The drum is still used.
I forgot to say there was no drinkable water at Augustus Station to fill tanks. God bless the Cobra Station couple.
We head for Leonora tomorrow so will catch up when we can.
Stay well.
Cheers
Mary and John

Todays drive was part of the Kingsford Smith Mail Run. It was the longest run in the world and took two weeks to complete each time. Smithy had it for ten years it seems. If this river was in flood the mail was sent across in this drum. Good old aussie know how. Shame we have lost a little of it.

The drive today was again amazing. The graders yet again knew we were coming and had been busy. Mostly it was like a red freeway. The heavy rains have meant an amazing push to get the roads ready for the wildflower season and we have been in the right place at the right time.
I upgraded my favourite cow photo today as this one is in a natural permanent cattle pool in the head waters of the Murchison River on Moorarie Station. It was great to catch up with the river again after seeing it in the gorge at Kalbarri on the coast.

I was however rewarded that evening with this sunset as we sat by our fire back at the Station.

We did however do the shorter walks except for one!!

John said we would go and see the cave engraving and do a short walk up to a lookout. Mmmmm.

I started to get a little suspicious when I seemed to be spending a lot of time on all fours climbing mostly UP.
Can you see the rock outcrop on the top of the ridge?
Guess where we ended up! Two hours later!!

Mount Agustus Station is a very large cattle spread. Two families run it and many years ago the wives set up the camping and donger accommodation. Now they have a manager. The chooks as well as one of the farm dogs insisted on coming with us for our evening stroll.
There were about six other campers and all were there ( other than us) to do the 6 hour walk up the mountain. There is a compulsion in WA to race up anything that sticks up more than 100 metres. It is the biggest rock in Australia but not as spectacular to look at as Uluru.

The drive from the Kennedy Range to Mt Augustus was magic. Only saw one other car. Lunch was on the banks of a water hole still left after the last rains and around 3:30PM we called at Cobra Station ( still an Inn since 1860 and heritage listed! ) for believe it or not an icecream. I was joking but they actually made us each one - $10 plus $10 for the Flying doctors. It was a bargain.
The couple who have owned the place ( x NZ ) for the last 15 years insisted we come in and chat. They both wore their life on their face - she stubbies, boots and army socks and a singlet that did not require a bra (mmmm), he despite the ravages of a hard life was still very handsome with longish hair and piercing blue eyes. He didn't say much but you wished he would.
In half an hour we heard a little of their story - told mostly by herself. Both had worked out of Exmouth delivering boats to Mombasa, the islands and anywhere the client paid them to go. That was how they met.
They explained they were not at their best as the old guy who had done the mail run for the last ten years retired and they gave him a bit of a send off two nights ago!
Jim, the other half, had created his own drink called a Ruger - 2 parts Bundy, 2 parts Jim Beam and a splash of Coke - we all have to try one!

As we were leaving they insisted we fill our water tank with their well water as the water at the station we were going to was undrinkable. We had to sample it first.
Lots more stories for another time about these amazing people - remind me to tell you about the snake bite.

My "Grumpy old Man" rock is saying - "You have got to be joking!" What do you think?

Hi Millicent John Will and Harry. Love you. Pa thinks this looks like a space ship that has landed on earth!!

Hi All. The  Old Outback Blog Bird is back!
We are in down town Meekatharra. Mmmmmm! We did our usual main street stroll this evening past closed and boarded shop fronts. The three pubs are OKish and the FoodWorks and Chemist are behind security mesh. The fact the town is on the main road to Newman and Port Hedland means it is a road train route and sort of survives.
At either end of town there are large bowser facilities to suit RTs and if I had a dollar for every train that goes through carrying dongers I could retire!! Someone is making a fortune mass producing portable housing as it seems half of WA lives in them.

When we pulled out of Carnarvon heading east we were stunned to discover an amazing sealed road to Gascoyne Junction.
They have a program called Royalties for Regions over here which means Shires like Gascoyne that don't have a town in them get their share of government money from the resourses ripped out of them.

