THE CANNING STOCK ROUTE   4 August—4 September

Participants:  Errol and Jenny Gordon (Trip Leaders)

Ken Winders and Di Long                       Russell and Jenny Kennedy
Bob and Marilyn Schofield                      Geoff and Christine Moller
Barry and June Mills

Week 1 by Marilyn and Bob Schofield

It was just light when the seven vehicles left the caravan park at Port Augusta, South Australia. The day’s travel took us to the seaside town of Ceduna and along the Great Australian Bight to a bush camp short of the SA-WA border.

The next day took us through the border checkpoint, on to Cocklebiddy for the last fuel before heading north to “Arubiddy” station where the RFDS was on a regular visit. The track was slow from here closely following the Dingo fence for about sixty kilometres to Rawlinna on the Transcontinental Railway Line for a camp in the local Gymkhana grounds.

Across the railway line and through the gate appeared to be the correct way, but was it? The navigational dilemma was eventually solved when a sign appeared confirming that we were on the Connie Sue Highway crossing the Nullabor Plain. The dirt road was twenty metres wide in sections and dust was a problem towards the back of the convoy.  At Neale Junction we turned west again. Sixty kilometres on, our bush camp was made with a chilly minus three degrees next morning.

Further on at Laverton WA two vehicles topped up with fuel to continue the journey. A vehicle from our convoy backed into Barry and June’s Nissan leaving a substantial dint in the off side front door.  By early afternoon camp was set up in Leonora caravan park.

The “Gypsies” (according to the receipt written by the Caretaker) spent the remainder of the day and the next attending to mundane chores and a tour of the Sons of Gwalia mine, museum and ghost town.  The local hotel was well patronised each evening for meals as was the camper’s kitchen in the caravan park.

At Wiluna the last checks on water and fuel were made for the Canning Stock Route.  Bob and I carried 180 litres of diesel and 80 litres of water.  The adventure began, so did the corrugations, bumps and dust.

GPS readings were used to locate the first of the wells. Camp was made under the shady, tall gums with the restored Well 3 providing copious amounts of pleasant water.  There was also a toilet. This enviro. dunny was like nothing seen before, with a circular contraption and foot pedal to remove the “deposit”.

Week 2 by Russell and Jenny Kennedy

The scenery was amazing from Well 11 onwards, with many tough corrugations and sand dunes to cover we managed to forge ahead well by well.

We came across a burnt out vehicle and a pajero that had been left by their owner due to a burnt out clutch. (The cost of recovery for the vehicle was around $8,000 so the owners left it exactly between the sand dunes with no insurance and the vehicle only possibly be worth the same as the recovery cost)

Some great sights and highlights -

• · Lake Disappointment

• · Durba Springs

• · Canning’s Cairn

• · Georgie Bore

• · Broken coil off coil springs. Russell’s vehicle.  Not highlight…

• · Well 33 for ice creams

• · Well 33 for $2.80 per litre fuel

• · Well 33 for supplies

• · Thring Rock

• · Another broken coil off coil springs. Russell’s vehicle.

• · Fantastic photo opportunities.

• · Hot shockies. 

• · Corrugations, sand hills, wild flowers.

It was truly amazing experience for the remoteness of the track, landscape and adventure and understanding how Canning and Snell navigated the Stock Route all those years ago.

There is so much history from the Canning and I recommend anyone travelling to the Stock Route to purchase a book called Canning Stock Route by Ronelle and Eric Gard.  This will give you all the information about the stock route well by well.

Week 3 by Geoff and Christine Moller

Week three was not much different to the previous week, but we were starting to get sick of putting the tent up every night.  We were into the 19^th day since we left home and except for the first few nights we had been in the tent.

It is hard to realise how isolated it is out there.  We had been on the CSR since last Saturday week and will still be on it until Thursday of this week.  It is a long time to be on two wheel tracks that will cover more than 1800 k’s.  What an adventure, the longest stock route in the world.  We could only travel up to 140k’s on a good day and that would be from 8.00am to around 4.00pm, some days you see one or two cars and on one occasion we passed 19 cars by lunch time.

The cars in our convoy all performed very well with only a few hiccups, most problems were from add on parts. Our car would not start one morning with what we thought to be a flat battery.  On investigation we found that the battery was loose in its tray, and found that we had broken the eyes out of the tray itself and the battery had lifted high enough to dint the bonnet.  Then at Well 48, Christine had walked around the front of the car and had held on the bull bar and found it to be loose, so under I went with spanner in hand to tighten the bolts to find that they were all tight and that the brackets had split on both sides and both brackets. One side of each bracket had completely broken off and the other side was only held on by a whisker. Then we removed the bar and brackets and waited til the next morning.  Thanks to Barry and June, who have a welder built into their car, Barry was able to weld the brackets and they were fitted back to car.  But when you consider the conditions of the track with very heavy corrugations and chopped out approaches to sand dunes, where the car would almost stand in one place and just bounce. Should nick-name the car TIGGER.

