Camping at beautiful Bungabiddy

Last year we were lucky enough to spend several months in WA’s Gibson Desert, working in the Ngaannyatjarra lands for NG Media. NG Media is an Indigenous media company that provides radio, generates and produces visual content and provides public internet access to people in 13 remote Indigenous communities.

This experience also provided us the opportunity to travel along the Great Central Road from Uluru to  Laverton, so we thought we might share some insider info on ways to enjoy the desert that you might not find in tourist brochures.

Although much of the Ngaannyatjarra lands are not accessible for tourism purposes, there is still a lot to see and do along the highways and roads of the region.

Currently, some rough roads mean a 4WD is probably necessary, although we have seen 2WD vehicles used by locals when it is dry.

You will also need a permit to travel along the Great Central Highway, which gives you passage past Uluru to head across the WA border.

Following the Outback Way geochace trail is a fun way to enjoy this area

HIDDEN TREASURES

The Great Central Road runs from Uluru, NT, in the east, to Laverton, WA, in the west and makes up the western end of the Outback Way, otherwise known as Australia’s Longest Shortcut. It’s here that  you’ll also find the ‘World’s Longest Geocache Trail’ which runs from Winton, QLD, to Laverton, WA.

Geocaching is a world-wide game, where people use their GPS units to find hidden treasure (caches) that others have planted.

We always carry a bag of treasures to add to caches for others to find. There’s a great website explaining it all (www.outbackway.org.au/experiences/geocache-trail.html).

For us, geocaching provides a purpose to the journey, and it’s a way of exploring new places and discovering interesting spots we might otherwise drive past.

In the Gibson Desert, geocaching has led us to amazing campsites, spectacular rock and sand formations (called breakaways out there), and scenic rock holes.

It really adds value to travelling the Great Central Road. All the caches we found were in accessible places to drive to, and only  occasionally did we have to climb up a rock formation to find them.

The track into Bungabiddy

CAMP FOR FREE

Using GeoWiki, explorers can discover a range of free camping spots all along the Great Central Road.

In the east, the Docker River campground whets your appetite  with fabulous views of blood red hills at sunset and crackling campfires.

Just nearby, 26km along the Tjukula Road, is the Bungabiddy Rockhole – a most amazing spot near a permanent waterhole and waterfall, complete with astounding vistas into the gorge.

The Caves (between Warakurna and Warburton roadhouses) is an interesting breakaway with a great campsite maintained for travellers, complete with explanatory billboards.

Further west, the Beegull waterholes, caves and the many breakaways will delight you and provide plenty of free camping.

The night skies are unsurpassed out here, with no lights to disturb your vista. So be sure to leave the campgrounds and caravan parks behind to take a wander in the real outback at night.

A weekend getaway at another quiet camp along the Great Central Road

ART GALLERIES

One of the interesting things to do in this region is to visit an art gallery and see if you can find a special piece at local prices.

There are a few quality stops along the Great Central Road – the Docker River community is on the NT/WA border and if you stop by the community for fuel or to visit the art gallery, you won’t need special permission. It is not always open, but worth a check.

When you are at Warburton, you must visit the council office and art collection, right beside the roadhouse. The locally-made glass creations are mind blowing.

Still waters of a desert waterhole

This is an exquisite collection of very interesting regional artworks – the best we have seen outside of a capital city. Sadly, the regional collection’s pieces are not for sale.

If you get a chance to drive through Blackstone on a side trip, it has a great art gallery and sells locally made medicinal soaps and spinifex paper.

Papulankutja Artists at Blackstone also has a considerable range of artists and styles, making the side trip worthwhile for collectors.

Calling the gallery will provide you permission to travel into the community and ensure someone will be available at the end of your 200km detour from the highway!

LAVERTON AND ONWARDS

We really enjoyed visiting Laverton at the western end of the Great Central Road and exploring from there through to Leonora.

The pub at Laverton – just outside of the NG lands – is always a welcome stop, because we do not carry alcohol while working in the NG lands for weeks at a time. A beer and  the Friday night steak or fish special never tasted so good after weeks of no ‘luxuries’!

It is also a welcome supermarket stop with good vegetables. We love the herb gardens on the roundabout nearby and always have a little pick to stock up on rosemary for lamb roast Sundays.

