Day 175 - Day 189

21 July 2013 - 4 August 2013

Now that we are on the coast the weeks have just flown past so I am combining two weeks into one blog!

We left Mount Isa on Sunday and drove another 13 hours to our next stop. We decided we would just keep driving till we saw a kangaroo jumping, that meant it was time to stop. Unfortunately we saw a huge kangaroo jump right in front of the car about 30 mins before we were at our final rest stop, so we had to drive at 80 and hope there was no more surprise kangaroos and luckily for us there wasn't! We stayed at a rest stop just past Aston with a truckie and a fellow grey nomad. Again absolutely buggered so off to bed for yet another day of long driving.

Monday and we drove and drove and unfortunately we decided to come in the back way through Kilkiven and Gympie etc and there would have been about 8 sets of roadworks that we actually had to stop for. Fail! We should have probably just gone on the main highways but anyway, made it to Gympie just on night fall and first thing we get is RAIN! Argh take me back to WA! Haha bloody raining in Gympie and Nambour! Fantastic welcome home?! We made it back home about 8pm and we were both buggered! Sleep and worry about telling people we are home tomorrow.

Since back on the coast I have been into work and surprised my ex boss, I tricked him and said I was going to be calling him but instead I knocked on his door! Pretty funny! Another reason we came back is to see if we can get work on the coast or whether we should try in Mackay or north of here when we head up there in the next couple of weeks. So turns out Pinnacle still has a job for me and once I come back from exploring Qld I will be starting back there!

Surprised my best friend Stacey (since the surprise with my boss worked so well thought I'd give it another go!), I told her we were going to Skype and at the time we were meant to Skype I turned up at her door! Hilarious! I'm easily entertained! And the fact she answered the door in her pjs and with unbrushed hair was even more entertaining! : )

Have had the car serviced and she is purring like a kitten now, not like a half dead very old homeless cat! Got a quote to clean the car up and at $450 we decided we could just get off our asses and do it ourselves. Note to self never ever aspire to be a car detailer! Argh!

Took everything out of the caravan and car and ended up with a garage full of absolute shit! Cannot believe the amount of stuff we had with us. Took all the tool boxes, roof rack etc off the ute and we are starting again with a different setup!

Had a nice birthday lunch at the Buderim Tavern, did some shopping with mumma and she bought me some new clothes! Thanks mumma.

Had a get together at our house with some mates and family and ate some fantastic seafood from Mooloolaba....prawns, bugs, crabs and salads made by Joel's mum and sister! And waaaayyy too many drinks!

Overall has been a relatively non productive couple of weeks! Haha just catching up with people and spending money we shouldn't be spending! Everything else we have done is fairly boring mundane stuff that I won't bore you with!

I will however tell you all the things that have really stuck out to us since arriving back in Qld!

• Traffic lights! Wow we hadn't seen these for a while and everywhere!
• Busy roads! My goodness everything is so busy! I still haven't worked out if this is because we aren't used to it or the coast is really pumping ATM?!
• People in a rush! Seriously you are probably only rushing to work anyway, why are you swerving in and out of traffic and acting like a right tool?
• Cheap, everything is really cheap here, we are lucky.
• It rains and is cold here! We forgot what that was like!
• People aren't friendly! People put their heads down instead of saying hello, we are so focused on ourselves we don't have time for other people anymore, sad really!
• It is really good to see familiar faces.
• We are tanned! We didn't notice till we got back here!
• Many other things that I'm sure ill think to blog about in the near future.

Anyway just in case we haven't seen you yet, we haven't forgotten about you, we just haven't had the time... We will catch up with you once we get back in about 5 weeks or so after exploring Qld coast. We will then be back for good and be going back to reality! Big thumbs down! Haha

Carly & Joel

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Day 174

20 July 2013

Well last night I saw my life flash before my eyes and thought I was going to be trampled by wild animals! Let me take you back to the beginning...

It all started in year 8 when I was forced to take an agricultural class and where I met my first Brahman cow. Now this cow was nasty, every time we set foot inside the fence it would butt it's head at me and chase me around so ever since then I have hated these cows. Anyway as luck would have it these cows are bloody everywhere in WA and NT and a lot of them are wild.

You are probably wondering when I will get to a point....well here it is....last night I made the fairly normal choice to go the the toilet just after dark. Walked about half way and noticed something moving in the corner of my eye. Turned and here are 3 big Brahmans eating grass in the caravan park! One white one was just staring at me and I thought I'd try and act tough and stare back at it hoping it would back down. After a short stare off I chickened out and thought I'm just going to race to the toilet and get back in the tent ASAP! So I am two metres from the toilet door and I hear this thump thump thump and look up...three Brahmans thundering towards me!! This is about the time my life flashed before my eyes and I started sprinting for the toilet door.

All this happened with a nice crowd of cowboys watching on too! I sat in the loo for ages before I worked up the courage to go back out and was met with cowboys telling me there's nothing to worry about, they are scared of humans, and now they've gone back to the paddock! Yea whatever they were killer cows.

Made it back to the tent to tell Joel all about my cow encounter and told him that the cows must of known I eat and enjoy beef! Haha

Crisis averted...this morning we packed up and started heading towards qld. After much discussion on where to go to next we made an interesting decision to head back to the Sunshine Coast! This is because of many reasons really...we are sick of towing the van around and it restricts where we can go, so we decided exploring qld would be easier in just a tent. We needed to get the car serviced...we had already missed one service and was coming up to the second so we really needed to sort it out, the car is doing a lot of rattling. It's my birthday soon and mum kept asking me where I was going to be so I thought we could make that easy. The car was filthy with red dust everywhere and we needed to sort this as well. And lastly we thought it would be nice to see everyone!

We did a big drive today to get us just past Mount Isa! 12 hours of driving later and we made it to Mount Isa just after dark. Mount Isa is lit up like a Xmas tree at night! Lights from mines everywhere, it was an interesting place! We stopped for fish and chips and couldn't believe how cheap it all was! Haha $17 for both of us! We are used to paying $14 for one piece of fish. Weird.

Anyway managed to find a very busy rest stop where I think we may have stolen the last possible bit of dirt available at the rest stop and headed for an early night to get up and do it all again tomorrow. Now we have made the decision to head home....we just want to get there ASAP.

Carly & Joel

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Day 173

19 July 2013

Another misty foggy morning, everything wet and smelling like a camp fire...that's how you know you are really camping! Haha

We had decided to pack up from this camp and head to Rosie's camp which is about 80km away from the homestead. There is lots of things to see and do on the way like Rosie's rapids, Monarch Rocks, Flying Fox Swamp and at the end of it all is some great fishing spots and the open ocean where apparently we should be able to just scoop up mud crabs with a net while avoiding sharks, stingrays and crocodiles! Rhett had suggested to chat to people on our way out there to try and team up with another car just for peace of mind as it is so remote.

Headed through the first gate and ran into a couple there so asked where they were heading, they were only going to the pools we had been to yesterday so couldn't team up with them so kept going. 2 minutes later Joel stops, pulls to the side of the road and says "shit, there is a light on on the dash." I of course reach for the car manual while Joel reaches for the hood latch and sees what he can see in the engine bay. I work out that the light is a water separator indicator light and it is telling us that there is water in the fuel and we need to drain it!

By this time another 3 men had congregated around the bonnet and attempted to drain the water. Light still on. We decide that while it may not be anything we probably shouldn't go to the most remote place in NT just in case we get stuck. So we were tee'd up for a big day of fishing and now we are faced with a day of trying to figure out what to do from here!

We attempted to drain it a few more times but the light was not going anywhere! Rhett allowed us to use the phone and Internet in his place to ring Isuzu to find out if we should continue driving with this light. The guy suggested to drain the fuel filter plug as well and then hopefully the light would go off. While Joel is under the car trying to do this, a couple come over and ask if we are ok. I explain what I know and he starts telling Joel things he could try...turns out he is a mechanic. So after stuffing around with it for another 30mins it was decided that there was no water in the fuel or filter so it was safe to drive and the light may just be an electrical issue. (We did go through some deep water crossings yesterday so we are thinking this might have fried something) We still didn't want to risk driving to middle of nowhere so decided our best bet was to head back to where the van was stored and start making our way to a bigger town!

Big thanks to the couple that helped us, was a shame we couldn't have met them in better circumstances cuz they were really nice, bout our age and they wanted to go to Rosie Camp too so we could've teamed up! There is lots of shit people out there, I know this, but meeting people on the road, the majority of people are good and kind hearted people willing to help when it's needed....it's comforting.

