2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Fri, 10th Jan, 2025 Enanty Barn 24hr RV Stop, Mingenew to Bush camp by Six Mile Creek, north of Mullewa, WA (Coalseam Conservation Park)

14 degrees min, overcast and a few drops o rain fell at 6am.

The sun is out and the clouds are parting by 7.30am, 19 degrees.

Packed up and headed onto the Coalseam Road that runs parallel with the Lockier River for a while.

Nice drive through the farms and into escarpment hills.

Onto gravel road and into the Coalseam Conservation Park. Took the turn off to Irwin Lookout. Up the hill to the car park.

A bit of information and a track to followed around to the lookout.

Fabulous view down the valley with the Irwin River below us.

Along a bit to more information.

Followed the path back around to the other end of the car park. Drove along and down the hill to Fossils. No defined track or info. Walked down to the river bed. A few mucky puddles. Didn’t see any fossils!

Walked back up and past some picnic tables. A bit more water.

Drove back up the hill and past the lookout car park and down the other side. Good view.

Turned left into Miners - which is a campground and we have now found out the site of the coal mines.

Followed the track down to the river and across the rock bar to the other side. Lots of old dried wildflowers about.

Johnson Shaft - shame it has filled up, would have been good to see the lined walls etc.

The other shaft is nearly level with the ground again.

Steve showed me a bit of coal - very light.

The flies aren’t too bad so I don’t need my net but my flyswat is very handy.

Cuppa in the shade of a tree - warming up quickly. Won’t bother with the longer walk today.

The wind is picking up and there is a band of dark clouds to the west.

Walked up to the campground.

Our gripe is - you can come and use the facilities all day long but if you want to overnight you have to pay and we have all our own facilities any case! Oh well - we will check it out and move on.

Back out and down the road then across the Irwin River.

Turned off and down to River Bend picnic area which is below the lookout. Some more information, bbqs etc.

Walked down towards the dry river - great sign explaining the different layers.

View up and down the river.

Back to the truck and up the hill to the other campground on top of the plateau - Breakaway. It is open and beside the road with the grain fields on the other side.

Continued along until we met the bitumen again and headed to Mullewa.

Turned off at a tourist trail sign for Butterabby Graves. There is a tombstone which is hard to read, a couple of stone grave sites and a stone bordered area.

Steve found a comfortable seat with the information. Obviously we missed a couple on our way up but there wasn’t any signs on the road. Sad story but that was our history, not our future - if we are smart enough to learn from those things and try and work together as Australians who can all share this great country.

Great display too with the faces in the roof as well.

There is water in the creek behind Steve said.

Back out to the main road and up to the next historic site at Devils Creek. How the farms were worked, the hall and old school site.

Continued on - the band of cloud has come over us now but still blue sky to the east.

Into Mullewa which we had explored in Oct, 2017. Lots of interesting history here and the north section of the trail which we also did.

We had stayed out of town at a bush camp on Curara Farm but it isn’t marked on Wikicamps now. We can stay along 6 Mile Creek so we headed out there. It has ‘The Waterfalls’ which occurs when there is lots of water to flow down the creek bed and into an eroded pool.

Walked down to the creek.

Looking upstream from the ‘waterfall’ spot.

This is where the water would cascade down.

I looked back at the photos of 12^th Oct, 2017 and there was more water here then.

Looking back up to our ‘home on wheels’.

Drove along a bit - big overhang here with a nice pool. Lots of little caves for the animals.

Will be a hot day tomorrow so will stay and do our washing. Found a nice spot with trees for the clothesline.

Not as hot today with the cloud cover - only got to 31 and there is a nice breeze.

Worked on my blog while Steve went for a wander. Came back with a flat grater still in its packet. Someone must have dropped it when packing up their campsite.

After a cuppa we walked along the creek past the overhang so I could get some more photos.

The track went for a long while then we turned around. Near the info site Steve spotted a basketball in the grass. It still bounced so we left it with the ‘cricketers’ and hopefully its owner will come back and get it.

Continued past the camper till we met a fence. Interesting colours in the walls here.

Time for drinks and a game of cards. I heard a sound and looked up to see a herd of goats coming towards us. Some others came up from the pool and then they continued along the creek and disappeared. Took the photos through the screen, hence they are blurry.