MATCH STATS

We have finally made it back home after 6 months on the road.

Thank you to the 6 families from the Port Macquarie 4WD club who trekked out to the Warrumbungles for the long weekend, to meet up with us and see us get home safely. It was a great weekend with friends - chatting, drinking, eating, drinking, watching the football grand finals and drinking. And the Sydney Swans and Melbourne Storm got up... yeah. (Damn Wallabies let us down for the trifecta though).

So here is a run down of our trip:
6 months, 179 days / 178 nights

we set up the camper 87 times (and packed it up 87 times too)
only spent one night in a hotel room in the West MacDonnell Ranges when Gavin was sick
visited 6 farmstays
camped in 34 national parks
stayed at 44 caravan parks (most expensive being at Anglesea on the Great Ocean Rd in Victoria)
stopped with friends in Port Hedland and Adelaide (thank you Biscuit & Rob and Jan & John)

drove 30,144km
4 states and 1 territory
71 tanks of fuel (average diesel price $1.72 per litre)
most expensive fuel was $2.33 at Kings Canyon in Central Australia (also the most expensive beer at $9.90 for a schooner - and yes I was thirsty)
Gavin says I need to mention fuel economy average 16.9L/100km (whatever that means??)

iconinc 4WD roads:
Mt Stirling Rd to Craig's Hut (Victorian High Country)
Great Ocean Rd (Victoria)
Googs Track (South Australia)
Oodnadatta Track (following the old Ghan railway South Australia / Northern Territory)
Merinee Loop Rd (Cenral Australia)
Gibb River Rd (Western Australia)
1,200 km across the Nullarbor Plain (Western Australia / South Australia)

iconic locations:
Victorian High Country
The Grampians
Lake Eyre (with some water in the south)
climbed Ayres Rock
Kakadu
Arnhem Land
jetboat through the Horizontal Falls
sunset at Cable Beach (highly over rated)
snorkelling in Ningaloo Reef
WA wildflowers

1 fishing charter - boys only
numerous fishing days in the tinny (Janet only had one)
2 helicopter flights (Janet only had one)
2 jetboat rides (Janet only had one)
2 sea plane rides (well of course I had two - I had to get home from the Horizontal Falls)

total fuel bill = $8,662.48
total accomodation bill = $5,137.30
the box it came in - PRICELESS

TOILET HUMOUR

We have had to use a great variety of toilet facilities throughout this trip. Anything from pit toilets, to digging our own hole in the bush, to elaborate glossy tiled bathrooms with piped music in caravan parks.

The pit toilets are usually analysed by Hugh within the first few hours. Last night's report was "gee Dad, this one is really deep" .

Most pit toilets throughout WA have a bucket of disinfectant cleaner and a toilet brush chained to the floor. Not sure who would want to steal them?

Often there are signs in toilets asking that you don't steal the toilet paper. But with the rolls locked in dispensers that are bolted to the wall, I couldn't see how this is a problem. I tried to picture grey nomads or backpackers smuggling out toilet paper sheet by sheet and selling it on the black market. Not sure of the value of sheets that aren't quite one ply, have no absorbing capacity, and don't rate on the softness scale.

In many toilets across the Top End there were signs warning of various dangers. Many signs ask you to "close the lid after use". This is generally to keep the frogs out of the water. But the main problem is that frogs attract snakes, so the main hope is to keep snakes out of the toilet. (Lights left on attract insects for frogs to eat too, so it's also good to turn off any lights.)

Jacinta would often do fauna surveys of an evening. Reporting on the number of frogs, geckos, and snakes - yes we did see a few.

I have mentioned the "don't flush foreign objects" in a previous post. But another interesting one near the Mitchell Falls states that "if you didn't eat it don't put it down the toilet - this includes baby nappies and sleeping bags" signed by the rangers.

It was really good when we got back to civilization near Carnarvon. A sign asked "please flush the toilet" this was a timely reminder since we had been in the bush with pit toilets for some weeks.

FOREIGN OBJECTS

We have seen a lot of travelers from other parts of the world, doing various routes around Australia. A lot of Europen backpackers and even some family travelers in RVs. Many wicked vans are keeping us amused (bemused?) with their crazy artwork, and often even crazier passengers.

We have spoken with families from England, France, Holland and Germany. They were nearly all on whirlwind tours of the Top End during their 6 week summer breaks from school and work back home overseas. The kids were trying to talk, but often the English translating wasn't too good. Hugh found soccer a good tool of communication - and you don't even have to talk.

Gavin conversed with many of the young backpackers. Usually late in the night when he was telling them to shut up. They seem to have a habit of congregating at picnic tables close to our camp. Often with endless supplies of alcohol, and  no need for any sleep. (well actually they often slept on grassy verges, or on warm rocky outcrops around waterfalls and gorges during the day.)

While camping at Cape Range NP there were some enterprising young pommy chefs. Obviously they were traveling on a budget. They befriended some of the more successful fishermen, offering to cook their catch of the day, then sharing the meal with them.

