Yesterday we lazed around for the morning, then drove out to The Granites (not the same The Granites we saw in Meekatharra) and the remains of a former mining town Lennonville.
The Granites
The Granites is an aboriginal site a few ks out of town and absolutely huge. We just drove on and on through very photogenic outcrops of granite over an area of many hundreds of acres.
When we thought we must be at the end of it all, we'd turn a corner and find something else to stop and climb or take a photo of. There are rock paintings, wells and secret places, but we couldn't find any of them. It was an enjoyable couple of hours poking around.
Not much remains of Lennonville apart from the old rail platform, a lot of broken glass and bits of rusty iron and a few mine shafts.
Today we made some lunch and went to Big Bell-another mining town site. It was created in 1936 and wound up in 1956 so it wasn't very old. It was interesting though. We figure the houses must have been sold for removal as there are heaps of concrete slabs still on the ground and there is most of a church and the hospital foundations and a huge hotel. The hotel once boasted the longest bar in WA and is in fairly good condition considering it is open to the weather and people to wander around.
Big Bell Hotel
Walga Rock
After lunch we went on to Walga Rock to view some rock art. I wasn't expecting the rock to be as large as it was or the art so interesting. After viewing the art, we took a drive around the rock-we travelled over 4 1/2 ks. It's one of a number of granite rocks in the area, but is the biggest we saw. It's not as big as Ayers Rock, but it was almost as imposing and wonderful to visit when you are the only people there.
On the way home we made a detour to a meteor site. I'd never heard of it, so wasn't suprised to find out it is the smallest known in Australia with a diameter of 21metres! Now that's a claim to fame!
Shearer's Quarters at the Abandoned Station
We travelled 300ks today-80 was sealed, the rest was on gravel mine, or station roads (which were mostly in excellent condition). We drove right through two station homesteads, one abandoned, one inhabited, we saw sheep, emus, goats, eagles and on the way home, heaps of kangaroos. It was a really, really great day out through lots of beautiful country.
Stone Cottage Near Mount Magnet
1 comment:
I love those stones in the Stone Cottage! Any building made of stones has my attention. Very beautiful - even after all these years. Thanks for the trip around Australia! :)
Post a Comment