Trilby Station - 7 July 2014

It was a beautiful day today. Cool this morning - below zero - but the sun was shining and there was no wind.

We went for a drive this morning, the second mud map drive of the property. This one is to the old Dunlop Farm Buildings and will only be about 25 kms and most of that is on the main road. The drive we did the other day was about 75 kms and most of it was over the Station itself.

Trilby Station was once a part of Dunlop Station, the first station in the world to complete a mechanical shearing. The actual Dunlop Homestead from the original property is not owned by Liz and Gary so we couldn't have a look at it unfortunately. The Dunlop Farm buildings that we did go to see was the location of the farm buildings and home to those employed there. It was built on the Darling River. The road leading to it off the main road was a very rough road, but the remains there were worth looking at. Pieces of history.

There were various bits of old machinery - steam traction engine, a threshing machine/chaff cutter, an early model horse drawn harvester built by Hugh McKay, who invented the combine harvester. The one that intrigued me was the jinker with solid wooden wheels.

The jinker was a flat wagon type arrangement used to haul cut wood to the steam boilers and steam engines.

A little bit further along, on the edge of the riverbank, was a huge boiler, which was above a timber slipway that was used to drag equipment from paddle steamers straight up the very steep banks, and vice versa. The ingenuity of the farmers in days gone by was quite amazing. The quality of the steel and the workmanship was outstanding as the boiler is still standing. It is very rusted and bits missing, but it is still standing straight and tall.

There were the stumps of one of the buildings and not far from that, were the remains of a baker's oven, built from homemade bricks.

We arrived back at the van in time for morning tea and then read/sewed for the rest of the morning. While we were sitting there, we were treated to a flock of the black cockatoos in a tree nearby. Beautiful birds with their red under the wings and in their tails.

We had run out of bread so Bruce made some pufties (puftaloons) or fried scones for lunch. His Mum used to make them when Bruce was little and so he used to cook them for the boys and I when we went away on holidays and did some bushwalking. We haven't had them for quite a few years but he hasn't lost his touch.

Di and Dave are a couple from Victoria. They came to Trilby Station 7 years ago as paying visitors but have been back every year since and work while they are here. They usually cover for Liz when she goes overseas. A nice couple. We chatted to them this afternoon for a while as we are thinking of going home via Tibooburra and Cameron's Corner. Just need to check on the roads before we make our final decision. They were also telling us about the number of people who pinch toilet paper, which we have heard also from caravan park people. Another thing Di was saying that people pinch are bottles of gas. Near us is the camp kitchen and they used to keep a 9kg bottle of gas hooked up there. People were taking that and putting their empty one in its place! What a hide some people have.

We went for an extra long walk today and followed the dry billabong. There are campsites around that as well but as the billabong is dry, they are closed at the moment. In the centre of the billabong, you could tell there was moisture/water below the surface as we had to be careful we didn't sink. It was dry and cracked on top. The kangaroos were out in droves, possibly as it was such a lovely day.

Bruce is certainly hogging the camera!