Share a Picture of Where You Are Today

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 13 at Well 15.
A day for domestic chores.
Empty the loo, do some laundry (with a good water supply) and bake bread in the bread maker.
We often bake while driving, but I reckon we would need to nail the bread maker to the floor on the Canning.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 14. 72km.
Well 15 to Well 12.


We top up with water after our showers and laundry. The water is good and between us we fill with about 500 litres. It makes no dent in the level in the well.

A variety of terrain and vegetation. There are some wet spots from the rain.
There is a view point on the way.

Well 14.

Well 13.

Corrugations still abound.

The damp sand dunes are easy and provide some respite from the corrugations.

The vegetation can vary in a moment.
One minute it is dense bush on rocky ground.......

Then there is almost a line drawn,.......

And instantly there is a spinifex plain to the horizon.


We set up camp at Well 12 which is recently restored and walk to the top of the nearest dune for a look.

The trucks are in the middle distance.


Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 15, 6/8/2024, on the Canning Stock Route.
We spend the day at Well 12. Nice spot in a small stand of Desert Oaks.


Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 16 on the Canning Stock Route.
Well 12 to Well 8, 97km.



Things are changing. We see our last dune and the last Desert Oak.
Water on the track is a majour feature of the day and washouts from previous rain events too, although neither hinder our progress.


We thought the track around the edge of Lake Aerodrome would be problematic, but not so.

Corrugations were consistent in their appearances and there were often choices of track, but generally all the choices were poor.

There were patches of thick undergrowth.


And more water....

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 17 on the Canning Stock Route (southern section)
Well 8 to Well 6. 37km.

Constantly changing country. Mostly either spinifex plains of dense, low, Mulga scrub.
And plenty more water.



Well 7.


And we call into the Inglebong Hills.
Mt Davis on the right and Inglebong Hills on the left.

From the car park.

A large rock art gallery.

J & M wave from the top.

The car park from part way down.

A panorama of the country.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 18. At well 6.
After breakfast, we climb the hill that is 1km south of camp.

The main camp and the well are on the left, it was quite busy so we went further to the right.


The very attractive camp area amongst the Red River Gums and the recently restored Well 6. The water is reported to be very good.

So far (touch wood) we have had zero tyre issues. Both the OKA and the Canter have wheel tracks that are not a lot different from a Landcruiser. This tyre is from a Dodge Ram which has a considerably wider wheel track which puts it at risk of more tyre damage.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 19, Well 6 to Windich Spring 50km.

A camp visitor.


We lost count, but there were about 25 vehicles in camp last night, so we decided to go for a 4km walk before lining up for water.

When we got to the well at 0930, we were the only ones left in camp.

The water, though good, had become somewhat stirred up, so we only took about half of what we wanted on board before we headed off.

Today was less sand, less water and more rock. Corrugations were same old, same old. :x

There was a patch of Xanthorrhoea Preissi on the way, the most northerly place that they appear.

At Well 5, we topped up our water tanks.
Not as good as Well 6, but OK except the water level was about 25m down, requiring some extra effort to wind it up. The bucket holds 50L.

Then onwards towards our next stop.

Arriving at Windich Spring, we had lunch and then walked along the wetland. Not many birds and no turtles, but very pretty.


Camp is back away from the water so as not to disturb the wildlife.



Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[86scotty]

That dude seems awful close to that monitor lizard. I guess they aren't aggressive? We have none of those in TN, just hillbillies......with less teeth.

Great pics Peter!

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Thanks Eric.
They are timid. There are a couple of varieties. That one is common to 1.5m, others can go to 2.5m and they deserve some respect.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 20. Canning Stock Route, Wildich Spring to Well 3, 79km.
Map for 2 days ago plus today.
The track has been realigned in some places over some kilometers, so the actual route deviates from the maps in places.

Impressions of the day?
Corrugations? Yes. But no worse than previously.
Flies. Back in cattle country.
Spinifex has largely given way to sparse grasses.
Stoney plains predominate with dense malley and other low trees and bushes in the dry creeks.
Little water on the road.
Salt lakes.
Several slow creek crossings.
Cruise speed? Much the same as previous days at 20-25kph.

We saw just one other vehicle. They thanked us for the videos I have been posting because it gave them up-to-date confidence that the water was not going to be too much for them.

Well 4a

?????

Mine activity?

Creeks


Well 3.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Day 21 and it is (almost) the last day on the Canning Stock Route. 110km.
Well 3 to North Pool where the drovers sold the cattle that had come down the Stock Route.


Impressions of the day included:
Spinifex is back, growing in red sand but no dunes.
Very little water on the track.
Lots of washed out track.
Lots of rocky ground and even some granite.
Corrugations, worse than average. Perhaps drivers each end are still sorting out their speed and tyre pressures?

Leaving Well 3.

Spinifex is back.

Some rocky ground.

The Granites.


Well 2A

A "jump-up".

Wildflowers.

Well 2.

Posing at the main road intersection.

You could get a nose bleed going this fast.


Camped at North Pool. No one else here.
(Too many pics to display - see next post.)
We will spend a couple of nights here and then part company with Ali and Julian. They will head NW and we will head SE slowly back towards Adelaide.

It has been a wonderful 3 weeks on the Canning. We have covered 1,050km since filling with fuel at Kunawarritji and consumed 240L of diesel at 22.8L/100km.
Of those 21 days, we drove 14 days at an average of 75km per day. I don't have a count of how many km we walked, but I bet Julian does.
The Canning Stock Route is touted as the toughest 4WD challenge in the country (or the world). I don't agree. It is very long and it is very remote and a serious breakdown could be very problematic (we saw 4 trailers and a couple of vehicles abandoned along the way). The challenge of this drive is that it is constantly tempting you to drive a bit faster and if you succumb to that temptation, that is when you break something or hit a tree or rock that could have been avoided and wreck an expensive tyre. We have had no mechanical damage and zero tyre issues.

Thanks to those who came along with us for the ride. We hope you enjoyed the journey.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

North Pool camp site.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

A map to show some scale of the southern section of the Canning and where we camped along the way.
Wiluna (the southern fuel stop) west to the next town Meekatharra, is 182km.



Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Trail Talk]

Hope you don't mind a brief interlude Peter...just returned from a week-long hike along the west coast and was surprised, pleased and alarmed all at the same time to have been followed by this sea wolf for about half an hour. It seemed to want to play!

 

[EricM]

P J Hoffmaster State Park Michigan