Bore 7 at Lorna Glen

Petenque in the bush

Abandonned car on the Great Central Aboriginals just walk away when they break down

Weater Balloon being filled with Hydrogen at Giles weather station

Doing the washing at the Docker River Camp

Dingo spent the nightand no they are not meatybites

Corregations !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wild Camels near Docker River on the Great Central Road

Farewelling the Tolmers with a glass of Moet at Uluru

The Adelaide surgeon was terrific and recommended not to have surgery based on a study they had done which showed that after 6 years those with shoulder injuries who had not had surgery had better movement than those who had had surgery. He also confirmed that Pat could continue to travel provided she did not over extend herself .The other issue was the fridge which had as previously mentioned decided to crap itself. The part which had to come from Melbourne which normally takes one week took 2 weeks.

Finally we departed on the next leg of our trip. Hutchesons, Gordons and Tolmers had all left and were making their way slowly to Uluru via the West Macdonald ranges and the Menini loop road camping at Palm Valley and Kings Canyon together with some other off road camps.
We decided to take the bitumen route to Uluru in an endeavour to catch up. We stopped overnight at Hensbury Meteorite Craters. It was great to camp out and be away from the Caravan Park.

On 29th May we said goodbye to the Tolmers and headed west past Uluru and the Olgas onto the Great Central Road and more corrugations. The trip was uneventful although the scenery was great as we travelled along the edge of the Peterson Ranges and sighted several groups of wild Camels First night out we camped at Camp site near the Northern Territory Western Australia Border near the aboriginal settlement at Docker River. Bloody Fridge playing up again.
Next day we visited the Giles weather station and did the tour which included the sending off a weather balloon. That night we camped in the bush with a dingo which hovered around our camp over night and was still there in the morning.

The rest of the trip to Laverton was fairly uneventful and the scenery not that interesting except for the abandoned cars all along the route. I estimated there would be over 200 on the 1700 kms from Alice Springs to Laverton. We camped out 3 more nights including a lay day where we read books and played Petenque. One night we had a camp oven cook off where Pat and her able assistant made Pizza in the camp oven Barb did a roast and Gay made a cake for desert.

At last back on the bitumen at Laverton we stopped for lunch at the pub and a quick look around before moving on to Leonora to stock up on food and other essentials. We camped on the way near Mount Morgon which is not significant except that there is a mine next to it and road trains travelled through our van all night.

After stocking up, the consensus was not to attend the Leonora races that afternoon and the Mardegras that night, to Pat and my disappointment but travelled on to a BHP mining town Leinster where we ate at with the miners at the local tavern.

From Leinster we travelled to Lorna Glen Station 160 kms north east of Wiluna. Lorna Glen is a 5650000 hectare station owned by the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation and is a major restoration program which has been in progress since 1990 to eradicate feral cats camels and foxes and to reintroduce native mammals such as the bilby, bandicoots, marla and of all things the brush tailed possum. We spent 2 days exploring the station however did not see a single bilby, but was impressed with the condition of the plant life since the sheep and cattle have been removed. The managers Bruce and Kay Witnall were very helpful and provided us with the details and progress of the program including how they trap cats and shoot the camels.

From Lorna Glen we travelled back to Wiluna and on to Meekatharra where we bid farewell to Barb & Rob and Karl & Gay as they continued west and we headed north to where we currently are camped at Newman. Tomorrow we are doing the tour of the BHP open cut iron ore mine and moving on to Karajini National Park and on to Port Headland.