More than One Adventure





Home sweet home



 There's nothing quiet like going home after a long time away, and Laurie was so excited to be back in Perth after 12 years on the east coast, I swear she wanted to get out of the car and run to her sister-in-laws house, as we approached MT Helena and she may have been faster than our heavy rig was handling the "hills".




Kids have become adults, and twins were born , just as  waistlines,wrinkles, and gray hair have grown , but time doesn't always change everything . True friendships are still friendships even when unattended. So there was a lot of catching up to do between these two old friends. Conversations evolved around whose kids were doing what? who married who, and so and so got divorced, and the unfortunate few who had left this world for greener pastures. Who would have known that Laurie knew so many people, in her past life.

I sat patiently in the background thinking of fishing days in Broom, with an occassional well timed aha , yes , or really. When completely bored I kept the 5 year old twin nephews amused, so the girls could catch up uninterrupted. And it rained cats and dogs all week long.

 After 3 days we ventured out to Midland for my type of retail therapy, suitcase solar panels and 6 volt batteries. We also had a wonderful lunch at a place called 7th Avenue, which resembles an old English pub inside. Our friends from Darwin, Kaye and Rod caught up with us too for a very scrumptious hamburger lunch. It was interesting swapping our travel adventures from Darwin down to Perth as we had traveled different routes, and learned we must experience the coastal route next time. So many places to see.

After a very wet week in the Perth hills, which in all honesty was our first real wet in months, it was time to change locations and friends and head south to Serpentine.

Ruth and Geoff

A fruit orchard no less what a great opportunity to learn something new. Geoff and Ruth were such gracious hosts and helped to fix all sorts of problems and challenges with the car and van. Thankfully the weather improved, and the warm sunny days were used to clean both car and van, inside and out from the two ton of red mud and bull dust glued to it, from our out back travels.

Orange "cherry picker"

I also put in a couple of days packing oranges and lemons, mastering the "quality control" side of the operation. I never knew there was so much involved, with such a humble piece of fruit. Starting with the picking of the fruit, if the picker leaves some stalk on the fruit, it can prick other fruit making them second grade fruit, through no fault of their own. Also the difference between the size and presentation of the orange for eating compared to those used for juice, such as a navel with bumps is not first grade even though its as good taste wise and believe me there are some weird shaped oranges. The conveyor belt was challenging, traveling quiet fast too, for picking out the dud ones, but I really enjoyed the experience, thanks guys.
Whilst staying at the farm "Little Toot" our little flat bottom punt, dusted off the cobwebs and came to the rescue, in fixing a leaky dam, with a Chrystle type glue product ???
Wonderfully clean and beautifully sparkling, ,blue, fresh drinking water.

Bye the way the 100 ache lush green orchard is up for sale, such a beautiful farm, in such a beautiful part of the world, Serpentine.

contact us for further details.

Oh and dont worry about the lea, it's fixed.

Laurie took me past her old home which had seen many changes since she had left along with the old neighbor hood which had tripled in size. The new freeway and rail service was a huge transport improvement and we took advantage of the train and traveled from Rockingham to the city some 50kms in 17 minutes! I found the city of Perth quiet relaxing for a city, beautifully landscaped and easy to travel the free buses around town, which run every 10 minutes.

One of our expeditions was to the Perth mint, were we watched gold being smelted and poured into a bar formation, watching in disbelief as it turned from mouton lava to a solid and cold bar with in 2 minutes, absolutely incredible. I also picked up a 400 oz bar, man was it heavy. The tour included the opportunity to weigh ones self in the equivalent of gold, so its now official, I am worth my weight in Gold, I am valued at just over $3,million.

We both enjoyed the special effects of the London Archade for morning tea in the city.

A trip into Fremantle and the markets was high on the priority list, and I must admit for a market its friendly with good bargains and lots of busker's entertaining the crowds, I loved it.

From there we took a drive up the coast to Hillary's boat Harbour, arriving just in time to watch the AFL grand final, at one of the tavern's, much to Laurie's delight.



   

Perth City Bell tower



The range of busking entertainment, eateries and activities was vast and I think this type of development would be great back in Coffs Harbour along the foreshore towards the old quarry, it would bring it to life, food for thought.



