June 25th - 27th - Marble Bar.

We managed to drive out from Running Waters without any problems and headed along the Skull Spring Road towards Marble Bar.
Driving out.

Red hills along the Skull Springs Road.

A rocky hill beside the road.
The road had just been graded. They must have known we were coming.
On arrival we checked into the local caravan park and Bruce the caretaker was very friendly and helpful. We did the washing and other chores as well as food shopping.
In the evening we went to the Iron Clad Hotel, the local watering hole, for a very large meal and a few drinks at premium prices. 
Next day we went 40klms  south of Marble Bar to a see a secret World War 2 Airfield that the Japanese never found. Planes flew as far as Borneo from this airfield. We were able to see lots of relics and evidence of buildings, gun pits, shooting range etc


Aircraft Bay


Runway

Hospital

Gun pit beside the runway.
We returned to town and after doing some shopping we went out of town a little way to the actual Marble Bar. It is really Jasper that was originally mistaken for Marble.


On the way back we stopped into see 2 local swimming holes, Marble Pool and Chinamen’s Pool.




Marble Pool.


Chinamen’s Pool.
The old shire offices built in the late 1800s and now the museum and police station.

Sturt Desert Pea growing nearby.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 23rd - Desert Queen Baths to Running Waters.

Image
We were reluctant to leave camp this morning as the area was so beautiful and very peaceful as there were no other campers there. On the way out we took a side track to see a cave with interesting rock formations. We then drove on to a site on our map named Christmas Pool. We met some other people and chatted about campsites etc. Christmas Pool is an Aboriginal Sacred Site and was dry but you could see that when full of water it would be quite beautiful. Explorers had camped here in 1870 something on Christmas Day, hence the name. They had carved their names in the rock. One name was Trotman. We had seen his name on the CSR. There was a bit of sandy country to drive through but we had no problems. Christmas Pool. We continued on driving north west and once we arrived near the Telfer Mine the road turned into a fabulous dirt highway. We didn’t go into the mine but we did see a huge pile of over burden so it is a pretty big mine. Once out onto the main road we drove towards Marble Bar, t
Read more

June 19 - Jupiter Well to Kunawarritji and Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route.

Image
Driving westward today we saw a great variety of country and also a great variation in road surfaces.   We arrived at the Gary Junction where the Gary Junction Road and the Gary Highway meet. The Gary Highway goes south and meets up with the Gun Barrel Highway. We have visited both ends of this road now but have never driven on it. There is a book in a steel case for travellers to sign. We all signed the book. The Gary Highway!!!!! This was the plaque near the book. After leaving the Gary Junction it was only a short run, 65klms, into Kunawarritji 4 Klms after we crossed the CSR. We topped up with fuel and if we thought Kiwirrkurra fuel was expensive  take a look at the next photo. We decided to camp at Well 33 which is the closest well to Kunawarritji. The tank was overflowing as it was when we were here 10 years ago. So we did the washing and then relaxed. The flies were full on.
Read more

June 11th - 80 Mile Beach.

Image
After lunch we drove to 80 Mile Beach arriving at the campground around 3.30. After setting up and having a chat with the neighbours, one of who we had camped next to at Marble Bar, we walked down onto the beach to await the sunset and have happy hour. The sunset was terrific. We finished the evening chatting to our neighbours who were from SA and had travelled some of Len Beadel’s roads to WA too.
Read more