There are four key places to take a look at while you visit Mount Hart. We did a little planning and came up with a route that would hopefully fit them all into our day.
In the end we didn’t try to go to the sunset viewing area.
Dolerite Gorge is north along the Barker River (the same river that flows past the campground and provides a nice swimming hole right close to our parking spot). The road to get there has some quite rocky sections that had us bumping along very carefully over quite sharp rocks. The gorge is poorly marked . After following a path from the car park for a hundred metres or so you then have a guessing game ahead of you as you reach the rocky areas. In some spots there is a sandy track or you can see a path a little ahead or the mark where a sign used to be. I think we saw one actual sign along the way. We crossed the river on rocks three times and rock hopped a lot of the rest of the way. On one side the cliffs are a mass of dark red (almost black) boulders piled high, on the other they are a dark gray. The swimming hole at the end is about 100m long and quite narrow and is nestled between these two cliff faces. A large paperbark towers over the lot. Then, after a dip you need to back track over the whole lot. I took a bit of a spill on one rock hopping section and have a bruised knee to show for it, but nothing worse.
Dolerite Gorge
The next stop on our grand plan was Annie’s Creek -here a giant boab stands with a fig growing through the centre.
There is also a deep water crossing here that is forcing the road to be closed-with a huge boulder in the centre (perfect for ruining diffs)
We headed onwards to Barkers Pool- here we found the best swimming and relaxing spot. This is really a large bend in the river with an extra shallow pool section at the bend. You can swim out into the deeper river section to cool off.
Barkers Pool
Al and Zita found us there as they arrived, having finally had their van picked up by the tow truck and taken to Derby. They will meet it there in a few days time, but for tonight they are staying in a safari tent here. They brought their blow up boats down and we all took turns using them along with halves of the paddle that the Colwells bought in Kununurra. This was a delightful and lazy afternoon.
We packed up and headed back to do a little more washing, have showers and be ready for tea. We didn’t pop the camper back at camp as we would have just needed to unpop again to drive back to the homestead for tea.
Fish and chip tea with the six of us together was good. The fish was Shark Bay whiting and well cooked with a really nice fresh salad which we all savoured. We are all feeling the need for salad in this time of deprivation.
Today Sophia will have been 10 weeks old. We thought about her lots today and feel glad to know that there will be a photo awaiting us when we manage to get some communication again in a few days time.
We had great views of a long tailed finch this morning in the campground and a rainbow bee eater was also quite keen to show himself off at close quarters. How lucky were we!
Long tailed finchRainbow bee eater
We packed up at a leisurely pace and headed off up the track for the last 10km or so. The track continued to be fairly rough and corrugated with some deepish water crossings as well. The walking path in to Bell gorge from the car park (about 1 km) is also quite rocky with a good amount of rock hopping required (and careful foot placement)
The path comes to a flat rock area and from here you can look down into the falls themselves.
If you choose to negotiate your way over the flowing water somehow (generally by stepping down across thigh deep water) you can rock hop some more and clamber down to the base of the falls.
There you can swim. Trev really enjoyed this swim under the falls and out to the next couple of pools. I took photos of him from above and then swam in the warmer top pools above the falls.
I was lucky enough to see a beautiful goanna as I waited for his return.
We rock hopped out and made our way back to the GRR where we turned right once again.
We had a very hot stop at Lennard Gorge, where we traipsed a few km in searing heat. Ran out of water before we returned. We had only a distant view of the waterfall at teh end and no way to get down to the water. The walk now ends at a lookout.
The road in to Mount Hart is about 50km long. This road was quite rocky in places and corrugations were bad in parts too. There are also a number of rocky or muddy crossings.
On arrival we found out that Al and Zita were not arriving today. Despite initial promises the tow truck will not pick up the van till tomorrow. We booked ourselves in for fish and chips tea tomorrow night (the pizza option was already booked out) and, after a cold drink (cider and ginger beer) went about 1 km up the road to the grassy campsite beside the river.
We had a quick dip at the swimming hole with a ladder to get out. More crimson finches were happily playing here.
We had breakfast with the birds at the space we now consider our private birding spot. Sure enough, after some quiet waiting ,the crimson finches were there with us, along with some paperbark flycatchers and a brief view of the purple crowned wrens before all went quiet again. We have learned to tell the black and white flycatchers from the willie wagtails as they sit very still instead of wagging tails all over the place and are larger. They also make a weird buzzing sound (zzzt, zzzt)
Picture from bird app
We sorted out our rubbish into the various types of recyclables (two types of cans, paper, plastic, organic waste) leaving us just with the genuine rubbish to carry onward ( filling one one litre milk container) as we head onwards. We also filled our water containers with the decent water they have coming out of the tap at Mornington since we have no idea when more will be available.
Those flat topped hills on the way out are amazing…
We were at the radio point just before the GRR at 11:15. (93 km out from the sanctuary)
We hit a really nice patch of road for nearly 10 km after brief section of roadworks on the GRR after turning to the west. We were able to travel at 90km/hr and overtake a vehicle without risk of rock damage for the first time in a long time. Then we were back to piles of dirt in the centre with new track on either side (still an improvement on the general GRR conditions) and back to the good road all the way into Imintji. Here we put in 50l of fuel at $2.00/litre and bought some biscuits and a couple of weis bars for a treat. We were hoping possibly for milk, eggs, bread and maybe some fresh fruit or veg but this was not to be. The next week or so before we find a shop may become VERY interesting.
At 1:15 we were still cooling our heels waiting for our travelling companions to arrive, having had late morning tea and lunch. We hope they are OK. The saving grace of our elongated stop (and the reason for it -so that Al can use Trev’s Optus coverage to make a call to Broome to set up some repairs) was Optus coverage. This little community has a small Optus coverage area. Not surprisingly the shop sells Optus phone cards. I suspect they get through a few of these. We were able to catch up on family news (including pictures of precious Sophia who we are greatly missing) and Trev’s emails while we waited.
Ev and Craig turned up about 1:30 with the sad news that Zita and Al have had a bit of a disaster. Driving behind them on that new patch of road there was suddenly a burning smell and they used the UHF to tell them to pull over when they noted smoke. They have either broken their axle or done something to wheel bearings on their van. The guys working on the road wanted them to move it, but they didn’t think they could without the whole thing collapsing.
A half hour or so later Zita and Al arrived in their car. The road workers had said they would keep an eye on the van and Zita and Al had driven in to where they could make phone calls. We left the four others and went ahead to find campsites for two vehicles and Colwells left not too long after with the future plans for Al and Zita still unknown. One tow truck company on Derby had said they could be there Thursday morning to take the van. (it was currently Tuesday afternoon). We have seen what can happen to vehicles left behind on the road and understand that they feel very reluctant to do so, but can you camp in a broken van right on the road?
We are once again away from phone coverage, so will have to wait and see what happens from here. Al and Zita have been to Bell Gorge before, so at least they aren’t missing out on something they haven’t seen before.
We had a quiet night at the camping ground with spirits a bit dampened due to the mishap of the day.
The large termite mounds peered at us from around the campground. I wonder what they were thinking.
This morning I went on a morning walk, determined to find some purple crowned wrens. I did find them, but photographing them was a whole other challenge. I also found lots of scarlet finches plus bower bird with white and green bower busily doing his housework. On my return I joined Trevor on the riverbank near Al and Zita’s van and we watched the crimson finches near their nest and the wrens came to visit us. Why did I bother to walk?? If I had bothered to bring my camera to breakfast I could have got a great shot. ( unlike this morning when they were in the thick pandanas)
Sadly this is my best photo of purple crowned wren. Lady wren identified by brown spot behind eye you can see her beautiful tailCrimson finches look weird
After we had packed up we followed on the path that Craig and Ev had taken just a little earlier out to Dimond Gorge. They were already canoeing and out of sight when we got there with the final paddle and life jacket for the 3 man canoe that was hired. Luckily there was another canoe just sitting there, so we took that one out for a paddle, not going too far as we were mindful that the renters might turn up at any time. They never did.
