(First published 31st May 2014)

Hello again. I have just returned from another amazing trip – to Adelaide, up to Broken Hill, back to Adelaide, up to the Alice and then up to Darwin. Still the best way to see the best part of the nation in my opinion – the outback by coach. The wonderful Greyhound drivers again transported me safely up the Stuart Highway, delivering me into the Alice for a day, enroute to Darwin. My thanks to them all – in Qld as well – and to Dee Gurd, the supervisor in Adelaide who bent over backwards to help me.

This trip actually gave me the opportunity to tick off a couple of the items from my bucket list. First, flying in a smallish aircraft – I grabbed this chance from Adelaide to Broken Hill and it didn’t disappointed. Unexpectedly I also found myself with the opportunity to fly in a helicopter – at last! Better than I’d ever imagined and I cannot wait to go again.

Up in Broken Hill, due a misunderstanding at my accommodation, I actually spent the first night with the wonderful Mary and Peter Beven. Not quite sure what I would have done without them, to be honest. The AgFair was on the same weekend and all accommodation had been booked out for a long time in advance. Never mind. It all worked out. I managed to work on the book while there, as well as spending some hours on the Saturday at the AgFair. I also attended the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) ball – what a lovely night. And a look around the historic Silverton, the Hill itself – and I even managed to meet the hugely talented outback artist and one of the Brushmen of the Bush – Jack Absalom – a true gentleman even if I had no idea who he was at first. And finally the Beven family station, Sturt’s Meadows. There were many other highlights too – all will be mentioned and expanded upon in the book.

RFDS Annual Ball at Broken Hill. NSW.

Back down the Barrier highway, through more very familiar countryside as we passed through Mannahill, Yunta and Oodlawirra to my next stop at Terowie, where I was staying with Jacki and Peter Mattey on Franklyn Station, which happens to be one of Pitcairn’s neighbours. A wonderful day on Franklyn included a tour of their numerous properties around Terowie – although I used to live in the area, I had never before seen any of this countryside – another first for me. This tour included something rather – unusual – no other way to explain it. I had never seen anything like it before and am quite sure I’ll not see anything like it again. On Thursday, we drove down to Adelaide, again passing through very familiar countryside. I left the Matteys on the Saturday and spent a further couple of days in Adelaide before heading up north into the NT.

Unusual sight on station out of Broken Hill, NSW.

My fleeting visit to the Alice was terrific and I have two more locals coming onboard from there. On the Friday evening, I caught the next and final coach up to Darwin. This trip passes through many stations which I loved and am trying to find a map to show them all. One of these stations is Erldunda (south of Alice Springs so we visited it on the trip up from Adelaide) which is now a superb roadhouse and tourist centre while all remaining part of the working station that is Erldunda and which used to belong to very good friends of my family.

And onto Darwin. Still my favourite city – so like a big country town. I had a lovely view from my hotel room and again managed to get a lot of ‘work’ done while also having a few lovely walks around the CBD. This is where I was also able to tick a third item off my bucket list. Seeing crocodiles in the wild. And I wouldn’t have missed it.

Time to come home. I flew back to Perth on the Tuesday. Now to continue with the actual writing of the book. And catching up with all the retired pastoralists again – starting to finalize everything.

Crocodile. Common in the northern areas of Australia.

As with each trip, I have had some amazing and many very eye opening experiences, some of which will be mentioned in the book, others will remain silent forevermore.

In August, I hope to cover the WA stations, the final state. Unfortunately, for various reasons, I have not been able to physically visit every participating station, but all will be included, provided they still wish to. 

As for that ‘something different’ and unusual, alluded to on Franklyn Station – well, you’ll just have to wait to read it in the book.

Termite Hill, Exmouth. Common throughout northern Australia.

(First published 28th November 2012)

We are now into November and seem to be in an awful hurry to reach Christmas. I’m not in a hurry but the rest of the world seems to be. And I appear to be somewhat remiss in that I have neglected to finish the rest of the Qld part of the blog. It continue to be absolutely fantastic.

Before I plunge into this blog (which is well overdue anyway – a bit longer shouldn’t hurt) I do need to thank the people on those stations in the NT and WA who responded to my email of a few weeks ago, apologizing for the length of time it is taking me to cover the research for our book. Most of these people have been lovely enough to respond, telling me that they understand and are still interested in participating – so they are still very definitely ‘in’ for next year. There are still two stations in SA and one in NSW to cover yet. During my research trips I have also been given heaps of info and contact details for various people – as yet I have not contacted many but will be doing so. This includes those amazing retired pastoralists who are, or were, joining in. I had hoped to do most of this contacting when I returned from Qld but a few unexpected things have happened which have caused more than a few hiccups.

Drought.

But our book is far too important to me and I believe to all those that I have already met throughout our mighty outback. I also thank those of you who have contacted me to offer the most amazing encouragement and support. All phone calls etc are on my list and those people will be contacted early in the new year, including all the retirees.

So – onward and upward.

After leaving Tori and Alex I caught the overnight coach through to Brisbane. Stayed there for one night before heading all the way up the coast to Cairns. What a trip! Have to take my hat off to Greyhound – they do the best job. That trip turned into more of an adventure – all good but all will be revealed in the book. I had three nights in Cairns which I did enjoy, have to admit – but was more than ready to head bush again once that time came. Usually I make the most of these town stops to play catchup – get a blog out if I can, upload and register all photos, make phone calls, whatever. But none of this happened this time. The net wasn’t working in my room and my mobile decided to go on strike. Camera wasn’t very happy either.

