Adelaide River isn’t a huge distance from Litchfield so we were in the park by mid morning after stopping at the visitors centre in Batchelor. First stop was to view the Magnetic Termite Mounds. These wedge shaped mounds are aligned in a north-south direction to allow the temperature to remain stable. The paddock full of…
For some reason (maybe because I am rushing to get this blog done) I completely missed adding any pictures of Purnululu National Park (The Bungle Bungles). So this page is just for that!
17 Aug Before we could leave Broome today we needed to get the front tyres checked as they now seem to have slow leaks. After breakfast (and packing up most of the camper), Graham went to Tyres Plus while Jacob and I went to the park around the corner for a quick play. When we got back…
8 & 9 Aug The weekend in Derby was a good opportunity for everyone to unwind and slow the pace down for a couple of days. Our new friends Ray & Betty were camped across the road from us. It was meant to be obviously! We visited the Visitor Centre and the wharf. We wanted to see the low…
5 Aug Sadly it is time to leave McGowan’s Island and say goodbye to our new friends Ray & Betty from Gladstone who were camping next to us in their Robust Camper (made in Rockhampton). Ray & Betty are also leaving today so maybe we will run into them again down the track. After stopping…
1 Aug Shaun Whale from 4wd Action is camped beside us! Some of you may not know who this is but for those who do ‘SHAUN IS CAMPED BESIDE US’! He has been filming a Kimberley DVD and now has a couple of weeks holidays. It didn’t take long for Michael and I to introduced…
Thu 30th After packing up camp today we stopped at the beautiful, warm, Zebedee Springs. The source of the water supplying the pools originates deep within the earths interior. High pressure and heat inside the earth keep the water temperature around 32° all year round. Next we went to Emma Gorge, part of the spectacular Cockburn Ranges, where…
Tue 28th We left Lake Argyle; arrived in Kunnunara just before lunch. We didn’t hang around long, just picked up some supplies then headed to Wyndam to have a look at the five rivers lookout. Then we were on our way towards the famous Gibb River Road via the Karunjie Track (stock route). We almost made…
Sat 25th Today we went on a cruise in Katherine Gorge which took us to the first two gorges. Graham then installed the new stereo so we can play the music from the Ipad through it via Bluetooth. Jacob and I went for a swim in the pool. We all then went to the RSL…
Thu 23rd Jacob’s birthday. Started the day with presents. Travelled through Camooweal, Barkley Homestead and Cape Crawford. We planned to camp at the October Creek rest area however it was full of caravans so we back tracked a short distance to the creek where we had seen a track veer off near the bridge to the creek…
Sat 18th Graham is still working on the engine conversion. He has put Michael to work as Michael and Jules arrived sometime around midnight last night to be ready for an early start today. Sun 19th Graham is still working on the engine conversion. I woke around 6am and went looking for him. I found…
Only 5 more sleeps until we leave. Graham will hopefully have the new engine running within 24 hours (fingers crossed). Then he needs to start on things like wheel bearings etc and then, the camper also has a list of mods we would like to get done. We are trying to meet up with the…
We are only 2-3 months from leaving for our 8 week trip to the Kimberley Region. We don’t have an exact date as yet, we also haven’t worked out an itinerary. At this stage it is a ‘wing it’ kind of trip which will have to change as some things need to be booked. Graham…
We are down to the last two days of the trip – home tomorrow. Unfortunately today, we blew a head gasket in the Landcruiser and will have to nurse her for the 1000km to home. We are blowing plenty of smoke (although it was hard to get a picture of it). We stocked up on engine…
In Longreach we visited the Qantas Founders Museum, it was getting late so we were able to organise a pass to come back the next day without paying the entry fee again. We also booked for their tour of a couple of planes. That night we had dinner at the restaurant at the caravan park.…
In Winton we visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre and Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways, then back to camp with time still for a swim. Tomorrow we move onto Longreach.
A little delay getting away this morning, the Nissan wouldn’t start! Those of you that have travelled with us before will know that the Nissan has a reputation of NEVER breaking down. When we did the Simpson Desert trip 5 years ago the Nissan got through it virtually unscathed, just a steak knife blade through…
We left Karumba first thing and arrived at Lawn Hill Gorge mid afternoon. This was a fantastic spot to visit especially with kids. We stayed at Adel’s Grove in a shaded grove along side a creek; went for a swim in the creek after we set up camp. There is a deep swimming hole and…
Jules birthday today. Michael and Graham went on a fishing charter this morning at 7 for 5 hours. It was pretty windy today and as I would find out later, it was pretty rough out on the boat too resulting in more berley than normal over the side (Graham being one of then contributors!). Jules,…
Michael woke to a flat tyre on his Patrol this morning (a screw in the tyre) so his first job after packing up was to find a tyre repairer in the small town of Georgetown. We could of plugged the hole ourselves but figured a professional would be much quicker – we were wrong. Eric,…
Started the morning with pancakes which was a bit of a disaster as they kept sticking to the frypan so if anyone has any tips on how to fry on a stainless pan I would love to hear them! A week ago, I had no trouble cooking pancakes in it but today was a different…
Another very hot day! We were packed up and gone from Palmer River Roadhouse by 8.50am, an easy day ahead for us. Drove to Mareeba where we purchased supplies and refuelled then headed for Chillagoe. Stopped at Dimbulah for lunch at the ‘Funky Mango’. Didn’t expect much but the food turned out to be delicious…
We aimed today to get packed up and on our way early. We did have some unplanned motivation in the form of smoke closing in on us which worried me a lot and Graham not so much. Graham fixed the front locker air line as we were sure to need it again and we still…
John & Lorna met us at our campsite at Chilli Beach then we all drove up to Portland Roads where we had a lovely lunch on a verandah overlooking the water and we think we saw a crocodile in the water (probably wasn’t). We then headed back to Archer River Roadhouse for the night and…
We left Weipa via Batavia Downs to the Peninsular Development Road, north for 2km then turned onto the Frenchmans track which disappointingly provided no challenges. The next time we come to the Cape it will have to be a lot earlier in the season so the tracks will provide some challenges. John & Lorna stayed…
Only one challenge left on the Old Telegraph Track today before we head to Weipa – Palm Creek. We were expecting to have to winch this one as we had checked it out from the south side on our way to the tip plus everyone said we’d never make it. Michael drove up without a…
