Tackling the Great Sandy Desert (The desert ALWAYS wins) - Video

For anyone who ever wanted to know what the going is like out in the Australia’s western deserts here is another little piece of Video editing. This film revolves around the 18th June, 2009 as EO members John & Suzette and myself, were headed across old cut lines into the Great Sandy Desert. In was our third day out in our quest for Joanna Spring. Many of these lines were cut through by oil exploration companies in the 70's and early 80's. There are many markers along these lines, usually at points where two lines intersect. Each has an identification tag and a date. Those we were traversing appear to have been laid in 1981 by the Amoco Oil Co.



After 30 years of neglect, these lines are fast being reclaimed by the bush making the going difficult. Being the first area for rainwater runoff, they are subject to erosion and also become a bed for plants, the seeds of which are washed along during the rare but tumultuous rains that fall up here on occasion. In many places, the regenerated scrub in the tracks is thick than the surrounding bush. There were some interesting highlites such as an old cannabis plantation.

Image Could Not Be Found

I managed to stake several tyres during the day, on top of the normal type punctures that take a plug or two. The final three occurred within a 3 kilometre stretch and go to show just how this rough country can soon cause plans to change. Thus an early camp was called some 60 kilometres east of Joanna Spring and I got a master class in Tyre repair for Mr Magic. I had certainly developed an unnatural relationship with my new R&R Bead-breaker by the end of the trip. Not cheap but makes light work of an otherwise difficult job.

The Google Earth image gives a bit of an idea of our track for the day as recorded by my Garmin.

I have inserted this clip into the relevant blog (A day of Stakes & dunes) entry for anyone interested.