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 Spinifex Camp Approx 2km north east of Burrabudingu Soak, Little Sandy Desert WA

Submitted: Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 00:00
Friday 4th July
Spinifex Camp Approx 2km north east of Burrabudingu Soak,
Little Sandy Desert WA
24 14 34.22 S, 123 26 14.77 E
(NOTE: All hyperlinks go to Exploroz "places" descriptions)


Unnamed Rockhole and Cairn
Unnamed Rockhole and Cairn
It was another draining day in the wilds today with 5 punctures, (3 to me and 2 to Scott), and some novel tyre repairs using superglue and gaffer tape. I was up before the sun and packed away before breakfast. I walked down to the Unnamed Rockhole to investigate yesterday’s handiwork at the rockhole and took some photos and video. I took appropriate GPS co-ordinates and marked the big rock hole with a small cairn on the western bank of the creek.

After breakfast Scott was completing the repairs to his badly torn sidewall on the Duelers. It was a jagged ‘M’ shaped gash about 15cm in total length. A very ugly wound indeed. We’d left our stitching wire back in Melbourne and all we could put our hands on that was big enough was a light weight patch of what looked like lilo
Gaffer tape use No. 1001 - Mending tyres!
Gaffer tape use No. 1001 - Mending tyres!
(airbed) rubber. Itd do. We decided to weld the edges of the tear back together with supa-glue and when that had set, pushed all the little protrusions inside back into to some semblance of order and cemented them from the inside. Next, it was gluing the flimsy patch to the inside of the sidewall. We were worried that the patch would not offer enough protection for the tube so decided that the judicious application of gaffer tape across the patch would
The horror sidewall tear after supa-glue.
The horror sidewall tear after supa-glue.
lend some additional protection to the tube. Innovation at it’s best. It certainly looked good! It was destined to be “the spare of last resort”!

We headed off across the rocky range and into the scrub. There was no track to speak of, it having disappeared pretty quickly. It was slow going over tough terrain winding in and out of the rocky gullies and creeks. On an approach to one rocky embankment Scott radioed me that I had staked a trailer tyre. Had I what! He wasn’t kidding.
A 30 cm shard of timber protruding from high in the side wall of the drivers side trailer tyre. After patching and inflating it I moved on across the creek only to have Scott stop me again as hed just staked a trailer tyre in the same place. Did he ever! Hed managed to punch a huge stick right through the sidewall ruining both tyre and tube. Hes down to one serviceable spare now.
And again
And again


We pushed on finally breaking out of the hill country and into the sand hill country again. On occasion we’d come across the faint remnants of a track but this was often lost once we hit any rocky ground. I pushed on regardless often coming back across the track fleetingly. About noon Scott punctured a second tyre on the trailer with a side wall stake, thankfully a small one this time. We called a halt to proceedings while both tyres and tubes were repaired. I set up the awning to provide Scott some
And two for Scott!
And two for Scott!
shade and I largely supervised the splitting of the rims and then helped with the tyre casing patching and repair. Super glue seems to assist in holding the sidewall rubber well. Whether it’s flexible enough to handle the rigors of off road travel and low pressures remains to be seen. While Scott laboured and I supervised, chef Gaby provided lunch.
Spinifex tyre repair service!
Spinifex tyre repair service!

We were back on our way (I can’t say track because there wasn’t one) after two and made good time a cross an area of recently burnt out scrub. This soon came to an end though as we hit a rocky area with deep cut washaways. I had to track south along the meandering gully until I finally found a place to cross. As fate would have it I managed to roll a trailer tyre off the rim…great. On went one of the new Dick Sipek FC2’s and once again commenced pushing slowly towards Birrell rockhole.
And one more!  What a bloody day!
And one more! What a bloody day!


A fright late in the day when the trailer tyre started going down again. Getting out the trusty spray bottle of soapy water, we identified a leak right on the rim. Jacking up the trailer, we deflated the tyre and located and removed a 25mm piece of spinifex which had penetrated between the tyre and rim. This seemed to solve the problem and after pumping the tyre up we were on the way once again. It was 4:30 p.m. by this time and we were still in the wilds of the spinifex country traversing along a large swale. Using the Natmap was crucial here as you had to pick exactly the right swales to enter lest you find yourself trapped when two sand hills converged. It was apparent that we weren’t going to locate Birrell Rockhole this day and that a night in the spinifex seemed inevitable. Spying some dead mulga in the distance we headed for that and stopped there. Everyone is exhausted. We
Great sunset though
Great sunset though
covered 35 km in total for the day after 8 hours of travel and 2 hours spent static for repairs. We managed to clear enough spinifex to safely have a fire and the mulga ensured at least a decent sort of fire.

Managed a fire and I was feeling manky so used some water for a sponge shower. Feel a bit better after that. It’s 8.25 and all are in bed. The sunset was spectacular with just a sliver of a moon setting late. I tried to capture it with a few photos. Tomorrow we might reach Birrell and hopefully a track of some description. Not this nebulous ghost of a track we stumble across on all to fleeting occasions.
And the fire was great.
And the fire was great.

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 All Entries July 2008

21 Jul 2008 - A night at the Rocky Knoll & Clarence's lucky escape - Wapet Track WA
03 Jul 2008 - Unnamed Rockhole - Little Sandy Desert WA
12 Jul 2008 - Exploring the northwest edge of the Throssell Ranges (Rudall River) - Turtle Rockhole
01 Jul 2008 - The cleared line (21 km west of Eagle Highway) WA
16 Jul 2008 - Desert Queens Baths - exploring the Broadhurst Ranges, Rudall River WA
02 Jul 2008 - Mount Madley Gibson Desert WA
15 Jul 2008 - Rest day at the Desert Queens Baths - Rudall River WA
24 Jul 2008 - Sandy Blight Junction Road - Day of bush welding
06 Jul 2008 - Constance Headland to the Calverts
29 Jul 2008 - Down the Ghan Heritage Trail to Charlotte Waters.
14 Jul 2008 - Our first Rudall expedition - Day 2 and then on to Desert Queen Baths
26 Jul 2008 - Alice Springs - Saturday 26th July to Monday 28th July.
13 Jul 2008 - Our first Rudall expedition - desperate donkeys, fools gold and unmapped mountains!
25 Jul 2008 - Sandy Blight Junction Track - Sir Frederick Range & on to Mt Ebenezer Station
11 Jul 2008 - Back in Rudall River Again - Tjingkulatjatjarra (Tjarra) Pool WA
23 Jul 2008 - Sandy Blight Junction Track NT
10 Jul 2008 - On the Puntawarri - "An extremely Isolated & treacherous track" or so the legend says!
22 Jul 2008 - Gary Junction Road to Kiwirrkurra WA
09 Jul 2008 - Savory Creek, 78 km west of the Canning
20 Jul 2008 - Expedition into Yandagooge Gap - Rudall River NP
08 Jul 2008 - An eventful day at Durba
19 Jul 2008 - Expedition into Yandagooge Gap - Rudall River NP
07 Jul 2008 - Calvert Range to Durba Springs
18 Jul 2008 - Expedition into Yandagooge Gap - Rudall River NP
05 Jul 2008 - Yowyungoo Gorge, Mungulu Hills WA
17 Jul 2008 - Expedition into Yandagooge Gap - Rudall River NP
04 Jul 2008 - Spinifex Camp Approx 2km north east of Burrabudingu Soak, Little Sandy Desert WA
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