Fantastic performer to classical music



Of all the Cities in Australia and I've now seen them all, I would have to say that Perth is the best and most livable, it is a beautiful and friendly city, and I look forward to another trip somewhere in the future.

Our three weeks in Perth just flew bye and I know Laurie was'nt ready to leave, but there is still plenty more to see and people to visit , and now that we have to be home for Christmas, yes its official I'm off to Thailand for my sons new year's eve wedding. Congratulations my boy, she's a good women.

We headed south to Busselton jetty which is an iconic heritage structure listed as the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. Construction began back in 1865 and being a mere 161 meters, in 1875 another 131 meters was added and over the following 90 years more extensions were added creating the current 1.8 kilometer length.

After more than a century of use and servicing over 5000 vessels including timber export, the Busselton Jetty was closed as a port in 1973 and once closed to shipping, government maintenance and funding ceased. Decline followed, along with crippling damage caused by cyclone Alby in 1978. A community group was formed to raise funds for the much needed restoration. By 2003 a massive 50% had been restored and by early this year 2011 a further $27 million has been spent to complete the restoration.

But it is not your ordinary jetty, it has its own railway, Underwater Observatory, Interpretive Centre and Cultural Heritage Museum, truly an outstanding achievement for the Busselton community, and well worth a visit.



Yallingup Bay to Cape Naturaliste



We arrived in the world famous Margaret River township in time for their "Flourish" festival. Which is a celebration of the Spring wildflowers and the unique landscape of the region. Flourish is about living with nature, sustaining the environment and enjoying the beauty of Margaret River.  From the stunning beaches to breath taking forests, picture post card scenery, in every direction. In particular we enjoyed the vineyards and phenomenal wine and food. Partaking of a little too much was the perfect excuss to decline climbing the Gloucester Lookout tree the following morning.



Gloucester Tree
(Forest fire lookout)

           

 

We explored the regions caves, coastlines and forests untill we were too exhausted to do much, desperately needing "A doona day" mother nature stepped in, raining cats and dogs making a day in bed in the van with a good book on the doorstep of "Valley of the Giants", a great option to rest and restore ourselves, just what we needed.

Reading fictional novels is  a new experience for me which I have developed over the 14 months we have been traveling around Australia, it really is relaxing, and I become so involved with the charectors, I'm truely amazed at just how good, reading is for you. I've discovered Clive Cussler you could say , devouring six of his books in the past few weeks  http://www.clivecussler.com.au/books.htm

But getting back to the story though, the following day the sun was back out and so was the wind, but hey we were off to the Valley of the giants.WA'S famous forest of gigantic Tingle Trees some growing as tall as 80 +  meters, making them one of the tallest species in Australia and found growing along side Red Karri , Marri tree's, in the ancient empire walk track. Once upon at time there was a real car parked in the truck of the tree.

The tree top walk , awsome, this spectacular lightweight bridge soars upward 40m into the Tingle foliage, in amongst the canopy was a wonderful experience, sighting many of the 280 native birds that live in the region. Although the walk way is made of steel it feels like an old wooden and rope extension bridge, and it had quiet a sway up due to the strong winds that day, very Indianan Jones I thought, most enjoyable.

One huge burly nose

                                  Laurie sat  in the original car, back in 1981


  


There are some places on earth that aren't necessarily top resorts with impressive amenities or activities, but become special due to their simplicity, and serenity. Peaceful  Bay on the south coast of Western Australia is one such place, its also very special to Laurie and her daughters having been their summer hide away for many years. Therefore we spent a pleasant two days walking down memory lane, reminiscing this unchanged "special" part of the world, that some how still is  "special."



Albany Harbour

 Albany was next on the itinerary with a brief catch up with an old gold fossicking mate, then a tour of this old whaling town, what a pretty spot.

Esperance was next in line for our investigating but due to their unfriendly dog nature we did not end up stopping, seems that Staffy's are on their "dangerous dog list" and there was no exception, so we kept driving, their loss.



