Koorda, Mukinbudin, Wyalkatchem & Minnivale

The drive-in cinema at Koorda has been on our hit list for quite a while. So we scheduled in a stop for the once a month screening in August 2024. But, weather being what weather is, weather decided to make the evening less than suitable for a drive-in movie night. Rain. So the drive -in is Still on our hit list. Instead we watched a movie, "From Time To Time" in the van. In addition, one night wasn't enough, so as they suggested stay 3 and pay for 2, we took up their offer.
Driving out from the townsite on Sunday we found the Koorda Native Flora Reserve. This is a place that you can free camp at, with a nice flushing toilet, but we were only there to view the flowers. Again the day wasn't very exciting, wind and the occasional blustery shower. And unfortunately the flowers weren't in the peak period. Still and nice brisk walk, with a few observations such as the Prickly Wattle and the Koorda Rose amongst them. A highlight of the walk was a large Bobtail having a rest in a sunny patch out of the wind.

Badgerin Rock. Monday found us attacking two different 'rocks'. Badgerin was first on the agenda. This was a granite outcrop rather than a tall rock but still had some very good pools of water in the depressions. Not too many wildflowers, and no orchids at all that we could see.

Newcarlbeon Rock. Now this is a rock, similar to others in the wheatbelt area, which feeds rainwater into a water tank. A small brick and concrete wall is built around the granite rock/s to channel the rainwater runoff into a large tank to, supply water to the surrounding farms and livestock. We found many flowers including donkey, clown and purple orchids. Plus a huge bonus of a large echidna wandering and snuffling into the ground looking for food.


Finally we had to leave Koorda and head over to Muckinbudin. And country roads always provide challenges. This one required us to move car and caravan off to the side of the road.

This actually part of the journey was unplanned, as we hadn't anticipated Deborah getting a bloodshot eye. We were going to leave the van at Mukka and drive to the chemist at Merredin to see the Pharmacist to get it checked out. However Mukka has a medical centre which suited us just fine, as we didn't have to travel any further. Beautiful setup, wonderful nurse (named Deborah of all things), and a doctor that just happened to be there. The downside for Mukinbudin is that the doctor is usually only there once a fortnight, and occasionally not even then. Lucky for us he did arrive that day. The Registered Nurse, Deborah & the Doctor agreed on the diagnosis which was conjunctival hemorrhage. The treatment is let it settle itself. Deborah's eye may look worse but then get better in time.

Not to be kept in for bed rest of the eye, we ventured out to more nature reserves and rocks. Weira Reserve just east of the town WA our first adventure from Mucka, not counting the Health Centre as an adventure for Ian.
Weira is also a smallish free camping location with a drop toilets and fire pits. A short walk revealed some nice orchids along either side the largest gnamma hole we'd seen.


Train loading in front of where we are parked in the RV parking area. A stunning display. The next day the train came again and we were able to watch whilst it separated and moved down theine to load up.

We took a walk through town and visited the stunning Art Gallery inside the Memorial Hall, a walk through the Sunshine Community Park and restocked up at the IGA.

On our drive back from Weira Reserve we stopped for a walk through Mondy Reserve. Not a lot of flowers to see, but we did spot this beauty.

A little further on our way back to Mukinbudin is Pope's Hill, in a way it's a memorial to a pioneer of the district, a railway engineer who helped bring the train through the Mukinbudin region and a WWI veteran.

We took another drive to see Yanneymooning Rock and then Elachbutting Rock where you can find Monty's Trail Pass and Wave. The first rock was spectacular to see, but with little flower activity whereas we eventually found some good spider, clown and shell orchids at Elachbutting.


Beringbooding Rock Tank
The tank was built in 1937 mainly using unemployed workers. This rock has the largest rock water catchment tank in Australia, holding over 10 Million gallons. It has a gamma hole nearby on the rock called kangaroo hole.

After a last night catch-up pub dinner with friends Matt, Bron and their 2 boys Campbell and Lucas we headed off to a new location today, in fact one that's never been reviewed on Wiki Camps. Just near the location of Korrelocking, the camping is around an old cricket wicket in the middle of nowhere, probably leftover from the mid 20th century. Well we can tell you we found it, after a bit of reconnaissance on foot. Happy to report we found another camper here tucked away in the scrub. The stars put on an awesome display throughout the night. We sighted 2 satellites coming together from opposite directions and a shooting star, so privileged to see such a wonderful nights sky even though it was cloudy.

Friday sees another long (short) drive into Wyalkatchem. Yee Ha it's Rodeo time. After our enjoyable time at the Preston Rodeo in Tasmania we timed it to perfection to arrive a day early for the Wylie Rodeo. After parking up, and leaving enough room for our friend Annette to fit next to us, we surveilled the area. And before most campers arrived the area was already looking a bit damp. After the several thousand people had either driven or walked over the camping area and oval, it had become a bit like a quagmire by early Saturday. Enough of the weather you say. So be it we say. It was another enjoyable experience, except for the wind (fairly constant) and the drizzly showers (on and off), but great entertainment. Oops, Sorry had I just mentioned the weather again. Anyways, entertainment continued into the night. In fact the bands finished at midnight, but everyone that that had bought a whip at the merch stalls had to continue to practice into the wee hours. Speaking of wee, there were a few toilets around the area but good job we had our own toilet paper.

Sunday we bid goodbye to Annette as she headed off, although we will catch up with her the Wednesday at Dowerin Field Day.

We have a few days before we need to be at Dowerin so driving about 20 kms westward we decide to a donation camp up at Minnivale. This is a small settlement which is, again, nearly a ghost town with just 3 houses. Reading the description of the camping facilities it mentioned, a flushing toilet, drinking water tap, a shower, a clothes line and a dump disposal point. Unfortunately we didn't read far enough into the description to realise it was a cold shower only. Not to be fazed, we used our own shower and gas to enjoy a hot shower, also knowing we could fill up the caravan water tanks before we departed this location. We also did some loads of washing using the local water.

Another bonus was a nature reserve around the camping area and about 700m up the road was the Minnivale cemetery. Amazingly the headstones showed the last burial was done in 2021, only 3 years earlier. We did a late afternoon walk to the cemetery and saw a beutiful sun setting over the graves. We quickly walked back to camp, as the only spirits we wanted in the caravan were the drinking kind not the spectral kind. The local church, built in 1925, indicates services are held most Sundays.
Some of the flowers we found, amongst the mozzies, included Spider, Donkey, Clown and Banded Shell orchids, Blue Fringed Lily, Grevillea Hookeriana, Isopogon and more...


A walk around town revealed the grain storage bins seem no longer active. There were a collection of 5 train engines looking in very good condition.


The remains of a bakery from bygone years. Started in 1927 and then bought by Samuel Lynn in 1934. He, and his sons, also purchased and ran the Dowerin, Cunderdin, Goomalling and York bakeries. Unfortunately by 1963 the time for small country bakeries was past and they left Minnivale and the bakery fell into disrepair. Fortunately the Metters oven remains as a reminder of a social history that was part of every small rural town.