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The Golden Quest Discovery Trail starts at Coolgardie and goes as far up as Windarra and then back down to Kalgoorlie.For us though we were never going to complete the whole loop,well at least not this time round.Our path took us up as far as Leonora including a trip out to Kookynie and Niagara and further along out to Lake Ballard, our change of plans happened when I went into labour unexpectedly four weeks early at Menzies.
After a quick 100 klm trip to Kalgoorlie hospital by ambulance with a near miss of a roo along the way, we made it there and by the morning on my birthday I a had baby girl.Can’t say how much we were thankful to the Menzies Ambulance ladies who insisted on taking me in by ambulance.For those of you who don’t know the town of Menzies is quite small there’s really nothing there except a Hotel & closed down roadhouse but with a operating bowser out the front and only a small community of people.
After a pretty shocking time during delivery with blood transfusions etc…..I spent the next four days in hospital while Peter & the kids parked at Kalgoorlie’s rest area in town.The hospital was good,nurses were great but the doctor reminded me of a worse version of Doctor House,he really couldn’t understand why the hell we would be living on a bus travelling Australia with so many kids.
The council of Kalgoorlie were fantastic! Ranger Allan personally told us that we had permission from the council to park in the towns rest area as long as we needed,this council is doing a great thing for tourism in Kalgoorlie,there is access to water for filling your tank up a dump point and of course the town rest area for self contained vehicles.Because of these facilities the travelling tourists are spending money in the town like we did.
This is our 5th baby we have had since travelling in our motorhome but for me this was the first time we weren’t plugged in or parked up in a park before hand so it was a little strange coming home whilst parked at a rest area but we did it and looking back wouldn’t change a thing apart from the doctor and I now have more of an appreciation for people who donate blood.The second day back from hospital we were on the move again but didn’t venture too far! we stayed out at the old town site of Kanowna for a few days before moving on to retrace the stretch we had previously taken on the way to Menzies ,this time though we went onward past Kookynie and explored new territory the rest is what follows just a few moments of our travels along the Discovery Trail
The Menzies Hotel
Out the back is camping available for self contained vehicles ,no power though.The charge is $5 a night which is donated back into the community
Menzies Roadhouse,it’s closed but there’s a caretaker there and the fuel bowsers are open for fuel 24 hours a day.It has a interesting collection of number plates,old signs and bit’s pieces.
The collection of number plates up the side of the roadhouse
Just another closed down store in Menzies
We were invited along to the Old Police Station,which is now privately owned.The original lock up is still standing in the back yard and we were lucky enough to be shown through!
The original door into a cell,women were on one side and men on the other,we could have spent quite some time there just reading the writtings on the wall from the people in lockup over the years!
One of the many statues throughout town
An old derelict truck or car is a common site around the old town site of Kookynie and plenty of mine shafts aswell ,most uncovered so we had to watch our step!
One of the few abandoned houses around Kookynie
It’s been a while since someone has lived here!
Walking down one of the main streets of the old town site of Kookynie.
While there we spent some time talking to a few long term campers at the hotel ,one guy who has done quite some travelling himself and a geologist who was telling the kids a thing or two about the area ,she also gave them a copper sample to study so that added to the core samples the boys had been filling their pockets with all day.
Niagara Dam ,along the dam wall
Niagara Dam, looking across the dam from the campsite.
The old Niagara Town site a few klm’s from Niagara Dam,we camped here a night and got the quad bike out the next day to explore,some of us walked and the rest used the quad.
Warming up by the fire,it was a cold one that night!
On the way to Niagara Cemetery a couple klm’s from where we had camped
Niagara Cemetery
At the Kalgoorlie hospital Beaudine and Elouera
Where we were parked at Menzies the night we called the ambulance
One of the many statues in the town of Menzies,this one was actually right where we parked the night I went off to hospital
Looking around the old town site of Kanowna,not allot left of a town that was once larger than Kalgoorlie
Getting a lesson in how diving rods work to find water and gold,our friend Bob was once a local of Gwalia ,he had many stories to tell of what life was once like when the town was alive,he is also the one working on repairing an old train to run from Leonora to Gwalia as a tourist ride
The old Gwalia swimming pool,which now sit’s right near the edge of a working mine
The Head frame from The Sons of Gwalia Mine,which is now preserved and placed here at The Gwalia Museum
Inside Hoover’s House on the hill,before becoming the president of America, Hebert Hoover once worked among the gold mines of Western Australia,this where he stayed while in Gwalia.
Inside part of the Gwalia Museum and the collection of old memorabilia from the past
Sitting out the back of Hoover’s House
Around the grounds of Hoover House
The view from Gwalia Museum over looking the working mine
Gwalia’s State Hotel, now closed and just sitting there in need of repair now owned by the mines.
Inside the Hotel
Inside one of the many miners houses
The old shops in the main street
Before the Gwalia State Hotel was built ,there was a sly grog trade going on,this building showed an example of that!
The town of Leonora which is only a few klm’s up the road!
Lake Ballard and The “Inside Australia” exhibition,the 51 sculptures that are scattered throughout the salt lake are derived from laser scans of the inhabitants of Menzies.While we were parked at Menzies we met a couple of people that took part in the exhibition.
After walking around Lake Ballard for a couple of hours,looking at as many sculptures as we could make it too! and climbing a few of the hills around the lake we headed back just on sunset.
For the night we stayed there at the campground and met a few other campers one a photographer who was there to take photos the next morning of the seven sisters (a star cluster)
