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Murchison/Gascoyne/Dooley downs road – July-August 2004

There were a few places that we had not been that Clive was very intent on visiting, namely Sandstone, Wiluna and Mt. Augustus, so on a very cool but fine Saturday morning in July we set out to trial our new Coromal over some very rough roads. As we drove out through the Swan Valley although cold it was very beautiful with the mist rising off the vineyards and the river. Preparation for this trip had been, I thought, quite thorough, however when one has the ‘flu it is surprising what you can forget, luckily nothing too drastic. Clive had complained on a few of the rare occasions that I allowed him to drive the Discovery prior to the trip that it was starting sluggishly as if the battery was not charged, I hadn’t had a problem so we disregarded his instincts.
First stop on the road was at New Norcia a pleasant hour or so drive from Perth to the monastery in the middle of nowhere. This is a must visit spot for any of you coming to Perth, the architecture, the art works and the museum are all fascinating viewing. We, however, were only on a short comfort break, but when we returned to the vehicle and turned the engine back on guess what – it didn’t come back on. The battery in that short space of time had totally died!! The garage attached to the small shop did not have any batteries in stock at all but the gods were smiling on us – a truck pulled up full of batteries with “Exide” on the side and the driver was quite happy to sell us one at normal Perth rates and we were quite happy to purchase one. Once that was installed (do it yourself, well what do you expect when you buy from the back of a truck) we were off again. Moral of the story – don’t ignore Clive’s instincts next time and also, unplug the van when you stop for some time to save draining the battery.

We had decided to spend the night at Wogarno station, approximately 40 kms. south of Mt. Magnet. One of the reasons we had decided on this course of action was to try to alleviate our disillusionment with station stays for camping or caravanning. On every occasion we have opted for a station stay we have been very disappointed with the standard of the facilities and salute the shearers who have to make do with these facilities all the time. Wogarno was interesting – L.J. our host was fantastic, greeted us like long lost friends and offered us a wonderful cup of tea before we went to the camping area. Unlike several others we have stayed at, Wogarno facilities were very clean. We were the only ones staying at the campsite at the time so there was no problem with the showers, there was a sign outside that you changed to male or female depending on the sex of the person inside, could be entertaining if there were a lot of visitors. The water was hot and plentiful, as long as you kept the donkey boiler going. In fact not a bad place to stay at all. There was a sunset ride up to Wogarno hill with drinks and nibbles supplied and we got to meet the people who were staying at the homestead. We had tea by ourselves on the Saturday night but on the Sunday we had dinner at the homestead which was great fun. As I said before L.J. and David were great hosts, the food was very good and a good night was had by all.

Monday morning dawned cool and fair and we were off again. A quick tour around Mt. Magnet which we had visited previously (they have an excellent caravan park), then on the sealed road to Sandstone. Sandstone is typical of outback towns, very quiet, wide streets, a pub and a shop/post office, there is a caravan park there but we didn’t visit it. We went on the historical drive and saw the old brewery which was carved out of the cliff face and utilised the natural caves and saw ‘London Bridge’ a natural sandstone rock formation which is, as the name implies, a bridge. We towed our caravan around these attractions on good dirt roads.
Onwards we travelled and ended up at Leinster, a mining town with a small shopping centre and a very well used caravan park. Possibly because it is free!! Even the washing machines were free. I didn’t say it was 3 star but the price is good. All you have to do is register at the town offices and you could stay as long as you wanted. The weather closed in again on us at Leinster and we had quite a lot of rain, which made the next leg of the journey interesting.
From Leinster we travelled to Wiluna, where the bitumen ran out. Wiluna, the start of the Gunbarrel Highway, the back end of nowhere, I’m afraid I cannot say too much about it, rain always tends to make a town appear worse than it is. Wiluna has one, albeit large, store where most people get their provisions and one or two other outlets which the townspeople use. There is a pub but we didn’t venture inside and a caravan park which is probably used by all those starting and ending their Canning stock route trips. In the rain the park also looked uninviting but to be fair we did not venture in so it was a long distance evaluation.

