Wednesday 26th June, 2024

We stayed overnight at the Warakurna Roadhouse and got up early (well, slightly before 7.00 a.m.) to get ready to go to see the release of the weather balloon at Giles Weather Station. Stephen was willing to forego breakfast so that we could get here in time for 8.45 a.m. Central Australian Time. Lots of people get the timing wrong because they think the station operates on Western Australian Time. We often get things wrong, of course, but in this case we timed it perfectly. The weather station operator gave us a short talk, then the balloon release happened.

Afterwards we went back to the Sherwood for our normal breakfast, cup of tea for Stephen and coffee for me, with cereal. It was definitely handy to have it here for this purpose rather than walking up from the campsite.

After breakfast we walked over to the Museum. As well as some objects there was a really good film about setting up the weather station, starring the actual staff. It gave a really good insight into the development from a primitive tent camp to a really comfortable place for them to work. The Giles Weather Station is responsible for monitoring the Gulf Stream and provides information for the Eastern States on upcoming weather.

Yesterday, we were really thrilled to have seen the dingos, but as we drove along I commented that we still hadn’t seen any camels. About 10 minutes later, there they were. I stopped the car and got out my camera with the ‘wildlife’ lens, a fairly cheap 24-240mm lens on my 61mp Sony Camera. It’s quite good, but you get a better view with Stephen’s binoculars.

We also stopped to inspect some gnamma holes at a parking spot. The water in them looks surprising fresh and I saw a tadpole in one. The evidence suggests that they are used by lots of animals. One has a ‘spider’ contraption over it which is supposed to stop the animals falling in. Why was only one of the holes covered, given that there were others equally large? One had some large bones next to it, we guessed from a camel.

And then to the Warakurna Roadhouse. It is an Aboriginal community, but without the problems of Warburton it seems. It’s a pity about Warburton, the locals we saw in the roadhouse shop seemed very sweet and shy, especially the two tween girls making the very hard decision about what to spend their $5 on ahead of me in the queue.

It’s also very beautiful, something of an oasis at Warburton.

We like Warakurna as well, again we have trees and views to a range of hills. Our host says that in the four years he has been here there has been no problems with the locals as far as visitors are concerned. As with Warburton the local people are hard to connect with due to shyness, you would have to be here a long time to get to know them.

The young woman working at the Weather Station said that she is doing some community work, I guess because a lot of the weather station is automated and she has lots of free time. However, the balloon launch is still a manual process. All of the weather balloons around the world are launched at the same time and most of them are automated.

We were able to return to our same position at the roadhouse. We did some shopping. The roadhouses have all had a good supply of groceries. We lashed out and bought hamburgers with ‘the lot’, which really filled us up. They were lovely, well worth it.

Yesterday afternoon I did a small load of washing, followed by the rest today. Once you know how things work it feels easier to get things done.

One of the interesting things is that it will probably be far more expensive for everything in Ulara, certainly to stay the night and I suspect for groceries as well. They can’t claim it’s because of remoteness because all of the roadhouses are even more remote, yet don’t overcharge.

The other good thing that happened today is that Matt is going to get a new bed. The therapist had taken him to the showroom and he was lying in the demo bed looking very relaxed and happy. We know this because we saw him in it. We did a FaceTime session to discuss all the pros and cons, they said that Matt really sparked up when we were involved. Of course, being NDIS the actual funding will take ages. He is going to have a King Single bed to give him a bit more room. The sides are soft, but strong, and have a clear section so he can see out.