Sandstone is a small historic town in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. It is located 660km north east of Perth. The town derives its name from the dramatic contrast of natural rock formations, with the rust stained sandstone landscape.
The two such famous places, where the rocks display their beauty are the Old Brewery and London Bridge.
The Old Brewery
The Brewery opened in 1907 supplying many thirsty miners of Sandstone with beer. It was built on top of the breakaway 10-15 meters in height. As such, people could see it up to 20km away. What an attractive sight! The beer was stored in barrels inside the cellar, which was a massive tunnel carved deep into the rock with the hole bored through the ceiling of the rock. This allowed beer remain remarkably cool even in hottest weather.
London Bridge of Sandstone
The main attraction of Sandstone, for me, was beautiful rock formation with a romantic name London Bridge. It is part of a larger rock formation about 800 meters long and 3 to 10 meters high. Lodone Bridge is about 350 million years old, while the underlying rocks of Sandstone area are approximately 2 billion years old. Compare that with the planet Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old! The «bridge» is the result of erosion in hard and soft rock, which makes it thinner as years go by.
Back in late 1800 the bridge was wide enough for a horse and buggy to cross. Nowadays, it is quite thin. Although there is a great temptation to climb the bridge, the nearby sign asks you not to. This is to preserve this natural beauty for the next generations for as long as possible. It is also in the interests of tourists’ own safety. So, if you do visit this place, please respect the rule and do not walk over the bridge.
