16th Nov.

We hooked up the Caravan the next day and made our way out of Perth in a Southerly direction.
The GPS behaved itself and we cleared town and made for the South Coast.

We made good time and stopped for lunch by the Beach at Mandurah.

A nice spot with a lot of development going on along the Beach.

From here we carried on and thought the free camp at Stockton lake looked like a good place to stop for a night or two. It was just down the road from the small  Mining town of Collie.

 We managed to get a spot right on the lake with a fantastic view. The water in the lake was a vivid Blue and clear as crystal. Apparently its very acidic so there were no fish or weed growing.
Its a favorite spot for Water skiing and Boating in general,as we were to find out over the weekend.

The lake was formed back in the 50s when it was an underground Coal Mine and they were blasting and broke into an Artesian aquifer,which flooded the place. They had to get out quick so all the mining gear and stuff is still down there. I believe a few people lost their lives down there as they couldn't get out in time.

We found the old entrance to the Mine that was used before it was flooded.

Looking back over the lake towards our spot.

The Sunsets were pretty good as well.
We stayed for 4 days and in that time the local show at Collie was on so it was worth a visit we thought.
A nice country Show with animals,side shows the works. It was not very large but everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 The Wood chopping had just finished.
We did a trip down the road towards the Mine sites and came across this being worked on.

That's Helen by the rear wheel by the way.
I have worked on these things but not as big as this one and a Caterpillar not a Komatsu.

A common sight around Mining sites, huge piles of tailing's.
There was also a Railway Museum in town with some Loco's Outside.

Well that's enough of Collie, next we head for the Margaret River area.

Cheers Dave and Helen