Sunday Drive

I went for a little drive today. Did you know that May Gibbs (author of the Gumnut Babies) lived around here? The Gibbs family migrated here from England in June, 1881, when May was 4 years old. They settled on a property near Franklin River. Times were hard though, with the area being in the grip of a crippling drought. In 1885, when May was 8, the family walked off their property and moved to Norwood in Adelaide, then later that same year they moved to Harvey in Western Australia; then when she was 10, to Perth. It was during these formative years that the Gumnut Babies were starting to born.

A memorial cairn is on the Birdseye Highway just outside of Cowell, on the way to Cleve.

This is the cairn

and this is the area surrounding the memorial -

A bit further along, still heading towards Cleve, you can see the Mount Millar Wind Farm

The wind farm, previously called Yabmana, is between Cowell and Cleve, with 35 turbines covering a stretch of hilltops about 7km's in length. The farm can generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 36,000 average households. The turbines at Mt Millar are different to other windfarms because they don't have gearboxes and that is why they are larger than at other farms.

I love this stuff - it's so interesting!

Next weekend I might go to Darke Peakand see if I can get to the top of Carrapee Hill (aka Crappy Hill LOL). There is a fair bit to see around here, so I guess I better get my skates on and start looking at it!!