Thursday October 10, 2019

I woke up at 5am, had a shower, a cup of coffee, put the last few things in the car, said goodbye to Molly (the dog I had looked after for the last 3 weeks)

..... And started up the car in the cool morning light.

It was a beautiful day for an almost 1200kms drive. The sky was clear, the air was still, and Missy my ever faithful travelling companion was snuggled in her favourite spot. 

As I drove through the parched land, I was reminded about a recent article that showed that the Pilbara had also been declared as being in severe drought. We're lucky though, we have plenty of water underground - so no severe water restrictions for our town, and as it's all mining, no farmers struggling to survive. 

Wild dogs are a problem

 How things change in a month! There was not much vegetation, no flowers, but a few bushes with seeds almost ready to scatter. As the air began to warm, birds of various kinds were wheeling in the sky, and eagles were feasting on carrion. There was some road kill, some road works, and lots of road trains carrying all manner of cargo.Some carried mining vehicles, some demountable buildings and concrete footings (possibly for train tracks?) and there were also trucks carrying green hay. Others carried the usual cargo that is transported up and down from town to town. 

First fuel stop was Meekatharra where I also called into the quaint little gift shop to top up on my supplies of love heart shaped buttons. I was served by two of the towns biggest personalities - Anna and her faithful sidekick. 

Then on the road I continued to Cue 

The further south I went, the more colourful the scenery became enhanced by beautiful wildflowers:

Then I saw an art installation on a desolate and dried up lake!There's usually something of interest to see at this place. Thank you to whoever it is that goes to so much trouble here.

Still heading south, and what did I see by the side of the road? Piles of blue metal. goats, car wrecks and unfortunately ... too many discarded pieces of plastic. As I was driving I listened to a great TED talk by Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest who has just completed a PhD on how to end plastic waste and help the poorest of the poor on our planet at the same time. If you want to be inspired and filled with hope you can check out his talk at https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ted-talks-daily/id160904630?i=1000452870748. 

Riverbeds were sharply defined by the tall trees growing alongside them. solar panels reflected the sun as they powered up the phone towers, cars over taking me as they headed home at the end of the school holidays, and the scrub continued to intensify in beauty with myriad colours. 

I drove through Mount Magnet but I had to stop at Paynes Find to fuel up again. They had a funny sign on the petrol bowser! They also make a really yummy hamburger there. 

The sun was setting and I still had 400kms to go. I found a great playlist on Apple Music and listened to some wonderful nostalgic hits - Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters and Collectors, Under the Milky Way - The Church, Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House and Two Strong Hearts - John Farnham, Forever Now - Cold Chisel. Driving is so easy when you've got good entertainment!

Finally I pulled into Jenny's house at 11pm. That was a long day of driving!