An early start on Friday 20th September saw me heading inland again. Cairns would be one of the most stunning places to enter and leave, both by air and road. Winding up to the Atherton Tablelands provides spectacular views back across Cairns, hills and the water – out to the Great Barrier Reef and some of the islands therein. Can’t fault it. And cannot equal it either. Arrived in Georgetown a couple of hours later – actually have two stations there – and another one enroute to Normanton – but for many reasons, two are now being covered by email (they will not be missed out, just have to figure out the best way to bring them in). Tragically there was a fatal light plane crash which occurred while I was traveling further south – I did, at the time, vaguely wonder whether any of ‘my’ stations would be affected. But then I figured – this is the outback that I am writing about so YES of course some of my stations were affected. Direct for a few, as in the deceased were actually relations or extremely close friends for some. Remembering that most of these remote areas in our great nation are very close-knit, so yes this certainly did affect people, far and wide.

Me having the time of my life in a bull catcher.

Some of my plans had last minute changes – all part of the learning process and adventure as far as I am concerned – just a very sad reason. I finished up spending a couple of nights in a lovely little motel in Georgetown itself but Saturday night was spent on the huge Abingdon Downs Station, some hours north of Georgetown. As previously mentioned it is the ‘engine room’ of the Keough Cattle Company and as it turned out, I wouldn’t have missed Abingdon if I was paid to. It is 1.1 million acres small, naturally cattle country, even has crocodiles (still haven’t seen any though), cane toads (almost stepped on one) and just so much more. Absolutely wonderful. Even a gorgeous little foal was born – just for me! – or so I like to think! My hosts, Anita and Campbell had asked all their staff and several other property owners from around the area, to a lovely BBQ in the evening. While tinged with sadness, overall a good time was had by all – especially me. 

But oh so dry. Traveling west from Cairns, the countryside does vary hugely but the one common fact – soooo dry. I found it all to be absolutely fascinating and beautiful. While many of the city folk that I talked to during this trip said they had also been out to different places in the outback of Qld., they all had the same opinion. That it’s very boring with nothing to offer.

Homestead. Abingdon Downs Stn. Georgetown. Qld. Sept 2013

Wrong! They are obviously entitled to their opinions, but to me – it couldn’t be more the opposite.

What so many people do not seem to realise, or care about, is that there are people out there. On chatting with many of the stations people I did find that those who have lived out there for most of their lives, sadly do not see a future. That’s horrible. And when they explain their feelings – I do understand. The reasons for this feeling – not going into it here – but some do make my blood boil. 

There was one more station on this trip that I did visit, briefly. I did not stay overnight but did visit the house and took many photos (by the way, my camera is playing up so while I do have heaps of photos, they are all coming up as pretty flowers – which is lovely, but not exactly what I want). More lovely people, another very different homestead and surrounds – they all vary so much, so hugely and this fascinates me in itself.

Dingo.

Many stations have graves on them. This particular station is supposedly haunted.

This last property, Old Glenore, belongs to Midge and John Beard. Again a lot of photos taken, including their lagoon – another apparently inhabited by those elusive crocs. All I wanted was one pic – one pic – and nothing more. But ooooooh no – they stayed well and truly out of sight. Still, it is their habitat and not mine so I didn’t intrude any further. Next day I headed further west out to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Karumba was my last outback stay for this trip. Karumba Point to be exact – and what a finale. What a gem of a place. It truly is where the outback meets the sea – right on the Gulf of Carpentaria. It ranks at the top of my favourite places in Australia now. But it was also my last hope of seeing a croc in the wild – and that vanished at dawn on my third morning there when I left and returned to Cairns. Oh well.

Distances really are huge out here. This is not one of the signposts mentioned in the blog but just giving an idea how how big the distances are.

There were a few aspects about Qld particularly that were new to me. Or maybe I just haven’t noticed them before. As I traveled deeper into the outback I noticed that every station, no matter how remote, was well signposted on the main roads. I would have said that meant it’s not easy to become lost – but I know that it is. All these signposts are very neat and tidy – or those that I saw. Very easy to read. Once you leave the main road and head off into the wide blue yonder, it might have been a different matter.

And there was one other thing that I noticed from the very first station in Qld. Not going to tell you a bout it now – but it was something that I found that many of ‘my’ stations appeared to have in common. Apart from the continual struggle to survive and all associated therein, that is. Not sure that I actually liked the idea or not. This mysterious aspect actually scared me – terrified me in fact, but also caused the deepest fascination and desire to know more. And no, it is not spiders.

All will be revealed in our book.

The further west and away from civilization that I headed the more the terrain amazed me. I do love water, I do love lush green grass and general growth, hills and mountains, but the further I ventured into our mighty outback, the more I know that this is the land I love. 

Lake in Qld. Bone dry.

(First published 13th Sept 2013)

What a brilliant way to see Australia! And well off the beaten track. I am enjoying this just so much – tiring, yes, but I would not miss any of it for anything.

I am now over half way through the Qld leg of the research trips for our book. The first couple of weeks were nothing short of wonderful – five very different stations in their individual ways (mostly cattle). A new station came onboard literally just prior to my flight to Brisbane and yet another has joined in since then. More are talking about it. Unfortunately, at the 11th hour a couple did have to pull out of the actual physical visits but remain very much part of the book – will be covered by email instead. They will not be missed out.

I cannot thank these wonderful and amazing station people enough for their hospitality, friendship and support for both the book and for me. They are all bending over backwards in their efforts to support the book.

Ulcanbah homestead, where I stayed. Sadly, this house has since burned down.

