Our campsite at sunset at Malcolm Dam outside Leonora.

Sunset over Malcolm Dam outside Leonora.

Hoover House, Gwalia.

The dining room in Hoover House. The thing that looks like a cake tin at this end of the table is a replica of a gold bar. At an investors dinner in the early 1900s Hoover had real ones on the table to demonstrate the prosperity of this mine. Gwalia

Lots of interesting things to see at the Gwalia museum.

There were some enterprising entrepreneurs in Gwalia in its heyday.

Miners’ homes were simple 4-room structures made of corrugated iron and lined with hessian inside. Gwalia

This is the magnificent Gwalia Hotel, opened in 1903 and closed in 1964 when the Gwalia Gold Mine closed.

The open cut gold mine at Gwalia. As you can see the pit covers a small area, but it’s the deepest in Australia.

Beautiful sunset from campsite at Mt Magnet.

The roads out west can have dual purposes – emergency runway and road.

Predatory birdlife flourishes along the roads – plenty of roadkill for all.

The Dog Fence built in the 1880s to limit the spread of wild dogs and dingoes goes from South Australia to Queensland. I haven’t been able to find out any details of this one in WA.

A camel train of steel cutouts. Effective. Cue

Steve contemplating a ride … maybe not.

Some of the beautiful buildings in Cue. This used to be the magistrates court, prison and police station. It’s still the police station.

No need for the warning – I won’t be overtaking one of these giants.

By the amount of roadkill on the roads I’d guess the roadtrains don’t brake for these guys.

The beautiful Gascoyne River beside which we camped for two nights.

Reflections in the Gascoyne River from our campsite.

A twitcher! At our campsite beside the Middle branch of the Gascoyne River.

A meeting of pink galahs. At Gascoyne River.

The nest of an Australian Hobby – a raptor.

Australian hobby on its nest.

Whistling kite.

Magnificent raptors aplenty out here.

Nesting budgies. Gascoyne River

Pink galahs, at sunset. Gascoyne River

A masked woodswallow. Gascoyne River

White necked heron, posing for us beside the Gascoyne River

Drying the feathers – a white necked heron on the banks of the Gascoyne River

“And this is me from the other side.” A white necked heron poses for us on the Gascoyne River.

We’re now officially in the topics. Inland WA is not very tropical though – arid desert.

The view over the town of Newman from the radio tower lookout.

Mine tour preparation.

Getting ready of a tough day at the office! Actually awaiting the bus to Mt Whaleback mine tour.

The Mt Whaleback open cut iron ore mine. Newman

Drill holes – all ready to be exploded. Mt Whaleback, Newman

Tailings backfilling the eastern end of Mt Whaleback mine.

Spare tyres for the mine trucks. Bit hard to get a sense of the scale, but let’s just say, they’re huge!

Apparently these monsters when fully laden weigh more than a 747 prior to takeoff. At Newman visitors centre.

This is the artists’ space at the end of the Martumili Art Centre. Newman

Wildflowers