July 6th

What a beautiful BRAN NEW DAY after a very restful weekend at Lorna Glen. The property has no farm animals now and is operated as a Scientific research property. Matawa community care for the land and property in conjunction with the Department of Parks and Wildlife. Regular burning of areas for regeneration and as a method of averting wildfire still takes place. Sadly Dept of P & W still feel the need to lock sheds of equipment for safe keeping.

The morning drive out to the Highway did not seem as rough as when we came in. As always we found the morning scenery new and fresh. The Gunbarrel Highway begins from Wiluna and travels east. Rocky breakaways and red red sand dunes are a feature of this section of the Highway. Thryptomene bushes with mauve flowers stood out against the red sand.

As we neared Wiluna we took a track in to see a vineyard but found the vines to be old and uncared for - fresh fruit vines.

We stopped briefly at Wiluna and then headed for Meekatharra. I was keen to take a photo of the statue of 'Warri and Yatungka' before we left. In 1977 the last of the Nomads were brought in from the Western Desert. The story is told that as young people Yarri and Yatungka fell in love but Tribal Law forbade them from marrying as they were the wrong match according to 'skin group' law. The consequences for disobeying the law were severe. The lovers ran away and lived in isolation. They had 3 children together and it was not until the 1970s that a search went out for them because of drought conditions at the time. They were too shy to come in because they imagined the elders of their tribes would punish them for 'running away' together as they did. They found that the Elders and families had long ago forgiven them. Both Yarri and Yatungka died in 1979 just a few weeks apart.    I think this is quite a significant Australian story.

The road to Meekatharra was mostly lined with low bush country apart from the waterways where magnificent River red gums grow. The only excitement was one lone emu rushing across the road very unexpectedly. We nearly had another EMU EVENT.

Statue at Wiluna of the 'last nomads'

Peace Gorge where we are camped tonight

July 5th

Another warm day with plenty of flies! I was able to do a load of washing at Lorna Glen Homestead. It is always a bonus to find a washing machine. The weather was ideal for drying clothes which we did after we found a place to camp.

We only travelled about 30k m within the boundaries of the Lorna Glen Station. We are camped at a bore near the northern boundary. It was a  pretty drive up here with both rocky areas and other parts white with many wildflowers. I cannot identify them all and it is pointless to type all the names each day so I will adopt the policy of only printing the new or spectacular examples that we see.  Within the garden of flowers there were pink and white daisies as well as pink and white milk maids. The 60m of rain that has fallen recently has certainly brightened the desert.

Lorna Glen Station Homestead complex

 We drove by several bores and finally camped at No7. Bore. Clean water is plentiful if you care to work the hand pump. It was easy to have a shower on this very warm evening. I hope the rain that is forecast doesn’t catch us.

Some rocky country at Lorna

Stone Altar at Lorna Glen

July 4th

Soon after 6.00 am we decided to have a lay day here at Lorna Glen Camping area. We enjoyed a real ‘catch-up’ day and feel much rested this evening. It was a very warm day but relatively cool and pleasant in the shade. We walked for over half an hour, generally exploring the site. The camp hosts David and Corrie are very accommodating and visited us this morning and again this evening.

Yesterday Lorna Glen was declared an Indigenous Protection Area IPA. The MUTAWA people live nearby and are being trained in general maintenance of the property. There are a few flowers in bloom and some wonderful trees. A large old Desert red gum is near our camp. John estimates that it could be 500 years old. The red gums in NE Victoria are Eucalyptus camaldulensis camaldulensis and these desert red gums are Eucalyptus camaldulensis obtusa. The main differences are in the bud cap and white colour of the trunks of the desert variety.

The airstrip is a magnificent runway of fine red gravel against the blue of the desert sky.

While walking we discovered a hand made stone altar with rough seats for a congregation. This was built some years ago for the use by the 6 families who were living on the station at that time. 

Lorna Glen Airstrip

Desert Red Gum tree

July 3rd

Again we walked around the old home at Wanjarri Station. It all appeared so desolate. The goanna, and probably his mates have left wonderful tracks in the fine gravel. Kangaroos have been about as well, but we have not seen them.

The road back out to the highway was slow over the very rough rocky surface.

The Goldfields Highway is bitumen so we were soon passing the Mt Keith Nickel Mine with its huge mullock heaps.

The EC cabin is again full of branches from the Mallee eucalypt found at Wanjarri.  I clip the leaves as we travel ready for dyeing on my return home. I am concentrating on the Mallee family for a book project. John is able to identify most of them as long as we can find enough information about each variety. At least we need the leaves, nuts and buds. The trunk type and shape is useful as well.

We also have Native Pear this morning, along with its oval shaped green fruit.  Evidently the aboriginals roasted them and ate them and they proved to be a good source of nutrition.

The small water courses that we cross all have a good lush growth of trees many of which are the very distinctive Desert Red Gums.

John and I have visited Wiluna some 20 years ago and today it has many new services and appears to be a much tidier township. The Wiluna Traders is a very good Supermarket so we stocked up on a few necessary supplies. Calling at the Shire Offices proved to be a good move as the lady receptionist was able to tell us a lot about the area as well as the Art Gallery at the rear of the building. We saw some really lovely paintings which have been done by local aboriginal artists. A very distinctive style of art is produced by the group of artist who work through this gallery. Tjukurba Artists are called Birrilibura Artists.

We left Wiluna at about 2.00 pm and took well over 2 hours to reach Lorna Glen where we planned to camp the night. The road was rough and corrugated in places but the scenery quite picturesque with Marble gums, a huge variety of acacias, thryptomene and very green, healthy looking Spinifex.

The juvenile marbel gums are particularly attractive with round blue/glaucous leaves. The recent rains have made Lorna Glen desert area very green.

Hakea (Corkwood) blooms 

Trunk of the Hakea (Corkwood) tree

Our camp is in a clean flat area and there is plenty available artisan water of good quality.

July 2nd

Despite a forecast of rain for this area we have had an early morning clear sky with a brilliant orange sunrise.
John has now exchanged the problem tyre for one of our spares. Driving is much more comfortable. We have a wonderful wide red gravel road to travel on. The surrounding country is covered in healthy bushes and flowers... Emu bushes, mulga trees, mint bushes, white everlastings, desert grevillias, grass trees, spinefix, silver cassia, cotton bush and Hakea Francisiana.

There was only one section of rough and bony road otherwise we have had an excellent run with a few kilometers of bitumen on the Goldfields Highway before we entered the Wanjarri Nature Reserve where we have camped this evening. Again this is an abandoned property. The old corrugated iron home must have made for very simple living. There is one huge room with a large fire place in the middle. John has lit the fire which persists in smoking but he has the camp oven over the flames...cooking our dinner of beef stew, I hope.

There is a resident goanna living near the house. He is in and out of his hiding hole and we can see his tracks about in the sand. He is very camera shy.

The evening is cooler with a bright moon.

Winjarri deserted Homestead

Cooking dinner over inside fire

Goanna with beautiful markings

July 1st

Sunrise reflections on dappled clouds

What a wonderful sunrise. We had camped near Mt Forest on the Sandstone Menzies Road. The rising sun produced bright red/pink reflections on the dappled cloud.

Two cars went by during the early dark last night. These were the only vehicles we saw since midday .

We drove through Noondie Lakes—a large dry salt lake system with dark red Samphire growing nearly all over it.

As we neared Sandstone, much of the road was lined with thick low bush. Sandstone is a  small township which is kept very clean and gardens are well cared for. We found a couple of Eucalypt  Macrocarpa trees growing quite happily. I would love to find one growing in the wild and in bloom. The buds are silver in colour and burst into large red blooms. The nuts are 3-4 cm in size. John has collected a couple with the hope of growing a tree at Milawa. We collected some dry leaves for me to ECO dye with. We thought it was too cheeky to collect a branch from these cultivated trees in the middle of the township.

We explored the heritage trail which was quite interesting with an old mine, an old Brewery in a cave, an old well out on the main road and London Bridge which is a rock formation in the shape of  a bridge.

We ate our lunch under the shade of a Kurrajong tree in the middle of town and purchased some supplies from the store in the Pub. The weather was delightful at 24+ deg.

Our camp tonight is at an old property called Lake Mason. Shearing Shed, workers quarters, homestead and windmill are still there. I find it sad when a homestead has been deserted. I lit the hot water donkey and showered in the available facility. It was a very successful shower. The area is now a National Park so it was good to see everything being cared for so well. It is very arid country and hard to believe that sheep were grazed here. Gidgee trees grow easily but they do have a very pungent smell.

'Donkey' heater and shower room

June 30^th

Our new tyre arrived in Leonora about 10.45 am. The mechanics took about an hour to do the fitting work and add balancing beads to the right front tyre. We were advised to travel about 100 km before we could make a proper judgement about the unbalanced wheel. The result does not seem to be satisfactory which makes it tiring for John to drive. We stopped just off the road and camped. Two Kangaroos guided us in. The first kangaroos we have seen since leaving SA.

We travelled a wide red road as we left Leonora towards Mt Ida which is near Wilbah Station. An Uncle of a friend of ours, Terry Wight, operated this cattle Station during the early part of last century. He had to leave it because of drought conditions. Today, the bush looks healthy after recent rains, even the Spinifex looks green.

There are extensive systems of salt lakes, some of which are showing a growth of very healthy Samphire. Overall we have seen very few birds but today were lucky to see 3 Magpie Geese fly up from a wet area in a salt lake.

We have not seen a vehicle or a person since leaving Leonora and travelling 200 km. It is a very remote area in which we are camped tonight. I think in earlier days there were gold mining centres, a couple of which we passed by during the day. When we went by the Copperfield Mine we discussed whether it would be a gold mine or a copper mine. The information board told us that the young man who found the first gold in the area was reading ‘David Copperfield’ at the time..hence the name. I imagine the only time he had to read the book was at night and the only light available would have been a candle. I bet the print in the book was very small as well.

Cirrus clouds are in the blue sky this evening and they have added to a beautiful sunset. I hope they are not a forerunner of a rain event.

Bush camp north of Leonora & south of Sandstone

The last sunset for the month of June