Saturday 9th June 2018
Well we are nearing the end of the Gibb River Road adventure. Just a few days to go, a couple of new homes then back to bitumen. Woohoo. Won’t it be nice to actually hear the conversations we have been having and also hear the words to the music.

Today we are driving (or should I say bumping along) from Drysdale River Station to Home Valley Station via Ellenbrae Station for morning tea (fresh scones, Jam and Cream- over 14,000 sold last season). A special treat for me today. Yummy, beautiful fresh hot scones. After a lovely chat, cuppa, a walk on the green grass, a couple of phone calls to our mums, lunch compliments of APT tours (leftover quiches), we are back out on to the razor blade rocks. Will we or will we not make it without a tyre change. We are currently nursing a split tyre, not through the steel belt yet so onwards and upwards with fingers crossed.

We continued on to Home Valley Station, our home for tonight on the Pentecost River. The station is well setup for the tourist industry with swimming pool, bar, restaurant and green grass. We have decided to go down to the bush camp/fishermans camp along the Pentecost River with the saltwater crocodiles. As we drove around the campground looking for a spot we saw a salty floating down the river. Hopefully we will see another one in more daylight tomorrow, also from the car.

Friday 8th June 2018
Well today is mainly a travel day, the decision is early before all the dust or a bit later to avoid some dust. We were ready early, about 7.30am and as always just as we were heading out our neighbour snuck out just before us. So we waited a little, finally taking off at about 8am. We knew the first 30km was terrible conditions and took about 90mins, then the next 46kms took another 2 hours to get to King Edwards River including a stop at the Munurra Art site No 2. This was another aboriginal paintings and cultural site. Along with some great Aboriginal Paintings we also saw aa burial site which was jus a hole in the rocks near some winjanas with the bones of humans in the hole. Very interesting again, and we feel very lucky to be able to see this as we are sure it is on the sacred ground. It was just a fenced off area asking you not to go past the fence. Then on to Munurra Falls for lunch and a swim. Then to Munurra Art site No 1. Next stop was Drysdale River Station to collect our bike which we left behind so as not to break the bike rack on the heavily rutted roads to and from Mitchell Falls. We arrived here at about 3pm and decided to stay here the night, do some washing, have a rest and a meal cooked for us. Woohoo!! A night off cooking for me. Yay!!

We shared a lovely chat with a couple of guys from Belgium, hearing stories of their travels. They had the same excitement over their swim with the whale shark and they did it last year. Hopefully I can still feel the same excitement in a years time as well. I think I will. We added a few destinations to the bucket list.

Thursday 7th June 2018
Well, what an amazing day. We were up early as I had to be at the helicopter office just before 7am for a weigh-in, payment and safety briefing so I could do my flight out of Mitchell Falls. They had been really nice and offered me the dead leg return back to the Falls so I could walk out with David as he had decided not to do the flight. It was only a 6 minute flight and he really doesn’t like flying. The reason for the early time slot was to arrive there before the first tour group but as you would expect, they beat me but the girl opened our queue first which was really nice, so the 3 people from the campground including me went first. Oops, a little unfair but I figured I was only one person and they were at least 20.

After the briefing I headed back to camp to make lunch and be on our way. It was another beautiful, sunny day, the sky was clear and the temperature pleasant. I would say that would be day 50 of sunshine, pretty hard to take. At least we won’t be here when they have three months of rainy days in a row.

We walked for about 15mins through bushland with sandstone rocks very similar to home. At this time we came to Little Mertens Falls which we climbed halfway down to a rocky outcrop under the falls to view some Aboriginal paintings. It is amazing the number of drawings here as well. I am so surprised how much has been uncovered and because of there beliefs they are just here for us to view. Apparently once a drawing is done no-one will draw over it. So we are very lucky they have not been turned into a paid tourist attraction. Although it has probably cost us a couple of tyres, one at least and we still have to get out of here tomorrow.

Little Mertens Falls was also very pretty with a lovely pool at the bottom. We decided to leave the swim until this afternoon.

Heading along we walked for a while until we came to Big Mertens Falls. This was about 100m high but the waterfall was quite thin. Still spectacular due to the depth of the precipice. We spent some time exploring here trying to find another lookout, which after some bush bashing and rock scrambling we made it. The track had been totally overgrown and not established for this season yet. That’s what we think anyway.

Then we headed on our way to the spectacular Mitchell Falls which comprises a chain of 4 waterfalls. They are currently still flowing amazing amounts of water volume but you can imagine how spectacular it would look just after the wet season. Something to come back for or maybe view from a helicopter.

We did a little exploring then had lunch at the lookout spot. Very spectacular but quite noisy as there are 2 helicopters going continuously. 6 min return flight to the campground $150. The 18min loop from $249 and the 48 min to the coast and back via the falls from $499, if just DB and i did this one with no-one else joining us it would cost $849 each. Ouch!! Anyway after lunch I did the 6 min flight which does 2 figure 8’s over the falls then flies back to the camp. Luckily they also let me do the dead-leg back to the falls so I could walk back with DB. Lucky me I got 2 take-offs and landings. Also for no extra cost and also relieving David of the anxiety of flying and I didn’t miss out. Yay!

The flight was very cool, it is so different to see these spectacular places from the sky. The Mitchell Falls, the Mitchell River, Big and Little Mertens Falls and the cloud of dust along the road created by all the traffic getting here.  It was fantastic to fly in the helicopter but it definitely took away the peacefulness of a hike in the bush. By the way the Whale Shark dive is still number one excitement for this holiday.

After my flight, we did some more exploring, there was supposed to be a track down to the bottom of the last falls which due to Aboriginal beliefs they ask you not to swim as it is the home of the powerful Wunggurr (Creator Snakes) seen in the Falls’ rainbows, also saltwater crocs are found here. But alas, we couldn’t find the track down.

We eventually left the falls at about 2.30pm as we still had a 4.5km hike back to camp and we had been going since 8.30am. It was a pleasant walk back with a swim at the end in Little Mertens Falls pool. A refreshing reprieve from the heat of walking and serving as our shower for tonight. We made it back to camp by about 4.30pm. Time for a drink and some chippies. We think we deserve the reward.

A fantastic day. 13.5km of hiking/exploring was tramped today through bushland, over sandstone, through rocky outcrops, over rivers, through waterfalls and bush bashing. Another wonderful tour run by Broady’s Adventure Co. Never a dull moment, love this man to bits.

Wednesday 6th June 2018
It is a beautiful sunny day, blue skies and very peaceful as I sit here at Drysdale River Station, a couple of hundred kilometres from our next adventure.

Happy birthday to my eldest son Gavin, 35 years ago today you graced us with your presence. It’s times like today when i am away from family that I realise how much I love you and miss you all. Not long now till we are home.

It is 9.30am and the campground is pretty much deserted, campers have been milling out slowly since about 7.30am as the road to Mitchell Falls is apparently very rough. About a five hour drive for only 190km.

David’s thoughts on this are that if you aren’t first in the line you may as well be last by a long way as you are only going to be stuck in a cloud of dust. So as luck would have it, we were up early and would like to have started out early, but a little maintenance was required on the handbrake as it had rattled totally loose. It was at the topmost range possible before it doesn’t work. So fix it we must.

So I sit here watching and enjoying the peacefulness of our surroundings (whilst DB lies under the car) pondering our last 8 weeks adventure. Last night I was reminded of the New Norcia monks, that seems so long ago. That was one of our first stops after leaving Perth.

Since then we have stayed in some amazing places, on cliff tops, on farmstays, on stations, by the river, and in a couple of very squeezey caravan parks. Lucky for us the latter has been seldom. We sure do love the serene, wide expanses. Just drive in to a campground and keep driving till you are past all the other campers then setup camp. Don’t mind how far it is from the amenities until the morning. Just deal with that in the morning. I could have left half my clothes behind and one day I will work that out. All you need is 2 shorts, 2 long pants, 3 t-shirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, 6 undies, 3 pairs socks and a hat. That would have left my bag half empty and a lot easier to manage. Oh well, one day we can only hope!

Anyway, we have also enjoyed bush walks, mountain climbs, river crossings, swims in gorges, rivers and pools. Seen crocodiles, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, trillions of birds and the most amazing scenery. It has been one hell of an adventure so far with another couple of weeks to go. Can’t wait for the rest.

Well an hour later one wheel is now done and he is on to the next one. After me going to see if we could borrow a trolley jack he has done it without one. Typically leaving me to ask the question and then moving on without it. Oh well, love him to bits especially as he is so capable of the fix. Thank goodness. The second side has taken only 5 minutes as he learnt how to do it on the first one. DB said a manual would have been good, it took an hour to do the first one and 5 minutes for the second one. Also the last minute jack stand has been a saviour. Oh well, now I had better hurry and go and ring Gavin for his birthday. Will fill you in on the rest of the day later.

we headed on our way at about 11am, we should still have time to get there in the light and hopefully we will not catch up to the slow caravan or campers. It is suggested you don’t tow anything on this road and they offer a free storage at Drysdale for campers and caravans. We will see how many people heed that advise when we get there. There has been numerous reports saying how bad the road is and that you should just fly in. With David’s aversion to flying we only have one option, DRIVE. We decided to leave the bikes behind which will mean our bike rack stays in tact.

The first 2 hours was a very easy drive about 80km an hour and the road was quite good. We obviously slowed down for the many creek crossings. We had lunch just after going through our longest water crossing yet, the King Edward River. From there the road was still reasonable for another hour then 30-40km out from the Mitchell Falls camp ground the ruts were really bad and it took another 2hours to get here. Slow and steady wins the race, we hoped. We arrived at about 3.30pm with plenty of light to spare. Yay Us!

After choosing campsite we headed to check out the helicopter options for tomorrow. I will let you know the decision on that one tomorrow.

Tuesday 5th June 2018
Well we did it again. The aim was to set out early so we could visit Wunnamurra Gorge and then make it to Drysdale Station tonight. This was an epic fail, almost.

There was a couple at the campsite with a great setup so I had a chat. What I thought would take 10mins took over an hour. That hour was to prove very painful later tonight.

Anyway, we headed off to the gorge at about 9.30am, 1.5 hours later than we hoped to leave. Oh well! What’s new! The drive to the gorge was only 10km but took over an hour, it was very rocky and tricky at times. We parked the car 1km from the walk start due to a couple of tricky spots that weren’t worth puncturing our tyres over. We then walked to the gorge. Another spectacular gorge and swimming hole. We explored further afield as there was some aboriginal art on the rocks about 500m fro the gorge. Then we came back and had some lunch  and then had a swim. It was very beautiful and lovely in the water. The falls were still working nicely.

We left the gorge at about 1.30pm, I thought we would be on our way to Drysdale by lunchtime but oh well, not to be. The walk back to the car took about 30mins and thence had another hours drive back to Mt Elizabeth Station. The track was a little slower on the way back so we weren’t ready to leave the station until 3.30pm.

Decision time again. To go or not to go. We are very inconsistent. Yesterday we were passing the turn off to Mt Elizabeth Station at 3pm and decided it was too late to go to Drysdale then so went the 30mins in to Mt Elizabeth Station. Today it is 3.30pm and we are at Mt Elizabeth Station with a 30min drive to the main road and we decide to go just to get us a day ahead. Probably a bad decision but off we go. We were hoping to make it to Drysdale River Station by dark but not to be. At 5.30pm we crossed the Gibb River and passed a freebie camp without any facilities but we decided not to stop. In hindsight we should have stopped as we got stuck behind to cars which slowed us down a bit and we didn’t make it to our camp until 6pm when it was well and truly dark. So we should have had a rest afternoon and saved the drive for tomorrow. Oh well! We will be 160km closer to tomorrow night’s destination.

As I sit here writing my blog I can here the dingoes howling in the background. This has happened quite frequently on the Gibb River Road.

Well this is another busy campsite, how busy we are not quite sure as we arrived in the dark. Hopefully we didn’t park in a thoroughfare as it is quite tricky to work this out in the dark.

Tomorrow’s drive is to Mitchell Plateau and hopefully Mitchell Falls. A 190km drive that can take up to 5 hours depending on the road condition. Wish us luck!!

Monday 4th June 2018
What a campground. There were so many people here, maybe 100 campsites being used with about 3 or 4 tour groups and not many facilities. We didn’t even try to have a shower last night as there would have been no hot water.

We were planning to start out on our hike to Manning Gorge early today but unfortunately I had a shocking nights sleep so we delayed our start time. We headed on our walk at about 9am. The walk starts with a ride in a pulley boat across the river followed by a 45 minute hike to the gorge. The hike was pretty easy most of the way, it was just along a trail with a little rock hopping until you are almost at the gorge. Then it is down some steep rocks. Once we arrived at the gorge, it was yet again very beautiful. There was still a lot of water in the waterfall and many people having a swim. The size of the gorge accommodated the number of people well, with everyone having there own bit of space.

