GREAT CENTRAL ROAD

From York I travelled east on the Great Eastern Highway to Coolgardie, then up to Kalgoolie, and north to Leonora and then Laverton. Here I joined the Great Central Road. This is all dirt and travels through unchanging scenery until you get to the Olgas. From York to the Olgas was about 2,200 kilometres in total. 

Once on the Great Central Road I passed very few cars. The road had roadhouses along the way. These are not the service centres that I know from travelling in NSW but usually a very simple affair, sometimes near an Aboriginal township. They tended to open odd hours. At Tjukayirla the roadhouse closed at 5pm. I arrived at 5.07 and they had a fee of $20 if you wanted them to reopen and serve you diesel. Or you could pay to camp there until morning and then buy fuel without the $20 fee. Diesel was $2.37 a litre! 

Coolgardie

While on the road I had been stopped by a patrol of police, three cars, who had a chat and took your name. I asked at one of the roadhouses and it seems they did this about every month. I assumed this was a safety thing. The roadhouses also inevitable had a German or English backpacker working there. Backpackers come to these remote areas to work for a specified period and in return get their visas extended for a second year.

One night I stopped for an Aboriginal fellow, and his grandson, along the road who had stopped his car. It wouldn’t start again. We ended up taking the battery from my car, starting his and then while it was running took mine out and replaced his in the car. It got him underway.

A couple of times I saw dingos beside the road at night, and one morning I was able to photograph wild camels. First there was a group of three camels and then a lone, rather large one. I also saw a couple of small flocks of budgerigars.

Kalgoolie