Sat, 13th Apr, 2019 Pending Leases, north of Leonora, WA

7am 20 degrees, blue sky with a few wispy clouds about and a light breeze.

Kirsten’s wedding today in Perth – hope they have a lovely day and wonderful life together.

Drove down to check out another pending area, found an old shallow shaft and lovely spreading salmon gums but not much else.

Home for lunch, 29 degrees. A few more clouds are coming over and the wind has disappeared.

Read my book then went for a wander with the detector but only found rubbish.

2pm 32 degrees – more clouds. Very humid afternoon – need the fan on. A storm was predicted so we will see what happens.

Played some Skipbo – my day to win, 3 games in a row.

6pm no breeze – the flies are terrible and very little mozzies are buzzing around trying to get in through the flyscreen mesh. Unfortunately some have so I have this buzzing sound in my ears now and am searching for tiny little mozzies to squash.

Steve cooked a beautiful camp oven chicken and roast vegies – we eat very well.

Cooled off by bedtime with the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof again.

NO PHOTOS TODAY.

Fri, 12th Apr, 2019 Pending Leases, north of Leonora, WA

7.30am 24 degrees, overcast and no wind. Pitter patter of raindrops through the night.

Went exploring with our detectors.

21 degrees at lunch time, still overcast but breezy now. Nice day to enjoy Kym’s pumpkin soup. I made some savoury griddle scones to go with it – thanks Michelle for the recipe, first time I have tried it and it worked well.

Played 3 to Kings – 1 game each again.

Had a cuppa then went wandering again – getting lots of exercise!! Lots of hot rocks making the detectors sing.

4.30pm pitter patter of rain drops on the roof again. Had drinks inside as the flies are terrible here.

Steve got the fire going to heat some water for a warm shower tonight. The wind is blowing well and is quite cold so closed the windows – what a change from last night

6.30pm 26 degrees – enjoyed a nice hot shower.

Easy dinner, movie and light blanket on the bed.

NO PHOTOS TODAY.

Thurs, 11th Apr, 2019 Jungle Well, Tarmoola Station, 60km north of Leonora to Pending leases, north of Leonora, WA

7am 28 degrees, light breeze and clear sky.

More detecting – still haven’t found where the geologists found their gold.

Home for lunch, 40 degrees and the wind blowing in strong gusts. The clouds are building again in the west.

We decided to head back to Leonora then try some pending area before it becomes live. Then we will head down to Kalgoorlie and meet up with Ray and Carol.

While filling up with water we chatted with a couple from Brisbane on a 14 week trip of WA. I did my internet stuff. The pending area we were heading too has gone live already so we will go up to the pending leases in our 40E area and detect those before they become live too since they were taken out at the same time as the other ones last year.

Checked the weather – drop in temperature for the next 6 days and chances of showers and thunder storms. Tomorrow should only get to 28 and early mornings in the low 20s. Such extremes.

Rang Mum and Dad in case we don’t have reception where we are headed. She said that Winx is having her last race tomorrow – she has won 37 races in a row. Debbie (nee Ingham) (Mum’s cousin’s daughter) was on TV talking about it. Also we will have to get a postal vote organised as the Federal election is on the 18^th May – Dan’s birthday. Uncle John rang too as Jocelyn’s bad leg had swollen so she went into hospital to possibly have a stent put in. I will send him a text wishing her all the best.

Topped up the fuel then headed to our camp spot. The sky is getting darker and we can see wispy rain falling in the north.

Set up camp by 6pm and managed a photo of camp as it was quite dark with the dark clouds – looks bright and sunny in the photo.  

Still 38 degrees in the van with all the windows open. No wind to cool things down. We sat outside with our drinks till the mozzies drove me inside. Steve persevered till I had dinner ready.

8pm gusts of wind came and went then 9pm we heard the pitter patter of light rain drops on the roof. There was no wind so left all the windows and vents open as we don’t think the rain will amount to much.

Still no breeze when we went to bed but it has cooled off a little.

