17-Apr-2003 -- This continues from 29°S 117°E.

After leaving the first confluence, we travelled north through Yalgoo, visiting Jokers Tunnel on the way. In the 1890s, miners looking for gold dug a tunnel through rock from one side of a small hill to the other. You can walk right through, if you crouch a bit.

After Yalgoo, we visited Chinaman Rock, Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater (the smallest crater in Western Australia, at 21m), and Walga Rock. Walga Rock, about 330km from the ocean, is the site of a controversial rock art depiction of a sailing ship.

On the morning of the fifth day of our trip (two days since the previous confluence), we reached the location of our second confluence. The maps had indicated this to be 4km off the road - too far for us to be bothered walking. As we reached the closest point of the road to the confluence, what did we find but a fenceline heading almost directly for it!

We drove along the track next to the fenceline until we got to 620m from the confluence. On the way we had passed a poor side track heading to the confluence, but ignored it not knowing where it was going. After 500m of walking and about 150m from the confluence, we crossed a track, almost certainly the one we ignored. We could have saved ourselves 1km of walking!

This part of the country is quite open. Lots of bare sandy areas with just a few low shrubs makes for an easy walk.

Apart from its remote location, this is an easy confluence to visit. No need for a 4WD. It's a 20km drive from the Great Northern Highway down a gravel road west from Tuckanarra, 4km of station track along the fenceline, and about 150m of bushwalking to the confluence.

For the next visitor, the intersection of the poor track with the fenceline is about 3.4km down the fenceline from the gravel road.

The trip continues, at the next confluence at 27°S 119°E.