TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAY 33 - CSR

14 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Day 12

GeoRGIA BORE, Well 23 – Kalypa, Well 24 – kartarru, well 25 – warntili, well 26 – tiwi-teiwa (80km)

I think one word can describe today – awesome. Awesome for the scenery we passed through and awesome for the feats achieved by the guys on the track.

The only thing that spoilt the day was that ever moving cold air ie wind. It adds a chill to the air and we are forever putting on a fleece.

We started today very solemnly as we buried the broken Oka parts near the ‚thong‘ tree.

 Then as Oka 306 topped up its water supply another group of vehicles came in from the west.

Finally we were on our way. We had to drive through spinifex so as soon as we were back on the track we stopped to remove any spinifex accululated under the vehicle.

 22km on we reached Well 23.

This is the well where many pick up fuel supplies. We did not have such arrangements in place. Most 4wd towing heavy campers did make use of this service. Personally I think they should leave the trailers at home as they really chew up the dunes and the track to and from the dune.

Well 23 is on the Talawana Track that was built by Len Beadell in the 1960s.

The scenery today was absolutely spectacular.

Saw some camel tracks, camel skeleltons and finally in the afternoon some camels on the Canning Stock Route. We hadn’t seen any since the Gunbarrel Highway.

Well 24 is actually a pond/soak. It is at the edge of a rocky outcrop with mulga trees. Amongst the rocks grow beautiful wild flowers.

We passed the junction to Windy Corner, climbed up the rocky outcrop that suddenly turns into a sandy track on the crest and stopped to investigate the Breakaways. It is as if the earth has opened up within the open wide plains to reveal its deeper self.

We continued on enjoying the passing scenery.

Just 2 km from Well 5 the unexpected happened. As hubby says “it is hard to believe what I saw with my eyes.“ Oka 45 broke the front spring hanger on the rear left wheel. It had stopped in the middle of the track and was going nowhere. We thought we would be here for the night. It felt like our world was crushing in. The guys, after a few expletives, got changed and tackled the problem head on. Before we knew it the car was jacked with three jacks and a highlift. The spares were used to make sure the car didn’t move forward as they respositioned the spring. Then they used the two then three batteries toweld the break. All this was done in the middle of the track. Two convoys passed us whilst this was in progress and I believe that neither of them expected to see us all mobile again. Nor did they offer to help. One mentioned he had a mig welder but didn’t offer to let us use it. Well guess what. Just over two hours later we were on the road again. What awesome team work and also thank goodness that someone was an experienced welder. It is unbelievable that such major work could be done on the track with no specialised equipment. They had the rods, a mask, jumper leads to hold the rods and car batteries. Wow!

There was not much for us girls to do whilst all this was going on.

By late afternoon we were on the road again. We didn’t linger at Well 25 as we were all a bit wary of what was ahead. 

We hit the dunes between Well 25 and 26 with bravado and did well. Oka 306 being an LT with diff locks sailed through them all. The two XTs with limited slip discs needed a little assistance over the top of the dune with the very sharp right hand bend into very soft sand. We came across another claypan where we had a stretch of track without corrugations.

Before we knew it we were at Well 26 for a well earned rest. Here we had a very enjoyable social evening around a roaring campfire – cracking jokes and discussing the days events.