Wed, 10th Apr, 2019 Jungle Well, Tarmoola Station, 60km north of Leonora, WA

7am 26 degrees, clear sky and strong wind which has been blowing all night.

Took our detectors for a walk – got lots of exercise and cleaned up Australia!!

This big boy stood still for ages so I could get a good profile shot of him.

Back to the van for lunch, 37 degrees. Feels hotter with the hot wind blowing.

Steve went off for more exercise while I relaxed with my book and wrote up my blog. Not enough phone service out here to upload it though.

3pm 39 degrees – clouds are building in the west. I forgot to check the weather before we came up.

Ray and Carol rang. They are in Kambalda killing time till their replacement caravan kitchen window arrives – it parted company with the van on the Nullabor. They asked if we would like to join them down there and go detecting with them as he has permission to go on some mining leases etc. Sounds good so we will head down to Kalgoorlie in a week.

Hot afternoon so we played Skipbo with the fans on even though there is a wind it is very hot.

Rang Virginia and Geoff to see how their detecting was going. They went to Marble Bar but it was too hot and the march flies were terrible. They are at Nullagine having fun. Virginia said it was only 35 degrees in the caravan park and it was a lot cooler in her van with the air conditioner on.

6pm the wind has stopped making it feel a lot hotter than the 36 degrees. The clouds have come over.

Hot night – cold showers and fan needed.

The sky cleared by bedtime but it is still hot.

Tues, 9th Apr, 2019 Jungle Well, Tarmoola Station, 60km north of Leonora, WA

Cool night so it was a nice temperature this morning that we slept in till 8am. 23 degrees with a gusty wind and clear sky.

We went to the southern end of our 40E area to check the ground for detecting. We found plenty of cattle and even a watch. There were some drill holes nearby so maybe one of the drillers broke it and dropped it on the ground. The band is fine but the glass and hands are gone.

Steve noticed some recent wheel tracks so we followed them. They turned off so we kept going out to a mine to the west. We couldn’t find the actual mine but there was heaps of exploration scrapes on the side of the hill. We headed back to follow the other wheel tracks.

One lot went down to the creek and along it for a bit then turned around. The next tracks pulled off near a creek where there was some nice salt and pepper ground so we got out for a detect. We could see where the person had scraped the ground in a few spots but only shallow scrapes. Maybe this was the geologist’s spot and he came back over the weekend (the tracks are very fresh) to see if he missed any.

There were lots of hot rocks but I did get a nice reward. Nothing else then as I walked back to the truck I got a loud rubbish signal near a fallen branch and my heart leapt but then I saw an aluminium tag the exploration drillers use, tucked into a branch – what a shame!

Back to the van for a late lunch, 32 degrees – the wind has died down.

Continued detecting but only two bits of lead turned up.

Home for drinks then Steve got the fire going to cook dinner using his bushcooker – steak and roasted vegies.

7pm, 33 degrees in the van with only a light breeze. Much nicer outside now the flies have disappeared. Spotted a couple of satellites and enjoyed the sparkling sky.

Dinner was yummy and we watched another good movie though the quality of the recording wasn’t too good. Needed the fan as it is still quite warm.

The wind is back again with strong gusts as we went to bed so that might cool things down.

Mon, 8th Apr, 2019 Malcolm Dam, east of Leonora to Jungle Well, Tarmoola Station, 60km north of Leonora, WA

7am 21 degrees, clear sky and cool ESE wind. The wind blew all night.

Packed up camp. Said bye to Mark and Heidi as they headed out to find another spot to detect. Mark had found a Garmin (handheld GPS) that someone dropped a while ago. The batteries had corroded but he cleaned it up and it worked. It even had some waypoints and the chaps walking track so Mark checked the co-ordinates and found some were for the caravan park in Leonora and the others were around where he had lost it – no gold treasures unfortunately.

Drove into Leonora to fill up the van’s water tanks and grab a couple of fresh vegies. Rang Mum and Dad as we aren’t sure about phone service where we are headed. The sun is out again in Cairns and after a nice chat Mum said Doreen had just driven in so they will have a lovely time catching up.

