Perth to Karalee : 438km

Saturday, 10th June.

It's good to be on the road again.  After leaving home at about 9.30 this morning, we had an easy drive on Roe Highway to Midland but came to a standstill through the Perth Hills (we don't have mountains!), caused by a heavy haulage vehicle and escorts (fortunately they were able to pull off the road to allow the build up of traffic through) and then by extensive road works which closed half the highway.   Once we got past all that, and the traffic had spread out, there were no more hiccups, other than much of the road, the National 94, being somewhat less than smooth and in need of resurfacing.

Bypassing Northam, our first stop was in Meckering at the Memorial Rose Gardens where we made lunch and boiled the billy....there is a waste water dump point there as well as toilets and overnight stops are now permitted, though being quite close to the highway, it may be a little noisy.

The next stop was in Merredin for fuel followed by a brief stop in Southern Cross before heading to our overnighter at Karalee Dam, located between S.C. and Coolgardie.  We were amazed to receive a text message as we were driving along the 4km gravel road to the dam....in the middle of the bush we have a strong mobile coverage!  We had time before night set in to have a short walk to the dam, which is currently only about half full, checking out the flume and sluice gate which direct the water into the dam....very impressive.  An early night is on the cards, too cold to sit outside, we've had a busy week and still a long way to go.