ADVENTURES OF THE FUNTRUCK TRAVELERS
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Kyra and Eli come to visit for his First Birthday

7/29/2016

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Latte: $
Accommodation: $
​Kyra and Eli come today so we went to pick up the rental car and baby seat. We decided not to reduce the $3000 excess and take our chances. The car was in the middle of the back row of cars so the lady said she'd get it out for us. She did, by backing straight into the side of a 4wd being backed out by another employee. We said we'd have another car since that one was not dented and broken so she came back with the keys for a 2 door - not with a baby seat thanks so she gave us free upgrade which she smashed into a parked car as she delivered it to us! We took it with practically the whole car shaded in in the pre hire damage report.
We picked up a tired but excited Kyra and a sleepy and wary Eli from the airport and drove them back to the cabin for a sleep, but not until after Eli opened his belated birthday present.
Day one and the first order of business after getting out of the caravan park was to head back to our camper to pick up the oven for Pizza Night! Turns out the car still has an issue and Glen and Sandy had it jacked up and failed to back off the binding brake. We phoned Mark the mechanic who sent us to a local mechanic to do it and he'd pick up the tab. Julie limped the Fun Truck about 10km to Humpty Doo (yes, it's a real place - look it up). Much to Glen's relief (that he isn't totally useless) the mechanic couldn't back off the brake either so we went for a bit of lunch while he waited for it to cool to have another go.
Finally we were underway again but had lost a few hours so after checking into the cabin at Batchelor (also a real place, near Rum Jungle and no, we aren't making them up) we dashed into Litchfield National Park and Buleys Rockholes for a quick swim. Before long Eli was happily playing in the water. Kyra got an early night but the wind had changed direction and fire was getting out of control. They burn off all winter here. The back burn was started metres from the back fence of the caravan park. That night there were fire trucks and police sweeping the fire line and it was all kept under control.
Day two and we started to wonder how we survived without Kyra knowing where things were and even why Glen had a day off work in December! It had again dawned hot and we drove to the far end of the park to see Wangi Falls. Eli got a toy crocodile and Julie were teaching him to make snap snap actions with his hands. After a swim in Wangi we decided to have look at Walker Creek and ended up having lunch and a swim at campsite 1. On the way back to the cabin we stopped at Table Top Swamp and discovered that the water level is higher than where it was last year.
Day three with Kyra and Eli and we once again visited Litchfield National Park and took the obligatory photo with the sign. The information boards at the magnetic termite mounds raised more questions than they answered for Kyra and as expected did not pique the interest of a one year old but the ride in the stroller was nice.
At Florence Falls Eli was not as happy as he had been in the water on previous days but it seems he likes the up-close and personal side of a waterfall. If he has the wind from the falls and the spray in his face he is smiling. When we got out of the water an older man had a fall among the rocks and Glen was again glad we are doing (some) of this now as his younger wife was in swimming and that was beyond him. We are glad we can do most things. We did the stairs down and the creek walk up but Eli hardly saw any of the creek walk as he was fast asleep. :) We had lunch at the top in the shade as it was quite warm but it wasn't until we were back in the car that Eli woke to eat his peanut butter sandwich. A short drive took us to Buleys Rockholes where we visited the lower pools and spent quite some time in the water. Again Eli wasn't all that keen but sat in his swim ring and had lots of photos taken.
On the drive back Eli chatted happily in the back. At the cabin we sat on the grass in the shade and Eli amused himself and us playing with some pegs. Then we pegged them on him and he took them off and put them in a container. There was a peg on his shoulder, just out of reach, and he had us in stitches as he chased it round like a puppy chasing it's tail, spinning on his bottom as he tried to catch it.
Pizza for dinner and Eli helped Grandad cook some bacon and burn some chorizo and he was starting to trust us when Grandad gave him too hot pizza not once but twice!
After dinner we played UNO and had a few laughs, mostly at Julie's expense as she lost (112pts) to Kyra (104pts) and Glen (36pts). We were pleased to have been able to settle Eli without Kyra so we are hoping we may be able to give her a bit of a break for a few days
Day four with Kyra and Eli and we had bacon and eggs (Eli wasn't keen on the egg and Kyra didn't give him any bacon - being Luke's son we know he'd have devoured bacon) before leaving for Berry Springs. As usual this place didn't disappoint even though it was a bit cooler at only 27 degrees when we got there as the water is from deep below the ground and is warm and slightly blue-green but beautiful to drink. We all went in below the top pool and after a while Julie carried the towels etc to the middle pool while Glen and Kyra, with noodles and goggles to check out the fish and avoid the rocks, swam with Eli in his swim ring down the creek to meet Julie. After a little while we got out and cooked sausage sangas for lunch before getting back in and going above the waterfall to the top pool. Glen had a little scrape with a plant and ended up with more little spikes embedded in his arm and the side of his foot but everyone else made it safely. Eli wasn't too happy being in the water today.
We drove back towards Darwin and checked back in to the Hidden Valley CVP before setting out for the Mindil Beach Markets. We spent a little while wandering round and tested some blue cypress oil on the aches and pains. Glen put some on his wrist to smell it and late that night the scratches he got from the plant earlier in the day that he had totally forgotten about were now raised red lumps. Steer clear of the cypress oil! (post script: it's not the cypress oil as the spines on his foot had also left raised red marks) We then got something to eat and sat on the beach to watch the sunset. Julie and Glen had a crocodile spring roll but Kyra didn't like the taste of the crocodile meat and went for the barra and chips with Eli. After tea what would a one year old want to do more than sit and watch the sunset? Play in the sand of course and Eli loved it! Back at the markets Glen found that there is a national census next week and Kyra told us there is also a local election soon. Both difficult to do while we are on the road. We are enjoying our own little world without knowing anything that is going on in the outside world though. After pausing to watch some street theatre on the way to the car poor Eli woke up vomiting. We haven't worked out why but it meant a bath in the laundry tub for the sleepy Eli when we got back to the cabin.
On their final day we had to put the car in so we spent a while in the city and waterfront before going to Crocodylis Park to see the crocs and other animals like lions and monkeys and cassowaries before picking up the Fun Truck. A bent piece on the brake shoe seems to have been causing us trouble, the mechanic had no idea how it happened and had never seen it before. Mark and Jill from Phil Kerr were wonderful and we'd recommend if you need a mechanic in Darwin that you go there. Vegemite sandwiches for lunch as we drove out to the Adelaide River Jumping Crocs which was very impressive. Eli only got scared the first time the really big croc jumped and then was fine after that.
Eli is now settling for us if Kyra walks away. A relief as he gets so heartbroken whenever she moves away, sometimes even if she is still in the same room. Barby for dinner then we watched the Geelong Western Bulldogs game as Eli slept… Actually he watched a bit of the game from bed so even at one he's a fan of the Sherrin. Soon we have to take Kyra and Eli to the airport and we both are very sad to see them go.
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1 July - 15 July Car problems, a trip and same car problems!

7/14/2016

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Accommodation $1782.00 Lattes $688.30. The accommodation turns out to be under $9 per day and the latte total would be much healthier if Julie would count the litres of iced coffee milk we buy because it's too bloody hot for coffee. Essentially it's just a cold latte but she won't have it included in the total. When we can free camp there's rarely the opportunity to buy a latte and when we can buy a latte the nightly bill is in the vicinity of $40, so alas, the accommodation is sky rocketing ahead of the latte bill. We lament this…


