7am
19 degrees, clear sky and light breeze. The flies are up too!
Continued
heading east. A few kangaroos were feeding by the road.
Turned
north-east around Beringarra Station which would have been under water during
the Murchison River 2006 flood according to the metre high signs along the
track.
Crossed
the 26th Parallel again, heading north this time. Got the sign this
time.
Two
kangaroos came from the bush on the left to try and get across the road in
front of us. As I have said before, they are dumb. If you heard a strange noise
– run in the opposite direction, not to it! Luckily we didn’t hit them though
one got very close to the van.
Crossed
into Meekatharra Shire – road condition got worse. Flat open country.
Mt
Gould (681m – Hema says we are 417m above sea level) appears out of the flat
ground.
Near
Mt Gould we turned south onto bitumen – yeah. Though that disappeared as we
crossed the rocky crossing of Gould Creek.
On
the other side we saw some buildings so pulled in to check them out. They are
the Mt Gould Station and Lockup and had been restored in 2018.
The
Lock-up – would be a bit chilly in winter.
The
Station and quarters was locked but I peered in through the window of one of
the rooms.
There
is a well and old windmill between the station and the creek.
Further
along was a grave.
Looking
back at the station from the grave.
Mt
Gould has an iron ore mine on it – not sure if it is being worked though.
We
had a cuppa then Steve saw a someone riding along the road. He realised it was
the lady we heard about who was riding a scooter. I ran out to say hello so she
came in to join us for a cuppa. What an epic journey she has had. She left
France in 2015 and has pushed her way through Europe, Asia then Indonesia
before arriving in Darwin about 5 months ago and has been working her way down
WA, preferring the remote areas rather than the touristy places. She has had a
few flats and a couple of spills but luckily no injuries. Her fastest down a
hill was 75kph which would have been terrible if she did fall. She is 36 years
old and decided she wanted a change of life – wow. She is heading to Meeka
next. She certainly has some interesting stories to tell and loves the
Australian outback. She asked about whether there was any water in the lakes
she sees on the maps. We laughed as we were only saying how misleading our maps
are with all the rivers, creeks and lakes that rarely see any water or only
flow for a very short time. We said farewell and good luck.
We
passed her further down the bitumen, scooting along well on the bitumen which
only lasted for a bit longer than we were back on the rocky dirt road.
Next
stop was Moorarie Station on the edge of the Murchison River, to read the
information about transport and a charcoal burner used here to fuel their
vehicles. This is the charcoal shaker.
Steve
noticed a roofing screw in one of the tyres – he pulled it out and checked the
hole with soapy water and it looks like it didn’t pierce the tyre. The wind has
picked up again.
Across
the dry Murchison River causeway.
Then
across the rocky base of the Yalgar River which had a couple of small pools of
water.
A
bit further on I realised we had crossed the 26th Parallel again, no
signs in the Meeka Shire.
Back
onto some bitumen where some wedgies were enjoying some road kill.
The
bitumen continued – might go all the way back to Meeka! We turned off though to
find the spot where we are going to detect. We headed west towards Koonmarra
Station. Steve spotted a vehicle behind us, thinking it was from the station,
he pulled over. There was two vehicles with chaps going detecting too. We let
them go ahead then followed them into the station homestead to say let the
owner know we were here.
Puffy
clouds are coming over now. We met John whose son owns the station but works in
Newman. He was caretaking at the moment with his daughter and son-in-law. They
also detect and said they had found a few little bits.
We
had lunch then headed down the track he suggested. We found a spot to set up
camp.
The
wind has picked up a lot as storm clouds build in the west.
Lovely
blue sky and puffy clouds to the east.
3pm
27 degrees – the storm continued south-east so missed us.
Had
a cuppa then wrote some more of my blog – slow process, too many photos to
sort!
Another
squall is heading our way.
Played
Skipbo while we had our drinks as it is too windy to be outside. The squall hit
us with lots of wind – luckily we hadn’t pulled out the awning yet. A shower of
rain, just enough to rinse the dust off the side of the van. The wind is cold
too.
Inside
for dinner and movies tonight.
Put
out the mouse trap again – he needs to go! I found a long life cream (in
cupboard beside the stove) he had a lovely snack on so have put anything he
could eat into cupboards he can’t get into.
