. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Goldfields Sunsets are spectacular
I decided to use the Yarri road on my trip to Laverton. It heads out of Kal past the tip and through Kanowna. It's a good 'made' road for about 20 k and serves the Kanowna Belle gold mine as well as all the destinations north and east. From Kanowna, you cross the lake and go straight ahead forever. Well, not really, just follow the main road and watch out for signs. There are shortcuts and junctions offering possibilities, but if you find yourself meandering in a North-Easterly direction, chances are you are on the right track.
The country gets interesting past the Gindalbie Homestead. Up until then the road is serving several mining areas and is quite busy at times. It's a good dirt track, well graded most times, but likely to deteriorate quickly in wet weather due to all the mine traffic. Under certain conditions it could be closed to access . . . with hefty fines if you get caught for traveling. Though, it doesn't seem to stop all mine and station traffic. I suppose some people still have to get around.
Away from the operating mines the track gets a bit rougher. It's still pretty good but you may have to range wide across the road to avoid washouts and crumbling areas. Everyone does so feel free. Just watch out for the occasional road train.
The bush is pretty thick in places; a kind of emu bush which is a low scrub that blocks the view where it is thick. It gets a bit more sandy towards Yarri and old campfires can be seen off the road indicating overnight stops are common. The road branches at the Porphyry mine town-site. There is a mine camp there and a few houses. The road you need is the left branch at the junction. If you continue through this on the main road, it will take you to Yarri. When I was there mid 2004, new tracks were being cut. It may have come to pass that a new mine is working in the area. The amount of activity I saw seems to suggests this.
Yarri is off this new road towards the south. You can see the old battery from the new road and there are a couple of tracks you can take to get there. The day I went through was a week day and I didn't see anybody around so drove on. Yarri is a mass of rubbish. I don't know much about the place but if I wasn't heading further north, I would have stayed around the area for a proper look; especially down towards the salt lakes. Lake Rebecca, and Raeside towards the NE. Perhaps Gold And Ghosts would reveal more detail about this area.
I returned back to the junction and headed towards Kookynie.
The road away from Porphyry was a good deal rougher than the main Yarri road from Kal. Within a few kilometers a range of hills appeared on the right (north) side and they looked interesting too. Heck! Everywhere I go out here looks 'interesting', but I have to keep moving because I'm heading into the unknown by doing this trip . . . I'm well out of my safety zone out here. Little creeks cross the road regularly from these hills. They need to be treated with care as they could bust a spring easy with the load I'm carrying. In places there are signs of roving stock . . . genesis; Beef. I can't recall actually seeing any, but their little 'tokens' were everywhere. About halfway to Kookynie now and the track is becoming a road. All new earth-moving with sidetracks, warning signs, and so on. The work is recent because I slew from side to side in the soft soil. It must have been Friday . . . nobody was around. I ploughed through the mess and hit Kookynie around 3PM (winter time).
A mate from Kal had insisted I stop and pay his respects to the publican and his wife. So, after wandering around a bit to discover the right road into the derelict town (except for the pub and a few other buildings), I pulled up outside the bar.
This place is a community centre. It reminded me of what it used to be like in outback Australia before the rot took hold. I ordered a beer and introduced myself to the owners. They were glad to hear my mate was thinking of them and we had a beer together to celebrate the occasion. I have to tell you that the prices were cheaper than Kal for some things rolly's particularly. Almost everything comes from Kal. I guess you would have to be prepared to pay 'premium' prices away from the main drag, but the local community depends on fair prices and service to make life bearable here. The pub is an important, the most important part of this community. They have a caravan setup for travelers. You can get most of the services you require from regular parks; including fuel. The plus factor, for those looking for a bit of yeller, is the flow of interesting visitors and prospectors who travel through. There's many a story to tell at the pub after a hard days prospecting. It's a great stop.
