Marble Bar finale

Our stay in marble Bar has been restorative and something of a revelation. This hottest town in the country (in 1927 the temperature remained above 38degC for 167 days), that in our mind's eye would be a barren hell hole, the sort of place Luke Skywalker would feel at homwe in, revealed itself as a true oasis nestled in charming fashion amongst a range of low hills.

White Gums and Wattles and Melaleuca line the nearby creeks and no shortage of water it seems, is available to keep lawns green here and there.

There are several gorges and water holes to find, the bar itself (a band of jasper that resembles marble metamorphosed with dark and light and red banding). It is a place where many of the locals arrived not so long ago and just decided to stay. For two pins I reckon Helen would too - she has talked to many of them and heard some stories and bonded with one of the town's older women who grew up on the station mentioned. It's also a town undergoing change through the pressures of mining - Gina Reinhardt has leased some of the country around, there  is lots of exploratory prospecting, and the town itself is underpinned by the owner of one of the grazing properties nearby, who has bought most of the business opportunities (caravan park, pub, post office etc).

As I write the smart daughter is returning to her property in her red helicopter. She married the pub owner and they have a baby. She runs a successful with beef cattle export business and is rumoured to be buying her father out. There is surely a novel in it.

We keep extending our stay day by day because it is such an interesting place. We visited the old Comet Gold Mine with its 75m stack and

chatted with the Dutch overseer, who came to look after the mine museum (it closed in 1995) for a friend for three weeks. He has been there day and night for three years and the friend never returned.

Carrying on down the road another 15 kms we arrived at Glen Herring, a fine gorge with a series of rock pools. The rock formations are extraordinarily beautiful.

We were on our own and we found a great sense of peace there, with Spinifex pigeons, blue winged kookaburra, painted finches. Helen couldn't resist a swim of course. Only the coating of cow shit which cloaked much of the bed in the upper reaches sounded a negative note. Such a price was paid by the aborigines. It epitomises what we are doing to our environment everywhere.

When at the Comet Mine we met a Perth couple and shared information as you do, and we met up for a couple of reds last evening. By the end of play we had changed our whole return itinerary, reverting to the anti-clockwise journey back through WA and across the Nullabor. This was Plan A before we left home but neither of us could get excited about returning through Queensland. The opportunities to catch up with old and new travel chums trump the over familiar Kidman Highway through NSW. We had thought we would avoid a prolonged cold drive west to east at a high latitude, but it now feels like the best thing to do. It's like playing the joker, that surprises and changes the game in an instant.

Yesterday's treat was a drive out to Coppins Gap. Once again we were the only people there - what do all the other tourists do? Stunningly beautiful again, look at this rock!

We took a different track back, only possible with the GPS as it was unmapped on paper and unsigned. It was lovely, past pinnacles, through dry creeks and riverbeds, one with old stone causeway remains, and deserted mines like Moolyella tin mine with mounds of tailings and ponds. This was apparently once the road to Broome!

Sadly we pack up this morning and head out on the dirt again via a demolished town called Shay Gap to come out on the coast and camp at Cape Keraudren, a state reserve. Hopefully no midges!

PS Do we have any followers (apart from our faithful friend Etch)? We would love some comments to know if this hard work is worth it!