Mt Barnett to Derby

I put together 5 photos that summarise our drive down the Gibb River Road from Mt Barnett to Derby. Click on the pic to see a bigger image.

We had one night at Mt Barnett near the Manning Gorge, but as dogs were not allowed we did not go in. The dogs had a swim in the river there and had a great time. It was hard work getting Tiffany out. At least the dogs managed to get rid of the dust and grass seeds that had stuck to their coats and Mintie turned almost white again.

The road is good most of the way with just a few rough patches, none of them as bad as the Mitchel Falls road.

Several places were marked for photograph stops that were truly brilliant views.

Some creek crossings, mostly dry but some with water in them and one or two that were deep enough to give you a car wash if you hit them too fast.

The ever present factor was the dust. We followed about half to three quarters of a kilometre behind other traffic or we would be breathing dust all day. The Dust photo shows a car aproaching us through the dust of a third car that had just passed. Most people slowed down to minimise the dust bur occaisionally you would get a speedster that would throw up a huge cloud of dust and rocks so that we had no option but to stop and let it clear.

We are now in Derby, having a couple of days relaxation with good showers, toilets, no dust and civilisation. Even going out for dinner tonight.

El Questro and Mitchel Falls

Long time without internet. We stayed in El Questro for a couple of nights and it was worth every minute.The walk through El Questro Gorge, the sunset at Saddleback lookout and the Zeberdee springs were magnificent.
Just getting into the camp ground is interesting as we had to cross the Pentecost River to get in. Depth was about halfway up the wheels. The roadway was clearly marked and so it was difficult to go wrong even though it was a rocky bottom. My cynicism did cut in a bit when I noticed the downstream road marker was also a dam that raised the water level three or four inches just to add to the excitement of the water crossing, and possibly keep the faint hearted out. There was no room for the faint hearted on the 4 wheel drive track to Saddleback Ridge lookout. If you did not know what you were doing you could have been in a lot of trouble. Very steep, rocky and twisty climb up then had to go down in the rapidly fading light after sunset. Thanks Ricky Esser for the training.
Our next journey went to Drysdale camp ground, had toilets but bring your own shower. It is amazing that we could shower in 5 litres of water each. We Tag teamed the dogs so that we could go into the Mitchel Falls while Dave and Bec stayed home with the dogs then next day we were dog sitters for them. The road in varied from good to bloody horrible. The bad sections were deeply corrugated, full of bulldust, rocky, or various combinations of all three. We chose to walk the 5 km to the falls from the Falls car park and be helicoptered back. The walk took a reasonable amount of effort with quite difficult sections climbing over rocks, but there were also lots of easy sections through open grassland and wooded areas. Lots to see on the way, Little and Big Merton falls, Aboriginal rock art and scenic views, but the Mitchel Falls at the end of the walk were magnificent. The Helicopter ride back to the car park took us on a couple of loops around the falls enabling the photo shown. There were no doors on the helicopter so every fundamental orifice was held firmly clamped shut for the 6 minute flight, but it was well worth it.
We are at Derby, lots more to report but it will have to wait as it is close to beer o'clock.

Kununarra

The view from the 5 Rivers Lookout over Port Wyndham and the 5 rivers that make it to the sea. The photo is 3 shots taken with a wide angle lens then stitched together in Photoshop. Sorry if you can see the joins, and there is a bit of fish eye distortion, but 1 photo would not do it justice. Click on the pic to get a bigger image.
We are at Kununarra for a couple of days to get the washing done, stock up on groceries, charge batteries and have a look around the area too.
Monday will see us in El Questro at the start of the Gibb River Road. Heard a few stories from travelers on the road, some have had tires wrecked, but most have said they have had no trouble at all. Looking forward to the next week of travel. Not likely to do updates of the blog as the internet access is very limited.

Top Springs

Top Springs is half way along the Buchanan Highway between Dunmara and Timber Creek. Good place for an overnight stop. We will make Lake Argyle tonight and stay there for a couple of days. Today's drive through the Jasper Gorge was spectacular. Hope the rest of the trip is as good.

Breakfast at Cooper Pedy

We got to Cooper Pedy late last night after a late start from Bute and a long lunch at Rangers View rest stop. Intend to get to Alice Springs by tonight.
Nice park here, but dogs barking all night was a bit of a pest. Not our dogs they were fast asleep.

Preparing for the next trip

We will soon be leaving on the trip to West Australia, on the Gibb River Road. The pic show us testing the awning attached to the Navara when we were at a tracking trial on Sunday..
There will be two vehicles going and both of us have been preparing for weeks. We bought off road camper trailers and have kitted them out to make them as comfortable as possible. Extra batteries fitted to make sure we can keep the food, (and beer and wine) cold. The vehicles have been serviced and 'long trip' checked. Some spares parts such as radiator hoses oil, tools, recovery gear etc have been purchased and now we just have to work out how to pack it all.
Starting out in the next few days, heading north to Dunmara in the NT where we will turn left and get to our first long stay, at Lake Argyle on the Ord River. Next update should be from there, but internet access is not available in many places where we are going, so updates may not be all that frequent.
We will have to update the blog photo as the Supreme has been sold, so now we are Wandering Australia in a Navara and an Eagle Camper.