Hannan is credited as being the discoverer, with the main street named for him.
The twin town
Kalgoorlie-Boulder is still one of the world’s biggest gold mining cities (pop
33,000), and both have beautiful examples of Goldrush architecture.
The gold mine’s open-cut “Super Pit” is a man made wonder that
can be seen from space; a massive gouge carving into the red earth where trucks
the size of houses move hundreds of tonnes of rock in the hope of extracting a
few ounces of gold at a time.
 |
| Kalgoorlie Super Pit |
Next stop was Norseman, a historical gold mining
town, starting point of the Eyre
Highway and gateway to the Nullarbor. A tired
looking old gold mining town which has yielded over 5 million ounces making it
the second richest goldfield in WA. We stopped that night
By late afternoon we reached
Palms Lakes rest area just past Fraser
Range Station where we camped 200mtrs back from the highway amid the trees and
a few other vans. Country is still open forest and some scrublands, but we’re
at the edge of the Nullarbor.
Next morning we topped
petrol at Balladonia which made
world headlines in 1979 when space debris from Skylab landed 40km east on
Wooriba Sheep Station. The Roadhouse, on the western end of the Nullarbor Plain, has a small museum which included an
exterior section of the Skylab.
Just east of here is “the 90 Mile Straight”, from Balladonia
to Caiguna, the longest straight stretch of highway in Australia
(146.6 km).
 |
| The 90 Mile Straight |
We stopped at the Caiguna Blowhole with its strong
current of cold air from the underground limestone caverns; topped up fuel at Cocklebiddy then passed thru Madura,
the midway point between Perth and Adelaide; and enjoyed the elevated view of
the sprawling Roe Plains from Madura
Pass Lookout, enroute to our next overnighter at Moodini Bluff, where we
camped well back from the road noise under shading trees.
After an early start next
day we soon pass through the locality of Mundrabilla
where Australia’s
biggest meteorite was found, weighing over 10 tonnes.
Continued on through low
scrubby country then up through scenic Eucla Pass - where the Nullarbor Plain
rises from 20 to 80 metres above sea level - into tiny Eucla village which, in
the early 1900’s was the busiest (Morse code) Telegraph Station in Australia
beyond the capital cities. The historic old station building now lies in ruins.
Just past Eucla lies the WA
- SA Border and the highway now runs along the high cliffs coastline of the Great Australian Bight, for about 100 km, with many
lookouts. We stopped and viewed them all, but the Sun’s northern trajectory
over this shaded southern coast makes it difficult to take bright photos. The
high cliffs are very attractive, but unfenced with sheer undercut drop-offs –
and quite scary to photograph from close to the edge.
 |
| Great Australian Bight |
Stopped that night at a rest
area identified as the ‘81km peg’ about 100km west of Nullarbor hamlet. Like
many others across the ‘Plain’, a complex series of dirt tracks wind back
several hundred metres from the highway to minimise road noise and we always
went in a few hundred metres. Some were like a maze and challenging to pick the
main track back rather than driving around in lost circles!
Two days were spent here
alone at the ‘81 Peg’ running on 240v generator power to prepare this KKK # 11,
before heading off on 27/8, trip-day 144, towards the end of the Nullarbor.
 |
| 81 Peg Campsite |
100km eastwards Nullarbor
Hotel/Motel and the Roadhouse pretty much comprised the total village and we
passed on by, entering the Yalata Aboriginal Community Lands, about 100 km of
heavily forested, high rolling ridges, not much driving fun pushing a two tonne
rig constantly up hill and down dale.
But push we did and
eventually drove out of the hilly bushlands and into open green grazing land
and fields of wheat, just before arriving at Nundroo, marking the western edge
of SA’s vast grain belt which extended the 150km into Ceduna.
Since the Nullarbor
Plain is loosely regarded as running from Norseman to Ceduna,
we’ll leave the rest ‘til the next instalment.
Bruce and Audrey
Kimba SA – 28/8/14
 |
| Bunda Cliffs - Perched on the Edge of Australia!! |
