Nanna Anne and the Little Nannas have travelled from a farm site in western NSW through Queensland, across the NT to the Kimberly in WA and south to Karratha.
Central Queensland
The travelling Nannas have visited some beautiful places, many threatened with mining, as well as established mining towns. They are travelling in a 2WD VW camper van. Here’s a peak at Nanna Anne’s diary:
9 June: After crossing the NSW-Queensland border, the first stop was at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary near Cunnamulla on the traditional lands of the Kunja people. The campsite is well set up and there are lots of 2WD tracks through different habitats — mulga, box, grasslands — so, a huge variety of birds. My favourites were the black-breasted buzzards, chestnut-crowned babblers and the zebra finches. I loved the 5:30pm bird call each day when we went through the bird list to record the numbers of sightings that day. What a highlight! The ideal stay is three nights but I only stayed two, as rain was coming and I didn’t want to get bogged on the unsealed road into the Sanctuary.
10 June: I admit to having held a view of Queensland country towns that wasn’t flattering. I am pleased to say that both Charleville and Cunnamulla have changed that view. I love it when my stereotypes are smashed!
15 June: Tomorrow, I will hit 3,000km since leaving home, and I’m only in Central Queensland! What a huge country we live in! I am loving it — the changing environments, the people and their stories, the birds, the walks, the sunsets, the skies, ‘Pootles’ my best mate (my van), even the navel gazing — reflecting on the many different ways there are to live this one life we have.
Northern Territory (NT)
19 June: I had gotten into a pattern of driving from A to B to C to D, so booked two nights at Banka Banka West Station and Tourist Park near Tennant Creek. Stopping for an extra night when I think I shouldn’t, is the best tonic.
This morning, after all the vans had left — I counted 50 last night and only four are staying for tonight — I headed off on what looked like a boring trudge on a track to the waterhole. First thing I noticed was all the flowering yellow plants were acacia, and I counted seven different types. And then, I noticed all the bugs ON the acacias, and then I noticed all the different flowers — there were two different sorts of sundew, too and even fringe lilies… and the beautiful red grevilleas. It felt so good to stop and smell… the acacias.
20 June: I nearly missed the sign to Beetaloo. I drove down the very corrugated road — obviously lots of trucks use it. I didn’t go far but I saw a work shed hidden in the trees and some machinery. The road was so bad, it wasn’t worth going any further.
Beetaloo is where several gas companies want to extract gas from shale by fracking. A pipeline is proposed to transport the gas to the east coast network. NT communities are fighting against fracking the NT, as it threatens water security, cultural sites and climate. Knitting Nannas support these communities when they can. Frack Free NT
22 June: I’ve arrived — 4,500km from home! This is what I drove all this way for. It all starts for me at the Victoria Road House — and Judbarra / Gregory National Park. This morning, I did two fabulous walks — a climb to the top of the red escarpment and then a circuit walk along the base of the escarpment. And, the secret tonic — no one else, just me, a mere speck amongst millions-and-millions-of-years-old rocks.
Western Australia (WA)
23 June: As I entered Western Australia — with no fresh food due to strict border control — I clocked 5,000km since leaving home. In the Kimberley there is nothing about the geology or vegetation that I am familiar with. Love that!
27 June: Parry Lagoons, Wyndam, northwest of Kununurra, is a must-visit if you are coming this way. Every corrugation was worth it. I even went back for a second look. I saw 45 different bird species over two visits of two hours. Also saw a big salty swimming along very slowly. The caravan park in Wyndam is top shelf, too — lovely owner with great local knowledge gives the park a very friendly vibe. There is also a special place to see a variety of finches — Gouldian, Star, Longtail, Double-barred. Excellent!
4 July: Yesterday, I finished canoeing down the Ord River from Lake Argyle wall to Maxwell Camp. This was a five day, four night guided tour by Go Wild, including “gourmet” food, 2-3 hours paddling a day and a walk on the second day. Trips can also be self guided.
5 July: Yesterday I finally got to visit Purnululu — no longer called the Bungle Bungles. I booked a day tour from the entry road off the highway. What a road! And there is 54km of it (1.5-2hrs). I went with and walked on country with Bec, a traditional owner and Gija woman. She welcomed us in with song, shared a creation story, and taught us many cultural things — so good!
The north and south ends of the park are very different. Domes in the south and huge conglomerate walls in the north — all incredibly old and stunningly beautiful. I could hardly grasp the scale of some of it, especially the Cathedral.
6 July: Nannas travel and support environmental protection and First People’s rights across Australia. Rosemary, Traditional Owner of Mimbi Caves, has a message for Gina “Do not take any of the water from the Martuwarra Fitzroy River. We must save it from becoming another Murray Darling.” The Kimberley – like nowhere else
11 July: I’m leaving Broome Bird Observatory after four nights. What a wonderful place — a sanctuary amidst the noise that is Broome. Saw over 70 bird species and loved the red sands, the huge skies of the plains and the staff. Last night, the wardens did a fabulous astronomy talk and show with a little telescope. I even met up with someone I went to Lismore College with 42 years ago — so good! I could stay here forever.
