Windich Spring August 10 2024
 
  Do grass trees really belong here?
     
  Just a small patch.

I generally associate them with cooler, higher altitude.

Though I guess we are at 600m above sea level.
     
  We are about to descend a little.

Only a little. There are no steep bits on the stock route that we have met.
     
  Well 5.

We tried filling with water at Pierre Spring. But too many people had filled before us. The level was down a bit and picking up "inclusions".

Rather than filter them out, the water would then be very drinkable, we decided to pick up water at well 5.
     
  Well restored. The water was a long way down, probably more than 20m, and the bucket heavy, a steel bucket with weight in the bottom so it submerged to contain 50 litres.

Sometimes we were impatient and only retrieved 30 litres.

With about 150 litres each that's a lot of winching.

So we all needed a rest, to contemplate what must have been required to extract 60,000 gallons / hour, the quoted capacity of the well.

And wonder if the cattle could drink that fast. ..... we think the tank is a modern addition, now disused.
     
  Onward, southwards.
     
  We've ummed, and arred, and vascillated, and contemplated, whether to cross Cunyu Station or exit at well 5 through Granite Peak Station.
     
  We tried phoning every so often for more than a month. No answer. Left message. No reply. A fine line between needing to know and not wanting to be a nuisance. We discussed whether we are considered wide track vehicles.

The issue is confused a bit by the permit system, which seems to apply from well 5 north (we are now south of well 5) having a higher fee for heavy vehicles, explicitly Oka and Canter. Though our Canter has a GVM of 4.5 tonnes. The Dodge Ram we met is as heavy and wider.

Measured our tracks - we are both, Oka and Canter, about the same width track as a Series 300 Landcruiser. I have no idea what "wide" means in this context.

At Pierre Spring we met a party of 5 vehicles from TrackCare who volunteer well maintenance. Empty loos. Build loos. Etc.

One of the party was an Iveco Daily. About our size. They had a bit of difficulty with one creek entry (exit to us). But really no sense of not traversing Cunyu. General feeling we would be ok.

There's a suggestion the previous owner of Cunya had a dislike of Okas. Now armed with the name of the current owner, who has a caretaker installed and is trying to sell, we felt reasonably confident.

Decision made.
     
  Next to well 4B.
     
  The spinifex has given way to grass.

Among the mulga.
     
  Windich Spring. aka Kuta Pirla.
     
  We walked around the water. About an hour.

Near the south west corner a centenial celebration of Sir John Forrest.

An ancestor of Twiggy Forrest of Fortescue Mining, and more recently green hydrogen, fame.
     
  We camped at the spring. Outside the wire fence that prevented us being close to the water.
     
  In the morning Ali and I walked back to take pics of the "Aboriginal Wall".

Obviously person made. Perhaps forcing kangaroos through a narrow bit after they've drunk from the spring.
     
  Its not really a spring. I would call it a billabong on Kennedy Creek.

A creek we follow for many km.
     
  The wall definitely not natural.
     
  Nor is the cairn, a little way away from the water.
     
Well 3 and North Pool to Wiluna August 11 - 14 2024
     
Gateway
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