August 2022

 Well it’s time for a new adventure. 

Covid has changed the world as we knew it, but the borders are finally opened, and I am on my way to West Australia for another visit to the Canning Stock Route. 

For months I have been preparing the Hilux for the trip, and although I could have gone on for ever, I have decided to go regardless. 

August first was the proposed day to leave together with my friends Barry and Lynda. It didn’t quite happen, but on August second I set off at 9.00 am only to return at 9.15 because I had left behind the sat phone which was charging. 

Take 2. Left home at 9.30, and this time kept going. The plan was to meet up with Barry and Lynda at Bordertown just inside South Australia. Fortunately a fairly uneventful trip. I did stop occasionally to take some pics including this wonderful farm fence, made up of old bicycles.

The next day was travelling in convoy to Peterborough, famous as a railway hub, but the real treat of the day was the temperature of 25 degrees. A positive heat wave compared to Melbourne weather. Not quite such a treat were the 100 km winds which made driving quite scary. Fortunately it settled down at night.

One thing I am thoroughly enjoying while I am in mobile range are the wonderful photos of Bea, Hannah and Fenn enjoying Fiji.

Tonight we have made it to one of my favourite places, Woomera. 

Problems with the Hilux and Kalgoorlie

Things are not looking too good for the Hilux.
After driving all day along the Great Central Highway, and just as we were ready to pull into camp, the Hilux started loosing power, and blue smoke started coming out of the exhaust.
Not looking good.
Barry, who had his laptop with him, plugged into the test port, and came up with an injector issue.
This appears to be a known problem with Hilux and Prado vehicles. And it can be potentially very serious possibly requiring an engine rebuild.
Next morning I limped into Warburton, and RACV in Melbourne.
They required an independent inspection,  and actually had a suitable person in Warburton, but he was out of town for 24 hours.
And so started a process which all happened ever so slowly.
Finally the assessor rolled up, and confirmed Barry’s assessment. He was then required to report to RACV and the process for recovery got under way.
RACV, who have been very helpful and understanding, were waiting on 3 quotes to recover the Hilux on a tilt tray sent from Kalgoorlie. This is a round trip of 1800 km mostly over rough gravel roads.
As I said before, things move slowly in the outback, and after one very dodgy idea involving packing the Hilux into a huge refrigerated road train that just happened to making its weekly trip to Warburton, a plan was approved to send a proper tilt tray for recovery.
Meanwhile I ended up cooling my heels in the Warburton roadhouse camp ground for 5 days.
The camp ground is used by passing travelers who arrive late afternoon and pull out first thing the next morning. Consequently it is totally empty during the day. As it happens there was one other semi permanent resident. She worked at the shire office only 100 metres from the camp ground and she turned out to be friendly, and in fact was able to drive me to the local airport when I was finally able to fly out on a single engine Cessna that did the mail run twice a week.
She has two dogs, one the biggest ever Great Dane, and the other a cute tiny dog she carries around in a little pouch. What a contrast.
I should describe the camp ground. It is totally surrounded with a 2 metre fence with razor wire on top. The entrance is a security gate also topped with razor wire, and padlocked at night, and only unlocked at day break.
The camp kitchen is also covered in a wire cage, but this is not so much for security, as to keep out the camp peacocks which number about thirty or so.
They are the strangest critters, that at night roost in the high voltage power lines, and during the day scratch around making as much mess as possible.
I took some amusing photos of them, but still haven’t been successfull adding photos to the blog.
If it sounds like I wasn’t impressed by Warburton camp, in its plus side it had nice hot showers, and was kept spotlessly clean by the staff.
Also, every night there were new people to talk to.
But I was happy to leave when the chance came up to catch a small plane out to come to Kalgoorlie.
I was a bit apprehensive about travelling on a tiny plane, but it was a great experience. The views looking down on the outback landscape were stunning, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
My fellow passengers were all aborigines, and laughed and yelled the whole way. It was a great experience.
Now I am in Kalgoorlie and have hired a small car, and booked into a modest motel.
I have done a bit of sightseeing, but the highlight has been catching up with some of the Blankfield family. Morry is a fifo gynocologist who practices in Kalgoorlie, and I spent a great evening at their house, talking family, and of course the joys of Kalgoorlie.
One downside for me is that I have had this persistent cough that is at its worst at night, and even though I believe not much can be done, I have made a doctors appointment for this arvo to check it out.
The next problem for me to face, is that next week is the biggest yearly event in Kalgoorlie, the Miners and Diggers expo, and there is no accommodation or hire cars whatsoever to be had in Kalgoorlie. I might be sleeping on a park bench.

