4 July – 6 July Black Rock Falls As mentioned in the previous episode we camped at Black Rock Falls, about 30 K west of Kununurra, for a few days and got a bit of school done. We also took a day trip out to Lake Argyle which is the biggest manmade lake in the southern hemisphere so I am led to believe. I think it was mad to piss the greenies off and also supply the Argyle mine where they get all the ore and diamonds from. We did want to have a look through the diamond mine but to do so you need to take a scenic flight to the mine and then you can do the bus tour. All up about $600- p/p. Just a bit out of our price range. Tracy settled for a look at the diamond shop in Kununurra. Apparently the Argyle mine is famous for the pink and blue diamonds. Like us all you commoners would need to sell a kidney and lung from both you and a significant other just to be able to touch one. Needless to say we haven’t got any in our rock collection. What we do have though is several pieces of Zebra rock which is quarried just over the border into WA. There are a few galleries in Kununurra and we went to one a bit out of town and they have some amazing stuff made from it. Bit hard to explain but as the name implies it is made of several different shades of varying colours. We bought some pieces of it so some of you may receive some for a present. That was about all we did in Kununurra for our first visit and we didn’t pay cent to camp. Not bad.
7 July – 8 July Bungle Bungles Walardi camp We packed up and headed out of the lovely Black Rock camp and headed to the Bungles. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road and as it was bitumen there was the hoards of the grey nomads from Victoria that we had been seeing of late. The drop in temp really brings them out. We got to the gate for the Bungles and were forced to pay a fee of $20 for Hervey and $10 for Bay to a cow hand to use the road that runs through Mabel Downs station. The pissed off farmer that leases the land from the govt couldn’t flog his cows off overseas so decided to get some quick cash from the multitude of tourists that go to the park. ( That’s what I think anyway). After passing through the gate $30 lighter we enjoyed the crap road for about 1 ½ hrs through the property with about as much maintenance done on it as the Titanic has now. We stopped at the visitor centre where there was a bloke having trouble with a lost shocky nut. I loaned him some tools to get the job done and found out that they were a film crew on a scouting party in the Bungles for a film called ‘Satellite’. Story about a young aboriginal boy living with his grandfather in the bush. He doesn’t appreciate the old ways that his gf tries to teach him but when the kid is lost in the bush with some mates all the stuff he didn’t think he had learned kicks in and gets them out safely – or something like that. For the use of my tools I lightened his load of one of his traffic cones that he was carrying around with him. After this interlude we continued on and made our way to the Walardi camp where we set up in a nice big area made for about 4 trailers but we took the lot and made it home for the next couple of days. We had a visit from the Camp Hosts ( volunteers that manage the camp area )Ernie and his wife that dropped off some firewood all nicely chopped up. Not allowed to bring in wood from outside so they get Jarra shipped up from Perth to Derby and then trucked to Walardi. I found the stuff bloody hard to burn but still chopped a bagful up to take with us. Just in case of course. Whilst at the Bungles we made visits to Cathedral Gorge which was pretty bloody impressive. Basically it’s a big hole washed out at the bottom of a waterfall which you can walk around in. It was pretty amazing to look closely at the walls of this area and realize that under a hard protective layer of dried sand on the outside under this was soft sand that easily eroded even with a brush of a finger. It was very fine and powdery sand and there won’t be much left to see if you don’t go and have a look in the next million or so years. There was a fair bit of conglomerate rock in this area as well. For you Neanderthals that aren’t up with your geology as we are this is structure that is made up of river bed rocks inlaid in the surrounding material. The Olgas are made from conglomerate. We took a drive to Echidna Chasm which is a walk into a narrow chasm with walls about 50-80 M tall. Place was full of conglomerate rock as well. It’s amazing to see this stuff in the walls of ancient cliffs and then realize that these riverbed rocks embedded in the walls are even older than the cliffs as they originally came from even ancienter riverbeds. We got back to camp where the boys were lucky enough for Ernie to take them for a ride around the camp on the work vehicle. We ended the long and hot day with a fire and chat to Sven and Helen from Sydney.
9 July – 15 July Middle Springs We left the Bungles early in the day and headed back to Kununurra where we intended to stay for a few days and then make a start on the Gibb part of our adventure. We got to Middle Springs which is just south of Black Rock falls late in the day after a very long and hot drive. For the next week we stayed here in this lovely spot near the waterhole. We made several trips into Kununurra and I became quite the washer woman. We intended to stay here and get unit 8 completed and then start the Gibb. Amongst other exciting things to happen while we were there our gas stove line spat the dummy. We were sitting at camp during the day and all of a sudden gas started jetting from the regulator on the stove hose. The fuse that I have on the bottle stopped the flow but after visiting several shops in Kununurra and not being able to find a replacement I bought a residential regulator and tried that but no success as it was a different rate so in the end we rang Primus and got them to send one to Broome where we will pick it up when we get there. In the meantime we are using our two portable stoves that you put the gas canisters in. The two fit side by side in the area where the gas stove should be. I must have planned it. I also put the PVC pipe on the back of the roof rack for the Supawing poles so that they are a bit easier to get to so that we might actually use the bloody thing a bit more.
16 July – 17 July El Questro EVICTED!!!!!!!! We took an early walk up to the top of the waterfalls at Middle Springs just above our camp. We’d been there long enough and thought that we had better do it before we left. Nice little area up the top and would be like Gunlom in Kakadu with a bit more water. While we were up there we happened to notice a white Prado arrive at the camp and two blokes in khaki get out and start to take photos of Hervey , Bay and our well set up camp. When I got down the bottom again they introduced themselves as Luke and Pat from the DEC (Department of Environment and Conservation). They proceeded to tell us that we weren’t allowed to camp where we were as it was aboriginal land and the area was for day use only. If we could kindly pack up and head off by the end of the day it would be greatly appreciated. They were pretty good about it and so we had our brekkie and packed up. We departed the area about 1100 as we had become fairly comfortable in the nice little place for the past week. We planned to head into Kununurra and stay there at the showgrounds as all the van parks were chockers with grey nomads but only stocked up on supplies before starting west towards El Questro on the Gibb. We turned off the bitumen and pulled into the info board area and took a few photos of the road condition boards. As we were about to leave a renta Prado pulled in with a flat front tyre. We stopped and gave the guy a hand to change it and then set off on our merry way thinking that kama would now ensure that I was safe from flats myself while on the mighty Gibb. This was not to be. About 5 k down the road Hervey felt a bit odd so pulled over and got out to find that the driver’s side rear was going down . With a few choice words I set about changing the tyre. We continued on and about a k down the road here’s another vehicle getting a tyre changed on the side of the road. A bit further down the road and we come across and FJ45 ute which had lost one of the steering arm bolts so had become a bit pigeon toed on the driver. The mighty Gibb was collecting some debts to be sure. We continued on after the Fj45 bloke said he had it under control and got to El Questro and set up camp in a very full campground. We were to realize later that ½ of Kununurra had come to see the live band that was going to be on that night. WA school hols were ½ way through which didn’t help much either. $108 for two unpowered nights for us. Very overpriced place and very lacking in the amenities department for such a visited spot. While we were there we went to Zebedee Springs which took us on a nice leisurely walk through a heap of palms and to a waterfall area where the boys and Tracy had a swim and got some good photos of the boys. El Questro Gorge was the next spot where we came across a 3M python sunning himself on a rock just before he slithered into the rocks of the gorge. We nervously continued and got to a rock pool at the base of a small waterfall where another swim was had. We finished our touring by going to Moonshine Gorge for another dip. During all these dirt road drives I noticed that the central overhead console had pulled its screws out of the roof so had to make another bracket for it when got back to camp. Tracy’s door had also dropped abit due to the hinges packing it in slowly so had to put a few packers in the hinges so the door would stop hitting the guard whenever she opened it. After these few mechanical repairs we drove to Chamberlain Gorge which overlooked the homestead sitting on a cliff.
18 July Durack River (NE bank) Up early and out of El Questro after topping up the water tanks and emptying the bladders. We made a visit to Home Valley Station and spent an hour there having lunch and a swim before making our way to the Durack River for the night. While we had been at HVS a bloke had mentioned a great spot on the NE bank . It turned out to be a beauty place on top of the bank about 20M above the creek. I have been driving since leaving El Questro with my side mirrors aimed at my rear tyres so that I can catch a flat early if I get one. I don’t mind changing tyres I just don’t want to run out of them. While we were at the Durack Tracy and the boys had a go at fishing but no success.
19 July – 20 July King Edward River camp Very tempted to stay another night at the Durack but we are still a bit nervous after being evicted so pack up and head for Mitchell falls NP. We made a stop at Elembrae Homestead and indulge in a scone which they are apparently famous for. CWA recipe and very nice. Well worth the $4.50. We got to Drysdale station after turning off the Gibb and onto the Kalumbaru Road. We ran into a couple from Burrum Heads with 3 girls that had an Austrack camper also. They had probs with the zips on the lid and had snapped a spring on the trailer but apart from that were having agreat time. We decided to make for King Edward River as it was only a couple of hours down the track. There are less corrugations in a Blue Scope Steel factory than on the Kalumbaru Road. One of the worst roads that ive come across for corrugations. We finally got to King Edward River and set up camp before having a swim in the river near the falls. We did schoolwork the next day and prepared to leave the following day for Mitchell Falls camp.
21 July – 23 July Mitchell Falls Camp Packed up and started about 0900 on our 76 k trip which would take us about 2/24. All was good until about the 40 k mark when we went around a R hander through a small creek. As we came out Bay made a bit of a lurch to the left and dropped down on that side. I pulled over thinking that may have got a flat but when I looked underneath found that the top spring leaf had snapped about 6 “ from the front eye. (I knew I should have thrown in a spare).Surprisingly calmly I got the necessary tools and some 12 G wire that I had acquired whilst at Merl in kakadu and set about jacking Bay up doing some neat sewing around the leaves in question to keep them together. Job done and we set off. 100M saw the trailer in the side mirror ( they are now watching the trailer and not rear tyres) tilt again to the left. Out with the jack and wire again. Off we go. 200M . Out with the jack and trusty 12 G and big fucking ratchet strap (novelty wearing off now) to stop axle going backwards. Set off again. 300M – getting better. Some fine adjustments to ratchet strap tension and we’re on our way again. About 10 k/hr ( speedo hasn’t worked since Gregory NP) and a couple of hours and we get to Mitchell Falls camp about 1430 and a refreshing drink was had by all. Caught up with the ranger ‘Chuck’ who said that I could use his welder the next morning to weld two bits of spring back together. Beauty. Back at Bay and while Tracy was preparing tea I whipped the wheel off and attacked the spring. Now I’m a simple man and I don’t ask for much. A cold beer, a bit of motor sports , a few nyloc nuts on my spring ubolts and shackle pins instead of some dickhead with a mig spot welding the fuckers when he puts them on in the workshop. I can understand the rationale behind it. They will not come undone on heaps of corrugations. I also understand that they will not go back on when they have been stripped and snapped due to the spotwelds. Now that I have got the spring off in bits ive got another dilemma. No u bolts to put my spring back on when I weld it back together. Tracy waited until I had got over this tricky one to tell me that her door wouldn’t open from the inside.
The following day im at Chucks office at 0700 with spring in hand after I had dropped into the Heli Ops to see if I could get some ubolts flown in. No chance. When I arrive at rangers office Chuck and Bill are there.I proceed to retell the problem adding the bit about not having any ubolts to put springs back on with. Chuck proceeds to go into his worshop and put in my hand two ubolts of the size that I need. I offered to kiss him but he declined. He brought out his MIG and my confidence fell as I told him that I had never used a MIG only ever stick welded. I asked him for a few bits of scrap to have a play in the hope that I could do it. Ive gotta get me one of these MIGs. No prob at all. I never realized that it was so easy. Got the spring prepared and Bill cut a small piece for me to cover the welded section of the spring and 1 ½ hrs later had the spring welded and thanking the fellas on my way back to camp. While I was talking to Bill he mentioned he was based in Kununurra and I asked if he knew Luke and Pat. Yes he did and they were quite high up in the DEC and he was going to say Gday for me when he next saw them. Back at camp I put the spring and ubolts back on Bay and happen to notice that 2nd bottom leaf on other side is broken and about ½ “gap where the central pin is. I cant take it off as would stuff the ubolts so leave it and will have to get two new springs. Grease Hervey and Bay and change rear diff oil in Hervey.
We took the walk to Mitchell Falls which wasn’t quite as long as we had anticipated and had a few swims along the way.
24 July – 27 July King Edward Camp Packed up and headed off. Slow and steady and hope to get to Drysdale to either repair properly or arrange some new springs. Not looking forward to today anyway. Saw Chuck on the way out and said thanks for all the help and set off. My fantastic welding letgo about ½ k further down the track. Luckily id put my lock chain around the axle and A frame to stop axle slipping back. Jack, wire and ratchet strap out again. Ratchet strap from A frame to axle to pull axle forward. Over several further stops the big ratchet strap was doing too good a job and kept pulling the axle too far forward making Bay look like a crab. Put a smaller ratchet strap from tailgate to back of axle to keep axle central. Travelling speed was about 10-15k . Smaller ratchet strap rubbed on something and snapped. Handwinch from tailgate to axle to keep axle central. Worked a treat. Sound of twanging steel from other sideafter a few more k down the road.Walked back and found front halves of three bottom leaves from other spring in the dirt. Did too good a job on passenger side spring and drivers side felt left out of the action.Big hammer to bash spring pieces back into place and some fancy wiring and we’re off again. The plan to get to Drysdale had just gone out the window and was going to be lucky to get back to King Edward about 10 K away. A few k short of the camp and another twang from the drivers side and a bit of a lurch and im stopped in the middle of the track. I get out knowing whats happened and sure enough the upper three leaves have snapped completely in half to join the lower three. Truly fucking amazing. I drag Bay slowly to the side and lay in the dirt under him thinking what to do. Im out of 12G by now and as good a seamstress as I am I don’t think I could sew the 12 bits back together. Out of the red mist that has come over me is a plan. Out comes the trusty jack and a yellow tyre ramp which I put between the axle and the underside of the trailer. The little yellow ramp ( I call him Rampy and his brother Rompy) has helped me out in other predicaments as well. Namely getting Hervey and Bay bogged up in Kincoona last year. Anyway Rampy gives a few squeaks and creaks but doesn’t crumble under the weight of Bay but just sits there and takes it. Off we go again. Down to snails pace by now but getting there . After 11 stops , all carefully documented in Tracys diary, several photos and 8 hours in which we did 76k’s we finally pull up in King Edward camp ground ( Warnmarri side) and stop near the camp hosts. We arrange to set it up near their spot tonite and leave it there tomorrow while we go into Drysdale or Broome to get some new bits to fix Bay. The day had been a long and tiring one and I had kept it together pretty bloody well I thought but got angrier and angrier when we reached camp and it blew when I sat on my glasses and popped a lens out. I cried like a baby when I went to bed that night – not sure why – glad to be safe somewhere , not looking forward to driving 800 k to get springs , or cause I was nearly out of beers. Bring on tomorrow is all I can say. We were up early and had Bay all wrapped up and Hervey loaded with sleeping bags, stoves and anything else we thought we might need for a few nights away from home. To think we moved from our 2 story house to a camper trailer and now to not sure. We set off after swapping details with the camp hosts ( John and Christine) and got to Drysdale after a 2 hour drive along the beautiful road. With my broken spring in hand I went to the shop to be told the mechanic was away. After explaining the previous days events to the shop kepper Pam and her partner she made a call to Kununurra and ordered a set of 9 leaf springs, ubolts and shackle pins to come out on the mail plane to Drysdale the following day and then up to King Edward camp the next day via a tourist heading that way. After parting with $300- (including freight) which I thought was not to bloody bad and very happy to do we set off again to King Edward camp. I thought that something must surely go wrong with this plan as it all seemed to good to be true. We arrived back at camp and set up again. The following day I removed the other spring and all the offending bitsin anticipation of getting the new springs , whipping them on and getting on the road as quickly as possible. I also re arranged the highlift and Maxtrax while there and tried to do some school work with the boys. They were enjoying the interlude immensely , just not the work. The next day as I was into my 2nd load of washing a fourby rolled up and asked if I was chasing a pair of springs. His mate travelling with him proceeded to pull out the springs from his toolbox. A small box of pins and bolts were there and after thanking them profusely I finished the wash and rinse cycles in rapid time and set to putting the springs on Bay. They were 25mm shorter than the originals and didn’t lift Bay up any higher so on they went. We packed up Hervey and Bay as much as we could that night so we could leave as early as possible the next day.
28 July – 29 July Mt Barnett station Manning Gorge We left King Edward camp about 0800 after saying goodbye to John and Christine and thanking them for the help they had given us. We got to Drysdale about 1000 and got some more fuel after thanking Pam for her help in getting the springs to us as quickly as she did. I had been checking the nuts and everything at regular intervals all the way down the track. I was still amazed that we were back on the road again so quickly. After a quick stop at the junction of Kalumbaru rd and Gibb River road to dump some rubbish and what was left of the springs. ( Ive kept the split ones and the top leaf of the other side for souvieners ) We headed towards Mt Barnett along another fantastically corrugated road. About 30k before Mt Barnett they started doing some road work and we were diverted to a side road which was even better than the roads we had been travelling for the past week. We stopped at Mt Barnett and Tracy bought a few items from the unmarked shelves and we surmised that there were two prices – one for tourists and one for the locals. We had lunch in the shade of some of their trees and then prepared to head to the camp grounds. Tracy and Matt went to the shop while Liam and I waited in the car. Liam asked who the lady was that Tracy was talking to and as I couldn’t see her ignored his question. I finally looked out my window and saw Kris (Belling) Brady and her husband Kev laughing and talking to Tracy. They had been travelling up the WA coast and as we hadn’t had internet or phone access since we were evicted we hadn’t held much hope in seeing them. A few more minutes either way and we would have all passed like shadows in the night. They were travelling with some friends that they had met , Russell and Karen, and were staying at the camp as well so we all made our way there set up and took a dip in the Manning River. The following day Tracy Matty and the others took the walk to Manning Gorge leaving Liam and me at camp to do all the washing and fixing things. That night we all sat around the fire while many a joke and conundrum was shared, some of which the boys didn’t get , but it was a great night especially when we were privileged to taste one of the famous Kris Brady’s Damper. Not to shabby. She had two little helpers so we are expecting some repeats further down our trip.
30 July Dog Chain Creek We packed up and headed out of Manning Gorge camp after saying our goodbyes and taking a few photos of all. They are all heading the way we have come but it was very lucky and enjoyable running into them like we did. We plan to have a campout at the Brady farm on our return to QLD. Not sure if it’s a free camp or not. We stopped at Galvan’s Gorge for the short walk and it was a very nice little spot and gave me some inspiration for some water features for our house and yard. We came across a broken Toyota , yes another one, on a hill and stopped to see if we could help in any way. They had lost power on the way up the hill and weren’t sure if dirty fuel,no fuel or dirty filter. They bought some diesel off me and changed the filter and the old thing fired back to life . They followed us to Imintji store where we stopped and had some pies for lunch. The stranded couple were from Kingscliffe - Kev and Jenny. After our lunch we headed to Bells Gorge where we took the walk and had a swim at the bottom of the falls. We didn’t camp there but continued on to Dog Chain Creek where we stopped and camped near the creek.
31 July – 1 August (Present) Windjana Gorge Road ?Oscar Range Mine We packed up and headed off. We stopped at Wndjana Gorge which apparently is the remains of an old reef. Very spectacular scenery and I was finally proved wrong that all this croc stuff was someones imagination. We saw about 20 freshies , as we up here in the north call them, sunning themselves on the banks of the gorge creek. Ugly looking critters and very skittish.. After our visit there we headed for Tunnel Creek down the road. We took the walk through the tunnel and water within. One of the best places and things that we have done in my opinion. On the way out some bloke pointed out another freshie on the far bank in the dark about 10 M away. Tried to take a photo but only got his red eye. I tried to tell the boys about the movie called The Descent and how we should have watched it before we came on the tunnel walk. Very interesting walk but take a torch. We left Tunnel Creek and headed south along Windjana Road until we got to one of the spots marked in a free camps book that Kris passed on to us. Its an old quarry or mine about 11 k northj of the junction with the Great Northern Hway. Really nice place with a pool of freshwater in the old mine pit.
Will endeavour again to get some photos on as soon as we are at a place with some internet coverage for more than a minute. Hope you have enjoyed reading this part of our journey and it has amused you as much as the events amused me - sometimes