We came across some French boys at Ningaloo Reef - a marine sanctuary within a national park. Most snorkellers were just in bathers with mask and snorkel swimming around the coral. These blokes had full wetsuits, net carry bags and underwater cameras. They came out of the water with a beautiful spider shell, and proceeded to put it into their backpack. Gavin confronted them about this and they went the " no understand English" tactic.

Gavin then followed them to the carpark and got their rego. We went to the ranger station and reported the incident. Later that day the culprits were found with a whole box of creatures living in their shells from the reef. Not sure if they were charged or just evicted from the national park.

You can understand my amusement then when I walked into a toilet block and the sign behind the door requested 'please don't flush foreign objects down the toilet'. "Why not?" I asked myself.

We left WA at about 6.30am this morning. Well, about 8am once we changed our clocks to Australian central time. This allows about 12 days to get home, and 7 days to get to the Warrumbungles to meet up with the PM 4WD club welcoming committee.

It has taken us 2 days to cross the Nullarbor, from Norseman WA to Ceduna SA, approx 1,200 km.

So we were in WA for the past 12 weeks. Doing approx 13,000 km. It was all marvelous.

Tonight we are back in Ceduna. We left here 5 months ago, heading north up through the centre. We came in this arvo from the west, off the Nullarbor Plain - about 21,000km later.

Apparently Nullarbor is derived from the Latin 'nullus arbor' (meaning no trees). Jacinta thinks it is actually just a slang abbreviation of 'another boring road' - the notherbor.

FARM FRESH

We knew we were getting close to the Dring family farm when we passed Dring Rd.

When we arrived at the farmhouse all was quiet. The local footy team had won the grand final the previous day, so there hadn't been much sleep in the household that night. An early night was followed by a big day out on the farm.

The kids started the next day at sunrise. They were in the vegie patch collecting fresh salad and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Then they pulled the weeds to feed to the ducks.

So off to the chook pens to feed the ducks, chickens and geese. And collect all the eggs. Some eggs were for eating, and others were put into the incubator to produce chicks to sell at market.

Before we knew it, we were all in the ute ready for a farm tour. Kids were loaded in the back with Arnie the dog, some water bottles and a bag of fruit - grown ups in the front. We drove around the paddocks learning about wheat, barley, canola and sheep.

Gavin stuck to Roger like glue. Chatting for hours. Checking out all the very big, very expensive, very green machinery in the shed. They even went to town for some supplies, so Gavin got to meet some more of the locals (although most were still recovering from the footy). It must have looked cute as they are about the same build, and had matching hard yakka shorts and kharki shirts on.

Late afternoon the boys all went out shooting. The hope was to clear the paddocks of a few Roos, hence providing the farm dogs with some food. But the Roos were hiding, so they just did some static target practice.

Dinner was served. Fresh lamb chops and chicken, accompanied by fresh vegies from the garden.

KANGAROO PAWS

ACT 1
Driving into Kalbarri NP we came across our first real landscape full of amazing colours. There was masses of wildflowers including red and green kangaroo paws. The wildflower display was with us for days throughout the whole region.

ACT 2
We ran into a family at several national parks up north. After a few beers around a few campfires, we were invited to visit their wheat farm. So when we got near Carnamah, we called in for a few days.

Within minutes of being reunited, the boys were outside playing, riding, bikes, etc. Then they brought a kangaroo paw in from the freezer. The whole kangaroo leg was in the freezer for dog meat, so the boys used a saw to cut off the foot. Jacko appeared in the loungeroom (interrupting our AFL finals viewing) with the false hand, saying "look at me I'm Captain Hook."

The offending hairy digit with a big black claw was only removed from the house when it defrosted and started to bleed onto the coffee table. It was thrown out onto the back lawn to a very grateful farm dog.

While on the farm the men went out roo shootin' . There weren't too many Roos, so Hugh learnt to shoot a Big M container.

ACT 3
A last minute change of plan saw us head to Perth. Our whirlwind 6 hour tour took in the city and Fremantle. The drive through Kings Park allowed us to see the best floral display of kangaroo paws yet.

HOMEWARD BOUND

In the past 5 weeks we have travelled over 6,500 km from Cape Leveque to Cape Leeuwin, along Australia's west coast.

On Gav's birthday we were camped under the Cape Leveque lighthouse in sunny 30 degree temperatures. Enjoying many cultural experiences with the Bardi Jawi people around the One Arm Point community.

Last week we were standing at Cape Leeuwin lighthouse on a windy 16 degree day. We did the lighthouse tour, climbing to the top of WAs tallest lighthouse ( however only the boys ventured out onto the balcony to view the meeting waters of the Indian and Southern Oceans).

On the way we have seen a lot of great stuff:
Iron ore mining, rail networks and shipping ports.
Gorges, coral reefs and wildflowers in numerous national parks.
Memorabilia of a NASA tracking station.
Spent a few days on a small 20,000 ha wheat farm.
AND even 4WDrove to Steep Point, the western most point of the mainland.

Anyway ... when we got to the southwest corner we had nowhere to go except east, so we are on our way home.

yes, yes, I know ...
'always TAKE the weather with you'
(apologies to Neil Finn, et al)

I must stop trying to transpose my handwritten field notes by the dim candle light, late at night, whilst  half watching a Dr Who episode with the family

I will edit the previous post.

