Blogs from Meekatharra, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

We were reluctant to leave Malcolm Dam but as we had procrastinated for 5 days we knew it was time! Headed into Leonora and used the dump point and filled up with water. Some mongrel had removed the hoses from both places – very strange behaviour. The drive to Leinster was interesting. We were going through country which was scrubby and very dry, then would come across a small patch of healthy looking eucalyptus for a few hundred metres then back to the sparse country again. As were neared the turn off to Leinster the beautiful white trunked gum trees became more prevalent and then became the dominant species. We went into Leinster itself. It has wonderful plantings of trees and must be a great oasis in the very hot summer months. The roads are in ... read more

WELL--- HERE WE ARE AGAIN--- ARRIVING AT ANOTHER CATTLE STATION ,NOT KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE MIDDLE OF WA !!!!!! YES, WE SAW AN ADVERT FOR “CARETAKERS OF 1000,000 ACRE PROPERTY IN WA FOR 3 MTHS “ AND ARE NOW AT MT V-E-R-N-O-N 350 KM NORTH OF MEEKATHARA.( A BIT LIKE LIVING IN KERIKERI BUT YOU NEAREST TOWN IS AUCKLAND WHICH IS ONLY YHE SIZE OF KAWAKAWA, WITH A DIRT ROAD ALL THE WAY) WE WILL SPEND THE NEXT FEW WEEKS GETTING TO KNOW THE 750 KM OF ROUGH STATION TRACKS THAT SERVICE THE 75 BORES TO WATER THE PROPERTY, WHICH IS 130 KM FROM END TO END. WE ARE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY OUR ACCOMODATION WHICH IS A 1945 STONE HOMESTEAD , ALTHOUGH SPARSELY FURNISHED,IS COMPLETE WITH SWIMMING POOL, GREEN GRASS, AND MODERN KITCHEN. OK ... read more

I know it has been months since my last entry. I will try to get back into the routine of updating my blog! I really fell in love with Meeka during my 4.5 months there. I came across a lot of lovely people and made a lot of friends. I enjoyed my time serving behind the bar and a lot of the locals became good friends and drinking partners after work! Meeka is surrounded by mines and stations so we got a lot of miners, contractors, prospectors looking for gold and station workers passing through. I certainly heard a lot of stories from these guys! Meeka is a small town, but if you interact with the locals and make an effort to socialise, it is a fun place to stay. There are a surprising amount of ... read more

Sorry it's been so long, just been busy working! So I had a great time in Cairns and actually really liked the place. It's on the coast but doesn't have a beach and unfortunately the lagoon was shut for refurbishment and only opened the day we left! Typical! We did a snorkelling trip on the Great Barrier Reef, which was amazing! You could see so much more than in Whitsundays. The colours of the reef and the fish were fantastic. I saw a turtle and we all saw a humpback whale from the boat. Also, at one of the snorkelling sights, there was a massive fish which always comes up to the boat when they get there. His name was Wally and I actually got to touch him. He was as big as a hay bale ... read more