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After some early morning camp drama, we head off south towards Alice…a Darwinian had locked herself out of her hire car and desperately needed help, we gave her some water and crackers to see her through until roadside assistance arrived, they weren’t tipped to get there for a few hours, we left knowing she was going to be ok….she did text us later and said she got going around 2pm….she had to wait about 6 hours….

 

Anyway, not much to see on the way to Alice apart from the Tanami Road turn off,which we took 7 years to the day for the Canning Stock Route…

arrived in Alice and it was very quiet, not many around, had a look around and setup camo, back into town for a late lunch and were amazed that almost everyone and everything was either shut down or not there, there were major works upgrading the pedestrian mall, but none of the shops were open…we felt that since the riots and looting, no one is around….so sad, such a nice city….back to camp and then across the road for our dinner at AS brewery… schnitzel and Schooner night, so we timed that well..

Back to camp after witnessing some strange behaviour from a local, ready to continue our return homeward.

Much cooler now…shorts and t shirts will be lost tomorrow.

No photos, nothing to see 🙈 

Left the dusty camp at Daly Waters pretty early to get some km’s behind us as we are well and truly heading south now….crossed the tropic of Capricorn and sub consciously feel cooler already….no much to see along the route , arrived at the marbles and strolled around and took the paths around..stunning at sunset. Camp is full.

Wow, what a day, first up Mataranka, beautiful hot springs in a forest of palms….then Larimah…famous for meat pies and a missing person….the Daly Waters …..what a place….wrecked planes, helicopters, vintage cars , donkeys, wild pigs and crocs in the main Street…all centred around a pub..people everywhere, crowded campsite, but an atmosphere that you must experience…booked in for the famous Beef and Barra dinner, and thoroughly enjoyed it, in the beer garden, with live music and a pianist!  He was good.

A very interesting place, but we were happy to leave the crowd behind 

More km’s to lap up today so off early to get to our destination..drive through Victoria River region, beautiful  country, not typical of NT. This part of the world floods and burns at regular times and is evident along the highway…..arrived in Katherine, our northern most city of this trip…set up our camp for the next few nights.

Day 2 in Katherine, off to the gorge to have a look, only 1 gorge of 8 was open to cruising due to recent floods, so we opted for the cheaper itinerary, walking to the lookout and checked the magnificent view….back into Katherine for some retail therapy and groceries, although nothing much open…off to the local country club for dinner and back to camp for dinner…went to the hot springs in the morning and enjoyed the relaxing and soothing hot springs…..

Back to camp, ready to depart tomorrow.

Note…NT still sells fireworks… Territory day is a huge celebration up here

Packed up camp and said goodbye to Western Australia, heading home now, but still lots to see.

Our stop tonight is Timber Creek Northern Australia, an oasis in the desert on the banks of the Victoria River…. fantastic spot with green grass and shade….. bistro for dinner after the croc feeding and bird display….great spot and it also marks the end of Binns Track, our next adventure, in years to come..

 

 

Today we left Kununurra for Lake Argyle….just a few hours down the road…the traffic was caravan after caravan heading to the Lake. Once we got there, queued up to check in…don’t like this and we have 2 nights here, the lake looks great however, so we check-in and find our camp, small and packed in…had a look around the park and the infinity pool looked inviting…so we accepted the invite and headed to the pool..the view , stunning, the man made lake, surrounded by huge rocky chasms, gorges and hills, despite the beautiful view, the water was cold…very cold….we didn’t last long but it was refreshing….

Day 2, we headed out to the Durack museum homestead and learnt a lot about the Durack family and the areas history….amazing that they survived…

after lunch we head to the pickup area for our afternoon sunset cruise…… jumped in the purpose built boat and motored around various viewpoints to see crocs, fish and Wildlife, some trapped in isolated islands when the valley flooded after the dam wall was completed…the crescendo of the cruise was stopping in the middle of the lake and swimming from the rear of the boat…the water temp was 26 and fantastic..not a breath of wind could be seen, the water surface like glass, the skipper of the boat was throwing cans of beer for this who wanted one….hard to balance a pool noodle and a beer….back to camp for a late light dinner…snacks on board were plentiful…

 

A great day and stay at Lake Argyle, but we were too cramped in the camping area, something we don’t like…

 

Today is the last day in Western Australia, we head east now towards Katherine and then south towards home.

 

WA you have lived up to our expectations and more….such a great experience and we only saw a small corner.

