Sept 28

Well here we are now in Halls Creek, a sleepy wee place with not a lot going for it apart from it being a town which provides supplies to the surrounding stations and is a pit stop for travelers en-route elsewhere.  We are checked in at a rather nice hotel but still no bath to be had <g>.  We don't have any plans to achieve major accomplishments today, just once again catch our breath before the next leg.  Tomorrow we will potter around a couple of scenic places in the area.
Our main mission this afternoon was to post mail to Mum, best place to start sounds like the Visitors Center <g>.  Brilliant, not only do they have postcards but they also sell stamps and will post your mail for you, how can I complain with a service like that.
So what can I tell you of Halls Creek, - wait, I am thinking <g>.   OK we can start with some pics of the old machinery left over from the gold rush here in Halls Creek, pretty neat.  You have to take your hat off to these men and women, the terrain and lack of water made this a trek and a half indeed.

Outside the Visitors Center there is a rather nice statue, a man pushing a wheelbarrow with a man inside.

I have just found what the story is behind it 'Russian Jack' - The Kimberley has spawned many tales of courage and camaraderie, but none is more famous than that of Russian Jack. In search of gold like thousands of others, Russian Jack arrived at Halls Creek with only a wheelbarrow full of gear. Teaming up with another prospector, he set out for the gold fields. But his friend quickly succumbed to the harsh environment and fell deathly ill. With the nearest doctor located in Wyndham, Russian Jack loaded his friend and supplies for the journey in his wheelbarrow, and pushed it 300 kilometres to the town. It's not clear what became of his mate, but Russian Jack returned to the gold fields a legend among his peers. Today, a memorial statue to his heroism is a popular visitor attraction in Halls Creek. 


There is another story talking about the folks in the graveyard.  One guy is almost famous, he made the papers in OZ in 1917 and folks were following his story.  His name was James 'Jimmy' Darcy and through his story the Flying Doctor Service came into operation.  Follow this link to read the story and other history of Halls Creek.

Right I am almost done for the day, just one more thing.  While in the Visitor Center (the only place as you can see that we have been too) I could not resist buying myself with Alan's money, a wee nugget of gold from Halls Creek saying as this is where gold was first discovered in Western Australia.  It has a wee diamond from the Kimberly in it to, a fitting object as a memory of this wonderful place.  Yellow to represent the sun, the Aborigines say golden nuggets are pieces that have fallen off the sun and landed on the ground.  The nugget represents the wilderness, as it is in nature and untarnished by human hands and the diamond, well all girls like diamonds so in this case only a Kimberley diamond will do <g>.

One last sunset and sorry it is a bit of a cheat, I took the picture last night at Bungle Bungle :)

A pink sky at night is a shepherds delight so they say and true to form we have had great weather today.

Update - time for bed and we have just had our tucker.  Thought you might like to know about the hotel.  I am not sure how it has got it's 4star rating, our room has just been refurbished and is lovely till you want a shower.  The shower has one of those huge heads that spurts out tons of water and is not in the least economical, ours however is very very green indeed.  About 20 of the water outlets worked with low water pressure, it was either a hot dribble or a cold dribble and nothing in between.  No worries, see the funny side of it and hope it is fixed for tomorrow.  Dinner was outstanding, what a chef and I ate everything on my plate but the service, it took over 2 hours to order and eat a main course and a pudding.  Two waitresses on duty and about 20 guests, absolutely ridiculous.  We asked for the desert menu after the main course after having waited for nearly half an hour, it came with the comment that it was the last one they had!!!!!!!  Great desert and almost worth the wait, now for coffee.  Oh dear, the coffee machine is broken and is waiting to be fixed so NO COFFEE.  Alan and I have now renamed this place Fawlty Towers without the owners who made you laugh.  I have just been checking out their website and have had to take a second look to make sure I had the right place.  Going by the blurb I didn't but the picture looked familiar (taken by a very good photographer who know how to bring out the best of a place).  Talk about being led up the garden path.  I would give this hotel a moderate 3 star rating at best and would not recommend it, if you ever come to Halls Creek give this place a miss.  Kimberley Hotel, Halls Creek.  I have since added my feelings about this hotel and uploaded photos showing the safety issues we found to Trip Advisor - what to read what I said <g> click this link, my comment is under the name of Craftyanimal.