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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment