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.
Still had a bit of daylight left, so I was able to go for a walk and check the place out, and take some photos of the storm going around us, thankfully didn’t reach us. Yes I was rather glowing after my walk !
Had a relaxing and slow start the next day, so more photos before getting on the road again. Was rather amused at the photo of a lonely cow, it appeared to have 5 legs!! So I have left it in my collection. What do you think? ,ha ha
Time to get on the move. We are both happy to be on the road again, with our home away from home in tow.
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.
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.
The next day we got on the road again and called into the deserted old township of Cossack, which is on the hedland. 
There is still the remains of the railway track and carts, that was used to bring the children up the hill to the schoolhouse. the schoolhouse is still in reasonable condition for its age.
Love checking out these old towns. Next it was the old goal, and yes we both got to leave.
The cells have a window, but not much room for anything else.
This building is now used for special occasions.
From there it was back on the road and down to Wickham.
Views from the lookout, over the Wickham area.
More train carriages , they are such an important part of WA and the mining. Then into the beachside caravan park at Pt. Samson that we have booked into for a few days.
The view from our van was nice. Not a very big park, but being a long weekend coming up, it was good to arrive beforehand. A few days to relax.
Beautiful weather this time of year. And what’s more, the evenings couldn’t be better, this night we were entertained by a clarinet player, camped opposite us. Oh so good !!
Next day was a drive out to Cleaverville. another popular camping area, on the hedland, not that far away.
We are really enjoying this break away, will be goog when Chris retires and we can travel all year round. Another day at the park, before we leave, so I amused myself wandering along the beach, and tormenting a couple of rock crabs. 
So that was PT. Samson, we left the next day.
We took our time driving back, and pulled into an area beside the Shirlock River,
So much bird life here, and I spent the following day with my camera in hand.
Another nice day, and not a soul around to disturb our peace. Just how we like it.
Feeling revitalised I even got up early and took a pic of the sunrise over the river.
Well that’s it for now. Hope you have found something of interest. Please let me know if I am wasting my time doing this blog. Best to you Peeps… Merelyn.
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.
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 .
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 
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.
We stopped for Morning tea in Wubin, then on to Buntine ,
Stopping here and there to take photos of anything of interest.
Well the photos are of what I see as interesting, not necessarily of interest to others. On the outskirts of Buntine there is an interesting rock area, so of course we had to climb up and over them. Quite a good view, and an easy climb.
Another good camp spot with our friends, only one more night, with this lot, then chris and I will keep going north and they will head back over to the east coast. Did a lot of zig zagging today, not that that matters, so long as we find somewhere to pull up at the end of the day and have a campfire, and one of our camp oven meals, were all happy.
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