The Darlot Loop

 

Heading north from Leonora you can take a road promoted by the tourist info mob in town, known as the Darlot Loop. This road goes out from Malcolm Dam and loops around in some interesting country and finds its way back to town about 230k later. We weren't going back to Leonora, but would leave the loop at a point where we could continue our northern course.

A way down the track you come to a place called The Terraces. These rugged outcrops of rock are continually being eroded by the elements and stand proud and intimidating amongst the surrounding flat terrain. We explored a couple of the canyons we could access and were heading out of one such place, when a ute appeared and stopped to see if we were lost. Reassuring him we were not he proceeded to tell us of a great spot a little further on. Thanking him for the info, we took off in that direction. Down a winding, narrow track we came out in a clearing surrounded on three sides by towering ancient cliffs, their faces scared by the ravages of time, caves, peering down at us from high above like gaping eye sockets in the bare bones of the cliff faces. Colours of the rocks ranged from dark red to lighter orange all the way to gleaming white, truly a beautiful place.

I wandered the canyon, climbing some rock faces and poking into a few shallow caves. Ascending the wall along an animal track following a less steep gradient I emerged on top of the cliff face, looking back down to where Ned and Din stood looking back like small toys in the canyon below. I scouted about along the rim, flat scrubby country one side and a gaping hole on the other, at times like these you feel a bit insignificant, a small speck on an expansive landscape, like no one is about for hundreds of miles, and there probably isn't.

Spent a couple of nights there, under a clear star filled sky, then reluctantly packed up and moved on.

Further down, the track moves through more gold mining and parstrol country. For the 150k or so we had been on this track, again, we had not come across a soul. Up ahead was a stand of tall eucalyptus trees, standing amongst the low mulga scrub. These were pointed out on the info sheet obtained from tourist info in Leonora, as one of the last stand of these trees in this sort of country.

It was getting late, so this was our camp for the next couple of days. Before leaving Leonora, we had filled the washing machine, a small bin with a lid, it had agitated well on the uneven road to here, so now was a good time to wring it out and dry it. Also we were getting low on cold meat, so a fire was built, a pickled pork defrosted and put on to boil.

Moving on again, we next came to a rock outcrop called the Granites. These were different to the Terraces in that they looked like a giant had given up on a game of marbles and discarded his toys in a pile on the ground. Boulders of all sizes lumped on top of each other and strewn across the landscape. Weathering and erosion again had formed this ancient pile. Nice spot for a camp, so we did.

Next day we heard a vehicle pull up. Getting dressed, it was a bit warm, I poked my head outside, it was my sister, they had taken the same road and had caught up with us. 

My brother in law explained how they had followed our tracks most of the way, we were the only vehicles on that road. Spent that night there with them, the sunset was spectacular, the photos don’t do it Justus

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  They took off in the morning. We were heading to Wiluna, northward, and they were going west for a bit to Cue.