The old gold mines in the area are also great to visit, as is the Poseidon Nickel mine. We enjoyed looking at the huge tailing dams that have cobalt blue water. Locals canoe in them and it is rumoured you can’t sink, although we weren’t game to try!

Travelling the red dirt of the Great Central Road

SHARING CULTURE

The Great Central road mostly traverses Ngaanyatjarra lands,  comprising parts of the distinctly different Great Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Deserts, plus the amazingly varied landscapes of the Western Central Ranges.

We have been working with Ngaanyatjarra Media to help revitalise public media centres as NBN and other broadband internet services finally reach the smallest and most remote Indigenous communities of the central deserts.

We have spent much time on the road mentoring local Yarnangu (a general name for desert people) so they can run their own media facilities and enjoy connectivity, while also remaining aware of the impact of the internet on culture, lifestyles and social harmony, particularly among young people.

We have shared much of people’s lives as they use media to tell stories and learn to navigate the increasingly complex web of online government, banking and other services. As we solve problems, people tell us about their lives and culture.

This has been our journey. We have been fortunate enough to spend time with two language groups, Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjatjara people in 12 communities throughout the region.

These people are responsive to and also responsible for, their desert homelands, having never been displaced from them.

Therefore, many people of all age groups know where they were born,  where their elders and ancestors were born and where family groups live.

Some people from the northern parts only came in from the desert in recent years and we saw evidence of bush people still choosing a total desert-based life.

Cultural activities and events are routinely practiced (as they always were) and are part of the way of working. Hunting is central to lifestyles and cultural events and we have been on very intriguing goanna and bush turkey hunting trips, visited rockholes and been invited to beautiful waterholes and caves.

NG Media radio is the only station available in this region, and proudly hosts local voices, language and music. Our journey has been about uncovering and discovering the talents of the local people as they traverse both worlds, encountering both opportunities and difficulties.

A quiet camp at the caves breakaway

NEED TO KNOW

Water supplies are not easy to find here. The roadhouses provide plenty of taps, but we find the water hard, sometimes salty and not that nice to drink. We installed two water tank systems in our vehicle, so we keep good drinking water separate from local water.

You can also buy water in 10L and 15L containers, so we carry a couple, just in case we have a pump failure (which has happened). It is priced  from $8-$17/10L along much of the Great Central Road, or $4/10L in Alice Springs.

Fuel is also not easy to find. Roadhouses are the best supply, although if you need, communities along the way do sell fuel.

The hours for supply, even at the roadhouses, can be irregular. It is expensive and occasionally they simply run out of what you need and you might have to wait a few days!

Repairs are almost impossible to organise, so having two spare tyres is essential. The roads are sometimes corrugated, so things do break, especially welds on bull bars. 

Alcohol is not permitted on the Ngaannyatjarra lands and you are not able to consume it at the roadhouses either. Please respect these rules when travelling in this region. You can pick up supplies again in Laverton and Uluru, outside of the NG lands.

Maps are more reliable than most street-based GPS systems. We use a Hema Navigator GPS in 4WD mode and paper maps. Communities can have a western and local name and often neither is to be found in a standard GPS.

We can’t emphasise enough about obtaining the correct permits. Most people obtain them from the Alice Springs Visitor Centre, though a Google search should help you.

NATURAL WONDERS

The desert landscapes of the Ngaannyatjarra lands are varied, biologically diverse and geologically fascinating. In our opinion, they are much richer ecosystems than those around Uluru, or even the MacDonnell Ranges of Alice Springs.

We do value the spiritual atmosphere of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, which is special and not to be missed. But readers should consider travelling further afield to experience a wilder, more untouched, natural landscape.

The isolation of the western deserts can’t be duplicated in the popular tourist haunts and is such a valuable experience – the chance to be alone in the bush, to listen, to hear and see the changes in the landscape over a day or even a week.

We enjoyed the best wildflower season we have seen anywhere, experienced some big floods, been scorched by summer’s heat and endured winter’s cold.

What we value most, though, are the people of the Ngaannyatjarra region, whose lands we visit. And we are forever grateful to be allowed to see the country with them and through their eyes.

If you do venture west off the bitumen, take a slow trip and plan to experience this desert properly, not just drive through it. You will be amply rewarded.

Category: Unknown
Written: Sat 01 Apr 2017
Printed: April, 2017
Published By: