The trip was originally due to depart on 4/7/2005, however due to there being only 2 vehicles and three people signed up for the trip, it was mutually agreed to leave one week early. We arrived at Paul’s house very early and headed off for Port Augusta, there we stopped for a late breakfast and then continued west. That day we found our first camp site 40km short of Wirrulla.
The
next day we continued westward and at Penong we stopped for fuel and a $2 hot
shower. Around 2pm we arrived at the Head of the Bight Whale Watch Centre, so we
happily parted with $8 each to walk down and see 8 whales in the distance. That
day we finally saw the South Australian border behind us and camped about 5km
into WA.
Still heading west we stopped at
Cocklebiddy late morning to buy some lunch. I ordered the all day breakfast
which consisted of a large plate filled with 2 sausages, 2eggs, 3 slices of
bacon, 1 steak, toast and baked beans. This was a great value meal and my
stomach was kept busy all day!
We camped about 100km before
Norseman.
By now Dawn and I were becoming accustomed to Paul’s early morning wake up calls, anytime after 4.30am we awoke to the pleasant sound of Paul’s van door sliding open. We later discovered that Paul’s bladder was the reason for this activity; although Paul would contradict by saying it was our tent zipper that started it all. After brekky we where on the road to Kalgoorlie. Just before Boulder I saw a bright orange flag lying on the road and, as I had forgotten to pack mine, a quick U turn was made to pick it up. We all stayed at the Boulder Caravan Park for 2 nights and spent the next 2 days playing tourist.
Sunday morning we headed north toward Wiluna. On the way we stopped at the small town of Leonora. Here we learned that an Artist visiting Australia had taken the time to cast images of the local townsfolk in bronze. They are placed throughout Lake Ballada, some 50km from town. Off we drove to view this magnificent site, upon arrival we did notice that the statues look remarkably just like the townsfolk and Dawn found one she really took a shine to. We drove back to the highway and camped for the night about 100km south of Wiluna. That night our airbed decided to start leaking through the valve on the 240 volt electric pump attached to it, so you could say it kept letting us down.
The next day we couldn’t get to Wiluna fast enough, on arrival we fuelled up at $1.47 per litre and in the well equipped store I purchased 2 Busman tent swags for $240 each. So the airbed was tossed in the bin. After the fuel stop we found well 1 which is not on the vehicular Stock Route. This is where we started to find that the GPS positions on both the Westprint and Hema maps were not accurate, the GPS was placing the well’s position as being 650 metres northwest of the location. We later noticed that the discrepancy varied from 100 metres to 650 metres for the rest of the wells. Later that afternoon we drove onto the actual Stock route, I stopped to reduce the tyre pressure to 20lbs hot and maintained this pressure all the way through, Paul also let some air out.
For
the next few days we continued north, stopping by all the wells, the picture is
of Ralph pulling up some water at Well 3.
The track from the start
until well 11 is mostly of a gravel base, frequently corrugated and passes
through some very scenic country. It was whilst travelling this lower section of
the Stock Route that we came to the conclusion it was better to camp in between
the wells because the water attracted animals and subsequently flies. Also,
because people tend to camp by them, there is a lack of firewood.
After well 11 we started
driving into sand hill country, the first of which saw Paul bog out the Midnight
Express. As I was 1km ahead some kind people heading south offered to try out
their winch on Paul’s vehicle. Paul had earlier decided to pump more air into
his tyres, but somehow managed to put 35lb into 1 tyre and 28lb in the rest.
After some discussion we decided to blame the cheap Chinese made gauge Paul had
used. As we continued on the sand hills became bigger and Paul’s sand driving
improved immensely, during the day we also saw our first group of camels.
A few days’ later we were camped 15km south of Georgia Bore. In the morning I suggested we have a rest day and move on the next day. I also said it would be raining by 3.00pm that day, so it was best to stay put. Paul remarked that it never rains in the desert; that must have irked the rain Gods because it started raining at 12 noon. The rain got very heavy, also the wind strengthened, at times during the night Dawn and I felt our tent would break under the pressure of the wind and rain. About 4.00am I got out of bed to go outside and put a tarp over the tent because the rain was being blown through the canvas, even Paul’s van was developing leaks. Not until midday the next day did the rain stop and by 5.00pm it was dead calm, we estimate that more than 100mm had fallen. We later found out that this had been the biggest rain event in that region for 137 years, this I believe because the storm had certainly equalled the monsoon’s I had experienced in Darwin.
