Destinations > Sand Storm

Issue: February 2009

Words and photos by Stephen Langman

Click here to read the article as it appeared in the magazine

Any visit to outback Australia is always very rewarding, but some tracks offer something special that make them stand out above the others.

The Sandy Blight Junction Track is located in the remote deserts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory and was constructed by Australia's last true modern day explorer, Len Beadell and his famous Gunbarrel Road Construction Party less than 50 years ago. During the very latter part of this road-making exercise, Len was suffering badly from the very painful eye condition called sandy blight, which feels like the eyeballs are coated with sand, with every blink making the eyes extremely painful. On the night Len was carrying out the astronomical observation of fixing the position accurately for this new corner, the condition of his eyes made his job so much harder, and by midnight, Len had obtained enough times and angles to produce the nearest possible fix available while in the field. During that night the words 'sandy blight' kept repeating themselves in his mind, and it was in this time of intense pain and discomfort that the name of the new junction was decided. The next day, after many painful hours of mathematical calculations to determine the correct coordinates of this new junction, a new aluminium plate was stamped out under the bold heading 'Sandy Blight Junction'.

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Prior to travelling the Sandy Blight Junction Track, we had spent 10 days travelling a number of tracks that were built by the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party. We made our way back to the Warakurna Roadhouse on the Great Central Road for well overdue showers and to replenish our fuel supplies before our further adventure north. No visitor to Warakurna Roadhouse should miss the opportunity to inspect another tribute to Len and his team, the Giles weather station. The station, only a few kilometres north of the roadhouse, is Australia's most remote meteorological station and features the picturesque Rawlinson Ranges as a backdrop.
Built in 1988 as an official army bicentennial project, Lenny's Cat Cage housed the grader that was used to construct more than 6000km of new outback roads. Also on display in the car park area are the remains of the first Blue Streak Rocket that was launched from Woomera on June 5, 1964 and discovered approximately 50km south east of Giles in 1980. If you are fortunate to be at the weather station at the correct time, you will get to see first hand the launching of one of the weather balloons, learn how the station is run, and be given a rundown on the operations and how they use all the data collected at the site. We spent the best part of two-hours at the weather station and it was now time to leave Giles and make our way further east and start the next stage of our journey and another of Len's tracks.

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