GREY NOMADS or SILVER TSUNAMIS

We have passed many of these older generation travellers. Sticking to the sealed roads and big towns, they often drive shiny 4WDs and tow big caravans.

They are full of information such as: where there is cheap fuel, where you can get a cheap meal, which parks have the cleanest toilets, where there are free camps just outside of town, etc. All good information BUT often hard to extract easily. In order to get this info, you must first listen to their travel tales, how sick they are, how sick their friends are, hear about how successful their children are and how wonderful their grandchildren are, etc.

One old bloke was going on about how bumpy the road was, and that he had shaken the microwave off its mounts in the caravan. He was very proud of his 100 km on an unsealed road, but soon shut up when we told him our vehicle has been unaffected by the 5,000km we had already done on sandy / gravel tracks.

Some oldies however, have joined organized bus tours. These particularly old people ( probably those who have had their licences taken off them) are identified by their tour name tag. They often hobble off the bus due to their titanium hips and reconstructed knees. Only managing the short walk from the carpark to a lookout, or more often the toilet block - they certainly dont get to undergo the whole gorge walk / plunge pool experience. I also think the name tag is mainly for their own benefit, in case they forget.

We have benefited from the generosity of these grey nomads on more than one occasion. A fisherman had caught too much for him and the Mrs one day, so we scored a few fillets of fresh snapper. One old couple had purchased a hammock and decided after one day that it was too uncomfortable, so gave it to the kids. An old dear even knitted Gavin a woollen beanie during the few days that we were camped next to them on the beach.

We have spoken to one couple who are doing it hard. The old bloke had had an operation just prior to driving across the country. They are travelling with a dog, so can't enter any national parks and even many caravan parks are pet free. They had spent many nights camped at free 24 hr roadside stops, in particularly hot and dusty conditions, and the dog got sick.

Anyway, we took pity on the couple and went out to a restaurant to have some dinner with them. We thought we better spend some time with them, since it was Gav's parents.

edited - ALWAYS TAKE THE WEATHER WITH YOU

ALWAYS BRING THE WEATHER WITH YOU
( although I always thought it was 'always bring the weber with you')
Either way, that it what we are doing, and we are living in a very crowded house!

When we entered Exmouth we noticed these large white fluffy things in the sky. Not sure what these unidentified things were, we thought we'd better google it. Luckily we had Internet access for a few kilometers between the lighthouse and the nude beach (who'd have thought??)

Anyway, it turns out that these things were clouds. AND they often produce rain.

We actually thought it was raining a couple of weeks later when we were at Thunder Bay. We were driving along the cliffs on the westernmost point of this wonderful continent. There were water droplets falling on the windscreen, and we even had to use the wipers. However when the rain dried on the glass it left a salty splash mark - as it turns out it was only sea spray from the nearby blowholes.

Last night we did ACTUALLY have rain at Shark Bay - 3mm the weatherman tells us this morning. Not enough to wash the red dust off the car, just enough to smear the red dust and add a crusty film of sea salt.

With our memories being jogged, we remembered back 4 months to when we last saw rain ... It was another 30 degree night in Arnhem Land, the Sharps Leaders and Mr Nitschke had just finished dinner and the dishes, when it absolutely bucketed down with rain ( about an inch in just an hour on two). We all stood out in it, hands raised to the heavens, saying how wonderful it was - the boys actually took off their shirts and started dancing around.

long pants

A dear friend (and WA ex-pat) has recently informed me that 'there are no brooms in Broome, and no sharks in Shark Bay'. But I must disagree with her on both counts ... sorry Deb.  (I believe that she may have been under the spell of the Bundy Bear at the time.)

What she neglected to tell me was the origins of the town of Denham. I believe that it gets its name from the many southbound tourists who have to look out their jeans from the bottom of their luggage when they hit town.

The weather has got considerably cooler and I've had to start wearing pants to dinner. ( well, you know what I mean - long pants as opposed to shorts). Today's top temp at Shark Bay is only 20, so we may start heading east in the next few days. Our endless summer  (and holiday) is coming to an abrupt conclusion.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Sorry to our Dads who we neglected to ring on Sunday. We were out of phone range - honestly.

Gavin was greeted in the morning with kids bearing gifts - chocolates and a book on the NASA tracking station at Carnarvon ( yes there was only limited shopping opportunities on the Coral Coast).

We drove to the western most point of mainland Australia - Steep Point, and had a picnic lunch. It was fine and sunny, and wasn't too windy like back at our beachside camp. There were some storm clouds looming out to sea, but they never mounted to anything.

To get there is a 170 km journey across arid sand dune country, with a bit of beach driving too. There were wildflowers out everywhere. We also saw some fishermen on the cliff tops doing some balloon fishing.

We travelled along the cliff tops for about an hour. It was over 100 m down to the ocean, and the waves were huge. We came across some blowholes at Thunder Bay. They were spectacular. The noise is eerie as the sea water is forced up through some small holes in the rocks. Then the water comes spouting out, way over our heads.