To add to the excitement, it seemed that most town between Mt Isa and Brisbane have a claim to fame. The first of these is the famous ‘Walkabout-Creek-Pub’ made famous by the ‘Crocodile Dundee’ movie. I could almost see Linda, Hoges and friends walking over the verandah. Sadly as these coaches are there to serve their passengers for one purpose, to get them from ‘A’ to ‘B’ safely and on time, I could not ask the wonderful driver to stop for photos. Another famous town in Winton, home of our wonderful song ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Then of course came Longreach, home of Qantas – which I had known but completely forgotten, probably because I was still recovering from Walkabout Creek. But lo and behold, talk about reality – there, right beside the road, was a Qantas jumbo! I would have loved to have a good look at the cockpit but that time restraint came into play again. As each town came into view, I kept wondering what this one would be would be famous for – and then getting angry with myself because I felt I should have known. Even little Tambo, which I am told (and should have known) is the site of the first Qantas crash. Hmmm…I fly with Qantas all the time.

There were more towns with their claims to fame as we travelled further down the track toward Brisbane but this was an overnight trip so I didn’t see a lot of it. Not that I slept well – but it was dark. Then on our way from Brisbane up the coast to Cairns, our first tea break was at ‘Matilda’ – and there was Matilda in full bloom – the kangaroo made famous at the Commonwealth Games some years ago. Might have made an appearance at the Sydney Olympics too. From then on, I saw the big pineapple, the big mango, several big birds and lots of other big things. I gave up listing them but all were worth seeing.

Close up on School of the Air lesson in progress. A station in Queensland.

The stations that I have had the absolute pleasure to visit in Qld (and the other two states thus far) were all equally wonderful and all had their own tales to tell. Number one for the Qld leg was one out of Charters Towers, which actually withdrew for personal reasons. The next was ‘Ulcanbah’, home to the Hollingsworth brothers and families, is a true Queenslander, under renovation. More unforgettable hospitality and friendship – even managed to sit in on a School of the Air (now known as Distance Education in many parts, I think) in action. Absolutely amazing. As I watched I was taken back a ‘few’ years to my own SotA days – oh-so-different. I even unintentionally found myself becoming part of one lesson – I was trying to make a landline phone call and became part of a lesson in progress instead. All part of the fun.

Torquay Station. This country is covered in bauxite.

Third station was ‘Torquay’, home of Beryl Hunter, station owner and author. Beryl has even been good enough to give me a copy of her book, which I am looking forward to reading. As has happened all along this ‘learning curve’I found myself with a couple of new perspectives for the book – I was there for three nights (little mistake with dates) instead of the normal two. So the first was spent in ‘Torquay’s’ Queenslander, the second in their town house in Hughenden and the third in the Hughenden hotel/motel. I was able to briefly meet Beryl’s outgoing caretaker, Gary Greenwood, who was about to leave on a nationwide trip with his lovely wife, Wendy. Garry and I had quite a chat (he was a cameraman for one of the the major networks in a ‘past life’ and is also an author/writer) and we hope to work in conjunction with each other in the future. Hughenden is also where I did have a short chance to put my feet up and watch a tiny bit of TV (having seen very little on this trip – no loss). But this just happened to occur on the 7th – yup, federal election day. The TV only had one channel – or should I say, it had a large number number of them but all airing the same thing. No prizes for guessing – election coverage from go to wo. Could have done without that and I know I could have turned it off – pretty simple really. But curiosity did get the better of me and I watched it, in between catching up on registering photos etc for the book. Anyway, the result? Well, let’s just say that given the reaction of these true country folk after the event – my support and loyalties have only been cemented. Enough said!

Winton hills.

Fourth station (as it has turned out) for this stretch was ‘Judith Royl’, home to Barry Keough, of Keough Cattle Company Pty Ltd. Apart from this station, there are five others in this company and two of them have also now come onboard. Again a wonderful time at ‘Judith Royl’ – I even met the mail man, Arthur Crapp. He is not your ‘regular’ main man and more about him, including a pic, will be in the book. I also met one of Barry’s daughters, Leigh – and her family who live on ‘Windsor Park’, neighbouring Judith Roy. Quite a few of Barry’s family now appear to be coming onboard, in some way or another. While his wife does not live on the station, I did have a quick telephone chat to her – she does the most amazing bark paintings. Hope to have further chats in the future. The other member who spoke with me and we also plan to work with each other, is Klancie, a singer of growing repute – she actually made it to the final six in ‘Idol’ some years ago. I believe she has an amazing voice (as does her mother) and we have established contact by email.

The next station I cover is ‘Abingdon Downs’, a huge property north of Georgetown, out of Cairns. It is managed by Barry’s son, Campbell and is the powerhouse of the Keough Cattle Company. There is one more after that – ‘Old Glenore’, the Beard’s property out of Normanton. Again there are a couple more on this part, but both are now being covered by email.

My last station on the first part of this trip was ‘Lumeah’, home of Tori Carroll and partner, Alex. Finally, I have seen wild pigs (they are big), deer, camels, dingoes (albeit from afar), many different birds and of course, the inevitable million or so kangaroos, emus and rabbits. Probably a lot more. Even a snake – well, I didn’t exactly see it but sure as hell knew about it. This was on ‘Lumeah’- my host, Alex, found it curled up in a sack full of fodder for their domestic animals, in a back shed. A sack, I might add, that both Tori and Alex delve a hand into regularly to feed their animals. Gives me the shudders. We had just returned from another wonderful trip around the station looking at things (getting photos etc) when Alex suddenly screamed blue murder – to Tori and me, it could only mean one thing – SNAKE. The ensuing scene? Alex ran off, trying to find something to grab it, Tori running around madly grabbing Roger the Jack Russell and speeding up the nearest, high object (which happened to be an old couch) while I ran around trying to positions for great photos while trying to stay out of the way of one very angry snake. Guess it was a good way of cleaning out the little shed – the snake didn’t show itself again (sensible thing) but there were endless hiding places, most of which have been removed now. I do take my hat off to Alex for that effort.

