The Longest Shortcut continues.......

So on the 26th July after 15 days of relative civilisation and approximately 600 km of sealed roads we are off on the next part of our journey across the country.  Just outside the National Park boundary we are back on unsealed road and we knew it.  Rocks and red sand again together with full whiteouts as the strong wind blew.

About 20 km along the road we got a very pleasant surprise when we came across the working grader.  We enjoyed the smooth ride for a few more km before calling it a day and camped beside Armstrong River.  And now I have caught Bill’s cold!  Much and all as I love sharing adventures with him I don’t want his bugs!

The next morning was sunny with no wind and it was a pleasure to drive along the graded roads.  First stop was at Lasseter’s Cave where we learnt about the ill fated Lewis Harold Bell Lasseter who sheltered in this tiny space for approximately 25 days in Jan 1931.  Stranded without food after his camels bolted he tried to walk out but perished a few days later at Irving Creek.

We continued on to Docker River but did not stop there and soon after we arrived at the Western Australian border.  We stopped and took the obligatory photo before continuing on our way. 

 

Contrary to all the information we had seen that was the end of our nice road.  Rocks, corrugations and lots more dust made the next 300 or so km very interesting.  But first we made our way to Gill Pinnacle where we camped overnight. A pretty spectacular sight to wake up to in the morning.

We continued on the next day stopping just down the road to see the Len Beadell plaque in the large White Gum tree.  Len Beadell is regarded as the "last true Australian Explorer" for opening up over 2.5 million square kilometres of rugged Australian Outback.  We saw many tributes to him along The Outback Way.

We stopped to buy fuel at Warakurna Roadhouse.  We met some other travellers coming east and they all told stories of bad road almost to Warburton.  Sounds like fun eh!  The Giles Weather station is here but was closed for tours at this time.   We stopped a little further on to see the rock holes once a vital source of water for the nomadic indigenous people.  The ones we found were all dry and filled with rubbish.  We went on a little further and camped overnight at a large rest area enjoying the colourful sunset.

The next morning the rough road continued for just a short while and about 80 km out of Warburton it was graded and then sealed.  How wonderful it was not to bounce around for a while.  We stopped at the Roadhouse here and met some lovely people camping at the caravan park.  They were hard core travellers making our little trek across the country seem like a walk in the park.  We drove on about 30 km and camped on a ridge with a great view of the Warburton Ranges in the distance.

This was also the western boundary of the Central Ranges and the eastern extent of the Gibson Desert.

The next day we enjoyed well graded and sealed roads until the afternoon when it got a little rough again.  We stopped along the way to see the Kurrajong Sentinel.  Apparently this lone tree is the only Desert Kurrajong you will see on the Outback Way and as such is a true sentinel to travellers.

 We had a quick stop at the Tjukayirla Roadhouse.  The RFDS airstrip here is on the road so we had a nice smooth bit for a minute or two.  All too soon we were bouncing along again until we stopped in another rest area for the night.

Our first stop the next morning was at The White Cross.  This is one of the more intriguing sights along the outback way.  It is located in a small gorge landscape with caves, waterholes and rocky ranges.  It was erected by Rev Ron Williams, Geoffrey Stokes and Aboriginal Christians in Jan 1991.

We stopped for lunch at The Pines which is in fact a shady grove of Black Oak trees.  Lots of Apostle Birds here begging for food.  We left them and drove on to Jindalee (Giles) Breakaway where we camped for our last night on The Outback Way.

This extraordinary breakaway landscape is stunning and we found a great spot to stop with a million dollar view.  The information panel tells us we are in The Great Victoria Desert.

The next day we continued on with just 55 km of The Outback Way to go.  The last 15 km was on bitumen.  After a very quick stop at the quarantine bin - nothing to deposit other than veggie peels - we made our way into Laverton completing our journey on Australia’s Longest Shortcut.

The Great Beyond at Laverton is the end of the Outback Way.  We celebrated our mammoth journey with a coffee and had a look at their fabulous museum and Explorers Hall of Fame.  Our epic adventure was over though we still had around 800 km to reach our final destination of Perth.

We have travelled many km and while many people ask us is it boring I can assure you all it is anything but that.  The scenery is constantly changing, sometimes just a small change other times completely different.  This time we saw no kangaroos for many days but instead saw herds of camels and the odd dingo.   I must say this poor fellow looks a bit tuckered out.

Along the road we saw dozens of old car wrecks.  Some smashed and others look like people have just walked away when they have broken down.  There were the remains of two caravans as well and seeing some of the ones we passed I would be very surprised if there wasn’t more soon.

We took 5 days to drive from Boulia to Gemtree and 6 days to come from Kata Tjuta to Laverton.   As mentioned before there were some good bits, some bad bits and some very bad bits but I think we are both glad that we have experienced this road before it’s fully sealed.  For now though I hope I don’t see another unsealed road for a week or two.

While in Laverton we filled the tanks with water and did a bit of shopping then hit the road again for the long drive to Perth.  We’ll see you soon.

until next time........