Thurs, 10th May, 2018 Georgia Bore to Tjingkulatjatjarra Pool, Rudall River National Park, WA

7am 20 degrees but the breeze is quite chilly. Clear blue sky.

Steve put some air in the tyres after letting more out yesterday for the dune climbing.

Headed east this time on the Talawana Track to the turnoff to Parnngurr (Cotton Creek) Community which is on the southern edge of the Rudall River National Park. This national park is the biggest one in Western Australia at 1.5 million hectares and is probably the most remote. It is located in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert and the Little Sandy Desert. 

Rudall was a government surveyor who led the search party for the lost members of the

1896 Calvert Expedition. He explored the river’s length during the search in 1897. The

Rudall River is known by the Aboriginal people as Waturarra (upper reaches) and Karlamilyi (lower reaches).   

Long straight sections and not corrugated which was nice.

Past the turnoff for the mine road we saw the other day that just goes straight over the sand ridges.

Freshly burnt ground by the road – probably the smoke we saw the other day.

We are travelling down the middle of a wide flat plain with sand ridges on each side. Truck purring along in 4^th gear, 50 to 60kph for a change. Lots of pretty yellow flowering shrubs.

Big trees are a giveaway to letting us know we are heading into a creek area.

Over a rough area of road even though it appears to have had a grader over it recently.

Through rolling hills then back onto open flat plains again and a better road surface.

Turned off to head up to the Community to get some fuel. Wispy clouds are beginning to appear.

Good road here. Past a hill that might be called ‘The Dome’ but don’t know why as it doesn’t look like one but it was marked on the Hema.

Interesting sign as we head into the community. Neat looking buildings with lots of satellite dishes.

We pulled up at the Office where a group of women were chatting and the kids were playing in the dirt with a few dogs. We said hello and they directed us into the office where we met Bill. He and his wife, Raylene (who runs the shop) have been here 18 months. Went around to the store and filled up with diesel for $3.20/L. She said they had good water so we topped up the tanks too. A goat was wandering around – local lawnmower we presume. I asked about the dead camels and she asked one of the local men. He said he had been out with the Rangers but they hadn’t shot any camels. They normally do their cull in October.

Headed back to the Talawana Track then 30km west to the turnoff into Rudall River National Park. The track that goes up from the Community isn’t used any more.

Good road – doing 80kph in 5^th gear. Cleaning some of the cobwebs out of the truck.

Flat open wide plains again with sand ridges on each side.

Saw a vehicle coming towards us and chatted with him on the UHF as the other 5 vehicles went by us. They were Mercedes Benz and a few were 6 wheelers. Outback Experience from Albury are a fully escorted tour. They had done the detour and spent last night at Desert Queen Baths and said the pool was lovely for a swim.

Turned onto the track – back to the narrow track again. Big warning sign greets us.

Passed another dead trailer then went in to check out White Gums Bore on May Creek which is on the southern boundary of the National Park. There was a hand pump here from the oil exploration company but now there are only 4 posts in the long grass.

Onto a long sandy section which got harder to push through. Steve realised once we had come to a stop that he hadn’t let down the tyre pressures again and with all the driving on the good road they had gotten quite hot so were even harder. They were 40psi this morning but were now at 55psi. He dropped them down to 30 all round. A few minutes later we were off again. I looked at my map and remembered the note I had written from the guys at Durba Springs about a long sandy section!!

Bit off corrugation – you should see my notes!! Back into 4WD high range again. Past some interesting shaped hills then over a long flat area. On the Hema it shows an airplane and yes there is plenty of room to land a plane here. We even saw a white cone like you see at an airport.

Turned off onto a track and headed for Kalkan Kalkan Soak for lunch. Crawling over quartz strewn area. Lots of big hills further on.

Down to the Rudall River and the soak. Parked beside a little pool and had lunch in the shade.

Obviously lots of water hurtles through here going by the debris in the trees. Raylene said they had 5 inches this year.Water is lovely and clear.

Looking upstream to a bigger water hole. Should be called a pool rather than soak.

Lots of sand on the other side.

Headed back to the main track. Crossed Rudall River again – just sand here. When it is flowing it goes to Lake Dora which is north east of here.

Started to climb up the other side when we noticed a rock cairn.

Nice view over the river crossing.

A bustard wandered beside the track then decided he wanted to get to the other side. Got a video of him, hoping he would fly but he just ran then stopped and starred at us.

View across to the ranges in the distance. Looks like a Rhino horn.

Continued on – more hills.

Turned off towards Tjingkulatjatjarra (known as Jarra or the Alphabet) Pool. Up and down little hills and through gullies/creeks. Lots of quartz around. Slow going but not needing low range yet.

Crossed a sandy creek which had a pool off to the left. I think this one is called No. 11 Pool. When we turned off there was a bit of a sign stating that but not the other pools. Looks nice – there are even some ducks on it.

We drove along a track looking for camp spots and spotted a huge quartz blow.

We backtracked and continued along the original track for a while but we seemed to have missed the turn off to Jarra Pool. Great views of the hills with the river below us looking very dry.

Lots of interesting rock formations.

Went back to the turn off and found a track that went up and down. We could see tracks of someone previous then we hit long grass and that was the end of the track. We were there on the Hema so Steve went for a walk.

He could see the pool but no access from this side. If we had gone on a bit further on the other side we would have found it. Headed back and then a bit further from where we stopped before we found the pool. We knew it was the correct one as there is a plaque on a tree. So close but on the Hema it is hard to work out since the dot expands when we zoom in rather than just a Waypoint mark.

Backed in and set up camp beside the pool. Lovely clear water though the edges were a bit weedy.

Found the tree with the plaque about the Ives brothers following the path of their prospecting ancestor in 1970. Note the spelling of this pool ‘Chingie-Ache-Jarrah’ – which is probably how this long name is pronounced.

We have a few ducklings and a mother duck too. They are having fun chasing each other around the pool.

We got set up then I got out the laptop to do some blog updating. This is the next section of the map that we travelled today. It doesn’t show this pool but the one in the 4WD book does. We will go to Desert Queen Baths tomorrow which isn’t too far away.

 (wish I could work out why it turns some of the photos around)

Steve got some nice water from the other end. He said there was a clear spot that we could have a dip but it is a bit cool for us. I prefer a nice hot shower tonight.

Of course Steve had to set up a nice fireplace.

Nice afternoon watching the ducklings duck and dive and the willy wagtails zoom around. Lots of dragon flies too. Lovely to be by the water again.

Got the fire going – tried to get a photo of it with the pool behind. Didn’t quite work out.

7.30pm 25 degrees. We had dinner and were playing Skipbo when a dingo howled quite near us. Then another one answered from the other side of the pool. A few more joined in so I put on my camera and videoed they chorus. Bit eerie but we felt safe. Steve put some more timber on the fire and we got out the big spot light to light up the camp well.

They stopped then started up again a little while later. Didn’t see any and they didn’t make any more noise after that.