Our girl Mylee







But who on earth could believe that "Staffordshire Terriers" are aggressive ? I think they have them mixed up with "Bull terriers" and a meeting with our special girl Mylee would prove them wrong, its not  in their DNA to be aggressive.




                

Blue Chalcedony bracelet





 

 We drove north to Norseman, where Ed, an old rock hound we had encountered up north, had given us a mud map to a spot just north of Norseman, were we would find golden lace Chalcedony. A beautiful golden coloured rock with lace like intrusions, this very unusual rock was often used in broaches made around 1940/50's when it was popular and abundant, but today its quiet a rare find.

With a free stop camp nearby in which to park up the van , we set about to find the spot Ed had told us of. We were not disappointed with his directions, finding our intended treasure immediately, having parked right on the spot. It was however very hard to select the right pieces to take, many were left behind having to give considering to all the additional weight.
                                                               Reminds me of a  hilarious carvaning episode of Lucile Ball.

So with a few more kilo's of rock on board, its now time to across "The Nullabore" One of Australia's great road journeys. Esperance to Ceduna which is still really out in the sticks, its 1400kms and boasts the longest straight stretch of road anywhere in the southern hemisphere 146.6 kms long, and dead straight.

Bye jingoes!

       But I'll save that story for another time.

Until then , its stay safe and keep digging.

BFN

( BYE FOR NOW)

Alan and Laurie

http://alan@gemseek.com.au

www.gemseek.com.au

..









Gold Country

We left Cue in central Western Australia having been instructed and inspired in the art of Gold fossicking and detecting, we were now headed for the serious stuff further south towards Kalgoorlie. Whilst in Cue however we had heard that there were quiet a few good finds happening around Sandstone in the lower Murchison district, famous for its bronzed landscape and breakaway rock formations and flocks of wild Budgee's.
So hard to photograph!

We found Sandstone to be like many old gold mining towns once supporting as many as 8,000 people in 1907 latest figures put the shires population at 119. And like Cue many of the buildings have been restored   to their former glory and service.

But it was the Sandstone gold we were after, so with fresh supplies on board we headed out along the Menzies road with our mud map in hand.

We were looking for a certain spot and a very well worn track, but hey there were so many well worn tracks and pulling a 20ft caravan through the bush is no easy task, so our first night we set camp in the first open space we found. The green grass which attracted us to that spot turned out to be a succulent ground cover plant which releases water when trod upon, in turn attracting the bush flies for its moisture, not a good decision, we were inundated with flies.

The next morning early we took of to find another camp spot, but found instead another prospector, who I will call "the pilot", in order to protect his identity, you'll see why shortly. Anyway the pilot knew the area well having visited on many occasions and was happy to have some company. He took us to a spot were he had previously found some gold and we all took off in different directions with our detectors. Even here fly nets were standard uniform and such a pain when you want to have a drink. The day did not produce anything but rubbish and its quiet amazing just how much rubbish is out there in the Australian bush almost as much as the abundant wildflowers.

After a hot sweaty day detecting its great to have a hot shower, made possible by a solar bag, which had been heating on the bonnet of the car. Privacy is not usually a problem when bush camping, but having company we made a few modest alterations to our set up.

The pilot however didn't feel the need to be private with his ablutions' but it was over looked that first night.

The next day took us to another camp spot with a few less flies, and yes finally some gold, nothing major but this was a promising indicator hopefully of things to come.

When we set camp this time we took the factor of privacy a little more seriously, parking our van some distance away and with our backs towards the pilot's van, however this seemed to encourage his nudity even more, to the point that unless he was detecting , or chatting around the campfire at night he was in his birth suit. His behavior certainly put a new incentive into wearing our fly nets I can tell you.

But it takes all sorts to make the world go around and besides being a nudist he was a very knowledgeable fellow, and a good conversationalist as well as a pilot and a character we will always remember.Not to mention the difficulty we had leaving the area, bottoming out on the rear end of our rig on several steep river banks.

Our 5 days produced four smallish nuggets weighing around 4 to 6 grams each and a Quartz with gold specimen, so we now have a grand total of just over half an ounce from our west Australian endeavors'.