It was an 8 hour day out 4WDing. Returning home in time to cook a roast pork dinner.

THE HANKY REVISITED

There has been an overwhelming response to the Hanky blog.

It has been decided that we should now release the Directors Cut, with some previously unpublished scenes...

BERRY SPRINGS - NT
Another thermal spring, another swim for Gavin and the kids (with me on the sidelines with the camera and towels). They are all having a great time hiding behind the waterfall, and emerging for some action photos. Jacinta swims over the the edge and hands me a wet handkerchief. "I think it is Dad's. It was just floating past me."

TJAYNERA FALLS, LITCHFIELD NP - NT
Somewhat over shadowed by the car key incident. It should be noted that a handkerchief also went missing from Gavin's pocket on that fateful day in June. However, the handkerchief was never retreived from the waterhole.

FLORENCE FALLS, LITCHFIELD NP - NT
An early start saw us the first ones to do the gorge walk and be swimming in the plunge pool below the falls. Gavin jumped in and promptly returned to the edge "Too cold?" I asked. "No," he said handing me a wet handkerchief, "just left this is my pocket."

CAPE RANGE NP - WA
More recently I hopped into the driver's seat to get the i-thing off the dash. Much to my disgust there was a filthy, sopping wet handkerchief of the floor. "What is this dirty bloody thing doing in here," I yelled in Gavin's general direction. "It's not dirty," he replied, "I just used it to clean the spotlights."

The night before we had gone for dinner in Exmouth. We returned to camp after dark. We had been warned by the rangers of the wildlife that we would encounter on the 60km journey back to our beachside bush camp - and they weren't wrong. We passed hundreds of kangaroos on the roadside, on the road, and jumping out from the bush.

Unfortunately we did have one jump into the back passenger side of the car. It woke up Hugh who was sleeping against the door at the time. Well ... not sure if the initial BANG woke him up, or Jacinta screaming "Oh no! Did we hit it?" Gavin soon set her straight - "No, it hit us."

 

READY PLEASE MR MUSIC

Jacinta listens to her choir CD each week. Rehearsing her 11 songs for the Opera House concert in October. We are all getting really good at karoke - especially at the finale songs.

We often trump her 'Feeling Groovy' rehearsal by playing the whole Simon and Garfunkel collection CD. The boys love to sing "Coo Coo Ca Choo Mrs Robinson" with a lot of gusto.

This is not to be confused with Hugh singing his other favourite "I am the egg man, I am the walrus goo goo ga choo" by the Beatles.

Hugh often annoys his sister with his enthusiastic, soprano renditions of most songs. His regular request is for the Rolling Stone's 'You can't always get what you want' - so he can sing the intro with the choir.

NOT that we always have the classiscs from the 60s and 70s on the stereo. The morbid tones of Coldplay are still on high rotation. I don't know if Jacinta really likes them or just puts it on to please her Dad.

Should we be worried that the kids love singing along to Talking Heads? We often hear the words of "Psycho Killer" being yelled from the back seat.

I may be in fear of losing all my conservation accreditations. We are at Ningaloo Reef - I did not go snorkelling, but loved quad biking.

We have just spent nearly 2 weeks travelling along the coast at Ningaloo Reef. I was not brave enough to go snorkeling, but Gav and the kids spent many days in the water.

Last night we went on the sunset quad bike trek at Coral Bay. 2 hours of hooning up and down sand dunes and along the beach. I had Jacinta on the back, and Hugh was on the back of Gavin's machine. The kids were allowed to have a short drive along one sandy bush track.

As we had riden quad bikes before, we were at the end of the convoy. Every now and again we would hang back a little bit, then let it rip to catch up with the group again. Needless to say that there were a few drags along the beach, saw the speedo hit 55kmph at one stage.

We will be home in 5 weeks. So it is probably hard to believe that we are still snorkeling at Ningaloo Reef. We spent over a week camped on the beach in the Cape Range NP and today we moved down to Coral Bay.

We seem to be prolonging our time in the north west of the country - probably because the weather is sunny and 30. However some days can be very windy on the coast.

We really enjoyed the Pilbara region. Had a Mine tour at Rio Tintos Tom Price site. Hugh now wants to live in a donger and drive a big yellow truck.

We thought Jacinta was getting a good suntan. But as it turns out she was suffering from a condition called 'a pilbara tan'. Her affliction was remedied by washing off all the red dust in a shower after 3 days out in the bush.

We had a great weekend in Port Hedland with our friends Biscuit and Rob. They left Melb on their around oz trip about 12 years ago - and still haven't a left the Pilbara. We went down to the port and watched all the huge BHP iron ore ships coming and going. ( I think Hugh may also want to drive these.)

We have followed some back roads alongside the railway lines. The iron ore trains are really big. They usually have over 300 carriages, so are over 3km long. It took us some time to overtake one, just so we could get some photos of the engines - yes they have 3. (I think Hugh may want to drive these too.)

We loved the gorges at Karijini NP. And at some stage there should be some great photos attached to the blog.

Anyway .... having crossed the continent, already traveling over 20,000km, we can come home now having accomplished our main mission of taking the kids to Dampier to see Red Dog.

DAY 127

I must be delirious. The driver turned inland from the coast saying we were off to Mars Bar. Mmm, Yum, I thought.

As we drove into the town, we were welcomed by a sign stating "Australia's hottest town". We were actually at Marble Bar on a glorious winter day when the temperature was only 33 degrees.

Thank god for the cold beer at the pub at lunchtime. Otherwise I may have been getting a bit dehydrated.

The heat is getting to me. Good for the tan, but no good for cracking lips. I think the kids' hair may even be going blonder.

As the temperature is expected to be 34 tomorrow (and its still winter), we may head back to the coast and the small shipping hamlet of Port Hedland.

DAY 126

The expedition is going well, though the men and horses are getting tired. Since the party left the Port of Macquarie over 4 months ago we have travelled over 18,000km, finally reaching the other side of this vast continent.

Some of our expedition members who have hauled boats through the interior have been very disappointed that there is no inland sea to speak of. The boats are now being used to gather fish and mud crabs from the pristine waters of the north-west.

Food is still plentiful, though rations of fresh milk and bread are limited. There are many settlements in the region where we can buy supplies. There is also a lot of other european-types exploring this area of Australia.

The natives have been very friendly. We have been welcomed into their camps where they have shared with us dreamtime stories, shown us how to make tools and where to hunt for food. We have spent many days in their company and found it most rewarding.

No mention of Captain James Cook over here. Everyone is speaking the praises of some bloke called Dampier who was here in the 1600's. Although in the same country, we feel that we have come across a totally different colony. Everyone talks of this game called Aussie Rules, and are unaware of (or not interested in) the game of rugby.

As we look out over the Indian Ocean of an evening, it is a strange sight to see the sun setting to the west (no ... that's not the strange bit) ... over the water. The locals are also making mention of the 'stairway to the moon' as the full moon rises over the water, but we haven't witnessed this phenomenon yet.

There has been some infighting around camp. The other night Hugh chose to sleep outside in the hammock, surviving the potential hazards of dingoes, cane toads, snakes; and avoiding the wrath of his big sister.

Our party has split up recently, with some of the men heading up an advance party. The education board has summoned Susan back to the Westport school house, so her and Mark are heading home. When possible they send us communications of conditions ahead, weather forecasts and good camping spots.

We are still enjoying funding for the journey from the NSW government's electricity commission. With no ongoing sponsorship available, we too must consider the fact that we must head east soon.

The mechanical horses are holding up well, but some problems are emerging. Wayne and Belinda have gone to the settlement of Port Hedland today for some trailer welding. Our trusty steed, having been reshod several times, is liking the sealed roads between some townships and may actually get us home safely.

editorial apology sorry that the following fact was omitted from yesterday's blog entry How could I fail to mention that Gavin produces the handkerchief every morning to wipe over the i-thing screen as he is mounting it on the dash to map the days route. Throughout the day the handkerchief is often used to clean greasy finger marks, red dust, and sometimes even food from the very important gadget.

THE HANKY

Joseph may have had a technicolour dreamcoat, but Gavin has his trusty handkerchief. Many of you who have camped with us before are already aware of the ways in which this 20x20cm piece of material is mastered - around the campfire, when working on the vehicle, and for personal hygeine (more hand wiping than nose blowing though).

Throughout this trip Gavin's handkerchief has come into its own. Sparking many stories, some of which I'd like to share with you now...

Day 1 - Driving down the Hume Hwy we decided to tell the kids the sad news that we had taken Mulder to the vets for the last time the previous day. (They were still under the illusion that he was at Mick and Sarah's being doggysat.) At 15 years old, and with a few accidents around the house, we thought it was time to say goodbye to our beloved border collie. Having heard the news a very distressed Jacinta was crying uncontrollably in the back seat. Travelling at 100kmph all Gavin could do was offer her his handkerchief, assuring her that it was clean.

In the High Country the boys had to do a bit of maintenance on the camper. A broken strut had to be reaffixed, requiring some drilling and rescrewing. The handkerchief has frequently sighted wiping over greasy parts and holding sharp objects.

One evening in the Grampians Susan was up to her seventh cup of tea for the day. Gavin being the gentleman had put a billy on the fire and had offered to pour the lineup of cuppas on the ground next to the fire. Gavin pulls out his handkerchief to pick up the hot billy. Susan shreiks "What are you doing Gavin?" "It's OK", he says, "It's clean."

One cool evening in Alice Springs Gavin actually used his handkerchief to blow his nose. I went into panic mode, dreading that this may be the start of a bad case of man flu.

There was a few cool mornings around Ayres Rock and with our hot bodies in the car for early departures, the handkerchief was often used to demist the windscreen before the airconditioning kicked in.

We arrived in Kakadu at the end of the wet season. There was still a lot of water around the billabongs and a lot of mosquitos. There were millions, and big ones too. Having survived the packing up of camp one morning, we escaped into the sanctuary of the enclosed car. Rushing in and closing the doors, several of the buggers managed to follow us in too. As they flew past the driver's side, Gavin attempted to squash them against the windscreen with his handkerchief. The ensuing mess of mozzies and blood being smeared across the glass was reminiscent of the Blues Brothers trying to wash the oil off their windshield.

We have had fine sunny weather since Darwin, so our sunglasses have been a premanent fixture on our faces for the past 2 months. Initially Gavin would wipe his with his handkerchief each morning in an attempt to clean them, then pass them over to me when the handkerchief has proven unsuccessful. Now he just passes them over to me to clean.

For a few days in the Top End Jacinta was getting the sniffles. On a particular day that we were driving her tissue box had been packed in the back, on the other side of the cargo barrier. When the sniffles got too annoying in the front seat, Gavin offered her his handkerchief. I looked back to see her turning up her nose and shaking her head and she said "no thanks". Gavin said "take it, it's clean".

Since turning 10 we have had trouble keeping the food volume up to Hugh. He is often having the biggest serve of dinner, and when he's done still asks for an apple or something. However, there is still a small issue of the amount of food that drips onto his cheeks and chin (then wiped onto his shirt). During our Ord River boat cruise we enjoyed some afternoon tea of scones and jam, cake, etc. On the journey home the kids had to help pilot the boat. Before Gavin proceeded to take photos of the new helmsman, he took out his handkerchief and with a bit of spit cleaned Hughie's face.

We stayed at a few farmstays along the Gibb River Rd. One particularly nice place was Home Valley Station. Jacinta was engrossed in telling us some story and Hugh was right up close listening intently. All of a sudden her hands start flapping as the story gets exciting. Hugh is too close and gets wacked in the mouth. All made worse by the fact that he has a coldsore scab the size of a cornflake on his top lip. He's down - injured - bleeding profusly. I ran to the car thinking: tissue, no it'll stick to the wound; facewasher, no it's packed in the camper. As I open the car door I see Gav's screwed up handkerchief sitting on the centre console. "I hope it's clean" I say, as I press it onto Hugh's bloody lip.

Wild flowers around the Bungle Bungle area

Jacinta & Hugh at the end of Echnidna Gorge - Bungle Bungles. This gorge gradually got narrower and narrower as you walked up it. Walls are about 100M high on each side at this point.

Late afternoon sun at Bungle Bungles

The famous 'bee hive' formations of the Bungle Bungles. Interestingly, these only form a very small part of the National Park. Black horizontal stripes are caused by an alge that grows on the rocks.

Janaet admires beehive formations

The kids and I took a helicoptor fight over the Bungle Bungles. Janet elected to keep her feet firmly on the ground.

Some shots from the sunset viewing platform at the Bungle Bungles

On the Gibb River Road (GRR). We have just crossed the Pentecoust River. This river gets around 10M deep and several kilometers wide during the wet season. Note Cockburn Range in the background. This would have to be one of the most photograhed spots along the GRR

Turn off to El Questro station from the GRR. We spent a few nights here, but found it a bit too crowded for our liking.

Hugh and myself admire Emma Gorge, part of El Questro station. Water was freezing here!!

Hugh & Jacinta soak up the rays and recover after our walk up to the El Questro lookout (In reality, the walk was only about 20m from the car, but they must of had a late night........or Janet mentioned something about schoolwork??)

The Cockburn Ranges at sunset. Taken from Home Valley Station (much nicer then El Questro)

Not again!! - So far we have had 5 flat tyres on this trip, across several different makes. Not realy sure whats going on. This BFG was less then 1000km old, and had already been repaired once before. Completly stuffed this time with sidewall damage. Fortuantly, the rim is OK.

Some sunset shots taken at McGowens Island (not really and island), about 30kms north of Kulumbaru, and about 300kms North of the GRR. Would have to be one of the roughest tracks we have ever been up. 300kms of corragations, rocks and washouts. We saw numerous damaged vehicles on this road, including, Prado rolled and into tree at speed. Both passengers air lifted by RFDS. several camper trailers with broken springs, sheared stub axles or broken draw bars. Two camper trailers (including one Ultimate) burnt to the ground. Numerous shock absorber failures on both vehicles and campers. This road really charges a high admission price. Luckily, we only suffered a single flat tyre on this section (Oh, and nealy ran out of fuel - read Janets bit).

So was it worth going up there? Absolutly. Would we go again? In a heartbeat. Beautiful country side, and some amazing fishing.

This Spanish Mackeral kept us all fed for several nights!!

Jacinta with one of dozens of oysters she peeled from the rocks. She was eating these for breakfast!!

Hugh with a few of the fish he caught from Waynes boat.

They were trying to fix the roads, but some government department had only given them some money to replace the culverts at the creek crossings. Problem is, they have done this every year for the last 10 years, and every wet season, the floods wash it all away again!! The locals are sick and tired of money being thrown at the wrong areas. They would much rather fix the actual road then have to repair the same little areas each year.

Swimming at mitchell Falls. Fantastic spot!

We walked up to Mitchell Falls, but elected to take the helicopter 'taxi' back to the carpark. Walk took about 2 hours (32 degrees) and about 2 minutes in the helicopter. Fantastic view of the falls though.

Two photos below are of walking trail river crossing and swimming at Manning Gorge along the GRR.

Swimming at Bell Gorge

Kids at Bell Gorge, along the GRR

Windjana Gorge, near Tunnel Creek, GRR

Kids get a close up look of a freshie, Windjana Gorge.

Tunnel Creek. The river flows underground and can be followed for about 700mts. Half way along, the roof has colapsed in. This is what is letting in the light in this photo.

On the sea-plane flight out to the Horizontal Falls, Hugh was in the co pilots seat and got a chance to take the controls for a while. No crash landings thankfully!!

Ariel shot of the Horizontal falls. These cuttings are only about 7 meters wide. Tidal fluctuations of around 11 meters mean that the water cannot transition from one section to the other quickly enough. This menas there is a water level difference of several meters each side of the cuttings, creating an effect of a waterfall, or large rapids.

The sea-plane lands at a large pontoon, where we disembark the sea-plane and get the opportunity to swim in a shark cage, have lunch, sunbake etc. Also board the small boats to take us through the Horizontal Falls

Boarding the boat for the trip out ot the falls. 2x 300HP engines on the back!!

View of the falls from the back of the boat. The water really flies through here. Water depth at this point is over 40m........As tall as a 12 story building!!

Ariel view of the islands on the flight back to Derby

Photos of the sunset over the jetty at Derby. We had dinner at a little restauraunt here, and got some awsome photos.

Night photo of the Derby jetty

We are having a morning off. The kids are doing some homework, now that school holidays have finished. Gavin is down at the tyre shop with Wayne. So I thought I'd write a quick few lines, before we head down to Cable Beach for the arvo.

The kids have been working hard on the holiday. They have become very proficient at putting up their tent, setting up stretchers and making beds. Both are involved with dinner, Jacinta usually does some food prep and Hugh helps with drying dishes.

Even when we are on paid tours, they get roped in to doing some of the chores. Both kids had to help drive the boat on our Ord River cruise, and Hugh had to fly the seaplane on the way out to the Horizontal Falls the other day. No wonder they are always too exhausted to do any schoolwork.

The reason that Gavin is at the tyre shop could be attributed to our 5 flat tyres so far. Not too bad for 16,000km I suppose. (Wayne has only had 3). We had 2 dodgey tyre repairs done at Kununurra. These tyres deflated within minutes of being put on the car when crossing the Gibb River Rd. So I guess we've only actually had 3 flats.

As I'm writing this I can hear James saying "gez mate, what pressures are you running?" and even louder in my other ear I can hear Darren saying " bloody hell Gav, how fast were you going?"

So between all the new tyres for the car and new thongs for the kids, I have invested many dollars in the Chinese rubber industries. I may well be one of their major stock holders at the moment.

RED LIGHT

Having spent a great day in at the Mitchell Falls, including bushwalking, swimming and a helicopter flight; it was decided that we would head down to Drysdale River Station to camp that night.

We knew it was a rough 4WD track 88km back to the Kalumburu Rd, then a further 101km down a corrugated road to the station. It was only 1pm, so time wasn't a problem. We knew the road well as we had travelled north along it only a week before heading towards our fishing spot at McGowans Island.

As we left camp we passed a tour bus trailer drawbar, then 200m down the road was the large covered trailer. Oh well, nothing for us to do, so we travel on.  Sometimes wondering if the Prado that we saw crashed into a tree on the way up had been recovered yet? And also if we would see the burnt out trailer on the side of the road that everyone is talking about?

Passing Doongen Station was a beautiful sight. Thousands of hectares of rocky barron cattle property, but the homestead is nestled amongst a eucalypt woodland with a dense fan palm understorey. Very picturesque.

Then Gav notices a red light on in the dash - the empty fuel light has come on.

The kids were playing something very important on the i-thing, but were quickly flicking the screen to the GPS page. Knowing we had just passed Doongen, Jacinta looks at the map and informs us that we still have 37km to go. There is fuel and accommodation at Drysdale - we have to get there.

Gavin goes into panic mode. Worrying about something that was avoidable. Only a few nights before around the campfire he had mentioned that we needed to top up with fuel at Kalumburu in order to make it to Drysdale. BUT we were distracted at Kalumburu as Gavin had to go to the clinic and have a fish spike removed from his finger under local anaesthetic, then we looked through the Mission museum and had a local aboriginal show us around the plane wrecks at the airport (a result of a WWII japanese attack).

Gavin, still worrying, starts to drive cautiously. He is watching the revs in and out of floodway crossings. I'm watching the clock, knowing that we can only buy fuel at the station til 5pm. Luckily Wayne and Belinda are following us, aware of the problem via radio contact, and able to help us by syphoning out some of the fuel from their long-range tanks if necessary. THEN Jacinta recalculates our distance - "oh yeah, then it's another 2km up the driveway at Drysdale."

It was probably the longest, quietest hour in the car for the past 3 months. Too bumpy and noisy to listen to any music - even Coldplay was put on hold for the many days on this road.

Oh look, out to the right. It's that burnt out camper sitting up in the bush. A few minutes later ... oh look, someone's been and collected that Prado that had crashed.

We are getting closer, we pass the 5km sign, it is about 10 minutes to 5. THEN Jacinta reminds us that there will be 2 gates along the driveway that we will need to open and close. I offer to open the first gate, let them through, and walk up the driveway if it saves them stopping for a minute.

Thinking of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer and the car salesman drive with the warning light on - just to see how far it will go. I'm looking around thinking how remote we are, but at least we are towing our house with the required food and beds if needed for a roadside stop.

We get to the turn off. Another car is at the gate. We let them open it, give a friendly wave, and drive through overtaking them. We are within 2km. If we stop now it will be Gavin I tell to get the empty jerry can off the roof and walk up to the bowser - quickly. We get to the second gate, another car is leaving, so when they open the gate we give another friendly wave and drive through.

Straight up the the bowser AND WE PUT IN 122 LITRES (apparently we have a 130 L capacity, so there was never any problem anyway).

We have just come in from a day out at the Horizontal Falls.

Jacinta and I are a bit ill from the bumpy ride home on the sea plane.

Hugh is a bit full having eaten 2 barramundi burgers for lunch.

And Gavin is a bit excited because they got to have 2 rides on the jet boat through the Horizontal Falls (I waited on the pontoon for their return, and had a relaxing swim in the shark proof cage).

We arrived in Derby yesterday, after a bumpy ride along the Gibb River Rd. No major problems to report, and more great gorges and swimming holes were enjoyed.

Mitchell Falls were marvelous, and although the walk in wasn't too strenuous, we caught a helicopter back to camp - taking in the wonderful view of the surrounding falls and gorges too.

We drove up to Kalumburu in the northern Kimberly and camped on the beach. The result being a lot of fishing done, and a lot of fresh fish eaten - mainly red snapper.

Hugh enjoyed fishing amongst the sharks, until one nearly jumped in the boat.

Jacinta enjoyed walking around the rocks eating fresh oysters. I think she had half a dozen natural for breakfast one day.

The local mud crabs races are on Saturday, then we are off to Broome. Will see if the husband will buy me a pretty pearl?

Some of the fish caught at Coburg Peninsula:

River crossing at Coburg Peninsula

Driving through Arnam land

Shady camp (Mary River) sunrise

Kids with Aboriginal artist at Onepelli (Arnam land)

Cahills Crossing. Tidal crossing that can only be crossed at low tide. At high tide this crossing is covered with almost 2M of water, and is flowing very fast!! This is the main crossing between Kakadu and Arnam land

Jacinta at Ubirr lookout. This is where a scene from Crocodile Dundee was filmed. Arnam land in background (mountains)

Kakadu artwork

Base of Jim Jim falls. We lucked out and managed to get in there the first day it was open after the wet.

Jim Jim falls

Natural 'infinity pool' at Gunlom falls. We camped at the base of these falls and were able to walk up the steep path to the rockpools at the top. Behind us is a 150M drop into the plunge pool below. Janet wouldn't go near it!!

Rockpools at top of Gunlom falls. Great swimming in lovely warm water.

Gunlom falls. Infinity pool at top. 

Cinta dressed for 7 course 'Mud Crab' dinner at Crab Claw Island

Hugh dressed for 7 course 'Mud Crab' dinner at Crab Claw Island

The main ingediant of the first course!!

Ingrediants for courses 2 through 7!!

There's fish out these somewhere.......

View from our campground at Crab Claw Island.

Sandy Creek falls in Litchfield National Park. This is the pool where my car keys went for a swim!

Litchfield falls (I foget the name), but pretty spekkie!

Florence falls, Litchfield

Florence falls, Litchfield

Florence falls, Litchfield

Buley Rockpool in Litchfield. Best swimming hole by a long shot in Litchfield

Despite numerous attempts by diving in, I couldn't touch the bottom of this plunge pool at Buley Rockpool. Here the kids and I practise our sycnronised 'bombing'

Giant termite mound, Litchfield

Highie decided to gather some firewood, and insisted on putting on his 'safety' gear (note he is wearing gloves)

Gregory National Park (near NT / WA border)

Edith Falls, near Kathrine

Janet at Calcite Falls. White area in center of photo is a dry waterfall with calcium deposit, giving the illusion of a flowing waterfall. Gregory National Park

Giant Boab tree, Gregory National Park

River crossing, Gregory National Park

River crossing, Gregory National Park

Kids enjoying the Zebra Rock Mine, near Lake Argyle, WA

Freshwater croc on Lake Argyle cruise

Lake Argyle cruise vista

Sunset on Lake Argyle

View from Zebra Rock Mine. Lake Argyle in distance

The rig near Lake Argyle

Hugh and Toli (new best friend) discuss how to use binoculars

Wetland birdlife

Wetland birdlife

At least we don't have to worry about a cyclone!!

Giant croc at Wyndham

Magnificant view from the '5 river lookout', Wyndham

Sunset on Ord River

Sunset cruise, Ord River

Jacinta pilots the boat on the cruise, much to the horrer of the 'oldies' on the cruise.