Today we travelled from Barnett River Gorge after Trevor had a walk to the top of the gorge. It was actually pretty close to midday by the time we set off, but that was OK as we only had about 40km to drive.
We pulled into the Mount Barnett roadhouse at about 1230 and it was bedlam! There must have been at least 40 vehicles jostling for space to park coming in and out or waiting in a long line for fuel. Luckily we are not not desperate for fuel, so I headed inside to look for supplies and purchase our camping permit. I had spent some of my time this morning consolidating our rubbish into a much smaller volume envisaging that we were still going to have to collect as much again before we had a chance to quit it anywhere, so it was a surprise and delight to find that there was a spot to leave it at Mount Barnett Store. This was very much appreciated. There is still no phone service though, so we stay in our bubble, isolated from the happenings of the world and unable to received our much anticipated Sophia updates. She will be 9 weeks old tomorrow!!
Was crazy inside too. The credit machines were not working so it was a cash only situation and this was slowing up the action even more.
I picked up a few pieces of fruit, weetbix, tomatoes,frozen bread, a couple of weis bars for a treat and some butter. The bill (with $80 of it being for our two nights) was $126!
We drove into the crowded campground and weaved our way along the track looking for a good space for the three of us. We found somewhere with reasonable shade and a reasonable space from other campers and pulled in, setting up our folding chairs in one spot and our folding table in another to save the spaces until the others arrived, then went about making some lunch. There was a great cacophony of bird sounds around the campsite and we identified Gray crowned babblers as one of the main culprits with a handful of them moving about in the nearby trees, chattering away.
At 2.30 we were getting a bit hot, and slightly worried as Al and Zita still hadn’t arrived. We had left them back at the previous campsite finishing off their packing up, but had imagined that they would be only an hour or so at the most behind us. We weren’t expecting Colwells yet as they had gone forward to the mechanical repairs place about 39 km away to see about tyres, battery and shocker requirements and that was bound to take a while. We decided not to worry yet and that we would go and check out the swimming area and cool off. Just as we were heading off Al and Zita arrived, so we could go off for a swim happily. As we walked back along the track to the swimming hole along came the Colwells. They had done what they could do so far (still no shocker) and will drop back in at “over the range repairs” on the way past in a couple of days time to pick up tyre and battery
The swimming hole, with its cool water was a relief . We lolled about in the water and then hopped out to warm up while we waited for the others. The little fish and birds kept us amused. Rainbow bee eaters were darting around in the tips of the river trees and a family of about 8 red finches (crimson) came and went from a little overhanging branch they used as a drinking spot.
Just as we were starting to think about leaving the swimming hole the Colwells arrived and I hopped back in. Ev and I swam across to the other side where the walkers return from the gorge walk and negotiated our way past the people who were fording the pool to come home, using the little blue half barrels to carry their backpacks or small children to keep them dry as they swam across. We rock hopped a bit and finally found the simple rock art located on a rocky overhang on the other side. This was rather underwhelming after the amazing things we have seen in the last week. We swam back after admiring the tiny lily flowers which are by the bank on the other side.
This place is simply Amazing but the masses of people are a bit much. There must be a hundred or more camp sites here tonight! Kids are playing rugby in the roadways and the plethora of different set ups is incredible. Impromptu repairs are being done all over the place. There are a number of tour group sites with rows and groups of 4 man tents grouped around sheltered areas and large fires.
One of the fellows Trev got talking to had built himself a dust avoidance system that was working well. He used a bilge blower paired with a duralite filter with a second filter made by sponge and inserted through the floor using PVC pipe.
Our large burner on our gas stove has stopped working, so we are down to one burner for the moment. Maybe Trev will get a chance to work in that in a few days time. This creates a further challenge for the moment. Mashed potatoes was cooked first and then sat waiting while schnitzel and other veg were cooked together in the pan. It all worked out OK
Tomorrow we will brave the cool water early and walk to the gorge so that it is not too hot coming back.
- Rainbow bee eater
- White faced Heron
- Crimson finch
- ? Double barred finch
- Grey crowned babbler
- 41km
Luvapuzzle 