It was time to head further south to Leonora and specifically a place called Murrin Murrin half way between Leonora and Laverton. I had read about this place in a prospectors guild to metal detecting called "Gold and Ghosts" volume two Western Australia by D.W.de Havelland. This book is a history of gold prospecting and I felt sure that we would find that football sized nugget at Murrin Murrin . http://www.nqminersden.com/Gold_&_Ghosts.htm

We certainly found the tracks and directions just as the book had described, and with in a few minutes of starting the detector I had my first piece 1.5 gramer, what a way to start fathers day. But that was as good as it was going to get, not long after a Ute appeared and the old fellow told Laurie that this was his active lease and we were steeling his gold so get going! Now what Laurie didn't know, was that I had heard rumors that sometimes fellow prospectors state your on their lease, just to move you away from a good patch. Anyway a trip to the mines department in the morning would clear that up.

 

They were very helpful in the Lenora dept of mines and we came away with topographical maps and lease title maps so that we would not stumble upon active leases again. We then headed for Malcolm dam just out of town to digest all this information and work out our next location for prospecting. That night a huge storm hit the area with gale force winds and hail stones, standing in side the caravan one felt you were in a boat, rocking violently from side to side, with dust blanketing everything in its path.

What a scary time, parked on the dam wall we thought we would end up in the dam, it was far worse than cyclone Yasi had been to us.

Before moving on we needed to fill our water tanks, so we pulled in to the Lenora pigeon shooters club were we met Gail an indigenous Australian. She had lived in the area many years and never been prospecting so did not know were we should go. Her passion was rearing Dingo's and she had three beautiful dingo's she introduced us too, and several other dogs she had adopted, a real animal lover. Another real life character 60+crippled with spinal arthritis her animals, her job as caretaker, and her love of the bush kept her going, it was a real pleasure to meet her.

Feeling like the pioneers of old we headed out just north of town with our maps and GPS to find virgin ground, and our big strike . We set camp beside a gravel pit an area with no lack of Mulga wood for the camp fire, just a pity the gold wasn't as prolific. We found that most of the free area's marked in white on the lease title maps were not gold producing land, anything that was, was leased, which was very disappointing.

Heading south again we stopped at Niagara Dam an area steeped in gold history but which also produced Chrystophase, we could do with a little gem hunting to boost the spirits. We had learned of this disused Chrystophase mine at Yerilla from Ed an old timer we had met up near Port Hedland. Ed has been traveling Australia in his search of gemstones for many years and was a wealth of information. We found the mine just as Ed said and we were like kids in a lolly shop , slabs of the Chrystophase everywhere and a huge hole in the ground were we could see it and dig it with in the ground, mother nature is remarkable.

We stayed in the area for about a week, with a visit to Kookynie a "living ghost town" were its only the Pub and publican's house still in use, and a carton of beer costs $60, the diesel sold there is $1.95litre.

There were several great bush walks we enjoyed, taking you around the dam , the falls , and many breakaway rock formations, and as in many other area's the wild flowers were prolific. Bye the way we did find a few more pieces of gold nothing to really write about, but adds to our first ounce.

Kalgoorlie was our next port of call and with supplies running really low, the sight of a decent shopping centre sent the blood pressure rising.

Kalgoorlie a bustling metropolis from mining, mostly gold but as the slogan says' "a great place to work rest and play". And boy how big is the "Super pit" which can be seen from space and is expected to keep producing well into 2020's. and is in fact producing more gold the deeper they dig. But its not all gold there are 800 different minerals to be had from this never ending hole.

Were massive earth moving trucks look like Tonka toys from the viewing platform.

 

But again like elsewhere one can not go detecting on any viable land as its all leased , and we were told people have leased every thing in the hope that big mining will buy them out, as is what happened with the Super pit, it came about by Mr Bond buying up leases back in the eighties, to facilitate one huge mine, and small people made a lot of money.

So our next gold fossicking expedition will have to wait till "The Golden Triangle" in Victoria, lets hope its not the same story there, or there will be two gold detectors for sale when we get home, its been very disappointing.
For now its off to Perth to catch up with family and friends, so stay safe , and may the wind always be behind you!
Alan & Laurie
http://www.gemseek.com.au/
alan@gemseek.com.au