Rocks and Ruins, Western Australia

[Nomad164]

Recently I was made redundant, so with a bit of spare time and needing to clear my head to plan what to do next I decided to head out bush for a few days with a mate and explore the north eastern Wheatbelt and Yilgarn Regions of Western Australia. Even though this area is about 4 hours drive from Perth it is remote country but very beautiful. This particular area is full of granite rocks that are great to explore.

On the day we headed off the temperature was in the mid 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and only got hotter as we headed east and at one place we stopped it was 48.6 degrees Celsius (119.48 degrees Fahrenheit) - so it was a tad warm to say the least.

We stopped at the small town of Muckinbudin to refuel and then headed towards our first night stop which was to be at Eagle Rock , another two hours further on. On the way we stopped at Geering Rock before heading to Eagle Rock, arriving there at 1700 h (5 pm for civvies ) by now it had cooled down nicely and the temp was a pleasant 38 degrees Celsius . We made camp and it was a great spot, a part from the flies that were overly friendly; however, once the sun went down they left and we had a pleasant night plus the sunset was just stunning.

Geering Rock



Eagle Rock



Night 1 campsite

 

[Nomad164]

Part 2

After a good nights sleep (even though it was hot) we were up early and headed off and the plan for the day was to find two ruined homesteads. As with the previous day it was going to be rather warm so we decided to head of early to make the most of the cool morning, which didn't last long. Our plan was to try and find a route from our night loc to one of the Homesteads but the bush was too thick and we kept loosing the track so we headed back to another location to find another track but again we couldn't find it and had to divert a bit further south than we wanted too but it was the only way.

After travelling for a while we located the road into the first Homestead and made our way in - the distance was probably about 10 km but it took a good 30 mins along the track to get there but it was worth it as we soon came across Kykura Homestead. We stopped here for about an hour before we made our way back to the main road and headed north.

Kykura Homestead.

 

[Nomad164]

Part 3

From Kykura Homestead we headed north towards Mt Jackson Homestead and along the way we crossed numerous salt lakes and one of these lakes still had remnants of the old wooden roads that they made to cross the salt lakes so that they wouldn't get bogged which back then meant almost certain death due to the weather and lake of water (and still does today).

After crossing the last salt lake, we soon arrived at the Mt Jackson Homestead and back in the day, this old building used to be the Freemason's Lodge when there was a small township of about 40 houses here but once everyone left it became the Homestead for the cattle station (stations are the same as ranches). This Homestead is regularly visited by hardy travellers and has a visitor book for you to sign.

Salt lake and wooden road







Mt Jackson Homestead

 

[Nomad164]

Part 4

From Mt Jackson we decided to start heading back home as the temperature was still in the 40s and even though there was still one Homestead that we wanted to find; however, the temperature was beating us

So we turned south and headed to our second night camp at Eaglestone Rock and we arrived there just after 1700 h (5 pm) and again the flies were very friendly but once the sun went down they left and we had a pleasant night.

The next morning was much cooler - only about 24 degrees and I had to nearly put a jumper on - so we were up and on our way nice and early feeling really refreshed.

Our last stop was at Yorkrakine Rock and this is a spiritually significant site for the Noongar people (one of the indigenous Australian tribes that originate in this area) as it is where their women used to come to give birth and was still used as a birthing site into the 1950s.

From here we made our way home after a great few days away. It was unfortunate that the weather was so hot - in fact it caused great issues with our drones and none of the footage I took with mine worked out because one of the batteries overheated and caused card errors - but I am already planning my trip back there in the cooler months.

I hope you enjoyed my post and images and I welcome any comments or questions.

Karl

Camp night 2 - Eaglestone Rock



Yorkrakine Rock

 

[472HemiGTX]

Very cool landmarks and history. Thanks for sharing .

 

[Nomad164]

I have just put together a video and uploaded to my new YouTube Channel about this trip.

Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and I had some major technical issues:

1. Firstly the sound recording kit didn't arrive in time so there is no commentary,

2. My drone had a major malfunction (I believe due to the heat) and it overheated inside the carry case and wrecked all of my drone footage, and

3. My GoPro Heros (the original) are really too old to get decent footage from.

Also due to the heat I didn't get as much landscape photography done; however, enough of the excuses and I decided to 'adapt, improvise and overcome' and I decided to use the footage recorded on my dash cam instead and used that along with some of the still images and put together a clip. I did it because I need the practice on how to shoot video and to edit it and by doing this I can only get better.

Anyway, if anyone is interested here is a link to my video on YouTube -

Comments welcomed.

Karl

 

[David Morrison]

Great video good music Like you I find heading out to remote areas helps clear my head

 

[Nomad164]

Great video good music Like you I find heading out to remote areas helps clear my head

Thanks for that

Planning a couple of trips now, one to the Karra Rangelands (about 5 hours north east of Perth) and the Yilgarn (about 5 hours to the east of Perth) and hope to do some more videos of each trip.

Karl

 

[USStrongman]

FIrst photos had me scratching my head. Temps in the 30's and 40's, I would think flying reatures would be an issue on an open cot overnight. Seeing the ARB setup on day 3 made sense. Great photos.

 

[Nomad164]

FIrst photos had me scratching my head. Temps in the 30's and 40's, I would think flying reatures would be an issue on an open cot overnight. Seeing the ARB setup on day 3 made sense. Great photos.

Thanks - I had a mozzie coil going on the first night which worked well to keep all of the bugs etc away but not the cows that walked through the campsite about 4 am heading to the dam

Karl

 

[oneleglance]

Very nice writeup....wow camping in those temp!
I live in the Arizona desert and we see 40's here but it is an excuse to head to higher ground. Having been to WA I know that isn't much of an option for you :)
Thanks for posting and keep the reports coming

 

[Nomad164]

Very nice writeup....wow camping in those temp!
I live in the Arizona desert and we see 40's here but it is an excuse to head to higher ground. Having been to WA I know that isn't much of an option for you :)
Thanks for posting and keep the reports coming

Thanks for that - I guess we are all a bit mad at times

Karl