Day 41: Rawlinna to Cocklebiddy

What a difference a day makes...

A chilly night meant an early start. Last night it was too cold to stay up, so I retreated to my swag. I was warm enough, but the inside of the swag was rather cold when I woke at 5am. So I made the difficult decision to stay put, rolled over and dozed until 6.

Once I finally steeled myself to the inevitability that I had to get up, it was just starting to become a beautiful dawn. Yes, I know "Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning", but sunset was beautiful as well. So do they cancel each other out to make an OK day?

Early morning sunshine at camp

If you read yesterdays blog, you'll remmeber I said the track was getting worse as I approached Rawlinna? Well I was still 23km north, and the Station owners had told me the track south was more of the same. Allow 4 or 5 hours they said... And they weren't kidding! It took me 7 hours to cover about 120km, and I didn't loiter in Rawlinna this time. I was also mindful of he warnings printed on the maps about the number of station tracks criss-crossing mine, so I zoomed in on the Hema App to give me a metre scale, verified the map to recent vehicle marks, and didn't take a wrong turn! Very happy with that.

Just as I was leaving Rawlinna, one of the trains came through. The size of these things is amazing. You can't help but pause and watch.

A flying visit through Rawlinna township

While there are a lot of station tracks, these signs help keep you pointed in the right direction

The rough, stony tracks continue...

Finally, the track started to ease off as I approached Arubiddy and became wide and smooth so that the last 45km was covered at about 60km/h.

Open tracks again. Bliss!

At last, Cocklebiddy! The allure of flushing toilets and hot showers is tangible, but mixed with the sadness that the desert tracks part of the trip is over. For a while I did consider the track along the coast to Esperance, but the forecast says there's some bad weather coming through. Plus after nearly 6 weeks, I've done what I planned to do, so it's time to go home. But not by the most direct route... I was looking at the map a few days ago and decided that if I just head to Esperance, then along the coast to Denmark, then home, I'll have done a lap of the State. It would be a shame not to... It's only another couple of days (and not in a swag!)...

Day 40: Point Lillian to Rawlinna

An unexpected bonus. I think…

Slept like a log last night. Was so warm and cosy in swag that at some stage I had to unzip the sleeping bag. That lasted until the usual temperature drop at 4am, but I quickly went back to sleep until 6:15.. Not bad for going to sleep at 8:30…

So the day was off to a good start, but I knew the first 100km or so was just driving to Neale Corner with no side tracks to break up the trip. My day got better! The track was even better than yesterday with only a few washouts, minor corrugations and a few dunes to cross. Then as I crossed into Neale Junction Reserve, the track changed again. It suddenly opened up and became, dare I say it, maintained..? In a lot of places it was a better surface than many roads in Perth. Beautifully smooth. So my speed increased and I was at the Junction far earlier than I thought I would be.

Entering Neale Junction Reserve. Just look at that track..!

Neale Junction where the Connie Sue meets the Anne Beadell. Visitors book has several entries every day

The fabulous open, smooth track continued after Neale Junction, and I found myself wondering what the track to Neale Breakaways would be like. The reality is it was nearly as good, and what a destination. Absolutely beautiful! Soft, white mud/clays overlain by red sandstone. You can also see that the water draining from the clays is very saline as it forms amazing, intricate patterns as the water evaporates. Almost like the calcium carbonate in limestone caves. While it’s a truly wonderful scene, when you look closely you realise how fragile it is, yet the track in is outside the Reserve? Strange it is not afforded the same protection as the bushland a couple of kilometres away.

Neale Breakaways

Amazing colours in the sediments

Back to the Connie Sue and the smooth track continued, so I made the most of it and pushed on. When I woke this morning, I was expecting to be camping somewhere about 200km north of Rawlinna, the maybe another night just south of it before I made the push for Cocklebiddy. Nope. Tonight I’m camped about 15km north of Rawlinna, But there are a couple of points here… About 100km north of Rawlinna, the Connie Sue leaves the lovely open tracks and becomes ungraded, single lane track again. It also becomes progressively stonier. Just after the track split, my speed dropped to around 50km/h average. By the time I got to 40km north, it had dropped to 30km/h occasionally… but by this time I had the bit between my teeth. I knew there was mobile signal at Rawlinna and wanted to be able to at least make a phone call, so I pushed on. So yet again, I arrive at camp near Rawlinna under spotlights… but Telstra is here, even if only one bar.

