2011-07

July 2011

SUBARU 4WD NEWS

Meetings of

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC.

are normally held at

7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the

Rotary Hall, 55 Sandgate St., South Perth

Subaru 4WD Web Site: http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC

P.O. BOX 434, SOUTH PERTH, W.A. 6951

Page 2

SUBARU 4WD CLUB NEWS

2011 COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT: Tony Richards 9386-7705 [email protected]

SECRETARY: John Cahill( Acting) 0439 922 338 [email protected]

TREASURER: Keith Wilcox 9344-6830 [email protected]

SOCIAL ORGANISER: Tom Minto 9382-4678

TRIPS CO-ORDINATOR: David Peck 0402177886

EDITOR: Joy Unno 0429473709 [email protected]

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Rob Griffiths 0411249933

Jim Wilcox 6467-7063

Keith Low 9459-3358

Ian Johnson 9448-5419

MERCHANDISE: Tony Richards 9386-7705

WEB MASTER: Karl Boeing/ 9341-5087

Rob Griffiths 0411249933

[email protected]

4WD ASSOC DELEGATE: David Peck/ 0402177886

Tony Richards 9386-7705

M’SHIP CO-ORDINATOR: Keith Low 9459-3358 [email protected]

PROPERTY OFFICER: Peter Andruszkiw/Simon Newton

Club member of the year 2010: Rob Griffiths

LIFE MEMBERS

Fred Offer, Keith Anderson, Jonel Householder, Ray Stewart,

Ian Johnson, Peter Andruszkiw and Ron Caunce.

Page 3

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of W.A. INC

Fellow Members,

Kimberley Capers has now come and gone! Jeanette and I arrived home on Saturday 2 July (down the coast) and the others arrived home a day earlier (inland). It was a great trip, even though, very disappointingly, we could not get to Kalumburu and Mitchell Plateau because of damage to the roads and the amount of water still around. Substitute destinations were Mount Elizabeth Station and Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater. More on the trip in later editions of the mag!

I would like to sincerely thank Phil Read for very kindly agreeing to act as Secretary, for the balance of the year until the AGM. Welcome to the Committee Phil!

A final plug now for our speaker at the July meeting (this month)! Dr Christopher Dunne, Senior Research Scientist, Flora Conservation and Herbarium Program, DEC will be presenting to the meeting on dieback in WA. It should be a very interesting presentation, so please make an effort to attend if you can.

A booking has been made at the Yanchep Inn for the Club’s Annual Dinner on Saturday 15 October. The Club has not been to this venue before, so I am looking forward to the experience. We will be in the Banquet Room. Details will be published on the website.

I look forward to seeing you all out on a Club trip, perhaps an extended trip.

Regards,

PRESIDENT’S REPORT July 2011

July (this month) General Meeting Speaker

Dr Christopher Dunne, Senior Research Scientist, Flora Conservation and Herbarium Program, DEC will be presenting to the meeting on die-back in WA. It should be a very interesting presentation, so please make an effort to attend if you can.

Page 4


Hi All,

The Kimberley Capers Crew has made it back after a number of revi-sions to their trip. It sounds like they had a few adventures on the way and I look forward to reading the trip reports to find out the details.

The group that went to Walga Rock to send them off were disappointed that they didn’t get a chance to view the art work at the rock as unfortu-nately they got rained out. We will have to reschedule this trip at a later date (and make it a longer duration) as there are a few interesting things to see in this area.

We have had to cancel the midweek day trip to the Dowerin Field day due to lack of numbers, however if you want to go on your own it’s an easy drive.

We have finalised a couple of day trips as indicated in the calendar.

In addition to the regular Lancelin trip the weekend after the 4WD show in November we have decided to give people the option of going up on the Saturday, view the Pinnacles and camp over night. They will then meet up with those doing the Lancelin trip on the Sunday.

Cheers David

July 30-31 Myalup cabins – Christmas in July – TL - Keith W.

