We have been watching the weather and trying to time our travels so we don't cop heavy head or side winds. We are not going to get tail winds coming this way. Our destination today was Fraser Range and we reached there by two o'clock after. Stopping for a mug shot doing the washing at the tanks.
Great spot. All the sites appear to be drive through separated by hedges of salt bushes. Lots of the original building are evident; one is the office, the other was the shearers quarters.
There are cabins for hire and lots of caravaners camping the night.
They provide tea ( $25 got us maple sausages, mash and fresh veggies with lemon merengue pie) so we decided to treat ourselves. It was served in a great "shearers kitchen" decorated with farm artefacts (fox traps and water bags) and warmed by a massive homemade oversized potbelly stove. Cosy! It was drizzling rain outside by thus stage. People who arrived after us had got caught up on a short intense thunderstorm with plenty of lightening and rain.
The station itself was first settled in the 1870s and stretches 160 kms long and 25 kms wide along the range. It is surrounded by the largest hard wood Forrest of black butts, salmon gums and gimlets in Dundas Nature Reserve. Originally shepherds would move the flocks of sheep each week up and down the range. The wool was transported by camel to Point Malcom, collected by sailing ships and sold in Adelaide. Nowadays it no longer merino but damara sheep ( meat animals that shed their wool and don't need shearing ) and cattle. On the station granite was previously mined and currently there is gold and nickel mining.
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