Leaving Meekatharra!

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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 events in Meeka and I think I worked during the best months. We had the Variety Bash weekend where 250+ people spent two weeks travelling around WA in cars dressed up in a chosen theme to raise money for the Variety Club. There was a spider man car, with a huge spider on the roof, a flintstone car, nuns, batman etc. It was an extremely busy night in the bar, but I made a killing in tips and had a load of drinks bought for me during a lock in! We also had a battle of the bands weekend, although I was working and didn't manage to see anything of the festival. Then there were the Meeka Races. This was a long weekend, filled with horse races, rodeos, parades and a ball on the last night. It was a great weekend and I mamanged to see quite a bit and go to the ball.

As some of you know, I did meet someone, Gary, in Meeka and we were together for most of my time in Meeka. We get on really well, he has a great sense of humour and it was good to have someone who could show me things outside of the town during my time off. He gave me a lovely pair of earings made from real Meeka gold nuggets as a leaving present. So My travel plans kept changing a lot during this time, but it was decided that me, Lynsey and a girl from the other pub Hazel, were going to buy a car and camping equipment and travel up the West Coast together. We weren't leaving Meeka until November so there wasn't going to be time to do the West Coast, go to Alice Springs and get to the East Coast for Christmas. Instead, we decided to spend Christmas and New Year in WA.

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Photos

The Outback!
What it looks like around Meeka

Main street in Meeka
Taken from the balcony outside my room

Aboriginal art
Found in a cave near Meeka

Meeka Ball
Some of my friends in Meeka at the Ball

Me, Lynsey and Meacho
Taken at the Ball

Comments

[Jenna]

hi anna, i dont make a habit of contacting complete strangers but i wanted to tell you how nice it was to read that there is still 'spirit' in meeka. i lived there with my family for a few years when i was young and have nothing but fantastic memories of the place and its people. then last year in a moment of whimsy reminiscence combined with plain old curiosity my mum and i decided to take a roadtrip back there. i was so excited to be going back to meeka after so long. the excitement was shortlived. i couldnt believe my eyes. every building had caging over the windows and was surrounded by 6foot fencing and those that didnt had their windows broken. the streets and parks were empty-except of course for a few stragglers lugging half empty cartons over their shoulders (some things havent changed a bit!). even the streets which had once housed the 'well to do' types were desolate. this place that had held so many happy childhood memories now looks like something out of an apocalypse film. i still love the place. i love the colours and the rugged beauty of the land, the funny little surrounding towns and the lonely gravesites scattered around the place. but its not the same. i left the following morning feeling a little empty. i was sad that this tight knit mining town that had once been my home was now the sort of place where you felt like you were putting yourself in danger just by being there. so i was really pleased to see that your adventures there say otherwise. im glad that you and your friends have good memories of the place. thanks for reassuring me theres still life in that place afterall:) happy travels!