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.
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- The stream of dust is constant as you pass the cars, trucks, camper vans, and caravans. Most vehicles are towing something, which is really quite surprising considering the road conditions.
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- A little side track in to Ellenbrae Station for Tea, Scones with Jam and Cream. They were so friendly and happy to see you, even though you weren’t staying there. The distance just didn’t work out for us as we would have loved to stay there last night.
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- DB was excited to walk on the green grass instead of the red dust of the last 4 weeks or so.
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- The cafe at Ellenbrae
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- Australian slang at its best. This place was very rustic. Loved it!
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- Guess which way the river flows here at the Durack River crossing, looks like some powerful water has been through.
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- An example of some of the nasty rocks along the Gibb River Road.
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- Roadworks on our way to Home Valley Station. At this stage still a hindrance as our car wasn’t as wide as the tracks. So made it a tyre hazard for us.
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- A little reprieve on a short stretch of bitumen. David said this road has been the most challenging drive for him as you must concentrate continuously to avoid the rocks at all times.
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- Lookout towards the Cockburn Ranges
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- At the lookout, uploading some of my blog as it was the first time I had Telstra service since we started on the Gibb River Rd 11 days ago. I was doing ok till a tour bus we had been leapfrogging for the last few days arrived with their 20 passengers who had also not had service for 5 days. They hogged the signal and I gave up.
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- A little disaster today. One of us didn’t close the back door properly when we left Ellenbrae. David could smell dust but didn’t realise why until we stopped at the lookout. We had clean clothes on top of the bags as they were a little damp. Now it looks like they will need washing again. Oh well.
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- The entrance to Home Valley Station was so fancy, it was even Fiona proof. It took me a while to work out how to open the gate.
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- Our first warning about the Salties.
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- On the way to our campsite along the river we saw some birds of prey in the trees as the sun set tonight.
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- The Cockburn Ranges
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- Some campers sitting on the banks of the Pentecost River enjoying the sunset over the Cockburn Ranges
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- Sunset. Not so good as we were a bit late. Might have to come back here tomorrow night to see a better one.