Thurs, 28th Apr, 2016 Kookynie Well Rest Area, north of Menzies to bush camp, 50km south of Meekatharra, WA (Jonathon’s birthday)

Jonathon’s 23^rd birthday – the years a flying by so quickly!!  6.30am 12.7 degrees, high cloud. Rang Jon, as it is 8.30am at home, to wish him a happy day. He is planning on going up the dam on Monday – public holiday for Qld.

We decided to head straight to Meekatharra – no more sightseeing diversions, will do that on our way back south, or it will be another month before we get there!!

Steve spotted a dog up ahead thinking it was a dingo but it had a collar so might have run away or fallen off a ute. Hope someone picks him up soon.

Over the crest of a hill looking towards Leonora and the huge tailing piles of Son of Gwalia mine which is now abandoned.

An exploration crew checking the ground.

The entrance to the historic Gwalia Mine – my body turned but Steve kept going straight ahead!!

Topped up with fuel, 139.9c/l at Leonora and posted Daniel’s birthday card as it took ages for Jon’s to get home.

The countryside is more rolling hills rather than flat plains. Stopped for a cuppa at Sullivans Creek which had two dead cows on each side of the road – not ponging yet so must have just happened. We had passed a group of three before – some truckie will have a bent bull bar.

Lovely tree in the creek which does flow well after good rain.

From Leonora there are two more tourist routes to follow, the Darlot and the Agnew and they both had an info board here. Another car pulled up and he said he was following the Agnew one. Interesting story about Sullivan.

Steve found a couple of pipes coming up like vents. He dropped a rock down one and it made a strange ‘boo bong’ sound. Maybe it is to check the water table and there was an underground cable nearby so not sure what it was for.

Back on the road passed the poor cows. I wonder how many the station owner loses. Steve keeping an eye out as he definitely doesn’t want to hit one.

Old tailing piles everywhere which have been revegetated and now become new hills. Passed our first road train (53.5m long). He was full and going slowly!!

Into spinifex country – Steve not looking forward to detecting in that. Passed the turnoff to Leinster. No spinifex here.

Back into flat open country.

That lead into the open floodplain of Lake Miranda and there was water in this lake, complete with black swans. It covers a huge area.

On the northern edge of the lake is the remains of the Government Battery Mine.

Rockier area south of Mount Keith Mine area.

Impressive tailing piles. Along way around them.

Back into the spinifex again.

Lunch at a rest area 58km south of Wiluna on top of a rocky outcrop at 590m elevation. Nice spot to camp.

Spotted some ‘Wedgies’ flying high.

Passed the low area of Lake Way – no water in this one. Spotted a couple of emus and even got them in the picture as we zoomed by.

Passed the turnoff to Wiluna – more to explore there. I have a great book about things to see. Now onto the dirt road to Meekatharra. Nicely graded and very wide. The van will be all red again.

Bits of bitumen in the floodprone areas with good signs advising of how far to the next bitumen overtaking area.

At Bubble Well (my Hema map has all the names) we saw lovely tall gums which looked like an oasis out here. I imagine the aborigines spent a lot of time around here.

On a nice stretch of bitumen we passed two red roos standing tall watching us whizz by. Lots of dead cars in the bush too. Stopped for a cuppa at a rest area where a few parrots were flitting around in the bushes. One stayed still long enough for a photo or two. He had a long tail.

We have been under cloud all day so far but we can see the blue sky ahead. It has been nice and cool for travelling though. 

Heading into Meekathara where we spotted a tourist route to follow – another to add to my list!! The ‘locals’ had pulled just off the road and had lit a fire and were enjoying a ‘drink’ away from prying eyes I suppose but they could have got off the road a bit further.

Only a narrow strip of bitumen leads us into Meeka and towards the blue sky.

Through Meeka – looks neat and tidy. Coles Express here, 145.9c/l and $35 gas – will check to see if we get the 10c/l off if we spend the $20 (exchange a gas bottle). A few tourist walks etc here too. We are heading 50km south to a GPS mark Mike and Anne from Tassie gave us. They were here last year and picked up an ounce of gold – here’s hoping! 

Got a wedged tail eagle at last though he is a bit far away.

Leaving the band of cloud behind us at 4.30pm – first bit of sunshine today.

Passed the working Bluebird Mine.

Caledonian Mine is a big open pit right on left side of the road but just can’t see over the piles of rocks from the truck.

Passed a Dog Proof Fence that looks like it has just been completed. The road does a big swing around Lake Annean (huge salt lake) and the historic township of Nannine.

Turned off the highway at a windmill and found the track into where Mike was camped. Tried finding where they were camped but as it was getting dark we just pulled up off the track for the night.

We had a Tengraph map of the area. The shaded spots are leased areas and Steve can detect on the white area. Mike’s mark was the yellow dot but the track was a bit washed out before that so we didn’t press on. We stopped near the top of his lease – we found his peg on the other side of the track.

Got the fire going so we could cook dinner. No TV reception but I can get a signal on the phone when it is plugged into the aerial on the TV aerial but not on the truck aerial. Rang Mike to clarify his GPS marks etc now we are here and can visualise what he is telling us.

Good temperature to be out by the fire but not too chilly. Saw one satellite and three falling stars – made some wishes – hope they come true!!

Gavin rang to see where we ended up. Will catch up with him and Tonya again later in the year.

Getting smart, putting the HWS on so we have our showers when we come in from the fire now as the water in the pipes cools off quickly in the cool night air. We worked on Steve’s new handheld GPS and my new phone as I had downloaded Wikicamps which you can still access offline which is good as this phone can’t be plugged into the aerial. I will swap the Sim card back and forth as I need. I get a lot of download with the phone offer so will try it in my internet dongle too.