Thursday 25 May 2000

Moving on to today…  Ferbie went boating on the lake before we left.  He didn’t quite master rowing but seemed to have a good time… AND he survived without any mishaps this time. 

Made progress inland and in a northerly direction.  Heading into major wheatbelt coutry.  Enormous fields being worked by huge artic tractors with the largest cultivator combination drills that I’ve ever seen.  Detoured to visit Yarra Yarra lakes.  The main lake is full and has been flooded in the recent past.  We investigated a 4WD track up the West side of the lake.  It was still rather boggy so we decided to ‘Tread Lightly’ and back-tracked to the main road. 

On through grain and sheep country.  Called in at Depot Hill Reserve – couldn’t find anything mentioned in the Tourist brochure so carried on to Coal Seam Reserve.  This is an interesting reserve set around a usually dry river and the cliffs next to it.  The river actually had a trickle in it.  This was apparently the first place in WA where coal seams were found – exposed on the surface by the river.  It was very poor quality so noone bothered with it.  I think that the brown softish stuff was coal but I wouldn’t be certain.  The top of the cliff provided a fantastic vantage, while the walls of the cliffs are littered with fossilised shells.  We also found a fossil that looked like fish fins – then again it could just have been a different type of shell. 

We set off in the Geraldton direction after lunch, calling into Ellendale Pool on the way through.  This had potential to be our camp for the night, but when we got there, it was rather disappointing – heaps of people, no good tent sites and all there is to see is a small pool.  So we’ve ended up at Greenough River Mouth can park just down the road from Greenough Historic settlement – all of 100 plus years old.  Very pleasant here.  Just on the mouth of the river, not far from the sea.