Gwalia to Cue

Leaving the bitumen at Gwalia we headed west towards Sandstone.   The terrain was mostly flat and covered with saltbush.   This is both cattle country and mining.   Not cattle to the acre but acres to the cattle!

Just before Sandstone some of us made a short detour south to visit London Bridge.

London Bridge has been a popular destination for more than 100 years as visitors come to admire its unique shape.   When the nearby town of Sandstone was founded the bridge was wide enough for a horse and buggy to cross.  Decades of erosion and weathering has worn away the rock and eventually, the bridge will fall.

After a refuel and resupply stop at Sandstone we headed 50km north to Lake Mason Homestead.   This was once a cattle station, but on expiry of the government lease it was taken back by the state government reverting to a conservation park.

The Homestead consists of three buildings, one of which is a small shower block where water is heated by a wood fired ‘donkey’.  There is also a flush toilet (luxury) and untreated bore water.  

We spent two nights at the homestead before continuing west on dirt roads to the town of Cue

Some of these outback dirt roads have been poorly constructed.  The profile of the road in the above photo was dish shaped which means when torrential rains fall the road floods and is then ripped apart by heavy cattle truck servicing the cattle stations.   The profile should be high in the middle to drain off the water.

Surprisingly the Caravan Park in Cue was full.   Fortunately Cue also has a free RV Park provided by the shire council.   No facilities, but as we were only there for one night this didn’t matter.   I was up at 5AM the following morning to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service, which was well attended.   The shire council even provided a free cooked breakfast after the ceremony.  I didn’t partake in the meal as I wanted to remain alert when driving the 700km back to Perth the same day.

An interesting trip which allowed me to see more of western Australia