Golden Outback

BMWMCCWA morning tea,
Credit: Chris Fitzhardinge

I was only a mile from home when I found myself musing over whether our two litre cask of wine would last for two nights or three. I was soon snapped back to reality when we found ourselves in the thick of Wednesday morning peak hour traffic. We still had options, so we decided to go the back way to Mundaring where we were meeting a bunch of BMW bike club dudes for a cuppa before starting a two week ride through goldfield country.

 

Red Devil and Red Dwarf

We spent the first night in Dalwallinu, and we had to wait well into the morning for the fog to clear before heading northwards to Cue. We stopped at the Jibberding Nature Reserve, to drink brewed coffee and admire the stunning display of wildflowers and it felt good to be alive. We fuelled up in Paynes Find and were delighted to find the museum open. It was a treat to listen to some stories, from a Paynes Find long time local, and I bought a packet of rocks to remember having been there.

Cue, Western Australia

 

Old Masonic Lodge, Cue

The birds could not be relied upon to waken us at dawn, as they could be heard tweeting anytime after 2am. But Steve heard a rooster on our first morning in Cue and we both knew that the rooster could be relied upon to tell the time. We were only two days down the road when we had to live through "the case of the missing cereal measuring cup," which, like gold dust, turned up at the bottom of the cereal packet.

 

In Cue we learnt about folklore legend, Russian Jack. The story goes that when Jack was making his way to Cue, during the gold rush, and pushing his wheel barrow 30 miles each day, he came across another miner who was on his last legs. Instead of leaving him by the wayside, he piled his mates belongings, and his new found mate, onto his wheelbarrow and carried on to Cue, still making 30 miles each day.

 

Aboriginal Art, Walga Rock

We trundled out along the well graded gravel roads to beautiful Walga Rock. We ambled all over the rock, watching the little creatures enjoying their last few days before the rock pools ran dry. We gazed upon the rock paintings without hoards of other folk around. "Who painted the ship?" was cause for much discussion back at our camp that night. I'm going with the theory that it was a mariner, from a faraway land, because of the writing underneath the ship.

 

Walga Rock

Milly Soak

We took the bikes for a run to Nallan Lake and found the lake full of water and bird life. On our circumnavigation we saw mallard duck, egret and an abundance of small water birds that we were unable to identify. Then we followed in the bicycle tracks of the 1930's girls and boys and went for a picnic to Milly Soak. Milly Soak is home to the most beautiful stand of ghost guns I have ever seen. It is as if a great artist hand painted each one a pale shade of grey. Back in the gold rush days water was so scarce it is said that you were lucky to wash your finger tips before making a loaf of damper. The Cue townsfolk managed to contaminate their own water supply and not far from the soak are three graves, whose inhabitants were struck down with typhoid fever.

 

I enjoy listening to the yarns around the bbq at the end of the day. One prospector said his great uncle use to run the bicycle shop out at Big Bell, and another said his great grandfather was a miner at Day Dawn. They burnt their sausages while they told us their stories and I listened, wide eyed, to everything they had to say.

 

Hospital ruins, Cue

While we were checking out the ruins of the old hospital in Cue, an old local prospector pulled up on his quad bike. He lamented that he had "spent most of his life in jail." He laughed a lot and I said, "you seem to have found some happiness here." He gave me the pick of the rocks in his tray. In my excitement to chose a treasured souvenir, I forgot to ask him his name. When we looked around he was nowhere to be seen. This beautiful piece of jasper will have a special place on my patio at home.

 

Prospectors in Sandstone 

We moved our camp to Sandstone and enjoyed sitting around the fire pit and listening to the prospectors yarn. There were some good stories going around, like the guy who found a gold sovereign, the size of a $2 coin, and the kids spent it in a slot machine. But the one I liked the most was the guy who stops to relieve himself on the side of the road and finds himself peeing on a few ounces of gold ~ one prospector added "this is the kind of story that keeps the dream alive."

 

London Bridge

From Sandstone there is a well worn tourist trail that takes in the ruins of a state built well, dug to 100m deep. You can peer inside and appreciate the technique of shoring up the walls with timbers, in the same way the mine shafts were constructed years ago. The old brewery was amazing. Here they used a cave to keep the grog at a suitable temperature for drinking. They call this land around Sandstone, Breakaway Country. The Basalt rock is eroded by wind and rain leaving outcrops to ramble over and enjoy the view.

 

Intersection of the Canning Stock Route
and Gunbarrel Highway, Wiluna

When we heard we could dine at the BHP mine mess in Leinster for $20 a head, Leinster became our home for a couple of nights. From Leinster we took Devil (F650GS) and Dwarf (R1200GS) on a day ride to Wiluna ~ Weeloona - place of the winds. I will always remember the pack of outback dogs, waiting patiently at the general store door for their masters to appear. They weren't tied up, they didn't bark, they knew they couldn't go in.

 

The discovery centre in the old hospital is very engaging and we learnt about the Martu People and the tragedies when building The Canning Stock Route. Wiluna is quiet at the moment with the "covid" closure of The Canning Stock Route. If you get chance, take yourself to Wiluna, you could spend all day in The Discovery Centre, where there is free tea and coffee, and tables and chairs to enjoy a BYO picnic lunch. The Tjukurba Art Gallery is wonderful, too, and if you are looking for a reasonably priced Aboriginal art work to take home with you, you might find one there.

 

Ooops!

