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.