Sun 14 Aug Mundaring Powerlines TL- peter A or Tony R

August 27-28 Camp oven cookout and Gymkhana Toodyay - TL John C

11 Sept Wandoo North Day trip- TL David P

September 23-25

Fitzgerald NP – Quaalup – up on Website. TL Nina

15 Oct Annual Dinner-Yanchep Inn

LWE Oct 28-30 Subarogain – Pemberton area – TL Phil and Liz R.

18-20 Nov 4WD Show

17 Sept Restaurant Meal Eli's Tent

26-27 Nov Pinnacles-Lancelin weekend trip

TRIP CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT July 2011

Page 5


Club Annual Dinner – Saturday 15th October, 2011 Yanchep Inn, Yanchep National Park, Yanchep, WA

The lovely Banquet Room at Yanchep Inn where we will en-joy our Annual Dinner

The historic Yanchep Inn within the surroundings of Yanchep National Park is a pretty, historical venue, perfect for our Annual Dinner. Com-bining first class cuisine and

service with the serene and tranquil surroundings of the Park, located just 45 minutes from Perth it is the first time the Club has visited here for the Annual Dinner.

Built in 1936, from locally sourced jarrah and limestone the Inn has had an interesting history. The RAAF took it over in 1943 during World War Two as a rehabilitation centre for servicemen. After the war, the Inn re-turned to private hands. The Inn became known as the “Honeymoon Ho-tel” as numbers of people marrying and enjoying their honeymoon in beautiful settings rapidly increased. There is still a military link, as there is a picture on the wall where the 10th Light Horse are portrayed charging the enemy and the local RSL club hold Anzac day memorial there as well as regular meetings.

The Inn today is a heritage listed building and remains as a proud reminder of our history in the spectacular Yanchep Na-tional Park. Nearby are the caves and other attractions in the national park.

TRIP PROMOTIONS / INFORMATION

Page 6


The dinner menu and cost are still to be finalised. Accommo-dation at the Inn is available at various tariffs, depending on whether you choose to stay at upmarket motel units or in the historic old Inn itself. The old hotel rooms are $105 a night for room plus buffet breakfast included the next day. The rooms are clean and open onto private verandahs over-looking parklands. There are some 21 rooms available in the old Inn itself, some with extra beds for family groups. Members wishing to stay should contact the Inn direct on 61 8 9561 1001.

Other accommodation options include units with spas and modern facilities.

Members should contact the Inn for details, or if camping, the Capricorn resort, nearby is an option. The Inn is clean and comfortable but basic, with bathrooms at both ends. With open fires, weather per-mitting, and the charm of leadlight windows, the beautiful Banquet Room overlooking the gardens should be a lovely place to spend some time together.


Page 7


Page 8


YARLOOP- BADEN POWELL DAY TRIP

SUN 31ST JULY

Come for the day trip joining

the people staying at Myalup

cabins as they return

home. This day trip is 4WD

Days out of Perth trip #14 in

reverse. It starts at Yarloop

and travels along a number of

forestry tracks through Lane

Pool Reserve before returning

to Perth via Dwellingup.

We go past the old forest department settlement at Willowdale which is

now an arboretum past the site of Hoffman’s No.1 Sawmill. Then follow-

ing the bank of the Murray River past pine plantations and the many

popular campsites at Lane Poole reserve.

A lot of the forestry tracks follow what was one of the largest bush rail-

ways in the state which was part of the narrow gauge logging railway net-

work servicing Millars timber mills based at Yarloop.

Members can join the trip on the Club website.

Meeting Details

When: 9:45 for a 10.00am start on Sunday 31st July 2011

Where: Myalup Pines Cottages, Forestry Road, MYALUP

Bring: Full tank of fuel, food, drink. CB radio

Contact: David P 0402 177 886


Page 9


MOVIE NIGHT 16TH JULYMOVIE NIGHT 16TH JULYMOVIE NIGHT 16TH JULYMOVIE NIGHT 16TH JULY

As luck would have it (great timing?), Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows Part 2 (ordinary and 3D) opens on Thurs-

day 14 July and I’m a big Harry Potter fan. Are there any

other Harry Potter fans out there?

