Ghost towns of WA
Been looking a bit into ghost towns lately, when I was little I used to live in kalgoorlie, around 16-17 years ago so I'd love to go back and check it out (although if it's like that kalgoorlie cops show, maybe I won't haha)
Seems to be WELL over a hundred in WA with majority of them being from the gold mining boom, I'm trying to go through the list and see which ones would be worth visiting and whats left of them as some were towns but tent towns so no perm structures (i tell you, its amazing i just cruised up the main street of Witenoom on street view) but most seem to be round the goldfields
I think I will have to come back and do the top half of WA in the winter (and it'll still be f-ing 40c haha)
Any suggestions of decent ruins? I probably won't go too much higher than geraldton I think, and also going to spend around a week in the Albany area, using Perth as a base
Still keen to do some abandonments, I've been looking up some of the places in Freeo and they look great :-) is the prison only accessible by tours only now?
I saw the Freeo Asylum on the UER database, has anyone been?
Cheers,
Kenikat
I might be interested in joining up in feb, I live near Northam, and there is heaps of abandonments in the wheatbelt, and some ghost towns only a couple of hours away, though not sure where.
Merlin.
I'v thought about the prospect of ghost towns, and abandoned mine sites, although havn't done much research into them, well, the towns anyway. There's a government database of former mine sites that's on the net, although i'v found it difficult to navigate without knowing specifically what you're looking for.
Driving from Perth to Tom Price via Mt Magnet and Newman presented a few interesting mining related sites, whilst up that way I visited Wittenoom, about 18 months ago now, which has been removed from a lot of road signs. Basically the whole town has been bulldozed, there's blue asbestos in the road surface, the mine structures are gone and there was raw asbetosos fibres literally hanging in the trees along the creek after a recent flood. An eye opener, but not somewhere i'd recommend.
But, you're not going that far north this time round, Regrettably I havn't been out Kal way since driving over from Melb, Havn't checked out much down south either, i'd like to check out both, but so far havn't had the time, there's plenty out there if you know where to look...
I tend to take more notice of large or significant abandonments rather than smaller ones.
Freo Prison is only accessable by tour, And if i'm tinking of the same place the Asylum is now an arts centre or military museum or something. Worth a look is the Leighton Battery, also only by tour, but worth the 7 bucks for a look.
Security is getting tighter at both the Freo Power Station and Graylands Mental hospital, but both are well worth a visit if you can cross the fence line and dodge security, dawn visits recommended...
Kwinana Radar site is hard to find but easy and legal to visit, and a few others i'v posted in the Aus exploration section of the forums...
A few 'secret' locations as well.
Doing your research before you come to WA will no doubt reveal far more locations than you've got time to visit, it's awesome here!
There's a bit around...
Cheers from Bangers...
The explorer in the west................
yeah i have been doing some pretty good research with the help of google maps and street view its amazing what you can see.. you can literally walk up the main streets of some of these places, although you go by coordinates instead of streets as its off the map if that makes sense?
i have looked a little bit into wittenoom, its really sad what happened there ive seen pictures of kids playing in the blue asbestos in the streets covered in it, ive read of 'tours' with the choice of staying [with a mask on ] however, aparently there are still people who live there?
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/life- ... 279jr.html
I think there is some stuff out York way.
We did East Perth Perth station yesterday, trick is to close the hole in the fence, so when security come round after you have left, they would suspect nothing, so security isn't beefed up.
Have to check out Freo power station some time.
One thing is that FESA have had a name change and offices have or are moving elsewhere, any idea if they are going to leave there site in Perth?
Yeah a few people still live in Wittenoom, with the right aproach they're ok, but a bit suss of outsiders and media coming in with opinions and criticism etc. Plenty of people pass through the place though for a curious look at what went wrong there.
A visit during wet season would be the go to minimise health risks as the wet fibres are far less likely to be airborne and breathable...
Keikat, i'll PM you some time soon about some Perth area sites that i'm aware of, Merlin knows some good ones too by the sounds of it..
Merlin, I went through the temp fence next to the bike track also, wasn't hard to get to the high points of the old conveyor structure, you may have seen in the media things about proposals to develop the East Perth site, seems it's been put off for a few years due to funding and planning issues.
Let me know via PM when you're planning to visit the Freo power station, I'm keen to go also, kick myself for not having done it ages ago, looks like dawn is the best time as security seem to be there almost every time I am, a quiet entry and explore is the best bet, even if they are there the place is big enough to possibly avoid an encounter... PM me for details of other sites as well...
The FESA building you're referring to, I assume is Hay st? I believe it's marked for demolition next year some time, possibly by implosion
Not sure if it's still occupied or not at this stage...I believe there's sites out Northam / York way, my car is crap, so havn't been out of town for much of a look yet...
I'll leave it at that for now...
Cheers from Bangers...
The explorer in the west................
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 3kztqPozMz