You can stick the Kalumburu Road up your A*se

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DAY 219

Andy was out of bed early, yet again but surprisingly I too was out of bed early, I think it was about 6.15, but it was daylight and fairly warm, so too good to stay in bed.

I found Andy outside tippy tappying away on the laptop. We needed the big aerial from the truck in order to get some Internet access. However we had to stick the aerial somewhere, the truck was not close enough and it would not work in the tree, so the only place we could stick the aerial was on the kettle (because the magnetic base stuck to it) then, voila! We have Internet access, only 2 bars, but better than nothing. We are considering asking Telstra if they would make a proprietary mounting for a kettle, just in case we need to use it again, they do them for everything else.

We showered and ate a healthy breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, but that was basically because we were running out of some basic necessities, so a trip in Wyndham today would sort that one out.

Andy was working on the blog, when a guy wandered over for a chat his name was Peter and asked if we had connected to the Internet. He and his wife are from New Zealand and have been over here since August, and as the conversation went on they said to us that they were driving out to the Ord river this morning and asked if we would like to come along, which would be a great opportunity to explore the surrounding area.

We both needed to do a few chores before setting off so agreed to be ready in an hour. I went to check in for another night, this place is too good just to use as an overnighter, although spending a few days here would be absolute bliss, the grounds look green and lush, the billabong has lily pads dotted around it and the bird life is in abundance.

When I checked in I noticed the name of Mary Durack in the guest book, I asked the girl on reception about her as Mary Durack wrote a book called “Kings in Grass Castles”, however the author actually died in 1994 so I wondered if this was a relation, the Duracks are famous in this area, there is even a mountain range named after them, which you can see in the distance from Perry Creek Farm.

Our main fuel tank was on just under half, the sub tank was empty, so we dumped the additional 20 Litres of Diesel from the jerry can into the truck for “Just in case” as we would endeavour to get in to Wyndham today for provisions and fuel.

Peter was sitting in his caravan down loading the map from his laptop and printing out a couple of copies, so he is well organised.

We set off in separate trucks as we were heading in to off road territory, if one got stuck the other could “hopefully” get the other one out, forget being fuel efficient we have to be logical in situations like this.

As soon as we got 100 yards on to the track the Spinifex grass was as high as our wing mirrors, and the trail was very rough, we drove through grass, water, mud you name it and after about 12k’s, which took us about an hour we arrived at the Ord River.

Getting out of the truck we were still in long-ish grass, about 2 ft high and your senses heighten with the thought of snakes, so we both did some ground stamping to hopefully scare them away.

The Ord River was huge, probably 200 Metres across with quite a bit of debris floating down, we asked Peter and Maria if Crocodiles were in the river, and they said most definitely, so we did our best to spot one, but unfortunately no joy. I should also hasten to point out that we did not stand right on the edge of the river bank. Maria also reminded us not to turn our backs on the river; after all if something is going to eat you, you should really see what it is.

Maria and Peter told us that they were at the King River a few days ago, when they saw a cow floating past them upstream, only to see a crocodile right behind it steering it toward the bank, however the tide was changing and the crocodile was then struggling to keep the cow from floating away from him.

We stood, chatted and took some pictures for an hour or so; Maria had the same camera as Caroline and after some discussion realised that Maria had an issue with dark photos, Caroline also had this issue until having the time early on in the trip to study the problem and resolved it. Maria had also resolved her problem 2 days ago. For anyone with a Canon 400D that is actually having the same issue with dark photos, check the setting is not on “Faithful”, that is what makes the photos dark, which means more messing around in Photoshop. We wondered if it comes out of the factory with that as a default setting, which is not very helpful when you have a new camera and need time to study the new technology.

They were busy discussing some technical stuff including the benefits of having Image Stabilised Lens. It was late morning so we had a small snack of cheese and biscuits (they were as low on supplies as we were).

We jumped back in the trucks and headed back roughly the way we came, and again the journey was slow and fascinating.

Our route back was slightly different to the one coming, and as we drove through a partially wooded area opening out to a flattish plain we saw several flocks of Brolga’s, which are very large birds, they stand about 3ft high from floor to the top of the head.

They must have had sixth sense because as soon as the camera came out the all took flight. Still no need to worry as where we are staying at Perrys Farm Creek there is a semi tame Brolga who walks around all day getting in to mischief.

Caroline heard a guy who obviously knows the Brolga tell him off earlier, he said to him, “I’ve told you not to wander down to the lagoon” and the bird just stood there and sort of bowed its head as if it knew it had done wrong, but we are lead to believe they may be a croc in the Billabong, there are actually two unbated croc traps down there.

When we pulled up we were at the Parry’s Lagoon Nature Reserve, Peter said that he had recognised the hill tops so he headed for there, the track to us straight on to Wyndham all off road, so we asked if they wanted any provisions which they did and gave us a small list so we set off towards Wyndham. However we got so far down the track and then it split into 3 so we just took the middle track in the hope that it was the right one.

When we squirted out of the track we were right slap bang in the centre of an aboriginal community called Guda Guda, there were cars all over the place and not very tidy but hey ho! We had a short hop up the road to Wyndam which was a very small town consisting of a couple of shops and a fuel station, though it was Sunday and it was very quiet though the Supermarket was open fortunately, it looked a bit of a state from the outside but inside it was really well stocked and very clean.

