It’s been so long since putting pen to paper so I thought I would catchup with the following.
So where are we? Still at Nambung Station near Cervantes in Western Australia.
So what have we been doing? Life here is pretty wonderful and every day is different. Some days we play camp hosts and make sure people are having an enjoyable time. This has been enjoyable for so many reasons, but one thing is we have met some incredible people. There have been grandparents with grandchildren, people travelling alone, couples travelling with friends and families just having fun. I (and sometimes Steve) conduct the tours of the farm and this means we get to drive the John Deere Gator around the farm. I have spent time researching the area and have learnt some interesting facts which are fun to use in my tours. The tours are usually conducted when it is fine, but I have been caught in the rain once. It would be so good if the Gator had a windscreen in those conditions. Some nights have been spent chatting around the fire pit and hearing travel stories from others who have seen so much more of Australia than we have. Another thing Steve and I have not done a great deal of, before staying at Nambung, is 5pm happy hour. This has been once again a wonderful time. Other days Steve and I do some helping out round the farm.
What are some of the jobs we have done? I think our favourite one has been moving the stock around the paddocks with the Boschy, the hand that has assisted on the station for some 9 years. Another job we really enjoyed was burning off the weedy grass with Brian the owner, there was so much black black smoke that day. We have also been patching the holes in the fences to prevent particularly the lambs getting outside the fence. Our hardest job was dissembling 650m of fencing that had rusted itself into be being useless. Much of the wire when bent, simply snapped. We both did an enormous amount of cutting of wire and had sore muscles on finishing that job. Steve also has been doing the small jobs to keep the camp ground looking good.
What else have you been up to? About once a week we head off to Jurien Bay for shopping and lunch. There is an excellent country style pie and cake shop there so lunch is usually something purchased from there. We are getting to know the locals and the township has a wonderful country atmosphere to it. Other days (when time permits) we explorer more of Nambung National Park. Nambung Station wraps around the National Park in places and we have now explored across the dunes to the most south easterly corner of the station. On another expedition, we found Fredrick Smith Waterhole, but still have not found Fredrick Smith Well. The well was an important stop on the stock route that once existed in the area. We have also seen many native (and feral) animals, but these have been mostly kangaroo, emu, birds, foxes and rabbits. There was one male emu with 20 small offspring running off to the cover of the brush. One experience which was interesting was walking some kilometres bare foot. Having the requirement to cross Fredrick Smith Creek, I took my shoes off. I think within a few metres I would need them back on due to burrs, but to my delight I was able to walk for kilometres bare footed, this entailed crossing the creek a few more times which was ice cold, fed by recent rains
Another else special happen? Most definitely, Sonia (who runs the Bed and Breakfast here) made us the most awesome roast dinner we have tasted in a very long time. Yum! Also every now and then Sonia spoils us with a homemade cake. Things just seem to taste better here, it is probably Sonia’s touch.
Amesz Man Coach Lives Again
Today we met Shannon and his Man 4×4 Truck (named Trax). First thing that caught my eye was this was an Amesz manufactured vehicle. Shannon tells us that Trax started off life as an Amesz Coach before he rebuilt it to fix his needs over many months. What an amazing job he has done.
Fuel capacity is now 600l as is water. He has engineered a roof rack and body system which ATW (All Terrain Warrior) would be envious of. There is a full size queen bed, bathroom and a huge kitchen as well. There light bar turns night into day which really helps him on his outback adventuring.
The spare tyre rack is special and lowers itself to the ground via winch. There is room for a motor bike and the 20 inch XZL which he specially imported for the vehicle. Each of these tyres are 200KGs and really give Trax a great look. As they are ex military they have the ability to be let down to 10PSI if required. The windows were custom made in Perth by Marine and Mobile Windows and are screened in stainless steel mesh. Trax also has a 100lb gas bottle which can be filled at a service station and can seat up to 7 people with belted seats in the ex coach part.
Nice meeting you Shannon, safe travels.
SLR Adventurer 4×4
Met Johan and Wilanda today, owners of a SLR Adventurer 4×4.
The SLR Adventure is built on an Isuzu NP300 4×4 base, with super single wheels and warn 15,000lb winches front and back.
This bad boy weighs in just under 6.5 tonnes but has many the modern conveniences including an internal fridge freezer, but also an outdoor slide fridge. The Narva LED range has also been heavily utilised in this unit with emergency flood lights on all sides. Johan and Wilanda have just about completed their exploring for a while are headed north. It is obvious their SLR Adventurer is one mean vehicle, but extremely comfortable inside.
Safe Travels and we hope to bump into you both again