It was frosty when we awoke but it soon became a bright sunny morning.

Before setting out we made a phone call to the Shire of Kondinin to check if they had had much rain.   Yes, quite a bit they said, so a change of plan because the Emu Fence Road we had planned to take is dirt  and it would be an unnecessarily messy route.    Instead we stayed on the tar up to Merredin and enjoyed seeing the countryside on a quiet but good straight road until we joined the Great Eastern Hwy.   This a terrible road, it is probably the most utilised country road in WA, it runs from Perth to Kalgoorlie but also connects with the Eyre Hwy to Adelaide and all points east.    Literally hundreds of trucks travel it everyday.

Just before joining the Hwy we had a call from our traveling companions to say that they had a problem with their Landcruiser engine and were in a workshop.   We decided we would carry on to our planned night-stop and keep in touch so that we keep up to date with their progress.   

We were somewhere between Merredin and Southern Cross when a truckie going in the opposite direction called us up on the UHF, he had recognised the Troopy and told us that he had helped get the old caravan upright after the accident.   We thanked him for efforts and passed the time of day before moving out of range.    After Southern Cross we passed the scene where are previous caravan came grief, there are still some marks on the road, according to Pat, I must have had my eyes shut at the time!

At our next contact with our friends they informed us that they had got the first problem fixed, got 5 mins down the road when another one manifested itself!    So back to the workshop.   Meanwhile we had arrived at Boondi  Rock, our planned night stop, and parked at the back of the dam next to a table and fire pit. Then we had a look around.

What do you do out in the bush if you need water for your steam trains?    Well, first you find yourself a rocky granite outcrop, then you use the granite to build a wall round the base of the rock, channel the water to the lowest point, use more granite to build a channel (along the way, feed in another channel, to direct the water to the hole in the ground you’ve dug and you’ve got yourself a dam full of water – when / if it rains.  Though the rainfall was more reliable a century ago.    Add an overflow in case you have too much and you have the full system.    How very simple!

There are several of these rock to dam constructions along the Great Eastern, they interesting historically and usually good places to camp for the night. 

The two best known examples are Boondi and Keralee where we have stayed before, both are National Trust areas.    Also, Wave rock near Hyden, where a similar system still provides the community’s water supply.    Interestingly, at Keralee, the channel is constructed from steel sheets and steel support structures.

The phone signal here is very weak and intermittent but we have managed to talk briefly to our friends, they are finally on the road, so we will stay here until they arrive tomorrow, when we will decide whether to push on or have another night here.   The other couple we are meeting up with are equally difficult to contact,  being up in the goldfields near Payne’s Find, so we  have had send them a text to advise of our delays.

Time for dinner and a glass of something to warm us up. 

This is the link to the map.   https://1drv.ms/i/s!AksnrQT2cvoGxTXbBg_gfYkGxm7Y