Gunbarrel Hwy Day 7 - Jackie Junction to Warakurna Roadhouse/Giles

Thursday, Jun 28, 2001 at 00:00

ExplorOz - David & Michelle

Day 7 - Thursday 28/6/01
Start - Jackie Junction
Stop - Warakurna Roadhouse/Giles
Trip Odometer - 252.1km
Stopped time - 2.31hrs
Moving average - 54.2km/hr
Moving time - 4.38hrs
Max speed - 7.1hrs

The graded track only lasted until we reached “Mipultjarra Junction” the turnoff to an aboriginal community. At this junction we were 157km from Warburton, although we didn’t go there, and 187km from Warakurna Roadhouse/Giles.

This junction has a fairly decent spot for a camp if you need it – probably the only clearing along the whole route from Jackie Junction.

Not far from the junction we read a sign “Million Dollar Corner” but have no idea what it referred to. We then started to look for Blaze Marks as positioned on our digital maps. BM401 just didn’t seem to exist as its GPS position put it right in the middle of a burnt-out area.

We stopped for lunch at the 2nd of the Len Beadell plaques and met up with a convoy of 2 vehicles who had just done the Simpson and were now doing the full stretch of Gunbarrel and then up to do the Canning. They were running on CST and we were still on WST. Giles is also CST so we made our time change then.

From the second Len Beadell plaque into Giles was definitely the most scenic yet slowest of the abandoned section, taking us 2 hrs to get to Giles. We were too late for a tour of the weather station and had to camp at the back of the Roadhouse. It was our dampest and dirtiest camp and Leah cried for hours – teething? Cold? I also think she is fretting a little bit about the constant change of environment. I thought I was doing the right thing giving her a lovely long warm bath but the second I took her out she screamed and didn’t really stop for about 2 hrs. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only campers so I’m sure we were popular neighbours! I can’t believe we’ve become the people we detest at campgrounds!
David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Always working not enough travelling!
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