Saturday 10 September 2016

24. TO PERTH AND BEYOND

We finally made it down to Perth where we had family to visit with.  It was nice to be in a house for a change!  Before we left we decided to go and be tourists for the day, so first stop was the water.


As you can see it was pretty chilly down at Freemantle Harbour.  It was very interesting though to read all about the history of the immigrants, see the walls with immigrants names, and to see some of the statues.


Really good statues but sad to think that children this young were sent out here alone. To god alone knows what fate.
There was a steam exhibition nearby to we had to go check that out as well


Saw lots of old engines and learned lots of history from a volunteer, but didnt expect to see what must be the world's biggest lathe!  Was used for machining submaring prop shafts - insane.

But we were more than happy to leave the city traffic and crowds behind and head back into the bush.


Now this is the type of road that we prefer.  Quiet, peaceful and a lot more interesting.  And you never know what you will find.  


This place ended up being one of our favourite places.  Just a very small town but with a big heart. The people were so friendly, the caravan park was cheap and wonderful, and they had the greatest little museum.  It was also an area with another drawcard......


Big Rocks!  Nearby there were quite a few of these rocks, some with very interesting structures and an interesting history.  And they were big......that little spec on top of this one is Dave!


Beringbooding Rock has the largest rock water catchment in Australia. Built in 1937 by Sustenance Labour its tank can hold over 2 million gallons of water and cost 10 thousand pounds.   A wall was built to divert all the rain that fell on the rock.


This is just one small segment,  It was really fascinating to read the story of the wall, built during the depression.


All the concrete was mixed by hand on site, and when you see the size of the rock and realise just how much work went into it....amazing!


and there were always interesting things to discover.


Not a bad sized cairn!
and the views from the top were pretty spectacular.


One thing that did puzzle me was the large rocks on the top??  Where did they come from????
any suggestions?


There was also a couple of Gnamma holes - this one called Kangaroo hole.


and even a wave rock.


There were even forests on the top of the rocks.


and even off the rocks - more cool stuff to discover.. this insect hole still had the remains of the morning mist on its surrounding cobwebs.


There were several rocks that we explored at different sites,  all with different features.


Dave was checking out the fat tadpoles in this waterhole.

and where do these trees get their nutrients to grow??


although looking around, its pretty healthy countryside around here.
And we even found this little beauty.


a spider orchid.  Just beautiful.
We are starting to see some animals again which is nice, but these shingle backs are a pest on the roads.


I guess they go out on the nice warm gravel or bitumen to warm up, but its a good way to get dead.


Dave decided to stop and give this guy a second chance and move him off the road.
Then it was off to Kalgoorlie to check out the 'superpit'


It was very overcast, but an impressive sight, and the machinery was massive.


You can't really tell by these pictures how big they are but those little white boxes on the sides are not much smaller than a man!!  Each one costs a few million dollars and we saw about 30 driving around when we were there.
But the weather was coming in and it was all bad!  Next morning we woke to clear skies but the the fog started rolling in so we decided it was time to make tracks so....

Going-----


Going-----


Gone-----


Whew!  Just in time........

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