If you are not a Harry Potter fan and would prefer to see

something else, that's fine. Check out Coming Soon on the

Event Cinemas website:

http://www.eventcinemas.com.au/Movie/ComingSoon

Session times are not available yet. It will be the last ses-

sion before 5.00pm, with an option for dinner afterwards at

a local eating establishment - details TBC.

I expect to be able to organise discount tickets @ $12.00

each.

Tony R.

Email: [email protected]

Page 10



SUBAROGAIN-PEMBERTON AREA

FRI OCT 28TH -SUN OCT 30TH It will be a novelty for all of us which I had great fun planning.

I have realised that there is enough time for some additional activities so I thought the following itinerary would be fun to capture more of the area:

People arrive Thursday night / Sat Morning.

Friday morning - Morning tea from 10:30 am at the Berry Farm (their waf-fles are excellent)

Friday afternoon - 1:30 pm onwards - SubaRogain dry run. This will in-clude a trip into D'entrecasteaux National Park and some Forestry tracks just south of Pemberton.

Friday night - 9pm briefing - SubarRogain rules, road updates from DEC, what to expect in the Roagining information pack and trip planning tech-niques.

Sat morning: 8:30 am Registration 8:45-12:15 pm trip planning and preparation

Sat Afternoon: 12:30 onwards SUBAROGAIN

SAT Evening - Finish at the Pemberton Pub, scoring, marking and drinks

Sat night - Free time scoring, marking and drinks and dinner.

Sunday morning - must leave caravan park by 10 am unless other ar-rangements are made

Sunday lunch to early afternoon - hike through Shannon National Park

Sunday afternoon - home.

Page 11


Stationary to help plan an effective trip

1. sticky tape

2. note pads, pens and pencils and erasers

3. Different coloured highlighters / coloured pencils

4. Calculator

5. Card table

6. pins and corkboard

If you have any maps of the South West, especially detailed maps of D'entrecasteaux NP, Pemberton area, Walpole to Auguta, you will find them useful.

Pemberton Caravan Park.

I have booked 10 sites but everyone will HAVE TO PAY OWN DE-POSIT before the 30th September. Just mention that you are from the Subaru club wa and the sites are booked under my name. I will also email the Pemberton caravan Park with the list of registered names so they know who to expect to call.

YOU will have to provide the follow details:

1. Car registration

2. Number of people per site

3. Whether they will have a tent caravan or camper trailer.

The Pemberton Caravan Park contact details are as follows.

Ph:(08) 9776 1300

email: [email protected]

Costs per night

$35 for 1 or 2 adults

$7 per child 3-11

$10 for each additional person.

Full Details of Rules, etc., are available on the Club website.

Phil Read

Page 12


MUNDARING POWERLINES SUNDAY 14TH AUGUST

Our regular Powerline trip is on again. A

chance to learn or hone up our skills in hilly/

rocky country. This area close to Perth

gives us a chance to practice in terrain that

you may come across when venturing up

north or down south and you have to make

a decision as to whether you can success-

fully and safely get in and out or just get

through. As they say, do it often enough

and it becomes easy.

We have had first timers on this run and they have enjoyed the day.

Likewise the experienced driver can also be challenged.

Details are on the Club website or call David on 0402 177 886


Page 13



CAMP OVEN COOKOUT & GYMKHANA Sat-Sun 27-28th August

Come join us again for a weekend of good company, good food, good fun and play as we cook our favourite camp oven recipes around a great big fire in a sheltered camp site next to a creek before we have a good night’s sleep prior to playing in the cars on the Sunday.

We had such a good time last year we thought it would be good to try the event again at a time when there might be bit more water, is slightly warmer and when there are not a lot of trips in progress, so more people can come along.

Peter’s farm near Toodyay has a large flat area where we can try our skills re-versing and driving through witches hats in manners which do not bring too much embarrassment to the drivers, plus it has a whole range of hills, valleys, streams and tracks of varying degrees of difficulty where we can see what the cars and we as drivers are capable of doing. On top of that there is a large camping area (with flushing toilets not far away) and a campfire pit that will be fully stocked with wood for us to enjoy a winter’s night camp fire.