Sadly, dingoes are prevalent in the areas I have visited and evidence of their destruction is clear in many places on these stations – other animals that have been caught and brought down – some not killed but just left to die a very slow and painful death. Koalas have all but been wiped out up here – not thanks to humans, nor fires, nor floods – but dingoes. Enough said. The adventure and excitement just didn’t case – and nor should it.

And I continue to absolutely thrive on it.

Pet calves – station in Qld

(First published 10th July 2013)

It’s dark and you want the light on. You flick the switch. Hey presto – light! Or – if it doesn’t switch on, you are a tad frustrated. It means one of several things – you haven’t paid the power bill or there’s a blackout for some reason – or the globe’s gone. Whatever, you are frustrated – because you have taken it for granted that by flicking that switch, light naturally comes on. Same with a tap – you want water, you turn the tap on. Again – magic. Water pours out. You turn the tap one way, the water warms up. Turn it the other, it cools down. Turn the tap off – the water stops. But again, you’ve taken it for granted that there will be water coming through that tap. And if neither the light switch works or water does not come through that tap, you are not happy. Over to the phone to ring for help. Dial the right number and your call will go through. Again, taken for granted. Later you want to go to the shop – just up the road. You get into the car, naturally expecting that the engine will start with the turn of the key. And if it doesn’t – that temper isn’t improving but nothing for it  except to ring the local automobile club or garage and get help as quickly as possible.

Later on, as you are preparing for dinner in the evening, after a hard day doing whatever you’ve been doing, suddenly visitors arrive unannounced. Looks like they’re here for dinner too. You put on a brave smile and throw on a bit of extra for them – or if you haven’t got that extra, quickly call someone to grab whatever’s needed from the shop. Or, if worst comes to worst, one of the many take away places or nearby restaurants to the rescue.

All inconvenient? Absolutely. But at least such services and utilities are nearby and are convenient – along with all the emergency services.

We are talking about the populated areas of many nations. The story could not be more different hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometres away – in the outback of Australia, anyway. The people out there do it tough – make no mistake. They are unique – many of them literally struggle on a daily basis simply to survive. Against almost insurmountable odds, both natural and human. It seems that no matter which way they turn, they hit another brick wall. It’s almost more normal for their taps not to produce anything more than a billow of red dust – because there isn’t any water – these people are so often in drought conditions. As for the light – well, in many cases, while a lot of these areas are now connected to the ‘mains’, there are still a lot that aren’t and they have to rely on their own generators. So if the light falters – the globe might have gone but it usually does mean that the generator needs to be restarted – and sometimes this has happened because it needs to be refuelled. No hopping down to the nearest petrol station out there – it means another long trip into the nearest town or depot or restock fuel. Or waiting until the fuel truck has visited. Communication out there has come a long way and telephones are pretty good now – but even then, if you have to call for help, it can be a long time coming. Distances are just so big.

This is the mighty outback of Australia and its people. Many of the men have been born in country hospitals (some on the stations themselves) and have spent their entire lives out there, bar perhaps a few years at boarding school, having been educated for their primary years by the School of the Air. But that’s about it. As for the women – a great many of them have originated from either capital cities or country towns, some from farms and others again from foreign shores – all to live in that pure isolation out there. These are those amazing women, young and old, who have had to learn very quickly to adapt. Some do. Some don’t. The initial allure, novelty and romance of the outback soon wears off and some find that the isolation and loneliness is just too much for them. They find that they cannot handle it after all. Many go out there to work as governesses and marry one of their employer’s neighbours or another local.

But such is the life in the outback. To conduct the research for our book: ‘Red Dust Dreams’ I traveled and visited most of the 20 participating stations. This amazing adventure took me through the out back of SA., NSW., Qld., the NT and WA. I did it alone – and now wouldn’t do it any other way. I absolutely thrived on it. Many of the men on ‘my’ stations are second or third generation and future plans for their properties had involved the eldest son (or daughter nowadays) and family taking over (succession). Sadly, while this used to be common place, it does not appear to be any more. Since the book was published at least six of the stations have been sold. Or abandoned.

And the women out there? Well, all those that I mete felt the same as their husbands/partners – while they are all doing it tough, they wouldn’t change their lives out there for anything. They have all made lives for themselves – darned good lives. And they are the ones that sometimes face those problems mentioned at the start – lights that decide not to work, along with taps with the same problem – and all the other issues. And the sudden appearance of unexpected visitors is becoming increasingly common out there – and sometimes this does not mean just one or two people, but I have heard of quite a few that have just turned up. When I asked one of the women what happens in such a case – well, it’s pretty obvious really. They cannot ignore these people so – they feed them. No option. But this does not happen often, thankfully. 

In order to simply survive and stay on their properties – stay in their homes – an increasing number of owners/managers and their wives/partners have moved over to tourism (as in operating station and farm stays) but not taking on extra staff. Some are also operating other sorts of online businesses.

There is an enormous amount to these people and through it all, their humour generally remains intact. I found them to be the most welcoming and warmest people possible. I felt so completely at home when out there. And a lot of these people opened up to me (because of my own background) – but most of that will forever more remain private as requested by them. They really are a people unto themselves. And they are still so often forgotten/ignored/overlooked and certainly not taken seriously. Perfect example is the recent threat by the WA Government to close all SotA bases statewide. Thank goodness the people from regional WA gave a huge reaction and were joined by many of the party faithful in the urban areas of the west. But, while the SotA decision was reversed, the government is stubbornly continuing to hold firm on another couple of crucial aspects relating to the people of rural WA. Typical. Completely typical. So unfair.

(First published 8th July 1913)

Arrangements for the Qld leg of the research trips for our book are well underway and again, I am really looking forward to it.

