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 

The Bungle Bungles and a "short" trip to Kununurra

The Bungle Bungles

Now known as Purnululu  This has been on my wish list for years , especially when on my Gibb River Rosd trip 5 years ago, I was within 100km from it, but decided not to detour. Considering it is about 4000km from Melbourne it wasn't much of a detour. 

Anyway now that I am in the area again, this opportunity won't pass. 

Purnululu is a national park with some wonderful attractions. 

Firstly the amazing beehive like mountains created by the weathering of millions of years. 

Secondly are a number of attractions like Echidna Chasm. Viewing this wonder involved for me anyway, a fairly strenuous walk up and I mean up a rocky dried up river bed, and then winding through a very narrow rocky passage with only occasional glimpses of the sky way up in the distance. 

I will include a short video. Keep a watch for the amazing dragon flies. 

My latest detour is to Kununurra.  Probably a bit stupid as its extra travel, but the appeal of that huge Lake Argyle is drawing me. Plus Halls Creek camping ground is very ordinary. 

Did I mention the temperature is mid thirties 

Turns out I can't include a video using the iPhone Blogger app. I'll try and put it on you tube

The Tanami

The Tanami route has always been a right of passage for four wheel drivers. One of the highlights of the trip was to stop over at The Rabbit Flat Roadhouse. It's particular claim to fame was that it was the most remote roadhouse in Australia. The owner was also renown as notoriously grumpy person who only opened on certain random days of the week, usually Tuesday Wednesday and Friday from memory. If you rolled up needing fuel on the wrong day, you just had to wait till he opened up on the next right day. 

And there was no other option for fuel for 300 km in either direction. 

So you had to wait. Sadly he finally closed down about 5 years ago as he was probably sick of those pesky customers. Did I mention that he reputedly had this gorgeous French wife whom no one had ever met. 

I actually spoke to her on the phone once about five years ago when I last went through, and rang ahead to make sure I would be there on an open day. 

He also had the dearest fuel in Australia, but I guess no one could go elsewhere. 

What this now means for me and for that matter all others, is that drivers have to carry abot 150 litres of fuel. Fortunately no worries for me with the new, now working tank.

The road on the South Australian side of the border was not too bad, with signs of recent maintenance, but once over the West Australian border it was just woeful, with giant pot holes, wash aways, crevices big enough to loose a small car etc. and of course endless corrugations. This is what brought me undone on the last trip, but the new suspension seems to coping much better than the old one. I felt it was a good test for the actual CSR 

While driving along, battling with the poor quality of the road, and literally hundreds of kilometers from anywhere, I suddenly saw this apparition in form of a cyclist on a three wheeled tricycle pedalling furiously up the hill. I couldn't believe my eyes. In fact he was the only other person or vehicle I came across during that trip heading my way. 

The only other item to brighten my day was that I suddenly realised I had picked up a hitch hiker. In the corner of my eye I noticed something scurrying across the outside of the drivers window. Back at home it would have been a huntsman spider, but it was on my perifiral vision, and I decided to stop for an inspection. It turned out to be the cutest little lizard who could defy gravity by walking accross a moving car window while the car was shaking and crashing about on the corrugations. I pulled over and attempted to photograph this amazing athlete, but he or she was camera shy and proceeded to play hide and seek around the snorkel. I did get one peek a boo type shot. 

The tricycle and lizard definitely made the journey far more enjoyable and after another  three or four hours the camp ground for the night was in sight. 

I should add that this particular stretch is normally done in two days, but because I was travelling east to west, and crossed a state border,  I gained one and half hours in time difference, which meant I could still arive at a reasonable time. 

2016 The Canning Stock Route

On Sunday morning , not as early as I hoped, I finally got away. If it wasn't packed by now it was staying home. 

The travelling went well, and by nightfall I was in Mildura. 

One major task still to be done was to fill the 215 litre diesel tank with cheap fuel at the first opportunity. Mildura was very cheap and I called in to do the task. Well you wouldn't believe it. The filler cap would not unlock. 

This filler cap had been demonstrated to me at the tank maker and looked wonderful. I did have a test run before I left and unlocked the cap, put in 30 litres, and re locked the cap. 

However no matter what I did, I could not undo the lock. Phoning the tank maker wasn't possible as it was Sunday. 

After several cups of soothing tea, I came to the conclusion that I would have to turn around and return the 500km trip that night. 

To say I wasn't the happiest soul around was not an under statement. 

Next morning the tank engineer struggled with the cap and after much foul language got it loose. It obviously had a problem, and as I just wanted to get going, I took a replacement non locking cap, that really couldn't go wrong. 

They were very apologetic. 

So back on the road, this time via Melbourne in peak morning traffic. 

Much later that day, to cheer myself up I stopped at Ouyen on the way to Mildura, and bought the most famous treat that Ouyen was internationally known for.  The Best Vanilla Slice was awarded to Ouyen in a completion set up by Jeff Kennet back in the ninetys. It was delicious. I might have to stop on the way back. 

After a great sleep that night as I had had only a few hours sleep the previous night, I felt much better. 

I did fill up the tank with the aforementioned cheap diesel, and at last felt a bit happier. 

There were some interesting variations on fuel resellers , but I haven't come across too many portable service stations. 

Now for some serious driving to try and make up for lost time. Woomera was the planned destination, and I managed to get there by 5.00. 

I always like Woomera as a stopover, as I have fond memories of the place.  Last visit I spent quite some time looking at the old rockets and Len Beadell paraphernalia.  

Next morning on the road again, and the plan was get to the Northern Territory by nightfall, making three states in three days. I did make it , but the camp ground at Kulgera was only just over the border. 

The camp ground was a bit bare, but I found a shady spot under a tree at the edge of the property. I couldn't work out why all the other campers had ignored it. It might have been due to the hordes of ants that I finally noticed scurrying around at my feet after I had set up camp. None of them bit me, and I didn't find any in the van next morning. 

I am now writing this from Alice Springs. Kulgera never had mobile coverage, so I finally I am back in the big smoke. I paid Coles a visit, and bought some supplies for the trip. This is the last big town before I start the real adventure. 

Tomorrow will be an initial test, as I have traverse the Tanami Track. This is a very famous 1000 km track of danger filled moments, with road trains having right of way over all other vehicles. Google it for more info. 

The Tanami more or less ends at the infamous Wolfe Creek crater. I have been there before, and during the day it doesn't look that scary.