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Day 5	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Monday 7th July	Rest Day at Well 6 (Pierre Spring)		8.4km

When we arrived at Pierre Spring yesterday, we found a small quiet group of 3 vehicles already camped and looking as though they had been there a few days. They came and made themselves be known as ExplorOz users - Northern Territory travellers Kevin and Wendy Pritchard, Craig Cousins, Derek James and Karen Corkill and we later had a pre-dinner drink with them while our roast was cooking. (They were still travelling on NT time however and were nearly ready for bed!). 

This morning we decided to climb the Ingebong Hills (not Ningebong as written in the Gard's book) and then see if we could find the actual spring feeding Well 6. Before we had set off however, a convoy of vehicles passed right through the camp, barely stopping to look at the site. We then drove off in their path to the north expecting to meet up with them at Ingebong, but they hadn't stopped there either. 

View from top of Ingebong Hills

4.2km from Well 6 is the signed turnoff on the LHS to Ingebong Hills, with a turnaround bay to leave your vehicle at the base of the walk path. Initially, the path heads straight up towards a small overhang containing some messy aboriginal rock paintings. By skirting the base of the rocks around to the left there are some better paintings before the track (undefined) leads up a loose and rocky ascent. Once on top of the main ridge, the surface of the Ingebong Hills is a series of folded layers of sandstone. There is a small cairn and stick at the summit and the views are worthwhile. It isn't overly scenic, with just the faint hills of  and Mt Davis to the north-east. The rest appears flat and featureless and you can hardly believe that the magnificent eucalypts at Pierre Springs are tucked away down there just 4km away. What amazed me the most was that we could hear a vehicle approaching on the track below but couldn't see it or the track at all. From this perspective you start to realise the remoteness of your location, with the CSR track so insignificant amongst the vegetation of the vast countryside stretched out below.

Leah successfully made it to the top with a little help from adult shoulders but she appears keen to walk and has proper boots with good grip that she is learning to trust. She's a tough kid and even though she has a bout of the flu with a terrible runny nose, she is keeping up fine. I have noticed that she isn't drinking as much milk as usual and her appetite has been a bit slow, but that can happen with 2 - 3 year olds at any time. 

At the bottom of the hills, the approaching vehicle we'd seen from our vantage point at the top of the hill was parked beside our vehicle and the two male occupants started walking towards us. It turns out that they are attempting to organise a Canning Stock Route Re-enactment (like the Year of the Outback Cattle Drive) for 2006 to mark the 100th Birthday of the CSR and are out this year to survey the route for themselves and to gauge local response to the concept. They gave us a Press Release and spent considerable time discussing promotions and possible use of ExplorOz. They had already met with the Halls Creek Shire Council and were on their way to a council meeting in Wiluna, which was already indicating support for the idea. Our biggest concerns were their requirements for stock watering points and their suggestions that clubs and interested bodies should be working to restore as many wells as possible prior to the event. I was under the impression that no restorations were to take place without the approval of the West Australian Heritage Council and that DOLA had made a recent recommendation in an internal report (which we were recently given by the authors) that no more wells were to be considered for restoration works. But Ken Morris, the organiser of the event seemed sure he had all bases covered and that the Australia-wide interest in the event would bring many positive results for the region. This proposed event sparked lots of conversation that continued all along the track for the remainder of our trip.

On our return to camp, we had our meat-salad lunch and then continued off on another walk to find the site of the original spring on which Well 6 was located. Although the spring was silted up after a cyclone in the mid 1960s, there is a lone paperbark tree 250m south of Well 6 in a silted up creek bed meeting the original descriptions. We have taken a marker for the "spring" and will investigate further.

Well 6 - "Pierre Spring" fully restored with top quality drinking water

Back at camp, a group of 3 vehicles had arrived, all with Toodyay and Northam licence plates. Leah noticed there were kids amongst the group and I had to assist with introductions, however they also turned out to be ExplorOz users and we'd even had email correspondence in the lead up to this trip. One vehicle in their party (the Toodyay 4WD Club) was experiencing a fair bit of fuel trouble, to the point that fuel wasn't getting through the lines to the engine and a make-shift arrangement had been used - a jerry can with a hose directly feeding fuel into the engine.

Every "mechanic" in the camp ground had a look at the vehicle but no fix or solution to the problem could be found so the jerry can continued to be the only way they could get fuel to the engine. We offered another piece of hose to enable a return line to take excess back to the jerry can and they seemed happy to continue with their north bound trip the next day.

Day 6	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Tuesday 8th July	Well 6 (Pierre Spring)	Just north of Well 12	140.6km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
3hrs 59 mins	32.1km	4 hrs 22mins	68.5km/hr

We lifted camp at 8.30am and said our goodbyes to the NT group and the Toodyay group. So far, we have encountered 15 vehicles other than ourselves on the CSR. We have heard a number of stories from other travellers and heard of a Ford Explorer that had exploded on the track near Well 49 a few days ago plus we know that Ronnie & Eric Gard are just one day's drive ahead of us too with a convoy of 7 vehicles on their tag along tour. We certainly didn't come out here to be surrounded by mobs of other people so are trying to find a quiet slot in the pack. 

From here on, the track shows the first signs of sand and before Well 7 there is one small dune to cross. When we came across Well 7, it was just a collapsed hole in the ground but water could still be seen at the bottom. Although this well is in ruins, the area is quite lovely and makes for nice, shady camping. 

Well 7 - shady camping areas

Well 8 is dry but is mostly intact, which from a historical point I view is a pleasant sight. The camping is poor as the ground is unlevel in many areas.

Well 9 lies beside station yards and water tank in use by the Ward family on Glen-Ayle station. The tank was being repaired when we arrived and we stopped to have a chat with the youngest of the Ward family. The wood on Well 9 appears bleached white, possibly lime or calcium. The spring is just a short walk away and is pleasant but the area appears unsuitable to camping. We saw another 3 vehicles at Well 9 who were heading south.

Yards & Tank near Well 9

Well 10 lies in a large area suitable for camping but there is not much shade (not really an issue if travelling in winter).

Well 11 lies in a large reed-filled swamp called Goodwin Soak. We found thousands of finches and a pair of camels that came right up to us standing at the well while we were out of the car. The well itself is in ruins with some poor water at the bottom but the A-frame supporting the trough is intact, but the metal trough itself is mostly rusted and fallen away. 

We have noticed Leah is starting to run a temperature and today its up to 38.9°C but she is still in full spirits with no other symptoms so it just needs monitoring.

We came across Well 12 at the perfect time for setting up camp but were surprised to find hoards of people and vehicles and all manner of campsites. The count was 10 vehicles, plus 1 OKA, brining our CSR vehicle count to 29 so far. Not very remote these days!

It turned out that the well was being restored by Ken Maidment of Treks Across Australia, who has also led the restoration parties of Wells 15, 18, 26 and 49, with Well 45 planned for restoration in 2004. Amongst their party was Ambrose Canning, grandson of Alfred Canning. 

Ambrose Canning - a member of the Well 12 restoration party

We spent about an hour with the restoration party and found them all to be very enjoyable company, but simply too many people with which to spend a night in the bush. They were happy to have us share their camp (great campsite) but there simply wasn't room for another vehicle. We drove further on and found ourselves a nice quiet camp on the ridge and have marked this as "overflow" camping for when the Well 12 site is full.  It was about this time that David felt something buzz into his ear, like a bug or a fly. It bothered him a bit so he used a cotton bud to dig it out but didn't find anything and thought nothing more of it.

Day 7	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Wednesday 9th July	Well 12 area	Calvert Range	157.8km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
3hrs 41 mins	33.8km/hr	4 hrs 39mins	69.6km/hr

We set off at 8.15am this morning and made it to Well 13 just after 9am. This well is 2km off the track on the left just after the ruin of the Land Rover (hardly distinguishable now it is so rusted). The well is in total ruin - it has collapsed in on itself and there is no hole just a slight depression in the ground. The trough however is long and mostly intact.

Hardly recognisable - the old ruin of a Land Rover

Well 14 is overgrown and collapsed. We have recommended to Hema that they remove the campsite symbol from maps for this area, as its a pretty poor site for camping.

