Day 61 18/08/2013 Mt Augustus NP to Cue (via Meekatharra).

This morning we drove 4km to a lookout, to watch the sunrise and photograph Mt Augustus. There was a little bit of cloud around to make the sky look more interesting. Back at camp we had a quick breakfast and packed up. Once again it was a cool start to the day. We left just before 8am. We had 340 km to cover to reach Meekatharra, and then a further 125km (on a sealed road) to Cue....our intended destination for the day. The road to Meekatharra was initially a little corrugated but overall not too bad. When we hit the Meekatharra Shire however, the corrugations were bad for quite a few km, but then the road improved dramatically and there were even a few short sections which were sealed.....we weren't sure why, but it may have been because we were travelling through flood-prone areas. The last 50km or so into the town was also sealed. We had a few stops today. Once again we were travelling in the footsteps of Charles Kingsford Smith on his mail route. Our first stop was to look at a Gnamma Hole, which is a hole in a rock where water is stored. These rocks were useful for the Aboriginal people to find during the dry times when water was scarce, and on the surrounding rocks there were petroglyphs indicating the location of the hole.

Further on, we crossed the Gascoyne River, (once again), and saw evidence of a flying fox construction which was used to haul a 44 gallon drum containing mail and supplies from one side of the river to the other when the river was too high for the horses to get through. We had a coffee break here.

The landscape was mainly flat with lots of small shrubs. There were occasional sand dunes and occasional areas with more trees. A picturesque spot was at Mt Gould, where the hills provided a backdrop to an historical police station and lock-up. We stopped here too and read a little bit about the history of the area.

Lunch was eaten at the location of an old stock route. The day was reasonably warm by now and mostly sunny, although there was increasing cloud as the afternoon wore on. We arrived in Meekatharra around 1pm, and had only seen five vehicles and one cyclist in all that time! Just before entering the town we called in at Peace Gorge, an area formerly known as the Granites because of the granite boulders there. The name was changed after WWI when the town held a celebration of peace and remembrance at that location. Meekatharra itself does not have a lot to offer, except for the gold of course! There are still mines operating in the area, but there are yet more that have closed down. Since it was Sunday no shops were open, but we were able to re-fuel.

As planned, we drove on to Cue, also a gold-mining town....although the boom has long since gone. The caravan park has attracted amateur prospectors though....some have been camped here for over a month! We took a little walk around the township. There are some very nice heritage buildings, and one which interested us....an old 'Bank of New South Wales', right in the middle of a remote part of WA!

We sat inside our camper this evening....it was a bit chilly for sitting around outside.