I visited the little outback town of Sandstone, which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere.
It was a pretty hot day, so maybe this explains why I did not see a single living person the entire time I was there. Apparently people do live here, but it certainly felt like a ghost town to me (perhaps they should change its name to Tombstone?)
Anyway, not far from town is a weathered basalt rock formation known as “London Bridge”.
The spectacular bridge forms a span between two rocky outcrops. They reckon the rock is supposed to be around 350 million years old and you can see it is in a pretty battered state.
It used to be a popular pastime to drive a horse and buggy over the bridge! But in recent times the erosion has drastically increased, so it is now only around one metre wide.
Sadly, it certainly does look pretty flimsy and I did wonder how much longer this beautiful formation will last…
The Joker Tunnel
This tunnel is about 100 metres long and burrows right through a hill. It was allegedly dug to mine gold and is named for the “Joker” mine nearby. However, it is unlikely that gold was discovered here and it is probable the tunnel was dug to “inspire” investors.
A sign at the entrance of the tunnel reads “beware of snakes”. Great! You can walk through the tunnel, although I had to hunch over to avoid head injury.
It is the home to lots of unpleasant creepy crawlies and I worried horrid things would fall off the roof and crawl down my shirt.
I also had the uncomfortable feeling that something (someone?) was watching me…
Overall, I did not find this a nice place to be. So I gladly retreated back into the sunlight.
Abandoned Homesteads
As the gold ran out, pastoral interests moved in and many sheep and cattle stations were established in this area. Since then, several have been abandoned and it is possible to visit these.
Lake Mason is one of these and although the old homestead and outbuildings are in various states of disrepair, it is still possible to carefully wander through these structures.
I wondered what life would have been like out here on this isolated station.
I am pretty certain that then, as now, it would have been a hot and dusty existence with a gazillion flies for company!
Still, there was a grand opportunity for all those flies and I to catch a spectacular sunset while enjoying my evening drink.
