Great Victoria Desert Update

Just back from a lovely 9 day jaunt through the desert.
Emu to Vokes Hill was in better nick that I remember before. Don't be turned off by the corrugations - take it easy and its a nice drive. Saw a few of the marble gums just east of Vokes Hill that I hadn't noticed before. Found my 4 previous entries in the 3 visitors books! The road south from Vokes Hill (via Cook) is still not often travelled, but takes you through some brilliant stands of black oak, past a lot of historic native wells, and through some of the lushest country out there. There was water in Waldana well and Bringina Well, and if you wanted to dig a bit, you'd find it in the Churina wells. The two shed tanks labelled on the Hema maps had good rainwater.

Not a lot of native wildlife, but lots of camels, heaps of rabbits, and looked like lots of cats. Birdlife was prolific - looked like the desert had had some of the recent rain. Most nights about 7 degrees, and days were a pleasant 22-25. Camping in the mulga and red sand was nice - great for camp ovens. A few flowers were out - some of the wattles were flowering.

Diesel was $130.9 at Penong and Nundroo and $169.9 up the road at Nullabor. Yalata roadhouse has been repainted, but is still closed. The truck got $12.2 l/100k - we run low tyre pressures and take it easy. Spent last night at Ceduna foreshore - pretty noisy after midnight, but we were safely behind iron bars!!!

Cheers
Phil