I left after a couple of beers and headed north again. The country starts to open out as I go and I can see similarities to areas around Kal. It looks good for detecting, but the day is getting short so I find a camp site behind some bushes, along a fence line, and stop for the night. It's 'just a camp'. No fire to start or drainage to dig. I just throw-up my pup-tent and unroll my swag; I'm too stuffed after the rush to get away from Kal and the trip, saying good-bye to friends and suchlike. I walk around a little to check the ironstone area out, but apart from the sounds of a fairly large herd of goats away in the distance, I'm alone out here. Out comes my gas stove to cook some snags and boil enough water to fill a flask, then it's dark. Few cars, lots of bush noise, I hit the swag early and slept like a baby.
I woke early because I had dreamt I was on an ocean-liner. It was that constant grind, grind, grind of an 'out of balance' prop that woke me. I felt it rather than heard it. When I woke and got my senses working, I could hear a Railway loco grinding away in the distance as it pulled a load somewhere. It was 4 AM, I dressed and headed for the loo. I lit a fire and made a brew from my flask. The loco was gone, but the birds had started to stir and a faint hint of a dawn sat brooding in the east. It wasn't too cold for a change. I packed and headed off as soon as the dew had gone from my tent. Only one car since dawn, but another train rattled on its way over the hills; the track was out of my sight, but the empty train was easy to spot because of the noise it made. After a short time on the better track, I entered Malcolm. This is a remote rail terminal and shunting yard stuck away out in the middle of nowhere. I stopped and asked if I could drive through the weigh bridge because it had a digital read-out and I couldn't resist the urge to know how much my 'plant' weighted all up. I got a reading of 2660Kg. Mmmm! It hit 2745+ Kg after I got back in . . . I hit the main Leonora - Laverton highway and turned right.
I had been told that the Mt Flora area as a good spot for specimens. It took a bit of 'doing', but I eventually found my way there. I followed Map references using my GPS and dead reckoning. I knew where I was when I hit an abandoned and burnt-out Homestead by following a track that had been reclaimed by the creek. It was full of sand and the cement base was all that kept me from bogging-down. I headed WSW and ran into a flat area with a creek on the left (south). I decided to follow the Southerly track and reached a crossing. It looked OK, but I shifted into 4X4-Low before I tried it.It was only a dry stream after all . . . I soon became Bogged! I had forgotten to lower my tyre pressure and the hard cases dug-in quickly. I didn't even try to shift it. I just parked, switched-off and started unloading gear from the back.
.
.
This
is after I got out!
I had to carry everything up the bank and plonk it there. I decided rather hastily, to resort my priorities. I dumped a lot of gear. . . . if YOU got some, good on yer! Beside the track it would soon be spotted and nothing was rubbish. The weather took a turn for the worse and I decided the ground looked too deep so I quit and headed back to the highway and continued my journey to Laverton.
Laverton was a surprise because I didn't know anything about the place before I arrived. There is a BP roadhouse . . . store on the hill before you enter the main street. I stopped there as my first port of call. It's a very busy business with many aboriginal customers and a stock range that would put suburban shops to shame. They sell just about everything. If you want ammo, get it here. Clothing, car-stuff, camping, gardening, toys, you-name-it. It's a real treasure trove if you are a kid with five or ten-bucks to spend.
I bought an Iced coffee . . .
Laverton is not a big town. There are plenty of houses and a reasonable 'circle' layout similar to other mining towns I have known. You won't get lost. From the BP, if you take the left branch of the roundabout (the exit driveway) and follow it down around the hill and around, you will arrive at the Caravan park on your right. This is a popular stay-over for prospecting visitors and during the winter the park is pretty active. I decide to stay for the night because I couldn't get a shower without paying a full site fee. This was the first time I had come across this restriction, and in fairness, I found it to be the case over in Nth QLD too. The Caravan park has a pedestrian gate which comes-out beside the Police station in the main shopping street and is only a short walk to the pub. I decided on 'full-value' from my visit and did washing, long shower and headed for the pub for a squiz.
