Graham rode his Harley out to Bindoon with the convoy of four cars, to bid us farewell. The police were catching speeders there too. Had a chilly stop in Dalwallinu. Lunched at Paynes Find. Saw 2 goats on our way to Mt Magnet. There were plenty of road works north of there, holding us up. Camp was at Peace Gorge north of Meekatharra amongst the granite boulders.
Next morning we went to the Meeka look out for views over a large mine pit. Saw several eagles feasting on fresh road kill. At Newman we fuelled up then off to the Jigalong Track. Along the track we saw 39 car bodies. We aired down to 25 psi. Began seeing large ter-mite mounds. Turned onto the Balfour Downs Road, seeing a bustard, some Mulla Mulla, water in some creeks and a snake. Camped at Old Mia Well, where we found the Len Beadell Marker.
Had a windy night (possibly from the cyclone). The Easter Bunny hopped around camp—yummy. Paul and Pam did a reccy of tracks nearby while Markus sent up his drone. Then we headed north east on a station track. Saw another bustard (Markus called them geese on steroids). Did a long dry river crossing. Christmas Creek had water in it when we did the crossing. Morning tea was at Gidises Bore which had plenty of water being pumped out. There were some decent sized thorns there. We laughed at the speed of a young kangaroo that took off when it saw us. Did the Christie Creek crossing and the Oakover River which was quite deep but firm. Markus walked it for us first—thank you. The track began to have spinifex growing over it which made it slow going. We lost the track a few times. Markus got a puncture that he was able to plug. Spotted a lone camel. We began driving between dunes.
At a deep sandy creek crossing it seemed difficult so Markus put the drone up, finding another track. Pam did a recce and it seemed okay. At the next creek crossing Pam and Paul got through, but they got Kim to stop on the incline so Paul could tow him up, to keep the track from being chewed up for Markus. After initially be-ing bogged in the creek Markus powered up using the Max Trax. The track disappeared again but Markus and Andrea were amazing to keep finding the overgrown track. Did a slow 40 km’s on this track over the entire day. Camp was set up on top of spinifex just as the sun was going down. Dingoes started howling shortly after.
Awoke to dingoes again. Kim started the car only to find a flat tyre which was plugged. Then Paul found he had a flat too, which was plugged also. Saw 8 camels then 5 steers running. The scenery started having more rocky outcrops. The track was still disappearing and reappearing. We crawled through another dry river wash out. Detoured another wash out. The track became very rocky and slow going. Tchukardine Pool was beautiful. Pam found a white gum that had had a blaze in the past. Did another dry river crossing that had a very steep entrance and exit. At the Tarcunyah River we drove into it then along it until we found the exit. We drove alongside some ranges then we came across HANGING ROCK!! Most of us climbed the back of the rock to the inside of the crevasse, scaring a pair of Boobook owls. As the sun set the colours were enhanced on the rock, making it look spectacular. Champagne was popped to cele-brate making it there. Paul cooked his bread, then cov-ered it with lashings of butter for us to enjoy.
The track heading east was very overgrown with branches closing over the top of the cars, this required lots of chain sawing. The Tarcunyah River was so steep it needed some shoveling to get Markus over the side of it, then the oth-ers made it. More chain sawing was done on and off, along the track. The sec-ond river crossing was much easier. We did a sand dune crossing. The Diesel Particulate Filter Automatic Regenaration (DPF) indicator came on in Markus’ and Paul’s cars. Markus had some smoke coming out from the spinifex around the exhaust. They cleared it just in time. After that we started running parallel to the dunes that had less trees. We even got up to 40 k/h at one point. Paul took over the lead, but he also found the track disappearing making him search for it many times. We clambered up to look at Currun Currun Rockhole. There was quite a bit of water in it. A deep washout gave us some grief but the Max Trax got us through. Camp was at the “You Are Lost” sign.
The next day was more of the same with the overgrown, bushy, spinifex cov-ered track. Did six dry creek crossings that were steep and angled. Markus had his camper at some awful angles. Paul was leading again but this time we got onto a clearer track for a while until the corrugations started. Met 4 vehicles going the opposite way. Turned onto the Talawanna Track, we stopped at 11.45 so Kim could use Paul’s Starlink to book for golf!! We got up to 80 k/h for the first time in many days. Drove past several stands of Desert Oaks. Arvo tea was at Old Mia Well, where Markus procured at blade from a broken well. Spinifex was removed from cars. Markus found his back door would not remain closed so Paul and Markus worked on it until they had some success. Did a few more dry creek crossings until we turned onto the Marble Bar Road. Camp was at Sandy Creek north of Newman. Heard super long iron ore trains going for extended periods of time during the night and early morning.
Drove into Newman to restock. At the Kalgan Pool area, we did two creek crossings to get to our camp spot. A refreshing dip in the creek restored us enough to do some more exploring. We did 9 river crossings. One crossing was really long, taking more than 2 minutes to drive through with a lot of rocking and rolling involved. It was fun. Two more crossing were done before we drove through some rocky ranges with white trunked gums. Kalgan Pool was beautiful with a huge red rock wall behind it. We took the rough rocky climb to the top for a view over the pool and the surrounding ranges. We came down the rocky descent in low range, 1st gear, for an slow crawl down. We did 12 river crossings on our way back to camp.
We started the day with 2 river crossings, then followed the railway line for quite a while. Markus lead us to the Punda Rockhole and art. The art was im-pressive and over a large area. Saw flocks of budgies and finches. Next was a track north which was quite challenging. We drove up a river bed to find a rock hole but the track was too overgrown so we lunched in the river bed under some towering gums and red cliffs. Had to go back through the challenging bit again. We turned onto a different track with many difficult creek crossings and wash outs, it was very slow going. At Hickman’s Crater (that was found in 2007 on Google Earth) we were able to drive inside the crater. Another bustard was spotted by Markus and Andrea running along the track in front of them. The track had some very narrow sections that squeezed our cars. Back along the railway track passing an eagle under abridge. Over corruga-tions and 2 creek crossings that got us back to camp.
We had a cool night and early morning. Back over the creek crossing and past Kalgan pool look out. We took the Hancock Exploration Road that went past some mining activity that was on a vast scale. Eagle Rock pool was in a lovely setting. The falls look out, a bit further on had views over a deep valley, with no running falls, but many pools. It was spectacular. Markus had the drone up. Most of the convoy went onto Thunder Gorge which was worth the rough track and clamber to see the pools. Markus had an enjoyable swim there. On the way back there were fantastic views of the Pilbara scenery from the top of the ranges.
Left camp at 7.15am to head south. A wheel came off Markus’s camper. Paul and Markus jacked it up and were able to get the spare tyre on and most of the wheel nuts were retrieved to hold it on. We lunched in Meekatharra then continued travelling home at 80k/h as a safety precaution. Camped south of Meekatharra. We saw a huge number of wide loads with ore truck trays and tanks heading north. Kim’s other tyre kept going down whenever we stopped so it needed pumping up a lot. Thanks to Paul and Pam for staying with the slow vehicles on the limp home.
The trip had extreme 4wding, amazing scenery, good weather and great company. It was quite an accomplishment. Thanks go to Markus and Andrea for all their research and leading the trip. We left them in Bindoon at the bakery buying a well deserved vanilla slice!! Thanks also to Paul for so much chain-sawing of the overgrown track and help with tyre repairs.