The Anne Beadell Highway

The title is a misnomer if ever there was.  It is definitely not a highway.
The road to Emu was really bad. And it only got worse from there on.
There is a great video on you tube where a fellow only did 50 km on the Anne Beadell, and he turned around and went home. The trouble is corrugations that shake the vehicle so much, that everything that can rattle does, including your teeth. And this goes on day after day.
Last time I only got as far as Emu before having to turn around due to my battery shaking loose.
Emu is the famous desert atomic bomb site that Len Beadell prepared for the Brits to test their atomic bombs. It is so remote, that they decided no one could possibly affected by the radiation. Unfortunately I don’t think they took too much notice of the local aborigines.
There are two commemorative stone plinths about a metre high wth carved warnings about not hanging around for too long because of very high radiation levels. Their names are Totem 1, and Totem 2.
Also at the site we lined our 5 vehicles up on the massive aeroplane runway for a classic off-road photo.
Next day it was heading west in a more or less straight line for 7 days.
First port of call was the one and only fuel stop at Kilkurkla. I thing the fellow there only fills up about 20 cars a week, and that’s in the busy season.
I created a bit of a holdup when I ran out of fuel. This was because my fuel consumption had increased dramatically because of the corrugations and soft sand. And because my fuel gauge was faulty.
Luckily I had plenty of fuel in the large 200 litre tank, and I was able to siphon from the tank to the fuel filler. .
For a moment though, when the Hilux just died, I was thinking the worst.
Not long after that, the big 200 Landcruiser towing the camper trailer also started running low, and I ended parking next to him and siphoning fuel into his filler. There is so little traffic, that we just blocked the road with no problems. In fact in the seven days we only met 2 vehicles.
Minor problems appeared on most of the vehicles. The most worrying is cracked fuel tank in the Colorado and as I write this he has driven 300km to try and get it it fixed.
We will stay in Laverton for a few days to rest and recuperate.

2019 Anne Beadell Hwy and CSR

Well it's July 2019 and although there are a heap of items I never completed on the Hilux, and even more jobs not completed at home, I am finally on the road.

In fact it is my third day on the road, although the first day was only half a day and I only got as far as Cobram for the first camp. I felt that if I didn't pull the plug and just go, I would never get away.
One resolution I did make was that next time I would start preparing earlier. Much earlier.

It was good to finally be on the road.  The forecast wasn't great..gale force winds and rain. But that's ok. The only time the gale force winds bothered me was on the second day in the Riverina, when the winds were blowing the farmers top soil across the highway, and visibility was down to about twenty metres. Of course the traffic including huge trucks only slowed down a bit, and the most dangerous thing to do was to pull over and stop. On the news that morning was an item where a bus had hit a large trailer that had become separated from a prime mover, and the poor driver had no where to go.
Sadly heaps dead and injured.

My second night camp site didn't start well, as I drove the long hours to reach Hallet, a camp ground I had stayed at before. Unfortunately it was shut due to all the rain, so I went into the local pub to see if they had any rooms, but they didn't do rooms, just beer.
Well all the patrons got involved with their best suggestions, and I ended up taking the advice from an old fellow who looked like he never strayed far from his place at the bar, but he told me the close town of Jackson nearby had 3 pubs and a campground.
It all ended well, as the nearby campground, only 40 minutes away had plenty of space, and in fact had far better facilities for only $5 more in camping fees.



This morning I set off to Port Augusta via the wonderfull town of  Wilmington. It's main claim was the Land Rover and British Toy Museum with enough selection to bring tears to the eyes of any lad who grew up in the 50's. Every Dinky vehicle ever made was on show together with enough Mecano and Triang to sink a ship. And of course huge quantities of Land Rover paraphanailia, plus Hornby and the list went on and on. He regained me for about half an hour why Land Rovers were the best 4WD, and was a most interesting person.
The other claim to fame was the cheap diesel available at 8 cents less than Port Augusta prices, so I filled up to 200 litre tank. ( the fuel app on the phone is brilliant)

After a brief stop in Port Augusta for food shopping, I headed north, and have just booked in to Woomera, one of my favourite place to visit.
I started off with a quick visit to the cemetery to pay my respects to Anne and Len Beadell, as we will be travelling on their roads bearing their names on this trip.

