Ronnie Down Under

The Wool Wagon Pathway is a road, mostly dirt, 1160kms long. From Geraldton to Exmouth via the desert, it traverses two regions, the Murchison and the Gascoyne.

It tracks the path taken by pastoralists droving sheep to claim land in the 1860s. The land they claimed was immense - million acre sheep stations (ranches).

The Pathway, in its heyday, was a serious matter. The markers at historical sites showed photos of horse teams harnessed to mountainous wagons of wool. The conditions were so brutal, and the teams driven so hard, that horses dropped dead while pulling the loads.

We packed our tiny tent, did a last lap around Mullewa and headed off, ready for adventure. East and 30 kms away was a tiny settlement called Pindar. At Pindar is a working sheep station and old rail depot. There were lots of rusted old tractors, trucks and other odds and ends of farming implements. At its peak there was more wool freighted out of there than anywhere else in Australia.

Until noon we had hardly seen another vehicle, in fact only one, but once we stopped we realized the Pathway was a fairly well traversed road. It was a relief to know that others traveled here too, and if we broke down stood a good chance of being rescued and not left to the heat and feral goats.

We drove on, past saltbush flats, once seabed, and white barked eucalypts, over dried river beds that flood in the wet and flood plains. And by mid afternoon we were at Murchison Settlement. Murchison Shire is over 40 000 sq km, sparsely populated by 160 inhabitants on 29 leasehold stations (ranches).

With our tiny tent set up we walked through the Settlement. It has a shire office, a road house and garden, caravan park, polo cross fields and a wonderful little museum documenting the pastoralists’ history of the area. It also has a botanical walk, but it was temporarily closed due to the five year long drought. We befriended a local horse, and were happy to spend the last day of the Australian winter sitting outdoors in shorts entertained by the caravan park’s pet kangaroos.

Four days ago a stray chicken decided to live in our front yard! It's living in a dense bush where it has made a crude nest and has been collecting fruit and stones and placing them in the nest. It's already gotten rid of most of the locust that were in our yard. ;-) The stray cats outside seem to have accepted the chicken so I guess it can stay for now. Judging by the location of bald spots on this bird I think that she must have spent a lot of time in a chage.

Update: Our neighbors found out who the chicken belonged to and got permision to slaughter her. She's gone and we miss her.

We might be taking in a stray kitten soon. It's still to young to take from its mother. So, we'll wait a few more weeks and see. Here's a photograph. The kitten is on the ground by the bench (on the right side) located in our neighbors back yard.


Update: The little kitten we wanted to take in is gone. We don't know what happened to it.