Hitching the Canning Stock Route

Ah, so you are the old fart from Balgo I met :-)

Thanks for the wishes.

I have a SPOT link on www.flygirl.co.za so you can see how far I get if there are any bets on :-)

See you on the Canning late July. How cold are the nights???

Thanks Pete!

Early July and we may indeed meet up :-)


Hi Suzanne

Well, I am living in a guest house at present (yes we have three plus a donga in Billiluna for travellers and service providers :-) and I have closed half the windows. I love the outdoors and normally leave everything open so this is an indication I am going to freeze my butt off in my tent. The cold wind at night and in the mornings is the big chill factor.

When walking outside at night I now wear a thin fleece and a down sleeveless body warmer. Last night we had 100% cloud cover - still do - so last night was pleasant and my duna was too warm for me this morning. Clear nights are the cold ones.

So not Arctic temperatures, but I am a girl who follows the sun and the warmth and does everything she can to stay away from the cold and rain. Hence me being in the desert :-)

Unfortunately I will probably miss you late July as I have to fly out of Australia mid July for a few days - visa requirements - I am South African and have to leave Australia every 3 months.

Have fun and try not to rush the Canning too much if you can. Most of the people I speak to do it in 13 days and feel they were travelling hard and would have liked to have had a bit of chill out time.


g

Hi Marc

I was in Mulan in May whiclt on a quick recce of Lake Gregory and Well 51. I got a lift with the Billiluna CEO's son, Partick.

A kind gentleman did give us fuel in Mulan midday which we were grateful for as it was out of business hours. Our fuel gauge was reading empty despite having filled up in Billiluna and that made us nervous we may have a leak. We were in a white Ute with a very big windsurfer board on the back. Just the kind of thing you expect to see in the desert :-) We had hope to go exploring on the lake.

Tony looks after us here in Billiluna too. We know how important he is to us :-)

REGARDING HISTORY - can't believe my luck!

You are just the man I want to speak to. I have been reading to the children from a book called The Children of Tiger Wirrir. It has the stories of Rex Johns, Veronica Lulu and Bessie Doonday. I emailed the Kimberley Language Resource Centre in Halls Creek for permission to reproduce their stories on the Billiluna website as so much of the Mulan stories interlink with the families of Billuna. The children get so excited and go into great detail about inter-relationships when they hear familiar names. But so far no reply from them. The stories are the property of the story tellers anyway, so if you could ask permission from the relevant families I would be very grateful.

I will use spell check next time - all those typo's!!!! I was just so exited :-)

Please give my best wishes to Andrea - the Mulan Youth Worker!

And thanks for the reply!

Thanks Bob

I will work on the Art Section today.

We have two fantastic works of art for sale here in Billiluna at present. Will post images and info.

If you look in the School Heritage Collection there are two excellent representations of The Massacre at Sturt Creek. They belong to the school.

http://Billiluna.org.au/school-heritage-collection.html


I have Catholic Religious paintings too, done by the artists of Billiluna. Not being religious I need to go and ask the Principal what the story is that goes with them. Will post those images today as well under the same category.

This is my first time in a Community and it has been interesting. I would like to return, maybe end July for 2 months or do volunteer work in another Community.There is plenty of volunteer work available in return for food and accommodation and this suits me well. It is a great way to learn about another culture, people and myself.

ex Australian ARMY Toyota Landcruiser

And I am South African - not another crazy German tourist as all the people coming out of the Canning thought I was :-)

A lot of people who read this forum or were spoken to by locals at Wiluna and Kunawarritji were asked to look out for me and give me a drink of water if they saw me, so thank you very much to all those people for your thoughtfulness. Do appreciate it.

Gaynor

maybe that should have been 'I am a crazy South African' ;)

good luck, looking forward to further updates.