Tomorrow it's off to Coober Pedy after which I will have no mobile coverage for a while.

CSR part 2

Weds 18. Newman. 

This morning I took the Hilux in for repair. Hopefully the parts from Perth will arrive in time. Otherwise it will be another day in Newman, and because I don't have the Hilux, I also don't have anywhere to sleep. 

After dropping off the Hilux, I took the BHP mine tour. It turned out amazingly good. We were picked up by a full size bus, and taken up to the mine. The guide gave a great commentary, and I was of course super impressed by the giant Tonka toys

One of the more amusing sights was a giant truck painted pink in honour of breast cancer awareness

Not long after the tour ended, I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Toyota to say the Hilux was ready, and they even sent a driver round to pick me up. 

With the credit card badly hit, I set off South to Wiluna via the short cut, eventually arriving just before dark. 

The camping spot was the Gunbarrel Laager, on the other side of town. There I met and ended up having a very long chat with the proprietor. We just sort of hit it off, with lots in common. He had lived all over Australia including living on King Island for seven years. In the end I had to set up the camper, and wolf down a quick meal well after dark. 

I will be returning there as the group spend the last night there. 

May 19

I set off early to take the road up to well 9 on the Canning. This road is a short cut, bypassing wells 1 to 8 normally taken by vehicles towing camper trailers. It is a much better road than the actual Canning. By 1.00 I was back on the Stock Route and heading North to Well 12 which is a restored well with drinkable water and a toilet. The plan is to wait there for the others who are heading South. In the end, because of my detour for repairs, I will only have missed nine of the fifty one wells 

May 20

A lay day waiting for the others. I am not sure if they will be here this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It is quite strange camped here as there is no sound other than the wind rustling through the desert oaks. It is actually quite an eerie sound. Not a vehicle has passed all morning 

At 4.00 pm the others arrived, and it was a great reunion. I really felt like it was the return of the prodigal son. After dinner there was lots of great chat round the campfire. I am really enjoying the group. 

May 21

Back on the road headed South

The first three wells were familiar as I passed them headed north on my own a few days ago. Well 9 where I came in was the most interesting, historically speaking. There were the remnants of a stone fort built by Andrew Forrest fighting off the Aboriginies. 

Tonight we are camped at well 6 which is a fully restored well. Enthusiast group have been slowly restoring a few selected wells, and they are doing an excellent job. They have to do the job to strict guidelines, and as far as possible replicate the original. 

The camping area has heaps of very large river red gums, and as it was blowing a gale, I was a bit apprehensive of being skittled during the night. 

As usual we had another couple of chapters of Ben Taylor's book about droving a mob of cattle down the CSR. It took them about 4 months. 

May 22

Well 4

Well 4b

We arrived at Windich Springs at lunch time, but it is so nice, we have decided to camp here for the night. It seems we are ahead on time, and will have no trouble arriving at Wiluna on Tuesday for our final dinner and camp at The Laager

May 22

Quite an eventful day. It started off with us headed south as usual, but one of the petrol vehicles started coughing and spluttering. A quick examination by Mick determined fuel issues. Fortunately Russell carried a spare fuel filter. Although this helped, it did not solve the problem. Mick suspected water in the fuel, but as the fuel tank had no bung in the bottom to drain some fuel, Mick decided to drill a hole in the bottom of the fuel tank, and drain some of the water. The hole was then plugged up with a tek screw. I wasn't sure how that would go, but it worked a treat. 

Mick is a great roadside mechanic. 

May 23. 

Getting close to the end now. Well 3a and well 3. 

Here is a pic of Mick and Connie. 

Mick often plays up if a camera is pointed at him

May 24 the last day of the trip.

Started off at Well 2a, the Granites. This well was blasted out of solid rock. And is amazing. 

