Page 4 - Caravan World Magazine Lake Ballard Beings

Left to right: Kalgoorlie’s WA Museum; Lake Ballard safety advice; Kalgoorlie’s super Pit, the biggest gold open pit mine in the country, which produces 850,000 ounces of gold a year.
The 54km unsealed road from Menzies to Lake Ballard is suitable for most vehicles driven with caution. There is a toilet and a water tank (not suitable for drinking) at the Lake Ballard car-park area; camping is not allowed.
Fuel and meals are available at Menzies; meals are also available at the historic Broad Arrow tavern 38km north of Kalgoorlie.
There are caravan parks in
Kalgoorlie and Boulder – visit www .kalgoorlietourism.com for details. Other options include:
• Goongarrie Station, Goongarrie Conservation Reserve, 90km north of Kalgoorlie with another 14km west on an unsealed road (not to be confused with Goongarrie National Park to
the east). Contact Department of Environment and Conservation,
32 Brookman St, Kalgoorlie,
(08) 9080 5555, www.dec.wa.gov.au
• Menzies Caravan Park, right in the centre of town. Bookings can be made through the Menzies visitor centre, (08) 9024 2702.
FuRThER iNFORMATiON:
• Kalgoorlie Goldfields Visitor Centre, 316 Hannan St, (08) 9093 1966, www.kalgoorlietourism.com
• For the Golden Quest Discovery Trail via Menzies, Leonora and Laverton (note that many excursions include unsealed roads with no facilities), pick up the official guidebook and plan by visiting www.goldenquesttrail.com
• Menzies Visitor Centre, (08) 9024 2702, www.menzies.wa.gov.au
• Broad Arrow Tavern, (08) 9024 2058. • Ora Banda Historical Inn, (08) 9024 2444, www.orabanda.com.au
that aliens have landed, and there are even footprints of dingoes.
Spread out over 7 sq km and at about 750m apart, the statues stand on a dead- flat landscape. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can spend half an hour here and be satisfied. There is something about each statue that makes you feel you must go and say hello to the next
one. Here is a woman, middle-aged and
a bit stooped, but with plenty of life still
in her. There is a man with a bit of a pot belly and plenty of tales to tell of too many rounds at the pub. A child, too, wanders along and you feel the urge to unite him with his parents. They cannot come to you so you must go to them. For proper introductions all around, allow at least two hours.
Afterwards, head to the Snake Hill Lookout for an expansive view of where you have just been. This is Golden Quest Site 20 on the Discovery Trail, and the information board reveals that on the rare occasions that Lake Ballard floods,
it becomes a frenzied breeding ground for banded stilts. No one can be sure what the stilts will think of the statues the next time it floods.
Take it easy on the drive back to Menzies and stop in at the service station to add your comments to the guest book. It’s strange, but you’ll find that that mob of beings poised in the white terrain
will stay in your memory, and, over that glass of wine and some nibbles, you’ll be sharing your Lake Ballard adventure with fellow caravanners for years to come.
90 caravanworld.com.au
find your way with Hema’s Mid West Western Australia including the Gascoyne & Batavia Coast map.
LAKE BALLARD AND THE GOLDFIELDS
The best times to go are early spring for the wildflowers, and winter for the cooler days.