Day 2 Breakaways to Camp on Old Hyden Norseman Rd

Sunday, 22nd November 2015

We woke up to a beautiful day and went for a walk before breaky. A walk up to the top of the breakaway nearest our camp, revealed a nice view. Back on the road we head for the Old Hyden – Norseman Road to clear some more trees. On our last trip along this road we had marked some trees to clear. We clear trees so others can travel the track closer to it’s original bearing and this will allow the “go arounds” to recover.

With the weather warming up the goannas, lizards and snakes are starting to come out and enjoy the warmth. On our way to McDermid Rock for morning tea we spot a snake on the road near Lake Johnson but by the time we chuck a uey he’s gone. While at McDermid Rock we spotted some egg like sacs on the trunk of a Salmon Gum, we think they’re spider eggs. McDermid Rock has a toilet and table and chairs and is a nice little spot to camp or have morning tea.

Speaking of spiders always check the toilets at camping spots and rest areas, spiders like to seek refuge in the cool of the toilet. There was a redback with a moth in her web which immediately reminded me of ‘Slim’ Newton’s song Redback on the Toilet Seat ………
“There was a red-back on the toilet seat, When I was there last night,
I didn’t see him in the dark, But boy! I felt his bite!”

Of interest even though the species is called a Red Back Spider it’s only the female who has the red on her back. The smaller male who is often brown rather than black does not have a red mark. Unfortunately he generally will only get one opportunity to mate with the female due to either being mistaken for prey and eaten or during the act of mating the female may dissolve and eat his abdomen.

Now heading along the Old Hyden – Norseman Road it’s not long before we come across our first tree to clear. This tree and the next two were newly fallen trees since our last run out this way. The day was warm reaching 40deg Celsius by the time we were on our 4th and largest tree ( the first on our list ). Doing these by hand axe and saw we decided to call it a day after the 4th one. Update – we decided that we would by an Ozito Chainsaw to make clearing trees easier.

We’ve traveled the Old Hyden – Norseman road quite a few times in the last 12 months and each time the track condition is worse than before. There’s always plenty to see and some small challenges to tackle whether its wet or dry. We were last here 10 weeks ago in August and had some rain back then, today there is still evidence of rain with some of the bog holes still containing water.

Good camping areas can be hard to find out here but we managed to find a good spot which turned out to be lovely with lots of birds fluttering and singing and if you take the time to look down there can be some interesting insects to see. The insects included an Imposter Sleepy Cockroach but not your kitchen variety, a large Jewel Beetle and a big bull ant. The Jewel Beetle we saw is one of the many varieties which vary in both size and color. This particular beetle is known for something a little odd in the insect world. Australian Geographic magazine did a story on them where it reported that the male jewel beetle is renowned for mating with stubbies, not the shorts but the brown beer bottles. It’s thought from the air the bottles resemble the females ( who don’t fly ) to the males who fly about 1-2mts from the ground seeking a mate.

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