 

Today we left the Gibb River Road, we stopped and took a photo, where some are just starting the westbound trek…onto sealed roads now, so time to put some air in the tyres and increase the speed….it felt strange getting upto 90kmh after so long on gravel and dust, but soon it became familiar again…Kunners as it’s locally known is a small rural town along the mighty Ord river, huge diversion dam and large lake on the outskirts of town…found our place to  camp and did some grocery shopping after depletion of our stocks…..refueled and prepared to go out on a dinner experience, “gourmet camp oven experience” 

Our host picked us up at 4 pm and drove us to a remote location under some boab trees and a range of craggy mountains, flooded in golden hour lights…an awesome experience and thoroughly recommend….entree of crocodile, main meal of pork belly and damper all done in camp ovens, seating 21 people we found ourselves talking and sharing travel plans and experiences….it was a great night…I’ll never forget this one

Our host drove us back to our lodging around 7.30 pm, not late, but the sun sets here at 5pm…

Early start to beat the crowd and heat….Emma Gorge is about 1 hours from El Questro, so we motored off….set off by foot, a cat4 walk so we were expecting a difficult entry…..walked and scrambled over rocks but at the end we were greeted with a Spectacular 65 meter high water fall and pool…..one of the many highlights of the Gibb and it will be our last gorge heading eastward as tomorrow we finally leave the Gibb. 

Easy late start today as we had to time our departure to coincide with low tide to cross the Pentacost River….the tidal movement here is about 1-2 meters and we are about 30km from the sea…….the other complications are that the river is full of salt water crocs, so if you get stuck half way, don’t get out…..chomp chomp…wallygater.

Arrived at the crossing and waited for a few other sucker’s to navigate their way through…one woman thought her new Prado was a speedboat and decided to see if it would plane over the water, the next thought that speed towing a trailer was the answer,,,we watched as the trailer almost bounced out of the water with all the bumps….enough of this so we set to cross….me first….. approaching slowly and descending into the water seemed easy, about half way it got deeper and the rocky bottom made for some bouncing around…but we emerged on the other side, the water depth just under the front bumper, to be  about 500mm… nothing really but the additional risk of meeting wally half way across added to the experience….we waited for Tom and Di to cross without incident…🤣.the Gibb is now blacktop, no more gravel or dust, but we soon pulled up at the El Questro turn off….back onto gravel roads and into the station, some 16km off the road..as we approached there was 2 smaller but deeper crossing, no issues here and soon we are at Station HQ, checked in and headed for our private camping area, about 11km away from the centre of the station….all to ourselves…..near the river but beyong croc range, we set up camp for the next 3 nights.

Today we rose early to get to Zebeedee Springs, a natural hot springs set under millions of palm trees and nestled between to ridges….just beautiful, but busy…the place was full and it was nice relaxing in the crystal clear waters at 32c….once our fingers and toes resembled shriveled prunes we thought we had bettybe off, towelled done and back to the car to head off for Amalia Gorge..once there and parked we set off with back packs full of water..it was getting hot again….about halfway, the trail started to get really difficult…..chains to hand onto we shimmying across a ledge…..1.5 meter climbs up rock faces and our age was starting to show…not a boomer friendly walk…we stopped and took a rest, Tom and Di succumbed very shortly after, so we all decided to call that gorge quits and head back…. defeated but safe and uninjured….back to El Questro Station central for some lunch, coffee and tea and showers then back to our camp….a great day but the first gorge that beat us… tomorrow Emma Gorge….

Left ellenbrae around 9am…..easy packup and hit the road again…more dust although I think we are getting sick of it…been on this road for 500+ km and the dust and corregations are getting to us….dust and corregations fever….again tried to find a few spots to camp but again, struck out…some other punters already there or too small a spot…..ended up driving to Home Valley Station, stopped at view point of the Cockburn Ranges, awesome view of the pentacost River valley…found a camp at the station and decided to stay 2 nights as our booking for El Questro was looming..nice camp under a shady tree, very hot  today, about 32c, but up here it’s a different heat than Melbourne….the sun is very strong but doesn’t get that high, rather a low arc from east to west, much like Melbourne but twice as hot…made our way to the river banks for the sunset views of the valley And ranges and some crocodile spotting….none to be seen…..back to camp and early night…about 25c at midnight…..bloody warm overnight….this morning we headed out to Bindaloo falls, about 15km down the road then off to do some reconnaissance on the Pentacost River crossing, watched a few cars and  rigs come through without any issues…a bit rocky…about 400mm deep but 200 meters wide…..it was around 11am and the tide was still going out, so we will pick this time for our Cross tomorrow