So tomorrow is not going to be as big a day as I thought, but it will be slow going. It also means this might be my last night in the swag which is a bit sad as it means the trip is nearly over. The might part of this statement comes from an unknown, ie how much Cocklebiddy will try to sting me for a campsite. They don’t have a lot of competition…

Day 39: Warburton to Point Lillian

A day for concentrating

Not a great night’s sleep. Between being woken by a Chinese family arriving in the campsite at 10pm, parking next to me the talking loudly to each other (yes there were comments made), then waking up early, looking at the time on the iPhone and going to get up before realising the autocorrect on the iPhone had changed the time to Central Australian Time (ie an hour and a half ahead)…Grr… But by then I could only lightly doze until 6am (proper time). So I was packed and ready to leave pretty early. In anticipation of a long day I made myself slow down, and take on extra caffeine.

A setup to give me privacy

So today is the start of the Connie Sue. The longest leg of the trip at about 850km in total to get to Cocklebiddy. All on dirt. No fuel or roadhouses en route. Since the reviews say that not many people travel on it, I hope it’s an easy road in the way the Gary was. 800km of Gunbarrel corrugations doesn’t bear thinking about…

The entry point to the Connie Sue from the Great Central. That barrel and half tyre are the marker...

Wow. What a start. Soft sandy tracks running beside and over dunes. Not too badly corrugated and only a few washouts or calcrete ridges. I’ve decided that while I need to press on with the journey, I will take some of the smaller side tracks. With the two jerry cans on the roof I should have more than enough fuel.

Open tracks in good condition and small corrugations. How different to the Gunbarrel...

First stop was Mackenzie Gorge. Unlike the Kimberley where you walk into the gorge, these are more like breakaways where you park on top. Mackezie gives you a great view to the West.

Unfortunately, after Mackenzie, the road becomes a lot more corrugated, plus gravel, plus more washaways. Not continuously, but enough to keep you concentrating between the faster bits, and meqan the faster bits aren’t as fast as they could be as yo know that next obstacle is waiting for you to not be paying attention… According to a guy I met and chatted to, this is going to continue until Neale Junction. Oh joy.

Mackenzie Gorge

Unfortunately, not all the side trips were as worthwhile. Harkness Gorge wasn’t particularly stunning, although it might have been to the person that first saw it. Waterfall gorge is a 1 and a bit kilometre walk from where the track ends, with no path to it. File under “maybe next time…”.  Couldn’t find Henning Tank, and Woods Pass, while it does take you past a great view, the track just ends about a kilometre later for no apparent reason. Apparently Wood will not pass this way if he were  to try again!

On the upside, while Sykes Bluff is a great campsite, I was more impressed by the airstrip. A bit overgrown now, but still in good condition. I drove alongside it for over 500m. I wonder why it was built? There aren't any communities or stations in the area. Maybe it was to service the exploration that happened in the area? Also, Coopers Hill Bore now has a tank and solar pump so fresh water is easily available.

Sykes Bluff airstrip. No idea why this is there...

Finally, towards the end of the day I dropped in to Point Sandercock and Point Lillian. Both fabulously lit in the late afternoon sunshine, but while Sandercock was a fairly open campsite, I’ve managed to find a small spot at Lillian with breakaways on 3 sides. According to one of the track reports I read, there is some good rock art here. As there are a lot of places it could be, I won’t have time to look in the morning, but it’s worth remembering for next time.

It’s also strange that while I struggled with the isolation on the Gary, here I feel fine. I think that night in Comms range in Warburton helped, and mentally I know that it was 3 days home from Warburton by the quick route, or 6 via Connie Sue (and only 3 or 4 in the swag). Either way, I'm on my way home at last…

Day 38: Gunbarrel to Warburton

A mercifully short day

Since I did a lot of the hard yards yesterday on the Gunbarrel, I knew it was only a short hop into Warburton today. I also knew from talking to the guys on motorbikes that the first section was very corrugated and sandy, then when I got onto the Heather, the bad corrugations would continue for the first 30 or so kilometres, then it would become smooth highway. So before we went our separate ways, I took their rubbish for them (for which they were really glad). No skin off my nose and it will make their lives easier.

The end of the Gunbarrel, but not the corugations.

Their info (unsurprisingly) panned out really well. A bit of soft sand going over the dunes, and lots of corrugations where they and the map said they’d be. What I wasn’t expecting were some of the views from the Heather Highway. For a while you run along a ridgeline which gives awesome views of the run into Warburton. Then you get onto the smooth section which is where the Heather forms part of the road into Tjukarli community, hence it’s really good.

Open, smooth track on the Heather along the ridge of a stabilised dune

Next surprise came when I got to the Great Central… Tarmac! It stared about 300m before my junction and ran until about 8km from Warburton. Why would you tarmac that section and not all the way in to Warburton? On the face of it, it makes no sense at all. Although the Shire and Main roads might disagree…

Off the Heather and back to my old friend, the Great Central, to find...

... tarmac. Noooo!

Rest of the day was just normal stuff. Washing clothes, and revelling in a hot shower and flushing toilets. Tried to upload all my outstanding blogs, but the 3G internet really slowed down from 4pm for the rest of the day. Bah! Oh well, Cocklebiddy will be busy…

Day 37: Gary Highway to Gunbarrel Hwy (20km E of Mt Beadell)

A day of changes

It turns out my camping spot last night (about 10km north of the junction with the Eagle Hwy) coincided with a change in the track conditions and landscape. It turned from open desert with some washaways and few corrugations, to more corrugations and exposed rcky sections where top cover has been eroded. But not too many and progress was still pretty good. Met a couple from NSW as I approached the junction with the Gunbarrel who were on their way to Broome. Apparently they have done the Gunbarrel 5 times, and this will be their time time on the Gary. Stopped for a while as I passed Lake Cohen as there ‘s still a small amount of water in it which is attracting some birdlife. Unfortunately I didn’t see anything as I passed the Giles Crossing point. Then you cross the Young Range and you’re on the Gunbarrel…

Lake Cohen

About to cross the Young Ranges

Goodbye to Gary while looking down a Gunbarrel...

The Gunbarrel is a different kettle of fish to the Gary. For a start, the visitors book at the junction said I was only the second person TODAY to sign it. June filled the previous 2 pages… Bit of a difference. He track itself shows the wear from the extra traffic. Lots more large corrugations and massive washouts. Even the go-arounds have go-arounds! Needless to say, progress was a lot slower. Down to less than 20km/h in places, and sometimes even that was too fast as a moments inattention saw me arriving at another washout or rock step and having to brake sharply to scrub speed before I hit it.

Having said that, there are some great vantage points to climb. I climbed Mt Everard and Mt Beadell and the views are fabulous. Since it was only 3pm I drove past a couple of nice looking camp spots and have ended up at a water bore. A bit more exposed than I’d like, but the car makes a half decent wind break, and it does mean that Warburton is less than 120km away. But the map says that all the tracks to there are very corrugated. The fact that it warrants a special mention, and the rest of today doesn’t, has me a little worried… I’d just got here and was setting up camp when a couple of guys arrived on motorbikes. I a camping area a couple hundred metres across, where do you reckon they stopped? Yep, within 30m of me… While part of me is growling, another part welcomes the company. As an update to this they were good blokes and the company was definitely appreciated.

View from Mt Everard

Mt Everard and Mt Gordon

A replica of Len Beadell's theodolite, forever surveying the Gunbarrel

Day 36: From Kunawaritji along Gary Highway

When the sun gets so low the Spinifex shadows are hiding the holes in the road, maybe it’s time to look for a campsite…

Another sunset in a campsite all to myself, but it’s been a (deliberately) long day to get here, and not without it’s dramas… It all started well enough, as most days do. A look around Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, then a short drive to the nearby relict cattle yards on my way back to the start of the Gary Highway. It’s a bit disappointing to see toilet paper so obvious and within 10m of the camping area. People, burn it or bag it, and for gods sake go further away!

Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route

The stockyards are still here.

The first few kms along the Gary, I was thinking that it was easy. A relatively smooth, 2 lane track. Then the Kiwikurra track branched off and it was immediately apparent that the rougher single lane track heading south was mine… Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, but now down to business. After about 10km I heard a strange rattling noise from under the car. I’d been hearing an occasional rattle before and thought that it was an exhaust mount complaining, but couldn’t find the culprit. Therefore I feared it had finally broken. I looked under the car to see a stick wedged in a gap at the back of the ARB under body protection plating. Not a problem. When I went to remove it, my heart sank. The back of the plating was no longer attached to the car. It had sheared around all 4 mounting bolts and was only held in place by the bolts ahead of it. Now I knew what that occasional rattle had been. Shit!!! Half an hour of scrabbling under the car, with copious swearing later and it’s been fixed the good old bush way. Tie wired back into position to take the strain off the other bolts, then duct taped around the tie wire to stop them moving around. I’ll need to check it every day, but so far it seems to be holding. ARB will be getting an email…

How the Gary Highway started...

