1/10/20 Paraburdoo & onwards into the past

   Leaving TomPrice , we head to Paraburdoo - definitely quieter than Tom Price and a bit cheaper as well . Time for a bit of a clean of the van & ute after all the red dust . They have a full laundry for the FIFO workers to use - and those who stay in the park of course ! so we washed the car seat covers , come to think of it , we did the same last year haha . 

    Heading out to shop & a bit of sight seeing as well , we headed up a gravel rd looking for other tracks we could investigate . Finding one we thought would take us back across some country to Nanutarra Rd was a plus till we found the gate and private property sign . Turns out it was Rocklea Station - this property covers all the valley and just about everything you can see from Tom Price all the way out past Paraburdoo - owned by Rio Tinto - millions of acres . Come back in a hundred years or so and it will probably be the Hamersley plains - previously known as Hamersley Ranges haha . 

  This is what they do to the mountains , gradually reducing them to train loads of iron ore , and we can't complain , because we are buying all these things made of steel - this is where it starts it's life .

    Found another track that took us to the water reservoir for some different views toward Paraburdoo , the bare patches middle of photo is the golf course .

 

Another view of the eastern side of Paraburdoo .

     Leaving Paraburdoo after spending a considerably higher price for groceries and fuel - they charge higher because their main customers are miners and there's no where else to go !

     Heading out to Nanutarra Rd , we didn't have to go too far , our next destination was Cheela Plains Station Stay about 95klms from Paraburdoo .  It's only 1klm off the road , has a cafe & restaurant (limited meals) at a cost . We pulled up and got a site for 4 days and set up beside the cafe for today . They have a resident Bungarra - his name is Fatso - well deserved !! He's about 1.2m long head to tip of tail , and loves the cool grass - temperature was hitting 37 degrees !

     Not a lot done today , sat back and read our books while enjoying some aircon .

     The benefits of staying 2 or more days , you get to got for a drive to a couple of places on the property . So after a good nights sleep and relocating to our site for the next 3 nights , we headed out to Cheela Springs . It's a 20klm drive along Nanutarra Rd and then go into the property and drive another 12klms to the springs . As you can see from the next photo , we are out of the ranges , this is looking south onto a vast flat plain that goes what seems like forever .

    Stopping on the track to take a few photos , I got back in only to be told the tyre pressure monitor was telling us we had a fast leaking tyre - Bugger - I pulled up and checked it out , it was certainly going down quickly . Looks like when I stopped , I stopped right on top of a sharp rock that penetrated the tyre . This is the first puncture in 6 years whilst driving off road , we've picked up a couple of screws previously , but this gravel track is unforgiving - the only give was in the tyre . 

     I was a bit surprised how quickly we got it changed and back underway , the rough sharp gravel giving way to much finer rocks and bull dust - just like talcum powder - it just explodes as you drive through it , fortunately there was some wind that blew it away from us . Arrived at the spring and pulled up , this area was used when they used to muster cattle in this part of the station - it's now only 50,000 acres instead of the million acres it used to be - they would bring in an old kitchen shed on wheels and they would stay here & muster the cattle . There was water & shelter , they had an old shower shed as well . This is an old stock water trough where they could tie the horses , seem better days though .

      So has the old Southern Cross windmill , seems the windmill part fell off the top of the tower .

     And the old Ford Vanguard wagon , it's been here for an eternity in the harshest of weather conditions , just look at the condition of the bumper bar , the grill , door handles and window trims - still nice and shiny , looking like they'd just come out of the showroom - can't get that anymore .

     The rocks have also changed out here , we have got away from the red banded iron formation and there's this orange banded shale type rock with layers of white quartz running through it .

     After some lunch and a shortened walk around due to the 36 degrees , we got some aerial pics of the spring and surrounds . The spring gushes 250,000 litres per hour out of the ground - that's a lot of water !!

The Cheela Creek flows into the Hardy River and then onwards into the Ashburton River - like most rivers in the north of WA , they tend to flow underground , you only see them flowing above in flood times . As you can see , the trees love it , lot's of gum trees and date palms , and millions of birds make this home . There was constant bird noise all the time we were here , that was above the wind noise as well .

     The grayer/green trees are date palms .

     Made our way back out , stopping of at an old windmill it too has seen better days , the tank attached via pipe was bone dry . It seems to be a big flat river plain that we've been driving over as you can see here.

 

    And that was our day or two , and here's another sunset .

    Here's a map link , I have left it in satellite mode to show the colours :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17NP83lQ1NWa5ZV96HFtfO19-YO_muI06&usp=sharing