We’re right at the pointy end of our Canning Stock Route run and, on paper, it’s “only” about 350km to go. In reality, the Canning doesn’t care what your plan is. Flooded salt lakes and low-lying country turned into a proper recovery fest—multiple boggings on the same lake, Maxtrax getting squished under winch load, and me hot-wiring a winch because a cooked isolator decided to ruin everyone’s night. After hours of winching and digging, we finally got the Troopy out, but the ground was getting worse by the minute and we were running low on food and water. From there it was all about smart calls: taking the less-travelled bypass to avoid another Gravity Lake-style nightmare, pushing late into the night through overgrown “stake-y tyre country”, and making do with whatever we could—grevillea “iced tea”, bush coconuts, and inventive lunches—because the teenager had cleaned out the chocolate. Wells became a lifeline, but even Well 46 was mozzie-larva soup and Well 51 was basically underwater, forcing a long detour while racing the clock for Billiluna before the shop shut. We cop one last bog, then finally roll into Wolf Creek Crater—my real finish line for the CSR—and yeah… this is the number one trip I’ve done so far. 100% I’ll be back.