Barossa

We are in the Barossa Valley testing the Landcruiser and the Desert Sky to see how they work together. So far very good. Hills do not make any difference and the Toyota drives like a car.
We have a second objective in the Barossa, we are looking for a home, preferably on a big block with room for the dogs and the caravan. So far there are a couple of places we are looking at but it is not easy finding the right place. Some are a great place but very expensive, while others are cheaper but need a lot of work. Life was not meant to be easy.

Land Cruiser

Here is the new Tug for our wanderings. The latest model Toyota Land Cruiser GXL,with a few extras to be fitted. Soon we will have a bullbar, towbar, snorkle, electric brake controller and tinted windows at the front. Already had the leather seats installed.
It has a 4.2 litre twin turbo V8 diesel, 6 speed auto gearbox and should be able to pull the off road caravan anywhere we want to take it. Tiffany anf Hannah have already given it their seal of approval and Kathy loves it.
We have to do about 1000 to 1500 km before we can tow with it, so it is getting the run around to clock up the kilo metres.
As soon as we get the Toyota fully optioned we will be out to the Barossa Valley to make sure everything tows OK and then we will be ready for bigger journeys. Planning for a visit to Canberra and Victoria in February as the first real run with the new rig.

Last days

The Blog needs this to complete the record of the trip.
From Derby we went to Broome, had a few days at Banana Well camp near Cape Leveque. Beck caught a couple of mud crabs which were cooked up for dinner, one of the highlights of the trip, then returned to Broome and went down the Tanami road across the Desert to Alice Springs and home.  (See the Dog Blog for more of Broome activities)

At Fitzroy Crossing we went to see the Giekie Gorge. The boat took us down the gorge to see the spectacuar rock formations. It is a pitty that they plan to flood it to create a water supply for the local area.

We had a day at Halls Creek, then set off across the Tanamai Desert. The most expensive fuel of the trip was at Billiluna, $2.60 a litre, and you had to wait for the locals to open the shop. We had a night in the desert near the WA/NT border. Tested out the 'Oppy Shower' and the ,Porta Potty' and spent a comfortable but cold night in the desert. We got to "civilisation" at Tilmouth Crossing and had the pleasure of hot showers and roadhouse facilities for our last night in the desert.

Next day got us to Alice Springs, but because the Alice show was on we had nowhere to camp so we pushed on to Erldunda. A very cold night and a strong smell of septic tanks.

On the last day we got to Port Augusta and decided to push on to home. We could have stayed a night in Bute with Beck's parents, but we decided we are this close we will go home. We parted company with our travel companions and made it to home late in the evening.

A great trip with good friends that was over too quickly. We will have to go back sometime to see some of the places we missed.

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.