After sitting around most of the day waiting for news of the car (pinion seal, transfer case seal and wheel bearings all round) we decided to walk out the back of the caravan park and into the national park for a bit of a look around. The rock formations are said to be a mini Bungle Bungles.
Got the car back along with a pink slip and a hefty bill (8.5 hours labour at $110/hour and while I could have done the wheel bearings the pinion seal instructions started with removing a nut and measuring the torque required so that was out of the question) and headed to the shops then to the bottleo. Boy was that an ordeal! In the Kimberley there are alcohol restrictions. We tried to buy a carton of beer and 8 bottles of wine but that’s too much. A person can buy 2 cartons of beer or 6 bottles of wine per day…sounds like wine discrimination to me…should be at least a dozen! Anyway, we had to split our purchases to be able to buy it all. Next morning we left the caravan park and headed to the markets. There we became "Kimberley Toad Busters"… we found out some stuff about cane toads and how to kill them and Julie got a hat. We even went to the supermarket and bought a spray bottle and cheap dettol to kill the buggers. Our first failure was that night. We heard the distinctive call of the cane toad when we'd gotten into bed so we got up, got dressed and grabbed out dettol spray and a plastic bag in lieu of gloves. Armed with headlamps and our phones we headed off about 50m until our way was blocked with long grass… um… we hadn't explored the area before dark as we got in late and had no idea how far the river was or how far the cane toad was likely to be as the literature said their calls could be heard for 5km! Back to bed defeated to listen to the bloody things call all night. :(
Headed to  Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles since a Mabo decision in favour a lot of the places have reverted to their original names. All for it, but just not used to the language. In New Zealand where the original names were always used it is now probably easier for people to say them. I struggle ) the next day and found out at Warrum (Turkey Creek) we had to book online by talking to two couples that had just come off the Canning Stock Route.  Glen booked online for 2 nights instead of the 3 we wanted and when we got to the visitor's centre we discovered his mistake. Stupidly there is no facility to make a booking at the Visitor Centre and there is no coverage so you have to travel out at least an hour to get a signal, The lady took pity on us and took another day's money but if the campsite fills up we have to move, otherwise it was our little secret.
Arrived in camp and set up. Nice spot except for the mozzies and it's not even dark! Mossies left about half an hour before dark. Not the behaviour we expect but tonight is a bit cool. We are now 17.3 degrees below the equator and inland so it's starting to get a bit cool at night apparently. About 200km north of here last night and it was quite pleasant.
Next day we explored the South end of the park starting at Elephant Rock…yeah if you use your imagination then the Domes walk through the beehive shaped and coloured rocks to a small pool of water where there were some frogs. They kind of looked like rockhole frogs but they weren't as agile with much smaller jumps and not being able to skip across the water. From the number of dead cane toads in the area we thought they may have been cane toad metamorphs but close examination of the photos revealed suckers on their toes so we aren't sure the exact species. It seems from this and our next walk, the adjoining Cathedral Gorge, that someone has been in there and culled as many cane toads as they could find. Cathedral Gorge leads to a large amphitheatre with a small green pond. The walls must be 50m or so high as they dwarf Julie in photos. Again several dead cane toads but Julie did find 2 live ones. We decided that they couldn't get out of the hole they were in and it was ok to leave them as we didn't have anything to kill them with. We also saw a couple of small, drying water holes that were absolutely full of fish. We don't think they'll last more than a couple of weeks. We left Picaninny Creek and lookout for the next day and headed back to camp where we relaxed for a while before heading out on the walk around camp. Turns out we didn't leave enough time to talk to all the people we met and ended up in the dark so had to turn back.
With an early start the next morning we walked Picaninny Creek to the lookout and saw the rocks and vegetation up close. Of note was a tall red grevillea with almost holly shaped grey leaves. Julie also photographed a small skink which we think would be cane toad dinner if somebody wasn't culling them. We had a date with Echidna Chasm from 11 so we hot footed it out of there and drove the 30 odd km to the northern end of the park. We were delayed by a couple of backpackers on the road who needed a jump start.
Echidna Chasm is long but only a couple of metres wide in places and mid-morning the sun travels from one side of the chasm to the other before disappearing completely. Later we walked Mini Palms Gorge - long way up a loose stone dry creek bed (which must have been hell on Julie's poor sore foot) to a cave at the end of the chasm which you could view from a distance on a platform. Maybe soon you'll be able to travel all the way up because the tour guide I met said that it was no longer a sacred site as the woman who was supposedly born there they found was actually born in Derby Hospital. Another cold night.
Left to travel to Wolfe Creek Meteor Crater and found the road being dragged. Everyone was telling us the road into Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) was terrible, but it was pretty well maintained while we were there. The section of road through Mable Downs Station was a bit corrugated but nothing like the car destroying section of road we'd been hearing about.
Halls Creek was busy with tourists. Vans everywhere. At the bakery for the obligatory sausage roll, chips when Julie can get them, and latte we were lucky to be first in line when the crowd of 15 or so formed the lunch time rush behind us. We thought a coach had pulled in! Last minute visit to the info centre and we were off to the Tanami Rd and Wolfe Creek. Road conditions were again brilliant compared to what we expected, the Tanami Rd was wide and smooth and the majority of the road over Carranya Station was fairly good and the bad bit we'd been told by the Canning Stock Route people at Warmum to take the left track and avoid, which we did. Found a site at the free National Parks campsite and intend to stay a couple of nights. Trying a star trail again as the finger moon has set and there is no light pollution here. Tried F22 ISO 200 but that only captured the really bright stars. In the morning we woke with a view of the crater wall at the end of our bed. Pretty cool. We walked up to the crater later that morning and then to the top of the rim. It's a pretty amazing sight. Inside the crater there is a flat floor and the centre circle is visibly different soil and rimmed with different vegetation. Glen went about 50m along the rim to get a higher view and when he looked around Julie was gone… Thoughts of Mick Taylor entered his head until he saw her on the floor of the crater. Who cares if they recommend not to climb down because of loose rocks? Not Julie who's climbed her way through gorge after gorge! Glen followed her and slipped over on some loose rocks planting his hand in a small clump of spinifex. After the walk Julie would spend an hour removing the fine points of spinifex grass from Glen's hand with a needle and tweezers. Despite Julie's protestations that she didn't want to go to the middle pretty soon that's exactly where we were with lots of photos of plants along the way. Pretty stoked to be at ground zero of a meteorite strike even if we were 300,000 years late. The climb up the crater wall was incident free.
Late that Thursday afternoon a routine inspection of the car revealed a split in the fuel hose. Ha! We were going to avert the Fun Truck Friday Curveball by repairing it Friday morning before we left.
Tried another star trail, this time F11 ISO 400 and got much better results trail wise but not composition.
Replaced the damaged fuel hose, car started fine. We packed up and left camp getting less than a kilometre before an unusual banging had us out of the car. Julie found our awning was loose, in fact when Glen moved it to have a look one bracket broke completely and one wiggle later the other bracket broke. With the awning strapped to the boat loader we continued into town past a guy with an issue with his boat trailer, a Patrol with a fuel problem and a caravan owner we were able to enlighten as to the location of his 2 batteries - 2 km back down the road.
In town for a couple of lattes and we expected some water and some vegies. Decided against the water as the visitor centre was charging 20c/L (it's a matter of principle, not money) and the price of vegies and the location of quarantine check points saw us get a few apples, some mushrooms and a capsicum.
Stopped at China Wall, Caroline Pool and Old Halls Creek (shouldn't have bothered) before camping the night at Sawpit Gorge. Lovely campsite in the riverbed - it's not flowing, there hasn't been rain for ages - only one other person here and the river/pool is full of archer fish. Couldn't find or hear any cane toads (one was dispatched at Caroline's Pool) but the archer fish are pretty active and make a bit of noise.
Woke to bird song and a cool morning to find the pork roast was leaking from it's plastic so we're having a roast tonight and since it's easy to have a fire here we're staying put. Spent the morning watching the birds, feeding the fish and having bacon and egg wraps for breakfast. Luckily not relying on solar as it's 1pm and we've been in shade all day which makes the temperature quite pleasant. Probably another hour or so until the sun moves around past the rock wall. It's a little windy at the moment but still expecting to have a fire.
The roast port was beautiful! Our evening of relaxing was soon disturbed when Julie discovered a cane toad. When she went for the cane toad killing spray bottle she found another and came back to the light while Glen went into the dark at the far side of the camper. He sprayed the cane toad and it just sat looking at him. It then hopped off, not looking any the worse for wear. Glen supposed it would take a couple of minutes so, keeping an eye on the first busted toad, he sprayed the other. The first one still seemed fine so they both received a further spraying. The one we still could find was looking pretty sick but after 15 minutes was not yet dead. More spray. Then Julie found a toad that sat 20cm high. It was huge. Lots of spray, but it looked unperturbed and was hopping off. A couple of big rocks on it back legs kept it from running away until the spray effectiveness could be determined. After several more toads - remember there weren't any here (that we saw, and we were looking) last night - a scan with Glen's headlamp revealed that the big toad had managed to throw off his rock and was heading for the water. Three wacks with the long handled shovel blade and the toad lay broken in the rocks of the dry river bed ready for picking up in the morning with the rest. The first toad was still not dead so was killed by mechanical, rather than chemical means. A short time later when an smaller toad received the shovel treatment Glen discovered the big toad had recovered and walked away. Glen was certain he'd broken it's back but they must be tougher than he thought!
Next morning we packed up from Sawpit Gorge and decided on a last minute toilet break. The hole was dug and a car came down the road! Bloody inconvenient timing people! While they fed the fish some bread Julie used the hole and they were curious turning around all the time. Couldn't work out if they had no idea or were just being annoying!
We drove out, checking out a couple of old dumped cars. Impressive how the chrome work lasts on those old cars. In the last days of chrome bumpers the coating was so thin they rusted well before the car was scrapped. These wrecks haven't moved for many years and have rust all over every body panel and everything that opens and shuts but the chrome work shines on.
We went back up the Duncan Rd a short distance to Palm Springs. Might be nice with a bit more water… Continuing on the Duncan Rd we saw Nicholson Station mustering cattle with a helicopter and then came across three camels on the road. Of course they run away on the road, not left or right, so before we were able to pass the poor animals were running scared next to the car at 50km/h. Julie got a great video on her phone.
Our planned stop that night was at Negri River but it looked terribly uninviting as a campsite with a 50m concrete causeway with the green water not flowing. Luckily we decided to check out further down the river bank and found some nice campsites. While unpacking the camper Glen remarked on a rock in the river. Julie went for the new binoculars and found the rock was in fact a crocodile. No point unpacking further until it was identified as friend or foe. Eventually it was decided the narrow snout meant a freshie and the camper could finally be unpacked.
Another family came in and it turns out they knew Simon and Rachel and had been at Honeymoon Bay with them. That night we caught up on all the 4WD Action DVDs we hadn't got around to watching and then did some trip research by watching a DVD on the Savanah Way. Turns out most of the things we wanted to know about they didn't do and even had to have their 4WD snatched out of a mud hole on Lorella Springs by a Volkswagen! The other campers went croc spotting and saw 9 pairs of eyes and as we left the next morning eagle eye Julie spotted a sign on the northern side of the crossing warning of a croc sighting in December! Lucky we didn't swim!
We stayed at the Zebra Rock Mine for the next two nights so we could do a sunset cruise on Lake Argyle. No the usual tourist one but a wetland safari on the eastern side of the lake. The rock is interesting and beautiful, the campsite was relatively cheap at $10/head/night, complimentary tea and coffee, scones with jam and very yummy cream for only $3, and fish and chips for $15! The sunset tour was on the second, smaller boat with the owner, Kim, a self-made millionaire who was born and raised on Argyle Downs Station but who has a philosophy of not ripping off the tourists and is leaving the majority of the zebra rock in the ground even though he could sell it all now for  huge sum as it is the only mineable zebra rock in the world and was only ever in this small part of the Kimberleys. We saw tons of birds and crocs (only freshies because Kim and his father trapped or shot all the salties in the 50s), went swimming in the clear water and walked on the bank before getting back on the boat to watch the sunset. It is at this point that Julie realised she had lost her phone. We think it may have dropped out of her pocket into the water as she was taking pictures with the DSLR. It had been 10 days since Glen had backed up the photos so many, many photos are gone along with phone numbers and lots of lists and notes as that phone was the means of recording almost everything. Julie was very upset.
Before leaving the next day we did the mine tour which was very interesting (it's a small scale) and we could all take some zebra rock home with us as long as it could all be carried in one hand.
After more scones and chatting to Mark and Sarah, the travellers we met at Negri River, we headed out to camp at Keep
River National Park AFTER we stocked up again at Kununarrra. As always with us shopping it took longer than expected and organising flights, accommodation and a car for Kyra and Eli in Darwin, since we are now close enough to be fairly certain when we'll get there, we ended up arriving to set up camp after dark and had to go to the second campground to find a spot. The brakes were pulsing badly by the time we got there - and it's only Wednesday.
Glen found the front end wheel bearings were very loose after less than 2 weeks and 1500km after having them replaced. This meant a trip of 70km back into town to arrive unannounced at the mechanic (no phone service out there). They tried to book us in for the next morning but eventually took the car and we had about 4 hours to kill. The Wild Mango Café was nice after a walk around the hardware store and Metaland trying to replace our awning bracket. Metaland could fabricate them for us for $1.30 each plus a bit of labour which brought them to just shy of $60 for 4. We declined. The awning can stay strapped to the boat rack for that price!
We got the car back, he didn't find any issue with the rear and didn't road test it to see if the pulsating brake pedal was gone. As we drove out so did he and (after picking up some booze) we got on the highway and found the whole car shuddered under brakes. Back tomorrow :(
There was a slideshow at the other campground and since it was dark we stopped in there. Very interesting and a lovely park. Too bad we only see it in the dark. We checked the rear and found loose bearings so up before sunrise to head back to town. The shudder was due to the rear and they are fixing them now.
All fixed! Back to Keep River NP NT!
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Gibb River Road 9th June - 30th June