We only got the bare essentials as the prices were extremely high and we would wait until Kununarra, a fairly decent size town where there is a Coles supermarket.

We fill up with Diesel at a cost $1.43 per litre (not too bad) and made our way out of Wyndham past the big croc and headed back to camp via the Perry’s Lagoon track, stopping up on Telegraph Hill we looked over the view of the Perry’s Lagoon, it was baking hot but still pleasurable. Perrys Lagoon is beautiful, early mornings are supposed to be a haven for birds, this area is a bird watchers paradise and indeed a place that Kirsty was keen on coming to.

Arriving back at camp we drive down the long drive to our site only to find Andrew and Kirsty camping a few sites away from us, they had apparently arrived at 11.00 this morning and had no idea that we were on the same site, they had not even seen our trailer.

We had a chat with them, expressed concern over their journey out of the Purnululu National Park, Andy and I decided that it was a good enough afternoon for a swim. You cannot swim in the Billabong here, there is a sign warning you of crocodiles, I would not particularly want to swim in there anyway, even though it is all very pretty.

Andy had been promising to make me a cup of coffee all day, I seem to be having Latte withdrawal symptoms and am looking forward to getting to a town where I can get a decent coffee. I still did not get my coffee before we swam.

In the heat of the afternoon, we wandered over to the swimming pool, it looks inviting, but I know even before I get there that the water will be freezing! As hot as it is during the day, it does nothing to heat the water and I am sure in the summer months the water is warmer I wish that the chill factor had been taken away, but still I venture into the pool and after about 5 minutes acclimatisation I take the plunge. Once I was in it felt lovely and refreshing and I stayed in and swam for about 10 minutes, unlike the sudden plunge that Andy made, swam to the other end of the pool, got out and then flopped down on the sunbed.

I popped around to see Maria and asked her if she wanted to wander around and take some pictures as the sun was going down, we decided to put both cameras and lens to the test and work out the benefits of an Image Stabilised Lens. Maria had dropped her camera and lens recently so wondered if it had damaged it in any way.

We wandered down to the Billabong, the water lilies looked great in the fading sunshine, there were not too many birds around, well none that sat still long enough for a picture anyway, then we wandered up to the viewing deck.

After a while the conversation changed from the technical stuff and we just sat and talked, the early evening was lovely, it was still warm and the view from the deck was just breathtaking, made even better by the fading sun.

I felt that it was time for Andy to fulfil that promise of a coffee so we wandered back to our respective camps for dinner.

Andy and I were going to use the camp kitchen tonight; it is easier to cook when you don’t have suicidal insects trying to crash land in your Bolognese sauce. The camp kitchen is open to the elements but surrounded completely by mesh to keep the insects out.

We sit in there and ate, finishing the blog for the day before and sorted through some photos, Andrew and Kirsty popped in later on, we chatted about El Questro, Andy and I are not certain that we will get over there this time round. As beautiful as it is, we were planning just a couple of nights, but it is a little costly and we are thinking that it deserves more than a few days. We have not done the Gibb River Road and as El Questro is on the Gibb River Road it may be that we choose to do it all at the same time and give it all the time that it deserves.

Which also brings me to another point, a lady came into the kitchen while we were cooking our dinner, she asked us about our trip and we hers, the response came back that they had done the Gibb River Road, I asked about the Mitchell Plateau, the response came back “yes, never again, the Kimberleys can stick the.Kalumburu road up their A*se.”

Oh dear, we had not expected that, so many people have told us how beautiful it all is and that the road is a little bit rough, but apparently the corrugations on the road up to the. are so wide that Kalumburu road they are bad for travelling on. This lady explains that they broke a shock absorber, and the door of their tray top camper came off, luckily she heard a bang and asked her husband to stop, she said she could not believe what she was looking at when she saw the door to their camper 50 yards back down the track. It seems that the vibrations from the corrugations had weakened the pop rivets, which in turn sheared off.

To top it all off, they got stuck going through a water crossing, right in the middle at its deepest point, the water was halfway up the door. She had to get out of the truck so pushed the door open which then let a lot of water in (apparently her husband was not impressed), the truck is still wet on the inside. Somehow they got out, she did not explain that bit.

Anyway, it sounds as if holidaying off road is perhaps off the menu for now, I think she has had enough of it, especially the corrugations. I know how I feel after a long corrugated track, but that is part of our adventure so we have to take the rough with the smooth, excuse the pun.

We reviewed some photographs with Andrew and Kirsty, copying some across to them that we took of them at Purnulul and vice versa. They went to bed at 9.00 as they are up at 5.30 in the morning to do some bird watching on their way to Kununurra.

It is nearing bed time, Andy goes to bed at 9.30, I stay up a while longer to finish the blog and ended up going to bed at 10.50, quite late in terms of our recent track record.

Until tomorrow.

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Photos

Kettle Mounted Aerial
Telstra have developed a new Kettle mounted aerial

The Patrol
Sitting in the long grass, was it hiding any snakes

Amateur Cartographers
Well Caroline and Peter study the map back

Fire
This wildfire we could see for miles across this salt flat in Wyndham

Parrys Lagoon Nature Reserve
A haven for bird lovers.

Telegraph
This is the old telegraph station on top of the hill overlooking the reserve. Bit draughty!

Billabong
this beautiful billabong is in the grounds of Parrys Farm Creek

Sun Down
from the viewing deck