#1: [03-Oct-04] (incomplete)

03-Jul-2005 --

We were heading for the Kennedy Ranges to do a weeks hiking across the range, however the incomplete confluence on Landor Station was enticingly close. We were keen to get a confluence "under our belt" so we did decided to do the 130 kilometre side trip.

We called in to see the station manager, Jerom. He greeted us with a warm country welcome, a good strong handshake and a matter of fact statement that he'd probably been there lots of times - on horseback!. He helpfully described the best way to get close to the site, and we headed off, hoping to get within 500m on tracks.

Entry off the Landor-Augustus road was via the Landor Racetrack - the site for an annual outback event for people to get together and have fun - with horse racing as an excuse. It's on each year in early October. After the racetrack, and past the signs saying "don't go past this point!" we arrived at the first windmill OK, some 4 km from the confluence. The track then simply disappeared in an area of washouts, and after poking around in our car for a while looking for a track, we decided it was quicker just to hot-foot the last three kilometres.

The walking was fast through sparse mulga shrublands and over hard, stony-surfaced soils, with only occasional dry and scrubby drainage lines to slow us down. The confluence itself was in an open stony part of the plain, with scattered shrubs. Not spectacular, but interesting none the less. We wondered how animals survived the harsh terrain. Confluence successfuly visited, we headed back to the Landor Racetrack for lunch beside the Aurilla Creek and tried to picture the wild festivities to come.