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- ROUTE FROM LAVERTON TO LAKE DOUGLAS
Great Beyond Visitor Centre at Laverton
For any visitor to Laverton the Great Beyond Visitor Centre is a must. Coffee, information, education – an hour well spent.
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- Loud shirt day.
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- Steve, Louise and Donna left the Road Trip here and returned to Kalgoorlie. Justin and Tayla also had to leave and make the long trip back to Perth.
It was time for Scotty to again be Trip Manager – it is his country.
We headed south out of Laverton and boldly drove around the sunrise Dam Mine along a mine road that locals use for transit through the mine. No one stopped us so we continued with the journey south.
Lake Carey
Our route took us over the southern end of Lake Carey.
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- Lake Carey, at the south-east end.
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- Lake Carey
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- Our convoy on the Lake Carey causeway.
This a heavily mined and prospected area. Evidence of years of mining is everywhere.
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- Flooded, disused open pit.
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- Driving between tailing dumps.
Bindah Breakaway
The spectacularly eroded geological feature at Bindah Breakaways is facetiously called Linden Bridge.
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- Linden Bridge at Bindah Breakaway.
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- Graham and Shaun.
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- Mike at Bindah Breakaway.
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- Bindah carpark
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- Bindah Breakaway
It was then onto Tin Dog Mine where we stopped for lunch. Scotty and son Jake gave us an extensive tour of their Tin Dog Mine and showed us their small-scale, gold-getting process.
Tin Dog Mine
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- Working a trench at Tin Dog Mine.
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- At Tin Dog Mine.
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- Gold bearing ore.
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- Kitchen at Tin Dog Mine.
We left Tin Dog and drove to a disused open cut pit where Scotty imparted further interesting commentary on the geology, at a level the layman could understand.
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- Scotty at a disused open cut pit.
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- Inside the pit.
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- Attentive audience.
With lots left to see and do we had to leave the mine and continue the Road Trip.
Edjudina
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- Abandoned house at Edjudina. It was re-roofed by a local mining company in recent times and used as an office.
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- Kim and Scotty at Edjudina.
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- Lots of these at the Edjudina Cemetery.
After visiting the Edjudina Cemetery we camped on the lee side of a hill to the west. It was still windy but it would have been considerably worse on the other side of the hill.
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- Edjudina campfire.
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- Our camp at Edjudina.
Yarri Station and Mine
Rob and Tracey volunteered to be Trip Managers for today.
There is a lot of mining and drilling activity at and around the Yarri Station Homestead. We tried to announce our presence but no one was interested so we drove on through. And later repeated the action as we found our route to Monaghan Well.
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- Yarri Station
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- Another abandoned building. Used for many years by mining companies but now empty.
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- The track south towards Monaghan Well was through the Yarri junkyard that was also doing duty as a storage area for drill samples, old tyres and other mining equipment.
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- Derelict truck at Yarri.
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- Steve and Shaun at the abandoned Yarri Pub.
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- The abandoned Yarri Pub.
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- Sue at the abandoned Yarri Pub.
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- Wire winder at the abandoned Yarri Pub.
Monaghan Well
Tracey called a stop at Monaghan Well after tackling a slow, overgrown track for many kilometres. It was her first time driving such an arduous track and, while a great experience for her, it will pale into insignificance after she drives more of our Road Trips.
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- Abandoned dwellings such as this are an all too frequent sight in the bush.
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- This dray is in remarkably good condition considering its age.
The track opened out and after negotiating several road realignments resulting from the construction of the Tropicana Highway we were able to find our way to Kirgella Rockhole for lunch.
Kirgella Rockhole
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- Helmi, Jeff and Mike.
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- Sue, Jeff and Mike.
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- Good water in the Kirgella Rockhole.
Old Pinjin
Old Pinjin has been in a ruined state for forty or more years.
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- Old Pinjin ruins.
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- Remains of swimming pool. Such a feature would have been an absolute luxury in such an arid area.
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- Maria at Old Pinjin.
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- A ship’s container repurposed as a water tank. Ubiquitous throughout the bush.
The water tank among the ruins is actually a repurposed ship’s container. These are seen throughout the bush, generally being used as a water tank.
Time was ticking away and we needed to head towards Kalgoorlie quicker and more directly.
Kanowna
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- Tracey at a grave.
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- Maria at a grave.
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- Site of the Kanowna Post Office.
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- Our group at Kanowna.
Scotty gave us tour of Kanowna. There’s not much left today but it was a roaring town in its heyday.
Lake Douglas
There was little left of the day as the convoy made its way to Kalgoorlie to refuel, resupply and have showers. People made their way individually to the overnight stop at Lake Douglas, a huge free camp area few kilometres west of Kalgoorlie. Wood was difficult to find but we managed to have a decent fire.
Jake Wilson’s personal tour of the small scale mining operation at Tin Dog Mine was much appreciated. Thanks Jake. Hope you find more gold.
The input from Scotty Wilson on the history and geology of the country we covered added greatly to the experience. Scotty readily agreed to delay the marking out of his mining lease so we could all be part of the process. With his son, Jake, he enabled the group to come onto a working mine, visit an open cut pit, and experience small scale mining up close. His knowledge on the broad history of the Goldfields is unsurpassed and his readiness to share that information was much appreciated.
The journey back to Perth was along Hunt Track to an overnight camp at Moorine Rock from where people made their own way home.
© 2022-2024 Kim Epton
1004 words, 47 photographs, one image.
Photographs
Micaela Anderson
Kim Epton
James Hay
Maria Wilson
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