Through the Pilbara

Been physically threatened and verbally assaulted off our farm job was a definite first for both of us. 

We were a little scared, rushed off the property, threatened of no payment, and slightly worried about our well being we assertively decided to get the hell out of Broome. We had no idea whether these threats we real or just tough talk. We didn’t want to hang around to find out and when you’re in a town in the middle of nowhere and where everyone knows everyone things could happen.   Another issue we had were some flight itineraries that were left on the fridge at the farm. Assuming the worst we considered that that son might become revengeful and possibly cancel or change our flights. He had our names, date of birth, address, and flight details; technically nothing was there to stop him. So before we left we cancelled our flight to Perth from Broome and confirmed that our flights could not be cancelled without Identification. It may seem over protective now but during the whole event it seemed like anything could be possible.

Eerie morning heading out of Broome

We finally left the beautiful town of Broome now forever remembered as ‘that town’ heading south leaving our problems behind us. So what we thought... We got into Port Hedland to meet up with our good friends Emily and John (john was unfortunately absent with work), and to check out the local area but leaving the car outside our friends place for no longer than 20minutes someone had engaged one of the 4WD hubs. Unaware of what happened we drove off and soon heard metal grinding and lack of control on the front right side. We were so worried especially when we checked out the front wheel which felt like it was just going to fall off and even more so when the 4WD hub was almost smoking hot. It costed us $490 for that little stunt; $145 an hour for labour and a new wheel bearing. At the end of the day, a simple wheel bearing is nothing compared to a new front differential. What a few days ... luckily for us, things didn’t happen in threes.  We were blessed that this happened at Hedland with the comfort of friends and with a lovely place to stay and recover. So in this blog, Dave and I would like to thank our lovely friends again for their help and the cooled, relaxed manner towards us hanging out at their place while we waited for our car. It made the whole experience so much better knowing that we had friends there to help us out.

Pilbara landscape

Travelling throughout WA, there is a lot of driving in between towns which both of us had underestimated when looking at the trusty HEMA map. Quickly viewing the maps we overlooked the distant markers; the 400 km of nothing didn’t quite sink in when it’s just a little number on the page. Until we compared it to the east coast did we final realise how far we had to drive to get anywhere.  Sometimes the most interesting thing is just the local servo station which in most cases I couldn’t pronounce its true name. We almost ended up tasting every isolated servo pie along the western coast along side with many other tourists and more commonly very interesting truckies. 

I was also spoiled with seasonal wildflowers along the road side which always made for something very pretty to look at.

Wildflower season

For anyone that has seen Red Dog at the cinemas this may trig your memory. We made a definite side stop to Dampier to see the legendary statue of Red Dog. It seemed to hit home for us knowing that we’ve been travelling in his footsteps.

The plaque read:

“The stories this old dog could tell

If only he could say

Would add a page in history

For ever and a day

But still he’ll be remembered

By those who knew his way

The Red Dog of the Pilbara

From the north of W.A.”

We just wanted to wave hello
Some free campsite one the west coast Pilbara

Dave shoves job up Boss's arse

How many times have you ever wanted to confront your boss face to face and shove your job up his arse and leave him to pick up the pieces?  

The farm was to us both one of the best places to work in our whole entire lives and memories will last with us for a lifetime, but on the other side of the flip coin it was also the worst place to work.  When we employed by the owner of we were made aware of all the people we would be working with including his son Jack. This all seemed good to us and after the first week on station we had our own opinion of their son for example when  he was out in sun for more than five minutes he needed a sleep for at least 2hrs on the couch while everyone else did his work. Though after few more weeks on the station the real side of jack started to come out while doing cattle work; we now understood why the last station caretakers said the other son Lachlan was the nicest kid and knew how to run a cattle station unlike Jack who thought it was in the animals wellbeing they be stuck in a cattle yard for at least 72hrs with only water and no feed was ok? And then wondered why they’d collapse from starvation when they walked out of the yard.

To the story though, because it was Grand final day for the NRL I decided to wake up early this day and do my eight hours of work before the footy started, which by way I wasn’t required to do because it was Sunday which is one of the two days of work we were meant to have off. The game started at 2pm WA time, so I had all my jobs done by 1pm. Then at 1pm Jack turned up announced and wanted to start a Grader which was obviously fucked. That was cool but I explained that I had no food all day or water and was going in at 2pm to watch the footy for 2hrs while having my lunch. He said he understood, hmmm sure he did. Firstly Jack thought he could pull start a huge Grader weighing over 5 tonne with a landcruiser Ute. Funny when the landcruiser didn’t even move a inch and got bogged in the road cause the wheels were spinning so much. But Jack continued with the semi-truck and me driving the grader when he figured plan 1 wasn’t working. Again Jack’s intelligence shone through when he continued to pull the grader when the steering wheel had locked and I told him to stop which inevitably put the grader straight into a fence. But we continued with the clock counting down to kick off, when we went past the house to go down driveway I told Jess to follow in the Ute with lunch, luckily she did. After continual stopping on driveway cause the grader wouldn’t start I gave some advice on what to do to fix the problem but Jack wouldn’t listen to anyone like he always did whilst on the farm. Then when got to 1:50 I told him I’d be going to watch the footy, but he just ignored me and kept going. Then at 2pm I told him I was going to watch footy and straight after footy I would come back and continue; this is when the fun started. He said “fuck you’re footy”, I said “no”. I explained that I had told him and his dad which they agreed to that we would not be working for these 2hrs of the GF. That’s when Jack can back with a metre steel pole charging at me yelling, “You’re going to Fucken work when I tell you to fucken work”. I said “excuse me” while standing my ground, he said “get in fucken truck and do what I say”. We then continued to exchange pleasantries, and then I made the remark what “you need a pole to fight me, because you can’t fight like a man?” At this stage Jess was standing between us toe to toe. Then I said “Fuck it, shove your station up your arse, we don’t work under threats” – that’s when we got in the Ute to go back and get our stuff. When we got back I had a made phone call to Todd about what happened and he couldn’t care less about us or Jack (says alot about how much he cares about his staff and station). When we got back to station we packed up all our gear from all over house in about ten minutes while I kept arguing with Jack, to top it off Jack came over to grab the ute I used for work which had my phone attached inside and Jack drove off with me hanging through the window trying to get my phone off the windscreen.  Eventually we drove off the property while fat boy was still trying to catch up and sulking in his couch. 

Road out

Good bye cattle station, thank you for the wonderful memories and hopefully in future you’ll see Jack on next series of Biggest loser if they can fit him in the camera shot. Thank you to Jess for her full support during this, I know she wasn’t happy with the way Jack treated her as well with not even a single thank you said to her once by Jack even though she cooked him tea, fed his horses, open gates all things she wasn’t required to do. But the minute I made the decision to walk off she fully supported my decision right to this day, but I do know she simply misses her animals and especially her dog Bella and I Zoe. I love you Jess.

Cattle Work

Personal Liability and Occupation Health and Safety were certainly a big player in the other half of the job description. 

Think of hot sweaty days, hot red sand throughout the air, and really pissed off cows. Cattle yard work came to us as a bit of a surprise for both of us. My first introduction was to move these cows/bulls from one yard into another which when said like that didn’t seem so hard but once we were in surrounded by 7ft metal fences and nothing but air between a 1 tonne bull and us, adrenaline kicked in. Within a few minutes I was eyed off by a few cows but I didn’t think any of it until I see one of the aboriginal guys up in the tree yelling at me to move. Move to where? I had a very pissed off cow with horns running head down right towards me. I was in the middle of the yard and Michael was already occupying the safety tree. So I did the only thing I could; I ran 360 around that tree with that cow following! That cow was so determined to make contact I was shitting myself while the others laughed. These cows have thousands of acres to wander with no contact with humans until one week in the year. After that event I dusted myself off and continued on always eyeing off the safety tree. Soon I heard the “oh shit!” from Dave off in the back corner. Turning around, I seeing Dave jump that 7ft fence with a single bound with a very angry white Bull chasing after him. Later on, I again see Dave hanging onto that fence kicking away this cow that just wouldn’t let up until Dave fell off.  He was truly hanging on for his life as this heifer was head down horns up literally attacking Dave. We distracted that cow with a few tree branches which meant she now turned on us. Running and jumping time until she caught up with the mob.  This was the first of many more hours to come.

Examine Exhibit A - Look out!

The cows were purposely yarded up for drafting then sale. From one large pen into a smaller pen is the whole concept to eventually push them through the draft and separate the Cows from the Wieners.  The aboriginal guys we had certainly knew what they were doing plus the fact they had balls. Jumping in behind them to push them along...you wouldn’t see anyone sane to do that.  