Headed north up the Goldfields Highway. Two big dump trucks near the railway area waiting to go to a mine somewhere.

Further up we had to pull off the road – Mr Police car made sure we did as he drove towards us on our side.

Then two big trucks came loaded with an excavator and dump truck. Maybe they came this way to avoid going through too many busy towns like Kalgoorlie etc.

Continued on our way then stopped at Sullivan Creek for a cuppa.

We then turned off onto the old Darlot Road then around the south end of another Round Oak mine and we headed up Rob’s graded road to Jungle Well. We are west of where we were at 10 Mile Outcamp, still on Tarmoola Station. A geologist working on taking samples around the old gold mine open cut pit showed Rob and Glen some lovely sized nuggets he had found. Hence we took out a 40E Permit to see if we can find where he got them from as we know it wasn’t on the actual mining lease. We are on an Exploration Lease which is owned by a nickel company so we would never had looked here. A lot of ground to search but here’s hoping we fall over a nice patch.

Found a spot to park with a bit of shade (we still going to have some high 30s temperature this week) on salt and pepper ground (good indicator for gold) but it is quite lumpy stuff. There has been an area nearby cleared of the rocks so will give that a going over with my detector.

We are near the old Jungle Well. It still has water but isn’t operational as Rob used the old gold mine open pit for the cattle as it is full of water.

Lunch 37 degrees and no wind which makes it feel hotter. We played a game of 3 to Kings and Steve won so we are one game each on this new score sheet.

Big gust of wind blew through but luckily no dust with it. A light breeze then started which was nice.

I read my book while Steve went for a wander with his detector.

Some clouds came across the sun so I took my detector for a walk over the pushed area – only found bulldozer swarf and a button. Steve just got lots of exercise, walked for 6km.

The flies are very friendly so we had our drinks in the van.

Jon rang for more information about camping at Marina Plains – so glad he has some great friends to do these things with now. He is wanting to get a small tinnie now so he and Jess can go exploring and fishing.

The wind has picked up which is cooling things down a bit. Lovely sunset colours.

Nice evening – didn’t need a fan on.

Sun, 7th Apr, 2019 Malcolm Dam, east of Leonora, WA

7.30am 22 degrees, clear sky and light breeze. Got chilly in the early morning so had to pull up the blankets.

Helped Mark and Heidi reattach their awning after the wind ripped it off the other day.

Did the washing – back to using my little twin tub – works well.

Only a light breeze blowing but the heat is drying the clothes quickly. Steve has found a nice intact green hand blown bottle but it doesn’t have any markings or writing on it to work out what it had in it. Under the tree I found a Peck’s food paste contained – looks like a handlebar grip off a pushbike.

There was also a tin lid like the tobacco ones but this one said Chocolate and Cocoa company so I wonder what was in it.

Gave Kaylene and Rick a call. Still raining. They were having a drive around Yungaburra and Tinaroo Dam.

Lunch 32 degrees.

Drove into Leonora to top up the truck’s water tanks and then out to the homestead to see Kym and Glen. They had picked up my solar light that I had left in the tree at 10 Mile. ‘Roo’ is growing well and the calves are now out with the other bigger calves. Had a nice afternoon chatting. Kym gave me a container of her yummy pumpkin soup which we will enjoy.

Home for drinks with Heidi and Mark and their friends that are parked nearby. Claus and Mona and their friends Wolfgang and Kristina. They did some opal digging at Lightning Ridge years ago together and they showed us some of their lovely collection. Said our farewells as they are heading off to another area to detect and we are heading up to our 40E spot back on Tarmoola Station but west of where we were staying.

6.30pm 33 degrees and no wind. We watched the highlights of the Supercars racing in Tasmania on the laptop. Two years ago Malcolm was racing his little car there in a support group too and we saw him on the TV as it poured with rain and here he was sitting in his open cab car getting drenched.

8.30pm the breeze has picked up from the south and is cooling things down again.