Did you know that mining company Rio Tinto grows one of Australia’s biggest lucerne crops in the rocky deserts of the Pilbara in Western Australia? Or that the various aquifers beneath Alice Springs are not as connected as we thought they were, which has implications for the town’s ongoing water supply?
If you had come on the Chomp & Chat to Young, you would know all this and much more, such was the quality of the lunchtime conversation in Wilders Café. As an agricultural journalist and general stickybeak, I did much more listening than talking – and enjoyed it immensely.
Along with Mick, who had just returned from a two-week ride up through the Red Centre and back down through Queensland, there was his mate Rob, a FIFO diesel fitter and vibration technician with Rio Tinto, and Robert, a geophysical technician investigating underground water supplies in the Kimberley and parts of the NT.
Yes, a mere four hardy souls had huddled together for the exceedingly brief pre-ride briefing – and this would probably have only been three if I hadn’t been bound to turn up because I was leading the expedition. It was cold, blowing and spitting at Nicholls and the forecast was even worse for our destination on the South West Slopes.
The outwards journey wasn’t too bad. The temperature varied between 5 and 7 degrees and even got up to 8 at one point, and the south-westerly cross winds were annoying but bearable. We rode through a few showers, but nothing bad enough to even dampen our enthusiasm.
We rode via Binalong, Galong and the Moppity Road, though we took it easy given the gusty winds and general dampness. The area is surprisingly green given the widespread drought, and we even passed an early canola crop that was starting to flower. Paddocks were well stocked with cattle and sheep – and plenty of calves and lambs – but the ungrateful wretches didn’t appear to be enjoying the conditions. There was less gambolling in these paddocks than in an old-style Methodist church.
We did have to ease our way through a small mob of cattle grazing the roadside long paddock and wandering nonchalantly across the road. We had also encountered this on the club ride to Woodstock a couple of weeks earlier, and it is going to get more common unless we get drought-breaking rains. So, if you see cattle/sheep signs on the side of the road, slow down! They’re not bluffing.
Once we were ensconced in the upper-floor warmth at Wilders and tucking into our pies, burgers and chips with gravy and dead horse, Rob and Robert told story after story about mining and geophysics. I learned all about aquifers, stopes, sausages, dets, underground parking bays and innovative ways of dying, both accidental and deliberate.
Rio Tinto’s cropping, by the way, totals 1650 hectares of irrigated lucerne, Rhodes grass and oats that are baled for hay and sold to local farmers (local being anywhere within 1,000km or so!). The crops are irrigated with water pumped out of underground mines which are beneath the local aquifer and which otherwise would be flooded. Rio Tinto also runs six pastoral stations in the Pilbara totalling 1.1 million hectares.
My head was spinning with all this unexpected and fascinating new information as we mounted up for our return trip. Just as we were leaving, a sudden storm of sleety rain and fine hail swept through town. Fortunately, it didn’t last long, and we were soon riding out of town on the Boorowa road.
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| We had to clear the ice and snow off the bikes after lunch in Young. |
The views were spectacular – all around us, storm cells were blustering along. Amazingly, none of them touched us but the road was often wet and slippery from their passing. The wind, however, was something else!
The cross winds, which on the outwards trip had been coming from our left, were now howling from our right and had doubled in strength. It wasn’t a relaxing ride – we had to concentrate the whole way lest we be blown off the bitumen and into a paddock. What with the wind and the slippery roads, I think all of us had a few butt-clenching moments (I know I did!).
As the rest of us peeled off the Hume Freeway onto the Barton Highway, Rob kept heading north on the Hume, perhaps in search of warmer weather. He could even be in Queensland by now for all I know. Robert stopped for fuel at Yass (the wild winds had knocked holes in our fuel economy) and Mick and I turned in opposite directions at the traffic lights near Hall.
Perversely, despite the CWA conditions (Cold, Wet, Atrocious) I really enjoyed the ride, especially the hot bath I soaked in after I got home. All up we did about 300km on roads that in good weather are lots of fun.
Ian Paterson
Ian Paterson GL1800
Rob Jones 1250 Bandit
Mick Beltrame R1200GS
Robert Apps R1200GSA
