Sandy Blight Junction Track to Gary Junction Road

September 10^th

There were no more vehicles on the track today. Lots of corrugations and rocky sections again. We drove through the Tropic of Capricorn for the third time this trip and passed another lot of blaze trees and Len Beadell plaques. All have coordinates on them stating exactly where they lie – Len didn’t have a GPS at the time so he did this all through the sun and the stars.

Along the way today we stopped at an operational bore with a hand pump which is where we had lunch. We both had some fun pumping water from the depths of the earth while fending off the flies.

Further along the road we came across the Ngutjul Rocky Outcrop which is a group of huge granite boulders reminiscent of the Devils Marbles and just scream “We’ve been here for such a long time and will be here still long after you have all gone!” So many times this trip we have seen things in nature and the earth and the sky that make us feel so insignificant. These rocks were really very impressive and if they weren’t out in the middle of nowhere, they would most certainly be a tourist attraction with signs and ropes and car parks.

Finally after 395km from the Warakurna Roadhouse we popped out onto the Gary Junction Road (another of Len’s roads), turned right and started to travel east again. We had heard that the Gary Junction Road (dirt) through to Papunya (250km) was pretty bad and we were a bit anxious as to what we might find but for the most part it was wide and graded with only some sections of corrugations and sand. Still you don’t travel fast on these roads and about 30km short of Papunya we decided to call it stumps for the day and found another great bush camp hidden in the trees about 50m back from the road. Probably our last night under canvas for a while as tomorrow will find us back in Alice Springs. Seems like forever since we were there.

Great Central Road and Sandy Blight Junction Track

September 8^th & 9^th

Didn’t hang around too long in our borrow pit on waking and spent most of the morning travelling further along the GCR toward Warburton (about 200km) where we purchased fuel for $2.08/litre. Another 230km along the GCR was the Warakurna Roadhouse (fuel $2.20/litre). All of these roadhouses support the nearby Aboriginal communities and are pretty well stocked with basic food and drink necessities. The fuel is expensive and is locked away – you have to get the store owners to come out and unlock and fill up for you. Warakuna Roadhouse had some excellent aboriginal art for sale too. A few things caught our eye but we didn’t make a purchase.

As we got to Warakurna Station there were signs saying that you were approaching the WA/NT border and so should put watches forward by 1 ½ hours. We didn’t want to lose 1 ½ hours of our day and figured we wouldn’t need to know the time for the next few days anyway so we didn’t change our clocks and instead worked on McLiseo time. We decided to put our clocks forward half an hour for three days so by the time we did end up in civilisation in the NT we would be on the right time. It is so nice to not be bound by time. We certainly haven’t worn out watches on this trip but there have been times when we have needed to know the time. Not so when remote travelling and bush camping. You wake up and get up when you feel like it and don’t know the time, you eat when you are hungry, stop driving when you have had enough and go to bed when you are tired. For most of us who are ruled by time in our ‘normal’ lives this gives such a wonderful feeling of freedom.

Very close to Warakurna is the Giles Meteorological Station which is a fully functioning meteorological observation station. It is the only staffed weather station within an area of about 2,500,000 square km and is situated mid-continent near the core of the subtropical jet stream. This means it plays an important role as a weather and climate observatory for the country, particularly eastern and south eastern Australia, and especially for rainfall predictions. Len Beadell selected the site in 1955. It was needed to forecast weather conditions suitable for nuclear weapons testing at nearby Emu Field and Maralinga. Later the station provided support for rocket testing programs at Woomera, as Giles was close to the centre-line of fire from the launch site. Wreckage from the first Blue Streak missile, launched from Woomera on 5 June 1964, is on display at the station. Len Beadell's grader, which is estimated to have travelled over 30,000 km in the course of making his many outback roads, was retired in 1963 and is also on display at Giles.

Leaving Warakurna, the landscape changed again and we passed a number of quite substantial and impressive mountain ranges including the Schwerin Mural Crescent Range  About 80km after this we reached the turn off to the Sandy Blight Junction Track. No fanfare here with a sign or visitors book.

The Sandy Blight Junction Track (SBJ) is around 400km long and is said to be on of the most picturesque tracks in outback Australia. We would certainly concur. The country that the track passes through is incredible and changes quite drastically every 30 minutes or so, from huge stands of tall Desert Oakes, to mulga scrub, to open spinifex plains along with magnificent stands of Blue Mallee and Mulga, Grevillea and Desert Poplar thrown in to mix it up a bit. The track conditions vary as much as the scenery, from hard packed tracks, deep sand to stony sections and the usual outback corrugations. It was very different to the David Carnegie Road but both beautiful in their own right.

The area of the SBJ track was first explored in 1889 by William Tietkens. He blazed a bloodwood tree near Mount Leisler with the blaze of a T above the letters 5.89. This tree would remain a hidden symbol of early exploration until it was rediscovered over 70 years later when Len Beadell opened this area up and created the SBJ track which is said to have been his favourite. It was given the name of Sandy Blight Junction Track as Len was suffering from the painful eye disease Trachoma or ‘granular’ conjunctivitis at the time of construction. Among the symptoms is a feeling like grit in the eyes; hence its other name: ‘sandy blight’. At the time, this seemed an appropriate name for this new outback highway. Along the way, Len and his construction team rediscovered the historic Tietkens Blaze tree as well as placing eleven signposts and one large rock (200 mile mark) at significant points along the way e.g. the Tropic of Capricorn.

The first point of interest that we visited was the Bungabiddy Rockhole where we stopped for lunch and wandered a short way into the gorge to a small rock hole complete with rubber ring and rope swing – obviously popular with the locals when there is more water there than currently.

We drove through the Kintore Ranges and did not see any other cars on the track. On our first night on the SBJ Track we camped amongst a stand of Desert Oak trees which talked to us all night with the wind whispering through the foliage. It is very nice to be able to walk around the site in bare feet as all the needles from the oaks formed a clean, soft carpet on the ground.

Had a great lie in and a cooked breaky and just as we were breaking camp, we were passed by another car. They stopped and had a chat to us – they were heading south while we are heading north. This was the only car we saw today. As anticipated, the road deteriorated somewhat as we continued on our way - mainly corrugations and rocky sections. The scenery is still fabulous and it is just a matter of taking it easy.

Our driving today for some of the time was alongside the Sir Frederick Range and at one point you can go to the top of part of the range which is the highest point that can be accessed by vehicle on the SBJ Track. The track had an extremely steep grade and was covered in rocks which made it difficult to get traction. The track is 3km to the very top with a turnaround point at about 2km. The view from here was great and we decided not to take the car the further kilometre to the extreme top. It was hard work and we would be pretty screwed if something happened to the engine while here in the real middle of nowhere. We have nothing to prove and the car has been going like a legend.

We crossed the border from WA to the NT today and stood with a foot in each state – seems to be a common thing to do during this trip.

Our camp for the second evening is in a grove of different trees but just as delightful as the previous night. We had a shower and relaxed while watching the incredible night sky. The stars out here are like nothing you can possibly see anywhere else.

Gunbarrel Highway to David Carnegie Road and Great Central Road

September 6^th & 7^th

We were awoken this morning by the distant sound of road work trucks rumbling along so we got back on the road pretty early. Our journey today took us a bit further along the Gunbarrel Highway with a detour up another ‘hill’ lookout but we soon turned off onto the David Carnegie Road which had been recommended to us by other travellers we had met at Cape Range National Park. David Carnegie was an explorer and gold prospector in WA who led an expedition (party consisting of five men and nine camels) in 1896 from Coolgardie through the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts to Halls Creek (most of which was previously unexplored and unmapped) – a total of a journey of 149 days and 1,413 miles (2,274 km). And then back again!!

At the turn off there was a sign and at the bottom of the sign was an old cake tin. What was in the cake tin you ask? Not cake unfortunately but a visitor’s book. We noticed that the last people to pass this way did so three days before so it was evident that we were really going to be going remote by turning off here. And this is what we really love!

We signed the book to say ‘We were here’ and headed south. The track narrowed and deteriorated almost immediately – no graders on this route. It was exceptionally fun driving though – sand, dirt, rocks, wash aways and camels to content with. The driving speed became much slower (between 15-30km/hour) but that makes it better to sit back and enjoy the scenery and what wonderful scenery WA put on for us yet again. Oodles of wildflowers as far as the eye could see interspersed with that incredible red sand with a backdrop of vivid blue sky. Along with the camels and some random kangaroos, there was also a lot of birdlife and the most interesting of these were the Bustards – a large ground bird also commonly known as the Plains Turkey.

On this first night along the David Carnegie Road we camped in a flower garden and wondered how long, if ever, any other humans had stood exactly where we were. We certainly hadn’t passed any other cars on our drive. A ukulele concert, sunset atop a nearby dune and more of those incredible bush starry nights had us extremely content and relaxed.

Had a leisurely get up the next morning and walked up a nearby dune to take in more of the great views then packed up camp and continued along David Carnegie Road. There were a few points of interest to see today however, our success rate in actually finding these sites was variable.

We firstly visited Empress Spring (an underground spring in a hidden cave) which David Carnegie named after Queen Victoria. During his expedition, the party grew very short on water and were finding it difficult to find more. Eventually the dehydrated party came across an aboriginal man, captured him and forced him to direct them to water. They did this numerous times throughout their journey and there was some debate once the party returned to civilisation about Carnegie’s treatment of the native people.

