10 Jul 10 – Lorna Glen Conservation Park

By Craig: Again and again the least expected takes you by surprise. Lorna Glen Station 180kms east of Wiluna off the Gunbarrel Highway was one of these surprises.

While at the ExplorOz gathering many acquaintances were made, friendships commenced and will continue. We arrived at Lorna Glen station knowing that possibly 2 groups, Evan, Renee and son Lee & Rob and Charles (in the big green rig) were heading in the same direction. All three groups found camp at Lorna Glen and we shared time and conversation around the camp fire. It is amazing how friendships develop while sharing a meal around a camp fire.

On one outing we tracked out with Evan & co to the southern end of the station to see some wells and to head off station to see a large rock hole called Dinner Plate Turtle Pool. Even though the time was short it was great to be tracking in the company of another vehicle, solo travel does get a little lonesome at times.

Although a tad difficult for Sam to understand, camels are a pest in this neck of the woods. As we travelled along the boundary fence we came across several camels that had met their fate with a .308. Camels are considered to be a feral animal and very destructive to the land in general and to infrastructure such as fencing therefore in an area like Lorna Glen Station where a program exists for the reintroduction of many indigenous fauna species, the less camels the better.
I was quite taken by the fact that hot water was available for showers however you had to light a fire under the boiler approximately 20min or so before shower time.







The other thing I enjoyed was the walks, in particular out onto the runway past the customs office and down a long straight.
Of course you took your life in your own hands when walking in this area. Two plovers would carry on like they owned the place and with good reason. They were a couple raising two chicks one of which I stood so close to yet still could not see until almost too late. Apparently mum and dad distract whilst the chick goes to ground and if the distraction doesn’t work mum or dad fly straight at you. I couldn’t tell which it was as I was too busy ducking but I did get a shot off and if you look closely at the picture you can see the plover in full flight coming straight at me.


















On the first day the station manager Bruce came down and introduced himself to us all. Now Bruce has one of the best ‘anything can be achieved’ attitudes I’ve witnessed along with a sturdy but laid back approach and with a casual glance at our trailer, one of Bruce’s first words to me were ‘Axle’s bent’.
Yes I said, suggesting that it had been this way for some time and no matter how much I ignore it, it doesn’t go away. I further added I just haven’t been in a position to do anything about it.
The following day in conversation Bruce decreed he had been thinking about the axel overnight and he couldn’t see us off across the Gunbarrel knowing the axle would only get worse. So that was that. Within minutes the trailer was up on blocks and I was pulling the axle out.
Still not sure if the man’s ability matched his words I was soon put at ease but not before I laid the axle, bare, into a ready made fire. Bruce just simply said ‘when she’s hot we’ll beat it straight with the back of the axe’ and that’s exactly what we did and the axle?


Well it’s straight as a dye with an additional strengthener.
I took the opportunity to upgrade the springs and although delays were experienced with transport the springs, once fitted, complemented the new axle and I was now more than confident weight in the trailer was no longer an issue.

One minor issue was a small mishap that found the trailer attempting to follow me into a pit but we worked through that and all worked out well.
Thanks to Bruce’s old bush fix-it knowledge, forging skills & simple willingness to help out we were ready to take to the track again. During the process Bruce found time to instruct Sam on fire hose handling procedure and invited me along for a couple of hours of road maintenance. The towing of a couple of sections of rail line chained together did seem a tedious way to flatten corrugations but I’m the first to admit as the first vehicle to cruise over the newly worked section of road, it was smooth sailing!

As I said in the beginning, when least expected, things happen and take you by surprise. Well the Lorna Glen experience was a surprise all round. A plan to stay possibly 2 nights ended after 9; the possibility of catching up with likeminded people for a night ended with friends parting ways after several and the trailer, well it never looked so good!



By Lou: Wow, an intended 1 night stay turned into 9! While Craig and Bruce worked on the trailer repairs, Sam and I caught up on school. In between times I enjoyed using the camp kitchen for making bread and biscuits, home treats which are a rarity these days. During the day I caught up on some blog and then handed over to Craig after he’d downed tools in the shed and he spent hours each night also updating the blog. It takes many hours to maintain (the photos are the most time consuming) but it will be a great memento of our trip at the end, and we’ve had great feedback from some of our readers so we will keep rolling the sleeves up.

Initially we were camped in the free camping section and enjoyed the company of fellow ExplorOz members Evan, Renee and Lee together with Charles and Rob.

However, once the camper had to be moved to the workshop we moved into relative luxury. The caretakers call it the bunkhouse but we called it The Lodge because Sam had his own bedroom (which means we had our own bedroom) and it was warm and had power and a full-on kitchen! It became vacant for our use because a team of conservation officers who visit regularly for the feral cat baiting program had just departed for Perth. One particular officer was very generous with his time in showing Sam a bower bird nest undergoing monitoring and lots of photos of mulgara, an endangered marsupial whose population is on the increase thanks to the work undertaken at Lorna Glen. It is also here at Lorna Glen where boodies and burrowing bettongs (aka golden bandicoots) have been translocated from Burrow Island off the coast from Broome due to the ginormous gas plant project being undertaken there.










The caretaker Bruce and his wife Kay, took pity on us and were very kind in making our extended stay comfortable. They shared fresh produce from their excellent self built hothouse and even invited us to a scrumptious homemade pizza and apple pie dinner at their place. It was nice to have their company as much as their assistance and I’ll take away fond memories of our stay there.