Destinations > Canning Stock Route, Part 1

Just getting to Wiluna, the recognised starting point for a CSR adventure is an epic journey for east coasters. It takes days of driving on boring blacktop just to get to the start of the Great Central Road where the bitumen gives way to the red gravel just west of Uluru. Then you're faced with a three day slog over a corrugated and dusty Great Central Road through Warburton, and the Tjukayirla roadhouse before hitting the quaint mining town of Laverton where the friendly caravan park is a must-stop place. The bustling mining towns of Leonora and Leinster and their superb highway-style roads for the heavy mining machinery leave you in no doubt that this land is worth millions in ore and precious metals.

Wiluna too was once a thriving mining town with a population of over 3000 but its local mines have dried up and the town is just a shadow of its former glory. It is best to do your last-minute shopping in the well-stocked supermarket at Leinster and refuel here with cheaper prices than those found at Wiluna where you should top up with quantities beyond what you may have ever imagined. With the old hotel on your right and heading in a northerly direction along Wotton Street you are barely out of sight of the pub when the Cooper tyres will rumble onto the red gravel surface that will accompany you for close on 2500km. The red dust billows high into the cobalt blue sky on what seems to be an extraordinarily good road. It is just 3.8km from the cool shady veranda of the Wiluna Hotel where you will find a rough scratch of a track on your left that leads to the very first well of the CSR.

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The rough 4WD track follows a fence line and has numerous wash-outs and scratchy overhanging trees along its length for 3.5km. Well 1 is a sad sight, with its dilapidated wooden structure, collapsed windmill and rusting water trough entwined in mulga scrub. It is a little disappointing that the first well is in such poor condition and I think it would be wonderful if this well could be restored to its 1908 glory as Alfred Canning had built it.

Returning to that superhighway of a gravel road your next port of call will be a further 6km up the good road. Another track leads to your left, don't expect road signs, just watch your trip metre and GPS readings provided by the excellent guide on the Canning written by Craig Lewis and Kathy Savage called Explore Australia by 4WD. This is a 10km diversion that leads to a great morning tea spot known as North Pool. A favoured swimming hole by the locals from Wiluna it is easy to see why with the broad river gums providing shade from the hot sun and the large billabong providing everlasting water. If your trip has started from Wiluna it is way too early to make camp but if you have travelled from elsewhere, this would be a beaut spot if not noisy at dawn and dusk from all the bird life that frequents the delightful waterhole.

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