7/2/2016

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Our first full day on the GRR! Early morning Glen brought the camera inside. The battery had died so he had no idea how the star trail went. Next morning it was cold. The wind was freezing. Winter has struck! Over breakfast Glen changed the battery in the camera and was pretty happy with the result. Good circles, a bit too much noise but he can probably clean that up with Photoshop.
Back on the GRR and we stopped about 400m later to take photos of a large boab tree. Luckily there was a tour group there and we eavesdropped on the guide talking about the tree and she gave everyone a taste of the white flesh of the boab nut which is full of vitamin C.. Can't remember how much more as the Ribena tag keeps popping into my head. Doesn't taste as good as Ribena or an orange but as Mick Dundee says, you can live on it but it tastes like shit. Julie found a dead goanna and bush turkey feathers and shared her find with the tour. Goanna - natural causes, bush turkey - somebody's dinner, they pluck it where they get it so it isn't so messy in town apparently.
Around lunch time we pulled into Windjana Gorge National Park campground and just after lunch Kat and Gary pulled in and were heading to Tunnel Creek. We'd heard you walk through waist deep croc (freshies) infested water in the dark so being chicken we asked to join them. Inside the tunnel made by the creek it was dark but shin deep was the best it got, 95% of the time we walked on dry sand. We didn't see a single croc but thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. On the way out of the cave we found a few rockhole frogs (Litoria meiriana) and boy can they jump for little frogs. They can even skip across water. That night we had a welcome shower and met up with Sandy and Simone from Osprey and their friends Simon and Rachael and chatted around the campfire. Sandy had also tried to get to Poulton Pool and failed. We are all on "the lap" and everyone has primary school aged kids but us.
Next day Julie's foot was giving her some grief after the soft sand the day before but we packed up and walked Windjana Gorge. Just before the entrance we marvelled as a bower bird decorated it's bower. Julie spotted the crocs almost as soon as we were in. Over about 800m we saw lots of freshies. Glen continued further down the gorge walking trail and Julie returned to the car. Glen didn't see any more crocs but the scenery was nice.
We moved on to Leonard Gorge had lunch and Glen did the walk. Julie's foot was too bad. Further along the Gibb and we continued to be surprised by how good the road was and how much there is to see. We camped the night at March Fly Glen which, despite the name, was free of march flies. We had the place to ourselves and cooked over an open fire. Stunned at the number and variety of birds we see and hear. Fun Truck Friday Curveball is that the rear bar seems to have dropped at the back but there is no movement in it that we can tell.
Saturday 11/6/16 and Glen freshened up the fire and we cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast before heading up the road. At the top of the hill we paused at a lookout were we could see a large plain with little dust clouds as cars approached. We were headed to Silent Grove campground and the road in was being graded. At least there was a couple of creek crossings to justify 4WD because so far the Gibb was just a bit of a dirt road. We set up next to Kat and Gary then drove the 10km to Bell Gorge. After about a 30 minute walk in we arrived at the infinity pool at the top of the falls but we were headed to the pool below. Down there we swam and chatted with Kat, Gary and Asha for ages then made our way up to the infinity pool and ran into Sandy and Simone. While the kids played we swam and chatted in the infinity pool before going back to camp to cook a lamb roast and apple crumble in the camp ovens.
With the camper off the car Glen took the opportunity to spend his Sunday morning laying under the back of the car loosening all the bolts of the rear bar and trying to lift it by re-tightening the bolts in order. All he achieved was a lather of sweat because the bar looked exactly the same after he finished. We topped up the water tank, had a (much needed in Glen's case) shower and hit the road to see Adcock Gorge. Bugger, at the start of the Adcock Gorge road were two 44 gallon drums with the words "Road Closed" painted on them. They looked like they'd been there for ages and although Wiki Camps had recent comments from people who'd obviously driven on we did the right thing and, checking the map, headed for a 4WD track that ran along a creek that would get us close. Campers on the track right next to the GRR hadn't explored past their campsite so we continued on a few km through some washouts to the end of the road. We were at the top of a waterfall and although the creek was clear and full of life it wasn't flowing. It was a fabulous camp for the night surrounded by boabs and the calls of frogs and birds.
Next morning after checking out the boabs and the flowers and the life in the creek we drove out of camp about 400m and found people with binoculars looking at the birds. Another 100m on and we found their tour bus! The wildlife tour was stopped for morning tea!
Back on the GRR our next stop was Galvan's Gorge which is on Mt Barnett Station but they allow people to access it freely and on the walk in we found some beautiful grevilleas and wattles. The Gorge has a large waterhole fed by a waterfall and we tried unsuccessfully to find the rock art that is there as kids swang on the rope swing and people swan in the pool.
Our camp for that night was the campground on Mt Barnett Station (hot chips for lunch at the Roadhouse!) so we could do the walk to the nearby Manning Gorge. We set up near Kat and Gary who'd already been there one night and headed to the river for a swim. The river has a sandy beach over a rock bottom and beautiful clear water. The beach had hundreds of rosellas, the plant Glen's aunty used to make his favourite jam. We buy rosella jam all the time but it's not as good as Aunty Beryl's was. Freshies were sunning themselves on the rocks 50m way but Julie was undeterred and went in anyway utilising her blow up float chair for the first time. She let on later that she never went past the rope used to pull the boat that keeps the gorge hikers dry on the crossing and had her eye on them… Pretty soon Kat, Gary and Asha came back from the walk and stayed for a swim. It was Asha's 7th birthday and everyone (us, Sandy, Simon and families) was there to sing her Happy Birthday and eat cupcakes. I'm sure it's a birthday she'll never forget.
After a lateish night Julie didn't wake up till 8 and we finally set off for the gorge about 11:30. With Julie's foot so bad she decided to try running shoes which Glen carried across in the boat for her while she started the walk with a swim across the river. Runners turned out to be a good choice for Julie as she was far more comfortable and we did the walk in just over an hour with plenty of stops to marvel at the scenery and the variety of plant life. We made our way past the first pool to a large pool where most of the people were. At 50m across there was plenty of room for the 20 or so there, most of whom were on the edges. Some were jumping or diving into the water from the waterfall and pretty soon that was where we were too, only diving off the lower chicken rocks. We went through the waterfall and hidden from the world we stole a quick kiss behind the cascading water.
The water was beautiful but eventually it was time to go and after some final photos we walked back and swam at the river near the campground with our friends. That night we sat around Sandy's campfire swapping stories from the road.
We had planned to leave early the next day but the campground manager said they were mustering close to the campground and they may come past. Naturally we delayed our departure but when it seemed like we had missed the fun we packed up and left only to be stopped on the road out as the helicopter and a ute tried to drive a few bulls along. Besides what we could see we monitored what was going on on the 2 way and relayed this to the small group of us waiting to get through. Eventually we were waved on by the helicopter and we thought the fun was over until the bull car (driven by a guy who Julie felt compelled to say was a bit of alright) came crashing out of the bush onto the road and sped past us. We could see them darting through the trees trying to head the bulls in the direction of the holding yards.
On leaving Mt Barnett Roadhouse with full water and fuel tanks ($2.15/L) we headed along the GRR for a short distance to free camp at Barnett River Gorge. In the morning we swam in the river and then moved on once more. We were leaving the Gibb and heading up the Kalumburu Rd towards Mitchell Falls. The road was as we expected, horrible. Kilometres of corrugations causing breakdowns and cars leaving the road through bouncing off at corners. Driving to the conditions we didn't get as far as expected and camped in a clearing beside the road some 35km from Kind Edward River. Wasn't disappointed as it was still beautiful. Next morning we decided to head straight into Mitchell Plateau Campground rather than stay at King Edward River and on the way helped out someone stuck with a loose shock absorber by producing the right sized washer from our supply of parts.
We camped at a large clearing with a fire pit never dreaming we'd keep it to ourselves but we did for the two nights we were there. After setting up we booked a helicopter flight out of the falls for the next day then went down to the first creek crossing for a swim/wash and as usual ended up with a chat and swapping stories of the better places to see. Made use of the fire pit to cook and through the night heard the dingos howling and the night birds calling.
Early start for our 7am safety briefing, got ourselves organised and headed off on the walk to Mitchell Falls. First stop was supposed to the be the rock art below Little Merton Falls but just before we got there Julie spotted an animal under a rock ledge/cave. We weren’t sure what it was with it's curly tail but it hung around long enough for a couple of photos. Later the Ranger's wife identified it as a quoll, common here but rare in the rest of the country. The scientists were also in the park doing aversion therapy with the quolls. They feed the quolls a non-lethal dose of cane toad meat. They get sick but they live and they don't eat it again and won't eat cane toads. The most remarkable thing is that this aversion to cane toads passes on to the offspring so they don't eat them either. The cane toad march only seems to be as far as Home Valley Station (HV8 - west of ELQ) at the moment but the quolls of Mitchell Plateau will be ready when, not if unfortunately, they get there.  It is hoped that they can save the quolls at least.
The rock art was astounding, and there was a second site on the walk to the falls. The pamphlet said the Bradshaw art which is the thin red figures often dressed in ceremonial dress was 17,000 years old. Equally astounding is that the iPhone picks this up really well making the figures much more visible than how it looks on the rock.
We eventually reached the falls viewing area and chose to look before we cooled off with a swim. We found a great place, directly across from the falls with no trees in front of us and just enough room for 2 so we had lunch with arguably the best view of the falls except from the air. We made our way back to the swimming area above the falls and enjoyed the cool clear water of small falls into the pools. We'd befriended a couple of kids the night before and they came to chat and play with us and all too soon it was time for our 6 minute helicopter ride out. We chose to fly out to get the overall view of the area you just can't get on the ground and it was a good call as we were able to place things we walked past, particularly Big Merton Falls, plus get a great view of Mitchell Falls.
More campfire cooking that night and next morning just around sunrise Glen walked up to the lookout for 360 degree views of the area before we packed up to head to King Edward River Campground a couple of hours back up the road. Just before there is an Aboriginal Cultural Site with lots of rock art but also a little cave with three skulls and some (I'm guessing leg) bones. I didn't buy the book about it all later when we hit Drysdale Station as we'd gone past it and it was $25 PLUS the thing that dead set looked like a quoll was identified as a possum so the author had no idea in my opinion. While there I heard the theory that the Bradshaw art was actually painted by people before the aboriginal people and the aboriginal people painted over them to hide them. They do seem more sophisticated than the more modern art but who knows what happened 17000 years ago? Other continuous cultures know little of the art or writing of their ancestors.
At the camp we were told it would be great to get the kayak off so we did but separately, since we only have one as Glen broke the other kayak. Pretty soon after a swim and  paddle we decided to stay another night and chilled the next day with a walk and swim and paddle then Simon and Rachael pulled in in their truck (an actual medium rigid truck), having left the van at Drysdale, on their way to Horizontal Falls and then Honeymoon Bay at Kalumburu because they'd heard about the excellent fishing. They too ended up having a lay day as we headed off down the Kalumburu Rd, calling in at Drysdale and eventually camping where the actual Gibb River crosses. We came across a short wheel base Land Rover that had broken the rear axle housing at the diff. That must've been scary dragging his tail along the road to a grinding halt. We were asked to send the guy's brother back from the camp to get him.  Glen did get bogged in the sand before we found a good place to camp but the swim in the river was worth it.
Next morning after a swim and collecting a few rosellas to boil with our quandong and lemon myrtle for our bush tea we arrived at Ellenbrae Station, home of the apparently world famous scones.
Next was a quick visit to Home Valley Station for lunch then the iconic crossing of the Pentecost River… bit disappointing really, nothing to it. Camped up overlooking the crossing then on to El Questro the next morning


El-Questro (ELQ Australia)
First night we went up the 4WD track to Saddleback Lookout for the sunset and over a glass of Dukes 2013 Single Vineyard Shiraz saw the best sunset we have seen ever - big call but true. No cane toads here that we can see but we think we saw a dead one at Bindoola Falls, West of HV8 but on El-Questro land.
Today we're missing Eli's birthday party and we have been away for exactly 6 months and it's our first full day at El-Questro. It started with Julie explaining why she didn't sleep. She was worried we'd get stuck and eaten by a croc on tomorrow's drive. As the washing was drying (regular campers with Julie won't be surprised that there were 23 pairs of Julie's undies in the wash today and there were still plenty in the drawer) and after a latte and a scrumptious piece of cake Julie asked one of the Rangers about the drive and he allayed her fears. We'll see crocs but we aren't likely to get stuck. We headed out to Zebedee Springs (thermal) and chillaxed in the beautiful surrounds and warm water. Our next stop, Jackaroo Waterhole, was a little cooler that the thermal springs but still a lovely spot for a swim. During lunch a private tour from Mt Hart Station rocked up and brought out the mud crab. Jealous! After the cake a walk up El-Questro Gorge, to the midway pool, was in order. It required crossing the Penticost River at the deepest crossing we have done all trip, I think the rock sliders just went under water.  Inside the gorge was much cooler than the 35 degree day with the heat of the sun not penetrating into the narrow (10-50m wide) gorge or through the canopy of the Livistonia palms. It was still hot work climbing up the gorge and we enjoyed the swim in the midway pool. To go further required wading across the pool and scaling up the side of a very large boulder, and then it got difficult. Far too late in the day for that and Julie's foot was giving her hell after the rock hopping to get that far.
Sunday we went to Wyndham to get fuel and  few supplies. Julie had a hidden agenda to visit the seafood place and Rusty's Café so the seafood place was the second place we went (some barra wings and a mudcrab) and the third was Rusty's Café for the sausage rolls. With full Vodafone coverage we were also able to re-register the Echo… how to register the Fun Truck in a couple of weeks is at this stage a mystery. We needed to hit the track and with some info from the servo we headed out across the mud flats following wheel ruts. It seemed to work as the Hema said we were on the track. Within minutes Julie was not getting out of the car (because of crocs) taking photos of jabirus but the classic vista of boabs she's been searching for the whole Gibb had her cautiously step out of the car. She again bravely stepped out of the car…eventually… at the aboriginal rock art site, even though the creek was quite close, and again at the dam but no bravery here, the carpark was completely fenced to keep everyone out of the dam. Further down the track and Julie spotted our first ever wild croc, and it was a beauty. She saw the croc 100m away on a beach as we went over a crossing lined with trees! Amazing!Without leaving the safety of the car she got a great shot of it. Glen couldn't get anywhere near as good a photo even though he, despite Julie's pleas, was out of the car. Minutes later at the Prison Boab Tree Julie wasn't leaving the car again some 250m from the monster but Glen needed her spotting skills to try to find the arrow and date carved in the tree that designate this one as an actual prison tree. As she gingerly approached over the wide clear dirt carpark a loud noise of big rocks moving came from the creek. Julie backpedalled and Glen jumped but said it was a cow. A little later there was a moo… of sorts, I think it was a moo. What noise do crocs make?
Even eagle eye Julie couldn't find the arrow and date (proportedly 1896) amongst the proliferation of names carved in the tree. Really quite disgusted with the number of people who feel their immortality can be achieved by defacing a thousand year old tree.
The rest of the track was very scenic, even the mud flats. There were a few sections in the last 6km that weren't smooth with rocks or washouts but without doubt we could have towed the camper even though the doomsayers said the track is too rough. With the current dry spell in the Kimberly the track has no traction issues. Really wish they'd just tell it like it is rather than try to talk things up so the clueless keep away. Arrived back at camp after dark as the track took four and a half hours. Fish and crab for dinner. Another good day.
Our final full day at ELQ and we sat in the bird hide looking for the rare and endangered Gouldian finch until about 30 minutes after Glen got bored. We didn't see one. We went on a 4WD track to Pigeon Hole Lookout and saw one there! On the way down the Fun Truck was making funny noises and after the very long and rocky but dry Branko Crossing we pulled up at Explosion Hole and found the pinion seal dripping oil. The mechanic here said it would be fine until we got to town but it was a bit of a downer on the day. Realised later it's probably the same as its been for ages so not too worried now, but still booked in to have it changed Thursday. Packing up tomorrow. New facilities here at ELQ just opened a couple of days ago and they are really excellent. Very impressed with most of the things at ELQ but a bit annoyed that certain tracks are closed unless you do a tag along tour or you are staying at the actual homestead.

On the way out of El Questro we aired up and headed for Emma Gorge, also on El Questro land but more upmarket accommodation at the resort there. We walked into the gorge and found a beautiful pool fed by a hot spring and a waterfall. It truly was a beautiful place and we swam her in the cool water for an hour before walking back. On the way back Julie did the snake dance for a 50cm tree snake. It ignored her completely.
We headed into Wyndham for a coffee and the café was closed. Why don't cafes stay open for afternoon tea? They seem to close just before afternoon tea. Insanely disappointed at missing out on a latte Glen suggested checking out the huge concrete croc. After the photo Julie suggested a 6 pack of beer. She got asked for ID - it's a Kimberly thing, but Glen is pretty sure they thought she was underage.
Outside we were approached by Henry with a boab nut carved by "mum", his wife. At $30 it was a bargain and all the money went to the artist - she took the money from Henry as soon as he walked over! Henry told us he was born in Wyndham and he climbs the tree and throws the nuts down to someone as any nuts that fall from the tree break. Mum carves them. He also told us about the 5 Rivers lookout and if we were going he and mum wouldn't mind a lift up. We would have gladly obliged but we only have 2 seats.
The lookout was amazing, rising so high above the flat surroundings. We enjoyed the sunset (and a beer) there before making our way to a freecamp on the side of the road. In the morning we headed to the bird hide at Parry's Lagoon early and were rewarded with lots of birds and 2 large crocs on the bank and one in the water. After a stop at Telegraph Hill and Parry's Creek Farm for a latte, where we saw Tom and Katie, we headed toward the Ivanhoe Crossing and after a flat tyre we crossed it to the applause of the tourists taking photos as we crossed…weird!
Bridgestone tried to stiff us by quoting, starting work then trying to charge extra for balancing so Julie set them right and we booked in for a couple of nights at Hidden Valley to get the car fixed. Turns out it needed a bit more work so we had no car overnight.
Skyped Eli for his birthday
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Australia 24th April - 8th June

7/1/2016

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Forgive me dear reader but it's all too much fun and there's minimal opportunity to update the blog, so I procrastinate and don't write. Also I can only write in the evenings as the sun is far too bright to see the screen. There's always soooo much to do. For ease of browsing the highlights check out the headings.


Home - The Latte Count begins again!
On arriving back in Australia the first thing we did was to buy duty free alcohol - 2.2L each! Second thing we did was to buy a decent coffee! Thailand had shit coffee. We caught a cab back to Trudy's place and found her waiting up for us. We debriefed for an hour or more and then had to sleep.
Since it was a) late and b) we were stuffed and c) the camper needed to be moved to open it we decided to take advantage of the lounge room floor to crash and burn for the night. In fact we ended up sleeping on her floor until we moved on.
Anzac Day and Glen woke up crook. He moved from the floor to the lounge and pretty much stayed there the whole day. Julie soldiered on getting washing done and food but fell foul to the illness the next day. She however coped far better than Glen and was able to continue living and shopping to get ready to go away.
The next day we tried out a kayak on the river (with the dolphins and swans) but it didn't suit Julie and in the evening we went to see April and Damon and went to yet another terrific Fremantle pub for a trivia night. Julie discovered the joys of a $38 pizza (it was good) and we came third for the night at trivia. Spent the night at Aprils in a bed! Lol!


On the Road Again..
On the 28th we got the tyres rotated and departed Perth, after the kids went to bed for the night so we got to spend a little more time with them. Each night at Trudy's was filled with a nice wine or two with a lovely dinner and lots of conversation. We knew we would miss her and the kids but had to move on to see the only thing we specifically had a time frame to do - swim with a whale shark. We drove for a while and flopped the camper out at a rest area when Glen was too tired to drive. As it was not an overnight rest area we were up early but would have been woken as some stupid truck drivers sound their horns when they see campers on the side of the road. They complain about us waking them and parking in truck parking bays but the idiots who deliberately try to wake travellers need a while in the hall of mirrors (take a good hard look at themselves). Unfortunately it won't be them some overtired grey nomad runs into and badly injures, it will probably be some innocent with a young family. The grey nomads will get the blame when it should be the idiots who like to drive past rest areas blowing their horn… Yes moron car drivers do it too, I just expect better from a professional driver.
Anyway lunch at Cue, a town that has seen better days as many places were closed, and Meekathara to refuel in the afternoon. Meekathara is the start of the Kingsford-Smith Mail Run, a 4 day adventure on the red dirt we were looking forward to from our Hema 4WD trips book. Turns out the road is better than Parramatta Rd, it's just dirt. That was a little disappointing.


Fun Truck Friday Curveball and the Kingsford Smith Mail Run
We stopped the night just outside Meekathara at Peace Gorge, a beautiful picnic area and free camp and there are also 4wd tracks in the area. Being a Friday the Fun Truck Friday Curveball was that our water was all muddy. We filled the tank at Trudy's so there must've been a broken pipe in the area. Luckily we weren't far from town and could get water there.
We started the Mail Run proper with a trip up the lookout at Meekathra and found a disposable nappy next to the bin. Some people… Our next stop was the old Police station at Mt Gould and we found another disposable nappy on the ground! Lunch was by the side of the road on Errabiddy Station (didn't find any of the semi-precious gems that are supposed to be there). We crossed the mighty Gascoyne but it was just a series of puddles. Lots of cows around. The Fun Truck clicked over 450,000km and we spent the night at Mt Augustus Outback tourist park enjoying the spectacular sunset and the sky full of stars. Weird how they have a patch of green grass.
We've found a new passion and watched some of our DVD of Outlander - bloody amazing how the computer runs out of battery and leaves us at a cliffhanger!
Julie wasn't too well the next day so we decided to stay another day. Julie came good in the afternoon and we looked around Mt Augustus National Park. The rock is larger than Uluru but isn't all that impressive. The rock art seems to have been drawn by kids too. The signposted sunset lookout wasn't great either - maybe it was just us. Back at the "Outback Resort" through the day I had a few dealings with the caretaker - his wife was fine but the guy! He had the toilet block locked and was power Nazi. The cigarette lighter plug on the inverter was broken so I tried to plug in the computer in the bathroom - as is common practice when you have an unpowered site but all the power was switched off. When he saw me headed toward the other toilet block he told me not to plug it in but offered to charge it for $5 - as if that money was ever going to get to the Mt Augustus Station property owners - when I said it wasn't worth it he told me if he saw me trying to charge it ther'd be trouble. I took real offence at that. He offered me a price and I refused, yet he thought me as dishonest as him. Seething, I couldn't wait to move on the next day.
We headed to Kennedy Ranges National Park and camped at Temple Gorge, which we walked that afternoon. Lovely spot. Communal campfire at night and chatting to the Ranger found I wasn't the only one displeased with the Mt Augustus caretaker. Also the best rock art sites aren't advertised to the public, and yes, they think the ones I saw were drawn by kids. Kind of loses credibility I think… BUT this national park loo has the best view of any loo in all of WA (including the urinal at Natures Window in Kalbarri NP which looks out over the gorge.
Next day, after a slow start because we couldn't decide if we wanted to stay another night or not, we did Honeycomb Gorge and headed out of the park to Carnarvon and the ocean and dipped our feet. We tried to do a sunset on the beach but mozzies got the better of us so we ended up free camping just out of town. Tomorrow we shop and eat as it's payday!
Dumped the water again as it was still muddy - got the camper on a big angle to get all the water out this time! Lots of shopping later we came back to the free camp spot to change the oil and freeze the meat.


Coral Bay
Drove to Coral Bay the next day. This place is where the only hard and fast planned thing of our entire year away will happen. We will swim with the whale sharks.
Cheapest caravan park in town is just too expensive and too crowded for our tastes at $46 per night with annex ropes that cross over with the ones from next door so after securing the last 2 spots on the boat for the next day we went to Bruboodjoo Point aka Nine Mile Camp and paid $30 for 2 nights behind the dunes.


Whale Sharks
Today is the day! We were up early and off to Coral Bay Eco Adventures for 7am. After a coffee we put our gear in the trailer of the bus and headed to the dock to board the boat. We get put into two teams, each with our own guide - only 10 at a time can be in the water with the whale sharks. First stop was a reef shark cleaning station, a huge brain coral where lots of sharks come to be cleaned by the little fish. Apparently it's one of very few places where this happens in such numbers. Julie didn't hear the dive briefing as we were trying to put on full length wet suits. Glen wondered why she was so keen to get in the water… 10m from the boat and a shark appears below us. "What's that?" says Julie to our guide. "The reef sharks we told you about" she says. After the obligatory will they eat me question is answered Julie semi relaxes and enjoys swimming with 30 odd black tipped reef sharks up to 4m in length.
Back on board for warm drinks and the real purpose of the day begins. The spotter plane is up and we are headed north in search of whale sharks. In the days before they had gone hours north to find one but we are lucky and in half an hour or so we are in the water looking into the deep blue when the huge shape of our first whale shark comes into view. It was amazing. The rules are you have to stay behind the pectoral fin so once it passes we madly start swimming. Turns out this whale shark (and for all our swims tody) swims pretty slowly so it's quite leisurely. All too quickly we are out and the other group gets a turn. Poor Julie was so excited that she is having trouble breathing so luckily we have the backpack with the ventolin puffer in it. Almost straight away we are back in the water for a second, longer, swim. Through the day we swam with the whale sharks 6 times. This was two different sharks 3 times each. It turns out that we were swimming with whale sharks directly off our campsite! We saw one whale shark come up to the surface and poke his/her (we were told I forget) nose out of the water and another swam in circles towards Julie chasing bubbles. The whale sharks were totally awesome and worth the trip. Our final swim for the day was a drift snorkel over the reef. Because our whale sharks were close to Coral Bay we got back early and had time to have a latte and drive the 4wd track back to our camp. Being a Friday we were expecting something to break. We got back and Glen declared nothing broken and seconds later Julie tried to open the back doors and found the handle was broken! The Fun Truck Friday Curveball strikes again!
Next morning Glen fixed the door handle with a piece of wire and we decided to stay an extra day at Bruboodjoo to explore more of what Coral Bay has to offer, snorkelling the Ningaloo Reef. (at the time of posting this the fencing wire is still in place and the door opens fine)


Exmouth
We wanted to stay at Cape Range National Park on the ocean side of the peninsula and DP and W have a new system where you have to book online. Not being certain what site to choose we asked and were told by DP and W that there was plenty of room so just come up, have a look then book and pay on the iPad in the park Visitor Centre. When we arrived in Exmouth on the Sunday (Happy Mother's Day) just after lunch there was a sign on the town visitor centre saying the national park was full!! Argh!!! We booked a site for 3 days so we wouldn't miss out. On the Sunday night we had to stay at Yardie Station, not a bad place just more expensive. The next day we met 4 Irish girls in the camp kitchen who were also disappointed they didn't get into the national park. They were headed to Coral Bay to do the whale sharks after buying their tickets for less than half price from some guys who paid full price but didn't see whale sharks and couldn't hang around to go again. One of the girls gets very sea sick so we gave them a dozen or so of the sea sick tablets Brooke put me onto. Our trip wasn't rough but at least 3 of the 20 were crook so hopefully with the tablets they had a good day.
Our site at Cape Range - Osprey Campground was large and we put up the big awning. The ground was so hard it was almost impossible to put our pegs in. Even though they are so thick we managed to bend one and the thinner pegs we had bent even worse. Luckily we were close enough to the treated pine logs marking our site that we could tie off on there. The camp hosts (now there's  job/lifestyle!) told us lots of people meet at the shelter near the beach for happy hour and to watch the sunset. We headed down (every night we were there) and met some lovely people, many of whom were travelling in the same direction and we run into them at campsites further down the track. It was at one happy hour that we met Kat and Gaz from St Kilda and we seemed to hit it off. They are lovely people and we have gone from running into them to planning to meet them.
After our first day at Osprey we knew we wanted to stay longer so we went up and booked another 2 nights. During our time here we drove to Yardie Creek (no didn't attempt the creek crossing, currently impassable as a cyclone opened the creek) and walked the gorge, seeing a rock wallaby. We would have kayaked this had we had 2 kayaks still… sorry Julie :( We drove a fair way over the peninsula on a 4wd track and noted some vegetation was similar to  Mount Lesueur National Park. We snorkelled at Oyster Stacks and the Turquoise Bay drift snorkel but we were also content to snorkel Osprey. Whenever we went out we saw loads of fish.
One morning Glen went out alone and saw a green sea turtle. It was small - 50cm across - but allowed Glen to swim fairly close as it went about it business eating weed. It came right up to him on one occasion as it took a breath. Another  person we met at happy hour, Suzie and her husband Peter, took us out snorkelling that afternoon and we saw a larger turtle. This one too was happy to have us near but the trevally school gave it hell, bashing into it's head. We saw this turtle again the following day and it again allowed us to get very close then it quickly swam off and again the trevally were bashing into it's head. We got footage of this and passed it onto the ranger. It didn't seem normal behaviour and the turtle didn't like it.
One evening a guy got his Prado and boat trailer bogged on the beach with an incoming tide. The Fun Truck swung into action, eventually getting him out with the winch, he was really bogged! Bert was so appreciative and said he'd bring us a fish when (if) he caught one. We told him it wasn't necessary.
Suzie and Peter lent us a kayak and we went out to the buoys for the kayak trail. Julie wouldn't get in as we were a fair way from shore and reef sharks are still sharks to her and besides there could be tiger sharks there. Glen found amazing coral, incredible fish, stunning visibility… and two reef sharks. Ningaloo has the best snorkelling and a huge variety of sea life. It truly is a special place.
It was Friday, and we went for a drive…
The Fun Truck Friday Curveball was that the bolt holding the air conditioning tensioning pulley sheared off! Glen found it when he checked the oil. Amazingly all the parts were still in the engine bay and not damaged any further. Only one bolt needed to be replaced. When Glen told the story at happy hour Gaz came to the rescue with an easy out. He used it the next morning and if he'd known how easy it was he'd have gone out with Gary to the kayak moorings instead of just lending him our kayak. We packed up, went for one last snorkel, taking Kat, Gary and Asha out to see the turtles and reluctantly left Ningaloo Reef headed for Exmouth and more supplies for Karijini National Park.


The drive to Karijini
As we drove away from Exmouth we realised there were things we should have had a look at on that side of the peninsula…oh well that means there will have to be a next time. :)
An overnighter at a rest area and then we arrived in Tom Price, late on a Sunday. We camped at a free camp down the road and headed back into town the next morning to see if we could do the mine tour. We could! Here's a tip… make sure the mine isn't in shut down first. The tour was still good but not seeing the huge trucks in action was a bit disappointing. We got our Rail Access Road Permit, just in case, and headed off to Dales Gorge Campground.


Karijini National Park
Our first stop was the Visitor Centre…coming from long vehicle parking we didn't see the huge rusty steel clad building and wondered how a park this big could just have an information board on the toilet block…didn't we feel silly when we caught sight of it. In our defence the cliffs are the colour of rusty steel and the sun was in our eyes… Inside it wasn't long before Julie spotted the resident olive python.
At the campground we got a site twice as long as the one at Cape Range, at the back of the far loop with the best view of the sunset - and the pegs went in beautifully!
The next day started early with a wonderful view from our camper over the spinifex to the distant green hills…one of the hills has exposed red rock/dirt and from our position it forms a heart shape :) After breakfast (and helping the retired PE teacher next door by plugging his tyre) we went down to circular pool lookout and then climbed into the gorge and made our way along the bottom to swim in the cool (who am I kidding? It was COLD) clear water. When we swam across to the waterfall and made our way up onto the rocks the water cascading down was actually quite warm. It was a very dry wet season with only 20mm instead of 200mm of rain falling but these gorges are spring fed and still running. After a few dives off the rock we dried our feet and put our hiking boots back on for the trek out. On the way we saw a blue asbestos deposit! We met some people and had a lovely evening with them. They were from Queensland but had a "red dirt" change and have been loving living in Newman for the past three years.
Our next gorge was Kalamina and here we/Glen decided two things - 1) 4WD in WA means dirt road as far as we can tell and 2) Glen is glad we didn't wait another 10 years to do this (as many of the people we see have done) because he wouldn't have been able to do the climbing you have to to get the most out of this beautiful area of the world.
In the afternoon we did Joffre Gorge which had us climbing down a cliff and inching around  corner on a 10cm ledge. All this exertion is rewarded with swims at the bottom of the gorges and they are very welcome in the 35+ degree heat.
At 7:30 (it's well and truly dark by that time) a dingo wandered through our camp and we found that very cool and only a little unnerving.
Next day was Knox Gorge in the morning where you basically climb down a cliff and in the afternoon it was Kermit's Pool in Hancock Gorge. To get into the pool you have to pass through spider walk - a narrow steep section where you climb with one hand and foot on each side of the gap. The canyon tour came out this way and I wish we had done it as we followed them down Knox and they did some adjoining canyons and came out in the afternoon from the chained off section past Kermit's Pool. Much later, speaking to Gary, who did it, and looking at his pictures we thought even though it was class 6 that we could have done it.
At this stage I have to say that I am impressed with Julie who seems right at home here. She is taking the lead on tracks (usually I have to in case of snakes) and has scaled up and down the gorge walls with minimal help. I'm so proud of her.
Our last day in Dales Campground and we finally did Dales Gorge (the one in walking distance of the campground)!! There is a beautiful waterfall there and further upstream is the magical Fern Pool.
We headed into Tom Price for supplies and water and Julie saw Bert (the guy with the bogged Prado at Ningaloo) in Coles. He had no luck with fishing because EVERY fish he hooked was eaten by sharks and all he got was the heads! Despite our assurances we didn't need to be repaid he wouldn't take no for an answer and presented Julie with a 6 pack of Coronas. We got chatting to him and his wife Alana and he told us about camping spots near him on the Gold Coast Hinterland and invited us for dinner!
That night we free camped near Hamersley Gorge and visited it and the spa pool the next day before heading up the Rio Tinto Rail Access Road to Millstream Chitchester National Park where we stayed at the campground near the homestead and ran into Kat and Gary again, spending a lovely evening with them. The only real highlight of the park is that there is the beautiful spring near the homestead, full of life and crystal clear, pure water. It's a strange national park - as all of them are, it's an ex cattle station but the spring provides water to Dampier so there is all the water infrastructure and the pumps go 24/7. In the morning Glen went for an 8km bushwalk which is almost all along a 3m wide gravel bike path. This park is set up for bikes. We left late mornng headed towards Karratha/Dampier. It was a staircase to moon day and, as we were nowhere near Broome, we heard that you could see it from Dampier.


