After a year of
planning we finally set out and travelled on two of the Len Beadell roads. I
had originally read of Len’s exploits in the early seventies and wanted to
follow in his foot steps and see this remote part of Australia for a long time.
The trip group consisted of Denise and myself, Gerry and Bev Paay, Dean and Jan
Pearce, Greg and Lone Young, Wendy and David Perkins, Spot Wright, Kim McCoole,
Gary and Jack Hallam, and Keith Plastow. A team of nine vehicles made up of two
80’s and one 100 series Landcruisers, three GU Nissan Patrols, two with camper
trailers in tow, two Prados and one Maverick to carry this intrepid crew.
A number of us set out on Friday and spent the night at Oakden Hills prior to arriving in Coober Pedy on Saturday while some of our swing bachelor crew sampled the delights of William Creek. This group were noticed to have a quiet night on Saturday, while the remainder of us went to the pub for a last supper before heading out into the bush for the extended period.
Sunday morning the
group gathered at the northern entrance to Coober Pedy where they met the Dodgey
Tours tour leader dressed in his business uniform. After a quick photo shoot
and briefing, we set out up the Stuart Highway (what a good name the road has)
for the Mabel Creek Station turn off. After some anxious moments in the lead
vehicle we established we were on the right road and on our way.
Our first stop was at the information signs just near Mabel Creek homestead. Everyone took the time to have a read and adjust tyre pressures as this was the end of the maintained road for the next 800-km. We then headed out though the remainder of Mabel Creek Station till we reached the dog fence. Quick left turn then down for a couple of kilometres though the gate and back up along the fence to the main track.
W
e
were now in Tallaringa Conservation Park. By lunchtime we had reached
Tallaringa Well were we stopped for lunch. Highlights for this stop were the
well (which was dry), the Len Beadell Plaque and everyone was discovering what
had not been packed very well in their vehicles. The first day award for best
stowage of eggs went to David and Wendy with their Waeco scrambled egg maker.
This generated some interesting solutions over the next few days on how to carry
eggs. Kim provided one such solution, which was to cut them in half and tape
them up with electrical tape. After some sceptical comments he had to clarify
it was the egg carton he cut not the egg, but most of us still have visions of
eggs held together with tape in Kim’s fridge.
The well was planned to be our night location but as we were
travelling well I decided to continue on and reduce the distance we would have
to travel the next day, allowing more time for our visit to Emu. This plan
turned out to be good as events the next day could have made for a long day. By
about 3pm we found a camp in a nice sandy flat. After happy hour,
dinner, the usual
campfire session a pleasant first night was had by all. Next morning the
Bangers Morning Walking Club (BMWC) set out for their first morning walk, but
they did need to consult on which direction to walk in, as they were quite happy
to head off east instead of west. That would have been a really long walk. (Is
it against the law not to report your wife missing in the desert? Surely the
extra beer space would make a fine defence).
Around smoko time Spot reported he might have a flat tyre on
his camper trailer. Well, it was not flat, in fact the tyre was in good nick,
it just was not attached to the trailer, as part of his trailer’s suspension had
sheared off. The A team under Dean’s trusty leadership swung into action,
bashed the bent bit straight, welded the broken bits back together and had the
trailer back in action in no time. Meantime just to the north a small group of
juvenile western brown snakes (three) realised that their safe hide had been
over run by female humans (aka repair site supervisors) and attempted to escape
due south though this group of interlopers and the repair site. After an
exhausting slither dodging all those nasty big boots they managed to make good
their escape without any c
asualties
(girls they were only 6 inches long). It is also important to note that during
these proceedings, two site safety officers were present in their Hivis vests to
ensure that no ladies, mechanics or snakes were injured during this critical
event. Repairs finished, an early lunch, and we were off again.
We continued on though the dune country into the afternoon,
the country began to change, becoming flatter and more rock became evident.
Sturt Desert Peas were in abundance along this part of the track. By mid
afternoon we had reached the area of Emu with our first stop at Camera C site,
then on to the cairns at Totem One and Two. After reading the stark signs about
radiation hazard I made sure I was safe by wearing my protective suit. It was
quite a race down the track to get to Totem One and get dressed before any one
else caught up. With his usual sense of humour, Dean managed to re-enact the
blast with a bunger, not everyone knew “what fire in the hole” meant, so some
got a shock. After leaving the two blast sites we drove up to the observation
point where the blasts were initiated. Let me tell you, I have been further
away using conventional explosives than they were, glad I was not there on those
days. We then went up to Emu strip, after exploring the area and some good
photo opp
ortunities
we then moved on to find our campsite for the night. We camped just west of the
airstrip at a shelter shed on the junction of Emu road and the Anne B Highway.
Day Three was a fairly uneventful run apart from meeting
Beadell Tours coming the other way, past Anne’s Corner with a replica plaque
then out of Woomera Prohibited Zone and into Unnamed Conservation Park arriving
and spending the night at Vokes Hill Junction. The wind picked up a bit that
night so it was showers, happy hour, dinner and bed for most. Next morning,
most of us took a few pics and had a look in the visitors book. Walkers set out
as usual, and again we had a good run. Areas of the Unnamed Conservation Park
had been burnt out last year and with the rain the area received earlier this
year some for the dune areas we drove though were a carpet of green splashed
with colour from wild flowers. Kim imparted some very good botanical knowledge
when he quickly identified one particular interesting flower we saw as “flowers
on sticks.”
We continued on as the day became overcast and windy arriving
at Serpentine Lakes mid afternoon. Quick break for photos and a read of the
notes in the visitors jar at the camp ground and then across the lake to the SA/WA
border. The sign welcomed us to the Laverton Shire (the Sturt Desert Pea Shire)
and Len’s plaque told us where we were. The car mascots got to do their border
photo shoot although there were no busloads of tourists to wonder what we were
doing with all those stuffed toys this time. Once we got going again we headed
for our campsite at the first of the WA butterfly tank campsites. After a bit
of car repair by David (made sure the front end of the Prado didn’t fall off)
and a quiet night around the campfire, we headed out early on a short detour
down to a rock hole and salt lake south of the track. The tadpole population
in the rock hole was a sight to be seen (really impressed Denise). I think the
highlight of this stop was watching Greg putting his arm into the green murky
water of the rock hole to determine the depth. Leonine was delighted. David
demonstrated a superior method by using a long stick. We waited for
several days but Greg’s arm did not grow arms or legs like the other rock hole
inhabitants.
After that detour we set out for llkurlka Roadhouse. Today
was however not uneventful as the previous days. At the morning tea break I
noticed a pool of oil under Gary’s Nissan in the vicinity of the rear diff. On
investigation it was found that his diff housing had cracked again (an old war
wound from the Kimberley Trip). He decided to just monitor it for the moment
and we continued on to the roadhouse. The next event of the afternoon was
camels. We had been following camel tracks for quite a few kilometres and
eventually we caught up to a pair. For the next five kilometres Denise and I
got to watch the arse end of two camels and enjoy the smells of wild camel
wafting in though the air vents. Every attempt to go around was thwarted by
fast manoeuvring on the camels’ part. Eventually the track widened enough to
allow us to accelerate past them; they then promptly disappeared off into the
scrub. 
On arrival at llkurlka Roadhouse we were informed that they had no bulk fuel and would have to hand pump it all. The ladies went down and started the hot water donkey at the campground, so with the extended stay for fuel we were able to have showers and visit the shop. I had considered staying here as it was getting late but due to the size of the camping area and the number of us in the group, we elected to continue on to the next butterfly tank. Not that it was much larger, but at least it was away from civilisation.
After the daily pack up Gary’s car was positioned with the
front end up on a mound of dirt for a diff inspection. The bush welder was set
up and Dean provided a remedial fix on the crack. Once that was done we set
off. The first stop was the Gold Fields Air crash site. The tracks in proved to
be the first real dunes for the trip, but were crossed with no difficulty. Our
visit to the wreck coincided with a famous French aviator, Pierre, dressed
dashingly in welding goggles, flying helmet and purple scarf (well he is Frenc
h).
After demonstrating his skill at landing and explaining the heroic affair of the
bullet holes on the aircraft, we posed with Pierre for group shots as a record
of this event. Shortly after that another group of vehicles arrived and Pierre
quickly metamorphosed back into Dean. Bit of morning tea and a chat with them
and were off to visit the caravan wreck. Even an old wrecked caravan had the
team out inspecting. I think I detected some sad faces who missed their little
houses on wheels.
Leaving the caravan wreck site we moved on, stopping for lunch at a disused airstrip. Just to the north of the strip are groups of rock outlines; I got the evil look for photographing them all. We had lunch here an allowed time for everyone to inspect the formations. The jury is out on exactly who constructed them. My bet is on a bored mining crew.
Later that afternoon we arrived at Neale Junction for
designated camp for the night. Next morning the walking team set out as usual,
but got to go a lot further than they planned. After performing my first
parade on the Cruiser I noticed the water level was down. Not to worry, it had
been warm and very corrugated so I just topped up, and started to
warm up the
engine. That’s when I noticed the water coming back out. Once again the A Team
sprang into action and we dismantled the front end of the Cruiser to get the
radiator out. A seam had split so it was soldered up as best as Spot could. We
put the car back together and set out to pick up our now tired walkers.
Unfortunately we did not fix the leak but it was slow enough to allow me to
continue to Laverton.
We met a couple of oncoming vehicles today but one group in particular tickled our fancy. They would have been more at home eating cucumber sandwiches than out getting dirty on the track. This event occurred while we were visiting Bishop Riley’s Pulpit, a mesa in the Yeo Lakes Reserve. The more adventurous of us climbed all over the mesa taking photographs of the view it provided of the reserve.
Due to my leaking radiator I changed the planned two-night
stop at the old Yeo homestead to one. It was a cramped camping area because of
our group size, but other than the mice plague is was a very nice area with good
bush camping facilities, a well and rainwater tank, bush shower area, fire
places and the hut. So next morning it was off to Laverton. A good run in,
especially the last section where the roads were well maintained and no
corrugations!
Once in Laverton we checked into the Caravan Park, and over
the next three days everyone washed, showered, ate pub teas, shopped for tucker,
visited the sites of the area and Dean getting the first flat tyre for the trip
(a nail in the caravan park). I was able to get a new radiator which Dean and I
fitted in and Gary had more welding done on his diff. The highlights of this
stay were that Gerry found someone he knew in town (surprise surprise), Keith’s
gas fire which David and I put out before it consumed his car and the watch
house just over the fence. The Manageress of the caravan park was one of the
most helpful caravan park managers I have ever met. While we were in the park
we made good use of the camp kitchen although one night we were inundated with
another group of 4x4ers. The worst part of this is they were still on SA time
so they rose very early and were very noisy. Sadly, Gary and Jack had to leave
us when we left Laverton as his diff was not up to the rest of the trip and they
had elected to return home via the black top.
We departed Laverton wondering what the weather would bring
as in the early hours a large thunder storm had passed through, but as we
travelled up the Great Central Road we passed through where the storm had been.
Apart from some patches of water and slippery bits, all was good. We had a good
run up to Warburton visiting Tjukayirla Roadhouse on the way. The only issue we
had that day was just out of Laverton, Gerry destroyed a tyre, no indication
why, just one of those things. Our arrival in Warburton was after closing time
so we had to go to the manager’s house to book in. The compound was
interesting, reminded me of a detention centre. Once again we made use of the
camp kitchen. This area is designated as a dry zone so it was a quiet night.
Next morning while packing up I made a rather silly comment that was to haunt me for the rest of the day. In a moment of jest I said “arr today be Pirate day,” which she who is to be obeyed immediately adopted with glee. And so the day began like a scene from the Channel 10 show “Thank god you’re here” (a comment from one of the others using the camp kitchen at the time). As the team arrived for breakfast at the camp kitchen Denise proceeded to inform them that today was Pirate day and issued them with their pirate names. We had Captain Pugwash, Captain Silverbeard, Slim Jim, Long John, Scurvy Dog, Skull, Tim the cabin Boy, Captain Feather Sword, Peg Leg Pete, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Old Tom, and Dead Tom. So radio banter was with pretty strange pirate accents, and very confusing as pirate names became more confused. We even had a treasure map at Harkness Gorge that we followed and found pieces of ten. By lunchtime I was really wishing I had kept my mouth shut.
Continuing with our travels, we fuelled up at the Roadhouse,
then visited the Visitors Centre where one the staff provided an interpretation
of some of the paintings that hung in the gallery and of course opened the gift
shop. After this cultural session we headed out on the Connie Sue. Quickl
y
we had camel sightings as we meandered along though the sand dunes and ridges.
We visited Glass, Harkness, and Waterfall Gorges. By mid afternoon we had
reached the turn off to Sydney Yeo Chasm, a seventy-kilometre detour out and
back to the east. Denise took the time to read the description of the route in
over the radio and explained that it was a windy (air movement) road. This lead
to much mirth on was it windy or windy. My plan was to camp and drive out the
next day but we decided to head out along the track as far as we could then
camp. Campsites were scarce because of the heavy growth of spinifex. As a
result of this we made a late camp in the area of the Chasm. Added incentive
was the numerous thunderstorms that were now surrounding us. We elected to stay
in the area for two nights giving us a full day to explore the area. Luckily
the storms went around us and the area did not receive any significant rain, but
I did have a nervous night wondering if we would be stranded for any length of
time. The Chasm proved to be an interesting area, discovered by the explorer
Frank Hann in the late 1800’s the area has been the focus for mining exploration
and is a traditional aboriginal meeting place. Everyone spent time exploring
the area on foot searching for a rock hole that was located in the area. It
turned out it was right where the vehicles were parked.
After our two-night stop and exploration we headed back
towards the Connie Sue. Morning tea lead to the discovery that my new radiator
had failed and was now leaking. Nothing pepper could not fix and I continued
with it leaking till we reached the Nullarbor. At lunchtime we took the time to
stop and explore Hanns Tabletop, another mesa that provides vistas of the area.
That evening as we were looking for a campsite we noticed a diff housing on the
side of the road. The party stopped to investigate while Denise and I continued
to look for a campsite. As it turned out the area of the diff was ok and as we
turned back Denise noticed oil on the track. Now very nervous about any fluid
leaks we got out to investigate. As I looked under the Cruiser I encountered a
brown snake, and after much prompting Denise leapt back into the car. I decided
that the investigation of the oil could wait. As it turned out there were a
couple of loose nuts on the diff housing which when tightened solved the
problem. The diff housing found on the track was a very reinforced one that had
failed and snapped off where the spring was attached, glad it was not from our
group and made it clear that Gary’s decision to go home early was a wise one.
The other unusual event of this night was that we had our
nightly campfire
in the centre of the track. It was central and the clearest area as we were
camped in a clump of scrub that was reasonably thick and any clear area had a
tent on it. No traffic came through so it was not an issue. In fact we did not
encounter any other travellers on the Connie Sue.
Next day we moved on, stopping for morning tea at Neale Junction and inspection of the book to see who had been though since we were last there. It was surprising how many people had been through. Greg and Leonie found that the previous owner of their van had been through in the week since we had been here the first time. Driving south of Neale Junction the road became a little interesting. Long sandy straights between the sand dune with hairpin corners at the end of each dune. As the leader and being first into these corners, I left the road once and had to brake hard on a few others as they often took me by surprise.
The next place of interest was Neale Breakaways, luckily they
had been clearly signposted by other travellers
or we would have
missed them. It is an eight-kilometre trip in to what initially appears to be
small area of breakaways, but as you reach them it opens up into a large basin,
with walls brilliant white from salt springs capped with red and orange
sandstone. This was an impressive site and well worth the visit. After a windy
lunch we set off. The country was beginning to change with more rock becoming
evident as we moved out of the Great Victorian Desert and onto the Nullarbor.
This made finding campsites harder but we were able to find a sandy knoll to
spend the night on, at least we could get our tent pegs in.
Once again we packed up camp and set off. Our destination was Rawlinna on the transcontinental railway line. As we travelled south the weather went from clear to overcast, then stormy then clear again. A forty-kilometre section of the Connie Sue is now part of a community development road. This section gave everyone a skills upgrade as it contained really bad bulldust. It was just like driving though water and no matter which part of the road you tried to drive on it was still there.
On arrival at Rawlinna we called the mine to let them know we
were in town and intended to camp. There is only two staff there currently as
the mine has just had a bout of redundancies. We were directed to camp in the
Muster Ground by the mine staff, which was excellent. The Muster Ground has
toilets, showers (cold) and a big shed. The shed was very handy as it was very
windy and we set up our cooking areas in the shed out of the wind. That
night was the first of the windy nights we experienced out on the Nullarbor,
with Greg and I getting up in the early hours to move our cars to act as a
windbreak.
Armed with water from the mine Reverse Osmosis supply and info on which track to follow we headed south for Cocklebiddy. We drove east out of Rawlinna till we reached the dog fence, then travelled south though Balgair Station. As we were going down the dog fence, jokes were floating around on why they built the Great Wall of China when the Balgair Station staff, who had been listening chipped in, ‘because there were too many rabbits.’ They also invited us to morning tea but unfortunately we had already gone too far to take up this offer.
Arriving in Cocklebiddy some checked in to the motel, while
the rest of us hardy souls pitched camp. Every one got stuck into washing
clothes and bodies. We arranged to get another radiator. That meant leaving
the group and driving across to Nundroo. That night we had dinner in the
roadhouse and the next morning saw the group grow smaller. Keith left early as
he was meeting Gill at Port Augusta to head up into the Simpson Desert in
support of the Simpson Desert
Classic. We were next out on our 1,100-kilometre sortie to have a new radiator
fitted. David and Wendy were next, they travelled out to Cocklebiddy Cave with
the rest and then departed. The remainder stayed another night at Cocklebiddy
then travelled out to Eyre Bird Sanctuary and then explored the coastline to
Eucla. Bev was nominated to write a report on this part of the trip.
