Emu plus dual cab plus caravan equals “Disaster”

Hi to all,

After our two-night stopover in Carnarvon we decided to head east to Mt. Augustus in the Gascoyne Region. The first part of the trip was 167 kilometres of sealed road to Gascoyne Junction. Unfortunately, whilst about only half way along the road we collided with an emu. We did not see the emu until it an out from the side of the road. It did not run out front of our car but rather the side. I believe the emu hit my rear driver side wheel went under the caravan draw bar & body & exited on the same side. As you can imagine this all happened very fast and from my view in the rear-view side mirrors the emu got back up on its feet. A little further on we pulled over & checked the vehicle & caravan but could find nothing different except for some emu feathers on the wheel and mudflap.We made our way into Gascoyne Junction and refuelled as well as ascertained that the road to Mt. Augustus was open & driveable. Gascoyne Junction is on the banks of the Gascoyne River with a permanent water hole of about 4 kilometres in length.

We soon hit the gravel & found a place to pull over & have lunch as well as for me to air down the tyres on the caravan & 4wd. Cheryl said I can hear running water. She was right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The damage done by the emu had not been apparent before. Some rough road, vibration and corrugations WERE THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF SOME OF OUR CARAVAN PLUMBING. The damage was two broken water tank drain taps & hose, a broken tee joint & broken water pipe. We now had no water in our tanks but luckily, I had a 20-litre jerry can of drinking water in the tub and 20 x 600ml of water bottles. 

 

We opted to continue but I could tell Cheryl was quite concerned…….it is understandable ………………. we are remote & only saw 3 vehicles after leaving Gascoyne Junction for the next 200 kilometres & there is no natural water. Our plan was to get to Mt. Augustus then we could resupply & I could have a better look at the damage & maybe fix it!!We made it to Gascoyne Crossing late afternoon. I was bushed, the road was reasonable in patches but there were a lot of washouts. It took us four and a half hours to do 200 kilometres. We had a nice free camp & the river was just a pond on each side of the causeway. I scrounged some wood & we had a nice fire with Cheryl also toasting some marshmallows.

We did the further very slow 103 kilometres into Mt. Augustus without incident. The road had countless washouts and corrugations as well as dips & creek crossings which were all dry of course. On the way, we again passed through various stations & an aboriginal settlement. About 20-30 kilometres out we got our first look at Mt. Augustus as it rose from the plain…. It was awesome!

 You can only camp in a tourist park outside of the Mt. Augustus National Park & it does have an unbelievable patch of…. wait for it……green grass!!!!!!!  We were dismayed to find that only non-potable water was available but I managed to purchase an extra 10 litres of drinking water from the park office which should see us through. The Caravan Park has a sign describing itself as an outback resort. We believe they use the word resort very loosely in Western Australia!

 

After setting up & having a relax we did some exploring. Mt. Augustus is about twice the size of Uluru (Ayers Rock) & is the biggest rock in the world. It rises spectacularly from the plain & at 750 metres can be visible from 160 kilometres away. Aboriginal engravings, interesting rock formations & caves are found in many parts of the rock. Whist doing one of the many walks we met a couple from Shepparton in Victoria. Dave helped me with the caravan. We could seal both tanks & reroute a pipe as well as circumvent the broken tee-joint so that I could just utilise the reserve tank (40 litres). We will just use it with non-potable water for washing up etc.  Some of the walks we did were to places of aboriginal importance such as engravings and water. Other places were historic or provided wonderful views.

 After two nights at Mt. Augustus we got an early start & headed to Kennedy Range National Park some 300 kilometres away. The road was poor gravel with washouts, dips, cattle grids & dry creek crossings. A funny sight was a mock telephone box near Mangaroon Station but on a serious note we came to the turn off to Mangaroon Homestead where they had a dead dingo strung up on the sign post. This whole region is a wild dog area where 1080 baiting is undertaken to reduce their numbers.

 

We rocked into Kennedy Range National Park & found a campsite. The campground is at the base of the escarpment. It has good bush toilets but no other facilities. The Kennedy Range is an eroded plateau & is a remnant of the land surface that has been worn away but here forms a mesa that is 75 kilometres long and 25 kilometres wide. There are spectacular cliffs & canyons that have short lived streams & waterfalls. We did a walk into the aptly named Honeycombe Gorge & also Temple Gorge.

The next day after another 60 kilometres of gravel we reached Gascoyne Junction. We re- inflated the tyres on Lightning & Wally & relished the bitumen all the way back to Carnarvon where tomorrow I shall attempt to source parts for the caravan. In addition to the plumbing damage there was other damage to Wally. We had considerable dust ingress, the television arm fell apart because of vibration & we lost a dust cover off a wheel rim and have a broken reflector light.