Day trips from Kalannie WA

Getting a bit sick of listening to the ABC all day it’s time for me to find a shopping centre. Would you believe the nearest Woolworths is nearly 200 kms away. oh well nothing better to do . The roads are narrow strips of bitumen, flat and straight, mostly speed rated at 110. I thought it was great that I sat on about 120 or so most of the way. Chris on the other hand wasn’t impressed, saying to remember it is a diesel motor and not to flog it like that, OK ! Quite like the town of Northam, has Aldi, Spotlight, Coles/ Kmart, and Woolworths, where I like to shop. That done and it’s time to head back.                                                                       On the way home I stopped in Dowerin to take a photo of Rusty the tin dog, made by school children, has an interesting story, if like to look it up.   We had a couple of very hot days,and by thursday afternoon as the sun went down the thunder and lightning started. I was out trying to get some photos, when I noticed the red glow, thought it was still the sun setting at first, then it become more evident that a fire had started.  

In the end it spread over 300 hectares and farmers losing $ 3.6 million in crops. Thankfully no homes were lost. Over 15 fires started that night from lightning, and no rain to put them out.! A couple of long days for Chris, with farmers in a rush to get their grain off the paddocks.                                                                                 Then it was Friday pizza night at the Kennel and drinks with a few of the other drivers in town. A few laughs and a lot of truck talk, I am the only woman there, as the drivers are mainly from out of town.                                                                Our drive on Sunday went north out around Xantippe  There is a water hole in the granite rocks built in 1904, for the men constructing the rabbit proof fence back then. Over 2 metres deep, as Chris checked with a piece of wire he found.    From there to more granite rocks protruding above ground, hence the name of Petrudor Rocks.

Boys and their toys,… lucky i didn’t have to use this. And no I didn’t  check it out either.On the way home we called into Dalwallinu for a cuppa, then took the back road home, going around paddocks and along bush tracks, yes more flowers, seems I can’t get enough of natures garden. Here is some photos I took with my phone, as some stupid woman left the camera in the van. Hope you like flowers as much as I do. The bush is in full bloom at the moment. This Post will catch me up to date with what I have taken so far. Now been away for 9 months. 

Lastly a twin wheel, windmill just out of Kalannie. not sure what the idea is for this, other than two heads are better than one. !!

 

Living in a small town

What am I going to do with myself here. I start the day by making Chris’s lunch and taking him the kilometer to work. that fills in about half an hour. lucky it was the 1st tuesday in november and I had been invited to a cup luncheon. There must of been about 25 women there, some dressed for the occasion, others not as much. I hadn’t taken into account functions like this when I packed the van back in February. So only have one casual dress with me. No fascinator !The event was held in the community hall, no TV there, but we all gathered into an office and watched it on a TV there. I think the sweeps were run by the PandC. No TAB facilities around here, not even a Club !  A bit of fun and certainly didn’t feel out of place, in fact everyone was very friendly and I came away having thoroughly enjoyed the day, all was not lost on the horses as I was invited to another luncheon for seniors week.                                       If only they would control the flys, I would be happy to stay here longer than the harvest season as planned.                                                                                                    I went for a walk on a couple of occasions, to take photos, but have now given that a miss, due to the flys not respecting my personal space. ! Some wildflowers, but not worth battling the flys over. Hate them.

 

Ok so i’ll just have to get game and venture out in the car….Alone..              My first trip was to go up to the nearest town Dalwallinu, 50 km away. No traffic, maybe seen 2 cars on way in. It is a bigger town than Kalannie, even has an IGA. We also came through here back in August, when we did the wildflowers. On the way back I stopped to take some photos of the landscape,  Mostly salt flats, some lakes, and acres and acres of grain crops ready to be harvested.

That evening we had a storm, not much rain, but lightening, from all directions, that lit up the sky.

  By Saturday it was still  storming and a whole 6 ml of rain was enough to halt cartage and so Chris had a couple of days off. Of cause not good for the farmers. but we were able to go and have a look around the salt flats and lake area.

Just love taking photos to show natural beauty, of what really is very good for nothing land. Beauty is all around if you want to look for it.!  Farming in this harsh environment, the farmers need to have a good sense of humour, which we were able to see on our drive

The only place for an evening meal out is the Bulldogs football kennel,  where you have the choice of frozen pizza, or a packet of Smiths chips. we had pizza.  Time flies when you’re having fun. Sundays seem to be a R and R day in town, so that’s what we did, except to go for a short walk up to the shop. They don’t make chai lattes, but they make the best old school, strawberry milk shakes, which went down well on the way home…  and there went the first week of living in a small country town.

Kalannie WA

Arrived in Kalannie Monday afternoon, called into the general store and got the low down of the place. Very friendly there. Next it was to find the future  Boss Man . Yep all good, very casual, and we were made feel welcome.* Just go set up your van and come in at 7.30 in the morning *                                                           The caravan park is at the other end of town.  Large open area ,powered sites and an amenities block in the centre. We had the choice of sites as there is only one other van.  So very….quiet !! No TV, just ABC radio. Oh well another experience I guess. The other van is occupied by a bloke who is here for the harvest season also. Across the road is grain storage So here we are ….

Going South WA

We’re heading south towards Kalannie in the WA wheat belt, Chris will be carting grain for Kalannie Contractors, only pulling 2 trailers,so that will be different!  On the way we stopped in to the Granites, an area of rocks, so we climbed up and over them taking in the views .Needed to be a bit careful as they are quite eroded around the edges. I took these photos in the middle of the day, and feel they would have been better at sun set.    

 

 

We are now into the area that we did in August with Kathy and Tom. All the orchards and small wildflowers have finished flowering now, just larger shrubs, and gums flowering now.

Not far from our destination is Paynes Find,  decided that it was a good time to pull up and make camp for the night.

Farewell to Port Hedland WA

Well the time has come to pack up here at Kalari transport and move on out of Port Hedland. One thing I will miss is the view of the moon rising and the sun setting, from our campsite here.            The employees were given a lovely dinner out at the Yacht Club, including oysters kilpatrick, I thoroughly enjoyed my dozen.! Apart from that Chris and I also met with friends, to say goodbye, had a feed of fish and chips from the caravan takeaway on the waterfront, never tire of this view of the port and lights. To sum it up, 6 Months here has been interesting and well worth doing, and yes I’d do it again. So now it’s time to move on.