1 August 2024
We had originally planned to head west towards Mount Magnet to do a loop around some of the Murchison region covering WA’s mid-west. However, after spending so long in the remote areas of WA we decided to stick a little closer to the coast and instead drive part of the Wildflower Way.
Unfortunately, we were about a month too early for the wildflower season proper, however we did get to see some nice wildflowers along the way.
We tried very hard to find the elusive Wreath Flower, however came up short this time. Maybe later this trip we’ll have success.
We visited the beautiful Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church in Mullewa, just making it in time before the priest was closing up for the day.
We stopped at some random places along the way, including old dance halls and rusted out cars.
Our adventure for the day was when we decided to have a quick look at the Coalseam Conservation Park. It had been raining a lot in this area of late, after a very dry spell, so as we drove in on the dirt (read mud) road we decided it wasn’t worth going in too far. We spotted an area that gave a nice view, so decided to pull over and take some photos there before heading back out on to the main road.
I spotted a rocky area that would be good to stop on and headed for them — only around 5-8 metres off the dirt road — but I forgot to look at what was between. What seemed fairly innocuous ground turned out be very soft indeed. This was confirmed as the motorhome came to a stop. Application of the accelerator made for a spinning left rear wheel.
No problem I thought, I’ll stick it in 4WD and just drive out of it forward. Two rear wheels spinning now …
OK, I’ve got this. I’ll reverse out and use the slight downhill slope to help. Nope, we’re STUCK!
After getting out (and slamming the car door pretty hard and rudely telling the mud what I really thought of it and the situation we were now in) Nicole and I took stock. It was time to get the MaxTrax off the back of the motorhome and get into it. I was a bit lazy and tried just using the MaxTrax as a shovel to move some of the mud, but that wasn’t working. So out with the (surprisingly very effective) folding shovel we had packed.
I tried to drive forward first, with no luck. Then Nicole very correctly suggested we use gravity and reverse off. After some more shovel work, a second attempt and a bit of luck, Knight Riders rose out of the mud like Yoda lifting an X-Wing Fighter out of a Dagobah swamp. SUCCESS!
So, we now know how to use MaxTrax (never tried them before) and appreciate why we ticked that option when ordering the motorhome. We also appreciated ticking the ‘rear shower’ option — a small cupboard on the rear wall with a flexible shower line and head — which provided us a way to clean all that mud off the gear prior to packing it away. Nice!
As it turns out, we were chatting to a local in the area a few days later and received some (now superfluous) advice. “With that motorhome of yours, whatever you do don’t pull off the road to look at wildflowers. Just stop on the road if you have to, but it’s way too soft off the road at the moment after all this rain.” Good to know …
Anyway, we decided to finish our adventurous day in Perenjori (we actually ended up spending two nights). We pretty much had the place to ourselves, and found we had access to a firepit and free firewood. Nice again!
We definitely didn’t waste the opportunity and enjoyed a few drinks and music around the fire pre and post a nice dinner of BBQ pork steaks on the bone. A lovely way to end the day and something we’re keen to do more of as we continue our Big Lap. Onwards and upwards …
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