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…