We were privileged to visit Tjuntjuntjarra
Due to unexpected events, Robin was unable to travel with us, so we said our farewells and Robin handed over the front security
gate key and we headed out of
Maralinga, knowing it would be around two weeks later before we would arrive back, after doing our big loop of the
Great Victoria Desert and coming back down on the
Emu Road. For the first and only time during our whole time on the road, we encountered around 12 spots of rain on the windscreen as we headed for
Oak Valley. Arriving around 12 noon, we were greeted by a couple of the locals that were expecting us and Andrew introduced us to Anika, one of the teachers at the school. While we were shown around the school, a few
young aboriginal children joined in, as they greatly admired their teacher who was guiding us around. The
young teachers here would have to be some of the most dedicated teachers around, as they are not just education teachers, but give the
young children meals, help them with personal hygiene and everything else in between, including very close to all the residence of
Oak Valley.
On our way towards Oak Valley
On our way towards Oak Valley
On our way towards Oak Valley
Almost at Oak Valley
Local Oak Valley Store
Oak Valley School
The group about to be shown through the Oak Valley School
Oak Valley School
Inika shows us around the school on her day off
Andrew and Larry
Even the Streets are named in Oak Valley
The Oak Valley Medical Clinic
Just like the School, we had a private tour of the Medical Centre
Time to head further West
Old Sign
Our next visit was the local art center which was officially closed, but the local Aboriginal women artists coming in especially to show us how they do their very special dot paintings, and between all members of the group, we put back around $1000 into the local community, with a couple of paintings not finished and were going to be sent back to
Maralinga for collection on our return. From the art center, we were shown through the medical center and given a run down on just how hard and varied their workload is. With our final farewells, it was time to leave
Oak Valley and head further west on our next section of the trip. As with all main roads that link Aboriginal Communities, the Main Business Road heading west from
Oak Valley was in great condition, with countless acres of
wildflowers adding to the experience.
Fiona examines a rare Eucalyptus wyolensis on the Aboriginal Road
Camping and fires go hand in hand
Thryptomene lined the BMR Track
Those dark clouds did not look friendly on the BMR
A majestic Marble Gum on top of a dune along the BMR
How the desert had revegetated in just 12 months along the BMR
There were thousands of young Native Poplar - Codonocarpu cotinifolius in the regrowth along the BMR
Native Poplar and Poison Camel Bush growing along side of each other on the BMR
This section of the BMR runs East - West and is just unreal
Regrowth along the BMR
Native Cypress Pine along the BMR
Before reaching the
Voakes Hill Corner road, we stopped at the site of the rare Eucalyptus wyolensis, a very short distance from the corner turn off, were again we had missed out on seeing the trees in flower. We would not make the BMR Track that night, so we stopped short of the track and set up
camp, and as usual, the first job was collecting wood for the nights fire before setting up
camp, with everyone doing their job in making it a group collection, and it did not take long at all to head a great stack of wood.
A mix of Native Vegetation
Checking out the site of Mulyawara 1
The clay capped road south from Mulyawara 1
State of the art weather station at the Rodinia Airstrip
Rodinia Weather Station
John and Suzette trying to work out what is what
With everyone set up, it was time to relax and discuss the day’s events, knowing that tomorrow we would be leaving a main travelled road and venture out along the BMR Roads, wondering what changes had occurred since our last travels along the tracks 12 months ago. Setting off next morning we were soon at the turn off to head north along the BMR Track and again the country was looking great. The further we travelled along the BMR; the most striking contrast was how the country had changed since our last visit.
Much of the area last year had been burnt out and the regrowth in just 12 months was totally unreal. Nearly all the large, majestic Marble Gums had all shown signs or regrowth, with vast areas that were just bare red sand last year now covered in Native Poplar and Poison Camel Bush, and countless other species of native vegetation. This area was a real delight to travel through, but before long, we soon came to the
track junction and it was time to head south towards the capped exploration
well of Mulyawara 1 that was first spudded in June 2011.
After we all explored the area around Mulyawara 1, we had lunch and it was then time to head south on the excellent clay capped road. The road south is still great, but mother nature has now started to put some vey large wash aways in the track and unfortunately, if this continues at its current rate, the track will be badly eroded within a few years, making it a very slow drive. Next stop along the road was to inspect the state of the art weather station and
airstrip put in by Rodinia.
Oak Valley and Robin at
Maralinga can jump onto their computers and see all weather data at the Rodinia site, without having to leave the comfort of their office chairs. Not long after leaving the
Airstrip, we were again at the second site of the very rare Eucalyptus wyolensis and again we had missed out in seeing them in flower. The good run continued and we were now at
the junction with the main Aboriginal Business Road and time to head west and into Western Australia.
Rodinia Airstrip
The second site of the rare Eucalyptus wyolensis
Almost time to leave the BMR and turn right ono the Aboriginal Business Road
Leaving the Maralinga Tjarutja Aboriginal Lands
Entering the Mamungari Conservation Park on the Business Road
Leaving Mamungari Conservation Park at the Western Australian Border
This cleared strip of Bluebush marks the Western Australia and South Australia State Borders
The road west was in first class condition and the group was now spread out to keep the dust to a minimum. The vegetation was ever changing, but true to Nullarbor conditions, the main dominant species of vegetation was Bluebush, with larger stands of Black Oak and Myall Trees common. Our moving maps now had us at the border of Western Australia with the only sign that we were in fact at the border was a cleared strip of Bluebush running north and south to indicate the actual border on the ground and the sign advising travellers that they were now entering the
Mamungari Conservation Park, who’s boundary goes as far as the Western Australian border.
Shed Tanks at the Border
Fiona cleaning up around our campfire
Larry adds another piece of timber to the morning fire
The Moon setting just before the sun came up
Nothing beats a good fire as the sun rises
The Moon almost set as it gets lighter
Time to head north towards Forrest Lakes
White outline around the Boss on all the Sturts Desert Peas in this area
A little further west and it was time to head north on the
Forrest Lakes tracks, and it was that time of the day to look for a
camp. Larry led us all into a great spot and once the wood collection was complete, camps were set up and Fiona cleaned up our campfire spot and we all settled into another great night in the bush. That night was a full moon and next morning, the moon looked great, as it was slowly setting and it made for some great photos. The track was easy to follow north the next morning, and at one spot where I stopped to clear fallen timber off of the track and noticed that the Sturt’s Desert Pea that was everywhere had a colour variation, with a white outline around the black boss of the flowers. This colour variation was not confined to just a few flowers, but was the dominant variation to all the flowers in the area. Things were going great until I went around a small patch of timber, and the track had vanished. We all got out of our vehicles, and Mick soon found the overgrown track and he then lead the group for the rest of the way to
Forrest Lakes.
Changing scenery on the way north to Forrest Lakes
Cresting a sand dune, this was our view of Forrest Lakes
On the edge of Forrest Lakes
Patterns on the Lakes surface
Kangaroo imprints on the Lake surface
I crossed the Lake and made this my landmark to head for
The base of the dune sits on solid rock
Camel tracks on the edge of the Forrest Lakes
The top of the dune contained lots of Aboriginal stone chip pings
On our way the the next lot of Lakes
Arriving at the next lot of Lakes
Border marker as we head back into South Australia
Black Oak sits on top of an outcrop
This was as close to the second Lake as we were prepared to drive
Wildflowers were in full bloom in the Forrest Lakes area
Time to head south again and south to the Business Road
Crossing a small Lake on the way south
Samphire on the small Lake surface
These Sturts Desert Pea were starting to climb up this bush
Another patch of Sturts Desert Pea
Arriving at the Lakes, the track terminated at the top of a large
sand dune, where we had great
views over looking this large expanse of dry lakebed. While the others were looking around the area, I set off and walked across to the other side of the lake, which was around a kilometer, seeing some very interesting patterns in the dry surface as I headed towards the other side. As I neared a large
sand dune that I was walking towards, I could see a large white area at the bottom of the dune, thinking that it would be a thin crust of salt. Reaching
the spot, it was not salt, but exposed
rock with the large, tall dune as the backdrop. Retracing my steps and arriving back with the rest of the group, it was then time to head back to a
track junction a number of kilometers away and reaching
the junction; we headed towards another outlying lake and back into South Australia. For such a very remote location, someone had gone to the trouble of placing a dropper on the Border, and then encasing it with a large piece of PVC piping and painting it red. Exploring the area around the second lake, there again were signs of previous occupation by Aboriginals with a number of small grinding stones and hundreds of stone chippings. After lunch, we all headed south again, retracing the same track that we had come in on and made our way down to the Aboriginal Business Road, where we had to cross it and then head south for
Decoration Cave. Again we found a great little
campsite for the night, but this time we had a slight breeze that kept everything on the cool side once the sun set.
