Sun, 8th Apr, 2018 Bush camp, 15km north of Laverton, WA (exploring mines & old towns)

7.30am 26.5 degrees, clear sky. Forecast for 38 degrees today.

Packed our lunch and headed off to explore some of the sites. First up the road to Mt Windarra Nickel Mine. It is still under an active mining lease but there is tourist information and a lookout. First view of Mt Windarra and remains of the mine.

Checked out all the info in the picnic area. It was famous when the Poseidon Mining Co shares went from $1 a share to $280 in 6 months in 1970, but like all mining had lots of ups and downs.

There was a history walk but I think the information has now been put here and at the lookout since the new company has taken over.

As we headed around to the lookout we stopped to check out a ventilation shaft and water pump etc.

Great view from the lookout which is beside a huge water tank.

Lots of information to read.

Followed the others over the rock to the cairn on the top of Mt Windarra. Steve added another one to the pile.

Geoff and Virginia are part of the Geocaching group and found the stash up here. They leave their geocache name in a book and sometimes swap and item in the box.

Great view from here too.

Steve started a new cairn.

Interesting colours in the rocks.

Back to the trucks for a cuppa. Checked out the big water tank which is empty. There is a little one beside it and it was leaking. The bees were enjoying the water.

Back down the hill and we headed back to the main Leonora-Laverton Road. Past the Diamond Drill Mast.

Onto the main road and we headed back towards Leonora to check out some pending areas. First one was low land and covered in spinifex but we did find some old diggings. Next one was north of the Mt Morgans Mine area and looked more interesting so we found a nice spot on top of the hill for lunch. Great view across to Mt McKenzie which has a big Telstra mast. Mt Morgans mine is the bare earth piles behind that. We could see the trucks going back and forth on the highway. Unfortunately there was no gold for us to find and not much rubbish either though there has been a lot of exploration work done here. 

While I was waiting for the others to come back I spotted a big black bug that was digging a hole in the earth. He was very busy buzzing down the hole then he would back out with his dirt load. Eventually another grey bug arrived pulling a grasshopper which he took to the entrance of the hole. He went down headfirst then must have turned around so he could pull the grasshopper into the hole. He then came out – I missed seeing what happened to the first bug. The grey one then worked hard covering the hole, picking up little rocks to cover the entrance etc and then scrapping dirt over the area. Fascinating – should have videoed it. Maybe they had laid eggs in there and the grasshopper was the food for the larvae when they hatched – who knows. It is certainly a hot day – we are all glad to be sightseeing in our airconditioned vehicles!!

Headed back out to the main road then across it on the road heading to Mt Morgans Mining Centre. Turned off first to check out the tower on Mt McKenzie.

Looking across to Mt Morgans Mine area. Lots of new hills in the goldfields.

Next stop was Mt Morgans Cemetery. The tombstones tell some sad stories.

I found one that was very interesting – Ludwig Beyers, the mine partner of Bernard Holtermanm who found the gigantic nugget that we saw in Hill End, NSW.

Into the site of township of Mt Morgans, named after a man not a mountain. Not much remains – this railway platform, a few street names and the Municipal Chambers.

In Phoenix Street sits the only remaining building - the Municipal Chambers which was built in 1900 and restored in 1998.

A plaque about the 3^rd reopening of the mine in 2010 but there is a new company running it now called Dacian.

There is lots of old ‘treasures’ inside in lovely airconditioning. Very interesting reading how the town allotments were pegged – by a race from Mt Margaret township which was in decline. Amazing to think they pulled down the hotel at Mt Margaret brick by brick and transported here to Mt Morgans and again it has been moved on.

Heaps to read from a 1901 mining article.

Information about the Dacian Mining Company and its plans for the area. Amazing charts showing the open pit at Jupiter Mine near Mt Margaret and all the underground shafts below it.

Great joke in the 1991 mine newsletter.

Outside looking up at the new mining village on top of what was once Mt Phoenix.

Lots of dirt coming out of some big holes and underground.

Headed towards Laverton on the gravel Old Laverton Road. We were going to take a road down to Mt Margaret but that is now an active haul road connecting the two mines so we continued on to the next road.

Past new bores pumping water for the mines. Lots of cattle wandering beside the road as we headed into the aboriginal community of Mt Margaret which is a dry community (though we passed a 44 gallon drum out of town that was full of beer bottles!!). The actual mountain is further south. Some children were cooling off under the water pipe and gave us big waves as we drove past.

Very quiet here but we did see a couple of people. Wonder how many actually live here now. Some houses are completely fenced in – doesn’t give you that welcoming feeling.

Checked out the water tank we read about in Laverton that was built by R.M. Williams when he was a young man. Steve tried to fix the equipment beside it.

As we headed out I spotted someone’s pet waiting to go inside!!

Back to the old Laverton Road. Instead of counting dead kangaroos beside the road it was dead cars! Turned off to check out Hawks Nest. It is a popular detecting area but it is all live so we would need to get permit to detect here. We checked out the grave of a young man from NZ who is buried here. Interesting story.

It is also the site of another Geocache hiding in a dead tree. Virginia swapped the kookaburra for a carved token she had found.

Getting late so we headed for camp. Lovely sunset colours as we headed towards Laverton then turned north to get back to camp.

Arrived just as darkness arrived (6.30pm 36.5 degrees in van) so we got out our chairs and drinks and rested under our blanket of stars. Always a competition to see who can spot the first satellite and there were a lot tonight. Lots of falling stars too and one that Geoff and I both saw that lasted for quite a while – he felt it was a good sign he would find gold tomorrow. Hope so.

I had taped the Supercars racing in Tasmania so we watched that. Great racing. Ian had texted to say Go Lowndes so I figured he won on Sunday which he did!!

No breeze so it was still 31 degrees in the van at 10pm.