After leaving Newman we travelled further south through Meekatharra.............a very unexciting little town, then after a nights rest travelled to Cue.
Cue's town population is 550, and its rural population is 105 but this town is very quaint and because the town became the administration centre for the Murchison Region after the discovery of gold in 1892 the buildings of that era, built from locally quarried limestone, still remain and are still among the most impressive in the region. The Post Office, Courthouse and Police Station are still being used for their original purpose. Travelling to Cue we found a lovely camp site (Lake Nallan) just 20klms north of Cue, so after exploring Cue, we filled our water tanks and travelled back from Cue to Lake Nallan where I caught up with the washing and Chris adjusted a few bits and pieces on the motorhome, we showered and settled in for the evening. The days are comfortably warm but the inland nights are cool to cold somewhere between 2 to 10 degrees!
Next day we ventured on to Mount Magnet – another town with a lot of past mining history. Here gold was discovered in the 1880's. Today gold mining is still mined at the Morning Star open cut pit. Gold is still being found around these inland towns and a lot of prospecting tourists visit in the hope of finding some gold! Along the way over the past couple of weeks has seen us capture the delights of the WA wildflowers – not quite as prolific as in previous years due to the lack of rain Western Australia has experienced this winter – apparently the lowest rainfall for the season in approximately 90 years! Another enjoyable camp night saw us camp about 80 klms west of Sandstone – not long after we stopped another couple from Tasmania also stopped for the night. After dinner and on sunset and the temperature was dropping Chris lit a camp fire and the four of us sat around chatting and enjoying the evening.
Next morning we woke to an overcast, cold day and travelled onto Sandstone – around mid morning the sun shone and the day soon became a pleasant winters day. Sandstone is another small but once booming mine town. (For a period of six years from 1907 Sandstone was a small city of some 6,000 to 8,000 people. It had four hotels, many cafes, four butchers, stores, business houses, police station and two banks.) Buy 1919 only 200 people remained in the town. Many buildings were pulled down and moved to other towns. Today the population is around 50 town folk and 119 in the shire! The town folk were ever so friendly and very welcoming. Today (Saturday) was one of their sausage sizzle and cuppa days along with a small market stall selling scarves, beanies and other nik naks. Even though it was only 10.10 am we enjoyed a sausage sizzle and cuppa and chatted with other tourists passing through this town. The small town has been beautifully restored from royalties from the mining boom and they had a fantastic children's playground for such a small community. The Tourist Information Centre and Heritage Museum was worth the visit (especially as it was free admission)! We visited the heritage site where once the towns brewery operated. The brewery supplied the local hotels until 1910 when the railway line from Mt Magnet to Sandstone was completed. With the railway came regular supplies of beer from breweries elsewhere and the Sandstone Brewery closed down. Not far from town the heritage trail takes you to London Bridge.........It is formed of weathered basalt and the rock formation is believed to be about 350 million years old. 'London Bridge' is falling down......with time and weathering the bridge is getting thinner and thinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment