6299km. 2 May 2022.
Martu Country.
En route from Kalgoorlie to Karijini, beyond Lake Ballard, we took a coffee stop at Gwarlia, a true ghost town, corrugated iron shacks, somehow still standing, deserted when the gold mine closed in the late 60s, and remaining now with the mine having started up again. Stepping back in time. Restored by the local historical society, not least because US President Herbert Hoover once lived there as the mine manager, and thanks to the support of self-promoting mining finance.
Our next overnighter landed us in Canning Stock Route country – an Aboriginal songline coopted as white-fella stock route that follows the underground water sources between Wiluna in the mid-west and Halls Creek in the Kimberley (around 2000kms).
We located a stunning free camp at North Pool – thanks again to Aircamp / Wiki Camps / Camps Australia (loving al the camp apps!) – setting up by a water hole and a white snappy gums, noone else about, escaping the flies, lighting a fire, cook-up, bed, morning yoga, dive into the pool, pack up and on the road again.
A few kilometres down the road was Well #1 of the Canning Stock Route, site in ruins but the tanks a deep, deep well still in existence, with a ramshackle old stock enclosure. Bright green grass indicating to the water below. Into Wiluna next, to an old converted regional hospital, now a Visitor’s centre with the local Martu ‘Tjukurba’ Art Centre and gallery within. Immersing in paintings depicting honey ants, seven sister’s dreaming stories, desert peas and butterflies.
Back on the road and headed for Newman – final stop before Karijini. A true service town stop, problem solving focus, conjunctivitis and lice treatment (agh), loads of laundry, Woolworths (aisles filled with miners covered in red ore), hardware to fix water tank bolts. The satisfaction of these achievements luckily outweighing the desolate concrete jungle of our campsite – a converted BHP carpark!
Gwarlia – a ghost town
North Pool, 20kms from Wiluna
Canning Stock Route, Well 1
Tjukurba Art Centre, Wiluna
Newman – concrete campsite