North pool

A lovely spot. Not often you see so much water in this area 

Finally onto Wiluna, and a quick visit to the cemetery. We were there to see a few old head stones, but the place was really eerie. 

The cemetery was divided into the aboriginal section, and the "white fella" section. Some of the graves were very strange. 

I was happy to leave there. 

And then onto the official final act, the group dinner at the camp ground. The food was quite tasty, but unfortunately someone had told the chef to cater for 8, and there were 9 of us. Anyway we all got a feed, and it was an enjoyable session of eating and chat. 

Mick and Connie were presented with a great home made "thank you" card by one of the guys, and it went down well. 

May 25

The group has split up this morning, but those going through Kalgoorlie are meeting up for dinner tonight. 

CSR

CSR April 27

First off, after a final refuelling was a visit to Old halls creek. At a commemorative plaque, Mick gave a quick history talk on one of the early explorers, David Carnegie, whom we were to encounter often on the trip. then onto camping at Wolfe Creek famous for its Meteorite crater and a certain movie. Surprisingly busy with lots of campers. 

April 28

Onto Bililuna for fuel. Pre buy a fuel card at the shop then cue up to fill the vehicles. 

Then a detour. First bad corrugations. They make you feel the vehicle is going to fall apart. Tyre pressure has been reduced so that the sidewalls belly out. Then onto a great camping spot on a lake with 2-300 black swans. Handover was its name I think. 

Also photographed a very co operative pink galah. Tried star photography- failed.  Have to re read the manual. I left a saucepan out on the ground soaking, and in the morning it was ant porridge. It looked like thousands of ants drowned 

April 29

  My first vehicle trouble, but only a loose battery terminal.

The flies are unbelievably annoying but strangely disappear at 5.30. During the day they are constantly trying to land in your eyes, nose and mouth, looking for moisture. We had a Hi tech slide show round the campfire. It was quite surreal. Connie had a portable projector stretched to her laptop. 

Well 50. Not much to see, but a worthwhile detour to Gulvida Soak. 

Well 49 had great drinking water. All filled up gerries and containers from a bucket let down on a hand winch. 

April 29

Well 48 Yawulyawul

 A good detour to Breaden Pool with hills named by Carnegie. Another warm day, 38. As it was so warm when we arrived we put off the walk to Godfrey Tank till the next day. 

April 30

Early morning walk to Godfrey Tank, explorer carved initials including Carnegie. Lots more from the early explorers. and then morning tea (smoko) and another walk to see Diribarri rock hole. Actually had water in it. Temp 40

After lunch Well 47, not much there, and then the excellent Well 46 with great drinkable water. The road to 46, had the first examples of sand dunes. Lots more to come. Even better was a late afternoon bush shower

I had to transfer diesel as my tank was getting low. I have finally run out of the fresh salad packs which I ate in a flat bread, for nearly every lunch and dinner. Now the exciting prospect of baked beans in flat bread or with rice. 

April 30

Point Massie. Interesting detour mainly recorded by Carnegie in his travels. This was almost expedition driving as the track appeared unused for years. Lots of interestingly named mountains by Carnegie and a good Rockhole plus two soaks.  Tried some water divining with 2 bent wires. 

May 1

Back to well 46. Topped up water tanks and back to the CSR. 

Well 45 not much to see

Stopped at outcrop for gallery. Some interesting rock art. 

Also passed gravity lakes where a scientific study of gravity was conducted. As usual the lake was totally dry.  

Onto well 44. Not much to see, but lots of exciting speed humps (sand hills) description 

Well 43 Billowaggi

Camped near well 43 topped up diesel. Every time we stop, I do a walk around the Hilux checking for potential problems, and

I noticed a missing R clip from the over centre catch that holds the camper on. Potentially the end of the trip if the camper bounces off. Replaced it with one made from fencing wire. As soon as possible I will replace the other three. 

Mick dug out native well. Water!!

Well 42 Guli Tank

fencing wire repair   Reinforced all r clips. here's hoping 

May 2

On the road to Helena Springs, a place seldom visited. This road is very slow progress. Mainly crawling speed, with quite a few tricky sand hills. I managed to get well and truly stuck in the soft sand at the very top of one and needed towing backwards to be able to reverse down for another crack. Fortunately successful. Roadside camp

May 3

Onwards to Helena Springs. More sand hills.

