Day 1 – Tuesday 11th June, 2024
In the morning on Tuesday we spent a lot of time finalising what food to take and loading it in the Sherwood. Stephen had taken charge, but consulted me about things. He feels that I just pack anything and everything in case we need it and wanted to carefully curate the food.
In the end it was a good compromise and we were away by about 12.15 p.m. We hadn’t been on the road very long before he realised that he hadn’t locked his filing cabinet. We were on Great Eastern Highway and were able to do a U turn and go back to the house. I checked things again as well. It added 18 kms to the journey.
We had thought we might stay at the free camp in Wundowie, but despite the late start I was feeling well and after a stop in Mundaring to visit the other bakery/cafe (the one near Woolworths) we drove the rest of the way to Meckering, arriving at about 4.30 p.m.
This may have been a bad decision as Stephen had a headache by then, and ended up taking two lots of Panadol, one when we arrived and another about 6 hours later. Even I felt a headache coming on by bedtime and went to bed at about 9.30 p.m. I haven’t been sleeping very well at home, but despite the early night I slept well.
Day 2 – Wednesday 12th June, 2024
It takes two or three days to acclimatise to our camper after being at home. We didn’t hurry this morning and dodged showers when doing outside chores. Meckering is a donation site and of course we made a small donation. It was noisy overnight as the Roadhouse is a well used truck stop, especially at night, plus there is a train line nearby.
Given that Stephen needs a bit of recovery time we have only driven about 180 kms today, about the same as yesterday, but spread over a longer time. In Merriden we shopped at the IGA, bought some RAT tests at the pharmacy, had lunch in the camper, then went to the Mitre 10 for a mouse trap. The mouse trap is just in case and is a ‘catch and release’ type of mouse trap. This is not just that it’s more humane than the ones that kill, but also means we don’t have to deal with a dead mouse.
Stephen said that the toilets at the Mitre 10 are very special with cloth hand towels to use after washing your hands.
In Westonia we are staying at the free camp near the church. For the first time since we’ve been coming here there are other campers as well. In town there are is a caravan park and a separate overflow area, so there are actually three options.
The town is very cute, with lots of the old shopfronts maintained to give a sense of what it was like here in the early days. There is still a gold mine operating, but you can no longer get accommodation and meals for 1/6 or 5 shillings a week. We took a stroll down the Main Street just after sunset.
The little grocery store is also a cafe and only a short walk away. There are also public toilets, a potable water tap, and as you go out of town there is a dump point.
Photos from our evening walk at Westonia.