Finding Friends

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DAY 191

It felt like a hard start to the day, I struggled to get out of bed, but that maybe because we had a late night last night. Andy as always got the kettle on, at 7.30 I managed to surface.

For some reason I feel quite out of sync with the routine of packing the trailer up, but we get done in reasonable time, we drive down to Kirsty and Andrew who are almost ready, but we find that they are flushing out the water tank, it seems that in Coral Bay they picked up an infestation of ants, they had not only eaten their way through some cable they have managed to get into the water tank. A cup of tea with ants floating in it is not really funny, I suppose a little bit of protein is a good thing though.

We head out, as I pick up my $10 deposit from the key for the ablution block I ask how much their Liquid Propane Gas is, $25 for 4.5kg. That is the most expensive that we have come across, so we decide we would check out the Shell garage down the road, we need diesel so it makes sense to do it all at the same time. Except that when I go in to find out, they say “we don’t do LPG, the caravan park is the only place in Tom Price”

We fill up and head back to the caravan park, on the way out we see Kirsty and Andrew, we explain what we are doing and arrange to meet in a car park in Tom Price.

When we get to the caravan park we realise that the gas is actually still fairly ok, although we just have it topped up. Which really means that if the gas is ok then our new cooker is behaving badly. We decide to see how it goes while we are in Karijini.

We pop into Coles for some last minute items, like milk and potatoes, get some cash from the bank and then we find Andrew and Kirsty and head off toward Karijini.

The drive out is beautiful, the mountains are stunning, we drive past Mount Bruce, which is Western Australia’s second highest peak. The area is very green, they have had a lot of rain here, it seems that they would have more than there fair share for Australia, it is a brilliant contrast between the ochre red coloured soil and the green of the vegetation.

I have been really looking forward to staying in Karijini, I have heard so much about it and every one who said if you like Kalbarri you will love Karijini. This I hope to be another jewel in the trip, we hope to stay for a few days, but will only check in for a couple of nights just to see how things go.

Soon we turn into Karijini and head toward Dales Campground. We pull up at the camp host and find some volunteers in there sorting out the camp sites and taking the $6.50 per person per night, we check in for 2 nights, they find a spot where we can park next to each other.

When I first went in I ask about the Truman Family, but they say that they don’t recall the name, I know they must be here but if they cannot recall the name we have got no hope parking next to them. Our only option is to drive round the site looking for them.

One of the volunteers takes Kirsty and me to one side and explains the maps, the gorges, what not to do with the dingo’s and how we need to make sure we look after our belongings, apparently dingo’s like flip flops in particular but they will take anything that they can pick up in their mouth and run off an play with. Most definitely don’t feed them!

While talking to the volunteer I see a woman out of the corner of my eye writing on a wipe board, I glance round to see what she is doing and catch sight of the words “Kangaroo Jack” , my attention is now completely diverted from the volunteer into why Kangaroo Jack is mentioned on the board, I find that the board is a place for “Finding Friends”, you write up the name of the people you are looking for in the hope that they see it and can find the site that you are on. I realise that this must be the “Travelin Truey’s” so I scribble their name up on the board just in case.

We hop back in the truck and on the way round look for the “Travelin Truey’s” caravan, we know they are in Euro 95, we see the caravan and the truck but no sign of any Truey’s, so we leave a note from “Kangaroo Jack”, then go and find our site to set up camp.

We set up quite quickly, well actually I lie, we put the awning up, as we need the shade here, the sun is ferocious, we are in a tropical semi desert environment so the heat can be relentless. It seems that Andrew and Kirsty are all set, how easy is it just to pull up with a caravan?

Finally we sit down for a cup of tea and a chat, and then out of nowhere we hear voices and turn around to find the Truemans walking up our path. At last we have caught up with each other!

It is mayhem for a while as we are all trying to speak and swap stories, Ken asks us what happened to us yesterday, just as I said “puncture” he spied our lovely new tyres and said “I thought something looked different.”

The kettle goes on again, Kahlia and Josh want a cold drink, the Truey’s tell us that they have not been back to their camp yet, they have been down in the gorge all day, have been swimming in Fern Pool and have not even had lunch, by now it is about 4.00.

While getting the drinks sorted for everyone I accidentally drop a pot of cream on the ground, the whole lot spills out all over the place and splashes up the back of the truck and all over my legs, quickly I get a paper towel to wipe the cream off my legs before a Dingo comes up and does it for me. I guess they will be well fed in cream tonight, and at least we will see a real live wild Dingo!

Jodie tells us about the gorge walks that they have done and tells us that we have to swim in the pools in the gorge. Apparently the water is cold, now I am not good with cold water, I hate it, I love swimming and am more than happy to get in a swimming pool that is heated but cold water is a big no no!

But the pressure is on because a gauntlet has been thrown down, the pools are there to be swum in. Jodie also tells us about the spider walk at Hancocks Gorge and the freezing cold Kermits pool at the end, again we should do this; I think all the Truman family did this walk, they are an adventurous family and have done all sorts of great things on their trip, including snorkelling and swimming with Whale Sharks.

Kirsty and Andrew go off to the Visitors centre to find out the some more information on Karijini National Park and Kirsty is also after a bird list for the area.

Ken tells us that they stopped by the camp host and when the camp host saw them said that they suddenly remembered the Trumans and mentioned that someone was looking for them. Kahlia and Josh tell us that last night they cycled around all the camp sites looking for us on the off chance that we were there.

Jodie laughed when she tells us that the kids were disappointed that we had not turned up, we are the closest things to kids that they have come across. So the Travelin Trueys had marshmallows and ice-cream (that was destined for us) with some other campers so we missed out big time, especially as they all played Pictionary and Spicks and Specks.

So tonight we have a game plan we will all have dinner separately and then the Trumans will be back with the games and marshmallows.

While we were chatting a Dingo happened past, looking for opportunity and lucky for him smelt the cream, we sat and watched the Dingo lick up the cream and listened while he sucked the cream of the stones, he would pick them up in his mouth suck the cream off and then spit the stone out, smart doggie eh!

Kirsty and Andrew we not going to join games night as they were tired and were having an early night.

The Trumans turned up, we chatted and then got the games out along with the marshmallows and a big bag of crisps. We then got Junior Pictionary underway, it was noisy and great fun, boys played girls and boys beat the girls, but it was pay back on Spicks and Specks, the girls claimed the victory.

The night had turned very cold, we were sitting outside and it was freezing cold! So just before 10.00 we called it a night.

We hopped into bed you could feel how cold a night it was as the sheet on top of the bed was very cold. Soon we were wrapped up in the warmth of sleeping bags and blankets, and to the sound of howling Dingo’s we were soon asleep.

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