But before I continue, a big welcome to the new stations which have just come onboard, along with a lot of people who have visited stations – and towns – in the outback, for holidays/work and have come from other properties, towns, cities or other nations. Having spoken with some of these people, face to face, when I passed through Blinman, Broken Hill and Cobar – their feelings about the outback and their visits/lives out there are really interesting. There are so many people coming onboard who I will be contacting by email or phone that I am now putting together a template to send to all of them. Hopefully, it will be the easiest and safest way to make sure that everyone who wants to participate is definitely included.

Wool shed on my own family station in SA.

I am able to include some of the new stations with personal visits but the rest will now be covered by email, phone and mail.

At the end of the SA/NSW leg I flew home from Sydney and threw myself into organizing the re-visiting of many of our wonderful retired pastoralists. This is now underway – but instead of formally interviewing all these people, I am simply asking them a few questions and taking their photographs and obviously giving them a chance to ask me whatever they like. I had originally sent all those who had agreed to participate in the book, one of the station packages which included a special questionnaire, put together for the retirees themselves. Many completed these and returned them quickly which is fantastic – and I have met a lot of these people and been given an amazing amount of information about their lives and histories as well as histories of their stations. All just so interesting.

I still have two (maybe three) stations in the Northern Territory which I hope to visit sometime in November. At this stage, not sure when I will begin the WA stations – had hoped for the end of this year but I plan to cover them in a couple of stages so it might be early next year. Remembering all the time that I am a ‘lone soldier’ doing this.

Saltwater crocodile, on the Adelaide River, south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. These are the really dangerous ones.

My trip to Qld commences when I fly to Townsville, via Brisbane, at the end of August. I then take a coach west to Mt Isa, stopping for one or two nights at six stations along the route (all going well), then back down to Brisbane, stopping at one station along the way. From Brisbane I travel by coach right up the coast, through Townsville, stopping at Australia Zoo briefly before arriving at Cairns. Another coach takes me from there out to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. I have three further stations along that route. Spend a day or two in Karumba before returning direct to Cairns and finally flying home, at the beginning of October. Yes, it’s a tight schedule – also a challenging one and I continue to thrive on all this.

Sturt’s Peas. Australian Wildflower

As I travel along this amazing road, new aspects/suggestions/thoughts are forever being put to me. Not long after I returned to Perth from the SA/NSW leg, I was interviewed (at 2.30 am on Saturday…AAAGGGHHH) by The Social Media Network Station in the USA. The purpose of this was to be questioned about the impact of the internet and social media on the people of the outback. I had managed to speak with quite a few people about this during that first leg and the answers were very interesting – and varied. Coming from different generations too. But from what I have heard the people in the USA seem to have somewhat of a fascination for our mighty outback and I have been sent more questions – things that I had never thought about and completely unrelated to the net and social media. But all so wonderful. 

South Australia…

(First published on 25th May 2013)

Home again. The first leg of the research trips for our book is over – sort of. Actually, it is nothing like complete, but the traveling part is behind me for the first leg. Prior to embarking on this trip I had established contact with yet more people – for both the book and for other reasons and have been provided with heaps more contacts – for stations and/or for people who have been living in the outback, throughout SA., NSW., WA., and a couple in the NT. I will be contacting all of these people, along with re-visiting the participating retired pastoralists, in the coming weeks. Suggestions/thoughts/ideas continue to pour in as does info about stations and their histories – from all over the place. All so good.

Wool, glorious wool. From Alpana Station. Northern Flinders Ranges.

Before I continue though – I have been extremely remiss in that I did not mention the famous Blinman Pub Pizza Night, which Sally Henery took me along to on the Friday night I was at Alpana Station. These yummy pizzas are made by the pub owners and staff on the spot – and are nothing short of sensational. Believe me – saying that means they are really something – as most who know me well enough also know that I am not a pizza lover, having ‘out-pizzaed’ myself in my 20s. But I couldn’t resist those at the pub and was not disappointed. Yummy and the variety – fantastic. That was also the time of my reunion with Mary Fisher.

Cobar Primary School. NSW.

Anyway, back to NSW. After leaving Julie and Justin McClure of Kallara Station, north of Cobar, I spent a couple of days in the town itself – the intention being to contact the owner of another station south of Cobar. Sadly, I was unable to reach him. He will not be missed out though. Like a few other stations that are still coming onboard but doing so by email or phone and this includes this station. Instead I did have the opportunity to have a chat with Sharon Harland and staff of ‘The Cobar Weekly’, before visiting the Cobar Primary School to take photos. Sharon also put me into contact with another talented young lady – the girl who sang the national anthem at the Cobar Races and who, I believe, is a truck driver at the mines, when not singing. There will be more about her later (I hope) and a photo in the book. The Principal of the primary school has been wonderful enough to throw his support behind our book – he showed me around the school and gave me (almost) free reign to photograph – and photograph I did. The librarian was also good enough to lend me a book about the history of the school, which I will be returning as soon as I can. I also met a couple of teachers who have come from the city or other areas and now teaching out there – they will be coming onboard, hopefully. They all have such interesting stories to tell.

Moving on from Cobar, north east to Dubbo and then turning north to my next property, Uralla, out of Coonamble. Home to Marg and Charlie Beck, with one son, Ant, also living and working at home. More amazing hospitality, dished out by the bucketload – by country people – will it never end? I hope not. Marg and Charlie, like Sally and the McClures before them, were nothing short of fantastic.

View from the Warrambungles in NSW. Showing land devastated by fire.

