24/3/14 - Left Malcolm Dam about 8:30am and headed into Leonora, another one of these immaculately groomed towns that has all the facilities and a proud history on show for all to see. The theory is that the mining companies that proliferate in this part of the world finance these towns with substantial grants to the Council and community. The money is well spent.
From Leonora we continued north along the Goldfields Highway to Leinster for fuel. Leinster is a small modern mining settlement established in 1987. Refuelling proved "interesting" as the garage operates with no staff. We had to decide how much fuel we needed then paid for it by card on a machine. Suddenly the bowser readied itself for us to take the required $1.70 per litre but I guess they can afford to keep the price down when they don't need to pay any salaries. From Leinster we headed west for Sandstone, a very quiet town with amazing amenities including a water park. Mining money again. We spent a couple of hours exploring the "Heritage Trail" an 18km trip that took us to an old brewery that used an underground cellar to keep the produce cool, London Bridge, a rock formation believed to be 350 million years old that attracted picnickers from far and wide during the gold rush days, a disused State Battery and an old well. Certainly worth a look. These early prospectors did it tough!
From Sandstone we continued west towards the coast via Mt Magnet. About 35km short we found a station track heading out towards a well that provided refuge for the night. Our camp is about 350km from Geraldton where we will hit the coast. We are now only 1210km from Exmouth.
25/3/14 - Left bush camp about 8:30am and headed into Mt Magnet where we did a short walk to the top of a near by hill that gave us a view over the town and nearby mine. The mine on the outskirts of town is small by comparison to most but is typical of the mines that are dotted throughout this rugged terrain. Those hardy soles that choose to work in this part of the world are earning their money.
Moved on to Yalgoo which was a small town steeped in "gold rush" history. Yet more mining company dollars had been used to restore old churches, police stations, Court House etc with the end result being an interesting journey for us tourists through the history of the town and surrounds.
One interesting story was of a prospector in the late 1800s venturing out this way and sitting around a campfire with a local, his Aboriginal partner and their kids. Seems his kids were using a couple of gold nuggets as toys and when the prospector questioned him he had no idea of the value of gold.
The resulting gold rush saw the establishment of Yalgoo as a major town in the area.
One interesting feature of Yalgoo is the old church. The resident priest in the late 1800s doubled as an architect and his legacy is some brilliant old churches that look like they should be somewhere in Spain. Terracotta tiles, local stone walls and timbers spires. Apparently he oversaw the building of numerous such churches throughout the Murchison Region.
Continuing west towards the coast we had a brief stop at Mullewa before continuing on to our over night stop at Ellendale Pool where we set up camp for the night.
Ellendale is a kilometre long stretch of water with specky sandstone cliffs on one side. Great camp.