Tuesday, June 23, 2009

HAMMERSLEY RANGE AND INDEE STATION

We took about a week to get up past Meekatharra doing a bit more prospecting on the way. We stopped in town and saw Ross (the owner of Murchison Downs) going into the pub so we stayed and had a yack with him for a while and stocked up on the groceries at Farmer Jacks (like an IGA) and headed for the Gascoyne River. We spent a night at the South Branch of the Gascoyne River. It was a good camp spot but we decided to move 50kms up the road to the Mid Branch as it goes right in off the road and you park near the river. Only thing wrong was there was no water, but still a great camp area. It was nice to stop for the day and decide what we were going to do next and do a bit of buswork.(Housework). Leaving the Gascoyne river we had a look at the map and decided to head to a place just north of Newman called Munjina East Gorge Lookout where you can camp. We drove on up through Newman where you could see all the mountains around being eaten away by the mining companies, the country around here is beautiful, red from all the iron ore and the green foliage of the bush is a fantastic contrast. We stopped overnight at Munjina East Gorge in the Hammersley Ranges, beautiful sunset with the red and green while sitting high up in the gorge looking right down along it. The whole drive along the Hammersley Range is very picturesque.



Port Hedland was our next stop but we found a station stay at Indee Station about 65 kms short and decided this was a better option, after meeting with the owners they just said find a spot you like and park up, happy hour was from 6-7pm - just bring your drinks and we supply the nibblies. It's a great idea as you get to meet everyone else that is camped there and swap stories, destinations, etc.
The owners are Col and Betty, both aged around 70. They also have another couple from Taree working their over Winter, Des and Bev. They are all great down to earth people.
The station was hit by clyclone George in 2007 and pratically destroyed everything but the homestead. This is a picture of our fireplace - pretty cool!!!!
They are slowly cleaning up and rebuilding. There are no powered sites, but clean new amenities with solar hot water. The facilities were basic but new and very good.


They have their own Ayres Rock - called Red Rock. It comes with authentic Aboriginal rock carvings and water holes and it's a bit easier to climb!!!

The stations history also involves a plane crash on New Years Eve in 1968. A Vickers Viscount run by McRobertson Miller Airlines crashed killing all 26 passengers and crew still the largest loss of life involving an Australian airline, hopefully it stays that way.


We did a shopping run into Port Hedland - we have now seen enough of that place - too industrial.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

WAVE ROCK - HYDEN W.A.

On our way back from Victoria we took a different route and went down to Esperence and then up through Hyden to visit Wave Rock. The rock has been formed by gradual erosion of the softer rock beneath the upper edge over many years. It is 14 metres high, and 110m long and the colours are caused by rain washing down the rock.


It is quite an easy climb up to the top - but the signage gives you a bit to think about!!


They have also built a small concrete wall on top of the rock directing rainfall into a storage dam.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

OFF TO FIND GOLD AGAIN

We traded in our old GPX 4000 detector and bought two new GPX 4500's so now we both have the top of the range and can cover twice as much ground. We stopped at a "Ghost Town" called Paynesville (no not the one in Victoria). It is half way between Mt Magnet and Sandstone. There is nothing left of the town - just a couple of graves in the cemetery and lots of tins and bottles.




There is a couple of old prospecting huts also (some with a sense of humour - this one is in the middle of the bush miles from nowhere). We parked the bus off the main road in the driveway of an old Quarry - perfect spot for the bus. On our first day back in the bush - we decided to drive along a track towards the old township and this is what we found. What is it you may ask?







I will give you a few hints:




  • There are plenty around in Western Australia




  • They are sometimes very old




  • Sometimes they are alive - sometimes dead




  • They cost a lot of money




  • They create lots of work




Give Up!!!!!





It is a bloody wooden stake that went into one of our new tyres (only done 10,000kms) in the side wall. Not impressed. We had intended refitting our old tyres to travel around the gold areas but hadn't got around to it. Steve spent the next hour replacing the tyre. Needless to say, we have since put all the old tyres back on. I found my first piece of gold at Paynesville. It is a nice little piece still attached to some quartz.





We have since returned to Laverton where we thought, with our new technology, things were going to be a bit easier. Well the potential is there but it's not without plenty of exercise and we now realise Laverton is not where it's all at. Maybe it was once, but we're ready to move and scour the earth further North, Nullangine, Marble Bar and the Kimberly goldfields, can't wait to see the Tropics.