On my first day there, they took me for a wonderful drive to Baradine, dropping into the Pilliga Forest Information Centre – absolutely fascinating – then onto Coonabarabran before going into the mighty Warrumbungle Ranges – I saw first hand the absolute devastation caused by those nightmare fires which swept through earlier this year. How awful for those people. Miraculously, the observatory was left unscathed – how is beyond me –  but it was. The views – again – spectacular. Marg had asked me if I like ‘rustic’ buildings. I do. The next day, we drove out to another of the Beck’s properties around Coonamble. And here were those rustic buildings – on seeing

Old engine room on Beanbah Station, NSW.

them for the first time I was speechless. For those who know me – this is a rarity. Rustic? Absolutely. And something more – again, I just couldn’t get enough. Marg was more than spot on with her description. More photos – heaps ‘n’ heaps of them but do not feel I caught the true spirit of the buildings. Judge for yourselves, in the book. 

My absolute heartfelt thanks to Marg, Charlie and Ant for their wonderful hospitality and – everything. Again also to Sally Henery and Julie and Justin McClure. You are all wonderful. Simple words cannot describe how I have felt throughout this first trip.

Just a little aside here – it might be noticed that there is not a photo of the actual house on Uralla, the Beck’s main property, whereas I think I have included homesteads on both Alpana and Kallara – if not in the blog, they will be elsewhere. The reason being that both the latter are stations which have moved over to include tourism – something which more and more properties in Australia are being forced to do – simply in order to survive. It is not an easy life out there and they are not exactly getting a lot of help. However, Uralla does continue to be a working property only – but not without struggling. 

By the way, I returned home and found that I have actually lost a bit of weight! Not through lack of eating – believe me, I cannot remember having been fed so well, or so much, or so healthily – throughout the journey – all the best home cooked country food and piles of it. But I also did a lot of walking while away – which would have helped – but I think the major cause of my lack of weight gain – no junk food. No take away. Just good wholesome food – and some superb home made chocky – and those pizzas. But otherwise – need I say more?

(First published 14th May 2013)

The adventure continues. I am now in Cobar, somewhere near the middle of New South Wales (NSW).

The Cobar Miners Race Club Annual Race Meeting.

Sally Henery was lovely enough to drive me from their station to Port Augusta so I could visit my own SotA base. And I did. However, I had been unable to contact them for a few reasons (none to do with anyone at the base) to warn them of my impending visit – so I was not expected. But I did meet the Vice Principal who was wonderful in taking a few minutes to quickly show me a lesson in progress – via the internet. A far cry from the old SotA days. She also gave me her contact details so I am now able to keep them up to date about the cover design and title competition and SA’s isolated will be included with all the others nationwide.

Down to Adelaide for a busy couple of days, meeting people and I did manage to catch up with one of my brothers and sister-in-law. On my way yet again, heading north east toward Pitcairn – and then straight past it. Countryside and towns all very familiar. We were actually an hour late leaving Adelaide (very annoying reason for this which might – or not – eventually be revealed – again, no-one at fault) and were unable to make up that time, while also trying to avoid kangaroos in the latter part of the trip. But full marks to our brilliant driver, Mitch, for her efforts. Our ETA in Broken Hill was 11.25 pm but instead we lopped in at sometime after midnight. All the other passengers seemed to either live up there or were expected by other people. But not me. Oooooh no – I had to be different and believe me, that’s not a good idea when you’re in an unfamiliar town at that hour of the morning. I had been to the Hill several times, but not for many years and my memories are not strong. I didn’t recognize a thing after the ‘Welcome to Broken Hill’ sign. My next coach, taking me on to Cobar, was not due to leave until 3.30 am – so, as can be guessed, not a lot of sleep to be had. None in fact – I didn’t get to bed. I did have everything organized in the way of a motel room – or so I thought – but therein lies another story.

Very early queue at the Cobar Miners Race Club Meeting.

Dressed up to the nines. These two boys looked fantastic.

But – onward ho. I caught that 3.30 am coach and arrived in Cobar on time at 9.25 am. Following instructions I found my sway to the local race course in time to see preparations in full swing. This was the Cobar Miners Race Club Annual Race Meeting, a very special event on the area social calendar. And to say this event was a vision to behold – just amazing. The bright colours, the sheer professionalism, the atmosphere, food and drink. Huh? This was an outback race meeting? It’s not the Melbourne Cup? The fashions – very formal – were straight out of a magazine, for goodness sake. And they were easily equal to or better than any city meeting – right down to the hair styles – perfect. Even the kids. Sharon Harland, Editor of ‘The Cobar Weekly’ had ‘warned’ me of the dress code and suggested that I should pack

appropriately, including a fascinator – and so I did. But by the time I reached the race course, I have to admit that I was beyond worried about how I looked. I mean I did kind of stand out like a sore thumb – but I was just too excited and happy to be there that I didn’t worry any more about it. I was offered the use of the bathroom – but honestly just could not be bothered. While Sharon’s suggestion should have warned me, I really do not think that anything could have prepared me for that event. These people really do know how to do it in style. I did get some wonderful photos, even if I do say so myself. I even got a shot of the mayor, poor lady. But such a gracious person and her outfit – she looked wonderful. From top to toe. I’ll never forget her – but hope she has completely forgotten me. But the day and event – also unforgettable. Well done, Cobar.

Finally, the day came to an end and I was on my way out to my next station, Kallara. Home to another lovely couple, Julie and Justin McClure and family, all away at school. Julie’s Uncle Max had attended the races and was good enough to drive me out. My thanks to you, Uncle Max. Julie and Justin, like Sally Henery (I didn’t meet her husband, David – he was away for my visit) are powerhouses of energy and information. So warm and welcoming, bubbly, that fantastic outback sense of humour – and could not have been more supportive with info. These people leave me lost for words – although it doesn’t seem so in my blogs. But there is no way I could do what they do, both women and men – living out here and all that goes with it. I absolutely love the outback – but could never live out here again. And my hat goes off to all of them.

