Moreton Station to Wiepa

Once again our day started early from Morton Telegraph Sataion.  Our accommodation there had been very very basic.  The toilets and showers were away from our tents and our dinnter had been cooked on a camp fire.  Like most meals cooked in a camp oven it was delicious.  Our beds were comfortable and our hosts very down to earth friendly people full of local knowledge.
Morton Telegraph Station is on the banks of the Wenlock river and during the wet season the water can lap the floors of the very high set house.  The only transport during the wet is by boat.  They told us that crocodiles had been seen in the river on occasions but only the fresh water variety.  It is the salt water crocodile that are dangerous.

Our camp was quite close to the river and was very basic.  The toilets and showers were built a short walk from the camp and our dinner that night was cooked on a camp fire in a camp oven.  This really was our best outback Australia experience.
Moreton Staion was formerly a station on the overland telegraph line but now it is a camp and people stop there to fish and picnic.
The journey to Wiepa was one of our shortest days and the landscape now had chamged to fairly open plainlands.  But like anywhere in the remotest areas there is always something to see.

Our guide took us on a small detour off the beaten track to show us the very unusual Kennedy palm tree  This tree flowers once in it's life then it drops it's seed and dies.  The seed then grows and so the cycle continues.
The Kennedy Palm is the tall one in the photo.
We arrived in Wiepa in time for lunch and after lunch we were taken on a tour of the Bauxite mine.  It is a huge project and many of the enormous trucks used to transport the bauxite within the mine are driven by women.  They work 12 hour shifts and the trucks are air conditioned and automatic so it can get very boring.  To stop the drivers from going to sleep while they are driving the Trucks  have an alarm installed that goes off every 10 minutes.  They are also in constant contact with a base office.
Wiepa is situated on the Gulph of Carpenteria and the area was developed by Comalco as a mining town in  the 1962's and is now the worlds largest bauxite mine.
My biggest regret about my visit to Wiepa was that I didn't get a chance to take any photos because my camera batteries were flat.  If you ever travel in remote areas of Australia make sure you take plenty of batteries with you.

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