A circuit around the WA mid-west

[JohnM]

As noted by @Daver6, the absence of signage describing the age and significance of the rock art is bizarre and disappointing.

 

[JohnM]

Late afternoon we rocked into Cue, preceding @Daver6 and Mrs @Daver6 by an hour or so. Scoped Cue before heading to the pub for a pleasant few drinks and meal – and picking up a few Far-Cue bumper stickers…

Cue is a small, but very tidy town with some lovely old buildings. It caters well for the traffic heading north on Great Northern Highway, being just over halfway between Perth and Newman - Pilbara Central.

Cue would be quiet at the best of times, but this was late Saturday afternoon, so very quiet.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning, we headed south to Mt Magnet, first checking out the Great Fingall gold mine office at old Day Dawn, just outside Cue, and some whimsy on lake flats along the way.




Mt Magnet - @RooFlyer’s old stomping ground.

 

[JohnM]

Then turning east to Sandstone. Some more memories for @RooFlyer.

 

[JohnM]

 

[RooFlyer]

Then turning east to Sandstone. Some more memories for @RooFlyer.

Yes indeedy .. Sunday session at the Sandstone pub. The front bar hasn't changed much! Lovely pressed tin ceiling.
Even back in 1983 I had an eye (if not a photographer's one!) for old buildings:

Then:



Now, from JohnM:

 

[RooFlyer]

As for Mt Magnet, thanks for the pics! Home sweet home for 3 years, straight out of uni! I left in 1985 and haven't been back . Hope you won't mind some reminiscing.

My view of town from The Mount:



Hard to tell, but I think the white open pit area in your pic:



... is the mine I used to work on, but in those days it was an underground operation, with a shaft and headframe. The heathens have dug it all up . Every morning, I got dropped a couple of hundred metres straight down the hatch in the 'cage'! Was nice and cool though, in summer.



... except when you went down the little alternative egress shaft, where you just stood on a bucket and hung on (for dear life) to the winder rope






I played miner (only once ... incredibly loud & hard work). A pneumatic 'air leg' hole borer. Drill a pattern of 1.5m long holes, fill with explosive, detonate, clear out, repeat.





The good stuff (photo is faded, sorry). This was exceptional and there's not that much gold in weight there:



And the roads back then were no better than they are now. Note that because I'm not changing the tyre, I wasn't driving!

 

[JohnM]

As for Mt Magnet, thanks for the pics! Home sweet home for 3 years, straight out of uni! I left in 1985 and haven't been back . Hope you won't mind some reminiscing.

My view of town from The Mount:

View attachment 228286

Hard to tell, but I think the white open pit area in your pic:

View attachment 228283

... is the mine I used to work on, but in those days it was an underground operation, with a shaft and headframe. The heathens have dug it all up . Every morning, I got dropped a couple of hundred metres straight down the hatch in the 'cage'! Was nice and cool though, in summer.

View attachment 228285

... except when you went down the little alternative egress shaft, where you just stood on a bucket and hung on (for dear life) to the winder rope

View attachment 228296


View attachment 228291

I played miner (only once ... incredibly loud & hard work). A pneumatic 'air leg' hole borer. Drill a pattern of 1.5m long holes, fill with explosive, detonate, clear out, repeat.

View attachment 228289

The good stuff (photo is faded, sorry). This was exceptional and there's not that much gold in weight there:

View attachment 228294

And the roads back then were no better than they are now. Note that because I'm not changing the tyre, I wasn't driving!

View attachment 228287

I was doing some work around the Mt Magnet area around 1978-1982. The gold price had collapsed, the Hill 50 mine was on care and maintenance and Mt Magnet was pretty much a ghost town.

 

[JohnM]

Looping around the Sandstone Heritage Trail before heading further east to overnight at Leinster.



And then something that I had been longing to see.

 

[VPS]

I was doing some work around the Mt Magnet area around 1978-1982. The gold price had collapsed, the Hill 50 mine was on care and maintenance and Mt Magnet was pretty much a ghost town.

ah - we had Hill 50 shares - they were supposed to be the next Poseidon

 

[JohnM]

Then on to Leinster. A ‘closed’ BHP town, which does make it unique (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04...of-leinster-in-wa-northern-goldfields/9643986). Quite pleasant and leafy but nothing significant to report. Good tavern.