The idea is to go up to the site at about 4pm on Saturday the 27th to set up for the Camp Oven Cookout and camping overnight. Plan to share the product of your camp oven with others and to enjoy theirs as well. If you can indicate what you would like to bring on the web site so we end up with a good range of dishes and desserts!

On Sunday morning the 28th at about 9:30AM we will split into 2 groups. One will go off with Peter exploring around the property trying out those challenging traverses and being surprised with what the cars will do. The other will try out the gymkhana events – different to last years. After lunch we will swap the groups around to have ago at what the other group had done.

The cost of the event is $15/car overnight Saturday and $25/car for the Sunday events coming to a total of $40/car for the full event. See notes for rendezvous and address of event. If you would would like to participate in any or all parts of the event please register you interest on the website or call John on 0439 922 338.

Page 14


CLUB CALENDAR

July2011

S M T W T F S Tue 5th: Committee Meeting

Sun 10th: Lake Clifton, p 17

Tue 12th: General Meeting

Sat 16th: Movie Night Innaloo, p 9

Thurs 28th: magazine articles deadline

Sat 30th-Sun31st: Myalup Cabins, Xmas in July

Sun 31st: Yarloop-Baden Powell day trip

31 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

August 2011

S M T W T F S Tue 2nd: Committee Meeting


Sun 14th :Mundaring Powerlines p 12

Sat-Sun 27-28th: Camp oven cookout & Gymkhana -page 13

Wed 31st: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

September 2011


Sun 11th: Day trip Wandoo North


Sat 17th: Social, Eli's Tent restaurant

Fri Sun 23rd-25th: Quaalup Fitzgerald NP p 15.

Thurs 28th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 28 30

Page 15


Potential members are most welcome to come along on any Club activities before joining. Please phone the Trip Leader for further information.

Register with the trip leader if you are wanting to join a trip or social. Also contact the trip leader if you have to cancel, as we don’t want to wait for someone who does not turn up!

Some trips are ideas only and may be subject to change. Some of the later trips need trip leaders – volunteers please.

SCHOOL AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

School Holidays: Jul 9 -Jul 25, Oct 1-Oct 17, Dec15-Jan31

Public holidays: Oct 28, Dec 26 & 27, Jan 2, Jan 26

October 2011


Sun 9th: Day Trip tba

Tues 11th: General Meeting

Sat 15th: Annual dinner Yanchep Inn p 5

Wed 26th: magazine articles deadline

Thurs 27, Fri 28-Sun 30th: Suba Rogaining p10.

30 31 1

22 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

November 2011

S M T W T F S Tues 1st: Committee Meeting

Sat 5th: Social tba

Tue 8th: AGM/General Meeting

Fri 18th-Sun 20th: 4WD Show

Sat 26th-Sun 27th: Pinnacles/Lancelin

Wed 30th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

Page 16


Page 17


THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE HELD BY

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB OF W.A. INC.

Please send articles and photos to the Editor by the Thursday before the end of the month (earlier is better).

Email: [email protected] in Word format or plain text

Subaru 4WD Club WA Website:

http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au


LAKE CLIFTON EXPLORATION

DAY TRIP SUNDAY 10TH JULY

Lake Clifton is a long linear lagoon in the Yalgorup National Park about 40km south of Mandurah. It is famous for stromatolite structures called thrombolites which line its Eastern shore for 7 km.

Come for a day's drive down the Forest Highway and then up the Old Coast Road exploring the area's attractions including:

♦ The Thrombolite Discovery Boardwalk

♦ Lake Clifton Winery

♦ The Old Lime Kiln

♦ Lake Clifton Bakery & Tavern (possibilities for lunch)

♦ Preston Beach (if there is time)

More information at http://www.lakeclifton.com.au/

Time and meeting place details are on the Club website:

www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

Otherwise ring Joy on 0429473709.

Page 18



‘Christmas in July’ 30-31st July 2011

A ‘Christmas in July’ is to be held at the Myalup Pines Cottages 142 km south of Perth. We have se-cured three cottages and the hall, more cottages might be available if we get more numbers. Each cottage holds eight people and you can book your place on a first come first served basis with a de-posit of $10 per adult and $5 per child. Cost will be $20 per adult

and $10 per child for the cabin. Each family/couple is requested to bring a main meal or dessert to be shared, which can be prepared before you come or cooked in the halls kitchen. It could be a casserole, a roast which can be cooked in a weber, or a hot dessert with custard or cold dessert with ice cream. Single members please bring vegetables, salad or rolls and butter. When putting your name on the list please put down what you will be bringing.

On Sunday we are hoping to run a day trip leaving from the cottages at 10.00am so anyone not staying can come down and join the trip.

What to bring:

Sheets, pillowcases and blankets or a sleeping bag; drinks and pre din-ner snacks, breakfast for Sunday and lunch if you are coming on the day trip. Each chalet will also need to supply tea towels, dish washing liquid, a sponge, matches and firelighters

Note: each cottage is to be swept out and cleaned before we leave.

Contact: Keith W. on 9344 6830

Page 19


Quaalup Quest – Fitzgerald River National Park

September 23, 24 and 25, 2011

– optional extra day Sept 22

Here is your chance to visit the Fitzgerald River National Park, with over 1,800 known plant species - 250 of these being rare and 62 only occurring within the park. There are a greater number of flora species in Fitzgerald River NP alone than exist in the whole of the

The weekend will have a wildflower theme, as the season should be in full swing with the rare Quaalup Bell and stunning Royal Hakea in flower. There will be several guided walks, including a wildflower walk, a bush sun-downer, and an easy climb up West Mt Bar-ren. There is also excellent kayaking in the Gairdiner River - access just 2k from camp - as well as whale watching from Pt Ann.

Please note that this trip will NOT be on the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend as

originally planned, as that holiday has been moved to the end of October – no good for wildflowers! So you may need to arrange a day off to make the three day trip – why not take two days off and really relax? It is outside of school holidays so there shouldn’t be any crowds!

Unpowered Camping Accommodation: Please register with trip leader Nina or club website; first night’s camping fee as deposit by Aug 2011.

Other Accommodation: Apply direct to Quaalup Homestead at [email protected] or 98374124 (please do not ring before 10am).

Accommodation (other than camping) is limited, so if you don’t want to rough it, please book as soon as possible.


Page 20


TRIP & SOCIAL REPORTS

The Real Warriedar Wanderings

ANZAC Day 25th April

It had been a clear night but not too cold with a light dew in the morning. I went for a walk down the road after breakfast to a small breakaway that overlooked Mongers Lake and the colours were great at that time of day.

Keith, Fiona & Teleah, Travis & Katie and Robert & Wendy left for home at 8:30 and Ian & Nina left a bit later.

John & Val and Dawn went for a day trip to Paynes Find, leaving the rest of us to get on with the real ‘Warriedar wanderings’ capably led by Jim who wanted to try to get to the

northern border between Warriedar and Thundelarra. We passed by the abandoned Reid’s ridge mine to have morning tea was at Martins Pool well which had 1977 in the cement on the water trough. The boundary had a couple of steps in it and it was a bit of a challenge to find the best track as there were numerous cut lines left from mining exploration in the area. The lead changed a few times as we backtracked or tried vari-ous side tracks some of which had extensive washaways after the re-cent rains in the area. I was in the lead for a while and saw a well fed feral cat run across the track in front of me. We made it to Pickada well which was on the edge of a clay pan and had 1960 in the cement on the water trough. It had one of its two empty water tanks lined with a large tarp and we don’t know why as the windmill was bent over just above ground level and had no blades. Leaving Pickada there was one particu-lar washaway that we gingerly negotiated and I was impressed by the performance of the diesel. We had trouble heading north to the bound-ary so we headed northwest down numerous dead ends and stopped for lunch under some trees by a creek bed which had a steep washaway which caused me to scrape the bullbar and towbar as I crossed.