Now, being a poor white boy with no real exposure to a town dominated by our indigenous people, I played it as a chance to learn a thing or two. Silly old bugger, I hardly got inside the entrance of this fortress like construction before I went into the . . . wrong door; I chose the Public bar, as you do, I have never seen so many blackfellers in the one place ever. I wandered around and checked the TAB screens . . . like I knew what I was doing . . . Ha! Looked around at the noisy, easy going crowd playing pool and laughing at each others jokes . . . seemed pretty normal to me, except I was the only whitefeller I could see. I left and checked the other doorway . . . safe! Nearly all whitefellers and was I glad. OK, so I bolted for the comfort zone . . . Meals, music and the usual pub bullshit. I had learned something else useful that day. . .
I decided to get a cask of fine tawny port for my camp . . . as one does. I asked the girl and she said sure! It's twenty-bucks, but you can have it for fifteen! Mmmm, I thought. The last one I bought was in Leonora a while ago, and it only cost me nine-ninty-nine. . . bit of a mark-up here. I bought one and wondered at the price difference. I make no excuses, but the fact that there are two prices suggests some sort of 'criteria' I don't think much good about this at all.
That was it for the 'services' side of Laverton. The rest of my trip was spent camping in the bush and my further requests for shower only access were denied.
Laverton has a CentreLink office which is fully staffed. A stationary, Lotto and newsagent with some non-script pharmacy items; a Post Office, Tele-Center with dial-up access . . . slow, of course. This Tele-Tourist-centre holds the towns small library which is well stocked by my observation.
There is a General Grocery store/ supermarket style with Frozen meats and veggies Esc, etc. I'm hopeful, Bill, the owner, still carries Ginger-nuts, which are a prerequisite for my camps.
There are schools, crech and what you would expect in a small remote community. There is an airport.
Services include Diesel fitters and a tyre fitters and several other similar businesses. There is an alternative diesel supply from the Stock and Hardware supplies run by Geoff, who is a retired dry-blower and prospector; watch out for those dogs!
The Shire have an office and so do several other agencies (shared) I saw an Aboriginal Legal Service officer in town and wonder if he sees the 'others'? Perhaps, one could ask.
The police station is quite busy because they service a vast area. One of their huge prisoner transports passed me on the way to Warburton like I was standing still. They are moving people in and out of communities and, by the set-up of these units, they work in all weather.
Laverton has a cafe which is pretty much what you will find everywhere, chico-rolls, chips etc. It is off the main drag opposite the CentreLink office.
The town is well serviced with rental 'villa' style units here and there. These may be a practical alternative to caravan park living for those who intend to stay for a few months. Ask around or at the BP.
The nearest Mining Dept office is in Leonora.
What's happening around town?
Laverton is servicing at least three or four current working mines. The Huge Placer-Dome Granny Smith mine is to the south. Workers fly-in and fly-out, so their dollars mostly stay with them. I did see some 'shift-change' crews come to town though. There is another large mine even further south The Sunrise Mine. A new mine was getting ready to start to the east on the white Cliffs road and another existing operation is there too. I believe jobs driving dump-trucks would be available if you have the proper certification and it is up-to-date.
Prospecting; Plenty of country to try around Laverton. You will need to be careful to avoid some of the communities out in the bush. They are here and there and often do not want casual visitors. The stations should be another matter. Contact details are available at the shire if you need them.
Just wandering around seems to be the go with most visitors. I constantly met people camping in caravans and buses on-site throughout the region. In the past, a large mechanised dry-blowing process was used over all the best areas so you will not be the first by a long shot.. . . .
HERE"S my Journey MUD MAP
I camped out at Euro west. This is about 15k south of Laverton on the Granny Smith road. There are many good spots to stay for a week or two around this area. Most of the good spots have limited firewood so be prepared to drag some back each day, or change camp regularly. The entire area around my camp had been mechanically dry-blown and I found nothing. I spoke to other people who camped closer to the old Euro mine site and they had more success. Several 5 gram pieces were acknowledged and these were found on the old scrapings SE of the mine. There is plenty of country to try from Euro. Particularly North along an old track that heads back towards Laverton. This track hits several old mine areas and if you have the time to work slowly and carefully, you may hit on something. This track runs North-South along the western side of the main road and you can reach it behind the Euro dumps.
This page is a fine example of why I don't use MS Word or MS Front page. It screws around with formating . . . sorry Bill!