We awoke to a cold morning which turned into a beautiful day, as seems to be the case most days recently. After hot showers and breakfast, we hit the road at about 9.30 am (we weren’t in a real hurry to get anywhere). One thing we noticed in the first leg of our journey was a large flock of eagles, soaring above the highway. It was so sunny it was hard to capture them in a photo, although we did see more of these majestic creatures along the way.
Site at Leinster Caravan Park
First stop for morning coffee was the Peter Denny Lookout (Camps 7 #271) and what a surprise it turned out to be. The countryside looks deceptively flat here and it is the last place where you would expect to find a lookout. However upon closer inspection you find that the lookout is on the edge of a breakaway, where the land falls away and you can explore the cliff faces. This is a large space with plenty of evidence of free-campers. If it were not quite so early in the morning we might have been tempted to stay there tonight ourselves.
View from Peter Denny Lookout
View from Peter Denny Lookout
Our next stop was for lunch in the delightful town of Sandstone. This is an old gold mining town which started its development in the 1890s. The town site was gazetted in 1906 and by 1913 it had reached a population of 6000. By the end of World War I it was virtually a ghost town and remains as such today. The locals however are making a huge effort to keep their town alive. There are a number of shops, a fuel station, a Post Office, a thriving caravan park, and plenty of trees and other street plantings.
Sandstone Post Office
Sandstone Streetscape
From Sandstone we stopped at the Windsor Rest Area for a break. Again, this was a potential over-nighter but we decided to keep going a bit further. At the rest area we discovered a pile of stones with visitors’ names, so we made our own contribution to the pile.
Our Contribution to the Rock Pile
Our resting place for today is the Mt Magnet Caravan Park. Mt Magnet is the biggest town we have passed through since leaving Kalgoorlie. It has lovely wide streets, three pubs, a supermarket, butcher, baker and a well planned caravan park.
Arriving at Mt Magnet
Mt Magnet Caravan Park
For Downunda, further to your previous comment, we refilled the Ute in Mt Magnet after travelling 708 kms with just over 100 litres of diesel. There was some left in the tank, possibly enough for a further 100 kms or so, but I won’t be stretching things that far in a hurry.
Shorty's RV Adventures 