At the Broome markets, Wendy, from Environs Kimberley, explained the need for all Australians to be involved in their two major campaigns — stop fracking the Kimberley close to the Fitzroy River and stop Woodside destroying Scott Reef. “We can’t do it without support from the east, so please help by taking action.”, Wendy said.
The Little Nannas were gungho in showing their support. “Come on Murray, protect Scott Reef”, said Little Nanne Nola, and “No more fracking!”, shouted Eartha. “Yeah!”, said Nanna Michelle.
14 July: I am at Barn Hill Station. The surprise bonus is that it is home to Rex and Alfie from Muster Dogs ABC Series 4. Alfie, now two, is still very much the enthusiastic pup. Rex and all of his six dogs put on a demo, which was excellent. The cattle, six-month-old weaners, were very quiet thanks to Rex’s training. The weaners had only been in training for a week. Rex said his mentor — Joanie (Muster Dogs Series 2) — is the wizard of training weaners. I so loved this session, and am in awe of their well trained dogs, weaners and horses. [Nanna Anne grew up on a farm with working dogs and cattle.]
I’m also loving swimming in the Indian Ocean, birdwatching, beer and sunsets and the general quirkiness of the place — bowls, outdoor showers and toilets, etc.
18 July: Yesterday, I ventured deep into mining country! It came on me relatively quickly. The first hint was the small powerlines along the side of the road, the random red rock formations, and then the glimpses of gouged-out hills, huge, 60m trucks joining the traffic flow and then there, ahead, the full messy skyline that is Port Headland — the biggest export port of iron ore in Australia.
I watched an interesting video at the Visitors Centre about the history of the port — a huge undertaking. Construction started in 1962, with the first shipment of iron ore leaving the port in 1968.
I was surprised to see how run down the town appeared — empty shops with a skin of red dust. I thought with all this wealth the town would look shiny and vibrant, but from my very quick visit, it certainly didn’t feel that way.
Port Headland is a collection of huge roadways, massive warehouses, looooong freight trains — one takes 256 cars at a time — all covered in a film of red dust. No pretty pictures here.
21 July: Karijini National Park — what a wonderful place! It was so nice to share this beautiful place with friends from home.
28 July: I have been on a Rio Tinto iron ore trail — not an official one. I started by doing the mine tour at the original Australian mine at Tom Price. Tom Price has very few fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers, apart from various maintenance crews. Most workers live in the town of Tom Price where fifty percent of the population are children.
Everything about this mining business is BIG… huuuge… enormous — the machinery, the tyres, the transport (trains and trucks), the holes in the ground, the infrastructure, the money. For example, trains with 240 carts — 110 metric tonne/cart, $100/tonne, 4-6 of these trains a day. You can do the math.
I followed the train line to Karratha via Millstream Chichester National Park on the Rio Tinto private road — needed a permit — easy.
Rio exports its ore from Dampier. Each ship takes between 130,000 and 235,000 tonnes. In 2024, 1,409 vessels left Dampier. In May this year, Rio shipped its 8 billionth tonne of iron ore from the Pilbara. Yep, the holes are REALLY BIG.
Big machines are expensive — e.g. $5 million for one of the big trucks, $7,500 for one tyre. But the profits are big too, even if we didn’t subsidise their massive fuel costs. Our guide told us that those big trucks use twenty litres of diesel per kilometre.
Australia has jumped off the sheep’s back and into the digger!
(Facts here are quoted from either our tour guide or from a Google search of Rio.)
29 July: Nanna Anne and Little Nannas Eartha, Nola and Michelle paid a visit to Murujuga National Park on the Burrup Peninsula at Karratha, to walk the Nganjarli Trail and see the amazing petroglyphs (rock carvings), some estimated to be 45,000-years old. Little Nannas bowed their heads and asked for a miracle to save this amazing place from the industrial invasion that is Woodside’s huuuge gas plant and a new big fertiliser plant less than a kilometre away.
They then visited the North West Shelf Visitor Information Centre where Little Nanna Nola just refused to look. “I just can’t”, she said, “it makes me sad that we can be so disrespectful of this place where TRUE treasures exist.”
I was shocked to learn that this huge plant supplies less than 20% of WA’s gas, and exports the rest, when all through the building, it pushes it’s big contribution to local energy supply.
30 July: I’ve now driven 9000km. Driving is never boring, even though distances are great. I am often amazed by how the landscape can change so quickly — from no trees, and then over a hill there’s a forest. Or, from a sandy plain, rocky or flat-top hills will appear. I love it — all the different textures and striking earthy colours.
And now flower season is blooming lovely too! So many new ones. And beetles and dragonflies and gorges and palms, and the list goes on!
To be continued…