26-Dec-2003 -- This confluence point was a relatively easy one to obtain and I was surprised that no one had already claimed it thus far due to its close proximity to Kalgoorlie (100km northeast). Kalgoorlie is a major regional mining centre with a population of over 30000 people located 600km east of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. Gold and nickel are the predominate minerals mined having been discovered in the area around 110 years ago.

We set off from Kal on Boxing Day around 2:30 in the afternoon. The party consisted of myself, father Jim, father-in-law Barry, brother-in-law Jake, son James, nephew Thomas and Elvis the dog. We decided on taking two vehicles this time just to play it safe - didn't want the old boys to perish out there in the heat.

We drove along the Yarri Road, which is unsealed, past the old townsite of Kanowna for 78km and turned off and followed a dirt track east which would lead us virtually right to our destination. I had digitised the track off the topographic map for the area and stored it in the GPS; unfortunately the maps for the area are now more than 20 years out of date and many of the tracks shown are not used any more. This track was one of them, it was pretty much overgrown but we persevered and followed it to the confluence target. We arrived close to our destination at an area where two fencelines intersected. The area is part of the Menangina sheep station. From here it was leisurely 200m walk south to the point.

We located it, took the happy snaps, had a beer and made a start back to home. This time we followed a relatively new well kept track that was not on the map and it lead us easily back to the Yarri Road, some 3km north of where we originally turned off. We arrived safely back in Kalgoorlie around 6:15 that evening.

GPS - Trimble Pathfinder DGPS Unit - accuracy sub-metre

Map - SH5110 Kurnalpi 1:250000