The Holland Track

 

We had spent over a week at Rowels Lagoon, it was time to move on. All the washing was done, including ourselves, and besides the camp ground was beginning to become populated. On the last day we were there, five campers rolled in, too many in one place for us.

So it was southward to Coolgardie, a small, old gold mining town. After getting supplies, and picking up some spares for the drone from the post office, which I had ordered online, we headed south west to Victoria Rock. This is a large rock formation and is at the start of a 4×4 track called the Holland Track

. Way back in the gold rush days, a man called John Holland wanted to cut a track from the far west into the gold fields as a more direct route for those going to seek their fortune. It is not used anymore, except for the more adventurous and some would say foolhardy, not sure which of these adjectives describes us, but I’m going for adventurous. We do like the road less travelled and are not afraid to venture out of our comfort zone, it keeps you on your toes.

This track is for dry weather travelling, it was dry as we started off, but the evidence of wetter days was all along the track. Large wheel ruts and huge bog holes confronted us at every turn. Luckily, there were tracks around most of the larger, menacing ones, but you had to negotiate winding, tight, lane ways to get around. A lot of the time the surrounding bush was doing it’s best to reclaim the track back, and we were constantly being battered by the trees and bushes on ether side as we squeezed through.

That first day we had covered some 50k from Victoria Rock, most of it travelling at 10kph and constantly looking from side to side as we squeezed through as well as looking up to see if we would fit. It was good to stop and relax. That night the heavens opened and we were treated to a rainstorm, not what we needed. In the morning, the rain had gone and the ground seemed to have soaked up most of the water, only a bit of water in the bottom of the ruts and holes.

The following days were similar, only the track seemed to deteriorate, if that was possible, but good old Ned the truck soldered on, never missing a beat.

 I also started to settle into the rhythm of dodging holes and keeping an eye on all sides of the vehicle as well as above.

The wild flowers were out and they put on a show, blues, purple, yellow, red, orange, and all the shades in between. 

The country changed as we progressed, from tall eucalypti forest to sandy scrub and dense malley then back to forest with the gum trees dangling their bark in strips like party decorations in the wind. Going so slow you get to soak up every flower and every detail of the surrounding bush as you glide through this amazing landscape.

The colours of the tree trunks are also amazing, from silver to golden and rainbow hues. We saw quandong trees with the red fruit hanging like Christmas decorations, and banksia, as well as grevillea, a native wonderland.

The track is about 300k in length and lots of people do it over a weekend, we took 10 days and enjoyed the experience. You end up at Wave Rock near Hyden, a small town where we got water and fuel then got out of town.