Sunday 21 July 2009 - Wiluna
The day started early meeting Delia at the Airport, followed by a very quick tour of Kalgoorlie. We then set off for the almost 600km drive to Wiluna. On the way we stopped in to take a look the Ora Banda Pub, but alas it was closed. This didn't matter as I was keen to detour from Menzies by 60km to revisit the sculptures at Lake Ballard. Its a special spot, where around 150 bronze sculptures have be placed, randomly over a salt lake covering a few square kms. It was rather muddy this day, hard to walk on account of being slippery. Lucky we both managed to stay ‘upright’ and mostly mud free.
We stopped at Leonora for a spot of lunch at the local pub, then it was time for the long haul of 306kms not stop. We arrived in Wiluna at around 4pm. I wasn’t actually sure of the directions of how to get to Gunbarrel Laggers (Grapes) where we were staying for the week. The local shop/petrol station gave us direction of about 20kms East out along the Gunbarrel road towards Carnegie Station. Wiluna is the Gateway to both the Gunbarrell Hwy road and the Canning Stock Route. It was exciting to be here again as I’ve toured out this way on a motorbike and sidecar. It was the perfect time of year to head North-East. Oh well, maybe next time soon.
Light was fading fast as we headed East… We were chatting about what we going to eat for dinner. I was a little perplexed as to what food would be available, as for some reason we had to confirm with the accommodation we required food, giving at least 24hours notice. It made me wonder what they would cook. We found our turn-off, light was now a red glow from the west of the grape vines. I was diving and had slowed on the dirt drive to about 60kms, lights on and keeping a eye out for roos. It was about 5.30pm... We needed to have kept more than an eye out, as with in 100 meters of the homestead gate, a young roo decided to place its hopping head in front of he roo-bar. Spat, hard breaking and crunch we had hit the roo. I stopped to check our ute. There was water dripping from a bottle near the radiator, but I couldn't see enough to know it was the coolant or windscreen washing bottle... The ute was not, otherwise damaged. The same couldn't be said for the roo.
I walked back to check the pouch for a 'Joey', none found. Nor was their a heart-beat. I dragged roo off the drive. We returned to ute and drove even slower to camp. Arriving at camp was like at home. Jill was just a loverly host. She is a gem. It was decided that with water dripping out the ute and the lack of light we shouldn't drive the ute over to dinner and her son, would check the ute out tomorrow... It didn't take me a while to grasp the idea that we would need to drive about 10-15kms back the way we came to the Mine Camp we passed for our dinner at the mess! So after showing us our donga's, Jill gave me the keys to her Subi (Forrester) and we were told to reverse park when we arrived. If you have never visited a mine camp, it can be an interesting experience, as was the case tonight. Our 4x4 didn't have mine lights, pole or high-vis striped... We were also the smallest vehicle in the parking bar and as we latter found out, had parked in the spot for the bus.
We went to the bar to purchase our meal tickets $15 each to give to the cook. However they only except cash. At this point I knew were going to face a cash-flow problem, as I was down to my last $30 bucks! We managed to get dinner of roast everything meat and vegies. It was rather nice. We returned to what would be our home for the next 6 nights and I know i slept soundly.
Our time in community working on the Energy Efficiency Audits was very rewarding. We kicked our visit off with a meeting of the community at the rolls of astro-turf. Most people came with their cuppa's and we provided fruit. We spoke of why were here and how we would like to visit everyone to talk to each resident on how they use energy in their home, provide advice on appliance selection, condition and if there was a 'manhole' undertake an inspection of the roof insulation. This community was about go 'live' in about 3 days with the Horizon Power Prepayment Meters. Currently individuals didn't pay for their personal power consumption based on what they used. Instead a fix deduction was paid, regardless of what was used. So if a home was a low energy use home, they would pay the same as a high energy home.
Over the next 5 days, we managed to visit every home (18 homes), attend an all day council meeting and participate in a photo-shoot for 'go-live'. I loved being in community...very kind people. I also purchased my 1st painting :)
