Day 23 - Manning Gorge/Mt Barnett Roadhouse

Rolled into Manning River campground at lunchtime and have now completed about half of the Gibb River Road. As the temperature is now in the 30s, we decided to have a swim in the river. This was by far the nicest swimming spot, with sandy edges and bottom and clear water. No crocs either. There is a walk out to the Gorge and the Falls and the first section involves swimming across the river. The rangers have kindly provided a number of polystyrene boxes for people to use to float their shoes, clothes, cameras etc. without them getting wet. It is possible to

do the walk without swimming but it is a much longer option (and not

nearly as much fun). We set off at 9am the following morning with our lunch and had a wonderful day. It was quite a hard walk, with lots of scrambling over rocks but the 2 swimming holes and the waterfall at the end made it all worthwhile. We had lunch there and swam in both pools, before the long climb back in the heat. At least we were able to cool off again at the end when we had to swim our gear back to the other side.

That night was the second State of Origin match and we wondered if we would be able to pick up the coverage on our radio. Fortunately two off-road caravans with satellite dishes pulled in and some fellow Queenslanders talked them into putting the TV up to the window of the van, and there ended up being three rows of chairs and about 20 interested supporters out under the stars to watch the game. It was good fun and of course a great result as Qld won again and so have won the series. Photos show me after the early morning swim across the river and getting ready for the walk and the second are the Falls and the top pool. The Mt Barnett Roadhouse is 7kms from the campground but when we went to fill the car with diesel, discovered that they had run dry (again!!) Apparently it happens often and they could not tell us when the tanker would be coming the following day. We had been talking to a few people who recommended we detour off the GRR to Mornington Wilderness Camp, an 88 km detour, so really needed to top up with fuel. We took a punt that the Imintji Store 55kms away would have diesel and sure enough they did. We ended up driving an extra 50kms out of our way to fuel up, but in this area it's a good idea to fill the tanks at every opportunity.

Day 22 - Ellenbrae Homestead

No photos here, but a very pleasant unscheduled stop.  We were bumping along the road having left El Questro, crossed the Pentecost River (a wide river but not very deep)  and came across a series of home-made signs on the side of the road inviting people to detour into Ellenbrae Homestead for homemade scones, jam and cream.  As it was morning tea time we decided to take the 5km drive into the homestead to check it out.  Pretty amazing to find something so commercial in such a remote area.  But these enterprising station owners are cashing in on the tourist trade.  We had delicious scones and coffee and decided to camp there for the night.  They had a small camping area with flushing loo and shower and we were joined during the day by another 7 groups of people, some with trailers and some just tents. To our astonishment two cyclists rode in too.  A married couple in their 50s and they are cycling the Gibb River Road from one end to the other.  They set off the next morning at 6.30am and by the time we passed them at 7.45 they had covered 12 kms.  A pretty amazing feat given the road surface and the river crossings.   Heading now for Manning Gorge for a couple of nights.

Day 18 - El Questro in the Kimberley

Here we are at the beginning of the famed Gibb River Road heading for our first stop, El Questro which is a wilderness resort but also a working cattle station. It caters for campers, small bungalows for non-campers and also very high-end accommodation at the Homestead which takes 8 guests for about $2000 per night. Of course the lowly others are not allowed near the homestead. El Questro is quite close to the start of the Gibb River Road, although the road in is about 30km long with a couple of wet creek crossings. As we arrived early, we were very fortunate to be offered a private campside beside the river, just 2.5km from the store and the amenities. It was absolutely stunning and probably the nicest camping we will ever do. Photo shows our camp taken from the other side of the river. We had a small fresh water crocodile in the pool above the rocks and watched the cockatoos and jabirus come to drink from the river. The only downside was that it was quite shaded and we were having trouble getting enough sun on our solar panel. We stayed an extra night (4 in all) and probably would have stayed another but we were concerned we might lose our power and fridge.

Because El Questro is so large, it has a number of gorges to explore and they are all different. We chose to do the walk to Emma Gorge (about an hour) but  not really a walk - more climbing over rocks on the floor of the gorge. We used a lot of muscles that have been dormant for a while but I'm sure it's done us some good. We wore our swimsuits so we could swim when we got to the end (photo shows the pool) but it was so cold as the sun barely reaches the water. Jim got right under but I could only go up to my waist. It was very hot on the return walk and we were pleased to get back to our home by the river.

The following day we went to Zebedee Springs - thermal springs with a series of small pools in between rocks with a canopy of palms and tree ferns - very relaxing.
The other walk (?) we did was to El Questro gorge, much smaller than Emma, but equally as beautiful. We chose not to swim this time.
Saturday night at El Questro is buffet BBQ night so we joined in too and had a great meal. We drove some of the 4WD trails on the property but also did a fair bit of reading in our little camp. Sad to leave El Questro as we have really enjoyed our time here, but the Gibb River Road is calling even though we are not sure where we will stop next.

Day 16 - Kununurra (WA)

What a delightful little town. Built in the early 1960s when the Ord River was dammed so everything is well laid out and not too old. The first photo shows the town from the lookout and the other two photos were taken at a fantastic restaurant we found on the river. Called the Pumphouse, it housed the pumps that pumped the irrigation water from the river. Apparently it has taken 11 years for the owner to get council approval to convert it into the current restaurant. As the photo shows, the interior features the pumps and they have put a small balcony on the outside for seating as well. Wonderful to find a place with so much character in such a small town. More supermarket shopping here along with the fruit and veges as we head off down the Gibb River Road into the heart of the Kimberley. The Gibb River Road is 680 kms long and stretches basically from Kununurra to Derby across the top of Western Australia. It is a dirt road and its condition depends on when it has been graded and how much traffic has driver on it. It's dusty and corrugated with a few river crossings, cattle, kangaroos, no mobile phone coverage but very wild and beautiful and only suitable for high-clearance 4WD vehicles so at least at the moment there are few caravans and buses.

Day 14 - Katherine (NT)

Just a short drive from Mataranka to Katherine and we were able to find a great campsite just a few kilometres from the town centre.  One of the trailer tyres had a slow leak so our first stop was the tyre centre and we were dismayed to find that the leak was in the sidewall of the tyre and it is illegal to repair.  So had to buy a new one - at country prices too!  We spent one day out at Katherine Gorge which is beautiful.  Our plan was to canoe through the first couple of gorges, but the late wet season caught us again.  The rangers had been unable to remove all the crocs so canoeing and swimming were a definite no-no.   We climbed to the lookout where we took this photo but decided against a boat trip as we are coming back here in September with Jeff and Senya.  We're taking the train from Darwin to Adelaide and included in the trip is a 4 hour stop at Katherine and we are able to do a cruise on the first two gorges in that time.  We enjoyed a couple of good cups of coffee at the Coffee Club which is the best place in town by far and had to dodge the indigenous locals who all seem to sit on the footpath during the day.  We had to limit our shopping here as we were not  able to take any fruit, vegetables or honey from the NT into WA.  We had heard some horror stories about people who had virtually had their vehicles taken apart, but we must have looked honest as the border official just looked in our fridge and pantry and in the back of the car and sent us on our way.  Kununurra is only about 50kms across the border so we knew we could restock there.     

Day 13 -Mataranka (near Katherine NT)

We've had a busy last few days.  We went out for dinner in Mt Isa to the Buffalo Club on our last night there and ended up joining the locals for their weekly trivia night.  The only problem was that they were already in their teams and nobody came forward to ask us to join them.  So we were a team of 2 and didn't do too well.  For the last two rounds we were joined by a drunk called Steve who really wasn't any help at all.   We left early the next morning to do the trip up to Burketown on the Gulf of Carpentaria.  There was a steady stream of caravans heading west out of town and we were very pleased to turn north onto an unsealed road and really didn't see anyone else all day.  The countryside was very pretty and as we got nearer the Gulf, turned into wide flat grassy plains covered in cattle.  Perfect grazing land and easy to understand why the early explorers got so excited about it.  The only problem is that none of the properties are fenced and the cattle all seem to either stand in the middle of the road or along either side so we kept having to slow down to avoid hitting one.  One of the main reasons for going to Burketown was to go fishing, but when we arrived we discovered that there were no fishing charters there at the moment.  It's a very sleepy little town and the few people in the campsite were there with their own boats and go every year.  However we were assured that as we were going on to Borroloola, also on the Gulf but in the Northern Territory, we could find Arthur who would take us fishing.   So we set off again the next morning, knowing that there was a strong possibility that when we got to the roadhouse just before the N.T. border, we would be told that the main road (highway 1 ) was impassable and we would have to do a 470km detour to get to Borroloola and King Ash Bay fishing camp.  The photo shows the road before the detour - this is part of Highway 1 which goes right around Australia.  We were advised to take the detour rather than wreck our car and trailer as the roads are still suffering from the late wet season.  It took us 10 hours to do 500kms as we were continually slowing down to open and close gates, drive through water, gullies and washouts as well as avoid cattle.   Picture shows a mob of cattle on the road just after we had stopped for lunch.  We saw no-one else all day and didn't make it to Borroloola before nightfall.

We stopped at a small place called Cape Crawford which is not on the coast and we have no idea why it has this name.  It was marked on the map as having a hotel with camping facilities and we were expecting a funny little old pub with a rough patch of ground at the rear.  When we arrived we found a bright green oasis with a large hotel in the centre.  It's the best camp we have had so far.

As we only had 140 kms to go the following day, we didn't hurry too much to pack up and did a leisurely drive to the King Ash Bay fishing camp only to find on arrival that Arthur had gone to Darwin to have his boat motor fixed and no-one knew when when he was returning.  That was the end of any possibility of going fishing.  However I did trade 4 lemons from our tree at Maleny for a large piece of freshly caught fish from  Heather (my new best friend).  It's in our freezer so we will enjoy it in the next couple of days.  The fishing camp is a fisherman's paradise and can't wait to get home to show Edward the photos.  Most people are there with their caravans or trailers, tinnies, satellite dishes and all mod cons and stay there for months.  There is camping right along the riverbank and it's high above the river and out of reach of the crocs.  The fishing is fantastic (apparently) and the mudcrabs to die for (but nobody offered us any of those).

We decided to leave the next day and head west to give us a couple of extra days in the Kimberley.  Yesterday we drove 500kms, stopped for lunch at the Daly Waters Pub and then continued on to Mataranka Homestead which is in Elsey National Park (where We of the Never Never was set) and famous for Rainbow Springs thermal pool.  We swan in the pool late yesterday afternoon and again this morning - it's very refreshing and is supposed to be great for old skin and bones - can't say we've noticed any difference!  Jim has done a little maintenance today - putting WD40 on hinges and locks as everything is covered with red dust and also had to change one of the trailer wheels as the tyre has a slow leak and we want to have it fixed in Katherine tomorrow.   

We  had dear little wallabies hopping through the campground last night and this morning but haven't really seen a lot of wildlife - a few kangaroos hopping across the road, lots of dead ones on the side of the road and several magnificant eagles gorging on the kangaroo carcasses.  Also black cockatoos and lots of pink and grey galahs.     

On to Katherine tomorrow to visit Woolworths and do another shop, have the tyre fixed and also to spend a day at the Gorge.  (Jeff and Senya - we will be visiting Katherine with you in September as the train stops there for a few hours so will hunt out something good for us to do then).              

DAY 8 - MT ISA

We have just spent two days in Mt Isa.  It's much larger than I was expecting (pop 20,000) with lots of traffic lights, roundabouts, Coles, Woolworths, KMart, Harvey Norman etc. etc.  And of course the mine which dominates the centre of town. 

But to backtrack to our last day in Longreach.  We spent the morning at the Stockmans Hall of Fame which is absolutely fantastic.  Something every Australian should see and certainly all the schoolchildren.  it's much more than a museum with lots of interactive displays showing early explorers routes etc.  That evening we went on a small paddlewheeler for a sunset cruise on the Thomson River (see picture).  It was beautiful and after sundown we had a stockman's dinner around a campfire with a bush poet entertaining us.  It was magic.

We rose early the next morning as we wanted to spend some time in Winton looking at the latest dinosaur finds before heading to Cloncurry.  Unfortunately the car wouldn't start - great!  8am on a Sunday morning in a small town!   But as always seems to happen when there's a drama, out of nearby caravans popped three men who all had an opinion and some sort of gadget to get us going.  The first brought his car and jumper leads but still it wouldn't start.  So we phoned the trusty RACQ who had a man with us in under an hour.  He said it was the battery and put his large jumper leads on and away we went.  He tested the battery  with his meter and said there was nothing wrong with it and it must have been one of those one-off glitches.  NOT what we wanted to hear.  We decided we wouldn't stop until we got to Cloncurry so that if it happened again, we would at least be in another largish town (and it would be Monday). 

However we did stop for lunch at McKinlay which is really just a pub (see photo) and a service station (gas station).  It's the pub that featured in the movie Crocodile Dundee but it's not, as Paul Hogan led us to believe, in Northern Territory but about 100 kms south of Cloncurry.  And they serve a great steak sandwich!

Everything was fine with the car until this morning.  Same thing happened, but we had gone to a 4x4 store in Mt Isa and had our own truck-size jumper leads.  Fortunately we were able to find a large auto electrical company which services all the mine vehicles, and they put in a new battery. Hopefully that is the end of our car problems.

There is not really very much to see here except the mine, so we have been busy stocking up the fridge, washing and of course buying jumper leads and batteries.  We also found a Coffee Club in town so have enjoyed a couple of good cups of coffee.  

We leave here tomorrow (hopefully early) and head north to Burketown which is on the Gulf of Carpentaria and are hoping to do a spot of fishing there - barramundi of course.  We then head west into Northern Territory on dirt roads and won't be back into civilisation for about a week until we get to Katherine.  It's amazing to think we have covered 2000 kilometers and haven't yet left Qld.  

It's been very cold - 4C this morning but warms up in the middle of the day.  Still we are snug in our trailer, with a wooly underblanket and warm doona.