Barry and June’s Nissan broke the front brackets on the auxiliary fuel tank and had dropped to road, pity it wasn’t a little wider, could of have graded the road for the rest of us. The tank had in excess of 50 litres of fuel @$2.80 per litre.  Barry was able to pump the fuel into his tank and remove it from the car and it was able to complete the rest of the journey on the roof rack .I think the only other problems we had was Bob and Marilyn’s car had destroyed some shock absorber rubbers and Russell and Jenny’s car broke both rear coil springs.

We covered so many different types of landscapes, from open spinifex country to desert oaks that closed in on the track with just enough room to get the cars through, to big open clay pans and salt lakes and flats that almost look like coastal areas at low tide.  Mountain ranges with lookouts, rock pools and grass tree areas and most of the wells have larger trees near by.

It was good to see that some of the wells have been restored, some by Car Clubs, one by Chamberlin Tractor Club.  A lot of the wells are not much more than depressions in the ground, but with the tell tale rusted water troughs and structures.

There is also the tragic side, where men had lost their lives and have been buried around the well areas, with only the end caps of the water troughs to mark their resting place. 

Thursday morning, last day of the CSR, Ken and Di with Russell and Jenny left to go to Wolf Creek Crater while we replaced the bull bar, the rest of us had already been there on other trips. We broke camp and went on to Well 51, the final Well that is marked with a big windmill and earth tank.  From here we went to Lake Streach where we had lunch and pumped up our tyres ready for the fuel stop at Billiuna.

While at Billiuna we rang to Alice Springs to book some cabins, or accommodation for the weekend, as we all had enough of camping to do us for a while, only to find that most of the place was booked out because that was week end of the Henley on The Todd.

We met up with the other guys who went to Wolf Creek, just outside of Billiuna and set off for Alice Springs. Camped overnight in a old road camp clearing.  Next morning we broke camp and headed into Rabbit Flat for morning ice creams (a real treat now) fuel up and off to Alice.  We arrived there late that afternoon and some of us found motel rooms at a Backpacker’s Motel and some had another night in tents with cabins being available next night.

Saturday morning Christine and I set of for town to watch the parade for the contestants for the Todd River Races.  The only place in the world where they have boat races on a dry river in bottomless boats!!!!!  What a day, do these Territorians know how to have fun?

We all got together that night for a farewell dinner at the local bowls club, as the next day, Sunday, we were all going separate ways.  Ken and Di, Russell and Jenny, Paul and Sheryl were staying another day and then heading off to Birdsville to meet up with other party from the Mitsy club.

Bob and Marilyn came back over the Plenty Highway  as they were having some problems with suspension in their car and wanted to take the most direct route and we had made arrangements to meet them again in Boulia on the Monday night.   Errol and Jenny, Barry and June, Christine and I came home via the Sandover Highway as none of us had done this road before.

This was a good decision as the road was being graded and was in excellent condition, and crossed some really nice country.

Well that is week three in a nut shell.  Thanks to Errol and Jenny for a fabulous trip with a lot of preparation and ground work. Thanks to the rest of crew for your company and some new found friends.

Week 4 by Paul and Sheryl Lee

The three remaining cars, Ken and Di, Russell and Jenny and Paul and Sheryl, left Alice Springs on Monday 27 August and continued towards Birdsville via the East McDonnell Ranges.  After spending a few hours at the ruins of Altunga, we headed along Cattlewater Pass track towards the Plenty Highway, camping midway along the track.

After an event-free run down the Plenty Highway, we arrived at Boulia and camped at the caravan park.

Before leaving Boulia on Wednesday, we all visited the interesting Min Min Encounter show.  Morning tea was had after the show then we left for Birdsville, arriving at the caravan park just after lunch.

The camping area was close to full but they squeezed us in a small area on the road where it was very dusty.  After setting up camp, we headed to the pub along with hundreds of others.  By Thursday night there was probably close to 3000 people at Birdsville.

Due to the dust, overcrowding in the caravan park and no horses at the races, it was unanimously decided that we would all go our separate ways home on Friday morning.

Many thanks to Errol and Jenny Gordon for organising and leading this very enjoyable trip.  Also thanks to Bob and Marilyn Schofield, Geoff and Christine Moller, Ken Winders and Di Long, Russell and Jenny Kennedy and Barry and June Mills for making the trip a memorable one.

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