#2: [15-May-05]

29-Dec-2000 -- Midway through a holiday break in the south western corner of Western Australia I convinced my family that we needed to visit confluence s34e116.

The straight line distance from our accommodation in Prevelly was 93 km on a bearing of 97°. In a bid to minimise travelling time we decided to go via gravel roads that provided the shortest route east to Nannup, rather than heading north or south to Busselton or Karridale in order to stay on bitumen roads. These were a little rough, however saved about 30 minutes. My family does not share the same enthusiasm that I have for finding imaginary lines of latitude and longitude in distant fields.

From Nannup our destination was a straight line 22 km towards Bridgetown through picturesque State Forest with large trees towering over the road, sometimes limiting GPS coverage. With about 2 km from s34e116 we left the forest and entered farming country. Pulling off the road and driving down a fire break, we had a picnic lunch adjacent to a boundary fence 1 km from our destination which appeared to be at or near a farm house in a north westerly direction.

We introduced ourselves to Kate Dodson who was happy to see us and knew of the confluence on the property, however not the exact location. While we went ahead, she collected a stake and hammer to mark the spot, which was on a bearing of 313° and 280 m from her back door.

Photo #1 was taken between s34e116 and Kate’s house, with the confluence in the middle of the green undergrowth at the left of the photo. This point was in a north westerly direction. The right hand side of the photo faces south west. Kate and my daughter Katherine (Mini) are in the foreground with Ben and Jane in the background.

Kate and her husband’s property is a sheep property of 100 acres in size. It is surrounded by electric fences, which I had not seen outside the dairy industry around the Harvey / Brunswick Junction area to the north. Needless to say we were careful crossing fences and went through gates where possible!

Photo #2 shows the GPS confirming our position.

Photo #3 includes Kate Dodson and my family with the steel stake marking s34e116 adjacent to Mini's right leg.

Photo #4 was taken from the confluence looking north west.