Day 63 20/08/2013 Leonora to 'Paradise Bush Camp' via Laverton.
It was very cold this morning and we were up early. We had a cup of tea and packed up. We went to look at the ghost town of Gwalia and had breakfast there. We took some photos of the heritage buildings then headed back into town for fuel, before taking the road to Laverton. We arrived there just as the Visitor Centre was opening...9am...and were able to get a good cup of coffee, and also our permits for the Great Central Road.....we had to fill in a form and they were then printed out while we drank our coffee.....very efficient. These permits enable us to travel through Aboriginal Lands.
We went to the supermarket for a couple of items and of course, bought more fuel. Then we were on our way. We, (well to be precise...Dave), drove almost 400km today on what can only be described as a very corrugated dirt road. Sure there were some sections which were better than others.....particularly a section which was in the process of being graded....but overall it was pretty bone-shattering. We had been advised by others that the WA end of this road was not as good as the section in the NT. We shall see, I suppose! We stopped at various points of interest along the way. One stop was at 'The Pines'. This stand of trees were actually 'She-Oaks', but their needle-like leaves and cone-like seed cases, led early European Settlers to think they were pine trees. I once heard a (somewhat sexist) story, that the trees, which are not oaks at all, but Casuarinas, were used for furniture in the same way that oak trees in Europe were used, but because the wood was of an inferior quality, they were called 'She-oaks' !!!!
We are travelling through the Great Victoria Desert at the moment. At the side of the road we saw the beautiful Sturt Desert Pea in flower and stopped to take a photo or two. We also stopped to look at some more Gnamma holes.....which as previously mentioned are permanent waterholes in depressions in rocks....very important to Aboriginal People and also native animals, in times of drought.
There was not much traffic about today. We passed through a small area which had been devastated by fire and then we stopped for lunch at around 12.30pm. The scenery between Laverton and Warburton, by all accounts, is not as interesting as it is further on and one thing which did bother us a little was the number of abandoned cars in the bush. From the amount of rusting present, some had obviously been there longer than others. There are many reasons why these cars are there....I guess some of them just didn't make it across the desert road!
We bought fuel at the Tjukayirla Roadhouse, which also offered a place to camp. However we felt that it was too early to stop so we drove for another hour and then made our camp at a bush site, which was designated on the map.
We made a good campfire which we used for cooking and after it had burned down, and it became quite cool, we went inside our camper, and soon after, into bed! We are well off the road and although we heard a few vehicles go by, there have been none since sunset. There is no-one else camped here, so it will definitely be quiet tonight!!!! It is just as well that we have enjoyed lots of beautiful starry outback nights on this trip, because for the few nights that we are travelling through desert country, we have a full moon......just as we did when we crossed the Simpson Desert several years ago!! Still, it was lovely to watch the moon rise in the east, as the sun set in the west, even if the stars did not put on a show tonight!