The place of the winds rustled up a savage cross wind to hound us the entire 170km ride home to Leinster. As we rode away from town, a copper took to our wheel, but we were on the speed limit so no worries there. Then all of a sudden the lights and siren were on and we thought we were in for a RBT. The cops hurried on by and we hunkered down and prepared for the next gust of wind. We didn't get to ride much further when we came across a nickel ore road train, who had "lost it" on a left hand bend. The third and fourth trailers were on their sides and a thick layer of nickel ore lay all over the road. We arrived not long after the accident had happened and were surprised to see people putting out spot fires in the bush. Steve had the camera out straight away but I was more concerned about picking my way through the carpet of sharp rocks that covered the road. The police said we could pass, at our own risk. Steve got Devil through "the thick stuff" and then we were on our way. That night we heard that traffic control were on the scene and we suspect caravaners were held up for hours. When we see the ore trucks thundering by we always thought they were taking it pretty easy, we are a little more cautious now.

 

Early morning coffee and a good old yarn.

We moved our camp to Leonora and hung out around the fire pit with a bunch of full time prospectors. You could hear the miners stoking the fire from 4am. The billy was always on and everyone was made most welcome. We were even invited to join the communal dinner; it was a pleasure to enjoy the company of these outback dudes. Of course our 2lt cask of wine was long since empty. We had tried to replenish our supply in Cue but an indigenous funeral had capped the per person wine quota at one bottle. The same thing happened in Leonora; we are happy with these curfews as it helps vulnerable people cope with difficult life events.

 

With the gold price nearing $2500 AUD per ounce, gold fever is in the air, and the atmosphere is electric. One guy was seen going to work at the crack of dawn, brushing his teeth as he selected first gear. When we were in Kalgoorlie, a couple of days later, Mozzie walked into a Hannan St jewellery store to cash in his finds. It was like catching up with an old friend we hadn't seen for years even though we had only met a few days before.

 

Next town Alice Springs

From Leonora we went on a day ride to Laverton and back. I will always remember this ride as "the ride of the wedge tailed eagle" as we saw five eagles, all taking their turn on one road kill. Sadly, on the return journey, one of the eagles had taken its last breath and lay dead on the side of the road, his mates were nowhere to be seen.

 

Police cells, Laverton
Caretaker wanted me inside for the real experience,
I wasn't falling for that.

You can take a tour of the old Police Sergeant's house and jail. I was surprised to learn how "well to do" the house was appointed. Apparently, back in the day, the sergeant sat at the "top of the town" and was the one who entertained all of the town's important guests.

 

State Hotel, Gwalia

Reserve a day for a good look at the ghost town of Gwalia. Sitting on the colonial veranda at Hoover House, enjoying a Devonshire Tea, and overlooking St Barbara's active gold mine will live in my mind for a long time. As you make you way down the hill you will notice the derelict swimming pool, now on the edge of the pit and ready to fall in. Amongst the museum dwellings and restored sly grog houses, some folks still call Gwalia home; we didn't get chased by a mining town dog or a guy with a gun but there was potential.

 

Kookynie
two beemers & a Ford

From Leonora we planned to stay in Menzies, so we could take a run out to see the beautiful statues at Lake Ballard. On the way we enjoyed a good walk around the breakaways at Niagara Dam and then we rode on to Kookynie. Kookynie has been reduced to mostly rubble with a few building still standing and a few folks still living in town. The pub is open with a fuel bowser outside. We looked at the bowser and thought "dirty fuel? who would fill up with unleaded here." This turned out to be our undoing as when we arrived in Menzies the unleaded pump was out of order ~ woops. Even a last desperate effort to buy five litres of fuel from the local RAC guy (of which we are both members) was met with "sorry, I don't carry any fuel." This meant that we didn't have the fuel to ride out to the lake and then make it to Kalgoorlie. So we rode on to Kalgoorlie, 130km away, in the sure knowledge that there was going to be a "next time around."

 

York Hotel, Kalgoorlie

I have always been in love with Kalgoorlie and it made me sad to think that I had not visited the town for twelve years. We settled in for four nights and took our time to enjoy the stunning Federation Free Style architecture, jewellery stores, hotels and bars. Pizza on the balcony at The York Hotel and a steak and a pint of Guinness at Hannan's bar were memorable moments.

 

Kalgoorlie Town Hall

The tour of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, by historian, and born and bred Coolgardie local, was very engaging. It was enlightening to learn, contrary to what we had been led to believe, that engineer, C.Y. O'Connor, did not take his own life when the water in the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline did not arrive on time. The truth is that one year before the pipeline was complete O'Connor had had enough and committed suicide. He left behind all the drawings and details required to complete the project that he fully believed would be successful. I was very pleased to learn the truth about O'Connor because every time I have ridden east from Perth, I have thought of him with great sadness, taking his own life only hours before the water arrived in Kalgoorlie.

 

Super pit, Kalgoorlie

We had enjoyed so many experiences that our two weeks away seemed like two months. But when you are ready to go home, nothing can make you wait a day or two for more suitable weather for an enjoyable ride. On Friday 3rd September 2021 we packed up the tent and made Devil and Dwarf ready for the 600km ride home to Perth. The tent was covered in frost and the temperature was 2⁰C. It didn't get above 14⁰C all day, and when the clouds rolled in, not even the sun appeared to warm us through. Steve and I can never remember being so cold for so long on the bikes. We wore everything we had, and still the cold seeped into our bones. As Steve said when we pulled into our driveway "that was an achievement;" until next time...

Dawn of our last day