Mooloo Pool and more....

Back in May 2024, we ventured out to find some Noel Brazier survey points.

Group of 8 vehicles on this trip, consisting of 3 x Discovery 4's, 1 x Perentie, 1 x Defender, 1 x Discovery, 1 x Troopy and 1 x Ranger. All meeting at Southern Cross and heading up the Bullfinch-Evanston Rd, stopping along the way at some rockholes we'd visited in the past. Heading into the Mt Manning Range we had a few points of interest we were on the lookout for. One being Olby gnammas, after pushing our way through a track that hadn't been used for a while we came across the gnammas, all with a good amount of water in them.

We headed into the what I call the elbow of Mt Manning Range for a look, then back out and around to the east side of the range to look for the Mt Manning (Mt Dooling) Meterorite plaque. After the plaque we pushed through north to look at some caves, after putting a nice gouge in the D4 bumper crossing a creek, we found the caves, not much to report, but big enough to stand in.

Next on the POI list was Dooling soak, we knew it was there, had seen photos of it, Google earth provided a faint line of a track that could not be seen on the ground, but with a pair of a legs and an eagle eye up front we all made our way into the wonderfully constructed but very dry soak. A nice rock outcrop nearby gave you a great view of Mt Manning Range. We headed on stopping in at a few more gnammas, lunch at Reids Stone Hut.

Making our way north, we travelled onto Crow rock via Hospital rocks, Rundle rock & Galah Rocks, then past Lemon Rock, Illaar ruins and Day Rock, making our way to the Menzies-Sandstone Rd, what a great little track! Was lovely to see both Malleefowl nest and 2 Malleefowl on this track.

Time to jump off the main drag and head west following north along Lake Barlee, stopping at a rock outcrop where we located our first Noel Brazier survey post - NB31. Lunch at the former Cashmere Downs Homestead. Then off to find our next NB marker. Heading back sou-east we made our made to Bulgar Hill. As the day was getting late, we decided to tackle Bulgar in the morning, a sunrise walk to the top. After a great camp we rose bright and early and made our way to the top of Bulgar Hill, watching the sunrise over Lake Barlee was spectacular. Finding another NB marker was a great feeling.

Time to head for Mooloo Pool and our next NB marker. Whilst there are some NB's in between, some we went in search for with no luck, others we left them for another trip after some research that needed doing. Mooloo Pool with just a long/lat and barely a track to be seen, we pushed our way through and now looking at our tracking we looked like drunk drivers, towards the end we headed off on foot for the final bit and we found it!! We then were able to find a way to drive as close as was possible to the pool and the cairn/marker, what a sight to behold it was, perfect stonework, standing the test of time. The perfectly engraved marked of NB37.

Now the HEMA maps showed a track head NW onto Yuimery Station where more NB markers lay. However, could we find said track? No, not really. But this will never stop us. We spent time with the drone, scouring google earth imagery, out on foot and then the call came out...someone found a tyre track! So of we went, handsaws, chainsaws, damaged steps, we managed to almost follow the HEMA track. Lots of small creek crossing, lots of small breakaways. It was a another great track to find and follow, slow going but great scenery, loads of birds. Once again we skipped a few more NB's due to our time was limited (but we will head back I'm sure of it). NB43 we found, whilst it was on Noondie Hill, not sure what it was named a hill, a rock outcrop maybe? NB44, required 2 legs and a heartbeat and a backpack of water and snacks. Off we wondered, GPS in hand, was a 1.3km walk as the crow flies (our tracking showed we walked 4km round trip). And what a find this one was, WOW!! The biggest cairn we have ever seen and again perfect in everyway. Also noted was some gnammas to the south of this cairn, so we wandered over there, to find quite a few in fact. Again lots of birdlife.

Stopped in at Yuinmery to thank David for allowing us access, but he wasn't home, chatted with old Leo his caretaker.

Headed towards the old Youanmi Downs homestead (sadly totally bulldozed and looks like a rubbish tip now) to look for more NB points, but not much luck.

Great trip, great company, great countryside!

Sunrise walk to top of Bulgar Hill (Lake Barlee in the background)