Chris's space

My new car arrived on 16 March, I had to drive 1,500 km and get the first service done so I decided to follow the Silo Trail. This is in the Wheatbelt area of Western Australia. CBH the grain company provided the funds to bring artists from all over the world to paint these huge grain silos.

“Wheat is the major grain crop produced in Western Australia making up 65% of annual grain production and generating A$2-3 billion for the State each year. Wheat production occurs across the WA wheatbelt on 4200 mostly family-run farms ranging in size from 1000-15 000 hectares. WA generates about 50% of Australia’s total wheat production with more than 95% of this exported predominantly to Asia and the Middle East. WA produces white grained wheat varieties that generate high flour milling yield and a bright white flour that is suitable for a range of products.”

Before I got going I fitted Falken All Terrain tyres, the standard tyres get punctured very easily on gravel roads, everything else was standard.

Total trip distance 1,641 km and 4 days.

First stop was Northam, it has the biggest Silos. I thought I could drive down a gravel road I saw on the map to the top of a hill for photos but it turned out to be the road to the tip. And I got told off on the way back out because I should have stopped and checked in hahaha.

From Northam I drove to Merredin and then on to Katanning with a 15 minute stop at Totadgin Park.

Northam Silos

Northam Silos

Northam Silos

Northam Silos

Northam Silos

Unpainted Silos, on the road

Merredin Silos

Merredin Silos

Merredin Silos

Solar Panels

Totadgin Park

Totadgin Park

No, I did not go on the walk, too hot

Clean

Wheat fields

Long and Straight roads

Bruce Rock

Old Wagon

School Bus Stop

Single Lane road

Wheat Silo

I checked into the Caravan Park in Katanning for 2 nights. This is a shakedown run to prove all my gear works and make a list of things to do. Katanning does not have any Silos but it does have Street Art.

From Katanning I drove to Pingrup, a very small town with small silos. Next stop was Newdegate where there was a train unloading grain, next Ravensthorpe where both sides of the silos were painted. After that a long drive to Albany along Highway 1 that became a little exciting towards the end. I knew I could make the distance from Katanning to Albany on a tankful of fuel but 80km out of Albany the road was closed and there was a long detour. Luckily I found a General Store/Cafe that also served Diesel and filled up with 3.64 litres left in the tank hahaha, lesson learned, fill up when you can in the bush.

Albany is a port and quite a big town with a population of 34,000. I spent the night there and drove back to Perth the following day.

Heading out

Pingrup Silos

Pingrup Silos

Newdegate Silos

Newdegate Silos

The train is moving and unloading grain

Newdegate

Newdegate

Lake King

Ravensthorpe Silos

The Artist

Ravensthorpe Silos

The Other Side

Albany, Ruby Seadragon

Albany, Ruby Seadragon

Albany

Albany

Albany

Albany

The Old Town

The White Hotel

The View

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I left the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse at 0700 hrs and drove almost immediately into heavy fog which persisted for about 30 min. I travelled South back towards Port Hedland until I reached the Boreline Road. This is a gravel road short cut to Marble Bar, with great views, no traffic and in good condition due to the mines in the area. The road is shown on Google Maps but there are no signs for the turnoff, just turn left and keep going until you reach Marble Bar hahaha.

Always remember to carry your EPIRB plus food and water for a week just in case you get lost, breakdown, bogged, break a leg, run out of fuel, etc.

This is a useful website for maps of Australia Bonzle.com

Marble Bar is famous for being the hottest town in Australia. It was not very hot this time around, the last time I was here in 2007 when I came through with the Australian Safari Rally it was 40c. It was named after a type of  colourful quartz called Jasper across the Coongan River which was initially thought to be marble. They also found some big Gold nuggets in this area.

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Kununurra to the Bungle Bungle Range, 2.5 hours to the turn off and then an hour and 10 minutes to cover 53 km of a fairly rough, winding dirt road to the Range itself. This is the most interesting place I have seen on this trip. I saw it from the air in 2006. I visited the Southern part, camped in the National Park Campground overnight and visited the Northern part the following morning.

Wyndham to Kununurra, a short drive, I stopped at a few interesting places along the way.

The Afghan Cameleers – were brought from British India and worked in the bush transporting goods before the arrival of the motor vehicle.

Moochalabra Dam – Wyndham Water Supply

The Boab with a Window to its Insides

The Grotto

Kununurra – a long way from anywhere. The largest town in this area with a permanent population of 5000 but this goes up in the dry season. The weather is tropical with day/night temperatures of 30/15 and no rain at all, very pleasant. I waited here for two weeks hoping the Western Australian border would open but there are no signs of that happening anytime soon with grandstanding politicians and salivating media frightening the mob. Therefore I have had to forego visiting the Northern Territory and start on my journey back to Perth.

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Kangaroo Haven we need more people like them.

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Lake Argyle created by a Dam across the Ord River. The Durack Homestead was dismantled and moved to higher ground and is now a small museum.

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Mirima National Park and the Saturday Market

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Wyndham – a very small town, population 780 in need of some maintenance. It is surrounded by mudflats and five rivers Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and Ord which meet the sea at the Gulf of Cambridge.

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Today I was meant to go North off the Gibb River Road onto the Kalumburu road to explore the Mitchell Plateau and the coast beyond Kalumburu but the Road was closed. All the additional emergency supplies and fuel I was carrying was mainly meant for this part of the trip. Covid flu paranoia reigns supreme, even when there is not a single case of the virus anywhere within 5,000 kms of this area.

The Politicians and the Medical Industry continue to pretend they are saving us ALL from certain death and the gullible, terrified people remain petrified with fear and submissive to their saviours.

The Green Line is the Gibb River Road, 1,055 kms from Derby to Wyndham.                    Day 1 – 373 km, Day 2 – 293 km, Day 3 – 389 km.

Mount Elizabeth to Wyndham the last leg of the GRR, after the first 30km of deep corrugations getting back onto the main road it was a good dirt road. There were a few river crossings with hardly any water in them and some magnificent views of the Cockburn Range.

Aghan Cameleers – interesting history

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Day two on the GRR, I drove from Mount Hart (222m altitude) down to the main road and first stop was Bell Gorge, about a kilometre walk and there was a pleasant surprise a waterfall with flowing water and I also saw some water Lilies. Next stop Imintji Community Store for a Magnum ($7) and finally I topped up with the most expensive diesel of this trip ($2.05/litre) at Mt.Barnett Road House. I was carrying 2 x 20 litre containers of diesel which I added to the tank at Mount Hart. The road to Mount Elizabeth Station (579m) was atrocious, as bad as the Steep Point Road.

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Gibb River Road – was used as a route to transport cattle from the farms in the Kimberley to the South of the State. Now it is a tourist route and kept in good condition though the tracks leading to the Stations which offer accommodation can be quite bad with a few creek crossings. The road to Kalumburu and the Mitchell Plateau was closed and many other stops as well.

The first 130km from Derby is a good paved road upto the Windjana Gorge / Tunnel Creek turnoff, after that it is a dirt road with paved sections at certain points when going up or down a hill. The main criteria for travelling on this or any other dirt road is good quality,  All Terrain tyres with a thick layer of tread and strong sidewalls as the gravel used to surface parts of these roads has many sharp stones which can puncture your tyres. After my puncture in Tom Price I fitted 4 new Cooper AT3 tyres, not the cheapest but if they saved me even one puncture they paid for the difference between cheap and good quality tyres. While it was easy to buy tyres at Tom Price, a puncture on this road could turn out to be very expensive due to the fact that it is 660 km long and help is far away. I was also carrying two spare tyres as further insurance.

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