Dampier, Karratha and Red Dog
When we got reception a call to the only caravan park in Dampier confirmed we could see it but it was nearing sunset so we had to be quick. The manager showed us where to park the camper and sent us out the gate before we could pay. We could pay tomorrow she said as she didn't want us to miss it!
Hearsons Cove was the place and it was already full of cars when we got there. Julie spotted our friends Kat and Gary on the beach so we grabbed the wine and chips and a blanket and plonked ourselves next to them and even though the clouds spoiled the best part of the staircase we all had a good time with the company, drinks and nibbles. Garry got some great shots on his camera when the moon finally peaked out from behind the cloud.
Back at the caravan park and we had dinner talking to a guy (Mick) who knew Red Dog! He'd done his apprenticeship in Dampier and often saw the "filthy, smelly, farting" dog either on the bus or hanging outside the pub waiting for a feed. He assured us that while most of the movie was based in truth there was  a great deal of poetic licence taken. It seemed that Red Dog was a popular figure as everywhere in Dampier and Karratha was Red Dog souvenirs.  And don't forget the main reason we were there, the Red Dog Statue. Of course Julie had her photo with it/him.
A visit to the North West Gas Shelf Visitor Centre, a bit of a shop at Karratha, and we were soon on our way. No fishing with Bill and Sue as we arrived on a Monday and people have to work, but the invitation still stands for any weekend we get back there. We found out after that the National Park near Hearson's Cove has some of the oldest rock art in Australia. We were bummed we missed that and vowed to read the info about places before we get there! Sometimes we do now but often we're too busy enjoying to plan much ahead.


Whim Creek and Bang - Go straight to Port Headland, do not pass Go
We free camped outside the pink pub, the Whim Creek Hotel and of course dropped in for a beer - late autumn and it's still bloody warm here :) Glen checked the tyre pressures - he was unhappy about the way the trailer tyres were wearing and had put them up to their maximum pressure, 80psi, and now they were really funny on the tread blocks. He put them back to 50psi as they were before. 5 minutes down the road and pfftt a trailer tyre had blown. It was cooked and smoking! Julie then saw the maximum pressure was actually 51! Where the hell did I get 80 from? Shit, I ruined them. Changed it and limped to Port Headland to get two new tyres. Shopping around we ended up with Toyo Open Country ATs and they seem a really good tyre. HUGE salt mountain at the salt works at Port Hedland, impressive.


DeGrey River
With unforeseen expenses and still a few days till payday we camped at the DeGrey River Rest Area (which had 30mins free WiFi for travellers - how good is that?) We bumped into Bert, Alana and the kids again who were also stopping there on their way to Eighty Mile Beach. We chose a spot well down the river away from the highway and it was beautiful.
Glen decided to cut some firewood and got out the chainsaw without any hope of it working after it and the fuel had been in a steel box on the roof for 6 months in stinking hot to very hot weather. Julie's dad had done a fantastic job preparing it for the trip as it started on the 6th pull and ran beautifully cutting up a bloodwood log in no time. Thanks Dad! The fire by the river was idyllic.
The campsite was so nice we decided to spend two nights there and with the lay day Glen did a bit of maintenance on the car and camper. There was lots of bird life on the river and this gave us some photo opportunities - if only those rainbow bee eaters would sit still or fly predictably!
The second night as we were sitting by the fire we could hear something fairly large in the river and we decided it was probably a couple of decent sized sharks. Good choice not to go swimming…


Eighty Mile Beach.
We arrived at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park - one of the few places you could camp and everyone raves about it - and got a site for two nights. The site we were allocated was right next to Bert! First stop was the laundry and all of our red and smelly clothes were washed and hung on the line (we hadn't washed clothes since Perth and our only actual shower was a cold one at the beach at Exmouth). That done and with the place being notorious for sharks, usually small but still sharks, we went for a walk on the beach and only wet our ankles. The beach had many huge sponges of a few different shapes and was covered in millions of shells and is not 80 miles long, it's 220km which is almost 140 miles.
Back at camp we got chatting with Bert and Alana over a drink as the sun set. Julie went to get the clothes off the line but they were already drenched with a massive dew. Since Bert and his friend caught lots of fish that day they invited us to have dinner with them and their friends and we all chatted the night away. A really interesting thing about 80 mile is the retirees and their quad bikes for fishing. The park? also has trailers set up with chairs, rod holders and barbeques! Many of the park guests seem to stay for months to fish, no idea how they carry a quad bike with their caravan… Anyway we said goodbye to Bert and armed with Land Cruiser and fishing rod (a 6' rod while all the others had 10' beach rods) Julie drove onto the beach and chose her spot. All this was in 2wd but I'd let the tyres down. After a while Julie caught a fish but it seemed a bit small so we let it go. A check of the fish ID chart later showed it was a golden trevally and there is no minimum size - bugger! After lunch on the beach Julie put it in 4WD and we drove all the way to the south end of the beach where Julie collected some very large shells. At the beach exit is a hose to wash your car so lots of red dirt was flushed off and we aired up at the park air compressor.


Eco Beach and The Road to Broome
After a stop at a rest area for a late lunch we decided to spend the afternoon reading and relaxing and stop for the night. The road is just a road with nothing to see and it was quite hot. Next morning we headed further up the road to Eco Beach, one of the beaches to be ticked off from our top 101 beaches book. The beach is owned by the resort but they allow day visitors to use all the facilities except the pool. At the restaurant overlooking the pool and the beach Glen added to the latte total even though we were sweating with the heat. Julie opted for the far more sensible cold drink. We can see why this beach is in our book. It is beautiful with turquoise water, white sand and red rock. We had a swim even though it was low tide and the water was a long way out. It gave the sand bubbler crabs  marvellous canvas for their little balls of sand.


Broome
In Broome our initial idea of staying at Cable Beach changed to the cheapest park we could find with a pool. We hit the pool as soon as we were set up - 2.5m deep end! So nice after all the shallow water :) then headed to Chinatown but at the only restaurant we could find couldn't justify the price so we headed to Matso's. If we were paying top dollar in this town it may as well be iconic!
Next day was pretty cruisy mostly by the pool and about 4:30 we headed to Cable Beach to meet up with Kat and Gary. Julie drove onto the beach and about 1km down, passing lots of parked up 4WDs and the odd nude guy trying to catch the last of the rays - seems this is a clothing optional beach, we parked up next to Kat and Gary who had the wine and s with Gary's famous guaquomle waiting for us. Glen went swimming and after sunset we all went to the wood fired pizza truck which has set up in the Senior High School carpark for the last 6 years. He has three oven on the back of a flatbed truck and does a roaring business. No wonder because his pizzas are generous and reasonably priced.
It was again hot the next day, in fact every day. The weather app on the phone has lows of 22 and highs of 32 and sunny for the next 7 days. That doesn't sound too bad but humidity at over 80% kills the comfort factor. We explored Broome, the dinosaur foot prints (wrong tide didn't see them) and some of the lesser known beaches (not good swimming) before taking another drive along Cable, both from the south as far as you are allowed and then the northern part where we had a swim then explored town and town beach.


