AJ120’s 2013 Outback Odyssey

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

After some good advice from Ron Moon we decided to head out to Kalgans Pool. A permit is needed to go here but is easily obtained for free from the tourist office in Newman.

It was a pretty rough track most of the way once we got off the Highway, badly corrugated and then quite rocky, which is great because it keeps the crowds away!







The pool its self was pretty low on water but the gorge area and the sheer face over looking the pool are just stunning, the picture below with the Prado in it gives some perspective as to the scale of this spot, simply stunning!




Some of you may recognize the place, apparently it was used in the making of the movie Japanese Story with Toni Collette, I haven’t seen the movie but its an awesome spot to film a movie.

From Kalgans pool there is some pretty good 4wd tracks that lead off to other spots and we dropped the trailer and went exploring. Lots of spectacular views and steep tracks around here.





It was a great spot to spend a couple of days, and a spectacular view out our front door.

After returning to Newman to top up with fuel it was now time to head out on the longest and most remote stretch of our trip, 1200+ kms with no facilities as we headed out to Rudall River NP.

Cheers Andrew

[Gramps Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gramps]

Love reading your trip reports AJ. I don't think I'm the only one jealous of the places you've been to so far.

[Mark from Brisbane Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark from Brisbane]

OK, I got a few more pics loaded so to continue!

In almost a carbon copy of the previous night we once again had a huge thunder and lightning storm, and once again we seemed to be on the edge of the rain copping a real heavy down pour for about 10 minutes and some light rain for a little while after that. Once packed up and going in the morning the road just kept getting wetter and wetter. Not far along we stopped at Mingal pool, this is probably where we should have camped as its a beaut spot, lucky for us we didn't; as a group who had camped there said it belted down for about 4 hours, I have no doubt about that given the water now flowing freely across the road.



The other group were heading the opposite direction so after swapping stories with them they headed off, at this point I was wondering whether the road was actually open or not, but after getting out the sat phone and calling the Wiluna shire a lovely young girl told me they hadn't had a drop of rain and all roads were open. I assured her they had had more than a drop where we were but she said "well sir, all roads are open so you are good to go" I didn't bother to argue with her and we headed off.

Once again the roads got wetter and the creek crossings were getting wider, deeper, and faster. You cant really see it in the pictures below but the water was belting across the road, although only knee deep it wouldn't have wanted to be much deeper or much faster and we would have been unable to walk it, which would have meant no driving through it either.





I dont know how many of these flooded creeks we drove through, but quite a few until suddenly it just completly dried up and it was plain sailing all the way to Wiluna.

Wiluna is about as attractive as a poke in the eye with a stick so we decided to camp out of town at well one on the Canning; where the following morning we met up with Mark from Brisbane who was setting of on his Canning adventure that morning. Fuel was surprisingly well priced at Wiluna in the $1.70 ish range.




Cheers Andrew

Again I must say what a treat it was to meet up with Andrew at Well 1 on the CSR.....you can only imagine my surprise when this bloke walks over and said " you must be Mark from Brisbane", I don't think I have ever been so surprised in all my life.

You gotta love these forums, a great way to bring like minded people together.

PS: Loving the report mate!!

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Again I must say what a treat it was to meet up with Andrew at Well 1 on the CSR.....you can only imagine my surprise when this bloke walks over and said " you must be Mark from Brisbane", I don't think I have ever been so surprised in all my life.

You gotta love these forums, a great way to bring like minded people together.

PS: Loving the report mate!!

You weren't half as surprised as the three blokes I said the same thing to before you got there...... they thought I was a nutcase Only joking and yes its always good to meet another PPer, especially in such an appropriate spot when we are both out doing what we love.

I did actually speak to another guy in a 200 series before you arrived, he started telling me about the Gunbarrell Highway and how bad it was and how he had never seen anything like it in his life, after 20kms they had to turn around and go back as it was that bad! After talking for a bit it turns out he was only a couple of hours behind us when we went across and when I suggested it wasn't that bad a road and I had driven plenty worse; he did look at me like I was from another planet. The same couple were at Newman when we arrived and he wouldn't come anywhere near me, I am sure he thought I was crazy

Cheers Andrew

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Long experience tells me not to askldies [like me] or national park rangers the road conditions. The former because it has a few bumps and the latter because they really don't want you on "their" roads. With the former, the newer and more capable the 4x4 the less likely it is to get dirty!. Only ask blokes with dirty cars who don't clean them at the first opportunity. Neil.

[letsgoplaces Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close letsgoplaces]

he wouldn't come anywhere near me, I am sure he thought I was crazy

Cheers Andrew

So he only met you once and got you pegged in one

Seriously though... great read

Cheers
John

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

After topping up with fuel and other supplies at Newman we headed for Rudall River. We traveled via Balfour Downs and Len Beadells Talawana Track. Along this stretch we stopped to fix the only flat tyre on the trip, one of the trailer tyres had developed a very slow leak a few days before hand and it had finally got bad enough that I was able to locate it. Where we camped at Well 1 looked like it used to be a horse shoeing area, we didn’t notice all the nails on the ground until after we set up and suspect the trailer picked up one of the thousands of old nails strewn all over the ground there. A simple plug and it was all good for the rest of the trip.

After camping off the Talawana Track we kept heading for Rudall River and passed through some magnificent Desert Oak forests along the way. If you have been through these before you would understand the magic feel they have.




Arriving at the turn off to Rudall River there was no sign at all, in fact in the entire NP, and it’s the largest in WA there is only one sign, but more on that later. You definitely need a good topo map to navigate your way through the park.

Shortly after turning off the Talawana track we came across an abandoned trailer, obviously it had been there a very long time and it had a jockey wheel that offered some parts to restore ours to as new condition!





Alas I was unable to remove the necessary part to repair our jockey wheel and the main body was welded to the trailer. If it was worth the effort I am sure with a great deal of effort I would have got it off, but without the right tools (a pin punch) it was put in the too hard basket.

At the Southern boundary of the park is a beautiful patch of gum trees with a hand bore pump, unfortunately the pump was not working when we were there.






This would have been an excellent campsite but it was still morning so we continued on.

Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

During the planning for this trip I was a bit concerned that everything was going to be bone dry over in the West, Particularly Rudall River. However it was starting to get to the point that every time we went around a corner there was more water to play in!







If you want wheel lifting action and steep hills and huge ruts then this is really not the place, but there was the odd little bit of track that at least got the suspension flexing a bit………… Oh and still lots of corrugations in parts.





I am not sure why given all the water we had been driving through but the Prado wasn’t getting any cleaner lol!





Cheers Andrew

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

Nice. Rudall river is on my to do list one of these days. Would you recommend going there solo as you did or with another vehicle? Sherrons not keen to do it on our own.
At Kalgans pool, was the slippery slide made from conveyer belting still there? I had great fun on it when we camped there a couple of years ago.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Nice. Rudall river is on my to do list one of these days. Would you recommend going there solo as you did or with another vehicle? Sherrons not keen to do it on our own.
At Kalgans pool, was the slippery slide made from conveyer belting still there? I had great fun on it when we camped there a couple of years ago.

I wouldn't recommend people go to Rudall River on their own, having said that we did and would go to similarly remote places on my own again. It really depends on your experience and confidence. In the centre of the park we saw a few other groups of travelers, but once you venture off the main North South track very far it's a whole different story! We were well catered for as far as communications go and we were also in touch with people at home giving them daily updates of our location, intended travel plans and instructions on at what point they should call for help if they hadn't heard from us. In any remote location a group is better but if your going on your own you need to be hyper vigilant and prepared.

We can't recall a slippery dip at Kalgans pool, the water was pretty low and not very inviting anyway.

Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

High on our list of things to see whilst in Rudall River was Hanging rock, this is on the Western edge of the park and is accessed driving along a very overgrown track. Anyone that is concerned about getting the odd scratch on their rig should not even think about going here as you will get more than the odd scratch!

Before getting to Hanging rock we stopped to camp at Curran Curran waterhole, which is a very nice but small waterhole acccesed after a short walk up a gorge.







Nature is just amazing sometimes and how a tree grows in a position like this one is just one example!





Continuing up the Gorge and across to the top of the range offers some great views.




I will try and get some video organised to show just how overgrown this track is.

Cheers Andrew

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Great shots Andrew.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Great shots Andrew.

Thanks, glad you like them.

A few more random shots from around Curran Curran, including a spectacular desert sunset!









Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Leaving the trailer at camp we headed off towards Hanging Rock, the track to this point had been quite over grown in a lot of places and it really didn’t get any better the further we went. There was some respite from the trees swiping down the side of the Prado but probably 20 out of the 50-60km each way on this track was very badly overgrown, including lots of grass and spinifex in the middle of the track that was a potential fire hazard.

Reaching Hanging rock it is very reminiscent of Chambers Pillar out fromAlice
springs, although a Pilbara red version rather than the much lighter colours at chambers Pillar.






l




Not many people make it out this far in the park but I was certainly glad we made the effort, despite the scratches. All the growth in the centre of the track at least cleaned most of the mud off from underneath.

Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

A short video to give an indication of how overgrown the track was.

Cheers Andrew