Oh, Bugger...

The (very) temporary solution...

The rest of the day went more or less as expected. The track is twisty with frequent washouts, both big and small but thankfully well marked by thoughtful previous users, many drive rounds and frequent corrugations. Average speed of around 40km/h including stops for photos and lunch. Although some places you could go faster, it’s best to drive at a speed where you can stop in less than half the distance you can see clearly ahead. Sounds silly, but the obstacles are frequent enough and often hiding behind a bend that it will pay you dividends, i.e. allow you to have a car still in a driveable condition.

Don't let this good section fool you...

Just before lunch I got to the turn off for the Veevers Meteor crater. This thing wasn’t discovered until 1975, so my hopes for something huge and impressive weren’t great, and I wasn’t disappointed. But it’s a nice drive in with a soft sand dune to go over. A word of warning though. While the rest of the track is passable with a proper off-road camper trailer, the track into the crater isn't. Especially if you do what I did and follow the main track too far and miss where people had ducked out. It becomes high sided and narrower until you can’t go forwards any more. By then this also means the reversing back is also tight. But the diversion is worth it. There's a marker there with an ammo case and visitors book. Apparently there hadn't been many visitors this year, with the previous ones being at the beginning of June.

Maybe I should have taken that go-around?

Plaque at Veevers Meteorite crater

Not long afterwards I saw an old pop top camper by the side of the track. As I was pulling up, and old guy got out. So after checking he was OK I asked about track conditions and other users. Apparently I must have missed the rest of his group while I was at the crater as they were headed for Kiwikurra. Knowing that the track is more used than I thought is both heartening and disappointing.

Another Nissan bites the dust

So I kept driving for longer than I usually would as I figured that another long day tomorrow will see me well onto the Gunbarrel Highway and hopefully through the section shown on the map as having frequent wash-outs. That should then put me in for a short day down the Heather Highway to Warburton, where an early stop will allow me to upload several days blogs and have a bit of a rest before continuing the journey south.

Day 35 Marble Bar to Kunawaritji

A tentative start

Last night I was really worried about this part of the trip. I know I'm capable. My car is more than capable. I just have to keep reminding myself to take it slowly as the consequences for doing something stupid when you’re this remote and by yourself could be severe…

Having said that, the drive to Kunawaritji is quite pretty and an easy intro to the desert. The road is tarmac until you nearly get to Telfer mine, then it turns into (when I travelled it) very well graded track that runs between large, re-vegetated dunes that seem to run for many kilometres. Along the way I stopped to get a photo of the Oakover River where the track crosses it, and started talking to an old guy, Bill, that was doing the same. He was camped for a couple of days just down stream and said it was still running as it was fed by the water from Carawine Gorge. It also turns out he’s the guy that put the brass palques on tracks where they cross the Tropic of Capricorn. When he put the one on the Gary Track, he said he got a call from Len Beadell saying thanks for putting a decent plaque there, but you spelled Gary wrong. It should be Garry! Looks like a lot of maps are wrong as well then…

Oakover River

After Telfer, the track is wide and well graded. Mostly.

It think that's clear enough..?

Then you get to the last 20km before Kunawaritji. Slow Down! It suddenly becomes a lot rougher with corrugations and small wash outs. Also, the Hema Desert Map info for the community is wrong. The shop and servo close at 4pm, not 5pm. I was lucky as the Administrator was tending his veggie patch and opened it up again for me as long as I was paying cash. Half a tank later at $3.40/litre, I drove away with a wallet $280 lighter. Before I left I asked about the camp site listed near the Community. Turns out that isn’t there either. So as dusk was fast approaching, I got directed to the closest one which is only 4km away. I’m spending the night at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, and amazingly, I have the place to myself.

Sunset at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route

Tomorrow sees the start of the Gary Highway, then the Gunbarrel and Heather Highways before I get to Warburton. Eek! It’s less than 400km, but I’m allowing 4 days. Lets see how accurate my guess is…