Well 15 is one of the restored wells done by Ken Maidment. In the case of his restorations, they are not "fully" restored in the sense of a return to history, but they are certainly repaired to the point of getting fresh drinking water. Be sure you bring your own bucket (we used a 15L galvanised bucket) and about 50 feet of rope as not all restored wells have buckets and ropes.

Well 15

After passing Rankins Trolley, we came to a very pleasant area with views of a long red sand dune just 200m to the WNW. This is Well 16. We found water that was clear and tasted fine, but possibly a little salty. There is no lid to keep animals out and the hole is slowly collapsing. Trough and A-frames mostly in tact but collapsing. Camps in the mulga offer very little protection but is flat. Scarce firewood. We had our lunch here and planned to reach the Calvert Range for the end of the day so moved on at 1.35pm.

We reached the Calvert turnoff (no marker) at almost 2pm and found the temperatures getting hotter now which is pleasing.

Junction of CSR and turnoff to Calvert Range

At this junction we swing east and at the very first dune needed to drop the tyre pressures. This is a delightful dune run for about 36km over lots of red sand dunes. The track is very scenic but annoying for the driver because insufficient run up for the dunes is given in the original lay of the track - consequently people have been forced to create run up tracks before each dune. Seems strange that the track wasn't created with the right approach in the first place!

The scenic drive across hundreds of dunes into the Calvert Range

The reason for visiting the Calvert Range was to experience this little known gem in the desert where some unique aboriginal art galleries housing literally thousands of pieces of top quality rock paintings and some carvings can be easily seen from 2 main locations just 40km or so off the CSR. It would seem crazy to not take advantage of our trip this far out in the Western Deserts to go just a little further east to see these rarely seen artefacts that I'm sure in time, will become protected and possibly inaccessible to visitors.

Samples of Rock Art found in the Calvert Range

So image our surprise, when after an hour's travelling through what really felt like the middle of nowhere, we came to our camp and found another 2 vehicles already setup. They too, were ExplorOz users and very kindly gave us a tour of the aboriginal carvings and paintings that they had found over various previous trips, sights we couldn't have hoped to find ourselves. This is an area where there is no intervention, no signage, no trail markers etc. You really need to have done your research in advance to know where to look or at least have plenty of time and the inclination to be a little adventurous to find them yourself.

We camped just a little way back near the main junction under a lovely grove of trees beneath the base of the range. We hadn't brought any firewood and there is none here so made do with dinner cooked on the gas stove tonight. As soon as we stopped the car to setup Leah asked to go to her swag for a sleep (before sunset) - thinking this was a bit strange we took her temperature to find it was now up to 39.6°C. We gave her Pandadol, then she had a sleep for an hour and then woke up quiet but happy and did some watercolour painting while we cooked dinner. She didn't eat much and went to bed. It's my guess this is the end of her flu, as I've seen this kind of temperature spike after a long cold with her before so I was concerned for her but not worried about the situation. Looking back at her symptoms, the walk up Ingebong Hills probably sapped all her energy and her poor little body finally gave into the flu.

Day 8	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Thursday 10th July	Calvert Range	Durba Springs	100.1km
Stopped time	Moving average	Moving time	Max speed
3hrs 5 mins	19.1km/hr	5 hrs 14mins	59.3km/hr

Thankfully, Leah slept well all night and awoke this morning with a normal temperature of 37.5°C and appeared totally recovered with renewed appetite and energy to burn.

We decided to pack up and begin our tour around the base of the Calvert Range following the 18km  loop road (including turn-offs) around the entire range. We skirted the range to the north and circumnavigated the range in a clockwise direction. 

View of Calvert Range from loop road skirting the base

The Calvert Range was once rarely visited, and we certainly didn't expect to see other vehicles in here, however my mid-morning another 2 convoys of vehicles had arrived and their UHF traffic could be heard.  The track is just wheel tracks on a flat sandy base with the occasional rocky gibbers, but vegetation grows thickly on either side of the track and in some places will scratch the sides of the car terribly. The spinifex is much taller than the vehicle but the range is easily seen the whole time.

Heavily vegetated track around the Calvert Range

After following the track a little to the north it swings east and using information given to us yesterday we pulled off and walked in along the range to find Calvert's Cave - a small waterhole.

The track then swings south-east and another track to the east heads off away from the range and the main track. This track is not fully drawn on most maps and in fact goes out to another range called Constance Headland. Due to the extreme remoteness of this range, it is not recommended that people attempt this trip without very careful planning, however on this day we knew of 2 vehicles about to head out there and another solo vehicle tackling the trip tomorrow.

Following the main track around the Calvert Range we began to head west again through the Skeleton Pass and then starting tracking north to the main junction. In the final kilometres to the junction, there are 2 turnoffs on the right, the first from this approach leads to the best rock art and pools to be found in the Calvert Range.

The track leads in for just 200m, ending in a very small carpark. This spot is not suitable for camping. Undefined walk trails lead up gorge with aboriginal rock paintings on both sides of gorge walls, rock pools are also in another smaller gorge that leads off to the RHS.

 
Just some of the very clear paintings found along gorge walls

So by midday we had completed our circuit around the range and felt that we'd seen a good slice of what was there. We were keen to have a rest day at Durba to give Leah a chance to recover and David was getting an ear-ache too. We had tried to locate Sunday Well but this has all but disappeared but the general location appears to be the salt flat depression with some scrappy ti-trees that the track skirts around about 14km from the main CSR junction.

It was 1pm by the time we reached the CSR again and hit the traffic! We were caught behind 2 very slow moving vehicles towing trailers. It was getting too hot in the day and none of us felt up to the steep walk to reach Canning's Cairn just 9km from this junction. The stone cairn is easily visible high on a ridge top and about 3m tall is 62m above the surrounding countryside. It was built by Canning and his party in 1906. We stopped to take some photos and admired the views of Durba Hills in the distance.

Just after a rocky creek crossing (dry) we spotted the unmarked track on the right off to Biella Spring. We love gorge walks and it was reported by the Gards' in their book to be just a ½ hr walk from the carpark at the head of the gorge to reach the spring. The drive into Biella follows a faint rocky path that twists and turns across the creek bed numerous times before finally ending at the head of the gorge after about 2km. Biella is about an hour walk from the parking area across a rocky flat river bed until coming to much larger rocky boulders and a small spring. We found some rock art on the left wall of the gorge when first starting the walk. I then walked for 45minutes with Leah and gave up feeling unwell in the heat. David continued on for another 15minutes and came to the spring and took photos. Back at the carpark I took my temperature to find I was running a temperature so finally the flu had done its rounds of our family.

The gorge walk and spring at Biella

Another vehicle followed us into Biella and they left just ahead of us. They were driving much slower so we caught up to them pretty quickly. It was nearing sunset and we still hadn't reached Killagurra Waterhole which is was Cannings Water 17, just before Durba Gorge, which was Water 18. There is a 4 way junction just 8km on from the Biella junction and turning right here leads 1.5km to Killagurra. On the drive in I remarked how pretty this place looked and that we may as well camp here, rather than Durba. Then we turned the corner and found 3 vehicles had also just arrived and were in the process of selecting their campsites. It really is a small area for camping and not wishing to intrude we decided to take a quick look around and then move on to Durba. I happened to overhear one of the ladies refer to one the men as Anton, an unusual name but one I recognised. I had just been thinking about a friend of mine in Perth who was pregnant but I hadn't seen since the announcement so image my surprise when I realised this was her parents! We made ourselves be known and had a breif look around but unfortunately due to impending darkness had to move on without taking a walk further along the gorge, which I believe is quite lovely. I have read however, that this is a sacred aboriginal site (but no signage) with rock paintings to be seen further up the gorge. Even so, it is visited frequently because most people would have no idea of the area's significance.

Late afternoon at Killagurra Waterhole - Water 17

After backtracking to the 4 way junction on the CSR it was just a a matter of minutes before reaching Durba. This is the most popular of all camping areas on the Canning with ample room stretching out alongside the creek on grassy banks beneath red rock walls. The creek water is clear when collected although appears still and green in the creek so we did not drink it. There is an elevated toilet block at the back of the camp with 2 rota-loo toilets. This was a Track Care project and a donation box and commemorative plaques are nearby. The walk track for access further along gorge leads off at the end of the camp to the SE. Rock paintings and drovers initials carved on gorge walls are easily seen from the campsites.

Delightful camps by the creek at Durba

As expected, there were many campers already well setup and beginning dinner when we arrived at dusk at Durba. The Well 12 restoration party and their 10 vehicles were here, as was the slow moving vehicle we had encountered at Biella, plus the 2 vehicles with trailers. A little later on, 2 of the 3 vehicles in the Toodyay group we had meet back at Well 6 also arrived so it was almost a full house with 16 vehicles and close to 60 people (one vehicle was an Oka full of passengers from Treks Across Australia, which bumps the numbers up a bit).

We still hadn't collected any firewood so we had to make do without a campfire, although it seemed every other camper had one blazing. 

I had trialled it a few times at home to see if it was worth taking because I didn't want to take something I didn't believe I'd use when packing space was at a premium for a trip like this. For my test at home I cooked pork spare ribs with a simple marinade sauce and they were unbelievably yummy so we made sure we brought along the exact same thing. I also layered capsicum and strips of fresh zucchini on the grill to complete the meal tonight. So, even though we didn't have firewood, we had the next best thing. Probably a good invention for this sort of environment where firewood is scarce or in national parks where open fires are banned. 

That evening we were invited to a "concert" by the Treks Across Australia group, which started at 7.30pm just after dinner. The kids thoroughly loved it and we had 2½ yr old Leah, 6 yr old Joel, 8 yr old Hannah in their kiddies camp chairs clapping after each performance. Tonight Leah heard the song "Home Among the Gum Trees" and saw it performed with the actions for the first time and was impressed! I think she's already forgotten about Hi-5.

And so the end of a very full and interesting day on the Canning Stock Route. We went over to the Toodyay group's camp after all the kids had gone to sleep to find out about their last few days and find that one of their group (the "blue ute", a brand new Nissan Navara ute) had set off to Constance Headland and they were to wait for their return at Durba.

Day 9	Start	Stop	Trip Odometer
Friday 11th July	Rest Day at Durba Springs (Water 18)		0km

I was woken at 3am this morning with David screaming in pain - his ear ache had become unbearable during the night and he couldn't handle it. There was also some blood in his ear. After some whispered discussions my diagnosis was that he had an ear infection that had ruptured, but we weren't sure if it was caused by the flu or when something flew into his ear a few days ago. In either case, it seemed obvious he had an infection and the only cure for that is antibiotics. Why I didn't think to bring antibiotics is beyond me. I will never make this mistake again. So we waited for 3 hrs until daybreak and the first signs of movement around the camp to find someone who might have antibiotics.

It was amazing to see the insides of so many first-aid kits. Everyone has cold and flu tablets and I've never seen so many varieties of pain killers but no one seemed to have antibiotics. You would think that in a camp of 60 people there would be a packet of antibiotics. And eventually, we did find a 3 day course of Amoxycillan, which he's used before so although it was un-prescribed, it was a safe bet that this would fix the pain and the inflammation and at least get us further along the track. Had it been me needing antibiotics I could not have taken this one, as I am allergic to Penicillin. Having never been sick on any trip before, and rarely sick at home, we simply didn't consider antibiotics a necessary item in our First Aid kit. So, everyone please take this true story as an example of just important it is to plan for emergency situations and to think about the medical requirements of each person in your vehicle when packing your first aid kit.

The Well 12 restoration group moved on today, leaving the place much quieter. I really needed a rest day as I was ill too - I could hardly move about with a high temperature and that general lethargic feeling you get from the flu. What a mess we are!

Leah was full of energy again and thankfully she had teamed up the the 4 children from the Toodyay group and she played happily all day with them. David spent the day taking pain killers and talking to people. He even managed to walk a short way up into the Durba Gorge, whilst I slowly did the washing and slept on the grass.

Leah (2½) and her new friends Joel (6 ½) & Hannah (8)