Lake Disappointment

Durba Springs to Lake Disappointment Departed camp 8am. 8.15 We arrived at Killagurra Gorge and spring. We went back there for a closer look after a quick peek on Friday on the way in. This gorge may be closed to travellers in future as it's still a key ceremony site for local traditional owners. I followed the others walking into a beautiful gorge with waterholes and birdsong. Magic. It was a narrow gorge but the car track went some distance into it. The last parts had to be walked. Meg walking quietly by herself had time to reflect and soak in the feeling of "aliveness" and some type of spiritual connection. It is hard to find the words for it - just emanated from the rocks and trees and water. The play of light and shade in the gorge moved and danced as the breeze and water shook the leaves and raced over stones. She climbed up onto the path on the right side of the gorge and paused to look and feel my surroundings. It was then she noticed she had just past two ceremonial entrance stones one on either side of the path and had not noticed walking through them. She stopped 20 feet further on and looked back at them to see two stacked stones on the top of one of them, more visible now as the sunlight etched a shadow and bright edge on them. This is generally the sign to warn the uninitiated not to proceed further as ceremonial business is conducted further into the gorge. She stopped and went no further although she could hear the others taking photos and talking further up the gorge where rock art was found. Later she looked at their photos and saw similar figures to the ones on the gorge near our camp. The stripy man was there, the snake and some human figures with different body marks. Terry arrived and we walked back to the cars. Departed the Killagurra gorge at 9.30am. 9.55 CSR all sand county, We were now out of the rocky gorge country. 10.00 Spoke too soon. Rocky tops, eroded quartzite. Sand hills getting tougher. Some of them medium hard. 10.15 Stopped at Diebel Hills for morning tea. Saw new plant there, a prostrate form Mulla Mulla, a pink/purple color. 10.20 Departed morning tea. Sand hills were the only view here - no larger rocky features. 11.15 Arrived well 18 - now completed 1/3 of wells. Usual ruined well. 11.20 Departed well 18 into a wide open Spinifex plain with rock bars on tracks 11.30 Have been following the edge of Lake Disappointment with Runton Range in distance.(R)since last well. Have not had views of the lake though at this stage, only Spinifex plains. 11.45 Stopped at base of sand hill and dropped tyre pressure to 22. 12.00 Camels sighted on left ridge. Track off to left to well 20 which is 10 km off the CSR. We decided to miss it as it's a ruin, similar to what we have seen elsewhere. 12.10 Crossed dry small lake bed with salt bush. Probably a small outbranch of Lake Disappointment. Small herd of camels on lake bed that broke off to L. Nice stand of Casuarina of several species. Good camp spot. 12.20 Larger mob of camels on lake bed which we drive over. Well 19 difficult to see from track but we find where it used to be which was near the (12.25) the sign proclaiming the Tropic of Capricorn. We took photos as several of us, including Meg, have Capricorn star signs. 12.35 Lunch stop. Hot and dusty. 1.05 departed lunch stop. 1.15 Came across Snell's abandoned steel wagon wheel rim on the L. side of the CSR. He was repairing the wells in 1929. But track notes suggest the wagon was abandoned later in 1938 when he was taking a load of stores from Wiluna to Billiluna. L. Disappointment visible on the right. Some confusion in my track notes as I have well 19 noted here too. 1.30 Came across 2 cars with camper trailers heading S. on the CSR. Trailers are strictly forbidden on the track as they chop it up too much. Some travelers are insensitive enough to break this rule as its difficult to police it. 2.10 Crossed Savory Creek. It was full of water after the last rains, but it's a shallow creek, 20 ft wide and Dave tested it by crossing it first Terry rolled up his trousers and waded across: it was calf deep. No-one had any problems with it, although the bottom looked soft in some places. It had a real beach-like appearance and flows into L. Disappointment which we viewed with sand dunes all round it and wild grasses. Looked like a wide bay leading out to sea. Photos. 3.00 Took a 3km side track to L. Disappointment. Departed lake at 3.10. Cool breeze. 3.25 Saltbush plains with casuarinas and Spinifex plains interspersed. 3.30 Found a nice campsite under casuarinas and off road. Pleasant and shady. Small fire tonight as not much wood around. This camp spot was a favorite of many of the group. Nice soft Casuarina needles underfoot and rolling low dunes around the camp into which you could melt to perform some essential bodily functions. Flowers amongst the dunes and lots of strange wormholes which someone identified later as perhaps belonging to marsupial moles. The downside was the very large ants some of which were determined to bite us, and a few succeeded.