We left Menzies and headed out to the Inside Australia Sculptures at Lake Ballard. On the way we stopped at Menzies’ Cemetery to take in some of the tragic stories of the hard lives people led in this remote area with little medical assistance and poor sanitary conditions.
Lake Ballard didn’t disappoint, the road is now sealed from Menzies to the viewing area (53 kms) which was largely unsealed only seven years ago. Jenny and I climbed two thirds of the way up the hill but we chickened out on the last steep bit! We returned to Menzies for fuel and a feed before moving on to Niagara Dam and Kookynie.
The dam was built to provide water for the construction of the railway line and all the cement was bought in by camels. It was a pointless exercise as shortly before its completion, gold was discovered at Kookynie and the mine at that site required constant removal of water which was used locally.
We checked out Kookynie which is listed as a living ghost town, but it only had a few buildings remaining interspersed among the more recent houses (who seem to all enjoy collecting scrap metal). We returned to Niagara Dam to free camp for the night.
