Author: Merelyn Terlich

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.

 

Port Hedland Life.

Well it won’t be long till we move on from here, so I thought I would add a few photos of the last week or so. Chris is back working 6 days a week at the moment, so this has given me a chance to sort through photos and add more posts, however his work finishes at the end of the month. We intend to look at working in the grain belt area, further south, for a couple of months, when we leave here. I think we have had the best of weather and work in the last 6 months. Driving a road train and doing such long hours, takes its toll and chris is starting to get tired.

      We have been given a finish date of 31st oct, for copper drivers, which, includes Chris, as the company’s contract ends.  Temperatures are getting up around the 40deg most days and it will soon be cyclone season here, and I’ve no desire to hang around for that.  This last week has been quite windy and bushfires have closed roads past Marble Bar, going into the mines.This also causes a threat to the drivers, as well as down time for both the drivers and their company. Chris and others spent 2 days blocked in at Telfer mine this last week. Another reason to move on…..I have really enjoyed our time here. Mostly because of the contrast in landscape to that of the eastern states. The ever changing piles of salt in town and the busy port, with it cargo ships and tugboats. Trucks and trains run 24/7. The place never sleeps. Going into town, you usually have to wait at the railway crossings for the locomotives to go through, pulling around 260 carriages.Takes around 5 minutes for them to go past, depending on speed. Chris often counts them! Parking and  shopping is easy, there is both Woolworths and Coles /Kmart stores. The South Hedland aquatic center is one of the best we have been to, we use the pool a couple of times a week.  Gina Rinehart, has painted one of her trains pink, in support of breast cancer, which has been a good talking point. October is breast cancer awareness month, so what better way to finish off this post, than to say we are living life in Jodies memory.  Will catch up when we get on the move again…. till then may good health be with you all.

 

Trip to Pt Samson WA

While away on our 2 weeks down south doing the wildflower trails, with two other couples including longtime friends Tom and Kathy Soward, work out of the  mine had virtually come to a standstill. So with little for me to do, we decided it was a good time for me to fly home and have a catch up with the family and give the garden an overdue cut back. Also let the neighbours know how much we appreciate them keeping an eye on the place.                                                              All was good with the house and the yard was neat and tidy, even the spar was ok after not being used for 6 months. Lovely to see all the family, and the great grandkids gave me the warmest welcome. Chris’s mum ended up in hospital, and very ill, the day I arrived. Darlene lent me her car so I was able to get around. So doctor, dentist and hospital visits, kept me busy. After a week there wasn’t a lot of improvement with June’s condition, so Chris flew home for a week as well. We both flew back to Port Hedland on the 18th of September.

Still no work, so we hooked up the van and headed south for a week. The first night out we made camp on the banks of the Balla Balla River. 

Nice to be out in the van again, so relaxing to be wandering around with my camera.

Not sure everyone was happy having their photo taken, so I just hung around long enough to take a couple of pics, before leaving the wildlife to enjoy their pickings. 

We will move on tomorrow. Thinking of going as far as Pt. Samson, this trip.

Last Day of wildflower trip WA

Another lovely spring day, not that far back to Port Hedland now. WA has so much changing landscape. Lush paddocks of canola a couple of days ago to barron hills today.

Called into Newman, for some groceries and a bit of a break.

Quite a few camels on the road today, and they seem to think they have right of way, and of cause we’re not in a position to argue, and in no real hurry to get back to port.  So we stopped for me to take some photos. Next it was time for some Lunch, Albert Tognolini is a favourite stop for many, as the view of the cutting through the hills is worth a look.  With lunch and a few more kilometers done, we thought one more night and campfire, was in order.

So about an hour out of Port, we pulled off the road and made camp for one more time.So next morning, a bit of a wander, a few photos, and that is it for this trip.

          What a good couple of weeks we’ve had. Arrived back at the depot about lunch time .

Day 14 Back to Port Hedland WA

Before leaving this area, I just wanted to see the wreath flowers at Pindar, one more time. Although it was late in the day, you could see they had come out, and multiplied, from when we were here the first time.

Hope you like them, as I think they are amazing, to be able to just pop out and grow in this harsh dry area, especially as the road had just been graded.                  Time to find the others, who had gone to find a camp area off the main road.          ———————————————————————————————————————–Well all good things must come to an end, they say. This morning it’s time to say farewell to our travelling companions, and head back to Port Hedland, to work  We left our camp spot about 7.30am, after having breakfast together, and a slightly emotional good bye. With an early start we were able to stop at a few places of interest during the day,

 so much to see in the way of rock formations and old towns.

Stopped at some stage for a light lunch, and a look around Cue. Nice old buildings and a tidy town.             

                                        I found a place on wiki camps, called Nallan station, and we decided to call it a day and make camp for the night.It turned out to be a lovely area on Lake Nallan. I thought it was a farm stay, but no, was an old railway station, which we realized when we went for a walk later that evening. we followed the old rail track for some distance and came across an old bridge,

 I also picked up some rail spikes as souvenirs, think they will make a good pot plant holder back home, that’s if we ever go home ! 

Lovely to finish the day with a walk around the lake and take more photos, my favourite pastime  

 

 

Perenjori WA

Chris has had his mind set on going to the town of Perenjori, he had read there was a machinery museum there. We arrived there in what we hoped was the last shower of the day, had morning tea in a coffee shop. Then a wander around, asking about the museum, but no, seems there wasn’t one as such, however there was an area in the main street where there was some old rellicks and a beautiful mural painted on the wall of a building. so chris was able to re lived his farming days on an old bit of machinery.

However we did find one of the best displays of  bygone days, I have ever seen. A whole home, set up as if you were back in 1800s.

Beautifully preserved clothing, furniture, and household items. Well worth stopping in this little town.We have travelled back up as far as Mt Magnet area today, and then pulled off the road to camp for the night. The rain has all gone and we enjoyed our last evening together.