The
day after the rain stopped, we packed up and drove out to Parngurr Community
along the Talawana track, this track was quite water laden with lots of muddy
sections after the rain.
At the community we bought fuel at
$2.20 per litre and restocked our food supplies at the well stocked store, even
fresh bananas. The administrator and the lady in the shop welcomed us like
family, or maybe it was the hundreds of dollars we left behind.
We then drove back toward
Georgia Bore, as we did the track was getting noticeably drier.
We had set up camp at Georgia Bore the day before and the next morning woke to find the campsite surrounded by thick fog. After breakfast we packed up and were ready to hit the track, but Paul’s Midnight Express was dead. I unpacked my generator and connected to Paul’s battery and after 15 minutes of charging the Express was started up and we were off. We drove for the day through the Curara soaks, through water crossings and muddy areas, sometimes up to door height. We made camp early between well 25 and well 26, in order to look at Paul’s alternator. Being electrical experts we came to the conclusion it was F____D, so I got onto the HF radio and called VKS-737 Alice Springs base, which then passed on the details to Roy of Perth base. During the next few hours Roy had arranged to get a replacement alternator sent some 250km ahead to Kunawaritji at a cost of around $187 plus freight. This is really quite incredible and we take our hat off to Roy.
In the meantime another Paul & Wayne with families in tow drove over a sand hill from the north and proceeded to set up camp nearby, later they came over to look at the Midnight Express and after some expert deliberation came to the conclusion that the fusible link was at fault, so proceeded to wire up past it, then it was fixed. Many thanks to Whisky 7606 and Whisky 7607. Afterwards I called Roy on the evening Perth Sked and cancelled the replacement alternator. Don’t travel in remote areas without an HF Radio!
The next day’s travel was good; we stopped at Thring rock to look for a Geocache. We couldn’t find it. We drove up King Hill to look at the views. We later set up camp a few km north of well 26.
The
next morning we had barely driven 2km when Paul’s voice came over the UHF, “I
have to stop as there is a loud noise coming from under the front of the
Midnight Express”. We looked under to find the front cross member supporting the
front differential sheared away from the chassis at both sides, the look of
complete devastation was now showing on Paul’s face.
Then I said Oh F---ING H—L
now we got to do this! Paul replied do what? I replied, well fix it. With what
Paul asked? Weld it using the batteries I replied.
So we jacked up the front
using my exhaust jack so we could get the hydraulic jack under to push the cross
member back into position. I then spent the next 3 hours welding the cross
member back in place, afterwards we reduced the tyre pressure to 15lb and
proceeded to drive very slowly toward Kunawarritji Community.
Lesson number 2 don’t travel remote without the gear to perform basic battery welding!
It took all afternoon and the next morning to travel 90km to the Community, once there it took nearly 2 days to get it properly welded up at a cost of $450, then we were ready to complete the rest of the Canning Stock route. After leaving Kunawarritji, the next few days of travel were quite good fun with lots of good sand hills to cross and ever changing scenery. Then one afternoon just a few km before the burnt out Ford Exploder, Paul’s voice came over the radio again “I have to stop I think I have a fire”. True enough some spinifex had caught fire near the charcoal canister, this had burnt out a fuel line, and a 5-wire harness and the speedo drive cable, before Paul had managed to put it out with his drink bottles. We think some hot spinifex had come off the disc brake and blown back to ignite some bunched up near the chassis, because the fire was on the opposite side to the exhaust. I gave Paul some fuel line to repair that on the spot, and then we drove on and made camp early in order to rewire the electrics damaged by the fire.
Lesson number 3 check for spinifex frequently.
We
managed to complete the journey to Halls Creek without further incident. At
Halls Creek I tried to find someone willing to repair a leaking fuel tank on my
Surf, but the earliest I could get anyone to look at it was another eight days.
So after a failed attempt to travel down the Tanami track, due to the leak
getting worse, I was finally put onto Martyn Nemer of Old Halls Creek.
This guy really knows how to
repair a fuel tank in comfort.
Many thanks to Martyn for a job well
done.
This is a very brief description of our expedition, Oh by the way we did get home without any further problems. Personally I think we had the greatest trip we could have had.
Cheers from
Ralph Olson (Sierra 3758)