Carrying on we passed a caterpillar nest the size of a football hanging from the branches of a tree by the track and ended up at Chulaar well

Page 21


which looked better than the others but it was dry unlike the others which still had water in them. There was a creek bed and tallish trees which looked good for camping, maybe next time? Time was getting on so we started to head back south. Karen was in the lead and she came across a lady by the side of the track who was prospecting with a metal detector and part of a club. She gave directions to an old building close by and we went to have a look. Jim found a point of interest on the map which was the other direction and we went that way first as he was now in the lead when we all turned around. It was a good find as it was an old mine site which had numerous hand dug shafts, an old boiler and if you looked carefully the outlines of big corrugated tanks. There had been recent exploration also as the adjacent area had been bulldozed and had hundreds of sample bags lined up in rows and a tin shed la-belled the “Mugs Luck Tavern” dated 1987. Back the other way with Karen in the lead again she took us to the ruins of the old stone build-ing she was told about though there was very little to see apart from some old bottles scattered around.

Everyone was keen to get back to camp by now and Jim had us there in time for beer o’clock by three minutes.

John & Val and Dawn didn’t have any luck getting their hot chips and cold beer as the road hose at Paynes Find was closed for renovations – how disappointing.

Most of us topped up with fuel and I put 20 litres in which gave me an average fuel consumption of 7.2 litres/100 Km since leaving Wubin 747 Km ago.

That evening there were swarms (?) of dragonflies which John said heralded a change in the weather and later that night we were rewarded with a show of lightning as a band of clouds passed to the south of us.

Val spoiled us all when she made pancakes for us all for desert – thanks Val. David P.

Page 22


SUBI SHOP – CLUB MERCHANDISE

(Available to Club members only)

The Club has a number of “standard” merchandise items for sale and the Mer-chandise Officer can also arrange for the purchase of Zazzle merchandise items, all with a Club logo on them. Contact Tony R. for full list.

ZAZZLE: The website address for Zazzle is http://www.zazzle.com.au/

The Club logos are owned by (copyright property of) the Club and cannot be used by anyone on any merchandise item or in any other shape, form or man-ner without the Club’s permission. Accordingly, the Club reserves the right to refuse to permit the use of a logo on any Zazzle item where it does not think that the proposed use is appropriate.

How to use Zazzle website

Once at the website, search for the product you are after. There are approxi-mately 30 different product types. Most of them have a “Create Your Own” button.

Click on the “Create Your Own” button.

For some products you have a choice of base item which is used to “Create Your Own”. Other products only have one base item. Where available, click on “Choose your colour and style”.

Choose the item, style and colour that you want and make a note of these de-tails and the price.

Decide which logo you want and, if you can choose position, where you want it. If you can add text, decide what text you want and where you want it.

To order the product, send all relevant details (see points 5 and 6) to [email protected].

An image of the finished item will then be emailed to you, together with the total cost, which will include a shipping charge.

If the finished product looks as expected, pay the cost to the Merchandise

Officer (cheques payable to the Club) and the item will then be ordered.

INFORMATION

Page 23


WALGA ROCK DAY 1, FRI 3RD JUNE

Due to other commitments, the

trip up to Walga Rock on Friday

ended up with just myself, Simon

& Anne and John H (going solo

as Val was unwell). We decided

to start a bit earlier and I was the

last to arrive at Ginger’s for a 7:30 departure. We headed up the road

and stopped at the bakery at Dalwallinu for morning tea and fuel at

Wubin. Paynes Find was under new management but closed so we

stopped for lunch in the bush nearby. Our aim was to get to Cue early

enough to see the photographs that are housed in the old “Gentlemen’s

Club” which is now the shire office. We made it and what a wonderful

collection from a bygone era when Cue was a thriving town with a popu-

lation of 10,000. This is definitely worth a visit next time you are passing

through.

We headed out through Austin Downs station to Walga Rock which is

about 50 km from Cue. When we arrived there were a couple of cars

there but Simon knew of a more private campsite and we set up our

tents there in the lee of the Rock. John soon had the billy on and we

skipped nibbles and went straight into dinner as it was getting dark. A

pleasant evening around the campfire was spoilt a bit by annoying

midges but we all managed to stay up until after 9:00. David P


Page 24


AT WALGA ROCK DAY 2, SAT 4TH JUNE

Woke to a pleasant morning, not cold overnight due to a light cloud

cover. Wandered up from camp to have a look at the aboriginal art gal-

lery in the rock overhang, a very impressive sight! Speculation has been

rife about the painting of the ship, survivors of the early ship wreck per-

haps, don’t think so, what closely resembles a funnel is in the painting

and although the Dutch were great sailors, they did not invent steam-

ships.

