Wed, 31st May, 2023 Bush camp in quarry, 20km west of Kiwirrkurra Community, WA to Bush camp on Sandy Blight Junction Road, near Kintore, NT

12.6 degrees min but we stayed in bed reading till 7.30am so it got up to 18 degrees. Clear sky and no wind. All quiet except for the galahs.

Packed up and headed out. The camels must have been in for a drink as their hoofprints were everywhere. Winding up and down sand ridges and low hills. Opened our with just a few rocky hills. Continued on to the turn off (6km) into Kiwirrkurra Community. Famous for being the most remote community - title because they are the furtherest from a Post Office. Had a lovely chat with the people in the roadhouse. Filled up with diesel again ($2.95/L). The managers have just bought a house in Gordonvale - small world. The other chap behind the counter was born in the Kimberleys and lived in Derby and Broome - all very friendly. Though one lady was extra friendly as we were heading off trying to get us to buy a painting then she pulled out a black rock from her bag and tried to sell me that!

Headed back out then realised Len Beadell’s old ration truck had been relocated to the community but we didn’t notice it. I got this off Wikipedia. We read all about it when we read his books.

The truck is still dropping cement bags! Obviously the corrugations are too bad on the road so everyone is driving in the table drain. Spotted some Sturt Desert Peas along the side of the track. Flat open country. The cement man lost a lot of bags in a row.

25km on is the site where the ration truck burnt so we stopped and read the plaque.

Hope our ‘ration’ truck doesn’t suffer a fate like that.

Continued on - a low long hill appears then Mt Webb (531m) with a survey marker on the top.

The other side of Mt Webb.

Then a few more low long hills. Still red sand and spinifex. Long drive by a sand ridge then crossed over the end of it. More rocky hills appear.

Dead car on the road then another in the bush.

Another dead car then a grave for Maurice Pollard.

A little snake escaped off the road into some grass. Luckily we don’t see many snakes.

Gum trees appear - ridge on the left and spread of gums. Track going in with 44 gallon drum with a sign “SOS Water” but there is no well marked on the Hema.

Back out to wide area between two sand ridges. Two camels were walking along the top of the ridge.

More dead cars - obviously this section is used more by the communities than the west side.

Long low hills again with the sand ridges. Lots of side tracks on the Hema so not sure how much we are actually travelling on the original road that Len and his crew put in.

Across the ridge to the long low hills (Oovers Hills) with exposed escarpments and a few small rocky outcrops. Grass now rather than spinifex. Through a section of desert oaks in the valley between the hills. 

Spotted another SOS Water drum by the road so we turned down the track for a look. What a surprise - a lovely house, water tanks, spot for a phone etc. A big owl flew out when we walked in to check out the house. Lots of finches about too.

Further over is a water tank. There is still water available by the hand pump but the pipe up to the tank is broken off. Certainly a good spot to stop for the night.

33km to the NT/WA border - as the crow flies!

Left the hills for open grass covered ground with a few more hills, big and small and some bigger trees. The dead cars continue. Spinifex and shrubs again but no sand ridges.

Into some more hills (Buck Hills) and Mt Tietkins (photo). We drove over the top of the rise and my phone got text messages so we stopped to read them.

Around us we can see heaps of camels wandering around on the ground which was burnt last year so lots of new shoots to chew on. Steve counted at least 15 that we could see from where we were parked. They just looked at us and went on with their eating.

Even had enough service for Facebook and saw lots of great photos Greg and Tracy took on their trip to Alice Springs etc in ‘Pat’, our old Nissan. Added a comment.

Continued on and spotted more camels though I did see a dead one off to the side. They like to hog the road but got off quickly when we got closer.

Stopped just across the border.

Selfie with Len’s plaque marking the border.

12.16pm WA time so time for lunch then realised we had missed it as it was now 1.45pm NT time!! So a late lunch!! Great sign.

Drove around to the derelict house to have lunch. The verandah was covered in mud from all the bird nests that had been built on the ceiling and have fallen down.

Continued eastward into Northern Territory.

The sign says we are now on Kintore Road (which is the next community) though it is still the Gary Junction Road on the Hema. Watch out for wandering animals and it is a picture of a camel! Spotted another dead camel just off the side of the road.

Got phone signal again and then the phone rang. It was Jon, he saw my post on Facebook and rang to see when we would be getting to Alice Springs. He is heading up from Adelaide driving a truck up for his work and will be there Saturday afternoon at the work yard. That will be wonderful - so looking forward to seeing him again.

Recently burnt car on the side of the road - luckily the fire didn’t spread to the grass.

Red dirt track continued parallel with high sand ridge on the right. In the distance two big mountains appeared - part of the Kintore Range according to Hema.

Looking across to the first one with the burnt sand ridge looking very red.

Turned off onto bitumen for the 9km drive to Kintore (Walungurra Community). Haven’t met any other vehicles on the road today.

The rounded mountain is Mt Strickland (817m) but the other one I took the photo of doesn’t have a name on the Hema. The community is set in between the two mountains.

Footy practice was on as we drove in. Passed the Police Station and then around a roundabout to the 24/7 fuel outlet ($2.75/L). Sadly this community isn’t as neat as some of the others.

Took a dirt track (quite rocky) out the back of the community and around the other side of Mt Strickland, which has a huge circumference. The track changed to red sand when we got away from the base of the mountain. Met the junction of the Sandy Blight Junction Road (another of Len Beadell’s roads) and turned south for 8km to find one of Len Beadell’s plaques. This road goes south to Docker River where it meets the Great Central Road.

Another big mountain appears - Mt Leister (897m)

Pulled up on the narrow track (big wash out on one side) and checked out Len’s plaque. There had been a tree here with a blaze by Mr Tietken in May 1889. Len’s plaque was hard to photograph. It shows the blaze T 5.89 and Len said it was easy to read when they passed here creating the road on 29 June 1960.

The tree has fallen over and it is laying on besser blocks on the other side of the track.

We pulled off the track for a late cuppa then decided to stop here for the night. We can see Len’s plaque and are under Mt Leister.

This road continues southward and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn about 17km south. Steve got a bit of firewood so we could burn our paper rubbish. I wrote up a bit of my blog. Quite warm in the sun, 28 degrees in the camper so I put the fan on as there is no breeze. A few flies but not bad.

Had our drinks by the fire and watched the sun disappear about 6pm though it was another hour before darkness came. Lovely evening so we sat outside and had dinner. Spotted a few satellites, the moon was 3/4 which made the sky bright. All quiet except for the crickets.