We had a few household chores to do this morning so Trevor cleaned out our storage boxes, dried out liners and repacked while I washed clothes.
Our companions had left early and we had no idea what they were up to, so we decided to go and see some of the 4WD tracks and lookouts further in to the station.
We headed out past the river campsites like ours and our first challenge was a very long and rocky river crossing. It wasn’t as deep as some of the others, but much less used and very rocky, so we took it very carefully. The other challenge with this one was that you couldn’t see the other side when you started, so there was always the chance of meeting another vehicle coming in the opposite direction. We were lucky to make it across and were just about to head onwards when another vehicle came rushing around the bend towards us!
Once over that we had a variety of sandy and slightly rocky sections before the fairly steep climb to Branko’s lookout. This spot we had to ourselves, looking down over a huge bend in the river. Spectacular! Trevor spotted a croc way down there in the water! You could see the roof of the very expensive ElQuestro homestead (~$2000/night) in the distance. We enjoyed a quiet cuppa up here at the lookout and were just pulling out as another vehicle arrived!
We drove on from the lookout (past some very large bulls standing idly in the limited shade of a scrawny tree) along the scenic track to Explosion Hole, where once more we stood high above the water on slabs of rock, marvelling at the beauty below. There was a boat down in the water and some birds of prey played in the wind currents and called to each other.
Here we had a lunch break and Trevor went for a bit of a walk back along the track looking for the can of silicon spray that had escaped from one of the storage boxes which had shaken open on the drive. No luck. We figured if the worst that happened was one lost can we would be happy.
From here we tracked back (finding our can on the track as we drove), across the long rocky crossing (with another view of the homestead with its wide verandas, spread out on it’s own cliff top viewing area) and passed the many trunked boab before we turned in to check out the jetty where we have to be tomorrow morning for our cruise. We laughed at the vehicle parked there-a very large, very capable looking camping vehicle with what looked like a SA government logo and the slogan below “ Department of adventure and relaxation”
The spot where the tour boat is moored is quite spectacular. A stunning view both ways along the river and archer fish swimming expectantly in the clear water.
From here we deviated off on the track to pigeon hole lookout. I had seen photos of this view and was very keen to see it for myself. Another water crossing, and past some more river campsites on the other side of the river and another climb up to the lookout where, once again we had a delightful bend spread out before us. In the far distance a lone fisherman stood on a rocky point beside the water. He was at Pigeon hole lagoon.
We took the turn towards pigeon hole lagoon and found that the track (after another very steep climb) became much rougher and rockier. I think this was the toughest and trickiest 4WDriving I’ve ever been involved in. Steep slopes with interesting angles and very tricky rocky areas with unexpected drops and tight spaces. Both Trevor and the vehicle handled it all really well. It was a tough drive down to the fishing spot and then a tough drive back up. The spot was not as pretty as many we had seen in the day but did afford a good spotting of what we think was a sea eagle enjoying his fishing catch high up in a tree.
We tracked home from there, arriving back a bit before 3 pm. Once we had parked and popped the top Trevor realised that the fridge was no longer on, and he began a process of investigation , but was unable to find the cause without his multimeter, which had been left at home.
With our helpful Craig away somewhere, and no idea when they might be returning and knowing that there is a maintenance shed open till 4 each day at ElQuestro for tyre repairs etc we decided to unpop and drive back in to the bustling resort area and campground to see if we could get some help to solve this electrical puzzle. Unfortunately at 3:15 they already had the “closed” sign out, and the guys standing out the back having a chinwag around the Ute were not interested in helping. We were invited to come back at 7am tomorrow and they would take a look. They didn’t sound too hopeful and we figured we might well be in for a trip back to Kununurra.
We headed back, conserving as much power as possible by using our head torches etc.
Once Craig was back and had had his tea he made his skills and multimeter available and the boys tracked the problem to the switch which runs the fridge and volt meter. This was switched with the one for the water pump (which we rarely use) and the fridge was back functioning again. Hooray! So we are proceeding on our way tomorrow towards the west.
Luvapuzzle 