So instead of barra fishing and scooping mud crabs up in a net, we were back bouncing down the 130km dirt road to Heartbreak Hotel.

After refuelling we made a decision to pull up here for the night and do a big drive again tomorrow that will hopefully see us getting somewhere near Mt Isa.

After setting up camp we decided to see if we could get this light to go off on the dash. So Joel got under the car while I sat in the drivers seat to see if the light flickered or changed while Joel fiddled with the wires. Well by the time I walked around to the drivers side hopped in turned it to ON the light was gone! So now we are not sure whether it was something to do with the wires and Joel fiddling with them made the light go off OR whether putting more fuel in the car may have made the light switch off!! So after all this we are none the wiser but hopefully we won't have anymore trouble.

Carly & Joel

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Day 172

18 July 2013

Woke up to a misty dewey morning today. Was quite pretty but everything was wet which was a bit annoying. After arriving here we realized we actually didn't bring much food with us! Now sure how we left that off the shopping list but yes we will probably only last a few days before all food supplies run out and the bar is $32 per meal so we will have to weigh up whether its worth paying the money to hang around!

Rhett suggests that before you do any tracks, you go and see him to get a rundown on what you can and can't do etc so we headed to the bar to get the advice. We were just going close to camp today to have a look around but there is 1 million acres of exploring to do here so there is no shortage if you are a keen explorer! Mission today was to visit some pools for a swim and to do some fishing and drop the pots in to see if we could get any yabbies.

First stop took us to crocodile springs, there is a little river crossing here and the land is pretty rocky and sandy on the tracks. Nice little spot but no swimming.

Next we were off to the pools which consist of Tallawah, Tristan and Emerald Pools and Wildfire Gorge. Signage is pretty limited out here and we found it hard to follow the map they give you as a lot of tracks aren't marked on there so it is pretty easy to be lost and have no idea if you are heading in the right direction! Made it to Emerald Pools and this is meant to be a nice swimming hole, I am a bit fussy I will admit but there was nothing really inviting about this pool and it was quite small so we decided we would hold on and find a better pool to swim in.

Short walk to wildfire gorge and while it was pretty, in comparison it wouldn't blow wind up the Kimberley gorges ass! You can swim in the pools and while it looked ok, from video he showed us yesterday we thought we were holding out for something better.

Next off to the Eagles Nest billabong which is where they suggest fishing for barra and putting in your pots. They have a boat moored at the billabong with paddles for anyone to use so we pulled up, loaded our fishing gear into the boat and headed off for a paddle around. Beautiful billabong, was so nice paddling up it and flicking a few lures, I managed to catch a few branches but other than that the fish hate us! We caught a turtle in one of our pots which luckily we pulled up before it drowned! Another epic fail!

Checked out rock falls and this is another spot they suggested to get red claw and cheribin so put pots in while we had some lunch. Still nothing, Joel was getting desperate so he decided to try a sausage on a stick to see if he could entice something out and while it would be a pretty cool story if he did catch something, he didn't! Haha

Stinking hot we thought we would head to the water slide (a natural smooth rock slide that has water running through it and you can slide down into a pool below) which Rhett had showed us on his computer and said there should still be water to slide us into the water below. Sounds perfect so we drive there, 500m walk over rocky hilly terrain and the only thing that stopped us from getting lost was that fellow walkers had stacked rocks up to indicate which way to go, without these we would have been lost for sure! Made it to the slide and there was no water running on the slide which meant the water below was pretty yucky cuz there was no water flow. Another shame but what can you do, you turn around and head back to camp! We were out from 9-5 today so we were absolutely buggered. Headed back to camp for a fire and some pork roast in the camp oven.

From today's trip I think we have realized something...when you travel and see everything at once you become a bit complacent with what you see. Now if we hadn't just been to the Kimberley's I probably would have thought what we saw today was brilliant but we found ourselves going "oh is that it?" which sounds really bad and snobby but yea that's just how we felt about it. Hoping tomorrow might find us some new great places!

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 171

17 July 2013

State of Origin tonight! Woohoo! Go Queensland! I didn't care where we were as long as we could watch the origin (cuz we missed the second one!)

Woke up relatively late, still adjusting to bloody normal time, Joel says we have state lag! Picked up a few last minute supplies from the shop and headed off. Would highly recommend Mataranka as somewhere to visit, not much to look at but there are hidden treasures here.

We were heading 160km south to just after Daly Waters and then turning east for 260km to Heartbreak Hotel. Not much to see on the drive except a whole lot of caravans travelling the opposite way to us. Grey nomad tourist season is in full flight!

Made it to Heartbreak Hotel around 1ish and parked our van, grabbed a snack and some fuel at $2.09 and headed towards the dirt road that would take us 130km to Lorella Springs! She was pretty rough, worse than most of the Gibb! We couldn't really get over 60km at any time so it was pretty slow going and about half way we heard a rattle that didn't sound real friendly so jumped out and a bolt on the bash plate had come loose, so tightened that up and we were off again. Finally made it to the turn off to Lorella and now all we had was a 30km driveway to do and we were there! Sign advertising state of origin playing tonight at the bar, made me breathe easy as we knew where we were going to be tonight!

Longest driveway in history! They do try and keep you entertained with signs every now and again saying things like "100,000 bumps to go" or "Are we there yet?" but still takes a long time. We ran into this little gem on the way out there!

Why people try and take their caravans out here I will never know! Seriously what is wrong with the humble tent? I used to think you had to have a big you beaut camper trailer or caravan but seriously it is soo much easier not towing anything and setting up a quick tent! Anyway for the poor people who attempted to get this van out here it is going to cost them a bit to sort the mess out I'd say!

The sight of cars and camper trailers means we are here and it is welcome, after 8 hours of driving we are stuffed! Well Joel is cuz he drove but I am too, navigating is tough too you know!

Get a rundown from Rhett on what to see (has all pictures and video on his computer of attractions), where to go, camp, showers (using the good old donkey!), and direction of the hot springs....we do a quick setup before jumping into the springs.

Was warm but not my favourite springs cuz there is these little fish that bite you when you are in there! Apparently they go for any sores or scabs on your skin and peck at them but I don't have any and they were attacking me! So I jumped out while Joel had a chat to some boys from Toowoomba (of all places) and got the low down on what they had seen.

6 o'clock they were having a big cook up at the bar, everyone was bringing a plate and sharing before the origin tonight which is a nice idea but by the time we got back to camp it was 6 already so we just cooked curried sausages for ourselves and headed to the bar for origin a bit later.

They have a constant fire going at the bar area with camp ovens preheated so if anyone wants to use one or give camp oven cooking a shot you can use them at your leisure.

State of origin on....only a few Queensland supporters...lots of NSW but most of the people were from VIC or ACT. I mean really they have a choice and they still pick the wrong team! What a great game though! We were all on the edge of our seats! Up the mighty Queenslanders! Just showed how tough we are again! We have no Internet or phone service out here so so glad we got to watch it! You can BYO to the garden area but can't have it at the bar which I think is fair. And really lucky because beers are $7 and UDL and rum cans are $11! Ouch! Also a little birdy told us that fuel is $3.10/L!!!!!

Origin over can sleep easy now, knowing we are from the most awesome state and proud of it! Tomorrow - exploration.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 170

16 July 2013

Today was spent organising the van and car for our trip to Lorella Springs. We contacted Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford which is just before the turn off to Lorella and asked if we could store the van there and they kindly replied we could for $10 a night. So plan is to pack up tomorrow morning, drive to Heartbreak Hotel, leave van and head up to Lorella Springs for a few days.

Today was also spent in the Bitter Springs again floating on our pool noodles. We couldn't resist and even went early this morning to try and beat the crowds. It was so cool the springs were steaming as obviously it was quite cool (about 18 degrees) in the morning but springs are still 34degrees. I actually floated to the end and it was too cold to get out where you would normally have to walk back to the start so I busted my ass and swam back just so I didn't have to get out. Early morning workout! Was tough swimming against the current of the water, feels like you are getting nowhere...but I made it.

We also tried to help one of our neighbours find his camera. He capsized his kayak and the camera went into the creek. Major bummer! He had all photos of his trip up to NT and if he cant find it, will never see them again. He had let Joel have a crack in his kayak a few times since we have been here so we wanted to try and help him so Joel jumped into the freezing cold creek while I kept an eye out for crocs....but unfortunately no luck. That is a good lesson to always transfer your photos every night to something other than your camera.

Anyway not much else going on today and big drive tomorrow so off to bed early.

Carly & Joel

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Day 169

15 July 2013

Firstly we want to wish Joel's dad David a happy birthday! Hope you had a great day and sorry we couldn't call, we have no phone service only Internet!

Today we woke up late! What is normally early in WA is now late in NT! Going to take us a while to get used to the times again!

We stuffed around all morning, doing dishes, checking the yabby pots (no luck) and having breakfast. Old guy next to us had what he thought was a flat battery so tried to help him with a jumpstart but that wasn't his problem after all. By this time we looked at our watch and it was 9.15 and barra feeding was at 9.30! Thinking we would miss it again we went to reception to pay for another night and headed to the park where the feeding is. We weren't there much after 9.30 so headed in and saw most of the "show." A kid was running it and showing how he holds pilchards under the water and the barra comes and gulps it out of his hands. A few onlookers had a go at feeding the barra and then he took us to a big tank which housed a big barra and he fed it in the same way and let you touch it if you wanted too. Look it was slightly interesting but they advertise it as barramundi jumping out of the water and taking the food from your hand...so in comparison it was pretty dismal.

Headed to Stockland Gallery next to have a look at some local art work and they also sell tea, coffee, scones etc. Nice aboriginal wall hangings on display and you can purchase if you like. This done, more fuel and then headed back to camp for some fishing.

We crossed the river and headed to the opposite side from where we were camping. Joel mentioned to look out for wild pigs that are apparently over this side and will rip us apart if we run into them...information I could've used before crossing to the other side! No barra but we gave it a good shot. Headed back and you notice all burnt out fires with pippy shells and tea bags...this is where the aboriginals hang on Sundays and cook up turtle for dinner. After we saw all the pippy shells Joel was on a mission to find some pippies in the mud, using our knowledge from the Bundy tour Joel was scavenging around in the mud to find nothing but pippy shells already opened, so no luck on that front either!

After this we decided the best thing to do would be to get a pool noodle and float down the Bitter Springs all afternoon. So that's exactly what we did. It was heaps more peaceful and less stirred up today because there was only a handful of people so it was soooo good. Definately do not go here without something to float on...so much more enjoyable!

Spent the afternoon just cruising around and relaxing trying to work out what our next move is. Decided we would just stay here another night to figure it out!

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 168

14 July 2013

Woke up early and we were attempting to head to Mataranka today which is just below Katherine. There is barramundi feeding at 1pm at a park here so we were hoping to make it there before 1pm.

Driving, driving, driving...make it to Katherine and had to pick up a few things we had forgotten in Kununurra. Filled up fuel again and realized that while we were still travelling along on WA time, everyone else was travelling on NT time which means we have just lost 1.5hours! We now realise that it is already 1 o'clock and we have missed the barra feeding already! Dammit!

Made it to Mataranka and set up camp on the little roper river. Beautiful spot with only a few other campers, magic. Even better the Bitter Springs are just a walk away from where we are camping. What are the Bitter Springs you may be asking....well they are thermal springs that flow at 30.5 million litres of water a day so they are constantly moving which we didn't really realise till we got there and saw everyone with floaties!

Beautiful spot but without floaties it was tough work swimming with the force of the water and there was so many people around, kids splashing and people swimming up the springs that you have to move for. Luckily there are some tree roots you can stop at to rest cuz I needed it. So unfit! But you keep swimming down to the very end and there are some steps to get out of the water, it is then a short cold walk back to the start of the springs where you jump into the 34 degree spring again to swim to the end again! After 3 times I was buggered and we jumped out to go and see what else Mataranka had to offer.

Down the road a bit is the Mataraka Homestead / caravan park which is home to thermal pools and rainbow springs. We walked through the park and noticed they had a bar and restaurant and vowed that on the way back was beer time. First to the pools which is quite literally what looks like a pool with concreted edges etc but the temperature is again 34 degrees! So good! This one doesn't move as much so you could just sit and enjoy the warmness! You can walk to rainbow springs which was beautiful, just a little pond type thing with bubbling water but unfortunately there was no swimming in here. Wrinkled and ready to move on we headed for the bar....the band had just played their first song so we got a beer and ordered fish and chips ready for some more music. After that one song the band left! They were just warming up for tonight! Haha oh well fish and chips was cheap and ok but not great. Headed back to camp for some fishing in the river and to put the yabbies nets out. Apparently they get cheribin in this river but there's not much around at the moment, worth a go though.

Decided after our nice day here we would stay another night and soak up the serenity a little more.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 167

13 July 2013

Up early and headed back along the 56km dirt road to the highway. I was starting to feel very sick on this dirt road, makes your tummy churn all the winds, or maybe it was Joel's driving! Haha.

Back to Kununurra and we had a few chores to do...shopping at Coles, fuel up at $1.62 per litre! So good! And car wash...we were under the impression that there was a self serve car wash at Kununurra but turns out after 20mins of following the GPS in circles there wasn't one! But we luckily came across a charity car wash at a local supermarket and man did we feel bad driving our red dirt filled truck into the washing bays! Well not that bad....haha....$20 later and she was shining like we haven't seen in a while! Worth it just so we didn't have to do it, pity when you open the doors dust is everywhere inside, looks like a bomb inside but sparkling on outside.

While we were waiting for car to be washed we headed to a cafe for some lunch. I didn't realise it was an Asian cafe, normally wouldn't eat Asian for lunch but it was so good! Honey chicken, fried rice and spring rolls, was beautiful, haven't had good chinese like that for a long time!! Highly recommend it, just next to the visitor centre in Kununurra!

Back to pick up shutz, and he was fine and in one piece. Hooked him up and we are now grey nomads again with our van in tow. We are heading to somewhere over the border today, Timber Creek area, some where like that.

Cross the NT border, no checks for fruit and vegies etc only if you are going into WA so drove straight through. Was only a sign marking the border so stopped for a photo and first thing we notice about NT is max speed limit on highway is 130! Pity shutz doesn't want to go 130 and the fuel you must burn going 130, but I tell you some people are absolutely flying past you, it's crazy!

Pretty flat land again, big ranges in the backdrop which are pretty, similar to Kimberley's landscape. Nothing around though, lots of vans going towards WA border but not much to see. Fueled up at timber creek, had a look at the caravan park but decided to keep going to a bush camp we found in camps 6 book. Pulled into Big Horse campground and it was absolutely packed! Not a free spot in sight so we were forced to keep going. There wasn't much more in the camp 6 book for another 160km and it was about to get dark so we couldn't keep driving. We noticed a day stop with a caravan setup for the night so we pulled to the side and discussed whether we should pull in to and stay the night....just as we were making a decision, we saw Roos jumping across the road and decided that was a sign that we need to stop and pull up stumps for the night. While you are probably not meant to camp here, there was no signs saying you couldn't so we pulled up and started sorting the van and the car out again! We seriously have so much shit! Ridiculous!

A troopy pulled up just after dark too so we had created a whole new campsite and best of all it was free. Along this road there are so many spots you can just pull up, there is no one out here so unlikely you will get pulled up on staying somewhere you shouldn't.

Dinner, stuffed, bedtime and we are done until tomorrow.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 166

12 July 2013

Big drive this morning to the Purnululu (say that three times quick) National Park which is home to the Bungle Bungles.

We had to stop for fuel again at Halls Creek and Joel decided to get some beers as he had run out (: o shock horror!). He came out of the bottle o with a weird carton in his hands and explained that they only sell light beer in Halls Creek so he had no choice but to get xxxx light cans in a 24 pack (weird also normally come in 30 pack) and he paid $55 for it!

Made it to the national park and noticed there was a sign saying bookings essential...oops should have done a bit more research. Good old Optus was being consistent with their shit coverage around Australia so we had no phone service again! Called into the Bungle Bungle caravan park which is just on the road to the park and used their phone to make a booking. For future reference you book online for this national park campsite. Anyway camp spot paid for, now a 56km dirt road into the park and campsite. Funny thing was that after being on this road for a while we thought it was worse than the Gibb! Haha there was some sharp rocks and big dips, but the thing that really slowed you down was the constant windiness and up down of the road!

Made it to the visitor centre, have to call in here for camp passes, but is a nice little shop to have a look at too. Got our little map and pass and we headed the extra 11km to the campground. We got their late afternoon and thought we would squeeze in a couple of walks after setting up camp so headed straight for campsite. Driving around looking for our number 22... 24, 23, 22....hmm there is a dirty big camper trailer sitting on 22? Headed to the camp host station to make it their problem and they said they didn't know and if we went for our walks and watched the sunset, they will have worked out what is going on.

So drove another 5km to the carpark where all the walks go from. Now there is two sets of walks, one from the north and one from the south, we were camped in the south so we went for these walks, but you can also camp in the north and do those walks (there is about half an hour between north and south). We didn't have a lot of time because time was against us but we did the dome loop which takes you around the base of the domes that make up the bungle bungles and the cathedral gorge.

Domes are really cool, they look like beehives with their shape but also the stripes around the domes in orange and black. There are signs everywhere stating how fragile they are and this is evident in big huge chunks missing out of domes and the chunk lying on the ground below! The Cathedral Gorge was huge, it echoes when you are inside of it and the walls are so high. It is so hard to describe these things we see in words! Tried to get some good photos but you can't capture it all in one shot.

Walks done we had just enough time to get to the sunset viewing area to see the sun setting on a bungle bungle range. The sun lights up the bungle bungle in a bright orange, reddy colour and there was lots of people watching and trying to capture it with their camera. We really needed a bigger lens on or be a lot closer to get a good shot but it was still nice.

Made it back to camp and pulled into camp hosts to see what they had come up with for us. Turns out it was a computer glitch and the people on 22 were legitimate. He then asked us if we care about being near people and we were like noooo that's fine. So he ended up putting us in the tour operators section which are these big huge camp sites for tour buses with their own campfire and toilets etc...so we had the best spot and to top it off he even bought us firewood! Turns out that computer glitch worked in our favour!

Nice night by the camp fire, tomorrow Kununurra to pick up shutz!

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 165

11 July 2013

This morning we got up early to head off to tunnel creek, Joel was cranky because this family had pulled up a little too close to where we were camping when there was plenty of room elsewhere. Joel follows Aussie Overlanders who are doing the travelling thing and they were talking about the sheep effect...you pull up no one near you and by the afternoon everyone has pulled up around you instead of spreading out in all the space provided! Well we did experience this yesterday so we were feeling a little cramped this morning and we wanted to get to Tunnel Creek before the masses arrived.

It is about 40km from Windjana Gorge along a pretty corrugated dusty road. While driving we ran into this little gem and Joel just couldn't resist getting a photo in it!

Arrived with only our car parked in the carpark, winning! Follow the trail to the opening of the tunnel and climb down into the tunnel. Now when they say you need a good torch, they aren't joking, it is pitch black in parts and with the water and bats etc it is quite eerie I have to say! There are parts when you have to wade through water and the constant thought of fresh water crocs is always on your mind.

Joel thought it was pretty funny to touch my arms and legs when it was pitch black and freak me out! He will get his, just wait! We could just see the light at the end of the tunnel but there was one more water section to wade which was about shin to knee height...I was freaking out....cuz I couldn't see the bottom and it was getting deeper the further we headed in, finally made it across to the other bank and we hear a big splash in the water! It was a bloody crocodile snoozing on the bank and we had just stepped foot near it and we scared it so it headed into the water! Shiiiit! Better news, we have to go back through that water to get out! If you shine the torch you can see the red eyes of the crocs in the water, talk about freaky!

At the end of the tunnel is a billabong creek thing where you can swim but it didn't look super inviting and I just wanted to get back past the croc area and outta there!

I picked up this big stick thinking somehow if a croc did attack me, this stick would somehow protect me! Haha and we head back through the water, made it to the other bank with no injuries and Joel was scanning the water again with his touch for crocs. I looked at the big stick in my hand and thought this is the perfect oppurtunity for me to get him back...so while he is looking in the water for crocs, I threw the stick in th water just near his feet! Hahahahaha he jumped a foot in the air and was like "what was that?!" Hahahahaha hilarious!

Back we go through the tunnel and we are met at the entrance by tour groups and kids and families galore so we just escaped at the right time! Was interesting experience!

Now we are off to Fitzroy Lodge for the night to rest and big drive to the Bungle Bungles tomorrow! The Fitzy has a really nice bar and restaurant so we spent most of the afternoon in there, Joel had lasagne for dinner and you should have seen the size of the lasagne! We also keep running into this one couple from NSW and they couldn't find a table to sit at so we ended up having dinner with them, was nice to talk about where we have been, where we are going etc.

Good night.

Carly & Joel

 

 

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Day 164

10 July 2013

Got up early this morning to try and beat the peak hour at the gorge. Took the short drive to the start of the walk and headed off with only one other car in the carpark.

It is a 1km walk one way and there are a few tricky spots, the rocks here are the hardest parts of the walk, never just a flat walk, always up down and avoiding tripping over the rocks. Little creek crossing which I of course chose the wrong rock to step on and it wobbled around on me which sent one shoe and foot into the creek...nothing like a walk with one soaking shoe and sock!

Made it to the gorge and it was stunning too! Is there anything bad to look at here? Amazing! It is special because it has this great tier waterfall that is like perfectly cut out steps that the water flows down. It is incredible that this occurs naturally, you couldn't ask for more perfectly constructed steps if you tried! Was a how's the serenity moment and we soaked it up for a while taking pictures and listening to the water fall.

Return walk back, met a lot of other travellers so we definately just missed peak hour. Got back to the carpark and there would have been 20 cars and a tour bus so getting up early paid off!

We had to head back to Imantji because we were so wrapped up in getting the tyre fixed yesterday we forgot about the fact we had no money in our wallets (and you need it to pay the camp fees in national parks etc, unfortunately the ranger doesn't accept visa haha) so they had wifi for us to transfer money and then get it out. Cashed up we had some morning tea (kangaroo pasties) before heading back along what would be the final stretch of the Gibb (for this trip anyway)!

There was a little bit of driving today and not too much to see. As you leave Imantji area you start to run into the King Leopold Ranges which make for a very picturesque drive.

There are a few gorges along here and we checked out Lennard Gorge which is 7km off the Gibb. It's a 1.5 km walk one way and we did walk it but I wouldn't recommend it highly. I mean it was nice but from other things we have seen it was much less spectacular and the walk was painful too so unless you are super keen, skip it.

This is also where I nearly fell off a cliff so i don't rate it very highly! There was lots of really steep rocks to try and get down to the pools of water at the bottom of the gorge and Joel wanted to have a swim, so we descended down the rocks and came to one I couldn't get down, so Joel said just crawl across more and there's an easier rock here to climb down. So I do this but there was a rock jutting out at my chest height so I was trying to get my legs to go around while hugging this rock and next minute I was on my ass! The rocks are real smooth so there's nothing to hang onto and luckily fell on the most padded part of my body (my bum) and just grazed my arms a bit. Was a bit scary because there was many spots that if I had of done the same thing I would have fallen a lot further! And lucky too cuz I didn't hurt myself because you would have to get a chopper or something to come get you if you couldn't walk back, it's just in the middle of nowhere! After that I was done with Lennard Gorge so we headed back to the car.

Next was a rock that was meant to look like Queen Elizabeth ...well I think this is a bit of a stretch of the imagination or I was looking at the wrong rock but I didn't see it!

Next our last turn off the Gibb River Road : ( ....towards Windjana Gorge which is where we will camp for tonight.

Make it to the camp area about lunchtime to make sure we get a decent spot, set up camp and we had decided we would do the 7km Windjana Gorge walk tomorrow morning. However Joel got talking to a neighbour and he told us just to walk about 1km and that was enough to see everything you need to see in the gorge. So we thought we would do it this afternoon once it cooled down a bit.

The start of the walk is right at the camping area, and the walk is easy peasy compared to what we have done in the last couple of days! No rocks! Yay! This area actually used to form part of a sea (millions of years ago) and as such there is reef like rock formations left here with fossils of sea creatures etc which was interesting. As you walk in you go through a little gap between the huge gorge walls.

You then can see the water system and all the fresh water crocodile heads lying still in the water waiting to jump on someone or something! You then keep walking and there are just amazing walls of these gorges, so tall, I craned my neck back and could barely see the top of it, it was so tall. And the colour, orange, black, white, just so beautiful! Keep walking and you come to a big open space that allows you to walk on sand and on the banks are fresh water crocs sunning themselves. It was pretty cool to see them, we know they are everywhere but we haven't actually seen them in the wild yet so it was cool. Joel of course wanted to jump on one and tie its mouth, just like Steve would and hold it up saying "wow have a look at this one, in Australia we call this the freshwater crocodile!" Haha which he thinks would look great as his Facebook profile photo. I discouraged him from trying!

Lovely walk, lovely surroundings, lovely afternoon, lovely camp spot, lovely hot shower, lovely flushing toilet...just lovely! HAha

Tomorrow is Tunnel Creek and then back to Kununurra to pick up little shutz!

Carly & Joel

 

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