June 29th

We have enjoyed  a lovely day in Leonora, camped in the local camping park. Washing of clothes and 'on tap' showers have been the real bonus. We have spent several hours today visiting Lisa Brown who is John's cousin and her partner Tony Pilkington who live here in Leonora. Lisa and Tony have a Gold Prospecting Business which we found very interesting, mainly because we know nothing of mining for a career or a living. The area is still rich in gold with several large mines still operating.

Our travelling companions have now gone down to Perth for some different activities. We will meet again in about 3 weeks time. By then we will be ready to make our way east again.

After lunch we drove around Leonora and visited the Gwalia Mining museum. It is a fun place to walk around because of all the old Miners cottages which you are free to walk through. Miners lived a very hard life with high summer temperatures and cold nights during the winter. The homes were very basic with iron or tin outside walls and hessian walls inside. There was little furniture and no comforts to ward off hot or cold weather. Toilet and bathroom facilities were very basic.

Our new tyre will arrive in Leonora tomorrow morning. After taking delivery of this we plan to head north for some more explorations of new places. It is unusual for us to not have definite plans but it will be fun seeing some  new areas within this huge state.

Front door of Pink Miner's Cottage

Typical wood stove from the early mining era.