After turning South at Leinster we traveled another 130 Km to Leonora along the Goldfields Highway. We topped up with Diesel before visiting the Visitor Centre. Another lovely historic mining town with some beautiful old buildings. A bit more commercial development than our last few stops but still a fraction of its glory during the Gold Rush.
The lady at the Visitor Centre was a good source of local information and on her recommendation we decided to stay at the free camp at Malcom Dam. This is only about 12 Km East of Leonora towards Laverton. We found an area adjacent to the Dam wall with a picnic table and fire pit. We were able to park the vans overlooking the dam which made for a nice outlook. No facilities other than the picnic tables and rubbish bins. The dam was fairly depleted but still had some water and a fair amount of bird life. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon enjoying the view and another nice sunset.
Thursday morning we left the caravans and took a day trip to Laverton with the Ransleys. About 100 Km East of our location and a fully sealed road. This is the beginning of the Outback Way. The "Longest Shortcut" travels from Laverton through Uluru ending in Winton, Queensland. Maybe another trip! The highlight of Laverton is the Great Beyond Visitor Centre and the Explorers Hall of Fame. An interesting multimedia history of the exploration of Australia's Outback. Quite interesting and as a bonus the girls found a piece of gluten free Cheesecake for a snack.
The Laverton Outback Gallery was also an interesting stop. Displays and sells local Aboriginal Art at very reasonable prices. Wasn't quite sure how I would have transported it home or I might have bought a piece myself.
We took the Old Laverton Highway for some of the return trip. We stopped at a few historic mine sites/cemetery's along the return journey. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Mt. Margaret which is an Aboriginal community. Had a bit of a view from the lookout and then had a good laugh at the local football field. You wouldn't want to get tackled taking a mark on this one!
Our next stop on he return journey was Mt. Morgan. Another Ghost Town although there is an active mine operating there again now. Lovely old Town Hall building is the only remnant of the town other than some street signs.
Our final stop was a lookout near our campground which had some interesting rock structure. A lot of the rock actually looked like petrified wood with grains running through it. Interesting.
We returned to the caravans in mid afternoon where we relaxed by the dam and planned our next few days of travel. Very nice free camp here and one we would definitely return to again.
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