MARBLE BAR. W.A.

MARBLE BAR

I would just like to say how much we enjoyed Marble Bar. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but a very interesting area with a lot of history, especially the discovery of alluvial gold in the area in 1891. At its peak in 1893 boasted a population of 5,000, who were supported by the small scale of mining of gold, other minerals and the outlying sheep and cattle stations. Marble Bar derives its name from the immense band of Jasper, or column marble, (a highly coloured cryptocrystalline variety of quartz) which crosses the bed of the Coongan River about 5klms from the township. Marble Bar Pool & Chinamans Pool boasts large deposits of the marble and a lovely spot for locals to picnic and swim. Today the population is approx. 400.
Marble Bar also lays claim to be the “ hottest town in Australia”, as in April 1924 had 161 consecutive days of temperatures at 100deg.F or 37.8deg.C. The Comet Gold Mine opened in 1936 and was continuously worked until 1955. Also boasts the tallest smoke stack in the southern hemisphere @ 75mtrs. Today the Comet is a museum and tourist centre. A short drive of approx. 35klms. from town is the remains of Coruna Downs Airfield built in 1943 as a long range base for attacks on the Japanese-occupied islands in Indonesia.
Today the town’s only restaurant is in the Travellers Rest Motel, but unfortunately the holder of the liquor licence was not in town so could not purchase any alcohol for my birthday celebration. Not even B.Y.O. was allowed. The only pub is the Iron Clad Hotel, but they too were having renovations and no food available, so after a lovely meal we adjourned back to the caravan park where we joined by friends we had met in the park for a few drinks. Our group included, Jackie, John, Trevor, Carol, Joy, John, and our next door neighbour Graham who is a prospector. To my surprise he presented me with a birthday gift, a lovely gold nugget. I was just gobsmacked that someone would do that. He is such an interesting person to talk to, also being a geologist. His mate, Barry was also very helpful in showing D’Arcy many pointers about prospecting and his detector.
The town itself is very neat & tidy, but most days we didn’t witness hardly anyone walking around. The Church of Christ the King was constructed in 1941 (see my photos)but became a state of disrepair due to termite and cyclone damage until community action obtained funding to conserve the building in 1999. Today, church services are held subject to notice.
Another good picturesque outlook is the Flying Fox Lookout, which overlooks the Coongan River and surrounding hills 8klms. from town.
We did do quite a bit of prospecting but no luck, so will have to come back another day. A week is certainly not enough time in this area as there were places of interest that we didn’t get to see.
So reluctantly we said goodbye to Marble Bar and headed south for more adventures.

Till next post....

BROOME TO MARBLE BAR

GREAT NORTHERN HIGHWAY-BROOME
BROOME TO MARBLE BAR
After reaching the Great Northern Highway, eastern end of G.R.R. it was like heaven being on the bitumen again and such a good surface and only towing the camper trailer we were travelling really well and decided to just keep going and made our stop at the end of the day Fitzroy Crossing which was a 606klm day. With sharing the driving and many rest s

tops it was quite comfortable.
There was a free camp area called Telegraph Pool that we were told about and not a great distance to go into Broome the next day, so we camped up for the night and really enjoyed our first free camp on the whole G.R.R. trip. After D’Arcy cutting some firewood we had a beautiful fire going to cook on and enjoy the evening. Situated on the Fitzroy River we could see crocodiles on the opposite bank sunning themselves.
On arriving back at the Broome Caravan Park we had to re-install the hitch back into the F250 to hook on to our rig that was in storage. With a lot of unloading and shuffling things around it took a couple of hours. A very nice guy came over to offer his assistance to D’Arcy. It was really appreciated. Mike & his wife Lisa and their daughter Pippa were holidaying in the park. We got to share a few happy hours with them. After unloading the trailer it was time to return it the next day and then proceed to clean the red dust from everything that had travelling in the back of the truck. It probably took us about 5 days to clean and re-pack things away, but after all it was well worth the effort. The only thing was 3 weeks was not enough time to do the G.R.R. and all there was to see. We did miss quite a bit.
Also a nice surprise to see Pam & John still there in the park. We did manage to get to Cable Beach and have “happy hour” watching the sunset down on the beach then a light dinner at the resort outdoor bar & restaurant.
2nd August and it was time to move south. Destination was 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park, but we decided to only have a short day and stopped in a rest area. Stanley Rest Stop was approx. 200klms and quite extensive with concreted pads where we were able to park. Don’t know the circumstances regarding the concrete, but quite unusual for a rest area.
We spent another week in 80 Mile Beach trying to catch fish. The weather and tides just have to be right and unfortunately not on our side again. Although D’Arcy did catch a couple of small sharks that are really good eating. Of course it was another opportunity for me to go shell collecting again. The WA Variety Bash cars visited the park on their way to travel the G.R.R. Live entertainment travels with them and we were fortunate to join in and enjoy the performance, meeting some very fine people too.
After our departure we headed for Port Hedland to spend one night and retrieve mail and do shopping then off to Marble Bar approx. 250klms.
Till next post....
p.s. Mike & Lisa I have been thoroughly frustrated because for some unknown reason I cannot download the photo we took of your lovely family.
I will email it to you. Carol ...