Indee Station
After leaving Karijini we spent a night at a great free camp with breathtaking views. We had a camp fire right on the gorge edge and watched as the sunset.
The next day we headed off to Indee station. A 450,000 acre property, this place was HUGE!!!
Colin and Betty, are a truly beautiful and inspiring couple who have owned this station and have so for the past 52 years (and are still fighting fit and going strong.) Their home is full of memorabilia collected over the years and Colin not only built the house, but he single handily hand made each and every brick! Wow!!
For all their in house guests (there was roughly 25 of us the night we stayed.) They supply a large array of yummy nibbles from 5:30 to 6:30pm at a huge dinning table in their home.. Every night of the week!
What a great way to get all their guest together to socialize and share their travel stories!
The next morning we was privileged to be taken on a free tour down to the Stations very own "Red Rock." Covered in Aboriginal Rock Art Paintings it was great to have someone who understood what a lot of the painting represented and who could share some interesting stories on the history of the station.
One story that stood out amongst all the others was told to us by Les. He told us how when Colin was in his 20's he was working in a Well on the station when he heard a loud crash. Upon investigation he came across Australia's very first major aviation passenger plane crash.. On his station.. It was in the 1960's and he was first on scene. All 26 onboard had perished upon impact and the scene was horrific.
Today there is a plaque and some pieces from the wreckage that stands as a reminder of this fateful day.
After a great overnight stay a idea started to form in my head.. (Oh no... Hehehe)
I realised I had a opportunity to tick a item off my Bucket List...
Soooo... After putting my ideas to Gary we enquired whether there was any short term work going at Indee Station..!! I have always wanted to work on a outback station and the idea of the girls experiencing living life on a remote station sounded great!!! Gary felt the same!! Unfortunately there wasn't any work at Indee.... BUT after Betty kindly making a call to the next station over, they informed us that their neighbours indeed had work available and were more than happy for us all to come join them there!!!
AWESOME!!!!
So after taking a shortcut through Indee on a 30km dirt Road we arrived at...
Wallareenya Station!!!
Wallareenya is a 500,000 acre cattle station. A good 50km on a dirt road from the nearest town (South Hedland) and the nearest neighbour 30km away, we are really quite isolated!
The gates to the 15km long Driveway!!!
Funny enough on arrival we noticed the family that owns the farm have the same last name as us!
Day Pastorals ;)
Meeting the "Day" Family and everyone who works here we instantly fell in love! Everyone is so nice and friendly!
We have been here 5 days now and Gary is driving trucks and building a shed, and I jump in the work ute and follow the BHP dirt road along the train track into town everyday to pick up supplies from Port Hedland and the surrounds. I help out by cooking for the station hands and do other odd jobs around the yard. I even learnt how to butcher up a cow!!! 1 hack saw and a sharp knife later we have enough meat to fill a freezer!
Wow!!!
The kids love it too! With 3 other kids on the station, dogs, treehouses, tyre swings, chickens to feed, lots of fresh eggs to collect, cattle and horses they are just loving it!
The other day when the girls were doing their school work in the caravan, to their delight, they even had chickens hop right on inside the caravan to come say hello to them!!
Ella feeding some chickens
Views around the station
At this stage we plan to spend 2 weeks here. But who knows?!?! Maybe longer?!?! Only time will see!!
It's amazing how just over 2 weeks ago we was in Coral Bay snorkelling and dodging whales! Last week we was hiking through breathtaking Gorges in Karijini! This week we are working on a Cattle Station!! Where we will be a month from now we really have no idea! But I wouldn't want it any other way!!
Xx