Meantime we had driven across to Nundroo, we pulled into Wayne Davis Motors at 7pm, and Wayne was still working. He was expecting us and with no fuss he organised our accommodation in his cabins at no cost to us with the RAA (RAA Plus has its benefits), got the radiator transported up and replaced, and had us back on the road in two days. If you ever need a mechanic out that way I recommend Wayne. In fact, as of Christmas he will be the only workshop between Nundroo and Norseman in WA. So don’t break down on the Nullarbor. Once fixed we headed back and rejoined the group at Eucla. I know the highway quite well now.
After another windy night at Eucla Caravan Park, we went
sightseeing, investigating the old telegraph station with the Youngs, while the
rest had a look around Eucla and had breakfast. A quick stop at the Border
Village, then up the old highway in search of Bunabie Blow Hole with no
success. All we found was an old truck and a dead snake. We spent the
remainder of the day visiting the lookouts along the highway overlooking the
Great Australian Bight and the Bunda Cliffs. We found a reasonable campsite
that afternoon in a section of scrub about one kilometre north of the highway,
hoping it would act as a wind break as the wind was still very strong. The
usual 
happy hour,
dinner and camp fire session then we all retired for yet another night of
flapping tents. Bev and Gerry experienced a particularly bad night with the
wind damaging their tent (so they tell us) and elected to leave and head home.
Our diminishing group headed out to look at Wigunda Cave and some Starling traps. The cave looked like it had potential for a bit of caving but I was banned from trying as I would have to go solo. So yet again I left a cave disappointed, one day!!!!!! Dean lead us along the cliff top track till we were due south of Nullarbor Roadhouse were we followed some very overgrown tracks back to the highway. I harvested about 1 cwt of spear grass seed on the under belly of the car, and am still finding it two weeks later in isolated parts. (Hell of a good excuse to buy a new truck, don’t want to be putting that stuff in the lawn!) From there we travelled out to the Head of the Bight, forked out the required fee and went whale watching. Not too bad, we saw thirteen whales and calves. Prior to whaling there must not have been much room in the sea at this time of year. It was a very nice piece of coast, it’s just a pity that it is locked away so only the selected few may use it.
Whale watching over, we headed down to Fowlers Bay for the
night and settled in to a nice patch of green grass. Happy hour, dinner and a
late night walk on the jetty followed by nice hot showers. This was the
official end of the trip but as a group Dean and Jan took us out into the
Fowlers Bay Conservation Park for a
look around. It
was decided that we will run a club trip out to here in the future as there is a
lot to explore. After leaving Fowlers Bay we visited Cactus Beach and then we
stopped at Ceduna for restock of tucker and lunch then on to Acraman Creek
Conservation Park for fishing. On arriving we found the camp ground was very
small so Kim, Denise and I elected to head out and begin our homeward run. We
quickly located a bush camp not far from were we left the others and spent the
night there. The following morning after a quick chat on the radio with the
fisher people we continued south to Streaky Bay for morning tea, visited
Murphies Haystack, then after visiting Venus Bay headed back to the Highway. We
decided to stop for lunch at Wudinna and as we approached the town Denise
noticed a kangaroo between the road and the water pipe, I let Kim know but
skippy decide to rush out in front of Kim’s Cruiser. Both the Cruiser and the
roo survived. Inspecting the damage Kim found that his spotlight was history
and his right Shu Roo was gone. We have visions of a kangaroo with a Shu Roo
embedded in its head being shunned by other roos. After lunch we head for
Mambray Creek to camp for the night. We enjoyed our last campfire for the trip
following dinner, a few quiet drinks and a pleasant nights sleep (last one in a
tent for a while). Next morning we packed up and began the final run home.
Interestingly enough at Port Wakefield we bumped into Chris and Dianne who were
also returning from their trip in NT, so we cruised down the Port Wakefield road
swapping yarns about our trips.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in our journey and particularly Denise who puts up with the old grumpy platoon sergeant, it was very enjoyable and we got to see some fantastic parts of Australia. That’s another one crossed off the list. Next one will be the Canning in 2008, hope to see you there.
Stuart Grant (aka Dodgey One)
