Lake Johnson region
(Hyden to Coolgardie)
This
describes how to get from Hyden in Western Australia's wheat belt, to Coolgardie in the
gold fields, via the Lake Johnson region. Hyden is well known as being the home of Wave
Rock, which is a big tourist attraction for the area. The total length of the track
through to Cooldardie is about 330k, and goes through some quite remote, scenic country.
About 199k along this track, there is a junction, and you have a choice of heading North
towards Coolgardie, or East towards Norsman. The Norsman track is about 87k long, and
joins up with the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, just 26k north of Norsman (which is great
if you want to head towards the Eastern States, or to Esperance). 
We explored the Coolgardie track to the North, which includes the huge
landmarks of Queen Victoria Rock, and Gnarlbine Rock. Warning: In winter, it is common for
these tracks to become in-passable due to water and mud, and in fact are often closed to
all traffic. It would be wise to telephone the Hyden roadhouse to confirm that the track
is open. I recommend that allow a couple of days to explore the many tracks that
head off to the South-East to the banks of the vast salt lake, Lake Johnson. Some of the
views over this lake are spectacular, and is great for camping. The tracks are generally
good condition gravel roads, but can become very muddy after rain.
| Proceed to Hyden. To get there, head East out of Perth along Great Eastern Highway, turn right at "The Lakes" turnoff towards York. From York, follow the signs to Quairading, Bruce Rock, Narembeen, then Hyden. | |
| 0Km | Start at the Hyden roadhouse. Head East out of town on main bitumen road. |
| 1.8 | Pass Wave Rock turn off on left, continue ahead |
| 2.9 | Pass Esperance turn off on right, continue ahead |
| 28.2 | Pass Lake O'Connor turn off on right, pass wheat silo, continue ahead |
| 29.1 | Road becomes gravel road, good condition 80-90Kph |
| 43.3 | Pass turn off to Holt Rock or right, continue ahead |
| 49.0 | Pass through the Emu Fence |
| 75.6 | Pass turn off to OutuKumpu mine on right, continue ahead |
| 81.5 | Pass over cross road with sign saying Southern Cross to the left. Continue ahead. |
| 154.4 |  Pass track on the
left, continue ahead. According to my map, the track to the left should go in a straight
line to Marvel Loch, some 120k away. I will have to come back and confirm that on another
trip! |
| 155.5 | Pass track on right to "Nickel Camp / Maggie Hays", continue ahead |
| 166.5 | Turn Right into small bush track (easy to miss). The track was marked by an old tractor wheel. This track heads towards Lake Johnson, and intersects with many other small tracks. We headed just followed the tracks ahead until we came to the banks of lake Johnson, some 13.8k later. |
| 180.3 |  Bank of Lake
Johnson. This is where we camped for the night. And be warned, it can be very cold at
night in the winter months, sometimes dropping towards zero degrees Celsius. From this point onwards it is very difficult to give you accurate
ODO readings, because we went exploring, as you will too. To the
North-East of here there are many landmarks, including: Plover Rock, Knapp Rock, Scamp
Rock etc. The rest of these trip notes assume that you went straight back to the main
gravel road, the way you came in... |
| 194.1 | Back at main gravel road. Turn right and head North-East on gravel road |
| 216.9 | Turn right into track on left, with yellow sign saying "Coolgardie". (This is the junction mentioned earlier. Continuing ahead will take you towards Norsman) |
| 222.7 | Y junction, veer left following sign to Coolgardie |
| 310.9 | Enter Victoria Rock National Park & nature reserve |
| 313.4 | Entrance to Victoria Rock on right. This is definitely worth a look, and even a climb, as there are great views from the top! After a look, continue North-East on the main track. |
| 339.2 | Enter Kangaroo Hill Nature Reserve |
| 357.5 | Track becomes bitumen, and you are now in Coolgardie! This is the end of the track. From here you can head East to Kalgoorlie (where there is plenty of hotels, motels, caravan parks, and tourist attractions), or you can head West back to Perth, via Southern Cross, Merriden & Northam |
These pages were last
updated on 18th November 1998.
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