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.
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| 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…
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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…
