SUNDAY 29 AUGUST   GERALDTON TO SANDSTONE   510kms

John had insisted that we set the alarm, so as to get an early start. It went off before 7am. We were back driving by 7.30.

Nice day today – chilly to start, but with blue skies.

From Geraldton, headed west. Again, this was country we had travelled before, as far as Mt Magnet. Back in ’93 we had driven that route, and earlier this year we went as far as Mullewa.

There were lots of wildflowers in the wheat belt country, out to beyond Mullewa. They became fewer once we transitioned to the mulga country, before Yalgoo. But it was a pretty drive.

We had a quick look around Yalgoo. Back in ’93, after John “caught” the gold bug, we had camped here for a few nights – in a no-star caravan facility. Now, the new caravan park looked fine. It had to be an improvement on where we stayed before!

Yalgoo seemed tidier than I recollected. We refuelled here – $1.19cpl.

Stopped at Mt Magnet to eat our packed lunch. Topped up the fuel there – $1.22cpl.

There was a convoy of huge loads assembling at the Mt Magnet Roadhouse. We were told that police would escort the convoy northwards. It looked like mining gear.

The road to Sandstone, from Mt Magnet, was lovely to travel. It appeared to have been rather recently sealed. There was not much variety in the scenery. There were just enough very low hills and scrub covered dunes to stop it being flat.

The Sandstone Caravan Park charged us $16 for the night. There was no paper in the Ladies’ toilets, and they were a bit grubby, though not very old.

We were able to stay hitched up.

Went for a walk to have a look around the township. It looked to have some interesting historical aspects, but having dawdled for the Olympics, we now had no time to stay and investigate. That was rather a pity. It would have been much better to have had more time for this segment of the trip. There were some dramatic rock formations in the area, apparently.

Sandstone had some very attractive old buildings. The town dated back to the early 1900’s, when the whole region was subject to gold rushes and mining.

As we walked, John attracted a very friendly little dog that persisted in accompanying us. But the town was not very large, and his owner found him, as we walked around.

Today it was announced that there would be a federal election on 9 October. We would be home by then. I wondered if it would be too late, by the time we got home, to arrange to work in a polling booth on the day? I always found the work interesting, and the money didn’t go astray, either.

It was a very cold night.