Some say the Chinese station cook painted it, my money is on him. A

similar painting is said to be somewhere on Burnerinmah station. May

be worth checking out.


Page 25


We all climbed the rock and walked end to end, up and down, climbing

big bundies on the top. A bit of drizzle set in by lunch time.

Did an excursion after lunch to check out another nearby rock but could-

n’t find a track to it. Collected some firewood for the evening when

Tony's group would arrive but rain set in and started to get serious.

Granite country is not good in the wet so Dave used his Sat phone to

call Tony’s group and arranged to meet in Cue.

Our group, stayed at the Queen of the Murchison Hotel, no longer a pub

but nice and quiet with a lovely lady running it. We had a surprisingly

good meal at the only remaining pub in town. Woke during the night to

the sound of heavy rain, glad to have made the decision to abandon

camp. Simon & Anne N.

Page 26


Walga Rock/Kimberley Capers Day 1 Sat 4th June The small group gathered as planned at Ginger’s on a cool morning and got away by 8 am to chase the Friday mob north. The trip went well and the improvements on the Great Northern Highway were appreciated as we took advantage of several passing lanes to get past heavy loads.

On a short stop at New Norcia, Keith displayed his powers of height esti-mation by driving into a car port that had about 10 mm of clearance above the roof pod. Then it was quickly back on the road and northwards (except when we were going directly eastwards – a peculiarity of the Great Northern Highway between Miling and Dalwallinu) until our fuelling and morn-ing tea stop at Wubin. It hadn’t got much warmer and most of us were well rugged up against the cold as we had morning tea and, as is so often the case, discussed different vehicle set-ups. Rob and Wendy’s setup for the Kimberley trip was pretty spectacular with running water, an amazing electrics panel, LED strip lighting and even exter-nal hooks for hanging rubbish bags etc.

After morning tea we moved on towards Payne’s Find under cloudy skies. The most significant issue on this leg was the diversion of the highway for mining at Mt Gibson. It had been less than a year since we had last been through here and the change it that time was quite surpris-ing. The Paynes Find servo/pub was closed for repairs after storm dam-age but we drove up to the old battery for our lunch stop. As we got un-der way again it started to drizzle with rain but we weren’t overly con-cerned as the forecast was simply for ‘scattered showers’.

However, the rain quickly became quite persistent and was often quite


Page 27


heavy and, well before we reached Mount Magnet, Jim received a call from David to say that the Friday group was abandoning the campsite at Walga Rock before they got rained in! The plan was to meet at Cue so we moved on through Mount Magnet and onto Cue with rain accompany-ing us virtually all the way.

In Cue we met with the others and it was agreed that the Walga Rock option was probably dead. As a result, the Kimberley crew decided to move on towards Meekatharra so as to be in the best position to make Broome by Monday as planned. We said some quick goodbyes and they were on their way. The remainder of us decided to look for accom-modation options other than canvas and quickly settled on the ‘Queen of the Murchison’, a famous historical hotel in Cue that now operates as a B & B.

It is still in good condition and Carla, who runs it (and her partner) have added some interest through a collection of vintage motorbikes as well as of birds – most notably about half a dozen macaws. I understand they are not native to Cue, but they make great watchdogs and very ef-fective alarm clocks!

We spent a little time whiling away the late afternoon in conversation be-fore retiring to the Club Hotel across the road for a pleasant counter meal, and a discussion of our options for the morrow. They were obvi-ously very road and weather dependent so no final decision was made. Late in the evening, back at the ‘Queen’, several of us spent some time trying to work out how to get John Hunter’s new GPS operating before retiring at a respectable time, ready for tomorrow’s adventures, wherever they may be!

Jo & Keith Low

Documents

2011-07