Day 62 19/08/2013 Cue to Leonora via Mount Magnet, Sandstone and Leinster.
A cloudless sky greeted us this morning. Even though close to the road, the caravan park had been very quiet overnight and the new ablutions, with individual toilet and shower rooms, were spotlessly clean. We were on the road just before 8am. We travelled at first through scrub plains and clay pans. We drove south to Mount Magnet where we stopped for fuel and supplies. The local supermarket was not as well-stocked as we would have liked, but we are travelling through very small outback towns now. There was a great butcher there though, and a really modern Visitor Information Centre. We took a drive along a Tourist Trail and stopped at a lookout which provided a good view of some open pit mines in the area. Mount Magnet is also known for having had the deepest, (more than 1.5km), underground gold mine in Australia, called Hill One. We then went to look at the 'Amphitheatre', an interesting rock formation which has been a favourite picnic location for locals and visitors for over 80 years. Our next stop, (now travelling east), was the picturesque little town of Sandstone. For a period of six years from 1907, Sandstone was a bustling gold-mining town with a population of between 3000 and 6000 people. By 1919 only 200 people remained in the town, but it survived as a centre for the region's growing pastoral industry. The latest figures show a population of 119, and once again mining is the economic mainstay of the district. We took a short drive along the Heritage Trail, taking in some of the old buildings in town and also the old brewery and the unique weathered rock formation called 'London Bridge', a little way out of town. Leaving Sandstone we headed for Leinster, a mining company (BHP Billiton) town, some 160km further to the east. About 20km along the road we came to a point where the road is used as an emergency landing strip for the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service). We have seen these emergency airstrips before, but I don't think it has been mentioned in the blog. Interestingly, just before we reached our next stopping point, there was another one of these 'road airstrips' .......perhaps they are needed more frequently in mining areas.
There was not a lot of traffic travelling on these roads, but what little there was consisted of a mix of tourists like us, road trains and mining vehicles. Between Sandstone and Leinster we saw wedge-tailed eagles in numbers too numerous too count. Most were on the side of the road, or in the middle of the road, feeding on road-kill. These birds take a long time to fly off, especially when their bellies are full of carrion, and if we hadn't been able to swerve to the wrong side of the road, ( thanks to the lack of traffic), then I am sure we would have unfortunately hit some of these magnificent creatures. I was so taken with watching them, I did not get any photos!
There were a couple of other places of interest where we stopped along the way. One was at a scenic lookout, and the other was at a place called Goanna Patch, where gold was found accidentally when a goanna was being chased by some prospectors hoping to catch it for a feed. From this point we could also view a now defunct mine called Thunderbox Mine. We continued on our way and took a 4km detour into the town of Leinster. This was not a tourist town and did not really have anything to offer us. We decided to turn south and head for Leonora. This township lies some 230km north of Kalgoorlie, a major gold-mining centre in WA, which we have visited before. Leonora has a population of around 1500, and once again, has heritage buildings which reflect its more prosperous past. In nearby Gwalia, a town which closed down virtually overnight on Dec 21st 1963, when the 'Sons of Gwalia' mine ceased operating, there are more historic buildings, including 'Hoover House', which was built by Herbert Hoover, (later to become the 31st President of the USA), when he was the mine manager for the 'Sons of Gwalia' mine in 1898. This is now a B&B location and it is a pity that we didn't choose it for our night's accommodation. We are in the only caravan park in town, (in hindsight we should have driven out of town and found a bush camp), and the location of our site, backing on to a fence which surrounds a junk yard....no, I'm not kidding....has to be the worst camp site ever! At least the washrooms are clean and there is a camp kitchen! Once again this is a town which attracts prospectors and fossickers......who, it has to be said, are a strange bunch. At least we have power, a WiFi signal and can have our heater on! We are out of here at 7am!!!!