Thursday, Sep 07, 2006 at 21:15
Hi Willem,
The
Cook road doesn't have as much tourist traffic, but its used by the aboriginal communities at Oak Valley and Tjuntjuntjarra. And there are Caretakers living in
Cook who service the trains. The road itself is a well maintained track - graded every couple of years. Thats why we always use it. And it passes through some magnificent stands of Black Oak.
Len Beadell said it was one of the hardest roads to build - because it crosses the dunes and the mulga is pretty thick. He followed the known aboriginal wells at the time, and theres some historical interest with
explorers using the scarce permanent water at
places like Muckera
Rockhole and Waldana well. Other
places like Churina well and Brigina Well usually don't have water. But there's also a
bore at Koolkoona Native Dam. The short diversion down to Lake Wyola is worth it for a change of scenery.
Cook was a pretty historical place - the hospital was open until 1997. But it got vandalised, and last year was unfortunately pulled down. Jan, the local caretaker has set up the school as a museum, and theres a souvenir
shop that she opens if theres some interested people around.
South of
Cook, its a graded road to the Highway, or you can turn off and go to Nullabor via Kudna
Rockhole or Knowles Cave or Murrawinjinie Caves.
Cook road is one of those South Aussie secrets :-))) I've travelled it each year for the last 4 years. Can do a nice 9 day trip up the
Cook Rd to Vokes
Hill and
Coober Pedy, or use it as the easy way to
Western Australia.
Cheers
phil
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