I had a wonderful time on Kallara, being made to feel completely at home. Took heaps of photos, had a ball. Yesterday morning, when it was actually drizzling, one of the workers dropped me back into Cobar on his way home to Dubbo. My thanks to him for that.

I continue to meet many, many locals as well as those on the actual stations and getting heaps of photos – too many to include but I am trying to publish as many as possible. 

Next stop, Coonamble and Uralla Station – my last station for this trip. 

Sally Henery did mention that she could see how much I am loving doing this – that I am in my element – and she doesn’t think I’ll ever finish the book because I am enjoying the research too much – and she could well be right!

The Kallara plane in its hangar. NSW

(First published 5/5/13)

Well! What can I say? It is all very real and to be able to describe my feelings – I can’t. I just can’t. Try to expand on euphoric and you still won’t come anywhere near to it, but that should give you a bit of an idea. Simple as that. I am absolutely and completely overwhelmed by the warmth, friendliness and everything, all rolled into one, of the people I have met thus far.

My heartfelt thanks to the wonderful Sally Henery of Alpana Station, which is the very first property, nestled in the northern Flinders Ranges in SA. Sally has been the perfect hostess – to say nothing of being a mine of information. I have just spent two and a bit days on their property and honestly could not have wanted for more – of anything – except time. I needed far more time. Far too much to see and do in such limited time. Sally introduced me to so many people – some from other nations, others originating from other parts of Australia, either cities, towns or farms or even other stations. But all of whom live and work in or near the tiny local township of Blinman. I even caught up with Mary Fisher, who used to live on Pitcairn. Really lovely to see her. Many of these people have been fantastic enough to agree to participate in our book. All so good.

Municipal Hall in the tiny township of Blinman. Northern Flinders Ranges. SA

I am not going to describe the area surrounding Alpana and Blinman – suffice to say ‘spectacular’ does not really come anywhere near to the true description. But I cannot think of anything else so it will do – you’ll just have to see why when the book is finally published. And through the doco, hopefully.

There are also some absolutely amazing stories and facts coming to light – all part of the mammoth learning curve I am. on. The tiny township of Blinman is steeped in history and is really lovely but – well, let’s just say that the people in the town and surrounding properties do have their problems, like most of us.

I even went into the fantastic Blinman Mine – what an experience. And an unexpected bonus for my trip, which took both Sally and me by surprise – Alpana’s Tag-Along Tour. But another one that you’ll just have to read in our book – but it is pure magic, believe me. The Wild Lime Cafe & Gallery is also a must-see.

Chimney stack from bygone days. Very common in regional areas of Australia.

The sights and scenery of the majestic Flinders Ranges – WOW. But trying to take notes (that mine of info from Sally – some memory there) and photographs at the same time, while being driven along some pretty rocky roads, at some amazing angles…hmmm. So much fun though. I had to take notes – or try to as it was a tad too noisy for my little tape recorder. Anyway, the book will tell all.

Now I am in Port Augusta, having been driven back by Sally today. We dropped into Wilpena Pound, along with a few other wonderful spots, en route. Tomorrow I will be visiting the SotA base here, which is the one we used on Pitcairn. It’s actually the only one in SA. And I am really looking forward to that. A couple of other places to visit while in town, then off by coach to Adelaide for a couple of days.

Having been completely out of contact for the last few days, it was lovely to be able to talk with my husband and both daughters once I returned to civilization. It was probably the only thing that was good about returning to the city. But yes I am missing them all very much – and this will only serve to make my return home to Perth all that much sweeter.

But so much to look forward to before then. And it will all be described fully in our book.

Homestead, at the time of my visit, on Alpana Station.

(First published 30/4/2013)

The Book on Stations – or the Stations Book. The research trips for this – or the first of them – is finally underway. It is all rather hard to believe still and even though I have now left Perth for this first leg, it is still just hitting me – the commitment which I have undertaken. The sheer enormity of the challenge.

I honestly could not be happier – I am thriving on this. Here I am, a 57 year young wife, mum and granny, taking this on – and it is making me feel that I am ageing backwards.

A pretty typical well used gravel road in the northern Flinders Ranges. SA.

But before I proceed – just to give you a bit of background about this book. I am doing something I have always wanted to do – living the dream if you like. Writing a book about the wonderful outback of Australia – about the people out there, their daily lives. People who are, on the whole, facing a daily ongoing struggle to live and make a living, simply trying to survive. And they are living on some of the most enormous landholdings in the world – many of which are larger than several European nations combined. Many aspects are being included in this book – focusing on the daily lives of those people – education, health, transport, entertainment, employment, religion, politics, the Indigenous aspect and so much more. The aim of this book is my effort to try to help raise awareness about the outback and also the image of the outback and to ‘educate’ many of those in urban Australia, the rest of the world and students everywhere.

This all began a couple of years ago, after another book project failed almost before it really began – thank goodness as this one then presented itself to me. One door closes (thankfully in this case) and another opens and I couldn’t be happier about it. Now I am a bout to embark on what I would consider to be one of the most amazing and exciting challenges of my life, to date. 

The journey to date has really taken me out of my comfort zone – whatever that is. Recently I have been asked quite a lot about my ‘comfort zone’ – while I am still trying to figure out exactly what it is, I guess I have well and truly gone out of it. In fact, I think it’s given up on me and simply comes with me now. 

The ranges in front of the homestead complex on our family station in SA

But to return to that moment, two years ago. I still vividly remember it and putting the first plan of action into progress the very next day. I decided I wanted to involve as many sheep and cattle stations nationwide as possible – at least, those that wanted to be involved. After a few days of hunting for a list of such properties, I eventually found one. I then went by the higher postcodes of each participating state – Western Australia (WA), South Australia (SA), the Northern Territory (NT), New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (Qld). I went through each list and chose about a dozen properties from each of these states, then drafted a letter and issued it. Many did not respond at all, which was fine – it was absolutely up to them. And remembering that these people have been burned more than once by many different aspects – human and nature alike. But those who did respond were very enthusiastic about the entire thing and while it has taken a long time to reach this point, all these people have been incredibly patient and most of them only seem to be getting more enthusiastic. And now I am finding that as I describe my dream to people, I am being provided with just so many contacts and suggestions – it really is snowballing. 

