Heavenly Beverley : From Far Cue, With Love...

The rain kept up for most of the night. Tucked into our cosy caravan cocoon within Digger, I slept really well apart from a few odd dreams - a kerfuffle about cooking meat properly and being unable to find my bedroom within a confusing building. Perhaps I was transported to Hogwarts for a short stay.

Michael was misery personified this morning. Headache, sore throat and copious amounts of gunge were all cramping his style. So I dosed him up with panadol, more horseshit herbal supplements and lozenges. I pottered around, making porridge and placing items inside all watertight doors and hatches. Dishes were washed, clothes pulled on and all emphasis was on departing. In the fullness of time.

I met caravan park manager (Bill, I think) on his rubbish rounds and apologised for our failure to launch by ten o'clock. No worries, he responded, as long as you're out by lunch! Good bloke. The Mt Magnet caravan park had provided us with a very pleasant stopover. Edge of town, modern facilities, not a whiff of any bad odours, roomy bays and shade.

We were ready to leave by eleven. The caravan park was almost deserted. This is where we differ from other Grey Nomads. We have watched with amusement as they pack up and push off as early as possible, even this morning with weather that was not clement. They seem to plan where they are going to stop for morning tea and lunch. They are off the road by four. On Tuesday, we arrived in Beacon in the dark because we had made a number of impromptu stops and caught the magnificent sunset on Michael's camera.

So, as we were preparing to finally leave, we noticed a newly arrived rig driving all over the caravan park. We were perplexed. Maybe we were in the way? I went over to the driver's side and enquired whether we were a problem. "I'm just trying to find a spot that satisfies the wife" was his deadpan reply. I smiled and retreated into Lily's passenger seat. I proceeded to ask Michael to shoot me the minute I began planning morning tea and lunch spots and needed to be satisfied within a caravan park...

We had booked for four nights in Cue, only eighty kilometres up the highway. We weren't in a hurry to leave Mt Magnet before we returned to the Mt Magnet Hardware and Muzz Buzz. Jamie and Cora, the proprietors, run the Best Hardware Store in the Murchison. We took them up on their offer of a free milk crate and a toilet seat. This will be fashioned into our new camping facility. Plus a spray attachment for the hose. I also collected the paper, the Women's Weekly and the local newsletter. We motored all of five hundred metres up the road to fill up with fuel and buy sandwiches for lunch. Which we ate in Lily rather than stopping at a designated location.

Michael had previously noted the location of what appeared to be ruins, high on a ridge at a deserted mining centre named Austin. Having fortified ourselves we lunch, we pulled off the highway and began a gentle climb to the top. Enroute we passed the remains of old mining operations, mullock heaps (the remains of mining) and numerous shafts. We knew we were in the vicinity of active mining, so we did not stray from our goal.

High above the salt lake was the remnants of at least six dwellings constructed with the local stone. Michael had heard that the miners at Austin were Welsh and used to building with any material at hand. Although tiny, one contained a fireplace and shelves all built out of the banded rock. They were obviously built to provide the best conditions for both the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Apparently, one of the houses had the associated mineshaft directly underneath.

On the other side of the highway was Lennonville. With a population of three thousand at the turn of the twentieth century, the town met its demise through the exhaustion of the gold reserves and an inferno. By 1909, Lennonville had been abandoned. All that is left is the crumbling railway platform.

We arrived in Cue mid-afternoon. The drizzle had recommenced so we scurried around, completing power, water and stabiliser setup before retiring inside.

Dinner will be reheated shortly. We are both on our second glasses of red. Michael is remarkably improved after a very lowkey and relaxing day.

And tomorrow, we are staying put. YAY!