TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAY 24 - CSR

5 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Day 3

WILUNA, GRANITE PEAK, WELLS 5 AND 6 (267km)

Today is the official start of the Caning Stock Route stage of the trip – Wiluna to Billuluna. Three Okas are doing the trip in this remote part of Australia. We have our ma,p our ‚bible‘ (R & E Gard’s Canning Stock Route) and permits in hand. We are each carrying between 270 and 300 litres of fues, 200 litres of water and provisions for at least 4 weeks or more.

A freezing cold start this morning. I couldn’t feel my fingers it was so cold.

Before long we were on our way via Granite Peak Station onto the Canning after topping up and paying for the privildge of travelling on the station’s land. Just because we are bigger than a normal 4WD we had to pay $40 per vehicle. As we are big vehicles we could not go to Wells 3 and 4 and had to come onto the track via here.

Forty-two km out of town we turned off for a 4wd trip of a lifetime. Not sure what to expect as we entered the longest most remote track in the world – a 2,000km stock route that was never originally designed for vehicles.

The dirt road up to the station was good. Cow tracks were clearly seen besides the road. We topped up our fuel at the station. It was a dollar more than in town but we wanted to make sure we left here with full tanks.

At Well 5 we stopped for lunch near the mulgas. This is the deepest of the wells on the stock route. The men had fun pulling up the bucket.

A lot of work has gone into restoring and maintaining this well.

We hoped to get to Carnavon Ranges but the track was closed.

We saw Mt Salvado in the distance.

There was a rough section of track but overall we enjoyed the trip today.

We couldn’t get over the abundance of flowering shrubs along the way. Slowly we made our way to Well 6 at Pierre Spring. What a beautiful spot!  We got there are the late afternoon as the sun lit up the trees. The tall and often multi-trunked Eucalyptus camaldulensis or commonly known as Northern river Red Gum, created a lovely canopy.

We explored the well and were happy to see the toilets.

A campfire again to bring an enjoyable day to an end.