The History:

Photos for this part of the trip are here

This legendary 4WD trip stretches 1700kms across the North West of Australia from Wiluna to Hall’s Creek. The route was developed by Alfred Canning and his work party in the 1906 to 1908 period to meet the demand for a feasible stock route from the tropical Kimberley cattle stations to the arid gold mining boom area developing around Kalgoorlie. Canning and his team constructed 52 wells and watering points, each about 25 to 30 kms apart. The deepest well was over 30 meters deep and had to be drilled /blasted into solid rock- a superb feat of bush engineering.  The stock route was refurbished again by Canning and team in 1930, and was then used intermittently until the 1950’s .

The first vehicles to fully traverse the Route were 2 landrovers (plus drivers) in 1968, and since that date the Canning has become the legendary, must do 4wd trip in Australia. Today about 500 vehicles per year make the journey.

Trip Requirements :

Basically a minimum of 2 well equipped, reliable FWD vehicles, with UHF radios, 200 plus litres of fuel, camping equipment and 2 weeks supply of food. Essentially you have to self sufficient for about 2 weeks, and able to fix/ repair anything that breaks down (including human beings). You will not see a newspaper or TV for this time. We carried a Satellite Phone for emergency use but in our case the Phone system proved to be virtually useless, and fortunately we didn’t need to use it.  Each vehicle also needs to carry about 30 litres of water which is enough for 2 or 3 days traveling between usable wells.  Given the amount a equipment you will carry- your vehicle will need to be a long wheelbase model with a roof rack. The most likely mechanical problems will be destroyed tyres and punctures, followed by stuffed shock absorbers and things falling off. We carried 2 spare tyres per vehicle, spare tyre tubes, and puncture repair outfits (including air compressors, tyre levers and tyre pliers) In the event we destroyed 2 tyres and had another fixable puncture.

The Trip 

Our team comprised Bill Knowles, Ian Hanford, Bob and Jill Dickinson plus one Nissan Patrol and one 80 series Landcruiser.
The first duty is to report to the Wiluna Police Station to fill out an intentions sheet. The police officer turned out to be a kiwi from Auckland, and he gave us a most interesting booklet on bush survival for us to study. Soon after leaving Wiluna we left the official road and joined the Canning Stock Route-  for the first 10 wells the track travels across Cattle Stations and is a mixture of rough gravel , dry creeks, corrugations and washouts.  You also start to see salt lakes generally without any water.  In these conditions a good days travel is about 4 or 5 wells say 100 to 130 kms. After 2 days of traveling we leave the Station country and move into arid sandhill, desert Country. We are now traveling continuously in 4WD, and will clamber over about 900 sandhills over the next 10 days.  The tracks winds east and west trying to find the lowest crossing point for these sandhills.  The corrugations are often severe and will shake loose numerous nuts and bolts on our vehicles. One essential duty is to inspect your vehicle each day for loose bolts.  By the fourth day we have reached well 17, Durba Springs which is a delightful/shady camp spot in a hidden rock canyon.  Most parties take a rest day here to repair damage, and rest.  We also viewed some excellent Aboriginal rock art nearby.

We press on thru the sandhills calling out every 15 minutes on the UHF radio on Channel 40 to warn oncoming convoys. The danger is meeting another vehicle head on at the moment you crest a sandhill, or drive around a blind one way corner. We generally met about 1 or 2 convoys each day going the other way. Most vehicles also had a 3meter high pole and warning flag to provide further warning. On day 4 we passed an abandoned Pajero, which had a burnt out clutch trying to get over a big sandhill.  The problem here was that it was impossible to tow it out so the vehicle was abandoned with no insurance cover.  We also passed a number of burnt out vehicles that had caught fire after picking up spinifex seeds around their hot exhaust pipes. The way to avoid this is to have an extra gauze mesh in front of your radiator and to check and remove seed buildup each day. We were also traveling late in the season and most of the spinifex seed had been knocked off by earlier vehicles.

Campspots and Wildlife:  
We normally stopped driving about 4pm each day to set up camp and have a happy hour before dinner. Sometimes we would camp near a well but on many occasions we just chose a likely spot with some firewood nearby and a level site with no spinifex. To explain-  spinifex is the dominant vegetation and its extremely prickly. The wildlife was most interesting - we saw lots of camels, dingos, and lizards, no snakes and a few kangaroos and emus.  The birdlife was prolific with a wide range of eagles, galahs, brightly coloured birds and bustards (like a large goose).  The other pleasant surprise was the amount of colourful flowers in the desert-they were virtually everywhere following fairly recent rains.

The Second half of the Journey:
Basically the journey carries on each day crossing more sand dunes, winding in and out of scrub, and bouncing from one corrugation to the next. It’s essentially an endurance test. There is some relief  near well 33 where you can visit a small aboriginal community to buy fuel, groceries and have a pie. Near well 41 we came across a stranded Discovery. Its computer had gone on the blink and immobilized the vehicle. The owners had been stranded for 5 days when we arrived and were hoping to be rescued by a 4wd truck from Halls Creek in a few days.  We subsequently passed this rescue truck two days later and wondered if the truck would make it.  The price for the rescue was $16500 and there was no insurance as the Canning is not a legal road. We carried on our way, stopping for 2 nights at well 46 where we met a group of Aboriginal artists. At well 46  Bill thankfully  managed to fix our starter motor which had been playing up. He did this by taking out one of the copper contacts which was badly worn and then turning it around (with some modifying) - quite ingenious.  Eventually on day 13 we reached Biluna the start of a formed road and civilization.

Conclusion;   

The Canning Stock Route is an excellent 4wd adventure - but its not for the faint hearted. It takes about 2 weeks during which time you are on your own.  We all enjoyed it, but it might be a while before we went back for another go!                   
Bob Dickinson