Georgia Bore is the place along the Canning Stock Route where we spent more time than planned - thanks to the mechanical failure of our primary four-wheel-drive vehicle. But there are far worse places to be stranded, not only in terms of being able to arrange being de-stranded, but it’s also in the midst of spectacular landscapes - including those of the long, seemingly endless, dunes that striate the western deserts of Australia. And the “Bore” refers to the drilled well at the location, a piece of good fortune, since we were never short of water during our sojourn there.The name “Georgia” originates from a tradition in the company that drilled the well that each of their camps should be named after the most recently born child of individuals working on the project: Georgia was the daughter of the senior geologist.
Having a little time on my hands to explore, I wandered, predictably, around the dunes. Like seemingly everything in Australia, they’re different. Not only kilometres long, not only vegetated, but the sand itself is not exactly typical of a standard desert dune. If you look at the grains of an Egyptian dune, they bear all the classic hallmarks of long periods of aeolian work: smoothed and rounded, frosted by the impacts with their brethren, and all much of a muchness in terms of size. But most of these antipodian grains, while clearly showing signs of having been knocked around, are still quite angular, and the variation in grain size is considerable. Does this suggest that their story is a fast and furious one, relatively brief but hyper-active periods of extreme aridity, punctuated by long periods of stability? I’m not sure - any suggestions?
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