Malcolm Dam Leonora

So we left the big smoke of Kalgoorlie on Anzac Day morning & started to head North. There were a few places we could of stopped at but we wanted to get a few kilometres under our belt. So we went north through Menzies & onto Leonora where we had heard of a place called Malcolm Dam about 12km out of town towards Laverton. When we arrived we were very impressed it was in fact an oasis. The dam was built to service the steam trains, but was soon not required anymore so it turned into a haven for bird life with its fresh water. It only fills naturally so can get quite low, but it had plenty of water on our visit. The camping was pretty great. Our site was only about 50 meters from the waters edge & we couldn't see our nearest neighbours, there were 4 other campers on our first night & 1 on our second. 

The bird life was awesome. Lots of water birds, native hens & zebra finches. The weather wasn't great on our first afternoon with a few showers, but it was still lovely. The next morning we woke to clear skies & after a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs we walked the whole way around the dam. We only saw one other person in the afternoon & a couple of cars so we had a very quiet day. There were lots of cool plants (see photos at the bottom of the post). 

There are no facilities only two skip bins & two picnic tables. It is a free campsite with plenty of camping spots, we were suprised how quiet it was for a long weekend. We loved it & it was just what we needed after 4 nights in Kalgoorlie. You can also have a campfire, we haven't had one since the night we crossed the border so that has been awesome. Mat got to get out his chainsaw so he was happy. We went about 5 minutes up the road on a dirt track & cut enough firewood for a couple of days, so there is plenty around if you go just up from the campsite. It did rain during the night on our second day & we awoke to the pretty dismal morning in the photo below, another wet pack up! Luckily it finally stopped enough for us to get packed up. 

A great free campsite for overnight or a couple of days. Definitely one to put on the list. So we are now heading west towards Sandstone into Lake Mason conservation park. We will let you know how that goes in our next post.