Coalfields Museum

Across the road from Collie Visitors Centre is the Coalfields Museum. There were many rooms stuffed full of interesting objects; unfortunately no-one had curated the collection and put half of them away in storage. Maybe they didn’t have anywhere to store them.

Midwifery in Collie:

Underground mine:

Dentist’s chair and operating instruments:

I think I endured such treatment as a girl. When my mother came to collect me, she said my hair-slide was on the floor at the other side of the room!

Patchwork:


The first Australian wounded at Gallipoli arriving at Wandsworth Hospital in London:


Recruiting posters:

I have a photo of my Grandad in uniform, looking just like this young man. (He was a POW in Germany for a few years, living on potatoes and cabbage, he said):

Die together?

After the museum, we went to visit an open cast mine, the only one still operating. It was much bigger than the one in Kalgoorlie which I saw a few years ago:

There were many vehicles going to and fro, mainly taking the spoil to heaps at the top left of the photo. This mine supplies the fuel for Muja Power Station, which provides electricity for the SW of the State.

This is one of the huge shovels which has now been decommissioned:

The operator sat in the little box on the top left.

What an interesting afternoon in Collie!

Westralia Conservation Park

We left the cottages for a scenic drive, starting at the Westralia Conservation Park. We had lunch overlooking this lake, watching the ducks come and go:

I took a moment to photograph Arlene’s beautiful sweater, as I might want to knit a similar one:

The Nats were interested in these plants, amongst a big selection of interesting species:

Harris Dam

The rain now appears to be over. As luck would have it, I was offered the loan of some rubber boots which are specially for women and with a warm lining. So together wth the borrowed rain jacket I was prepared for anything. We visited both the top of the Harris Dam wall, where there was a huge valve on display. It had been used to control the water coming out of the dam.

Then we drove to a picnic area at the bottom of the dam wall, where a little walk was planned. This was directly on the Bibbulmun Track. The group thought they could walk 3kms to the Harris Hut before lunch, but had not accounted for the terrain with its elevations both up and down. There had been a recent fire and the track had been closed while the fire was extinguished, I don't know what the walkers would have done at that point.

It was sunny and the forest looked lovely. We drove home to the cottages, stopping on the way at the bottom of the Wellington Dam wall to admire the murals once more, but from a different angle.

Back at the cottages, we were sitting outside having a cup of tea when Don received a phone call from Tanya and Mike. They had gone into Collie to charge their electric car, but discovered that the charging point would not fit their car. They had to call the RAC who arranged for a low loader to transport the car to Harvey, where there was a compatible charger. All this would take hours. In fact, they didn’t come back for the night, which must have been spent in Harvey. The incredible thing is that exactly the same thing happened to them before at another Nats trip to Dryandra and Narrogin. Who knew about this compatibility problem with e cars?

Val and I had the cottage to ourselves and I cooked some lamb shanks in the slow cooker.

Crooked Brook

The weather gods did not smile on us at all. After a very wet night, the day was quite unpredictable. With sunshine and heavy showers, one after another. From our parking spot at Crooked Brook, there were walks in several directions. I had forgotten to pack my waterproof jacket, but Helen (a Bibbulmun Track veteran) kindle let me borrow her spare one. Even so, i got very wet during one heavy downpour, then decided to sit out the next one and stayed in the car for an hour, trying to catch up with my blog offline.

We managed to have lunch in one of the shelters near the carpark and make use of the toilets there: always a bonus. After that, there was a choice of returning to the cabins or visiting a local brewery. Most people went home, but four of us decided on the brewery and Arlene paid for our drinks on behalf of the Nats Committee. She is Vice President, but they are lacking a President, which is a big problem for the club. There was a staggering choice of beer and cider, made on the premises. The dining room was packed, and at 3.00 pm it seemed that people were still eating, drinking or waiting to be served.

Back at the cottages, we all met up again at Number 3. Don had decided on a Q and A session given by Helen and myself: a sort of debate on the relative merits of the Bibbulmun Track and the Camino de Santiago. To me the Bib would become boring after 2 or 3 days walking through forests.

Collie

Last night there was a moth invasion. Suddenly our porch area was full of flying objects, some of which flew into my face and into my bedroom. The shower had quite a few too. I think they came in out of the rain, which started with a heavy downpour at 8.00 pm.

First thing this morning, Val swept them all outside, dead or alive, and immediately a magpie descended on them and consumed the lot for his breakfast.

First on the agenda was a woodland walk on an easy path straight from the cottages. There were lots of things of interest to the Nats, including an abundance of Water Bushes on both sides of the track. We passed a so-called Conference Centre where it’s possible to hold a bush wedding. 

After that we drove into Collie for the rest of the day.; a half hour trip. People could replenish their supplies from Woolworths or Coles if they needed to. There was also a guided walk to see all the murals around town, but i didn’t go on that. I preferred to go to McDonalds to use their wi-fi. Maccas are reputed to have wi-fi everywhere in the world, but I found that in Collie it was still very weak and unable to load photos onto my blog.

We went to a coffee shop, where I sat next to a local woman and complained about the poor communications. She said welcome to the bush! People living in cities have no idea how badly served the regions are.

For dinner we all met up at the Crown Hotel, where a private room had been booked for us. Most of the group ordered barramundi, but I just fancied a pizza. It was delicious.

Driving home in the dark was no fun. We were trying to follow Alan and Jolanda, but they got lost and we went out of our way on a long bumpy gravel track. At the time, I thought we might never find the cottages and have to spend the night in the middle of the forest.

Later we joined everyone in Cottage 3, where I proceeded to demonstrate my fire lighting skills because nobody else had done so. I love a log fire!

Camino Confidential: Wellington Forest

May 2nd.

Very close to here is the Wellington Discovery Centre, where we had an interesting talk by a man from DBCA (Dept of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions), formerly CALM: they are always changing their name! He defended their policy of controlled burns, which many people object to. There was also an amazing exhibition of stuffed animals: beautiful examples of expert taxidermy. I have never seen a better display about West Australian native animals and birds.

Red-tailed black cockatoo on top; fierce looking feral cat bottom right. Beautiful examples of taxidermy .

After lunch, we car pooled and drove to Wellington Dam. The road was narrow and winding through dense forest that always looked the same and very badly signposted. So easy to get lost around here!

The dam wall is never allowed to overflow these days, because of the huge murals on the downward side. We had a little talk about these murals from Alison, a local guide. It seems there are about 40 of these, most of them in the town of Collie, where we are going tomorrow.

There was also a lovely kiosk where we all enjoyed an ice cream or a coffee before driving back. We met up again at Cottage Number 3 for drinks snd nibbles. It was Val’s turn to cook dinner and she produced a delicious beef casserole with potatoes and broccoli.

Wellington Forest

1st May.

We drove down from Perth and noticed how brown the paddocks were on all sides. They are in need of rain, a lot of rain. The directions to Wellington Forest Cottages were very confusing and I was navigating. We took a wrong turn twice and I felt bad, as Val had been driving for hours.

At the cottages, Val and I were given number five and we had it to ourselves for the first night. A married couple were expected for the master bedroom next day, I was disappointed to find that our cottage didn’t have a log fire just a measly ancient gas fire. Also, there was no Wi-Fi and the Telstra phone signal was down to one bar.  It would be impossible to do my blog every night…

We arrived on a surprisingly warm afternoon having been warned of really low temperatures overnight. In fact I was too hot in the night with my down duvet and winter night dress. I didn’t sleep well because my mind was so full of the events of the day. We had cooked chicken for dinner with coleslaw and baked potato.