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.