On the Road Again

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Drysdale River to Mitchell Plateau

Things are really starting to get interesting. The grader has been working on the road but still very corrugated in places and the dust is awful. It is like red talcum powder and is managing to find its way into the camper, we have been blocking off any possible entry points with Gaffa tape and it still gets in. We had one of our doors pop open (even though it was locked) on the rough road. I was glad to arrive at Drysdale and have a hot shower and catch up on some washing. We have our first cool night here. Drysdale is the last stop for fuel, supplies etc. after here you need to be self sufficient until Kalumburu.

Next day we are off early as we have another 100 km to go before reaching the turn off to the Mitchell Plateau track. By the time we reach the turn off we are all feeling a bit shaken up by the road. After a short lunch stop at the turn off we start down the track (which is not a gazetted road so no maintenance is supposedly done) 88 km to the campsite at Mitchell Falls. By the time we arrive at the falls camp ground approx. 4 ½ hours later we have lost the shock absorbers on one side of the camper and some of the underbody protection that ARB put on before we left. The corrugations were really bad, in fact at one stage I laughed myself to tears as my boobs were shaking so much! I guess we were lucky as we saw several people changing tyres, replacing wheel bearings and one poor guy whose trailers A-frame had completely broken.

After setting up camp we booked a helicopter ride into the falls for tomorrow morning. Our thoughts were to fly in and get there before the crowds and take our time walking back to camp. We found the campsite to be relatively quiet, toilets are provided but no showers.

I should mention that the drive into the plateau is through a changing landscape, as we climbed higher we drove through forests of palms and some very steep sections as we crossed another valley. I felt sorry for Bob he had to concentrate so much on what was ahead he did not get to really enjoy the view

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Photos

Drysdale Station
Early morning and the moon is just going down

Drysdale River Crossing
Very shallow at this time of year

Drysdale River flood marker
Bob has his hand on the 2 metre mark
Its hard to imagine how much water flows in the wet season

Comments

[Erica]

Boobs
My boobs didn't quite shake as much - typical - Bob,s only comment was he was glad Bette's boobs didn't fall off as well. Erica