We have been in Kalannie since last October, and are now being treated like a local. Steve Mary and family now treat us as friends. It has been said that Chris their Son, who manages the trucks, has intentions of chaining Chris T, to the steering wheel so he can’t leave. I went for another trip with chris a few weeks ago and we loaded grain at a farm in Dalwallinu. Got chatting to the farmer while Chris loaded and was told he likes Chris doing his work as he always turns up on time and happy, gives him a good start to the day, he says. Nice to hear, guess it helps that Chris can survive on 4/5 hrs sleep, and loves doing this work. Its an early start, getting up around 2am, to be at the farm about 4.
We arrived in Perth to unload, around 4hrs later. Hundreds of ducks, very fat ducks, gather around the grain storage plant, eating the spilled grain, after the trucks have unloaded.
After unloading in Perth, we picked up a load of fertiliser from Fremantle, and headed back in the peak hour traffic, not a fun time, however I soon relaxed as the sun set behind us and enjoyed seeing the paddocks of fire, burning the stubble, shame we couldn’t stop to take photos, as it is an amazing site. 
This is a photo I took a few days later, of the wind rows being burnt during the day. Nothing spectacular but it shows how they clean up, before planting again soon.
We stopped to wander around old farms, seeing dams, wells, windmills, even thought this old farm bike was cute for a mailbox. We are amazed that nothing gets thrown away from these farms, even today, most farms have a dead machinery paddock. Brings back memories for Chris, and photo opportunities for me Steve also knew where to look at some old sheep dips, took awhile to move on from here as he and Chris pondered over their sheep dipping days.
Some of the sheep dips are still in reasonable condition.
Mollerin Rock was a huge catchment area for water. So much work was put into stone edges around the outskirts of the rock, so the rain water would run down into drains that led into big water tanks. These are mainly on common land so the drovers had water for their travelling stock. 
They even went to the trouble of building rock walls around the scrub areas and holes in the rock, so they didn’t lose any water and kept it as clean as possible, before draining into the tank below.
Some of the old tin covers have deteriorated over the the years, but to me this makes them more original, and interesting to climb up and look in. Can be a bit creepy looking into the depths of there now slimey contents, due to lack of use. 
Most of these big flat rock areas are quite accessible by 4 wheel drive.
So Chris just had to !! Note I got out, before he came back down !! 
And for those interested in old machinery, here is some we found laying around in the paddocks.
Another large water tank is not far out of town, at Xantippe. Locals were thrilled at the end of last Year, that Channel 7, Sunrise team came and featured Xantippe. A town starting with X, as they filmed, and featured towns of the alphabet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.