On a lonely day in November, 2019, I decided to record some of what I would need to do every day on the station. Unfortunately, as it was so hot living in the Pilbara, my phone would often turn off after a short time, and on top of that, there was usually no or minimal phone service, so I rarely had it on me.
On this particular day, however, it was still cool enough in the morning to take a few videos and photos of the power routine, the campground, and the homestead animals routine.
The solar panels would charge the batteries throughout the day, as well as powering the homestead. The generators would only be used if a lot of power was needed.
Earlier on in the year, it was just the diesel generator providing electricity for the homestead, but after speaking with the owner, he agreed to purchase some solar panels and batteries second-hand.
Once installed, it was so peaceful around the homestead – the generators were very loud. There were two generators – one that started by cranking a handle, and the other a button-start. It took me some practice to use the preferred hand-cranked generator at first. As it was so old and greasy, the handle took some turns to get up to the right speed to start the generator.
The hand-cranked generator sat next to the much bigger button-start generator.
The morning routine would include recording the weather for the Bureau of Meteorolgy and sending it off, which you can read more about here.
While out, I would also do the rounds at the campgrounds. The station I was on had a station stay campground, where travellers could pull up for a night or a few weeks and relax. My role included checking the travellers in and out, maintaining the campground, and taking phone calls (although, even the landline was fuzzy, so bookings were not essential – in fact, it was preferred that people just turn up).
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