Julie's Travel Journal: Kookynie to Meekatharra

London Bridge

Day 6 2^nd May

Kookynie to Meekatharra

Odometer16826 Temp 14-35

With a long day ahead of us we had another early start. Mark enjoyed a full cooked breakfast and Julie a continental prior to hitting the road at 8.15 via the dirt road to Gwalia via Leonora.

We spotted 3 wedgetail eagles on the side of the road.

Mark topped up the tank in Leonora ($1.63.9) and we were given more precise directions to Hoover House- 2kms south of Leonora. We arrived at Hoover House a little after 9am. The sign on the gate indicated it wasn’t open until 10am, however the lady who works there allowed us to tour the site as she was there anyway. The property contains an interesting array of items relating to the mine and Gwalia in the 1890's.

Hoover House is run as a B & B ($150pn includes a continental breakfast and mine tour). What great value. I would loved to have stayed in one of the 3 rooms available.

The Hoover Room named after

Herbert Hoover 30th American President

Back on the road by 1040, heading to Sandstone. We spotted 6 emus beside the road. We had planned to eat lunch at London Bridge but I had difficulty finding it. Mark was having a snooze. There is a large map of Sandstone in the centre of town, so we were finally able to find the correct road, arriving at 1.45pm. Lunch consisted of chicken and salad minus the beetroot as I hadn't packed a can opener. FAIL

An amazing panorama of London Bridge, which was a popular picnic spot at the turn of the century

We were advised on trip advisor not to bother going to see London Bridge as there is not a lot to see, but I'm glad we did. This photo by Mark is one of my favourite photos from the trip.

By 2.45 we were on the Sandstone Meekatharra road. The road is corrugated with a mixture of gravel and bulldust.

There were some cattle on the side of the road and we passed the Vermin Proof Fence. We arrived in Meekatharra after two hours shaken but not stirred. On arriving in town we tried to check into the wrong hotel, and they would have been happy to let us. After checking in across the street at the pub we decided to go for a walk through town. We walked down one side of the street to the local park where I snapped this photo at sunset. Our walk took approximately 30 mins.

We had three choices for dinner, two pubs or the hotel across the road. We elected to eat in the pub we were staying in. I had a pork chop (which was huge and took up 1/2 the plate) & vegetables, Mark had garlic prawns and Fish n chips. Our bill with a cruiser and an alcoholic cider was $63.50.

Mileage 566kms

Total Mileage 4447kms