Some of the cattle we had to deal with...

Things got pretty interesting when we had the last few bulls to push through as they seemed pretty engaged with each other. So like any cattle farmer, he decided to use the Landcruiser Ute to help things along. With a rope around its horns, a chain connected to that, then locked onto the Ute we manually pulled this Bull through the draft. These bulls were the size of large car with horns that were as thick as your arm and had an attitude like no other which made things fun when ear tagging and marking.  

Big as a car

Man oh man we had some fun. Most days we came back with our faces fully painted with red dirt, torn clothes in our attempt to jump the fences, and random bruises from the rough work which was worth the effort when we came home to our pool and cold beers.

Dave certainly learnt a whole lot more. Going out on Bore runs did require decent knowledge and concentration. These water pumps are out on rough roads hundreds of km from the homestead which needed daily attention. Dave had to deal with bogging sand, spring high tides, and generally the long distance between them all. Filling the generators, fixing and servicing them, repairing pipes are just some of the thing he had to do. Seeing Dave also driving the Tractors and graders around the homestead certainly made me sit up straight knowing that he enjoyed what he was doing and learning some decent skills.

No Longer Unemployed - Managers

So I’m sure we all want to know what job we have in line. Paying very well, basic hours, and the luxury of onsite accommodation; Dave and I were keen on becoming Cattle Station Manager/Caretakers.

We called up the next morning and organised to have coffee with the owner; nothing like a free coffee after our banging heads from the night before. So after some chit chat and coffee the owner was pleased to have us working the next day and with that easy agreement we were now no longer unemployed. He suggested that we come over to his (very lucrative) seafood factory where we were given today’s caught barramundi, calamari, prawns and random other filets of fish along with $300 cash for groceries.  OMG, we were in heaven. Fresh fish for dinner plus $300 for other food and meat; to us this was unbelievable especially when our budget is so tight, but to him...I could only see yellow and green notes coming from his pockets. Generous and trusting person when he gives random strangers money and keys to his cattle station.

The keys allowed us access to the Homestead and our very own quarters. It was a shock to see how green and luscious the area around the homestead was after travelling through red dust and minimal greenery. Here, the station had unlimited fresh drinkable bore water straight from the ground which explained the extensive water systems and a blasé attitude towards saving water. 

Our job was to look after the homestead, the garden, bore runs for the cattle, and all the animals around the house. Dave took ownership of the bore runs which was fine by me because that left me with the caretaking of the animals. I had horses, cows, chickens, dogs, ducks, ducklings, and potty calves.

The homestead was divided into 2 purposely designed to withstand cyclones which was an assuring and daunting feeling at the same time. There we massive gum tress around the house along with banana, pawpaw, lemon, citrus, mango trees, a collection of berry bushes, palm trees with coconuts, and plants off all variety in full bloom. It was an amazing place to work especially during the heat of the day when you could fall asleep under the shade of a gum tree then take a dip in the pool.

So this was our workplace. We spent most of our time keeping up with the gardening, mowing the lawns, dealing with sprinklers, fixing anything we could get our hands on including a BBQ, chainsaw, quad bike, the leaf blower etc, and generally just looking after the place. We loved our jobs.

Introduction to the family:

Maverick decided to look very cute in this photo only because he probably
wanted some milk. Maverick hands down was the easiest calf to drink out
of the bottle. Therefore...my favourite.

Maverick (brown male) first potty calf about week old and
Milkybar (female) who was extremely sick when we first picked her up.
Now both are doing very well...little fatties.

My 3rd potty calf, chocalatte.

The amazingly tame Sunrise who has made the homestead her
permanent home. She especially enjoys little treats like pawpaws, banana leaves,
and fallen mangos.  

Little video just showing my potty calves. 

Maverick and Milkybar get let our for a few hours which they loved. They fashionably showed off
how energetic and healthy they were by running around, jumping, and kicking like the little kids they are.

All the horses around the homestead

The dogs at the Homestead became our best friends. Below, the Doberman was an absolute nut case. Running and barking at anything that moved had no obedience training what so ever. It took me 4 weeks to get her under control.  By the end she learnt all the basic commands and didn't chase the cows or horses into a frenzy. I loved her. 

