Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd November 2014 – Northampton WA – Fine Sunny Windy

The drive today was from Kalbarri to Northam via the Coastal Highway.  It was not a long drive, but there were plenty of stops along the way.  The National Park surrounds Kalbarri, so there were a few drive to spots on the coastline to have a look at.  The caravan park that we stayed in was lovely and quiet and it was lovely to be woken by gentle birdsong each morning.

















The view from Red Bluff Lookout.  Above right is looking north to the mouth of the Murchison River.




 











It must be the lime that creates these formations.  They are rock hard.
















As we travelled in and out of the lookouts, the views were amazing.
















Our next turn off is for Port Gregory – we are on the eastern side of Pink Lake (Hutt Lagoon) and Port Gregory is over there in the distance.  The pink colouration is from an algae which they cultivate and export all over the world for food colouring and health food additives.



 There is a natural lagoon, you can see the waves breaking on the rock shelf.  It was first settled in the mid 1800’s and was to be used as a port, but was found to be unsuitable.  It is a bit of a shanty town with lots of run down houses and very little else.  We have noticed that as we travel in WA we are seeing an extraordinary amount of houses made out of asbestos.  It was the building material of choice everywhere.  The asbestos mine was up Tom Price way. Port Gregory was attacked during WW2 instead of Geraldton, as the submarine commander saw too many aircraft at Geraldton and thought Port Gregory was occupied.

















Another view of the Pink Lake as we left Port Gregory.  We found a out of the wind lunch spot at the neglected sports ground. 

These are buildings which have been restored at Lynton which was established (1854) as a convict depot to hire out labour for government works and establishing a road to the Murchison River and Geraldine Lead Mine.  I wondered where the name Galena came from (we camped at Galena Bridge) and discovered that it is a major component in lead or silver ore.

This was virtually the last frontier as there was no road through to Roebourne at that time.

The romance has gone out of wheat.  No fields of tall wheat sheaths rippled by the wind.  The wheat of today is only about 20cm high and just looks wrong.  It has been modified to stop wind damage and all sorts of other wheat failure and yield increases to look like a high mown field. I liked the look of old wheat, but the farmer has to make his money.

We come off the coast and we are now in the wheat belt, big trucks, sheep with gentle rolling hills.  We don’t seem to have travelled far from the coast, but it is noticeably different.  Northampton is hidden behind those hills.

Like the camp spot.  Lovely shady trees, lush green soft grass and our own little Bali hut complete with table and roof.

This is a small town with lots of original buildings from settlement.

There is always a down side, we can hear the trucks rumbling through town, but it’s not sleep disturbing annoying.

 

The stone buildings are not unlike those we saw in Oatlands Tasmania of the same period.

The first railway line built in Western Australia was from Geraldton to Gwalia and then extended to Northampton.  Gwalia is only a kilometre down the road from the town centre.  There were quite a few historical sites to visit.

The original Station location.   Chiverton Museum former residence of Samuel Mitchell JP well known identity of the early years – Mine Manager at Geraldine Lead Mine.

Sally Holmes shrub rose in the museum garden. It begins apricot and changes to creamy white.





























What was the most fascinating?  This Willie Wagtail feeding the three chicks in the nest nicely built and balanced on the chain. 

The first church at Gwalia (non denominational) built – then and now.  The church was paid for by a ticket of leave convict – Joseph Horrocks who was educated but got on the wrong side of the law with a little fraud and sent to the colonies.  After his release he was one of the pioneers of the area and is buried in the grave yard.

 Most of the graves are of babies and children and young wives which tells the tale of the difficulty of surviving without medical assistance.

Last visit of the day was to the Northampton Railway station which closed in 1957.

Tomorrow we head towards Geraldton.  The Patrol needs another service to keep it happy.