Out of the frying pan and into the fire

December 11

Today I left the bush to head out to - the bush. I am going to the Gibson range, which is about 150 miles east of where I was staying in North Eneabba. The folks I have been around for the last month tell me it is pretty remote so I think I am in for an adventure. I will pass through three little towns (Eneabba, Three Springs, and Perenjori) before I get to the gravel road that connects with the Great Northern Highway at the Mt. Gibson range.

The trip started well. Pack all my things in the truck, stop in Eneabba to pick up a few supplies, and then on to Three Springs. The roads that small number of little towns scattered around here have mostly been paved one lane roads. You travel on the single pavement track and watch for oncoming vehicles. When someone is coming you move your left two wheels onto the gravel shoulder, put your right wheels left of center of the pavement, pass the oncoming traffic, then get back in the middle of the road again. For those occasional places where you cannot see ahead of you very well the road is paved wider and you keep to the left side of the road.

I wanted to stop in Perenjori to get gas - last chance - and so when I went through town and found no gas station I began to get a bit nervous. Both the time I had to get to my rendezvous and my gas were running low. My only choice would have been to backtrack forty miles to Three Springs. There were no gas stations ahead of me for well over 100 miles. It turned out the gas bowser (pump) was at the farm supply store north of town.

One hundred miles into my journey I reached the end of the paved road. The landscape changed from open farmland (I had just passed finished crossing the wheat belt) to a seemingly endless sea of thick brush. I had arrived in station county. The soils where beginning to change from sand dominated to a richly colored red soil. The bush here was well developed with the plants typically six to eight feet high. There were few trees, with most of the plants being in the form of large bushes. The land was undulating, allowing me to see across the landscape in many places. The bush went on in all directions to the horizon. Occasionally there were other smaller sand roads that would cross or terminate the main road and I would also occasionally cross through a fenceline by going over a livestock grid in the road.

Stations are tracts of land, typically quite large, that are leased by the government to people who run stock on the property. The leases were drawn up early in the 20th century and were for 99 years. Many are them are beginning to come up for renewal. The first large station I traveled through was Wanarra. The next one was formally called Whitewells but had been renamed Charles Darwin Reserve. The lease had recently been brought from the former owners by a conservation group. They were working towards restoring much of the 250 square miles of bush on the station grounds to a more natural condition. Despite the fact leases can be bought and sold, there is a requirement that stock be maintained on the property at all times. Presumably Charles Darwin were running sheep, the traditional station standard. Throughout both stations there was evidence of older structures for stock, such as the occasional windmill, water tank, and water trough. The windmills were and in some cases still are used to draw water up from wells. There is also plenty of fencing but since the road runs through the station not much of it lies parallel to the road.

Forty three miles of dirt road and I arrived at the paved Great Northern Highway. Directly in front of me was Extension Hill, which is part of the Mt. Gibson range. A few hundred feet south of me was a gated road that was the main access to this hill and my planned rendezvous location. A botanist from Kings Park in Perth was supposed to be there at 1 o clock. We were both on time. I had met Ben at Kings Park in Perth and at the Ecological conference, so we were not meeting for the first time. He did have a student, Chris, with him. Chris was going to give us a hand hand and get started on his own project, studying the dynamics of soil seed banks in the Mt. Gibson range.

This picture shows the view of the gravel road taken from the top of Extension Hill. The paved Great Northern Highway is hidden by the vegetation. The graveled area that you see in the left to right orientation is an airstrip. No supporting structures, just a long graveled area that ends at the gravel road I traveled on.

This next photo shows a road train on the highway, revealing that there is actually a paved right going through the sea of bushland.