Hello Goodbye...

We are moving on from Cheela Plains this morning after a wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating four nights. We spent an energetic afternoon exploring the station's gorges and another not so strenuous afternoon collecting rocks from the Beasley River free camp. Mostly we have basked in the Pilbara atmosphere - warm days, cool nights, an international gathering around each nightly communal fire, a horizon that goes on forever, the ever-amusing antics of the cattle, the constant background chirping of the myriad of birds and an occasional four-legged visitor of a different type.

Yesterday, whilst standing outside and minding my own business, a neighbourly perentie strolled into the vicinity. A tad dusty in the Pilbara way, but still with beautiful markings and impressive claws, he loped his way across the camping ground and the road and round the bay for a bit of a bob before he mosied on up to a water bowl outside the cafe.  Finding that aperitif not quite to his liking, he moved on purposely to a second water bowl in the shade.

Here was a totally wild creature at ease with these two-legged fellow residents. He was mesmerising to watch and I never get tired of these utterly unexpected encounters.

Last night was a true United Nations around the fire pit. Maurice, ex- Kiwi camp host and chef extraordinaire cooked up some excellent hamburgers. Les and Louise, from the dangerous ganglands of Melbourne (!), were assisting. Fearless leader and former Yank, Robin dropped in to join us all and hear our stories. There were the ubiquitous Australians, such as ourselves, plus German, French, and  Swiss nationalities all represented. I believe Michael may have even converted a Swiss chap, also named Michael, to Australian vino.

And so, we are preparing to leave. In our slight sadness at leaving Cheela Plains, we are moving onto another station stay, this time at Emu Creek, familiar to us from our last trip. Then we hope to reacquaint ourselves with the Kennedy Ranges before returning to the humungous civilisation outpost of Gascoyne Junction.

Thus, possibly thankfully, we will be incommunicado for at least the next four days, due to a lack of anything resembling mobile or cyberspace!

Stay tuned...