Easter Camping Trip--Day 5--Homeward Bound

This is a bit of a mistake on my part.  The first two pictures here are of the shearing shed at White Cliffs and should have been on my day 4 blog.  This first photo shows the mechanism that ran the power shears.  I'm not too sure about how it works and mechanics is not my forte but I think a motor runs a belt that turns the central rod.  I think a series of differentials turns that movement into the back and forth motion of the blades of the shears.

The sheep holding pens are still intact.  This is a pretty big shed.  Sad that the days of its use are past.

We headed back to Laverton to get fuel and water.  As we drove through town we looked for Sylvia and Desmond but didn't see them.  Unfortunately we found ourselves heading south of town on the road to Mt Weld and Sunrise Dam Mine late in the day when we needed to find a camping spot.  Just north of Mount Weld Station we found a track off the main road that took us off the road and a reasonable camping spot.  It was rocky and we were within sight of the haul road to Granny Smith mine and we were near their landing strip.  Not very inspiring spot for our last night out bush.

We awoke to the sound of crows.  I suspect they were looking for our lamb chop bones leftover from dinner the night before.  The flies were unreal and we were glad to get packed up and on the move.  We stopped at what is left of Mt Weld station homestead.  Rona got a picture of it but I didn't.  Getting past Sunrise Damn was a bit of a twist and turn past their minesite village and looked like we were going to drive right through their air stip but the road turned right and then left past a huge tailing damn.  South of the minesite the road took off straight south through low country that crossed a series of ponds.  I thought we wouldn't be able to get through but their were conveniently placed detours around each of these bodies of water that had submerged the road.  At one we stopped to look at the Shovelers and their ducklings.  Also saw a diamond backed pigeon for the first time.

After crossing the causeway across Lake Carey we came across this rock outcrop.  We pulled over to wait for the others to catch up and I went for a bit of an exploration and took lots of pictures.

Salt Lake in the distance

After everyone caught up and had a walk around and drank morning tea we continued south and stopped in at Mount Celia Station Homestead.  The place is abandoned now.  We found only a slab of concrete where the homestead once stood.  The bunk houses were still standing and you can see them peaking through the trees in the creekling in the photo below.

Carpet Remnant

Someone had left a remembrance wreath made from Bougainvillea flowers under a big old mulga tree

We had a lunch break at the base of these funny little rock hills.

We continued on south through Edjudina Station which is one of the few stations still stocked and being worked profitably in the area.  And then on home.  Phil drove with a heavy foot as he was ready to get back home and sleep in his own bed.  We had a nice break from our usual routine but then it is always good to get back home to a clean house and no flies!!!!