Get Les on the Canning

An update for my supporters of this desert odyssey.

In June I completed my fifth cross in the Canning Stock Route, the first time driving a 4x4. My focus was on learning about the land, identifying alternate water sources to that of the Canning Wells, finding bush tucker and developing desert survival skills specific to this area.

The driving force behind my passion is wanting to one day walk from Billiluna to Wiluna living off the land, completely unsupported and without resupply, together with someone more skilled than myself. The Canning Stock Route has never been traversed on foot in this way before. It is no small feat and it will take a great deal of skill, level of desert fitness and determination to accomplish.

So after my fifth crossing, where am I at with regards to doing a Live off the Land Walk of the CSR?

Sadly I must report that I have failed to achieve what I set out to do - to identify and gather/hunt enough bush food to sustain a person on the move and to locate enough water beyond that of the known working wells; digging down and drinking from derelict wells, the occasional soak and waterhole. Some filled in derelict wells are just too deep to dig down to their water and surface water has been very scarce where I needed it the most.

With regards to bush food - the failure is all mine. I have resisted killing and in order to get enough food, I have to kill. I am just so excited and enthralled to see those few animals doing their thing, surviving, living and Being at One with this Country, that all thought of extinguishing that life is wiped from my mind and I just want to observe and enjoy.

But I am a hypocrit in this, in that I am quite prepared to eat an animal another has killed. In part my resistance stems from not wanting to cause stress to the animal in a bungled attempt to end its life. Death is a part of life, I just want it to be quick and clean and I don't trust that I am capable of doing that in the beginning. It takes practice. Camel is a prime source of readily available food and key to providing a ready supply of meat, but I do not have a licence to carry a gun.

And so I thought to compromise. Perhaps, if I could solve the challenge with regards to finding enough water to make a walk possible, and combine that with a reasonable arsenal of plant food knowledge, I might be able to contribute to a team effort and do this with a hunter. But I have not even been able to solve the water challenge.

There are three sections on the CSR that remain an enigma. Two 100km stretches south of Kunawarritji and the real problem, a 150km stretch in the biggest dune country in which large areas are always burnt to the ground with little shade to offer and some of the worst heat - between Well 43 and 46. It is a dry year in the middle and north of the CSR and things would be different in a year like my journey in 2013 where there was a great deal more surface water. You would have to pick the right year.

On one day I followed birds on foot for 16km in a swale, trying to track them to where their water was, but I could not find it. They were not finches so these birds may have travelled bigger distances between water and feeding grounds ... or I could have been within 100m of it and not seen it hidden under a mulga bush. The soaks and native wells noted by Canning are often invisible today, the people who once kept them open, no longer walking this land. The land has reclaimed these waterholes and sealed their secret.

I will re-look at these challenging areas as I return down the Canning for a sixth time in July, in an endeavour to unlock the mystery, but part of me says that a live off the land walk is beyond my skill and physical level. By the time I exit the south end I will have come to a decision, which is likely to turn my back on this land I love and to start a new life. It has been 6 years of Canning adventure after all and somethings must end for there to be new beginnings.

Whoever does achieve such a goal, pure and without compromise, whether it be living off the land or pulling a trolley, that person or persons will have undergone a pretty spectacular personal achievement. I hope to meet them one day for I do have an idea what they might have gone through to come out the other side and I will know that they planned well, learned much, trained hard and dug deep.

Thank you to everyone who put fuel in Les's tank. You got me exploring the Canning Stock Route for two and a half months and now I am in Halls Creek at the top end. With fuel tanks dry I now wait for two weeks for a fellow traveller to arrive who will fill Les's tanks once again and travel with me back down to Wiluna and Perth, a journey that will take five weeks.

There is a book in the writing spanning 6 years of desert adventure. From hitch hiker to spinal accident, to solo walker to solo 4x4'ing, I have explored aspects of desert survival, overcome challenges and now to write my story.

With finances exhausted I must sell Les, my trusty Land Rover, upon arrival in Perth. Please contact me should you be interested in acquiring the magnificent workhorse. I hope you are an adventurer!
My email: gaynor@canningwalker.com

For more information on who I am, what I do and my sponsors, please go to my website: www.canningwalker.com