Holland Track – Day 3

Early to bed… early to rise!  I was up before dawn and would claim it was to beat the small but persistent bush flies.  However it was more a case of old mans bladder!  There was still warmth in the embers of last night’s fire which made lighting it much easier.

I went for a local walk whilst the lads slept on.  You can see the sleeping arrangements in the above photo.  Ken and I are in single stretcher tents whilst Bob is on a stretcher under the red tent.  I guess we all snore but then we’re all slightly deaf so they cancel each other out.

Ken cooked bacon and eggs on his frying pan for breakfast.  His clever technique is to slightly toast buttered bread before placing the bacon and egg in the middle to make a sandwich.  This avoid the need to use any plates eliminating dirty dishes.  By now the sun was up and we had to eat fast otherwise the flies would have got the majority of the food.

With the camp packed we decided to drive to the top of Mount Holland.  This proved rather interesting as the track was steep and rocky in places requiring us to get into 4WD low range.

Beginning of the track to the summit

Good 360° views from the top but everything does appear to look the same.

By 10am were were back on the Holland Track finding more deep ruts.  We’d travelled 100km on the track and the ground was noticeably drier.  However we were still mostly using the chicken tracks.

More running repairs on Ken’s sand flag

It’s an essential piece of safety equipment as visibility can be quite poor with many blind bends.  Moreover the flora was frequently higher than the vehicle so a bright orange flag waving on the move might alert an oncoming vehicle to our presence.  I have a sand flag but currently don’t have the means to fit it to the front of the Isuzu.  This meant Ken was always in the lead and I ate his dust

We made a 2km side trip to Diamond Rock where we ate lunch.   There’s nothing special here.  Just another rocky clearing.  There were obvious signs it had been used as a campsite and whilst it wasn’t particularly interesting to us one could imagine it would have been a good resting point 100 years ago for those miners walking to Kalgoorlie.

You can see how the effect of water and rain splinters the granite.

Two hours later we met two traveller in a large ute which had dual rear wheels.  This made the vehicle wider than normal which had resulted in them having two punctures.  They had swapped the inner and outer tyres and I suspect it would be the last punctures they get on the trip.  The exposed roots are capable of penetrating the sidewall of a tyre like a hot knife through butter.

For about 5km we followed the State Vermin Fence.  It runs the full length of the State from North to South some 3200km.

Shortly after this we came upon a 4WD towing a ‘pop top’ outback caravan.  God knows how the driver will cope with some of the sections behind us.  I was so astonished I forgot to take a photo!

Marilyn we’re driving the track for the challenge and isolation.