Track very narrow between trees and I managed to catch the passenger external mirror on a solid tree branch and ripped it right off the Hilux. Fortunately no actual damage to the car. 

There was a dead animal right in the spring. Obviously been there a while. I would of walked away, but Mick extracted the carcass and started digging with the result of a trickle of fresh water. It didn't hide the smell though. 

One bit of excitement was the appearance of a long Brown snake who posed for the cameras. 

Then back to where we slept the previous evening. This detour has certainly has been difficult travelling. Hardly ever out of first gear. Helena Springs claim to fame is that it is well described by Carnegie, and is named after his favourite sister. 

May 4

Back to the CSR with a short detour to a Warrabuda native well. 

Then back to lots of very exciting sand hill crossings. To those of you not familiar with sand hill crossing, the procedure is to get as much speed up as possible in second gear, high range, and charge at the very steep hill. The soft sand slows you down, and if you don't have enough momentum, you have to reverse down the hill and try again. 

Two items complicate the procedure. If you have too much speed at the crest, it feels like you are about to launch into space. The other complication is that the approach is often really lumpy and bumpy, which makes me nervous the camper will break its mounting and jump off the tray. 

It can be real white knuckle stuff. 

Now we have arrived at Well 41. Good drinkable water, but to get it I lowered a bucket on a rope. Tonight I plan to have a sponge bath. 

The rain set in, and made the camp site a bit of a quagmire   The fact we were camped next to a clay pan didn't help. Connie made excellent scones which took our mind off the rain. 

May 6

An eventful day

Off to Well 40, (Waddawalla)  Also of interest was was the graves of an aboriginal and Michael Tobin who in 1907 had had an altercation with the result of Tobin being speared, and the aboriginal shot in mysterious circumstances.  

Then we arrived at Lake Tobin only to find the road around it under water. 

Mick tried a bit of bush bashing, but ended up bogged in a hole. As front vehicle I tried to haul him out. Succeeded with one hole, but not the next. Finally had success with two vehicles hitched together and both pulling. Had the 200 V8 Landcruiser been in my position I have no doubt he would have succeeded. 

From then on we plowed through the slippery road until we finally made it through. 

Only thirty minutes after our lunch stop at a quiet stand of Desert Oaks, there was this roar, and a large convoy of Mercedes G- Wagons arrived at the spot for there lunch break. 

It was like a precision army manoeuvre. There were 5 military looking Mercedes Benz vehicles. One towed 750 litres of diesel, one was a toilet/shower truck, and one was the meal vehicle.  Two towed huge tandem trailers, one three and one a five tons. The passengers rode in the towing vehicles plus in the other 3 vehicles. 

There were about six crew including drivers who all doubled up with other jobs, ie chef, tent organiser etc. 

The passengers staggered out, and in 10 minutes lunch was ready. 

This trip of theirs is very intensive, with support vehicles following with more fuel and food. Quite an operation. I gather also very expensive for the travellers.

In 40 minutes they had left, and it felt like a whirlwind had been through. 

For us back to the peace and quiet. 

May 7

Hurray. Blue skies today. 

A day off amongst the Desert Oaks. Did a bit of washing and just lazing around. 

There is talk around the campfire of a lot of water on the roads further south. Might be a problem. Still that's 10 days away. Also plenty of talking and speculating as to how much fuel we have before our first major refuel stop at Kunawaritji. 

May 8

Well 38. Wajapurni

Well in ruins, but beautiful rock hole with lots of water due to the recent rain. 

Bungabinni Well. Unused Canning well. 

Well 37 Libral the haunted Well. This is because there are 4 graves here 

May 10

Well 36 Wanda. Ruin

Nice little thorny devil on the road, saved by quick stopping. 

Well 35 Minoo. Ruin. 

Well 34 Nibil Famous for  containing a human skull, only found after the travellers drank from it for a week.  Apparently no ill effects. 

Well 33. Kunawaritji 

Kunawaritji has proved quite an experience. 

When you drive in for fuel, there are two lanes that sell Diesel or Petrol at $3.40 per litre. The system operates with a man standing there with a pencil and card. He writes down your total fuel amount and price. Then you pay at the shop which is about 50 metres away. Unfortunately he was out on a job, so we waited patiently for over 2 hours for him to return. There was a problem with the diesel bowser, but he solved that with a well aimed kick. My bill was $694.59 for 204.29 litres. Probably the dearest fuel I have ever bought. Luckily they only recently started accepting credit cards. Up till then it was only cash. 

The highlight though, was a shower for $10. That seems exorbitant , but because of the remoteness, I guess anything goes. I bought an onion for a dollar and other groceries at three to four times Melbourne prices. 

Still, that shower was lovely. First hot shower in two weeks.  Kunawaritji is a very long way away from anywhere. 

Postscript. When I got back to camp I happened to look at the " best before" dates. 

The bread which was frozen, was dated 2006. Most of the other stuff was about 6 months out of date. 

Only yesterday the group was having a discussion about frozen bread, and which sort was the best to buy. The general consensus was that pure white bread was the most likely not to go off. 

Amazingly I toasted a couple of slices, smeared some out of date jam, and it was delicious.

May 11

With all the wonderful free water at Kunuwaritji I started the morning with a huge clothes wash. I draped all the wet items on a makeshift line and in an hour it was almost dry. 

Then we headed south to the next few wells. Including 32 and 31. All the wells were in a state of disrepair. A new consideration were the very rocky patches in the road which reduced us to a crawl in places. Very slow going. 

Camped at Well 30 Junta Junta

May 12

Native pool. Spent some time looking for it. 

Aboriginal well p63 Large limestone depression, but Mick doubtful that was native well. Tried to find it with divining rods. 

Quite a few exciting sandhills between wells 30 and 28

Decided to to top up the fuel tank at camp this evening. Took 46 litres. 

May 13

Separation Well. Very slow winding and narrow track. 

Helen Hill rocky outcrop was along the route. Very photogenic hill. 

Set up camp at well 27. Crawled under the Hilux to clean out masses of spinifex when to my horror noticed a split rubber boot at the front right wheel. My first thoughts were "game over", but Mick came over to have a look, and said a bush repair job would keep me going. It was probably caused by a stick piercing it. The road to Separation Well involved much bush bashing, and basically riding over any small trees and shrubs in the way.  

Friday 13 th has lived up to its reputation. In addition another vehicle suffered a staking to its tyre sidewall, and received a slow puncture. 

The repair involved wrapping lots of duct tape around the split boot, and retaining with cable ties. The work took about forty minutes. Here's hoping!

May 14

After a short drive, I checked the duct tape repair, but it wasn't looking good. Mick decided on plan B, which was a proven solution with a section from a truck tyre inner tube with a couple of zip ties, and that is looking much better. 

Well 26 Tiwa restored, and looks very nice. Drinkable water

Well 25, Warntili Not too far from 26, and a great camping spot. We arrived at lunchtime and having the tyre fixing demo this arvo, and camping here tonight. 

May 15

Well 24

The saga continues. The rubber boot that Mick fitted has split again, and by now we realise that the problem is far more serious. 

After a bit of head scratching, Mick decided to dismantle the front CV joint for examination. The news wasn't good. The metal cage is shattered, with sharp bits everywhere.  More head scratching, with a final decision to remove the drive shaft to the right front wheel, so that I could at least drive in 2wd safely. Luckily we are on our way to Cotton Creek, which is on the way to Newman. The plan was just to top up fuel at Cotton Creek, but I will split from the party , and try and get a repair done at Newman. 

The Golden Orb Spider

This is probably the last post for a few days as mobile reception will run out soon. 

As I am in Kununurra , I decided to treat myself to a cruise on Lake Argyle. 

You may not know much about the lake, but it is pretty big. They were overwhelming us with info, and it seems you could fit 18 Sydney harbours into it.

The cruise itself was pretty good, with a great smorgasbord lunch provided. 

The highlight however was the Golden Orb Spider which resides on numerous of the man made islands. This Spider weaves a random web, looks terrifying, but has an amazing trick. It's web fabric is so strong they make bullet proof vests from it. Apparently heaps stronger than Kevlar which is what the military use. 

A slightly bizarre fact is that the poor old male male is a tenth the size of the female. 

I have lots of pics taken on the Nikon Coolpix, but will have to wait for a docking session