Hi all,
Thought I would put up a quick report about a trip to
Wilson Cliffs. Single vehicle, took my dad.
I had wanted to see them as David Carnegie had camped there 24 September 1896 and found a dry rockhole which has always been listed position approximate on the maps.
They are not easily accessible.
Well 38 on the CSR is about 160 km to the east,
Gary Junction Road is 63km and plenty of sandridges to the south and the nearest track to the east is more than 60km.
I was at
Kiwirrkurra and most locals were using the track past
Lake Mackay to go north so I got permission with the point of the hand, and the words "up past the rubbish tip".
At the time I didn't know the track would go past the lake. I was getting so much easting though that I knew I had to be close.
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After the big arm of the lake we headed west for a while then north past the dwarf
well area. If I had known I was coming this way I would have brought some more info on the
well with me. Then west again for a while when we camped on side of track about 205 kms from
Kiwirrkurra. Not bad, as I had left after noon.
Almost first thing in the morning we had to leave the track as we were getting to much northing for easy access to the cliffs. We left the track at 22 09 08.3S 127 40 26.6E and headed into the bush with the cliffs about 68kms away. We had lunch under a tree.
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We arrived at the cliffs after 3:00pm and found a way down a sandridge to the front. I managed to reach the cliffs without cresting a single sandridge thanks to GPS.
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Just as I was trying to find a suitable
campsite I found a rockhole about 80 metres from the cliffs. This was not the one Carnegie mentioned though and he may have missed it all together.
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Carnegie described the rockhole in his book, "......careful exploration of these caves, on hands and knees, led to the finding of a fair size rockhole, unfortunately quite dry."
After
camping 30 metres from the first rockhole I then headed up to the cliffs with excitement, as one does when one arrives at an exciting new place. I found Carnegies Rockhole within the minute.
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This rockhole is actually fed from another hole atop of the cliffs. Very interesting. It was dry.
Next day we did a thorough search of the whole area and I dug out the first rockhole until the bottom. It got moist dirt at best, but there was lots of silt in it.
I found a caterpillar, identified as Eudocima fullonia, which possibly may be the first speciman of its kind in Western Australia (other in Queensland). There were 3 specimens in total on Snake Vine.
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I couldn't resist taking a shot of these tracks (surely I couldn't stuff this shot up??
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Next day we set off and headed west going over 100 kms before
camping near a dry lake. The day after west for about 90kms before cutting the stock route near
Well 38 and
camping down the track a bit.
Visited two unlogged confluences on the way - 22S 126E & 22S 127E.
Enjoyed the dunes but was quite happy to get to the CSR in one piece.
I might put this into a blog some time later on.
Cheers
Alan