Quandong Point
June 1st we packed up and headed off to free camp at Quandong Point off the Cape Levique Rd. We set the camper up overlooking the beach and not knowing if it was safe to swim with sharks and crocs we watched others first. A few groups went swimming - not far out - so we went in where they did. Julie kept watch and within a minute told Glen to get out of the water as she'd seen a head pop up. She thought it was a turtle but no turtle we'd seen would have been in the surf. That night we cooked over an open fire under a star filled sky. After dark hundreds of hermit crabs were walking everywhere and a couple were clever enough to climb up onto our BBQ plate. Broome was 40km away and isn't that big but we could see the glow of light from the town.
The next day we watched a large hammerhead in the surf then explored up the road to James Price Point and then further up the track gathering a bit more wood as we went. The scenery was beautiful.  We turned around at Coulomb Point but not before we explored a bit of the creek on foot. It gave Julie the creeps so we left fairly quickly without exploring too far. The big hunks of cow backbones laying around there brought fears of crocs.
Next day we went to the top of Cape Levique to tick off another beach and the road was pretty rough. I wouldn't want to do it in the wet either. This resort charged entry for people and cars and if we'd known we were going to see it on the Horizontal Falls tour in a couple of days we wouldn't have bothered and would have gone to see something else… you pay for everything up here it seems. Ran into Kat and Gary again :) We opted not to watch the sunset with them as Glen didn't fancy doing the road at night. The Fun Truck Friday Curveball struck in the form of the 2-way radio not working.
Next morning as Glen tried to fix the radio, unsuccessfully, we saw a turtle in the surf. At least that answered the question about what Julie saw the first night.


Broome and Horizontal Falls
The day we left Broome for Quandong marked the start of the peak season and our caravan park went up 33% to $49 per night. We'd only intended to come back for 2 nights to do Horizontal Falls but since Glen couldn't fix the radio and we couldn't get anyone to look at it on the Saturday of the long weekend we needed to book in for an extra night.
Our Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventure started early with a 5am pickup. We were taken to the airport and onto a seaplane for the flight to the Horizontal Falls which are two small gaps where the huge tides cause a height difference in the water on either side of the tidal pinch. Since they weren't running when we arrived the pilot landed the plane on the water straight way and we taxied (motored or floated or sailed - what do you call going on water in a seaplane?) to the pontoon to dock. You can opt to spend the night out there and those that did were soon boarding our planes to go home. For us it was coffee and feeding the tawny nurse sharks. We got in the shark cage but the water wasn't very clear so you couldn't really see any of the action and we got out to watch and fed them from the deck. Pretty soon breakfast of bacon and eggs was ready. After breakfast was the safety briefing and we boarded our boat. "Split Second" has three rows of saddle type seats running the length of the boat and is powered by three 300HP outboards. We headed out to the break in the rock wall as our skipper told us facts and figures about the horizontal falls. We were going early so we could travel through the far gap which is only 7m wide and is often too dangerous to go through (in Australia it's too dangerous now, they used to go through and still would if it was Thailand, but the boat wouldn't be anywhere near as good and life jackets would be optional). After a few high speed passes of both gaps we were taken into Cyclone Creek, where they moor their houseboat fleet and the pontoon motel during the wet season, to view the rock formations that made the Kimberley. Back to the pontoon to wait for the tide to come in and some people went on a helicopter flight over the falls. Eventually back onto "Split Second" and through the first gap a few times, running at about a 3m difference he said - I'd estimate 1.5m - and up to the second gap running at 5m he said while I'd estimate 3m. We sat stationary in front of the second falls at 13 knots, no idea how fast that is in real terms. There is no doubt that the falls are impressive regardless of the numbers you put on them and the water moves fast.
Shortly we were back on the seaplane and taking off to see the falls in action from the air then over the Dampier Archipelago on our way to One Arm Point and Cape Levique for lunch. With the 10m difference in tides we could see from the air the water churning through the gaps between the islands. No wonder the pearlers had real difficulty navigating here. We landed on a dirt runway at One Arm Point and were picked up by a 4WD bus and taken to the hatchery where the local aboriginal people grow trunchas shells and fish to release on the reef or sell to the aquarium market. The shell used to be used for mother of pearl buttons but with plastic now used they have no market.
On to Cape Levique for barramundi lunch and we seemed to have gotten the raw end of the service. The first ones had generous pieces of fish and loads of chips and couldn't eat it all but by the time they got to ours we had half a dozen chips and a small piece of fish. We had a swim at the beach and then began the long journey back to Broome. Being in the bus wasn't any better a ride than our Land Cruiser. We stopped at Beagle Bay to see the church built by the Lutherans who were interned there during the war. They built it from a picture on a post card so it really looks out of place but is decorated inside with pearl shells and is quite impressive. We got back to the caravan park around 5:30 so it was a big day. The day wasn't over yet as I'd arranged to meet a woman I used to teach with at Macquarie Fields way back in 1988. Cathy Scully was holidaying with a couple of friends and they'd just done a 5 day tour of the Gibb River Road (GRR) and the Bungle Bungle Ranges. We intended to take about 2 weeks just for the GRR. We had a lovely night with Cathy and her friends over some wine and cheese in their motel room.
Queen's Birthday Holiday the next day and we shopped and prepared for the GRR. Since Julie's bait leaked in the fridge we defrosted and cleaned that too. That night with the extra drain of cooling the fridge from Broome temperature and barely any driving the 2nd battery went flat so we had to run the fridge on 240. Luckily we took a powered site. Charging the 2nd battery properly proved to be an issue for the whole of the GRR and our side trip to Mitchell Falls.
Tuesday morning the first auto electrician was too busy to look at the car but he sent me to another and when he opened took only a short time and $20 to replace a crimped terminal that the wires had broken in and we were ready to roll… after some more shopping.
We ran into Kat and Gary outside Woolworths and the butchers where we bought some Yeeda Station meat and chatted for a while. We bought Eli a book that was written by the governess at the station too. Julie and I decided to do the pearl and art gallery strip before actually hitting the road and just as we decided to go to the car a storm hit and for 5 minutes it poured and the streets were flooded. I don't know how they cope with a wet season if 5 minutes flooded the roads. It was still warm though.


Derby
We got some great photos of red roads and the black clouds on our way to Derby. The rain was very localised and before long it was dry. We camped the night near a large boab tree… on Yeeda Station.
In the morning we headed into Derby, stopping at the Prison Tree. While there we ran into a couple doing "the lap" in their Model A Ford and matching trailer. It was essentially original except it had been converted to 12V from 6V and he had put in a …can't remember what he called it but it essentially gave him low range because he was worried about the old 2L engine dragging the trailer up hills. Great to see them using their pride and joy rather than keeping it in mothballs and only bringing it out for club days. They'd come from Qld to Darwin for a Model A meet and kept going so Terry in Wagga keep an eye out for Terry and his wife when they pass through. He loves a chat and has restored quite a few cars.
With our plan to do Mitchell Falls and not having a bug out pack (tent etc so we can spend nights away from the camper) we hit the camping store to find a tent then the hardware BUT on the way there we found a brilliant café - Kettle Café served wonderful coffee and excellent food for very reasonable prices. Julie had a frittata which came with a choice of sweet potato and lentil salad or green salad or a bit of both and was a sizeable meal for a measly $8:50! Sweet tooth Glen had sweet potato and walnut cake with cream cheese icing (a huge slice) and it was delicious served with cream. Oh yeah the tent we picked up in Woolies after eyeing off a solid wood table that wouldn't even fit in our house from the local home store. We are hopeless!
School of the Air runs tours but only once a week and not the day we were there so we missed out on that.
On a whim we stopped at the Norval Gallery on the way out of town. Julie particularly like the work of 16yo school refuser Tanisha who has won the junior Kimberly art prizes for a few years in a row. Her whole family is talented and Julie will buy one of her pieces before the year is out. Why not? The WA Art Gallery did.


The Gibb River Road Part 1
After the Norval Gallery 3km along the GRR we stopped at Mowanjum Art Centre, primarily to see if any of Tanisha's work was on sale but also to see the video which explains the art. At the centre, which from the air, looks like a Wandjina (the halo type head with 2 eyes and a nose but no mouth so they can't pass judgement), we went into the theatre but a video of their life in I'm guessing the 70s was being shown to a couple of French guys who'd done the community experience, where they fly up to the community and spend a couple of days. Even then members of the community were saying that with their people dying young nobody was passing on the laws. The saddest piece of footage was a guy in his mid 20s sitting in the long grass with McWilliams Cream Sherry (that was THE drink for winos before they went to metho and boot polish) and he was showing his initiation scars and saying he couldn't even remember what they meant. The art program at the centre (and dry communities) are helping to redress the issue of loss of cultural identity. They don't consider the land at the mission their country, they know it belongs to another tribe and they are just squatting. They were moved from their country and moved three times in relatively quick succession before settling outside Derby. The art program and probably some strong elders in the community have given back the people their identity and given them an income.
So far the GRR has been bitumen and really good dirt road. We headed for a campsite at Poulton Pool, following a track on the GPS, but at a river crossing I lost the track and while looking for it frantically got called back to the car by Julie who'd seen a croc in an erosion gully. On further investigation with the long lens of the camera it turned out to be an old bar tread 4wd tyre. That pretty much did Poulton Pool for Julie anyway so we headed back to the road and camped at a clear spot near a couple of boabs. Glen set up for a star trail picture. It started to get a bit chilly so we donned a jumper and rummaged around under the bed for the blanket we had. Just the sheet wasn't going to cut it tonight!
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