Geraldton to Wooleen

It was a four hour drive from Geraldton to Wooleen Station, where we had booked a cottage for 4 nights. The straight roads Geraldton to Mullowa, then Mullowa north towards Murchison were long and boring, but it was a lovely sunny day with clear blue skies. Our lunch spot was at Ballinyoo Bridge, built recently with Royalties for Regions Funding, to replace an older dangerous bridge across the Murchison River.

The gravel road into Wooleen was very well maintained and appeared to have been graded after recent rains. It was the best gravel road I've ever been on and I've seen some shockers up North! One in the Kimberley gave us 2 flat tyres and then we were in a pickle!

Wooleen Station is owned by a young couple, David and Frances, who are trying to regenerate the land which has been badly degraded in the past. They have de-stocked it of cattle and sheep and shot all the wild goats, kangaroos, foxes and feral cats. All of these graze the grass in competition with cattle. To make a cattle station more sustainable, their theory is to allow dingoes to roam the property as they keep the other wild animals at bay. There is a lot more about this on the Wooleen website.

Our cottage is one of two, recently constructed near the main homestead which was built in 1922. The walls are of mud brick and all the doors and some windows have been recycled from elsewhere, as has the kitchen. There is no phone service, no TV and only limited wi fi. The best thing is a roaring log fire and there is plenty of dead wood around to feed it. JL likes to forage for wood at every opportunity, as the nights are very cold. The starry skies are beautiful as there is no light pollution at Wooleen. Flies are a big pest during the day, but disappear when the sun goes down.

View from our balcony at 8.00 am

Lunch spot

Entrance to Wooleen Station 

Our cottage

Better than watching TV