People story:-
We pulled into Gascoyne J to get fuel - population 50 and perhaps 2 and 1/2 dogs. There was a very new building called the Resource Centre - more R for R money.
In we went to be made to feel so welcome by a young white mum with her 4 month old beside her at her desk and an gorgeous indigenous lady who was charming and appeared to exist for the baby. Within in the one room there was the tourist bureau, district library, the only vending machines in the settlement for soft drink and candy bars and a coffee machine. Next month they hope to have mobile phone access and a commun9ty owned road house is o the way with a pool. Christmas day was 48 degrees.
To buy petrol the young lady took us to the Council yard and then to the Shire Office to pay as they had just got EFTPOS. (185.9 cent per l )
What I loved was there were two more beautiful young women working in there too. How good is it to se young women in the middle of nowhere with careers!

Finally the photo.
We spent two days at the Kenny Range National Park. Day 1 was misty and mizzled rain.
Day two was brilliant sunshine that showed off the amazing orange colours.
We did several gorge walks but not the escarpment walk that the others ( the younger ) had come to do.

Today we washed everything, restocked the larder and cellar for  tomorrow we officially turn our face for home and head east. Back to the red country. This next stage is what the trip is really about.
Our route to Alice is via Kennedy National Park, Mount Augustus, Mt Gould, Meekathara, Leinster, Laverton, Warburton, Giles, Docker River, Uluru, Hermansburg, Palm Valley and Alice.
We will probably be off the air for quite some time. Our "sort of" eta for Alice is 11 July. We have an Inmarsat phone which I have renamed the Nanmasat phone - incase of emergencies. Toughie has already practised the maps and we are rearing to go.
Please all take care and we will talk as soon as we can.

Carnarvon has been a real puzzle and fascinating.

A  People Story :- Yesterday I had my nails and feet done by a beautiful young Vietnamese mum. I wished I had ten feet and ten hands as I really didn't want our conversation to end. She opened on a Sunday just for me. Her english was good and we talked non stop for an hour and forty five minutes. I know that you will find this hard to believe but I mostly listened. I was so proud of this young new Australian woman's understanding of politics in Australia today and the depth of her opinions.
She has obviously followed the boat people story closely and had very strong views. He husband had come legally to Australia and it cost them $20,000:00 - she was not happy about how her taxes are being spent.

I learned so much about how Vietnamese families work here and in Vietnam and she said something that will stick with me for ever:- "Mary every family in the world has a story". Simple but profound.
Sometimes it is hard to say goodbye to accidental people. She shared so much of her story with me.

Carnarvon - the Gascoyne River that gives it life flows underground as you can see from the first photo. The plantation owners ( mostly Vietnamese ) sink a pipe and suck the water out - John says this is very complicated but lets not go there!

There are tomatoes and bananas ripening at present and the two major local delights are frozen bananas dipped in chocolate (on a stick) and mango smoothies.

For a kilometer either side of the river there is lush tropical growth ( grapes grown undercover) and then you are back to low scrub and thousands of wild goats.

There are new very exclusive marina estates along side the complications that come with a large, poor indigenous population. It is a small place so everything is in your face.

Pa is very sad as while I was having my nails done someone stole his 4 gorgeous Mac mudflaps. I was fond of those dogs looking up from the back of the Big Red Car. They were even coloured co-ordinated. Bugger!

Hi Alison and Craig. The answer is NO. We have met some really beautiful people but GNs in large groups are too much of a reminder of the Winter of life! Just give us the outback and no-one for miles.

Intro to Grey Nomad Culture

Today we came across our first Grey Nomad beach village.
We went to see the blow holes and wandered off down a dirt road and found a village populated by nomads who had come here to plonk for the winter. No toilets, no water. They have skip garbage collection at the end of the village and that is it.
They were tucked in behind the sand hills but if it blows the sand would get into everything.
The beach they are on is situated 60km north of Carnarvon on a dead end road - where do they get their water? $10 for 10 litres in town. No daily showers here.
There were about 50 vans set up for very long term stays.
Among them were old tin shacks which probably belonged to third generation locals. You can see one in the second photo.
In between there are nomad vans with mimi tents for porta loos, annex for their cars, shade cloth fences to ward off sand storms and solar panels and satelite dishes everywhere. Not a tree to be seen.
There was a rangers van  belonging to a grey nomad couple (a very organised caravan with multi add ons) who collect $5:50 per night from each site and looked after the village. A sign on the flap of their annex said "Find a site and we will find you." It also said hair cuts and reflexology available.
We saw the ABC TV program about these villages but along with experiencing the demographics in the very nice park we are staying in in Carnavon, we are struggling with the whole concept of what is happening with our old people.
We would be among the youngest couples in this Park. That is scary!!!
There are about 10 people here who require a motorised cart to get around. One couple have one each.
One lady has lost a leg. Many are in their eighties. One lady seems to have dementia and toddles behind dad everywhere.
The "very" old ( 80+) all have WA plates.
I have absolute admiration for these people.

