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| To Well 41, Tiru |
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July 3 2025 |
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Next morning ready to go. After inflating tyres a bit. 20
psi cold. |
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After another trip to the top of the dune. Its not
straight. |
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Well 43, Katajikarra, in a depression. |
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A few remnants. |
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We head south. The map suggests the track meanders, around
dunes, and over some. We suspect the dunes we have to cross will be
easier, less steep parts chosen and not straight up. |
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And so it is. |
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With the usual variation in swales, though more trees and
less bushes. |
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We approach Lake Guli with trepidation. A couple of weeks
ago it was impassible to us. We looked for the temporary bypass but didn't
see it. |
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The colours a distraction after the green and gold of the
dunes. |
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We are slow. We are a little heavier than most vehicles. We
are unsure how thick the crust is. We approach where others have come to
grief. |
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An arduous task releasing vehicles that have been bogged to
their axles. |
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But we reach the other side succesfully, without mishap. |
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To find Well 42, Kulyayi. Which has the indignity of not being
marked on some of our maps.
A native soak. |
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The zebra finches moved when I tried to have the sun behind
me. It seems the more water the more finches. |
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Southward, through more dunes. A very meandering path. We
take our hats off to the people who navigated the easy path around and over
dunes. |
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We notice trees on the sides and tops of dunes, with fewer
in the swales. |
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A little awkward, but in 2nd gear slowly we find success
with every dune. |
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We met two people in Willys Jeeps of historic vintage at
the lookout where we camped a few days ago. One was towing this trailer.
It was a bit bouncy, and he'd rolled it twice. It broke a spring. No hope
of repair, so left.
I salvaged a couple of self tapping screws. |
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Ali took a pic of a flower. |
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The trees are lower. And fewer. |
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With the spinifex in flower we struggle to know what
variety of grass we are driving through. Hard to concentrate on the track
and driving as well as play (very) amateur botanist. |
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The dunes are kind to us. No reduction of tyre pressure
required. |
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Well 41, Tiru, has water. But not particularly nice looking. We
surprise one of the Willys Jeep drivers having a "shower" from a bucket.
We have more than sufficient water to reach Kunawarritji. |
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We camp on the salt pan about 100m from the well.
Undisturbed by dingoes who apparently made a bit of noise the previous
night. |
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A few small birds around. But elusive. Apart from the
black faced woodswallow - surely it didn't follow us from Lake Gregory. |
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We decided not just one, but two days rest were required.
On the second day we went for a walk. |
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Past what we think is a dingo hole. |
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Up a dune. |
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Along a bit. Altitude is 328m. Camp is at 301m. Which
roughly corresponds to heights marked on our maps.
Which makes the dune 27m high. Give or take a bit as gps devices are not
known for height accuracy.
The older maps say sand ridge average height 12m. |
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We took an hour and a half to walk 2.6km. The camp in
view most of the time. |
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Plenty of bustard tracks. We followed two for a while along
the top of the dune. Their paths crossed. We also saw bustard tracks in
the swale.
We didn't see the bustards. |
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We walked down to the vehicle track and turned left to
return. Between dune top and track, across country easy going. The area
has been burned in the last few years, the vegetation not yet fully
recovered, so gaps between the bushes, tussock and spinifex for our walk. |
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