Dalwallinu to Yalgoo

We left Dalwallinu after a good breakfast with nice cold milk from the local servo, a good cup of strong coffee for Tracy and a warm shower. The open road beckoned and we headed due north.

Not far down the road we came across what would be a familiar sight on this journey - abandoned farm houses.
Obviously grandparents had passed on and the young families were not interested in taking over the farm. The farm land was ultimately snapped up by neighboring farmers, whom already had their homes, so these old houses were left abandoned, to rot and fall apart. One place we went into the last papers were from 1974. A truly sad sight to see.

We continued on to Wabin where on the road we pulled over at a sign and decided to go Ningham Station. It was off the road and seemed a bit desolate, but we decided to give it a go. The road was dirt, but

after about 15 minutes we arrived at an old station. It had an old house and had some run down outhouses. The owner was a crusty old guy in a shirt that last saw detergent in the 90's, but he was friendly and allowed us to look around. The accommodation was basic to say the least, and was mostly old mining cabins that he must have borrowed when the mines closed. The areas had a dried up river nearby, but in the wild flower season would have make the area very pretty.

We headed off and after getting back on the main road heard a whump whump noise. I pulled over and there we saw the back tyre completed shredded. It was unrepairable. I had an interesting time changing it as the temp was now about 43 degrees and the metal was very hot. Tracy helped with the provision of water, snake scaring away duties and helpful suggestions on how to change the tyre! After some messing about we got the type changed, but with the

temperature so high and no spare tyre we really needed to get another one. So a slower drive to Mt Magnet was proposed and off we headed. The road was very desolate and very few vehicles were on it. The odd ute, truck or occasional tourist appeared and then disappeared, otherwise we had the Great Northern Highway to ourselves.

We stopped at Paynes Find to get fuel and to check on tyres. The nice lady thought we could get something in Mt Magnet, but after that it was more likely that we would get tyres in the town of Cue another 45 mins drive north. Paynes Find is no longer a town, but just a road house. So water, food, basic accommodation and fuel is about all you can get.

We arrived in Mt Magnet and found that there was no tyre shop. There was however a nice IGA grocery store that looked like it had been taken from the inner city of America. There was security cameras and the shop assistants looked like they knew how to fight. The owner had tattoos and talked with a strong local accent. She was very pleasant, but I would not like to have had to arm wrestle her. The reason for this security was very clear once you got outside. The local original inhabitants were mainly still drinking or finishing

drinking and looked the worst for wear. The town has a large police force and very little industry. Overall it felt like a town on the edge.

We got some provisions and had lunch in the tourist park. Every town has one now, as part of the royalties for regions scheme. So the deal is that each town gets three things. A swimming pool/recreation center, a tourist park with grass and some picnic areas and another green area that is some sort of memorial park or museum to the early settlers. All the towns are now trying to get themselves on a map for some sort of trail. The early settler trail, the wild flower trail, the gold field trail or a stock route to the north trail. It would be interesting to know how much, if anyone actually walks or drives these trails. The traffic does pick up in these areas during wildflower season but cant be much judging by the size of the towns.

After lunch the temperature had risen to 44 degrees and it was darn

hot to put it mildly. Everything you touched was hot and without aircon it would have been steaming hot. The air passing the car was even warm when you put your hand outside the window. Its like being in the air stream of a hair drier.

We headed north to Cue and found the small tyre shop. The gentlemen there were well endowed with bellies made of beer, burgers and chips. The younger one took a shine to Tracy and was giving her the eye. She could have settled down in Cue and lived the life of a local duchess, but strangely she did not seem to be keen on the offer. Unfortunately, he was out of stock of our tyres, but he did have an old worn tyre that could be used as a back up if we did not drive too fast. He was a decent bloke and only charged us $25 even thought we would have paid more.

Anyway, after a look at Cue main street, we decided to head west. The town was small, but had two or three lovely old stone buildings and on the west road a sort of house you would see in the wild west. It had banisters and pillars and was clearly a folly of some gold rich guy who had illusions of grandeur. It now looks forlorn and lost.

We headed out the dirt road in the direction of the cattle stations and decided to take the chance on the dirt roads to take us south to Yalgoo. It was about 2.30pm, but the weather was good and at worst we could camp by the side of the road if there was an issue.

We took the back roads and began our 250 km trip without passing any cars. We stopped at Walga rocks to see some aboriginal rock paintings, but it was very hot and you can only admire the rocks for so long before it gets boring. There were many snake holes on our venture to and around the rock which made it rather interesting. The route was through bush and scrub and no real farm life could be seen. The most we saw was some lazy skinny looking cattle near a drinking trough and a few lizards and kangaroos. Otherwise it was desolation and open plains.

We got to an old mine and from the top could see 360 degrees all around with no human facility. No TV towers, or fire smoke it was all open bush. The next stop was Dalgaranga meteorite crater that is the smallest in Australia at only 21meters diameter. Its still big and was made only 3,000 years ago. Anywhere else and it would have been buried or eroded away, but not here. It really showed up life in

WA as it could be walked about, into and over. There were no fences or keep away signs or do not disturb signs. The number of people visiting is so few its not worth fencing and anyway only the very dedicated would make it this far. The road gave Tracy the nerves as its like one from the Wolf creek movie and she is convinced that a killer stays in these places in a deck chair behind the rocks waiting for the twice a year tourist to get lost and become his prey. I think being struck by lighting was more likely as anyone who spends more than a few days here would go mad from thirst, boredom or be eaten by the ants.

The road headed on to Yalgoo and we arrived just before dusk. The town has a real old local pub and a new swimming pool, but also a very nice camping site. Its run by a couple that live on site and they keep it clean and tidy. We pitched the tent on the little grass bank there and had dinner before heading to the pub.

It was a busy heaving Friday night so there was at least seven people in the pub, including ourselves. The bar maid was in her 60's and with the missing two front teeth could have been Miss Yalgoo 2003. The pictures on the wall were of races in the 1980's and old beer adverts. It was like stepping back in time. The dress code is generally a week old tee shirt with gravy stains and shorts that look like they were your grandfathers.

The temperature did not fall in the evening and it was over 38 degrees most of the night. Tracy took advantage of this to open the tent flaps and sleep with no clothes on. Maybe there was some local lad she was trying to impress, or act as bait for the Wolf Creek killer that had come into town for his monthly cold beer before heading back to the desolate mine sites, who knows.