Thread: Been to WA

Hi there!
Its been a couple of weeks since I've been on the forum... just returned from a rushed trip to the WA wheatbelt, with no access to a computer.
I went to help my family out during a bit of a crisis: my brother who runs the farm now has been pretty sick and not really recovered, and seeding was due to start. A couple of days before ANZAC Day they had a huge (but localised storm), with high winds and a flashflood from nearly 4" in 1 1/2hrs. Tore the place apart, with fences ripped up and washed away, so thousands of sheep wandering into neighbours properties and mixed up; tin torn from sheds; power poles snapped off; dams overflowing and vehicles bogged etc.
My folks came out of retirement in Perth and were there slaving away too...but it was good to see everyone after an absence of 3yrs.
Basically I've spent 2 weeks repairing fences so the sheep could be sorted out and returned, while seeding ramped up around me, as well as a bit other repair work and moving machinery.
I took a couple of photos while I was there, but somehow missed the most dramatic images of long sheets of iron wrapped around powerpoles!
The first is one of many fences covered in stubble, tangled into the bush, which I dragged out where I could, or fenced around the the lot. There was a hell of a lot of erosion, scoured paddocks then deposits of sand like this, which looked like a beach washed by waves. That power pole survived, but the two along the line snapped above the metal bracing and were stood upright alongside the stumps!
The next shot is nothing to do with the storm damage, but a pair of unusual spiny skinks I pulled from a legth of pipe...so unusual I have never seen one before, in all the years of running around the bush looking for wildlife

Cheers,