Next morning we headed S on the Agnew section of the Leonora Loop Trail (Leonora Loop Trail | Leonora Loop Trail Map | Australia's Golden Outback). Destination initially Leonora and Gwalia and with the aim of being at Lake Ballard to off-grid camp overnight to take in sunset and sunrise at the ‘Inside Australia’ art installation (Antony Gormley’s “Inside Australia” - Lake Ballard).

I’ve been there twice before, but never stayed overnight.

 

[JohnM]

It would be great to get into these areas after a flooding rain, to see the creeks and rivers roaring. But, of course, the roads are closed immediately there’s rain that will result in them getting chopped up.

 

[jastel]

Nice Report...not been through those parts for decades...

One of the cars seems to be newish Ford Everest...how did it go? Apart from a flat tyre.

The new Bi turbo 10speed diesel has some poke for a 4wd.
I have not done any off roading or serious 4wding in one only bitumen stuff.
Since they are basically a Ranger they should be OK at 4wd one would think.
Factory tyres not suited for off road but.
And dont forget to fill the ad blue.

 

[JohnM]

The Everest is mine. It is the 2L Bi-Turbo and it certainly has plenty of poke. 157Kw; 500Nm.

I had it in recently for its 15K km service and the loaner was a Ranger with the 3.2L 6-speed. Bloody coarse compared with the bi-turbo.

i bought it in April and I ditched the highway tyres before delivery for ‘crossover’ tyres - Michelin LTX. I didn’t want noisy full off-roaders, but wanted something better than highway tyres.

Ad-Blue is no great imposition. I topped it right up before the trip and the range is huge.

I did outline my reasons for choosing it in the ‘What car do you drive’ thread back in about early April. I wanted a diesel 4WD that was as near to a sedan as possible driving on long stretches on sealed country roads, but could hack it off-road, had a full-size spare (now two full-size spares ). Toss-up with a Prado, but the Everest pipped it.

 

[Daver6]

The Everest is mine. It is the 2L Bi-Turbo and it certainly has plenty of poke. 157Kw; 500Nm.

I had it in recently for its 15K km service and the loaner was a Ranger with the 3.2L 6-speed. Bloody coarse compared with the bi-turbo.

i bought it in April and I ditched the highway tyres before delivery for ‘crossover’ tyres - Michelin LTX. I didn’t want noisy full off-roaders, but wanted something better than highway tyres.

Ad-Blue is no great imposition. I topped it right up before the trip and the range is huge.

I did outline my reasons for choosing it in the ‘What car do you drive’ thread back in about early April. I wanted a diesel 4WD that was as near to a sedan as possible driving on long stretches on sealed country roads, but could hack it off-road, had a full-size spare (now two full-size spares ). Toss-up with a Prado, but the Everest pipped it.

Should just stick to the skinny 19" run flat performance tyres of a BMW then. They seem to do better on those unsealed roads

 

[JohnM]

Should just stick to the skinny 19" run flat performance tyres of a BMW then. They seem to do better on those unsealed roads

But just don’t go on the sealed toad into Kalbarri NP on them.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Are run-flats as one of you use better or worse for this kind of travel?

 

[JohnM]

Are run-flats as one of you use better or worse for this kind of travel?

Waaayyy worse.

 

[jastel]

Thanks for the info, family member just bought a 2nd hand one, also around 15000kms.
I had it for a couple weeks while I fitted a bullbar, spotties and serviced it etc.
Only got a drive on the bitumen, mine was the Titanium lots of toys to play with, think I fiddled with everything except the self park and the 4wd buttons. Works well now but I am not sure about in 10 years....

Have you gone to Ford to get the TCM reprogrammed if yours was in that batch?

I agree ad blue is a once a year thing to fill for most people but needs to be considered in the bush.
The dash warning will tell you waay before you run out but.

Only bad points I have heard so far is derating the power due to overheating on hot days if towing a 3 ton van etc...and the aforesaid gearbox issue on some earlier models...mine was a late 2019 model.

Good call on changing the tyres...you might have had more punctures if the OEM ones were still on it.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Waaayyy worse.

BMW owners have no choice do they?