Heading South to Decoration Cave
Heading down to Decoration Cave
Wildflowers in mass where the water collected
This is why it is called Bottle Corner Camp
This is why it is called Bottle Corner Camp
We encountered this traffic jam on the way south
Decoration Cave
Decoration Cave
Taking a different track up to the Business Road
Heading back north
Another great campfire to cook tea over
The drive down to
Decoration Cave was an easy to follow track and in the lower lying areas where water had collected when the area received good rainfall a numbers before, it was a real contract to the countryside surrounding it. When we arrived at
Bottle Corner Camp, it was very clear as to why this location was given its name. Arriving at the
Cave, it is more like a
sinkhole, with a very small shaft going straight down and it looked a very long way down. Seeing the area down to the
Cave had a number of
well-defined tracks, we followed a different track to the one that we came down on. We camped in the same spot on the way back as we did the previous night, but over a very small dune, giving the area a very different fell and outlook. The drive the next morning was a very one on the Aboriginal Business into Tjuntjuntjarra and when we arrived, we were greeted by a large group of Aboriginal Women. It felt very odd getting out on the car and making my way over to them, with one lady asking why are we here. I explained that I needed to see Mr. Baird and see pointed in the right direction. Walking over to a Vehicle with lots of Aboriginal Elders all busy putting gear into it, I approach the White Man and introduced myself, thinking that it was Ian. As luck had it, it was not Ian, but the highly respected Scott Cane, Author of the great book, Pila Nguru, detailing the complete history of local Spinifex Aboriginal People. If only I had my book with me, I could have had it autographed by this very trusted man who has spent many years with the local Aboriginal Elders and documented as much history and sacred sites as possible, to safeguard the local Aboriginal
heritage. After a chat with Scott, who very surprised that I own and have heard of his book, I then met Ian and thanked him for his most valued help in allowing us to visit this very remote Aboriginal Community.
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
This Dingo had other things on its mind, rather than look a travellers on the road
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
Passing through a burnt out section on the Business Road
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
The main Aboriginal Road heading towards Tjuntjuntjarra
We were now less than 5 kilometres from Tjuntjunjarra
We were very lucky not to have missed Ian and Scott, as they were about to head off with the older Aboriginal Elders on a special visit to some of the highly Sacred Sites in the area. Once we all refueled, we then went back to the local art centre where we all purchased some very special artwork that the local artists are famous for. Fiona and I then wet and met Bruce Hogan, another Elder and was shown some of the traditional weapons that the Aboriginal men still make and I was able to buy a Boomerang and Traditional Pay Back spear from Bruce. By now the word was around the Community that we were “In Town” as such and other Aboriginal came to the group and showed us other items that were willing to sell us, with others in the group taking advantage of their kind gestures. As we were standing around talking, an Aboriginal women came up the me and asked where we were going next, thinking that were going straight up to Ilkurlka. When I explained that we would be going further west out to the Connie Sue, she then waved here husband over and the exchanged words to each other in their own Anangu dialect. You are going the long way the lady said, you have our permission to use the Business road straight up to Ilkurlka, it is the shortest way. I thanked them greatly for their very kind offer, but explained that we were heading north from
Neale Junction up the Connie Sue. It was now time to leave this great Community and head out towards the Connie Sue Highway for our next part of the trip.
Outside of the Store
We had arranged to get fuel at Tjuntjuntjarra
Aboriginal housing at Tjuntjuntjarra
Aboriginal Elder, Bruce Hogan displays traditional items that he still makes and uses
The Art Centre
The Art Centre
In Part 3, we travel the Connie Sue Highway as far north as
Point Lilian, and then return to
Neale Junction and east along the
Anne Beadell Highway before arriving at Ilkurlka and and on to
Voakes Hill Corner.
Stephen Langman
September 2014