Tuesday 3rd June to Friday 6th June, 2025
Day 1: Victoria Park to New Norcia 139kms
We are taking things rather slowly as there was heavy rain for a couple of days and we were a bit concerned about the condition of the gravel section of our trip. Today we spoke to someone at the Mullewa Visitor Centre who assured us that they haven’t had enough rain to cause problems. She said that the gravel sections are well maintained and should not cause any problems.
We left on Tuesday morning at about 10.30 a.m. and stopped at the Bindoon Bakehouse for hot drinks and to buy some of their lovely bread. We had a choice of routes to get to Mullewa, but decided that we would like to see New Norcia again, and perhaps even visit the museum. On arrival we made the decision to stay the night in the camping area near the oval. This costs $10 per night and after settling in, having lunch, a nap and afternoon tea, went out for our evening walk, stopping in at the Roadhouse to pay our $10.
We walked around most of the village, taking in the various building styles.
Our evening meal was leftovers from home.
Although it rained for most of the afternoon and evening the rain wasn’t heavy and it was possible to have a good walk without having to dodge showers.
Day 2: New Norcia to Watheroo Station Roadhouse 92kms
Well, it was a short day of driving, but we had spent the morning in New Norcia visiting the museum and art gallery. The information at the museum stresses the positive impact of the Benedictine monks and the establishment of the settlement, but Eversley has alerted us to a documentary that includes interviews with people who lived there as children. Their treatment was abusive. I noticed that although the early settlement included families of the Yued people, later they were sent children from all over the state, thus participating in the Stolen Generations of indigenous children.
We made a stop at Moora where we shopped and bought fuel.
We then drove to Watheroo Station Roadhouse and set ourselves up outside, plugging into the free power. Later, when the Station opened we had access to toilets and shower for free, if you have a meal there, which we were happy to do. We shared a very large hamburger and chips, very tasty, and they served each half on separate plates, so that the meal looked very good. I wasn’t able to eat all of my section.
Day 3: Watheroo to Yandanooka 143kms
We both had showers in the Station ablutions in the evening, but decided to just wash in our own bathroom in the morning. As we were on power we were able to use the air conditioner to take the chill off the air a couple of times.
It was promising to be another wet day as we set off, but fortunately the rain had finished by the time we arrived at Yandanooka. The clouds had mostly cleared by sunset.
On the way we stopped at Carnamah to admire the Big Tractor. Our main aim was to empty the toilet, but the exhibit is on the main road, so very hard to miss. We enjoyed walking around it and taking photos. Some other visitors took a photo of us together.
We had our lunch at Yandanooka, then rested for a while. It was interesting to visit this place again. We had one other camper overnight, a solo woman with a small, pop up caravan towed by a 4WD. She and I exchanged greetings.
We saw a goods train going through, quite exciting as you are so close to the rail line.
In the evening I tried flying the drone and more or less lost control of it. Still, I eventually landed it and actually was able to capture a good photo from the video feed of the area where we were camping. That’s the image at the top of this post.
Day 4: Yandanooka to ‘The Waterfalls’ just out of Mullewa 120kms
Well, this is us all caught up. I’ve been making notes about the journey so far on a daily basis, and just now have entered it into my book on the laptop. From here, I can cut and paste into WordPress and Substack for publishing.
So, it feels lovely to have sunshine, even though we know it means it’s likely to be colder overnight. We may need to use our diesel heater!
Our first stop was at Mingenew, where I went to the bakery for fresh bread. Disappointingly, they didn’t have any interesting bread, just white rolls and a round loaf. I opted for the rolls. Then I joined Stephen in the IGA. It is nowhere near as good at the one in Moora, of course, so we bought some of the things on our list, Stephen having assured me that the Mullawa supermarket would be much better as it is a larger town.
When we arrived in Mullewa, it became clear that we should have finished our list in Mingenew. Stephen enquired at the Visitor Centre and was told that people go to Geraldton to shop, or shop online. The service station had some groceries and we were able to get some Sunshine milk and yogurt anyway.
We had a couple of the fresh rolls with cheese for lunch as apparently the cafe did not serve lunch. As there was a coffee machine at the Visitor Centre I bought there rather than going to the cafe.
It just goes to show that I’m not the only one in this family who makes dogmatic statements, then has to eat his/her words! Thank goodness.
We are camped at the beginning of the road up to Mt Augustus. The rain caused some damage to the road into the camping/picnic area, but the main road is bitumen so far. Still, we are feeling happy as the real adventure begins. On our fourth day of travel we are in new territory for us.
