Destinations > Across OZ Overlander Readers' Trip, part 1

Quite often the best campsites are those that you don't know exist. When it came time to finding somewhere to rest after viewing the burnt-out ration truck from Len Beadell's old road construction party in the Kiwirrkurra community, the harsh terrain of spinifex was not very promising. But a side track in Pollock Hills lead us to a fabulous campsite with a dramatic backdrop of orange jumbled rocks which lit up brilliantly at sunrise and sunset.

We passed the remote Gary Junction still on what I term a good road, here the Gary Hwy swings to the south and it was typical of these roads out here, narrow, overgrown and just two wheel tracks with the centre section lined with spinifex. I had completed the lower half of this track in my last double crossing in 2001. We were going west though and the road to Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route was great. The scenery consisted of low mulga and red sand but the driving was relatively easy.

We camped under the groaning windmill at Well 33 and enjoyed hot water from our engine mounted showers. But what was most interesting was that the pond of water formed by the overflow from the tank at the windmill was full of gold fish! Does anyone know the story behind their presence?

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Fuel was available at the store at Kanawarratji at the modest price of $2.50/L not bad given it was $2.85/L just two months earlier. From there we continued westward on the Kidson Track. This was an unknown route to most of us, but we needn't have worried as the road was in excellent order. But it did change somewhat, winding through red sand dunes, which were covered in the most amazing array of wildflowers. In fact, we were to see more wildflowers on this stretch of road than in the famed wildflower regions of WA near Geraldton.

At Lake Auld, a dry salt lake that lies across the track, we left the Kidson and continued on the WAPET road. It was along here that we entered what looked like a beautiful park with its many wildflowers lining the road and an avenue of weeping desert oaks, a stunning sight.
Vehicle-wise we were doing pretty good, a few more flat tyres, a couple of broken shocks, which were replaced and a fuel line that came adrift, fortunately the vehicle was diesel otherwise we could have had a very nasty incident.

Before we reached Marble Bar we dropped into Carawine Gorge, which is beautiful but a huge flood had hit it 18 months ago. The flood has taken away most of the shade trees so it made our planned rest day untenable. We moved further south and found a fabulous shady campsite under the oaks of the Oakover River. We lounged around, went swimming and shot heaps of photos of the beautiful reflections.

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