Waggin' Trail: Weeli Wolli Paradise

Hidden by a low ridge of ironstone among huge paperbark and river gum trees is Weeli Wolli Creek, which is paradise. The constantly running water, which is always 26 degrees Celsius (warm bath), comes from a BHP pipeline - aquifer water pumped out from a mine far away, which is let loose into the natural creek area and then returns to the aquifer. It is a vibrantly healthy, peaceful place, full of birds and tiny fish, pools to swim in, and clusters of huge prehistoric palm trees.

Ian had asked the local aboriginal elders for permission to enter the area, and one of the things we had to do before we crossed the creek was to "blow the water". You scoop up a mouthful of the creek water and blow it out, which is a symbolic gesture showing that you come with good intentions to enjoy and belong to the place. The other interesting thing Ian does is an aboriginal ritual required of some places where, if you take anything, you have to leave something behind, for example if you wanted to collect a pretty rock or souvenir, you have to leave some other small object behind; he always carries shells from Carnarvon for this, so we put a shell in the creek each ("just in case"). Once we had performed the water blowing ritual and taken a moment to silently extend our well wishes to the creek spirits, we revved up the 4WD and dug those big-ass chunkalunk tyres into the creek bed, churning our way through the pristine wilderness with the CD player up loud. "Bobby McGeegeegeegeegeee"

The track zig zags across the creek for miles; we camped right next to the water, swimming and exploring. Just amazing. The full moon was out and we couldn't sleep so we sat up drinking coffee & watching the night sky & listening to the gentle sounds of the water bubbling along. In the morning I walked along the middle of the creek for a couple hours while Ian took the 4WD further along, setting up a picnic spot; magic. There was no one else around so we basically just ran around naked for 2 days except when cooking fatty bacon.

I got into trouble for forgetting to bring the shovel. "But I brought the laptop! That'll come in handy!" Ian now calls the laptop the "i-shovel" and threatens to use it to dig us out if we get bogged. But any time he criticises my appalling lack of bush knowledge I just look at him and say, "Hey. I brought you a woman and cold beer 1200 km to a mining site", which of course he is forced to admit elevates me to Legend Status.