I spent much of my spare time in the last year to sending emails and following up any leads that I have been provided with and/or discovered on the net.  Anyone who might have had anything at all to do with the great outback. While doing this I have also met and have begun interviewing about twenty of the most wonderful retired pastoralists. This will continue throughout this year, the first leg of my research trips.

Looking out toward the back of our family station from the top of a favourite hill. SA

I flew from Perth to Adelaide this morning. And yes, I will happily admit to being more than a bit nervous – actually, make that plain terrified. This is all part of my leaving my comfort zone – I am terrified of flying. And it doesn’t matter how many people try to reassure me that it’s far safer up there than it is on the roads, driving. I’m scared ‘up there’, jolly scared – and that’s that! But I did it. I am here. It didn’t help that when I left the Adelaide airport, it had changed. Completely threw me. I had to look several times at both number plates and the huge ‘Welcome to Adelaide’ sign to reassure myself that I had taken the right flight and was in the right place!

I leave Adelaide again, bright and early on Thursday morning to head up north to my first station, north of Port Augusta. I am there for a few days before returning to spend a day in the port itself, visiting my own old School of the Air (SotA) base. Back to Adelaide the next day and I have a radio interview with one station and then lunch with the owner of a different station, as well as meeting a couple of other people. Another early start and up the Barrier Highway to Broken Hill. This trip is going to feel rather nostalgic as we follow the same road we used to use to get to our family station and back again and we will be visiting some places that will certainly bring the memories back. This part of the trip will also take me within a few kilometres of my own childhood station.

On the front boundary gate to our family station in SA. This and other signs are seen on rural properties nation wide. Please read and heed if you come across one. They are there for a reason.

So I will be heading up to Broken Hill. Without looking at my ticket, I think I arrive there quite late so will stay overnight before the next super early start onto Cobar. I have two stations out of this town, one north and one south. It seems my visit will coincide with the social highlight of the year – their annual horse races. For me, this is just so exciting – the local horse races were very much the social event of the year as we grew up. You do have to remember these people really are isolated, particularly the further inland you go. For some of them, their ‘local’ shop could be hundreds of kilometres away. If someone drops in, there’s no hopping down to the local shops or take-away or going to the nearest restaurant.

Anyway, I will be delving into all this as I travel and it will all be included in this blog. I do have a couple of other stations which I will not be visiting this trip but as both are just up the track from our family station in SA, I will zoom up when visiting our property at some stage. After Cobar I travel onto Dubbo and up to Coonamble. Another couple of days there then finally back to Sydney for two nights – and home.

‘Blue Grass Lily’ – Australian wildflower.

Hello everyone. Welcome to ‘Red Dust Dreams – the book and project. I’ll be telling you all about it as this blog progresses. Along with all the research involved and the writing – and all of it. But before I do anything at all – a warning – and all part of my own mammoth learning experience.

As part of my publishing package with ‘Red Dust Dreams’, my publisher set up this website for me. I would not have been any good at all had I tried to do it – I had no idea where to start nor how to go about it. Even when Linda ‘handed’ over to me, I started having the heeby-jeebies as I was scared to touch even one key, for fear of deleting everything and having to start from scratch. Well – guess what! That’s exactly what has just happened. Not to the entire website, thankfully, but to my blog. I have been becoming increasingly less fearful and more adventurous lately, playing around with the site and was feeling pretty jolly proud of myself. Overall, I hadn’t had to scream for help and had managed to figure most things out.

However, I was trying to publish one post a couple of weeks ago – and it didn’t want to publish. The system would not co-operate with my efforts. Knowing that there have been times when there has been a bit of a wait between my pressing that publish button and actually seeing it live on the site, I decided that this could be one of those times so I left it alone overnight. But when I returned to look next morning, still no sign of it. It was in the post log and saying it had been published – but no sign of it on the site at all. 

So I tried again. I deleted it and re-wrote it – and tried to publish it again. Still no luck. Impatience was really settling in and, no matter what I did, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I still don’t know exactly. But, getting really agitated, I pressed one button – and lo and behold – I deleted all 27 blog posts! Ouch! Panic hit, forget the agitation. 

Searching around, I did eventually find them and immediately backed them all up on my hard drive as well as on a USB and I also printed every post out and have now got a file of all the hard copies. Phew! I googled and searched high and low, through everything I could think of – to no avail. I eventually sent an SOS to Linda and she was a Godsend. Apparently it did take her about an hour to fix up all my mess and get the site back to normal, but – she did it, so I am now continuing – and don’t plan to do anything silly again. Ever. 

So, this is my warning and advice. For anyone else who is as green as I was when I started this (and still am, obviously), please DO back up EVERYTHING. As long as all information is backed up safely somewhere, probably no need to do anything more than that. But I didn’t feel happy until I had it backed up in two places (hard drive and the USB) as well as every post being printed out and filed in hard copy. 

I have to start all over again but at least I have the copies to work from. I use my blog as proof of my writing for anyone whom asks for it so without it – well, I haven’t got anything. I do realise that the dates for the first 27 or whatever posts will all be over the next couple of days as I repost it all, but that’s a low price to pay for whatever it was that I did to delete the lot. 

Anyway, I am starting to rebuild today – so, please enjoy. And thank you.

Looking south east from the northern part of the beautiful Flinders Ranges in SA.