Warwicks Wander Our Great South Land: Part 1--From Devonport to Kalgoorlie (by Steve)

For those of you who are part of parkrun, my introduction will make more sense as we have now been on the road for four parkruns: Timboon and Mildura Weir in Victoria, Yeldulknie Weir Trail in SA and now Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA.

Koala along the Timboon parkrun course

Yeldulknie Weir Trail parkrun

And while our proposed expedition has a number of purposes—to visit our PIM padres, to meet with fellow Christians in small rural churches and to participate in parkruns—it is still our retirement trip.

Communion Table, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Original lighting, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Organ pipes, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Even after we had been on the road for only a couple of days I was beginning to feel more relaxed and less stressed than I have for such a long time. However, I must admit that I was a fair bit stressed yesterday in trying to park the van in the Goldminer Tourist Caravan Park here in Kalgoorlie, as I struggled to get it into the spot we chose with a tree and a skip bin being too close to where I was trying to manoeuvre the car. I ended up getting the van beside the concrete slab, but not as close as others have done.

Beaufort RV Park, campsite

Lake Bolac campsite

Lake Lascelles, Hopetoun, campsite

Wirrulla campsite

Ten Mile Rocks campsite

I guess the real lowlight of our trip so far, and a lowlight that I’m sure will continue for the rest of our journey, is the amount of litter beside the roads and scattered around many of the rest areas. I’ve taken to picking up a few bits and pieces at most areas where we’ve stopped for lunch, a break or for the night, but what is that little compared to what is lying around. I even thought of writing to all our premiers/chief ministers to suggest that they impose a litter tax of 1¢/litre of fuel for an independent body to supervise the collection of such litter. But, knowing me, I’ll never get around to following up on that idea. Another lowlight was the stretch of road between Madura and Cocklebiddy with a far higher rate of road kill than any other section of road we have thus far travelled. There were so many dead and decaying kangaroos, but at least they were food for the ravens and wedge-tailed eagles to feast upon. What a magnificent sight to see these majestic big birds soaring effortlessly on the thermals as they searched for their food.

It was sad to see so many rural towns where many businesses have closed up. In some communities there were rows of shuttered and vacant buildings—but this is part of our modern rural life due to factors like the droughts, young ones moving to larger towns for employment, the farms becoming larger and more mechanised so that there is the need for fewer workers and cheaper prices in bigger centres.

Maldon

Lascelles

Of the highlights there are many. There is our meeting with fellow Christians in the Noorat and Mildura Presbyterian churches in Victoria and the Cleve Lutheran church in SA. We have been warmly welcomed in each place. Then there are the parkrun events in which we have participated. I’ve managed a couple of age-grade records and even a first place at Yeldulknie Weir Trail parkrun, which is not a bad achievement for a 70-year-old runner—but the younger, faster runners were absent that day because of a football match they had to travel to as part of their competition.

For many people, the idea of the Nullarbor being a highlight would not enter their minds. It would just be a place to travel through to get to the other side while paying much higher prices for everything from fuel to coffee to snacks and to accommodation. Yes, everything has to be more expensive because each of these isolated roadhouses, which are for the convenience of travellers, must generate their own power and desalinate their own water. While we did rush across the Nullarbor to get to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun we intend to take our time when we head east in a few months so we can enjoy it more thoroughly. There is so much beauty in that region—beauty that is found in the almost endless expanse of saltbush, the variety of trees from area to area, the wonderful colours on the horizon at sunrise and sunset and they way the rising and setting sun changes the colours of the trees as well as the bird life just to mention a few things. This trip afforded us our first sight and photos of the Australian Bustard. I fell in love with these vast stretches of land and we are so looking forward to our return trip to spend more time around the different rest areas when we make our next crossing. I must add that again we’ve had rain while driving on the Nullarbor, though not the enormous downpour we had near Cocklebiddy on one return trip.

Australian Bustard

Rainbow across the Nullarbor

Salmon Gum, Ten Mile Rocks

Many towns have such wonderful architecture that has remained untouched by modernisation. These older buildings have a beauty that modern buildings, at least to my eyes, cannot approach. They are grand old ladies indeed—but grand old ladies that have lost some of their charm because of power and lighting poles, traffic signs, etc. We did enjoy out wander along Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie and Burt Street, Boulder admiring the old buildings, some of which are still occupied though others have been closed. Some of them, housing totally new businesses, have retained older signs to remind people about the original business that had operated from that site. We also drove to the Superpit Lookout and were overawed by the sheer size of this open cut it. Way below us, heavily laden dump trucks slowly inched their way up the inclines to transport their cargo to its destination. They almost looked as small as ants from where we were standing.

Ex-Welsh Congregational Church, Maldon

Maldon

Scotch Pie House, Maldon

Curdies River Railway Bridge near Timboon

Midnight Oil house, Burra

When we pulled up last night, having set up the van, walked the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun course to familiarise ourselves with it and do some shopping—including a jar of honey, it’s amazing what you want when you can’t have it because it can’t be brought across the SA/WA border—we have travelled exactly 4,000 km and our average fuel consumption is 16.4 litres/100km.

Other photos that took my fancy: