We have been wishing for warmer weather for what seems like months and finally it is with us. Such a glorious day with a daytime temperature of 26 degrees from a low of 10 degrees this morning. It was the perfect weather to go to Buckleys Breakaway and also to hunt down some wildflowers.
By eight o'clock we were in the car and heading out along "Tin Horse Highway" so named for the tin horses that are on both sides of the highway for a distance of around 10 kms. They are really clever sculptures and I'm not sure if it was one individual person who came up with the designs or whether it was a community collaboration. In any case the visitors to the area love them and many people stop to take photographs (us included!). I liked the bucking horse the best.........
The "Tin Horse" trail ends at the turnoff to the Kulin Racecourse and as I mentioned yesterday the races are on here this coming weekend. We were quite surprised at the "Sold Out" signs regarding the races but we were told the committee had to cap numbers because of catering logistics. The racetrack is quite a distance from the town centre so I do understand their reasoning and it is apparently a very popular country race meeting with many people travelling the 250 odd kilometres from Perth to attend.
As we were driving along the road towards Buckleys Breakaway we wondered what the township was that we could see in the distance. Turns out that was the caravans/campers parked at the Racecourse! There were literally hundreds of RV's.
It was a very pleasant drive to Buckleys Breakaway that is an easy 70km from Kulin and is on the way to Wave Rock. It was very easy to find the turn-off and there is a terrific interpretive information board showing how erosion has cut through the orange laterite and formed white cliffs and gullies from the underlying clay. It is a short easy walk into Buckleys Breakaway and covers a much area than I anticipated. We spent around an hour wandering around and under the cliffs. Wave Rock it is not, but it certainly has its own spectacular beauty.
Back in the car and we were on the hunt for wildflowers! I had noticed a particularly beautiful blue flower on the drive to Buckleys so we were on the look out for it. It wasn't until I stepped out of the car to photograph this lovely flower that I noticed around half a dozen other spectacular wildflowers in the same area. It is times like this that I really wish we were travelling with someone who could name them all. I just have to be satisfied with photographing them....
The other thing we wanted to tackle today was the Macrocarpa Walk Trail that is just outside the town of Kulin. It is a one kilometre circuit where you get to see the lovely flower of the Macrocarpa Eucalyptus when it is the right time of the year. Fortunately we found one that was flowering just near the end of our walk and there are heaps of buds on the trees so it will be a spectacular show in a couple of weeks time.
We were home just after midday and I had already half prepared todays lunch of Korean Beef Lettuce Cups. Gee they were delicious and healthy for the win....
Tomorrow we a booked into Mount Barker Caravan Park on advice from our friend Jane. Our television died yesterday and as Mount Barker is only 30 odd kilometres from Albany we will drive there to pick up a new television. This will be our third television in as many years. It annoys me that 12v televisions are cheap and nasty and just do not last. We are very careful with our television and take it off the frame when we are travelling and lay it on the bed so that it can't be damaged. The good news. Everyone of the televisions has fallen within the warranty period so they have simply been replaced!
When we departed Wagin this morning we commented on its obsession with wool and sheep. Every street name includes a sheep and when you get over to the Showgrounds area the streets have names straight from a shearing shed! And then there is the Wine Baaaaa and what about Bull-Avarde! Somebody very clever came up with that one.
We are now in Kulin, just 150km from Wagin but still in the wheatbelt area. This little town is better know for the Tin Horse Highway that we haven't seen yet as it is on a different road but we will pass it tomorrow. We have come here to see the wildflowers (a trail just outside the town) and also to drive to Buckleys Breakaway. I won't elaborate on what that is. You will have to wait until tomorrow.
The council run caravan park here in Kulin is exceptional. There are just twelve sites but all beautifully spaced with double concrete slabs. The grounds are well kept and as it is only a newish van park the trees are still growing but will offer a nice amount of shade when fully grown. Well done to the council in this area that is catering to the grey nomads.
After a bit of lunch we walked the short distance to the town area that is abuzz with people. We find out that the races (sold out!) are on this coming weekend so a lot of the organisations are setting up exhibitions. We passed an art exhibition and also a tin horse exhibition. I watched a lady with a tribe of kids searching around the "community" sign for something and then I noticed a bottle with trinkets attached to one of the statues. I started talking to her and it is a treasure hunt that the council has organised for the race weekend. You collect a sheet of paper from the council office with a stack of clues that take you to the "treasures" all around the town. The kids, of all ages, were really enjoying the treasure hunt.
When we arrived at the unmanned caravan park we had to phone the council office for our site number and the lovely lady I spoke to said that we can pay by either dropping into the council office or she will come to our van later this afternoon. We elected to pay at the office. What a friendly team they are behind the counter, and they gave us a lot of useful information one of which was to go and watch the mural artist at work.
Wow. I have never seen a mural artist at work and always wondered how they could paint something so large and keep it in proportion. The artist we watched was using an iPad as his guide and he was using spray paint as his medium. It is such a fantastic mural and so lifelike!
This town is one of the friendliest we have visited in our travels. We passed by a vintage car museum on our walk home and the volunteer who was manning the museum started chatting to us as we passed by and encouraged us to take a book from the book exchange stand that was outside the museum. These stands are usually take one return one but he informed us that there are too many books so take as many as you like!
Small towns right across Australia are the same. Some of them are struggling to survive and they badly need the tourist dollar. We have also learnt that it pays to move away from the touristy coastal towns and into the rural towns where everything is just somehow easier. And get a load of these fuel prices. The cheapest we have seen and today the excise was re-instated!
It was a touring day today and we are again experiencing lovely warm conditions with a high of 25 degrees today. Perfect. We mapped out our journey to Lake Grace and Dumbleyung on Google Maps and decided to go to the furtherest point which is Lake Grace - a distance of 120 kms - and then work our way back to Dumbleyung that is just 35kms from where we are staying.
The scenery is much the same on our drive with acres upon acres of summer crops. We both commented that we need my farmer Uncle Kenny with us to name the crops for us. We are just guessing but we can most definitely pick out wheat and canola that is now starting to lose its flower and going to seed. It will be canola harvesting time very soon.
We stopped at a paddock of newly cut grass and breathed in deeply that wonderful smell of cut grass. There was windrow upon windrow of what we think is oats ready to be baled when it is sufficiently dry. The farmer is using a grass cutter much the same as the one we used to cut flinders grass another lifetime ago.
Lake Grace is a sleepy little wheatbelt town but by the number of brand new harvesting machines in one of the shops, it is also a wealthy town. We have been told that last year was a bumper grain crop and in fact the grain trucks that we hear passing along the highway each night are still carting last years grain! We walked along the main thoroughfare of Lake Grace and stopped to read the plaques along the footpath. I particularly enjoyed this one because it is strangely familiar 😂.
There are lots of buildings in Lake Grace Main Street that have been lovingly restored and it is always a joy to photograph them. I got up a little to close to a beautiful flowering bush in front of the post office when Philip grabbed me by the arm before I got bitten by the gazillion bees all over the shrub.
Approaching Lake Grace township from Wagin you pass over a long causeway across the large salt lake - Lake Grace. It sometimes takes on a pinkish tinge from the salt and I think that just maybe you can pick up the colour but maybe it's just my eyes.
We started making our way back along the highway to Dumbleyung and by the time we reached the little town it was after midday so we headed straight to the Grand Olde' Dumbleyung Hotel for lunch. The pub is being brought back to its former glory by its new owners, starting with the roof, but they have a lot of work in front of them. In one large room near the bar there is an area devoted to the history of Donald Campbell and the "Bluebird". It was interesting reading.
We started talking to one of the owners and it turns out that he is from Townsville (managed the Vale Hotel for many years) and how we got to that conversation was because we started talking about the footy. We said that we are rugby league supporters and don't know much about AFL, and he said, "Me too. I am a Cowboys supporter!" Talk about a small world. Philip ordered a B.E.L.T. (BLT with fried egg) and for me it was the steak burger. Man, it was massive but I did manage to gobble it down.
After lunch we headed to the interpretive centre where we watched a terrific video of Donald Campbells record breaking race across Lake Dumbleyung and from here we went to the building that housed the replica of the "Bluebird". We both commented on how small it was at just 8.3m in length, 2.25 metres high and weighing 2.5 tonnes. It ran on Kerosene and used a whopping 2954 litres per hour.
Adjacent to the Bluebird Replica was a monument honouring the CWA ladies of Dumbleyung. What a great organisation and how wonderful that they should be honoured by the community.
I guess we were doing things a little bit back to front but our next stop was Lake Dumbleyung where the water speed record was recorded. We drove up to Pussycat Lookout where there is a monument to Donald Campbell and the views from up here were excellent. I could almost hear the thunderous roar of the Bluebird as it skimmed across the water at a record breaking 444.71 kmh. It's hard to imagine that incredible speed and watching the old video showed just how very little of the Bluebird was actually touching the water.
The only stop we made on the way back to Wagin was to photograph some of the wildflowers that are now in abundance everywhere we look. Tomorrow we head to Kulin specifically to walk one of the towns wildflower trails that I had read about.
Our decision to move further east into the wheatbelt has proven to be a very good decision. It is sooooo much warmer here through the day with not a cloud in the sky. The mornings are chilly - 3 degrees this morning - but the day warms to around the 20 degree mark. Before breakfast we went for a short walk around the back streets of Wagin. There are a lot of older houses in the town that have been beautifully restored. Most have cottage gardens and picket fences that look so very pretty.
Once back at the van we got stuck into the washing that had piled up when we were off grid plus all the bedding and towels needed a freshen up. It took us the best part of the morning but around 10.30 we decided to walk the short distance to the Wagin Historical Village. We thought we would probably see most of it in an hour. Weren't we wrong! Three hours later......
Honestly, this is one of the most impressive historical villages we have visited and it's no wonder that it wins so many awards. We always thought the historical village at Herberton on the Atherton Tablelands of Queensland would be hard to beat but this one gives it a good run for it's money. It is not a large historical village with 26 re-created buildings, but it is the detail that has gone into these buildings - both inside and out - that sets it apart from anything else.
We are handed a pamphlet that guides you from building to building in the order that you should proceed. There is a description of each building with a suggestion as to what you should be looking for or a story about the particular building.
Here is an example of what is written:
THE MALLEE ROOT SHED shows early settle re-cycling. Roots of trees were hand picked after clearing and burning paddocks so they would be "clean" enough to crop. The roots were used for firewood but also to make a variety of buildings which were then thatched with wattle. This shed stores an old wagon. Mallee roots are in short supply now. Your horse needs shoeing so move to..... (The Blacksmith)
This poor old tiger was shot and killed in India in 1920 and a sailor brought it back to Australia to give to his girlfriend. It was used as a floor mat by the family for many years before being donated to the Historical Village.
Philip loved the Machinery Shed with its 1927 Fordson (this is the 1948 Fordson)....
And I enjoyed the Wagin Newspaper building, that houses early printing equipment still in working order. The first "Argus" newspaper was printed in Wagin in 1905 and continued until it closed in 2016.....
You could spend days not hours here in the Historical Village and we both regretted not choosing the Showground camping grounds (that has power and water) as the place to park the van as it is right beside the Historical Village. If you stayed here you most certainly would go backwards and forwards at your leisure.
A little GoPro courtesy of Philip:
Here is selection of just some of the photographs that I took today. You may even recognise some of the old items.....
