Completing the Great Central Road

July 19, Day 1

A glorious day for travelling one of the NT’s great roads, the Great Central Road, south-west from Uluru into WA. We started early, so had time to take in some of the glories of Kata Tjutu, formerly known as the Olgas, 36 domes rising from the surrounding countryside, a couple of them 200m higher than Uluru itself.

Then on we went towards Kaltukatjara, also known as Docker River, almost on the WA border. A guide book we had been following said the campground there was a delight . . . and so it might have been at one stage, with several little campsites, each with a fire ring, set among desert oaks, and little individual toilets (flushing) for most campsites. Trouble was, when we arrived, in the info shed just off the road was a big apology for no water and no toilets, because of vandalism, with the Docker River Rangers promising to rectify as soon as possible . . . so no $5 charge per person.

It didn’t worry us and we had a lovely night camping there, with an almost full moon shining through the desert oaks. About four other groups came in, but we were all well separated. Late in the afternoon, a trio of donkeys appeared and went around the campsites, monstering people for titbits but we hunted them away.

On our way, we had visited Lasseter’s Cave. This was where poor old Lasseter, of lost gold reef fame, had sheltered for 25 days in January of 1930, after his camels bolted with all his food. His diary was found in the cave after he died soon afterwards trying to reach the Olgas where a relief party may have been. Whether he really had found a huge gold reef ln 1897 has never been determined, as he could never re-find it, despite a few expeditions. There have been people searching for it even after his death, and we found that cave rather moving.

We’ve been driving on relatively rough red dirty roads, still with a lot of water on them after recent rain, so there’s a fair bit of weaving about, but luckily the roads are wide and the traffic is light. There are wonderful ranges all around this area and we look forward to even more tomorrow.

July 20, Day 2

We made an early start, driving west about 6km to the WA border, where we stopped to have our breakfast, looking at some of the wonderful Central Australian ranges. Once over that border, the road improved rapidly and we had a wonderful 300km+ run to Warburton.

On the way we stopped at the Warapurna roadhouse for fuel, and drove up a road behind it to visit the Giles Weather station, the most remote in Australia. It welcomes visitors, but that day there was nobody about, although a room full of exhibits about its history was open.

Remains of the first Blue Streak rocket

set off from Woomera in the 1960s,

recovered near Giles in the 1980s.

The roadhouse had its own small art gallery, with quite a lot of interesting paintings by the local community, as well as some carved figures and dishes, one of which John bought me. On the east coast they are called coolamons but I don’t know the name in WA . . . and the young German backpacker who served us was not much help.

About then, we had to change to WA time (1.5 hours behind Central standard time) so by the time we pulled into Warburton we’d been on the road many hours, but it was only early afternoon on the clock.  There was a lovely grassed area for campers. Green grass? We didn’t know whether to photograph it or roll on it!

The whole area beside and behind the roadhouse, for campers and also overnight stays in dongas and cabins, was enclosed in a security fence, with barbed wire on top, and a huge gate that was kept closed, and was tightly locked at night. Added to that were notices on the roads warning to keep unleaded petrol secure, particularly in extra jerry cans on roof racks. This is because of the petrol-sniffing problem in Aboriginal communities, and the only unleaded petrol sold is the special Opal fuel that does not have the same appeal . . . or effect.

We’re out of the lovely ranges country now, with low scrub and spinifex the norm, no more desert oaks, and quite a lot of plaques reminding travellers of the role Len Beadell played in making roads through this area. One of the Caterpillar graders his Gunbarrel Road Construction Co had used is now displayed at Giles weather station, enclosed in a huge wire cage built by a team of Army engineers in an exercise named Lennie’s Cat Cage. Don’t you just love our Australian sense of humour?

July 21, Day 3

On we went towards Laverton, through the last of the ranges and into the southern part of the Gibson Desert before entering the Great Victoria Desert.

There has been so much rain that there are still some pools beside and on the road, and we couldn’t believe it when just a few kilometres out of Warburton, we came onto a bitumen road. This continued for 35 km . . . and then it was back to red dirt.

Because of the rain, and plenty of waterholes well away from the road, we’ve seen very little wildlife, particularly some of the nearly one million camels in Central Australia. But before we reached our stop for the night, the Tjukayirla Roadhouse, we saw five, one right on the road.

We’ve been fascinated by the plants that have erupted from the desert after the rain, and are in full flower. The spinifex is looking great, and the desert heath myrtle, which has tiny pink-mauve flowers, looks like a larger-than-heather mauve covering on the sand hills.

Tonight at the roadhouse we had an evening meal with a chap called Norm, travelling in his vehicle with a swag, determined to celebrate his 75^th birthday in August by completing the Outback Way (which actually goes from Perth to Cairns in a vaguely diagonal way).

He comes from Goondiwindi, and will meet his wife in Perth. I don’t think she’s too keen on swagging it across the outback.

July 22, Day 4

The final leg, and we made it! The road actually was not as bad as some we have travelled, and in some sections, was the best dirt road we’ve seen.

The Tjukayirla (pronounced Dook-a-yirla) roadhouse camping area is set among lots of native trees and shrubs, and therefore had lots of small birds greeting the dawn, although it was chillier than we had experienced for a few days.

Forget the t-shirts and shorts of the past few days. We were back in jeans, long sleeves and jackets for the 300km drive to Laverton, which was fairly uneventful apart from noticing lots of water lying around beside the road.

When we checked into the fairly-full small caravan park in Laverton, the manager told us that because lots of dirt roads had been closed around the town by wet weather, she’d had campers stuck there for days in the past week.

We visited the local Explorers Hall of Fame, which was most interesting, and checked out the statue of one Dr Charles Laver, pictured with a bicycle, to mark his arrival in the town after travelling hundreds of miles from Coolgardie on his bike as part of the 1880s gold rush in the area. He stayed on to become a much-loved town doctor, as well as a regular visitor to England to raise money for local mining ventures. When a town was eventually gazetted in 1900 it was named in his honour.

We’ve re-stocked some fruit and vegies, as well as honey, because quarantine regulations forbid any of that from entering the state. When we reached the quarantine bin just east of Laverton, we just had one manky carrot to throw in it as we’d used up everything else.

Tomorrow we start exploring what is known as the Goldfields area of WA, gradually moving north-west until we reach Newman in the next 4-5 days.