TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAY 25 - CSR

6 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Day 4

WELLS 7, 8, AND 10 (80KM)

Very cold this morning. There was 7mm thick ice covering the water in our bucket.

So I stayed in bed till the kettle boiled as the gas also heated up the cabin. Then by 9:00am it was already 12C and reached over 22C during the day but the strong wind meant that it felt cold. Before we left hubby changed the position of our red flag so that it would not be ripped.

After leaving the springs we stopped about 4.5km further north to explore Ingebong Hills.

They are named after the first aboriginal pastoral lessee in WA who had a station in the vicinity. He had a long association with the stock route. We followed the cairn route and climbed to the top – to the main cairn.

The Oka’s were barely visible from only one spot along our climb.

The rock formations are very striking. We are walking over rocks that are millions of years old that once formed an ancient sea bed. Amazing where plants grew amongst the rocks and crevices. Native White Cypress trees with their contorted trunks were found along the ridges.

The surrounding countryside stretched for miles.

We continued on thrrough mulga country, corrugations to Well 7. Along the way we zigzagged through the mulgas not knowing if we were on the track or not.

Well 7 is a collapsed well but still has some water in it. Lots of flowering shrubs around this well.

Slowly we made our way to Well 8.

The well has collapsed and it doesn’t appear that it will be restored.

Again lots of flowers. We have been surprised by the lushness of the landscape so far. It is also ever changing. We are taking the Explore oz driving guide with a grain of salt. The distances between the wells is accurate but not the time to travel the distance. We are, in all instances, doubling the travel time. They must have gone like rockets along the track to achieve those times.

Our ‚bible‘ described the next section ‚a pleasant drive‘. Well if you call shake, rattle and roll, then bouncy, bouncy followed by rough rock bits ‚ a pleasant drive‘ then it was. We are still going through pastoral country.

We sort of missed Well 9 – it appears to also be the current cattle drinking well on the station. Lots of cattle around.

We decided to stop by mid afternoon at Well 10 for the night.

A bit like Pitt street – another 5 vehicles with trailers were also camped here.

We collected firewood and had a campfire again to end the day.