Bella

Zoe was Dave's dog. She loved going on bore runs and 'shot-gunning' the front seat in the ute.

Zoe (blue healer)

I had to look after some ducklings. Here I think their only a few days old. I built them a separate
pen because the chickens and maverick were giving them a hard time. Very well behaved ducks.

I'll do another blog showing the cattle/yard work.

Coastal View - The sunny side of Broome

Arriving into civil Derby after 600km of ruggered dusty and notoriously known corrugated Gibb River Road we finally realised that we loved and cherished the tarred road. We so dearly missed the luxury of smooth driving and not worrying that the dashboard would permantely remove itself from the car. When we started the Gibb my mentality was just to complete the road but it slowly changed to a clique saying “it was the journey not the destination” that made it one of the most exciting adventures I’ve had. Dave is just happy about his made driving skillz. I’d describe Derby as just a simple town mostly accommodating the desperate tourists coming off the Gibb in need of a decent shower, fish and chips, and basic mechanical repairs. Thankfully we needed all of these necessities. Derby was a one night place especially knowing that the famous coastal town of Broome was only a few hours away. I’d been looking forward to seeing Broome ever since we left for this trip. Hearing about the crystal clear waters, the sandy white beaches, and the aura of Broome just drew us towards this North West part of the state along with thousands of other tourists. We now had become the typical travelling nomad. I had no problem with that classification when Broome shows off in good fashion everything you’d expected in a bustling tourist town. 

The beautiful Cable Beach

I’d compare Broome to Cairns; I know full well that I haven’t actually been to Cairns but what is expected out of Cairns you can expect out of Broome. Think of palm trees throughout the town, boutique stores offering everything beach and surf like, jewellery stores showing off all their local produced pearls, and that feeling of just being laid back walking around in swimmers and thongs.

We hanged around Broome for a week or so checking out the local fishing spots, laying on the beach, swimming every hour, and enjoyed our last few days with Tim and Nat before we moved on on our own ways. 

Dave and I truly enjoyed our time with Tim and Nat certainly appreciating their help and generally knowing that if anything bad happened we were there with someone. Nat and I agreed that when we had our downs likes the time they got bogged near Gibb River and when we did our brake line having the other couple their made the whole experience a laughing matter.

 The last night in Brome we all celebrated with a few drinks at the pub. Though, I wouldn’t really call the ‘nightlife’ a ‘full nightlife’. We had a band rocking away through the night till about 11pm which then they packed up and left expecting DJ music to take over; nothing eventuated. Around 11.30pm some of the main interior light came on which we purposely ignored hoping it wasn’t what we thinking. But then we hear a few moments later “last drinks”. Looking at each other dazed we knew we’d just heard the end of our night. And yep, 12am came and so did the garage doors closing off the bar. Bitter disappointed after being on a massive high and that all ending just after bed time. We did however get something very worth our while on the way back to the caravan park. A notice board highlighted our attention when it boasted plenty of work available within Broome. Searching through the crap with our beer goggles on we found an amazing job not far from Broome that was just up our ally. You’ll have to read the next blog to find out....haha

Camels walking down to Cable Beach. However, look what I've also captured in the photo. (hint: the bike)
good stack.

Weren't quite game enough

Bush Mechanics on the Gibb

So continuing on the Gibb River Road:

Every side track had something special to offer but today this particular 4WD track off to Adcock Gorge gave us some grief. So we had a very issuing angle requiring Low4 and a very high margin for error; our case, tipping the troopy. We got up and over after some fowl language and waving of the arms but found with the use of our brakes the warning brake light came up on the dash. Up went the bonnet and our heart rate and found the brake fluid reservoir was completely empty, so assumed that we had broken a brake line somewhere Dave got under the car and spotted all the spitting fluid. Hmm, we thought, well honestly I was a bit pissed off and worried, not quite as simple as an ‘hmm’. The next major town was the little aboriginal community of Imintji which is the only town on the Gibb River that does mechanical work and thanking our lucky stars it was only 40km away. With no brakes and only gears to rely on, it was Tim and Nat’s time to shine. The CB radio paid for its self in this isolated piece of country with constant communication with Tim and Nat giving us the heads up on steep descents and the level of water through plenty of deep river crossings. It was a nervous drive but we knew the troppy could handle the small alteration. We rocked up to the local mechanic at Imintji about 2 hours later expecting ‘dodgeville’ but surprisingly met a very helpful mechanic offering a cheap fix up (crimp the brake line - $25) that would allow us to finish the Gibb, comfy waiting area with the AFL playing, and generally a happy and informative environment. He would have been the most polite and full of energy mechanic I’ve ever met which was a pleasant surprise when you’re on one of the most remote and rugged roads in Australia. He would have a very lucrative business; within 15 minutes of being there, 3 people turned up wanting tyre patches. You could tell that was his main business suggested by the thousands of tyres lying all around the workshop. So far so good, no tyres busted yet for our convoy.

We were so glad to find out that we could continue on our Gibb River Road adventure with only 3 brakes working. If things got that bad we could have limped to Derby but then would have missed out on the some of the major attractions.

Bells gorge was just north of Imintiji community which is one of the most popular gorges along the Gibb. About a 40km rough as guts track got us there and an average to hard walking track got us to the gorge. As expected the water was bloody freezing but was counteracted by our awesome blow up rafting board; that what we call ‘winning’.

Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek were the last gorges on our list to do. Another 50km rough as guts track off the Gibb which we were glad to see the last off, got us to some off the most amazing landscape I’ve ever seen. 

Windjana Gorge is one of those places essential to experience the Kimberley region; it’s on every itinerary bourcher, every tourism advertisement, and apart of every guided tour. The Gorge is a little oasis in the middle of nowhere boasting almost rainforest like environment, an abundant of wildlife, and steady water during the dry.

This was a close Dave wanted to go

any one for the Beach in the middle of the Kimberley?

Nat and I

Good pointing there Tim

Tunnel Creek though was something spectacular; something that exceeded all expectation. From the beginning we heard of this wonderful place from other travellers and knew it was something we needed to see. Knowing we needed headlights and sturdy footwear and the fact that we were going to get wet sounded like a good combination. 

It was about a kilometre walk through the whole tunnel with majority of it complete darkness all the while trolling around through metre deep water trying to find the direct line to the end.

Tunnel creek would definitely be in my top 5 walks along with Kings Canyon, Ayres Rock, Cradle Mountain, and South East Cape.

Can you see the dim headlight? That me.

Which direction?

So after 600kms of rugged roads, sharp river rocks, and all the creek crossings we leave the Gibb River with only damage to one brake line. EPIC WIN!

Trouble on the Road

So it’s been awhile since my last update. There is a valid reason which I will be explaining on the blogs to come so you’ll just have to wait and read.

So continuing on the Gibb River Road:

After HVS, not far down the road we discovered something heart renching; something way to close to home. In the distant we saw an outline of a troppy but with one problem; it was on its roof. Quickly pulling over, it was a moment where you hold your stomach and hoping no one was inside. Seeing tin food, chip packets, clothes lying everywhere around the car we hoped for the best. Knowing it only just happened we were cautious to approach and thankfully found a big letter stating “we are ok, at Derby Hospital”. A few minutes later a caravan pulled up which heard about the incident. Apparently 5 people were travelling together, took the corner to fast and rolled the car which thankfully no one was killed. Seeing the troopy roof completely caved in and trying to comprehend how the driver and passenger got out alive when there only seemed to be centimetres to spare is a scary feeling. 

Clear example of foreign drivers and troopcarriers; not knowing how bloody top heavy these things are and the simple concept of over correcting.  The more we wondered around the car the more detail we found. Blood in the drivers cab, a 37^th birthday card addressed to Ben wishing him the best on his Australia trip with his wife from his mother, a little personal items throughout the cab. It was a slap in the face to slow down and take things easy.

Just sit and think about it

....

On a better note, we drove off slower than we started heading towards Mt Barnet Roadhouse which is pretty much the half way mark. We heard about Manning gorge which apparently is a definite on anyone’s gorge list. Ferrying our gear over a river in a polystyrene box and rock climbing for a few hours made a rewarding finish. We’d brought along snorkel gear and amazingly in the freezing fresh water there was an abundance of marine life; definite plate size but no fishing allowed damn it. Following waterfalls and inviting plunge pools made for another relaxing afternoon.

Workin' the snorkel gear..pffft

Along the track:

-Galvan’s Gorge

- Creek Crossings (plenty)

-Road Trains (plenty of these too)

Good reason to stop

We’re not gorged out yet.