Yesterday morning we walked into the town from our campsite. It was a bit less than two kilometres, going slightly uphill most of the way. I saw a couple of kangaroos, speeding away from me in the distance. It was a coolish day, but we covered up against the sun anyway with long sleeves and jeans.

The first stop was the Discovery Centre, basically a propaganda exercise on the mine and forrestry in the area. There is farming as well, but that wasn’t part of the disply. It was very well done, with an introductory video about the town (not too long), a mine ‘experience’ of being underground, with buttons to push for different interpretive stuff.

There was a diarama of the local bush and wildlife. The actual bush is much more beautiful I have to say. Then a section on the forestry, including the technology. They have introduced two species of trees for harvesting, the pinus radiartis (pine trees) from California and Tasmanian Blue Gum.

After breezing through I went to the cafe for a cup of tea and Stephen spent another hour on the exhibits. This is normal, of course. There was a $5.00 entry fee, which we were happy to pay.

We came home for lunch and spent the afternoon sitting outside the van as it was fairly warm and we are parked in full sun for most of the day. This is excellent for the solar. There was a breeze all day and it was very pleasant. Around 6.00 p.m. we went for another walk.

Both evenings here have been disappointing in terms of sunsets as there is no cloud to pick up the evening light. However, we are still in love with this location and hope to return.

The little town has many old wooden houses and a church. Apparently there is a Catholic Church and a Uniting Church, but we only saw the Anglican Church.

Today we plan to go to the viewing point for the mine, head to Bridgetown to get cash and some fruit, then nead down to Northcliffe. We will be able to fill the van with water before we leave here, but will have to wait until later in the day to empty the toilet.