We left Lake Grace on the 22nd as planned, though a part for the Tvan that was posted to us hadn't arrived at the post office, so we arranged to have it sent on to Newman to collect.
We headed out through Hyden onto the Hyden/Norsman road, we turned off around halfway to Norsman and headed up to Queen Victoria Rock for our first camp. There was only one other camper there, so we were able to be on our own. It was a bitterly cold night and we retired early.
The next day found us in Kalgoorlie picking up last minute bits and pieces, Michael managed to pick up a new pair of Pipinghot thongs for $5!
We had a look at the Super Pit before heading north towards Menzies.
Michael wasn't very happy when he dropped his three week old phone on concrete and smashed the face, expensive stop.
At Menzies we turned left and headed for Lake Ballard to see the Inside Australia exhibition, a series of 51 statues modeled on indigenous people from the area. On arrival at the campground the place was packed, there must have been 10 camps with numerous caravans and campers. We managed to find a spot a little away from the others.
After another very cold night we went for a walk onto the lake to view the statues, it was brilliant and we would recommend it to others to see.
From Ballard we kept heading north following the Golden Quest Discovery Trail. Along the way we stopped at numerous information points that explained the history of mining and pastoralists in the region. At one stop, as we moved off Michael noticed the car didn't feel right, on inspection he found the front RH tyre was going down. Once plugged we were on our way again.
One of the interest points was at Poison Creek, here we found a lovely quite place to camp.
The next day was uneventful, no breakages or flat tyres! We had hoped to have lunch at Wiluna, but the store is closed between midday and 2pm. We decided to continue north to North Pool, a lovely oasis where locals camp and swim. The campsite today was off the side of the road near a place called Cunya. Another cold, early night. While the days are getting warmer, they are still short and the nights are cold.
The next day had us heading to a place a friend had recommended, another oasis with a large water hole bounded on one side with high cliffs. Our route was via Three Rivers, though it is not signposted off the highway which makes it a little hard to find. Today we had lunch on a flowing river, it was beautiful, the upper reaches of the Gascoyne River, we think.
After lunch, another stop and another puncture, this time in the RH rear tyre.
Eventually we arrived at our oasis, Bamboo Springs. There was already a camper there, Larry, a nice friendly chap. He left in the morning, but we decided to stay on for a day to take in the place properly.
From Bamboo Springs we planned to head across to Newman, only the track we wanted to use said it was private property and permission was needed to travel through. So we headed on, aiming for Paraburdoo. Along the way to our turnoff we stopped looking for a lunch spot, when again the car didn't feel right, this time we had a puncture in the LH rear!
On the road again, just before our turnoff there was a sign in the middle of the road declaring that the road was closed, in the middle of know where and 70K back to the nearest alternative, we went through.
When we turned off the road to head to Paraburdoo we came to a gate with a sign saying, 'This is not the way to Paraburdoo'.
We now had to push on towards Ashburton Downs, a very long way around to Paraburdoo. The upside to this though was the magnificent scenery we saw, hills, cliffs and all very green.
Past Ashburton Downs we decided to pull over for the nights, another quite spot and it was warmer, we sat up watching the planets and stars until 9.30!
The next day when we got to the end of the Ashburton Downs road, the sign declared that the road was open to all traffic. We turned right and went on to Paraburdoo before stopping in Tom Price. Here we phoned Richard back at our workshop where we had a spare set of more 'Off Road' tyres. We were in luck, Richard had a friend who works in Tom Price and was in Perth, about to head back up. It was arranged for him to bring our wheels up for us, so we stayed in Tom Price for a couple of lovely nights.