Bencubbin, Western Australia
Just a jump to the north-east of Perth is Bencubbin – it’s less than three and a half hours by car. My reason for stopping in this small town is because it’s where my Mum had her first teaching job at Bencubbin Primary School.
We visited the school but didn’t go inside because it might seem a bit creepy. Needless to say I took photos from the gate, which wasn’t creepy at all.😳😆
Not creepy at all.
Exploring Bencubbin
Enjoyed breakie at the local cafe, checked out the community resource centre.
Had a good yarn with the lady in the post office who originally visited for 3 months and has been there for more than 20 years.
Also had a chat with a guy from the ag store who spotted our car BLU and proceeded to tell us how good it was.
Found these photos of the town in the visitors centre plus info about the Bencubbin meteorite…during the period between 1912-1960 a number of important meteorites were recovered in Western Australia. The most important of these was Bencubbin, making the area infamous in the field of geology. The first meteorite, known as ’the Bencubbin’ was discovered in 1930 while ploughing land, 15km north-west of town. It weighed 54.2kg. The second rock – 64.6kg – was found in 1959 and a third rock – 15.76kg – was found in 1974. Nearly ninety years later, ‘the Bencubbin’ is still considered very unusual.
Stories from the past
Mum told me when she lived here back in the 1969/70 she learnt to waterski on the local salt lakes and played hockey and basketball with the locals.
Her only complaint about her time in the town was not being allowed into the pub. She could go into the lounge area but women weren’t allowed into the bar area.
The pub/hotel is shut now and is in need of some tlc.
Bencubbin caravan park
We stayed a rainy and windy night at the local caravan park $16. Great facilities with a massive camp kitchen and free use of the laundry – wining!!
Great off-grid spot
Spent most of our time at the Marshall Rock Reserve Camp for free!!! It was less than a 15 minute drive from town and had plenty of space for caravans and other vehicles to spread out and still feel like we were the only ones there. For a few nights we actually were.
It’s a top spot with bins, drop toilet and a rock to climb. We energetically clumbed to the top for some great views of the area. There are a few tracks for short walk around which worked well for my daily exercise needs.
We walked after meals, even after dark and the moon was so bright we actually cast shadows. It was such as peaceful spot, neither of us wanted to leave. I’m sure there will be plenty more of those along the way. We enjoyed it & so did Missy.
Funny story
While trying to get my hair to behave for a photo, I looked beyond my hand toward the Bencubbin airport – it’s basically a gravel track – and we saw a massive dust cloud approaching from a plane that had just taken off.
‘Get the photo’ I said and we bolted back to the car. We’ve just showered and I’ve got white shoes on today😆