Inland Circuit

Our journeying over the last week and a bit has seen us staying at 4 stations, a roadhouse, another lovely  National Park, and a coastal holiday town. Much of it we shared with friends Anne and Roger from Tasmania. We managed to fill the van with a lot of red dust!

Quobba Station - North of Carnarvon the plains and red sand dunes go on and on and then stop abruptly at the coast with its rocky shelf and spectacular waves. On the way to the station we admired a spectacular blowhole and then set up camp just over the first sand dune. In the afternoon we drove further up the coast - more huge waves breaking over huge rock shelves and also a stockpile of Rio Tinto salt from nearby Lake Macleod ready for shipment overseas. We also visited a lonely memorial to the seamen who died on H.M.A.S. Sydney in WWII. The Sydney was sunk by the German raider Kormoran off the W.A. coast and all hands were lost. The Kormoran also sank and the survivors came ashore near Quobba Station.

 



Bidgemia Station - East of Carnarvon, 11km further on from Gascoyne Junction. Anne and Roger arrived just as we started lunch, they had come from Mt Augustus. Our camp was next to the Shearers Quarters overlooking the Gascoyne River bed and we made good use of the Camp Kitchen. We walked West along the river bed before afternoon tea and East afterwards. The river bed is about 600m wide in places and two years ago, after a cyclone, the river flooded and rose halfway up the walls of buildings. The owners retreated to the top of a water tank and were rescued by helicopter next day. The station was pretty and tidy and they have almost recovered from the flood.

 

Kennedy Range N.P. -  60km north of Gascoyne Junction. Very remote, arid country with wonderful gorges. On top of the range the country is undulating with red sand dunes. Hardly any visitors and not many birds - spectacular and silent. Over our 3 day stay we hiked into 3 gorges, climbed to the top of the range, rose early for a sunrise from a lookout AND found the nesting site of some Dawson Burrowing Bees. These are Australia's largest bees and nest in individual holes in the ground. We had seen a video about them whilst in Carnarvon and Anne and Roger had found out about them at Mt Augustus on the same day! We were very excited to find their nesting site (Roger had been given information on where to look by a Ranger at Mt Augustus) and we were glad they didn't sting because they were very big. It was very interesting to watch these big bees pop in and out of the holes where they lay cocoons filled with honey. The indigenous people cook the grubs still in their mud cases as a delicacy. All of the gorges were impressive but Honeycomb Gorge was so interesting with it's sculptured walls. The temperature was over 30 degrees C every day.

 

 

 

 

 

Murchison Roadhouse -  About 360 km from the Kennedy Ranges. Dirt roads all the way, many interesting stops, only saw 3 other vehicles, travelled from the Gascoyne Region into the Murchison Region and below the 26th parallel - officially out of the North West. When we pulled into Murchison Roadhouse we decided to stay because the grass was green, the showers hot, we could go out for dinner (no cooking or washing dishes) and we could have a latte after visiting the local museum next morning. A real oasis.

Merilyn Driving

 

Old well on stock route

 

Wooleen Station - only 50 km east of Murchison. We were welcomed by Frances and the dog 'Poppy' a kelpie who loved to chase sticks and golf balls. Frances and her husband David have featured twice on 'Australian Story' over the last 18 months. They are making great efforts improve the condition of the de-graded land , whilst still keeping it as a working cattle station. Tourism has become am important part of their business. After setting up and having lunch, armed with a mud map, we took ourselves to two pools along the Murchison River where we were able to see some good birds. Back to camp for afternoon tea, a walk around the Station Museum and off again with the mud map across a dry lake bed and to a spot where we could watch the sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next Station was Hamelin Station, Hamelin Telegraph Station ...