Paynes Find

Day 14 - Off to Paynes Find

Caravan service was finished at about 11am, by the time we got there and connected up, we departed Perth about 12.30. 420k to Paynes Find and we wanted to be there by nightfall. On the way we passed the only Monastic town in Australia, New Norcia. Would have loved to spend more time exploring here but had to keep moving. It bucketed down for most of the way, only clearing up about 100k from the destination. Paynes Find is the closest town (not really a town, more of a roadhouse with a few accomodation dongas spread around) to my grandfathers first station - Thundelarra. We arrived at 6pm just on dark. The other reason why we wanted to get here tonight is we presented a copy of my grandfathers wedding photo to the owners of the Tavern/roadhouse. The wedding photo included Tom Payne who Paynes Find is named after (see photo in this section). Thundelarra is no longer a working sheep station but now a state conservation reserve. We have been emailing the ranger over the last year planning the visit and were intending to present another copy of the wedding photo. Have not been able to get hold of the ranger and it appears all roads to Thundelarra are now closed due to the recent cyclone and heavy rain. We will head to Yalgoo tomorrow then assess. We may have to skip Thundelarra this trip , bugger. More photos of Paynes find in the daylight tomorrowRead more