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| Wandina Station, Drovers Pool |
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September 5 2024 |
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Leaving Hamelin Pool, the junction with the main north
south road illuminated with solar and wind. A vertical axis Darrieus wind
turbine. |
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Another longish day's driving. |
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But wait. We head east, along the Butchers Track. With no
idea why it is so named. Its an alternative route to Murchison for when
roads are flooded further south. |
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We begin to encounter purple and white carpets as well as
yellow. |
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The road passes through Toolonga Nature Reserve. Including
a string of currently dry ephemoral lakes. |
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The carpets become more dense. |
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Then we turn south, towards Mullewa. |
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With a brief stop to admire the flowers. |
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Relatives of Mulla Mulla are everywhere. |
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More carpets. We won't get bored, just hard to find
different words. |
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At last .... some red flowers. We have absolutely no hope
of making any sense of the variety. But we'll keep trying. |
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Its not just along the roadside. |
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The colour stretches as far as our eyes can see. |
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The entry to Wandina Station. We will camp at the Drovers
Pool. |
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Confused by these small blue flowers that have some white,
as we drive about 18km through the station. Realising that the station is
larger than the island I grew up on. |
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Why so many? |
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We should have realised that the Canning Stock Route is not
the only route along which stock were driven. The De Grey to Mullewa Stock
Route is older and longer. But now not as easy, perhaps impossible to
travel. |
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Just inside the fence. |
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A welcome kite to look after us. |
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A plethora of flowers. |
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Many flower heads on one stem. We are beginning to look
more closely. |
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No longer overwhelmed by the carpets. The blue looks
fragile and transluscent. |
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What bird made this nest? |
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We adopt our usual orientation - the big back window
towards the water. |
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A walk around the billabong. |
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The white petals seem to fall off, leaving the blue. |
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We know what this is - just can't remember. The bird book
will have to wait. |
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Next morning the flowers are closed. Waiting for a new
day's sun. |
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But not so closed as to disappear. We are in search of
wreath flowers. |
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The bustard ignores us, as they all do, with nose in the
air. |
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Wreath flowers like disturbed ground. They are growing on
the ground cleared for fencing access. |
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Along with other plants. |
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Various sizes, and different shades of red and pink and
white. They are a feature of the Mullewa area. |
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There is also a gorge on Wandina Station. Tallering Peak
is not a volcano crater, it has been mined for high grade hematite, iron
ore.
Mining lasted a few years, the ore at the top of the peak not as rich as
lower, the mine closed not too many years ago. Not yet handed back to the
station, exploration for base metals is continuing. |
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Stop to look at an outcrop. Tallering Hill in the
background. |
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An outcrop of hematite and quartz. |
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Perhaps a relative of mulla mulla. It seems the only
flower name I know .... |
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The gorge is not particularly deep, or long, or gorge like.
But interesting.
We walked the last bit, and looked back at truck and hill. |
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The track is a loop. |
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We then drove to "gorge top". The peak and hill described
as useful landmarks for the stock route. |
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| Urewa and Wanagarren Nature Reserves, and Nambung NP |
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September 6 - 8 2024 |
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