Drizzly day in Sandstone

28th May 2014

Fine drizzle, more of a mist really until about 1:30pm when it fined up with a clear blue sky.  Cold though, probably the coldest day we have had since leaving Sydney.

'London Bridge' rock formation

local resident red kangaroo

We followed some back country roads to find the old Sandstone mine, abandoned in 1982, and some spectacular rock formations, known as breakaways.  The rocks are basalt and formed much earlier than the surrounding sandstone rocks.  As the soft sandstone wears away the harder basalt is left standing above the plain, sometimes in spectacular formations such as this hole in the rock known as 'London Bridge'.  Eventually the formation will collapse, but fortunately not whilst we were there.

Abandoned buildings at Sandstone mine site

The mine site is pitted with old mine shafts, so quite dangerous. We didn't have a torch but they seemed to drop hundreds of metres into the ground.  We also came across an old government well built in the early 1900's.  These wells were built all over the arid interior of WA and were used to water livestock, horses, camels and people on the major transport and stock routes through the interior.  Water is never that far under the ground.

Contradiction well circa 1900