The road from Wiluna through to Meekatharra is not sealed and after all the rain we had to take it very carefully. It is a very well used road, frequented by the mining companies as well as the locals and tourists so, therefore, it was a little cut up after the rain. Plenty of large puddles, some interesting muddy bits, a few dips and holes but nothing too drastic to stop us and the van. Nevertheless we arrived safe and sound in Meekatharra well before nightfall, with a very dirty car and caravan. We thought the caravan had been well and truly christened but we had even worse to come.
Had a look around Meekatharra, visited the local store, the local museum and the local café in between the rain showers and planned the next leg of the journey.Friday morning saw us off on the “Kingsford Smith mail run pathway” to Mount Augustus. The road is gravel but well maintained and quite wide. So far the weather is holding up and it looks brighter ahead. Scenery not very exciting, stony with low scrub, and a few trees. Crossed the Murchison River, where it appeared there was some camping places alongside the river, we would suggest checking with the nearby homestead if you wanted to camp there as there were a lot of signs proclaiming it private property. It was quite pretty there with a lot of bird life and very green. Further along we stopped at the Mt. Gould lock up, the first police station in the Murchison, which is very well preserved (a pity some people cannot resist putting their mark on these buildings) and well worth a look at if you are travelling this road, overnight camping is also permitted here. Our next stop was at the Gascoyne river crossing for a photo opportunity and then onwards.

The road surface covered just about everything on this drive, smooth gravel, rocks, corrugations, mud (quite deep in places) , to name a few, but it made the drive quite entertaining, there were a lot of grids, floodways (with water in), to make things even more interesting, and it meant I didn’t doze off for any length of time. Whilst ones first view of Mt. Augustus is nowhere near as dramatic as Uluru it does loom very large alongside the road. We camped at the Tourist Resort which is approximately 2 kms. from the rock. They have reasonable facilities, a small store and bar and serve light meals, albeit rather expensive ones but what do you expect in the bush. We heard that CALM had taken over the nearby Cobra station and were applying for fuel licences. This may be an alternative camping place next visit.
The rain caught up with us again during the night, and the next day it was still raining steadily so we opted for a drive around the rock and into the nearby attractions rather than get ourselves soaked walking. Clive has succumbed to the flu I had before we left and am still feeling the effects of so we don’t need to get wet.

Cattle Pool a few kilometres away from the camp ground was part of the Mullewa-DeGray stock route, it is absolutely beautiful, unfortunately camping is not allowed, but the huge river gums are magnificent and bend down into the water and the birds are prolific. A great place to spend a day if the weather was warm and dry. As you drive out of Cattle Pool Mt. Augustus is right in front of you. It is easy to see why it is only recently that people have started to appreciate the fact that it is a larger monolith than Uluru. The foliage on its sides tends to make it blend in with the surrounding hills and detracts from the fact that it is a single entity, not part of the range. The colours are interesting, all the different greens, the red earth then the grey mist swirling around the summit. Also don’t forget we, WA also has Australia’s second biggest monolith called Walga rock just outside Cue.

We drove all round the rock stopping off at the various attractions, but due to the weather just went on a few very short walks, one of which was to view an art site, which whilst interesting wasn’t worth getting too wet for. All in all a lovely drive and with better weather to allow for walking would be fantastic.
Leaving Mt. Augustus on the Sunday morning we headed for Tom Price on the Dooley Downs Road. What a fabulous drive!! The scenery and the views were great, but the road wasn’t that great due to the fact we know at least three large cattle transporters had travelled it since we were at Mt. Augustus and it had rained solidly for two days – nevertheless it was great. We remarked how much the drive resembled the South Australian Flinders ranges.
Clive did a phenomenal job keeping the van and the car on the road because it was very slippery and quite hilly. In places the trucks had churned the road into mud pits requiring 4 WD low ratio and a reasonable speed entering the mud. Luckily there were no other vehicles on the road and yes it was open because we asked before we left, so it was safe to slew over both sides of the road to gain the best traction. When we turned off towards Ashburton Downs there weren’t so many hills and the road was a lot drier.

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