A thought bubble:-
Can't you just see John and me. We would have had a row before we got to the gate of the park on our motorised carts and run each other off the road into the hibiscus. Don't you dare laught Kate.
I can also see all the modifications John has made to his cart !!!! How does a mounted cannon sound!

OK lets get serious about these little suckers.
I did the half hour lecture on what is affectionately known as "stroms" 101 but I will condense it as best I can in non scientific speak.

Stroms are the oldest still living thing on earth - millions of years ago they lived in the ocean.
They produced sufficient oxygen for human life as we know it to form.
They are a single celled organism.
They only exist now in two places on earth - Shark Bay WA and the Bahamas.
These particular very handsome decendents are many thousands of years old - I have to ask if you just sit around doing nothing but look cute why not! I first saw them ten years ago and they surely haven't changed. My friend the Oceanographer really did enjoy meeting them after truely giving lectures on them for many years.
They are very fragile and in the bottom photo you can see the damage done by horse drawn carts of wool pulled across them sixty years ago.
Fortunately people do use the boardwalks and they are being cared for.

There will be a pop quiz on this later so best you get it all down!!

Before I start the lecture on stramatolites I found this pic of John in the retirement village at Wooleen.

The trees around the picnic table were full of old birds nests so an old bird watcher had to have a sqiz.

Tomorrow evening you will be subjected to a lecture on Stramatolites 101. Bet you can't wait.

One of the drives we did was to the picnic table on Wooleen Lake. We were able to drive across the lake as it only fills every nine years. Sure enough there 4km from the homesteads was the picnic table. Imagine a picnic in mid January at 52 degrees!!!

Yeehaa! I passed Photo Reduction 101. You can see why I wanted to be adopted!

Sadly it stopped raining and I had to be dragged away from Wooleen the next day. Hopefully I will master uploading photos from my big camera and I can show you the homestead etc.

Next Day

It started to rain during the night and continued to mizzle all morning. Bugger the rain. We asked Francis if we could still drive around the property and she showed us on a map where we would be OK to go. The drive down to the river was 15 ks and after walking in we were rewarded with amazing scenery and I am sorry more birds. There were 24 in this group of swans and a pair of Major Mitchells came to check us out.

You might also remember the wire rolls that David was using to encourage new growth. Peter Andrews didn't agree with him and I have to say he gets my vote. There was growth happening everywhere but in the rolls. Rain is an amazing thing.

The highlight for John was the Station tip. It was generations old and they called it the Outdoor Storage Area with an extension called the Retirement Home. The latter contained incredible old trucks. The tip covered about 10 acres and had proper roads. There was a system which my friend kept explaining to me. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

A people story:-
Opposite us in the campground in Kalbarri was a couple aged 82. They were blown away when we said we were from Braidwood. The only place in the world they have ever been able to get ginger icecream was on their one visit to Braidwood many years ago. When we go to the tip John and I call at Brendas for an icecream. Guess what I always have!!!!! How spooky is that.

A Bloke Blog :- We have done 6,901km so far, highest price for petrol is 197.9 on the Nullarbor, cheapest 142.9 at Port Augusta, most common caravan park fee $35 per night and we have only used two bags of ice for our whisky thanks to the our chinese deep freeze.

Poppy was my favourite. She carried a golf ball permanently in her mouth. She would drop it at your feet, sit it next to you in your chair, put it in the caravan, anywhere really in the hope you would throw it. She would also accompany you to the Loo. If a farm truck started up however she was gone like a flash. 

It was worth the drive. Wooleen is a classic station. You may remember it from Australian Story and the 7:30 Report. Francis and David are just as gorgeous as they were on TV.
The heritage listed homestead is hidden in an amazing garden of giant trees, palms and bogenvillia. They have built luxury guesthouses in the grounds and you can stay in the homestead. They have an airstrip just near the house so you can fly in.
We camped in the yard. There was a donger with toilets and showers and the house dogs came with the territory. John is trying to reduce the size of the photo of the house from by big camera so I can show you.
  

