TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAY 43 - CCR

24 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Day 22

well 51 - Weriaddo, Guda Soak, bloodwood bore (110km)

A leasurely start as we headed towards the gorge and to search for the soak. We never found the soak but the gorge was spectacular.

We seem to be dragging our feet a bit today as if trying to prolong the trip.

We travelled to Well 51. The original well has been abandoned.

A group shot was called for here and we put our Oka numbers on the drum for posterity.

We detoured a little to visit a bore that was not part of the original track. The track today was corrugated. No sand dunes of note.

As soon as we pulled up for the night at Bloodwood Bore a lone motorcyclist pulled in. 

 We heard about his trip and compared notes as we enjoyed the last campfire on the Canning.

As we travelled today I thought about this experience we had had of travelling the Canning.

1,838 Kilometres of track through a very remote part of Australia. 1,838km of spinifex country, desert, sand dunes (they claim 900 we didn’t bother counting), woodlands, corrugations (everywhere it was flat, except for 7km across one claypan) and so far from anywhere. An incredible trip.

The highlights of the trip were many. We had the best company you could imagine. There was great team work, great companionship and friendships forged. When we met at Curtin Springs we were strangers. Now we were the best team – a most amazing group to travel with - friends. It was an incredible journey with this team of wonderful people - Garry and Chris from Oka 306 and Harry and Jenny from Oka 45. Jenny and I even share the same birthday. What a coincidence. We are six very different personalities but whilst travelling we came together as a great team and really bonded well. Whenever maintenanca or repairs were under way everyone pitched in. Thank you to you all for this wonderful experience we’ve had.

Other highlights included Pierre Springs, Durba Spring, Georgia Bore the constantly changing landscape, the amazing colours of the vegetation, the birds, the abundance of flowers and of course our campfires at the end of every day but one. I enjoyed crossing the hundreds of dunes but definitely did not enjoy the corrugations. The night sky was just glorious and the stars were just so bright. A beautiful canopy above us. During the day the bright blue sky with wispy clouds or corrugated like effect was just beautiful and provided such a strong contrast to the red, sandy or rich brown soil, the multitude of greens, and the reds, pinks, violet, yellows of the flowers.

I was disappointed to see as much traffic on the track as we did and expected the dunes to be more challenging. What annoyed me most on the trip – the negatives – wind, wind, wind and corrugations. It also seemed as if I was constantly getting dirty on this trip and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t touch anything to do with the mechanical side of things but I ended up with not oly reds on my clothes but black smuges as well. „Go figure“ as my grandchildren would say.

Particularly as we travelled through the burnt out sections you could feel a sense of desolation. Walking in that scrub felt very hot and you realised how quickly you could feel parched. Even though there was traffic on the track there was a feeling of isolation. Many we met were on a schedule and zooming down or up the track, not having much time to chat as they had to do their 120km or so that day. We took three weeks to cover the length of the track in a very leasurely manner.

The history of the track also brought home the resilience, determination and perserverence of the those surveying the track, building the wells and the drovers bringing the cattle down the track. Not an easy life they led.

TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAYS 41-42 - CSR

22-23 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Days 20-21

BREADEN HILLS, BREADEN POOL, GODFREY’s TANK, Well 48 – Yawalyawul, well 49 – Lampu, well 50 – jikarn (82 km)

A howling wind came in at night and was around till about 9:00 am. It then calmed down to something stronger than a breeze but not quite a wind. Moving air is what it was.

After engines were reving, the usual morning call of „Gas off“ saw all the men jump out of the cabins and go around the side to turn off the gas. A frequent morning ritual. Rarely no one gets out at the call before moving off.

An interesting day today.

The Breaden Hills are just spectacular. One looked like it had a chimney top.

Wind and water over thousands of years had carved the hills into interesting formations. A short walk into Breaden Pool revealed a lerge rock hole/cavern. When the rain comes it would be a beautiful sight as water falls would run into the pool.

A bit further on on the other side after a climb over a rocky hill and a walk was Godfrey’s Tank. I chickened out of going up after climbing half way up. I was told that it was very interesting. Hubby took some photos so I could see the pertoglyphs that were on the rocks.

We met a convoy of three vehicles going south whilst here.

