Winter, oooh yeah. Actual single figures overnight on 6 July. Sleeping is snuggly, and we can plan to be outdoors in the middle of the day without dying. We had a few short weeks of these temperatures, but it feels like the tide towards summer has already turned. In the last couple of weeks daytime temperatures have been hovering around 30 degrees, with nights in the mid-late teens. Still very liveable but the trajectory suggests not for long! Our car's Aircon is stuffed, so first a garage assessment, then the waiting game for a new part - all up around 3 weeks. Just very relieved this didn't happen in summer when it would have been a disaster.
We thought we were leaving earthquakes behind when we came to northern WA. Cyclones are the thing here, though we've been through an entire 'wet' season with barely a few drops of rain, let alone cyclonic levels. Elsewhere in Australia hasn't been quite so lucky, but at least no catastrophic events this season. Turns out we were wrong about earthquakes though - either that or we brought them with us. Hedland has been the epicentre of a hub of seismic activity that is freaking out the people. Lots of noisy little shakes, including 7 in one day. It makes a change from comments about missing dogs and cattle on the road on the local Facebook page.
Self-wicking garden beds are becoming must-haves with climate change, so I took the opportunity to go on a morning course that came to Hedland. The beds are created from IBCs that are cut in half, water-sealed and with a raised internal base covered in geothermic fabric to provide the wicking system. They reduce the frequency need for watering and provide a continuous supply of moisture to plant roots. Billy has managed to get hold of some IBCs from work, so I'll be able to get started when I get home. I'm planning to construct a berry cage in the horse arena, shifting some of the current raised beds, and using these IBC self-wicking beds for soft fruits. I'll integrate some tower worm farms in each of them to maintain soil fertility. Crikey, I really miss my garden.
Peter's still fishing when time, tide and wind align. He's finally managed to catch a Spanish Mackerel (oddly not a mackerel at all) at Finucane, and mighty delicious it was too. More in the freezer for a future dinner. Catching a Barramundi is still on his wish-list, and he'd better get on with it. He'll be heading back to NZ in 5 weeks!
We're getting well used to the WA roads these days. Overtaking road trains is still a mission but not the terrifying prospect it was in the early days. And they are the reason that the roads are so drivable here - wide, relatively straight and with no potholes or tight bends. At this time of year there are heaps of camper vans too. Most vehicles with trailers travel around 100kph, so even being stuck behind a large vehicle isn't too much of a hindrance. There are a number of sheltered viewing stations for the 'enjoyment' of lengthy iron ore trains. They're identified by a roadside sign that's an image of a camera, and for a long time I thought they were speed camera alerts! Until very recently, we'd never actually seen anyone at the viewing stations. That's changed now that it's the tourist season, and the free camper park in Port Hedland is always busy too.
Only a few weekends left for Peter, so we took a free weekend opportunity to go to Marble Bar, Australia's hottest town. My appetite for exploring this region had been whetted during a work trip there last month, and it was no disappointment. It's not so hard to understand why people choose to live in these kind of out-of-the-way places - peace and serenity, stunning natural landscapes and wildlife, and an assortment of random like-minded neighbours who have an innate ability to withstand the heat.
Our first trip out was to the Flying Fox Lookout, over what would be the raging Coongan River if there was any water in it. The flying fox itself is used for transporting hydrological devices that gauge WA's water resources. The site has the usual mix of blue sky, red rocks and dirt and green/yellow spinifex. Very soothing on the old soul now that my concept of natural beauty has expanded.
Then we headed out to the Comet Gold Mine and Tourist Centre. It's one of those quirky small-town one-room exhibition centres, featuring a big range of rocks from the Pilbara region. Geology isn't really something I know much about, but the array was very colourful and impressive and the local guide keen to share his wisdom, including showing us his own collection of gold that he'd prospected over the years. The next stop was the totally gob-smackingly beautiful Marble Bar Pool, where there are huge seams of jasper everywhere along the riverbank. The jasper shines even more colourfully when it's wet. We took a scrambly walk over the rocky banks and a wade in river (shoulda brought my togs) and soaked up the striking palette. A dragonfly even paused briefly enough on a rock to get its photo. Next stop was a return to the campsite because the rugby was on (All Blacks vs England - too important to miss apparently).
Turns out the rugby did us a favour. It meant we postponed a visit to Chinaman's Pool (further along the Coongan River) until the morning. As we were camping, the morning started bright and early, and that meant we got to see the sights at the best time of day and with no other people around, not even the birds at first. The reflections were perfect and magical, not even a tiny breeze to disturb or ripple the river water. Starting the day with a fresh morning walk and rock-scramble was glorious. So many photo opportunities that make you appreciate the light and shadows and angles in a way that you wouldn't without a camera.
Bird life around Marble Bar was a real treat. The pandemonium of white birds are Little Corellas, a kind of native parrot. As we'd got up before them on the Sunday morning, we enjoyed a very peaceful and serene hour before they arrived. Just upstream from Chinaman's Pool on the banks of the Coongan River is their morning coffee spot, and there they gathered noisily in their thousands, increasing in numbers and crossing en masse from one side of the river to the other. An endlessly watchable sight. There were several other birds that made it to Peter's twitcher's list over the weekend: Pelicans, Zebra Finch, Egrets (intermediate), Royal Spoonbills, Galahs, Magpie Larks, Brown Finches, Masked Lapwings, Black-Fronted Dotterel, Little-Pied and Little-Black Cormorants, and a stunning pair of enormous and elegant Black Swans. And also a lone butterfly Danaus Petilia (aka the Lesser Wanderer).
Back home to Hedland for a final week of work before heading away on our jollies, now just 2 sleeps away. We're camping for a couple of nights in a Broome campsite before Clare and Roy arrive, then we have a few touristy excursions lined up. The downside of camping in winter is that the days are short, and that's a limitation when you've only got a roof top tent to while away those evening hours. It won't be the same problem when we're staying in a cabin in Broome. I'm very ready for a work break, and it seems that everyone loves Broome. Bring it on 😁
