Sun, 13th May, 2018 Bush camp near Lake Dora to Well 33 CSR, WA

7am 10 degrees, clear sky and a cold wind. Luckily the sun warms us up quickly once we are up and having our alfresco breakfast.

Headed towards Punmu Community – no alcohol here.

Turned off into the community – not much left of an information board and picnic tables here.

The ants needed a cooling off.

Good use of a car bonnet as there seems to be lots to choose from in the wrecking yard.

Very quiet as we drive in to find the fuel bowser. Reasonably neat but a few homes are inhabitable now. Flash sports area next to the school which is beside another edge of Lake Dora.

Found the bowser but no one was about. We stopped outside one of the houses. There were 10 dogs and two chaps so Steve asked them for directions. The dogs didn’t move!

Looks like someone has fun around here.

Found the chap – he was ringing his mum for mother’s day, what a good lad. I missed his name but he said he has been here for 10 years and loves it. The elder women decided to make the community dry as they were sick of the women being beaten when the men got on the drink. They have had it passed through legislation so people can be fined now. Parnngurr (Cotton Creek) are dry but not legislated as yet, same with Kunawarritji further on. He said they have only had a few drink incidents – outsiders bringing in the drink and causing problems otherwise it is a quiet place to live. His mate came up and made the carriages which he tows around with his 4 wheeler. He drives around in the morning picking up the kids for school and treats them with a whiz over the lake when they are good. They put a video on Utube and it has gone viral. The mate is coming up in a week and they are going to make a water slide/park for the kids. He did us a good deal on the fuel which was very nice for us as we know it is $3.40/litre at the next community. He offered us water too so we topped up the tanks. The wind is still strong and cold – he said it just changes like that – one day hot then next day cold depending what the wind is doing.

Back on the main road heading south east to Lake Auld. Past a holiday lodge near the turnoff to the ‘International Airport’.

Continued running parallel with a sand ridge for kilometres. Crested the hill for a view of Lake Auld – appears to be water in the south section and white salt shining in the north bit but I didn’t take a photo as it was too far away. Lake Auld was named by Larry Wells in 1896 after a member of JR Stuart’s expedition across Australia in 1862.

We turned north to follow the road across the north section of the lake where it narrows. A small area of water to the north of us.

Turned to cross the lake according to the map but it is actually over a flat area with sand ridges either side rather than a causeway like I thought. Lots of salt to the south.

A few rocky hills appeared where Steve spotted a camel – our first one in ages.

Onto Wapet Road which is part of the old Kidson Track which turns south at Kunawarritji Community to meet the Gary Highway in the east and goes north running up the west side of Lake Auld and across to 80 Mile Beach on the coast.  The track was put in by the Wapet Oil Exploration Company.

Spotted a fire in the distance and as we got closer we saw a white car. First we thought it was rangers doing their ‘mosaic’ fire burn offs but it turned out to be a couple with two boys and a flat tyre. They light the fire to let someone in the Community know they need assistance. If they need help fast they make the fire burn up in a tight spiral. By the looks of the burnt areas beside the road, lots of them need assistance. Met Julie who said they were from Punmu and had borrowed their friend’s car as their 4WD needed parts. They had driven to Kunawarritji to try and get some but no luck. On their way back the back tyre went flat and it was wrecked so they pulled out the spare but it had two punctures in it. Steve tried patching the holes but they were in the side wall of the low profile ‘road’ tyres but he managed to get it to hold air (for how long, who knows) and then put some air in the front tyre. The boys had been eating some bread and Julie asked if I had any fruit. I had an orange and two apples which she cut up with a huge knife!! I said we had been into Punmu and that it was very quiet. She said a lot had gone to a funeral in Fitzroy Crossing. I took of photo of Steve doing his good deed and Julie told the boys to get in the photo too. The fire continued burning well and we left them with tyres up and going around so hopefully they will get back to their home.

Continued along between two sand ridges.

Steve spotted something on the side of the road in the distance walking towards us which turned out to be a camel. He slowly walked off the road not too worried about our presence.

Drove past the turnoff into the community but as it is Sunday the shop and fuel depot is closed.

Came to where the Canning Stock Route crossed the Wapet (Jenkins Track) Road then we turned north for 4km to Well 33. This bit of road is nice and wide as it also leads to the airstrip.

Pulled into a nice open area around a windmill, tank and small ponds which are fed from the overflow from the water tank. The water is lovely and clear.

Further around is Well 33 – now covered with a grill. It was called Gunowaggi by Canning and was 22 feet (6.7m) deep. I noticed that the new sign states the name of the Community instead. Will have to ask why it has changed. Kunawarritji Community is on the site of an oil exploration camp for CRA so maybe when the aborigines moved back in 1982 they changed the name. You can hear the water dripping into the well from the pools.

We found a spot beside a bush to give us some shelter from the wind – a bit at least. Usually we park to get the best sun on the solar panels but the wind is the winner today. As it was only lunch time we decided to put out both awnings and put up the fly mesh (first time since we left home) and shade mesh on the sunny side so I could do some more of my blog. There seems to be a lot of flies here so hopefully the fly mesh will keep some off me. Sort of worked – instead of 100 around my head there was only 10!! Steve did the domestics – wrung out the washing and hung it up then collected the firewood.

A group of men arrived from the north – one per vehicle. Steve went for a chat with the first guy why he was waiting for his mates and all he could do was complain about the condition of the track – what did he expect!! Apparently the others hadn’t let down their tyres enough and one guy had broken a leaf spring so they were not doing any more and heading to Newman. He said the corrugations were terrible and the sand ridges are very big – sounds fun! They continued on.

There is a proper tap with hose fittings on the water tank. A few locals called in to fill up drums etc. Another group of travellers pulled in for the night too.

5pm the wind is settling and getting cool as the sun disappears. Got another day or so done on my blog – will catch up eventually. Today's map.

Drinks and chat with four chaps in two vehicles from Melbourne who are also doing the CSR from south to north too. They aren’t going to back track though like we will. Will go back down the track to see how far we can get to where we had to turn around near Well 25.

Cool evening but after a hot shower we are nice and warm. Played a few games of Skipbo – two wins each – lucky we played the 4^th game otherwise I would have lost!!