On the way to Well 48 we came across a flowering corktree. There are quite a few cork trees on the track but this was the first flowering one we had seen.

Well 48 was a depression in the ground where once had stood a well.

From Well 48 to 49 the spinifex was very green. You would think you could see fields of grass. How deceptive – it is the sharp spinifex. We are out of dune country and the landscape is quite flat.

Well 49 had good water and had been reconditioned. Not far from the well was the grave of Jack Smith who died droving in 1939.

Lots of termite mounds were in the vicinity of the well.

As we drove to Well 50 we got somewhat concerned as we could see smoke in the horizon. After sometime we determined that it seemed contained as it was not spreading. We camped not far from Well 50 on a claypan. No spinifex here. The earth is extremely dry – as if it has not seen rain for many years.

Some good logs were found so we had a good campfire and decided to have a lay day before continuing on and going our separate ways at the end of the track. At about 8:00pm the moving air hit again and we stood with our backs to the fire to warm up the back of our necks. Somewhat of a ritual by now.

Next morning four of us set off in search of the soak. After walking close to an hour we decided to head back. The temperature rises very quickly in the morning and it was getting very hot by the time we got back to camp 6.2 km later.

The men had quite a lay day until, after photographing the bottom of one Oka and then their own, someoone found a hair line crack via the photograph on the welding done earlier on the track. So several batteries were again hooked up and a weld was done to fix the problem.

Some of us again had the golden opportunity to have a shower but it ended up being quite a comedy. The water on the ground created a quadmire of mud. So the challenge became how to avoid getting it on yourself. So the second person had to bring an additional mat so as to avoid standing on the mud. But the gas ran out and we heard some shrieks as the second person copt a cold shower and quickly retired back to thrit van. By the time my turn came the mud was quite a problem. The gas bottle had been replaced and I enjoyed a very quick but pleasant shower.

I spent the day making bread, pavlova and organising our photos as we were all exchanging what we had taken. I had taken tons so I needed to cull drastically.

Our campfire tonight was absolutely to die for. Just fantastic. The accordion was out and pavlova was shared by all.

TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAY 40 - CSR

21 July 2012

STAGE 3 CSR Day 19

WELL 45 – JINTY, JINTY, WELL 46 – KujuWarri (kuduarra) then track to Well 48 (118 km)

It is our son-in-laws 40th birthday today. We toasted him with Krupnikas and hope good vibes reach him from us.

Another windy day and the wind was cold. Several of us checked the campsite for dingo prints but there were none.

We entered termite country. It was interesting that in some swales they were everywhere – looking like a cemetary. Then the next swale would have none.

In other swales it is as if there is a magic line drawn in the sand with no mounds in front of the line and then thousands behind the line.

These termite mounds reminded me of the ones we had seen on Tanami Track four years ago.

At times the track was lined with groves of shrubs. At other times it was all burnt out.

A strong feeling of desolation hits you travelling through dry burnt areas. There is no sign of life and even no spinifex in places.

We did enjoy the short section without corrugations.

The landscape today was more varied although the driving somewhat monotoneous due to the ongoing corrugations. We crossed 29 dunes to get to Well 45. There is not much left of Well 45.

From Well 45 we soon came to a Jeep that was burnt out in April this year.

We seem to have taken the direct route to Well 46 when we intended to go the more scenic way via Mt Ford but we didn’t see the track. We passed through a ‚forest‘ and then came to gravelly, rocky track. We stopped to pump up the tyres before continuing through the rocky terrain.

We saw several camels today.

Well 46 has been restored and has water but there was no bucket for pulling it up.

There were lots of zebra finches flitting around. After lunch we travelled on. We decided to by-pass Well 47. We passed Gravity Junction and came to a Mount Romily from which there was a wonderful 360 view of the tablelands surrounding it. There were two tracks up. We all chose the less steeper track. A cairn on top provided an opportunity for a group photo.

We camped tonight about 18km south of Well 48.

The wire holding the spring in place snapped over the corrugations and the pump of the back water tank needed minor repairs to get it working. Nothing major – just little minor things keeping us on our toes.

Another great campfire tonight as we relaxed as the sunset over the horizon. Hubby got out the accordion and played whilst dinner was getting prepared.