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
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment