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.