3 Jul 10 - Wiluna

By Craig: On our way to Wiluna we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn for the third time this trip. (Mental note: buy Sam some new shorts.)



While we stopped to take the obligatory photo, we saw our first quadruple road train.








During the road trip from Newman to Meekathara we spent a little time on the roadside waiting for huge mining equipment transports to pass.


I’d been looking forward to the ExplorOz annual gathering for some time. I’ve been a member for approximately 12 months and have enjoyed the broad range of commentary and discussion on the forum, not to mention the great deals on 4wd gear like maps and other 4wd essential items. The web site has a lot to offer for both the 4wd novice and enthusiast providing access to track information and updates.

In addition to Lou’s spiel, arriving at Wiluna Shire Office to pick up our information gift pack was a quick stop before heading out to the Gunbarrel Laager Travellers Rest to set up camp and commence the 3 days of activities.
The shire office displays several life-like charcoal sketches of local indigenous persons in addition to a larger display of local artists work held in a community room at the rear of the offices. This building is the library come Council meeting room come artist workshop.
The display of local work was spectacular and I have my eyes set on a couple of pieces of particular interest. A drop in visit is recommended to anyone passing by Wiluna.
As a part of the overall event the shire in conjunction with the local community and minning company put on a BBQ in commemoration of 100 years since the Canning Stock Route. We all enjoyed the evening and the ExplorOz group were warmly welcomed.

It’s been a long time since I needed permission to drink but that’s the deal in Wiluna, permission is given to purchase alcohol via the police and only after you’ve proven who you are and where you are going. Alcohol can then be purchased between 3pm & 6pm daily; the process although strange to the traveller when first encountered is an important part of community life and places some control over the unregulated sale of alcohol to the indigenous community.

For some time I’d been wearing a beanie in an attempt to keep my hair out of my eyes. Being just a little too hot in some regions I was taken by the versatility of the 'headsox', an initiative by the local community which was taken up by lots of the ExplorOz members. The headsox can be worn in so many ways, my chosen headsox is an aboriginal design of the Canning Stock Route and hopefully it will provide me with a cooler alternative to the beanie. I must say if nothing else, wearing it has generated many comments.


I can’t forget to mention that Wiluna is the start for both the Canning Stock Route CSR and the Gunbarrel Highway. We had an opportunity to head out briefly on the CSR to Well 1 for a survival session with Bob Cooper and while there explored the old well area.




Once the gathering has wound up we will head out on the Gunbarrel for a few nights and experience another road laid down by Len Beadell and his Gunbarrel Construction Co.

By Lou: One of the first ports of call, coming into Wiluna, was to collect mail. Although there was a characteristic red box outside the building, it only had grafitti on it and didn't appear to be currently in use. The door to the building seemed securely shut and I wasn't convinced the establishment was actually open. However, I made my way through the front door into a small foyer only to be confronted with a wall of security screen which spoke to me: 'We're closed for lunch'. It is common for businesses in regional WA towns to shut down for an hour at lunch time but given that I always arrive with 55 minutes to go, it can be frustrating. It's not like there's a lot to do to fill in time.

We had an excellent time at the ExplorOz national gathering at Wiluna, located in red dirt country, at the beginning of two 4WD enthusiasts meccas: the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. ExplorOz is a website business jam-packed with excellent sources of information for camping and 4WDing in remote and regional Australia. The trek notes and online forums have been a great source of help to us both preparing for and during this trip. So when we knew we were going to be in the general vicinity of WA at this time of year, we signed up to attend the 10th anniversary national gathering.

There were plenty of activities organised but it was also fine to do none of them. We enjoyed Bob Cooper’s Outback Survival course. I anticipated he’d be a gung-ho commando type but I would have to say he reminded me both physically and vocally of an older version Kyle Sunderland. It was a good reminder of all the little survival tips you’ve heard about before but forgotten, all based on common sense. For instance, it’s good to have a pack of cards to play solitaire because sure as eggs someone will walk out of nowhere to point out that you can move the 2 of Hearts. For morning tea we enjoyed sandalwood berries, quandongs and yams, though we had no hand in sourcing them.




For our navigation in the bush we have detailed maps loaded onto our laptop and then we plug in a GPS unit to show us where we are. I’ve progressed so far as loading the map and turning on the GPS and that is the extent of my knowledge. So it was useful to attend an informal tutorial by a navigation guru and I can now set waypoints, turn them into a route plan and keep a record of where we’ve been. We also expect to be able to improve the map on our blog site to make it much easier for us to quickly record where we’ve been on an electronic map of Australia.

There were lots of camp fire gatherings, story telling and general chit chat amongst around 120 like minded travellers, dispersed throughout the Gunbarrel Laager property. Although we often say we’re not really into mass gatherings, this was a healthy pit stop for the 3 of us to treat our cabin fever. It’s been a long time since we could ask each other “So how was your day?” and not already know the answer. Sam had a ball playing with kids and it was lovely to see him just being a kid. He was also quite taken by the bush poetry sessions and later in the safety of the car came up with a few ditties himself.



A totally unexpected and delightful surprise came one early evening when the owner of the property was calling out for ‘Greg and Louise with young Sam’. It turns out our travel companions from the Oodnadatta track, Errol and Val, had arrived along with their travel companions Peter and Jan. We had spoken a few days earlier and discovered we were about 300kms apart but as I had thought they were headed south, and we were headed east I didn’t think we would catch up. I definitely didn’t expect them to come to Wiluna!! So it was wonderful to have a catch up and spend some time with them around a campfire in between all our other activities.

We hope to stay in contact with a number of people as a result of meeting them at the gathering. It was nice in particular to meet David and Michelle, the founders of ExplorOz and their 2 beautiful girls. Around 12 years ago David and Michelle packed up their high flying corporate lives in Sydney and spent 2 years travelling around Australia. Whilst doing so they noticed how little information was available online to help them plan ahead (weather, shops, maps etc) and so began the idea for a one stop website which is ExplorOz. I admire what they have achieved and their story of finding something they were passionate about to be the source of their livelihoods was inspirational. The fact that they were kind enough to bring along some playmates for Sam was a bonus.