Trevor went to empty the extra water out of the hire canoe there and a little creature went hopping away. He managed to get a photo of a little speckled frog. A little later a similar frog was spotted briefly still hiding in the canoe. Hopefully they were reunited later after we all left them in peace.
We stuck with the plan to have lunch at Cadjeput, driving back to there and putting out our chairs under a weeping paperbark for shade we ate a very pleasant lunch. We are getting very low on salad ingredients.
Al and Zita brought out their inflatable canoes , which were really comfortable and ideal for the situation.
This was a lovely relaxed afternoon. We were glad we had booked to stay for 3 nights here to allow this time to just enjoy the spot.
There are a great number of very healthy kapok trees out near Dimond gorge and it almost seems as though bright yellow sprinkles are floating in a cloud above the ground, Because the kapoks have lost their leaves and have dark stems and branches the flowers stand out as though floating.
When we got back to camp we took our bottle of red and chairs down to the water spot with some nibbles and sat quietly. We were rewarded by good numbers of crimson finches hopping about and tending their nest built at the base the base of a pandanus just above the water. This was a real treat.
We ate the first of our frozen meals from Zita and Al’s freezer (massaman chicken) and headed off to make use of the showers.
We returned to the campsite from the showers just after 7 and headed to bed bone tired. This holidaying is hard work!
We were up At 5:15 to get ready to go on our bird tour. We walked down the road to the reception area to meet our guide (Susie) and hopped in the bus with five others. Susie was a VERY enthusiastic leader and really into birds. We were able to see thirty different kind of bird during our two hours with her, including the rare and endangered Gouldian finch and a female red backed wren. The colourful male remains on our “ yet to be seen” list.
Once we were back from our birding we had a quick breakfast and headed out to Sir John Gorge. This is one of the large gorges on the Mornington property and we rock hopped to a nice rocky ledge area with a few trees giving a bit of shade and swam from there.
A freshwater croc livened up our day by providing us with some interest.
We drove back and into the Blue bush wetland but by now it was midday and very hot. With no shade it was quite overbearing. We spotted an intermediate egret, straw neck and Australian ibis and some masked lapwings and retreated to the air conditioned vehicle.
We continued on to Blue bush where we found decent shade by the side of the water and had lunch under the shade. Another swim was next (Zita found a spotted frog clinging to the bank and trying to be invisible).
Next we headed on to Cadjeput, where we checked out what it was like. This has more shade and you can drive all the way to the water where there is a sandy beach. Ideal for floating blow up boats and swimming tomorrow.
We were back at camp in time for a shower before we walked down in the dark and had our tea. It was 2 courses and overpriced at $60/ head but very nice to have someone else cook a quality meal for us.
It had been bugging me why most of the boabs have no leaves, but every now and then we see one with leaves (sometimes beside another with no leaves). It is apparently water related. They will drop their leaves to conserve water. If they have access to water like roots into a permanent source then they don’t need to drop their leaves.
An AWC presentation followed the meal- we heard about the work they are doing-especially the patch burning of cool burns early in the dry which leaves habitat for the critters and reduces risk of hot large burns which leave moonscapes later in the dry.
Birds seen at Mornington:
Black faced wood swallow
Grey crowned babblers
red winged parrot
Northern rosellas
Whistling kite
Nankeen night heron
Magpie lark
Little pied cormorants
Black bittern
Double barred finches
Blue winged kookaburra (with a cry like a barking dog)
White winged cuckoo shrike
Little wood swallow
Yellow tinted honeyeater
Gouldian finch
Straw necked ibis
White bellied cuckoo shrike
Magpie lark
Brown Goshawk
rainbow bee eater (heaps of them)
red backed fairy wren
Pictorella mannikin
Brown quail
Galahs
Brown honeyeaters
Banded honeyeater
Torresian crow
Peaceful dove (with the blue/gray eyes). These love to play on the road and lift at the last moment.
Long tailed finch
Brown falcon
Great Bower bird (except when they wake you in the morning. I’m sure they are all eccentrics)
We spent the morning trying to make the most of our time at Charnley River.
There were several more singing gates to open and shut on the road out to Dillie Gorge. The place was fantastic all to ourselves. We rock hopped down to a small beach area where we hoped for easy in and out of the water and a bit of shade from the couple of trees there.
We had a lovely time swimming beneath the cliffs in the clear water.
Donkey pools was on our way back (almost) so we made the diversion and walked out past the first and second pools to the larger and slightly clearer third one. Here Trev and I swam while Ev and Craig looked round for the water monitor. No water monitor was found.
We returned our info book for deposit and had lunch while looking for red backed wrens. No luck. Something there but????
We drove out and did the 4 km to the Mornington turn off. Here we used the radio in the shelter shed to advise Mornington that we were on the track. It took a couple of hours to come in on that track past the flat topped mountains. This was a good road with a few rough bits. Great creek crossings and very pretty drive. Not as many gates as Charnley.
Al and Zita had just finished registering and found a campsite while we paid. We paid a deposit for the info book for here. We registered for bird tour at 5:45 am tomorrow. (!) and booked for dinner tomorrow night
Bar snacks and ice cold cider were a treat and we had a lovely warm shower. ( a bit hot and cold depending on other users)
Camping here is spread along Annie’s Creek. You self select your site. Al and Zita found a great spot by the creek which they happily shared with us (not so close to the creek)
We were leaving the Barnett Roadhouse just after 9am having bought 30 l of fuel and 3 bananas and topped up our water stocks and pumped a little more air into our front tyres.
Galvans Gorge was our first stop. We parked just off the road in the little car park and walked in along the track past two long lily ponds. There were heaps of bird sounds and lots of double barred finches were seen. There were some wrens of some kind too, but we couldn’t get close enough to see what kind.
At the top of the track we came to the swimming hole itself. There was a lovely waterfall spilling into the pool and some ancient artwork on one of the rocks beneath an overhang.
Galvans Gorge
The double barred finches were in abundance on the way out
Double barred finch
Trev and I stopped to have a cuppa and the others continued on.
On the way to our next stop we came across Al and Zita stopped and Evelyn on the road. She was searching for their lost TPMS sensor ( for monitoring tyre pressure). Craig was in at the “Over the range” tyre repair place getting a new deep cycle battery and another new tyre (this one to replace the worn one with the slow leak) We continued on and checked out “Frog campsite” by the side of the Adcock river which had lovely sites beside the creek and was quite large and flat.
Our next stop was the 5 km in of rough track to Adcock Gorge.
Rough track Classic Kimberley car park
We had lunch in the car park there with Al and Zita before walking in to the gorge. There was a fair amount of rock hopping required for this one. The pool at the end was quite cool with black cliffs and just a trickle of a waterfall coming over. There was quite a bit of vegetation with fig roots extending down the cliff near the fall and a hanging garden of ferns etc cascading down nearby. The pool was chilly I thought ( but not as chilly as Emma Gorge).
From here it was just a short distance to the road in to Charnley River Wilderness camp and then 40km or so in on their road. We enjoyed the drive in with some lovely water crossings. They had very heavy pipe gates that made a very musical noise (like singing) as they opened and closed.
We had a barbecue to cook on and a burner to use instead of our own, hot water in the shower and a communal campfire to sit around and chat with others. And not too many campers squashed in close together either. We thought this was great.
Trev and I and Ev drove out to see the sunset from the lookout, but we were just a touch too late. Very dusty roads with rough patches.
Shannon and Jamie did a great job of welcoming us and we obtained a book about the place for a deposit.
Singing gates of Charnley river
Along the road to Charnley You will find some heavy gates As each is opened up A tuneful sound reverberates
It’s almost like they’re singing As they open up for you And offering a welcome As you bring your vehicle through
They sit there waiting patiently Through the dry times and the damp And welcome all the visitors to Charnley River camp
And as they swing to welcome you They make a joyful sound Another friend for Charnley River Wilderness is bound
We agreed on a start time of 8:15 for starting the walk in to Manning Gorge. The walk starts with a swim across the swimming hole, so it was a chilly start, but there was already a bit of warmth in the sun by then, and none of us wanted to be making the walk back in the main heat of the mid afternoon.
Trev and I watched birds while we waited for the others
Can’t decide but think this might be a finch of some kind??
Sure enough, it was a bit of a shock to plunge in quite so early, but not too bad. We were lucky to grab a half barrel for our backpacks and shoes along with the Colwells. Al and Zita had to wait for one to swim back from the other side and we waited on the far shore of the swimming hole until we were once again reunited.
Al coming across with barrel
Then the 3 km walk to the falls and gorge. Sometimes the track was sandy, sometimes rocky and there were a number of sections with quite large rocks to get over. The most challenge was right towards the end, when we needed to manage some large drops from rocks as we came down into the gorge.
One of the rocky challenges into the gorge
The gorge is certainly impressive. Craggy sandstone cliff faces with the lovely warm rusty colour that makes them so beautiful and still pool of water beneath them until you walk the rock ledge around the corner and see the waterfall pool. Here a fall crashes onto a wide, deep pool and there must have been about 200 people all laughing and chatting and swimming while the falls crashed down. Noisy place. There were a number of rocks to the side of the falls of varying heights where people were jumping from. It was fun to watch them get up there and some try and then fail to raise the nerve to jump.
It certainly was a relief to dive into the cool water and didn’t take long for the body temperature to drop. There is a sandy section in one spot where you can stand and have your head above water rather than having to work to stay up in the fresh water all the time.
You can see the lighter patch where the sandbar is in this photo
We had a bit of a catch up with our neighbours from the first night in Purnululu here before heading to the rocks on the other side where the sun was shining. There we warmed up for a while before Trevor went scaling the rocky wall to see what the pools above the falls looked like. Erica opted for a chat with Zita in the sun before swimming in close up where the waterfall was falling and then back over to where we had dropped off our pack. There were a variety of fish sharing the pool with the humans-some quite a reasonable size that would possibly we ok to catch and eat. No idea what sort.
We ate our lunch early, hungry from the water exercise and decided to head back along the path. We had watched Craig and Ev scaling the rocks to go above the falls so knew they would be a while yet. We met Al and Zita who also seemed to be ready to go, but then they dropped off behind somewhere. Maybe they just found a new and different spot to sit. We climbed back up the rocks and were quite tired by the time we had made that first steep climb out of the gorge. Luckily we had a good amount of water with us for the 3 km walk back in what was now very warm sun and had had some food too. We picked up energy as we went along. We deviated in to see another of the Kimberley rose trees ( sticky kurrajong) with pretty red flowers still in bloom.
Kimberley roseUnusual flowers
It wasn’t too long before we reached the swimming hole again. I took a photo of the small fringed water lilies that grow on the edge of the hole
and we quickly hopped out of shoes and put the camera and keys into the wet sack before sharing a swim with barrel back to the other side with some more new friends. that saved a swim over and back to get a half barrel.
We headed back to our van feeling weary but neither of us actually managed to get to sleep. It was pretty warm in the van with the sun beating down on it and better outside in the shade with some breeze.
We enjoyed a quiet cuppa and Erica did a bit of catch up with the blog until the others returned.
A little later we had time do Erica went on a bit of a bird walk finishing at the waterhole. Trev went down there later and saw more birds in less time!!
We only have the one burner working on the stove st present so tea was a one pan affair of stir fried beef, the capsicum which badly needed eating, onion and noodles all with teriyaki sauce. It was pretty good. We followed this with fruit and jelly as we chatted with the others. For the first time we left the dishes until the morning. Probably a bad move but a lovely lazy thing to do in the moment. Both weary, we dropped into bed early, leaving the others to their chatter.
Manning madness
Halfway across the GRR there stands a simple store It sells the bare necessities , some fuel and plenty more If you’re coming past along the Gibb you need to stop in here It’s very very popular it seems this time of year
The rigs are queued behind the pumps to get their precious fuel The grandparents beside the phone to make their precious call The cooks are buying produce that they need to stock their vans Frozen meat and bread and all those tasty baked bean cans
The Manning Gorge, just down the road is beckoning from here Once you’ve filled with fuel and paid for access( fairly dear) You come along a sandy track and wind amongst the trees and find yourself a spot just anywhere you please.
The swimming hole is beautiful with birds among the trees Clear water and imposing cliffs all brushed by balmy breeze Tiny little fishes ( and some tiny snakes) swim by You can use a half a barrel to keep your backpack dry
And in the busy campground all the happy children play The people off the buses chat about their busy day As gentle chatter wafts along and campfires slowly die We settle down to sleep again Beneath the starry sky.
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.
Crimson finch
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.
Manning Campground swimming hole
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.
We had an early walk to the falls near the river pool after breakfast and pack up.
The waterfall wasn’t hugely impressive but the setting made the picture beautiful.
Waterfall
The smooth red of the sandstone and quiet waters of the pool together in the morning light were lovely. We found a very deep whirl hole in the stone where rocks have eroded the soft stone as they tumbled in the water. It must have been at least five metres deep.
Tumble holeCrazy rocksPolished red rocks by the pool
Some red tailed black cockatoos noisily greeted us as they whirled overhead.
We headed off down the road from camp and came up behind Al and Zita (who were stopped to rearrange their wood on top) just at an appropriate time for morning tea, so we talked them into taking a break with us and Al tipped his Jerry can of fuel into the tank.
As we were packing up we saw the Colwells cross at the crossing, so we knew that we were pretty close on the road.
Not long later we came to the grader working his way along the road. What a relief!!
It was quite amusing to see a white haired , white bearded fellow racing towards us on a red four-wheeled motorbike with his dog- no helmet, no face covering of any kind!! He must have got a face full of dust every time someone passed him, but he looked like he was having a whale of a time. His very loud shirt completed the picture.
We came up behind Craig and Evelyn just as they were crossing the last water crossing before Drysdale River Station. We opened the gates for each other as we entered the station.
First on the agenda was fuel- we put in 50 litres of fuel. This should at least get us to Imintji if required.
Craig discovered that he had lost a shocker on his Vista and unfortunately the shock absorber shaft had kicked up and had worn away the inside of his tyre. Luckily this had not yet caused the tyre to blow, but it was close. Unfortunately this meant a new tyre at Drysdale and a lunch stop (egg and bacon roll for us).
We continued on as the forward party to Barnett River Gorge to try to find a campsite. We didn’t find one well. The area was already pretty busy and trying to locate a spot that was OK for 2 vans plus us was a challenge. In the end we decided to park and walk in to try to see the gorge. We found a swimming spot after some stone hopping and path walking. Trev had a brief swim.
Barnett River Gorge swimming hole
We were lucky to see a couple of rainbow bee eaters on our way out.
Rainbow bee eater
On the way out there were the others coming in. They had seen our van and come to the same spot. We decided to stay in the spot at the end of the track ( avoiding the car parking spaces) and spread ourselves around on the flattest areas. We had a lovely fire and admired the lovely clear dark sky with the stars spread out above us.
Luvapuzzle 