Road to Wooleen

We chose to head for Wooleen through several Stations. The road was only opened that day after heavy rain. It started out well but after we crossed the Murchison river several times it went down hill and fortunately the council graders were ahead of us repairing the wash aways. It was a beautiful drive.

Kalbarri National Park on the surface is like all the other miles of low scrubby country in this area - that is until you walk into the edge of the Murchison Gorge. It is quite spectacular.

The town of Kalbarri is on the mouth of the river and is a very popular holiday resort.

We are starting to catch up with the Grey nomads now who are gradually heading north - many Victorians. The park we are in has quite a few. They seem to spend a lot of time sitting around.

We have decided to head bush and try and visit Wooleen Station. It is north east of here.
There was a documentary on it and the young couple who are trying to return the land to health just recently. They came to Braidwood to see the work that had been done at Mulloon by Brian Coote. (I think that is his name) Hopefully the roads will be open. They have a campground at the station.

Hi All
A special "gudday" to Kenny and Ellen in Arkansas USA who are now following us. Thank you for your emails last night Kenny.
Sorry about not finishing yesterday's blog. The computer decided to take on the blogger and won.
I am back to have another round. I will try attaching the photos again.

Hi All
Today was a "grundling" day. Grundling is the art of "never really getting your act together and going where life takes you" - you just grundle! Biggles our Dac introduced us to the notion. He was a master grundler.

It started this morning when John went for a shower at the Greenough campground - say no more - and there was no hot water. Mmmmmm. After a conversation with the management ! John enjoyed wet warmth. I then went for a shower and guess what - another conversation with the management!!!!!

Whilst I was standing under a shower that needed no cold water, John was doing battle with a peewee that was having a deep and meaningful relationship with the Big Red Car's mirrors and windscreen.
The peewee won as when I returned said bird posed for the attached pic and then went home to his mother.

We only had 150 ks to go so we just wandered through the Chapman Valley and into ever little gunk hole along the coast to Calbarri NP. Gunk hole is a Nova Scotian term for a small bay of no significance - but beautiful as the photo shows.

Thanks to the hospitality of the Monks ( it is part of their Charter), after we wandered up to the pub for a pre dinner drink and a chat with a gorgeous young man who had just driven down from a Station east of Canarvon,( another people story for later as it is not my turn - a gorgeous young lady comes next that Pa has chatted up), we wandered back to our  free camp on the edge of the Monks oval,cooked our lamb chops outdoors and lit a fire.
It was very still so we totally used the supply of wood we always carry.

As usual when we left NN we wandered off up back roads so Pa was able to replenish our snail house wood heap with the butter knife. Hi Millicent John Will and Harry.

There is no way I can convey the amazing aura of New Norcia. It is the only monastic town in Australia and was founded in 1847 following the 1500 year old tradition of the Benedictine Monks from Spain.
I have been fortunate enough come here three tines. The first time on retreat and was able to share prayers with the Monks in their private chapel which is now closed to  the public for fear of damage. It was amazing and I can understand their thinking.
Kate do you remember our lovely lunch we shared at the Hotel the Monks built for the parents of the boarders at their girls and boys boarding schools? I am very happy that John loved it too and found space in the Snail House cellar for some of the fine wine the Monks make.
Photo No 4 is from the Stations of the Cross in the village Church. They look like charcoal drawings but are actually "Scraffiti" *(sp ?) The outline is etched into the plaster and then painted. They are quite unique.
Sorry about the birds but on an early morning walk before we left a ring neck parrot ( they are like blow flies over here) was so busy munching on one of the Monk's olives he let me get close enough to take this shot.
Please google New Norcia and put it on your next trip to WA.

The little town of 400 near the Wave is called Hyden. In the late 90s it was dying in the grip of the drought. A group of locals refused to let it happen. They organised a story in The Australian about Wave Rock. It was picked up overseas.
That was the beginning of their rebirth. The Progress Society organised an airstrip near the rock and then came a resort. Tourism now employs 70 locals and there are new buildings in the main street of the town. They won an Arts Grant and decided to use it to create the history of the town in sculpture created from junk. They have opened up other sites like the cave and the town has gone from strength to strength. How good is that!

Tonight we are in York 100ks east of Perth.

My Geologist friend did not stay in the cave too long and was not interested in crawling into the second and third chamber with me.