Once we arrived we headed up the waterfall rocks and continued further upstream to explore the area. It was very beautiful. We then headed back for a swim which was beautiful after the hike in full sun. The weather here is still very warm during the day and there was very little shade along the way. After our swim we headed back to camp for lunch then on our way again. I swam across the river this time whilst DB rode the boat with our gear. It was very refreshing after the hike back which was a total of 9km return.

After lunch we headed back to Barnett Roadhouse and bought a couple of other supplies, sultanas, 1.25L coke and a couple of ice creams for $19. Very expensive but we are grateful to be able to replenish the few things we needed to continue our journey. On our way to our next home, not sure where it will be yet. Mt Elizabeth Station 46km or Drysdale Station 170km. As it was about 3.30pm by the time we reached the turnoff to Elizabeth Station we thought we would head there for the night so I could have a little rest as I am still very tired this afternoon. After we did some washing, DB headed off for a walk to the creek whilst I did some yoga and had a well earned rest. We are having dinner most nights by 5.30-6pm and trying to be finished everything by 7ish. We are managing this pretty well which is good. Then time to blog for me and DB to research tomorrow.

We are running out of time for where we want to go so will probably give Darwin a miss this time.

Tomorrow we continue on our way to Mitchell Plateau. We will probably only make Drysdale Station or at best King Edward River Camp as we will explore here first before we head out.

Sunday 3rd June 2018

Well it is time to leave our home at the Mornington Wildlife Conservancy, we have really enjoyed the quietness of this part of the Gibb River Rd. Back to the chaos of the Road and the hectic campgrounds tonight.

We headed out for a walk along the Savannah Trail before we left and saw a wide variety of birds. I m quite amazed at how much I enjoy seeing the birdlife and trying to name them if we manage a decent photo. DB still says he hates birds but for someone who doesn’t like them he sure enjoys the challenge of spotting and photographing them.

As we left we found the place where the Birdwatching Tour goes to see the endangered Gouldian Finch. We managed to see them as well as a couple of other birds.

Now off we go to see how far we can get today. As we drove along we saw a 1915 Model T Ford (DB is pretty sure  it was the first mass produced car), not the type of car you expect to see travelling on the Gibb River Road. It was on the New Zealand – Australia leg of their round the world fundraising tour for children (SOS Children’s Villages).

We then went to Adcock Gorge which was a nice little gorge. Not as spectacular as we are used to seeing. Then on to Mt Barnett Roadhouse to fill up the car and buy a few provisions. Petrol was $2.15 per litre but unfortunately we have no choice as we can’t make it any further without it. Only $251.55 to fill up and $60 for 1 head of broccoli, 2 carrots, 1L milk, 2L juice, 4 frozen chicken breasts, avocado spread, 200g mushrooms. OUCH!! Mind you we are very grateful to get a little bit of meat and a few more fresh veggies. Happy!!

Then in to Manning Gorge campground which is run by Indigenous Australians. It is a very big campground with many campers here tonight as it is the long weekend.

Saturday 2nd June 2018
Well what a day we had today. It was a great day!

First we headed to Dimond Gorge a 24km 1 hour drive along a rocky dirt road to finally get back out on the water. YAY!! The drive there was spectacular scenery and we once again saw some male Spinifex Pigeons who were once again elusive. Once at Dimond gorge we set out on our way, we finally were getting to use our paddles which we had been lugging around with us since Scarborough. The scenery was spectacular here as well, the photos really don’t justify the splendour of this gorge. Anyway, we had a pleasant paddle to the rapids which was about 2.5-3km where we had lunch under a sloping tree and then paddled back via the waterfall. It was a beautiful way to spend the day and filled a little void we have been missing on our travels. We then did a short walk to Ta Ta and Nankeen Billabongs which were quite lovely. Then off to the lookout which was perfect light for our photos of Sir John Range. Then on to Cadjeput a swimming hole which we didn’t indulge in as it was getting a little late. We then headed back to camp for a rest.

Friday 1st June 2018
Well today we started with a little walk along Annie Creek trail before breakfast in hope of seeing some wildlife. We were a little late at about 7.30am but we managed to see a variety of birds.

Then after breakfast we headed on our way for today’s adventure.

First stop Blue Bush which is a lovely little waterhole, suitable for swimming. It was very pretty with a lot of birdlife.

Next stop the Termite Trail which was very informative. We learnt a lot bout termites and termite mounds. The queen termite lives up to 100 years and lays 3000 eggs a day. They have castes within the mound. The king and queen, workers, soldiers and winged termites who eventually leave and go and start their own family. Each mound is just one family of termites that have about 1 million termites working there.

Finally our last stop was Sir John Gorge. They have three canoes that can be hired by one couple and you follow the gorge from the start, drop it off, walk around the rocks, pick up the next one, paddle the gorge, drop it off, walk around the rocks, pick up the 3rd canoe and paddle as far as the next rapids, then paddle back. This makes for a great day and very special as you are the only one on the water in the gorge. Unfortunately this was fully booked for the days we were here. So we decided to walk the gorge instead.

After I had a quick swim when we arrived at Sir John Gorge, we then headed off to walk over the rocks as far as we could get along the gorge. After about 10 mins we helped a lady who hired the canoe get up the cliff face as she had slipped and hurt her wrist and couldn’t put any weight on it. After making a sling for her, we continued on our way. It was very beautiful in the gorge. We climbed rocks and walked for over an hour util we came to a stop, time to either get wet feet or turn back. We tried a few ays but to no avail. We had to take our shoes off and walk through he rapids. Once this was decided it was pretty easy and we were on our way again. We then got stuck on some steep sections but managed to climb down some tricky bits only to get stuck again. Oh well looks like it is time to turn around. We had managed about 2.5km along the gorge so that was a good adventure. We then headed back and had a swim before waiting for the sun to set. We et up with one of the families we did the 4WD tour at Kooljamon with, we had also seen them at Bell gorge a couple of nights ago. After watching a beautiful sunset we headed back to camp.

After dinner we listened to one of the staff and watched a slideshow about the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and how they are protecting endangered native animals and wildlife through their project. It was very interesting.

Anyway it has been a vey big day, we have walked over 8.5km and have a day in the canoes in one of the other gorges tomorrow. So nighty night.

Thursday 31st May 2018
Can you believe we have been on the road for 55 days now. Wow, how time flies, we have travelled over 12,000km since we left home, spent $1,943 on accommodation and $2,496 on fuel. We are still having a great time although the Gibb River Road is not as big an adventure as we first thought. We expected a lot more remote wilderness but there are so many people here, travelling on the dirt highway. The road is better in some parts than others.

We left Silent Grove campground at Bell Gorge early this morning with an unknown destination for tonight as we had been told our preferred place may be booked out. DB had read on WIkiCamps that someone had wanted to go there on the 20th and had to wait to 24th as they were booked until then. We had no phone service and hadn’t pre-booked as we never know how long it will take to get where we are going and we don’t really like to plan anything too far ahead. So we decided to risk it and try when we got to Imintji Roadhouse which was 33km from Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary and they had Optus phone service. Can you believe it! Optus again. We stopped and I ducked in to the shop and managed to buy some broccoli, zucchini and capsicum. I did a little dance as I wasn’t looking forward  to the latter part of our trip on the Gibb River Rd without fresh vegetables. We should be ok now. Yay! Then we called Mornington and we were in luck. They had availability for the 3 nights we were hoping to stay. Yippee!! So after communicating with everyone we could contact we headed on our way. We will be without phone service for the next few days again.

The drive to Mornington was on their private road and was 82km from the Gibb River Road. DB decided it was my turn to have another practise on the dirt road but was quite disappointed as the first 60km was really quite a pleasant and reasonably smooth trip. The last section got a bit windy, rough and there were a few creek crossings with water of varying depths. A good experience for me in case it is needed. DB is always preparing me just in case. The drive was very scenic and pleasant.

On arrival at Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary which is an Australian Wildlife Conservancy property we checked in and found a nice little spot to camp for the next 3 nights. We set up the gazebo for the 3rd time this entire holiday as it really has only been necessary for the bugs as we really haven’t had any rain. Oh, I think we used it for the wind one night. We have really only set it up here to mind our campsite during the day when we take the car out to explore. This place has restricted entry, only 25 campsites with a maximum of 50 campers which is why we were a little concerned about getting a spot on the day. It is nice to have only a few people about but I would think it is the 25 they allow.

Well we will enjoy the quieter and less crowded time over the next couple of days.