The opening to the spring can be seen from above and there is a chain ladder going down into the dark which you can climb. I started going down but decided better of this after about two rungs so we just posed at the top.

Next interest spot was Breaden Bluff which we drove off the track to look at. The scenery and rocks were very impressive but we weren’t sure that we were actually in the right spot as what we were seeing didn’t actually match up with the description in our trek notes.

Some other highlights in this area are the Pikalu Rock Holes. We followed some 40 gallon drum signs to these rock holes and got out of the car and walked for ages looking for caves which are meant to be huge but we simply couldn’t find them and gave up after a while due to the heat (turns out we were in the completely wrong spot but by the time we were told this we were many kilometres further down the track and weren’t about to go back!).

We completed the David Carnegie Road today (272km).  The road improved greatly towards the end which allowed us to drive a bit faster but we still chose to take our time. We did not see any other cars the entire time we were on this track. At the end of the David Carnegie Road we turned onto the Great Central Road (still dirt but quite wide and recently graded) and started heading east. About 20km along the GCR we stopped in at the Tjukayirla Roadhouse (which claims to be the most isolated roadhouse in Australia) for fuel ($2.00/litre) and homemade cake. We are certainly very keen on all the homemade treats that are available at these outback roadhouses and bakeries, probably a bit too keen according to the tightness of our clothes.

We continued along the GCR for a while and eventually decided to call it quits for the night. We camped just off the road in a borrow pit. A borrow pit in construction and civil engineering, also known as a sand box, is an area where material (usually soil, gravel or sand) has been dug for use at another location. Borrow pits can be found close to many major construction projects of which there are many in this region. Not as bad a spot as it sounds and we created a great meal that evening which we christened ‘Borrowed Panko Chicken’. Ask us to cook it for you sometime – it was really pretty good!

Gunbarrel Highway & Carnegie Station

September 5^th

So today the remote travel is to begin in earnest and we are both very excited. Woke up to more birds at North Pool and had a leisurely breakfast and pack up. Drove back to Wiluna and checked in at the police station which is what you need to do when you are travelling on these roads. They keep your details and route on file in case something goes wrong and someone is looking for you because you didn’t make contact when you said you would. We are pretty well covered with our satellite phone but you can never be too careful. The policewoman was a young South African who had been in Wiluna for about 6 months. Yesterday we met another policeman who was from the UK. I wonder if they really know what they are getting in for when they come to Australia and get assigned to these police stations in the middle of nowhere.

We started off on the Wiluna-Carnegie Road which is often referred to and considered a part of the Gunbarrel Highway, one of the ‘must do’ 4WD track in Australia. The Gunbarrel Highway was the first of many desert tracks built by surveyor Len Beadell. A surveyor, roadbuilder (over 6000 km), bushman, artist and author, Len was responsible for opening up the last remaining isolated desert areas (some 2.5 million square kilometres) of central Australia from 1947 to 1963. He is sometimes called "the last true Australian explorer".

There were three main reasons for the construction of the Gunbarrel Highway. The first was to provide access for a future meteorological station which was needed to forecast upper winds prior to the testing of atomic weapons in South Australia. The second was for instrumentation along the centre-line of fire for rockets launched from Woomera and the third was to allow surveyors from the National Mapping Council to continue the geodesic survey of little known areas of outback Australia. A consequence of the construction was the completion of the first east-west road link across the centre of Australia. The name comes from Len Beadell's Gunbarrel Road Construction Party so named as his intention was to build roads as straight as a gun barrel. The road was built in four stages beginning in 1955 and was completed in 1958 with a total distance of 1,350 km.

The highway can be extremely corrugated and is renowned for its many washouts but we were in luck on the section of the road we travelled as it had been recently graded and was a dream as far as dirt roads go. There was a lot of road work still going on and we saw loads of huge machinery along the way. We also saw some interesting ‘car art’ along the way.

We stopped off at Carnegie Station (which is the actual official start of the Gunbarrel Highway) for a drink and an interesting chat with the ‘locals’. A lot of the workers are staying at this station. We spoke to one guy who lives in Perth but works here for three weeks on and ten days off. For his days off he drives back to Perth (over 1,000km) in one day in order to make the most of his leave and then does the same drive  to get back there. The money must be good! This is all through one state too which just reinforces how huge Australia is. If you travelled 1,000km in parts of Europe you would have traversed a number of different countries!!

After this stop off we drove a bit further to Mount Nossiter. The people at Carnegie Station said we should definitely go up Mount Nossiter to see the view and then had a chuckle about how it really should be called ‘Hill’ Nossiter. We saw what they meant when we arrived – not one of the tallest lookouts that we have ever seen and at the top (after a short but challenging 4WD climb) there were lots of trees and shrubs which blocked any sort of view there may have been. It was however, a great place to camp so we stayed there and enjoyed beer o’clock overlooking a very cool spinifex circle.