3 July, 2016
This leg of the trip extended over two days when we drove from Kintore to Kunawarritji.
The first day we travelled 333 kilometres on a good gravel road through the Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts. It was dune country for most of the way, though trees 5-8 metres high grew in some places on their slopes. Of course, the desert oaks grew here also in their favoured places.
Outside Kiwirrkurra Community, we paused at the site where Len Beadell’s ration truck caught fire in 1960 and exploded. When we approached others we sitting on chairs on the side of the road as if waiting for a train.
Julie read from the pages of his book where he described the incident. Len shot a hole in a boiling 44 gallon drum of water so they could have a cup of tea. He was a character!
The truck is now in the community.
In the afternoon the road became dusty and poor management by me meant the car filled with fine red and white dust.
Camp that night was amongst the desert oaks at Jupiter Well where there was enough water for a good shower and to rinse the dust from our clothes.
4 July, 2016
Before leaving the camp we walked across the road to where the original Jupiter Well was dug in 1961 by the mapping team who saw the planet reflected in the water.
The road for most of the day was parallel to dunes covered with saltbush and low trees. I continued to be surprised by the amount of plant life, holly grevillea, acacia, spinifex and many low flowering shrubs that grew here in the desert.
Kunawarritji Community was a stop for fuel and being in the middle of the desert on the Canning Stock Route, it was a busy place for travellers. Fuel here was the most expensive we encountered on the whole trip. At $3.40/L and with ten pieces of fruit, we handed over $213 at the store.
The camp that night at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route was busy with other travellers which we found unusual as we hadn’t shared a camp with anyone since Uluru.
