Monday 29th May

Off to Mukinbudin (or Mukka to the locals) today. 360km on the National Highway, and what an absolutely beautiful drive it was. The awesome salmon gums, mallee and wheatfield after wheatfields. This area is known as The Wheatbelt Way. Mukinbudin is in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia and is famous for it's wheat and sheep farming.

We called into or passed through some of the most well-kept, pretty little towns along the route; names like Goomalling, Dowein, Wyakatchen. We stopped for fuel and coffee at Nungarin with very wide streets and lovely native plantings.

Overnight at Mukinbudin Caravan Park - What an absolute hidden gem!

There was a state of the art camp kitchen, BBQ area and amenities were new and ensuite type. Such luxury. I wallowed in it, washing and conditioning my hair, creaming everything there was to cream, brushing teeth, and I could take as long as I wanted as we were the only "little petunia in this onion patch". So beautiful and quiet, gorgeous sunset and all is right with the world.

Tuesday 30th May

A chilly night and freezing cold morning! . We were heading out to the National Park for the day to experience this wonderful area and to do some of the bush walks. We didn't realise how big the area was, and that you could actually drive around and there was such a lot to see, and it was just fantastic. The scenery was just so diverse, from mountainous rocks, a salt lake and stunning wave like rocks with awesome colours.

First stop was Lake Campion which is almost a salt pan now and it was so hard, we could quite easily walk out onto it and the actual area of the lake was huge. There was water further out but I presume the salt content would be extremely high. We chatted to a couple of campers here and they gave us some practical information on the area and where we should go and what to see.

We first drove past Eagle Rock and we spotted something blue on this massive rock, and realised it was a climber. We passed their very basic camp further on and wondered how they had survived the previous freezing cold night.

Then on to Beringbooding Rock which was fascinating as the first pioneers in the area built a rock wall around to rock to catch the water runoff. It is the largest rock water catchment tank in Australia, built in 1937 and holding two and a quarter million gallons. "Sustenance Labour" was used to build the tank. Beringbooding has an amazing balance boulder, a huge gnamma hole and some paintings in a cave at the rear of the rock.

We then walked out to Elachbutting Rock which is a massive granite outcrop. The name Elachbutting is thought to mean 'that things standing' which is quite feasible as Elachbutting is a large granite rock, a prominent landmark standing out from the surrounding countryside. It has a spectacular colourful wave similar to Hyden's Wave Rock with the added beauty of 'Monty's Pass', a 30m tunnel caused by a rock slide. An echoing cave similar to an amphitheatre is close by.

There is a 6km track around the rock but it was difficult terrain as there were very dense trees and shrubs. We found a great little spot to have our picnic lunch, and we were the only ones around. The silence was golden.

On our way back to the caravan park, we passed a very unique landmark of a galloping horse - powered by a windmill attached to it, constructed by the local Mens Shed. A very unique landmark in this unique part of Australia.

The Cleomine Horse landmark marks the spot where George Landsell built an impressive mudbrick five-roomed homestead, also adding a general store, butcher shop and blacksmith shop to serve the local settlers. He ran sheep, cattle and turkeys on his farm which supplied the butcher shop.

George Landsell was a prominent Perth bookmaker and racehorse owner and he name his property after his famous horse Cleomine, the 1920's version of Black Caviar.

We had a wonderful day exploring this area and arrived back home to find other caravans in the park. Oh well, we did have one night to ourselves.

Loved this little town and the people in it. The local café owner, who remember our order each day, told us to look out for the butcher who used to be in town, but has moved to the "big smoke" Kalgoorlie.

Another early night and we are sorry to be leaving Mukka tomorrow.