Day 78 El Questro

 We were going to do another gorge walk today but instead we decided we would have a days rest from the walks as they are quite taxing. We will do the last gorge walk we want to see on this station from the free camp down the road.

So we spent the best part of the day just relaxing around camp trying to catch up on our photos and videos.

We did however go for a drive to Jackaroo Waterhole as they said there would be birds there. But typically there are more birds back at camp where all the people are hahaha

So back to camp for more relaxing although Karen did do a load of washing.

We popped up the souvenir shop as Karen wanted to buy a coaster....a $12 coaster but you need to have these things. 

We then got ready and went to the Steakhouse at the station and had a meal. A very expensive meal but we do not do this very often and this is a good place to do it. But they messed our steaks up and gave Karen a rump instead of the rib eye we ordered. They offered of course to sort it out but it meant id have to eat my tea and karen would have to wait again for hers to be cooked so she just had the rump. They did give us a free drink each which I guess is quite the offer given the price of the drinks. We took the drinks unopened as neither of us really wanted them haha

We then popped into what they call the swinging arm bar to sit and watch a girl sing to the crowd for a little while. They have a nice fire and the atmosphere is quite nice and relaxed.

It was quite cold though so we didn't stay long and went back to camp to watch the abc story of the guy that got his leg caught in the franklin river in Tassie.

Then off to bed. We do go to bed early up here but we also get up very early.

Day 77 El Questro

 We were up early to do the El Questro gorge walk. I think we were at the trail head around 8am and so were plenty of others!

The walk in is another mixture of high gorge walls, palm trees and rock hopping. It took us around an hour to find what they call the half way hole. Which was as far as we were heading in. Lucky as well because the next section was probably a little too difficult for us to climb into.

The whole area is very beautiful, crystal clear water and perfect swimming hole. A little chilli but no where near as cold as the Emma Gorge the day before.

We had our swim and a chat with another couple in the water and headed on out.

We were out in good time to do the big water crossing getting out of this road and get into Zebedee springs before they close at 12. They close them to us campers to allow the resort people to have them on their own without all the crowds!

The walk into the springs is very easy and short and hence there are a lot of people. They are a beautiful hot spring cascading down all these little rock holes. You just need to wait your turn to find a hole in the rocks and sit in the bath water for as long as you like.

We stayed long enough that is was starting to clear out as it was getting closer to 12.

Back to camp for lunch and a little rest then we jumped in the 4wd and went and did a 4wd track up to Pigeon Hole lookout.  The lookout over looks the Pentecost river and the typical kimberly country escarpments it is very spectacular.

We drove back out and headed back to camp.

We just hung around camp for the rest of the arvo, cooked tea, did the usual watching telly and went to bed!

Day 76 Kununurra to El Questro Station

 We are excited to be packing up and moving on. Kununurra has been great but we were never supposed to be there as long as we did.

So we are up early an on the road by around 8am. The new suspension on the 4wd has made the van sit a bit higher which isn't ideal but hopefully the rear springs settle a bit and it levels out a little more. Also because I lowered the hitch to compensate for the extra height, the bar that holds our stone stomper isn't sitting as nice as Id like either and this in turn is getting in the way of a plastic cap that goes over our hitch. Ill sort it out at some point, its nothing to major.

We got to the Gibb River rd sign pretty quickly and took the usual photo everyone gets under this sign. Then travelled down the road to El Questro Resort which is where the Emma gorge walk starts.

We popped into reception to make sure we didnt need a permit as we are camping up at Elquestros station up the road. Which we didnt.

So we set off on the walk into Emma Gorge. It was quite the rock scramble to get in there, it took us around 45 minutes but what a beautiful location. It is a towering gorge with water coming over it down into a crystal clear swimming hole at the bottom.

There were a massive amount of tourists also there haha We hopped into the water and thermal shock of how cold the water was would give you an ice cream headache. But we braved the cold water and stayed in long enough to the point where my hands were freezing haha Karen stayed longer, i think she was in one of the warmer thermal spots they say are in this freezing water hole.

We walked back out but we stopped at another little water hole and Karen jumped into it and claimed it was like a bath in comparison.

Such a scenic area and the water holes glow blue reflecting the sky into the perfectly clear water.

We were out by around 11:30 so we had a bite to eat in the van back at the car park before heading down the road to El  questro Station.

We got the usual photo at the Station sign out the front and I aired down the tyres for the rough road into the station. I guy came up to me as I was letting air out of my tyres and told me he didnt think he needed to, which was a bit weird but ok he can do as he pleases!

We did the big river crossing and arrived to a bustling place full of tourists and 100's of caravans and campers etc. It was a hype of activity. They have a bar called the swinging arms, a steakhouse restaurant, a swimming hole, workshop, helicopter flights, horse rides, 4wd tracks, gorges, hot springs, you name it this place has it all. And at $90 a night for unpowered sites plus permits they know they have it all.

We went and set up our camp in a very spacious but shady site which would be great but we need sun to get solar. However we should just get enough sun to keeps us going.

After that we walked up to the Bar Bistro area for a look and a walk around. And we noticed the guy that came an told me he didn't need to let any air out of his tyres was in the workshop getting something fixed he had broken on his van!! Karen definitely wanted to go and ask him how his hard tyres worked out for him!

We decided to have a beer even though it was a little early but you do these things. We went and booked a spot at the steakhouse for our last night as it does come highly recommended. Not something we normally do because these things cost a lot of money but every now and then doesn't hurt.

We got back to camp and worked out our plan to do the walks etc and quickly decided we really need another day at this place so we sorted that out too. It is expensive and there is a free camp down the road but we decided the road in and the fuel used coming back and forth we may as well pay the extra $90 and stay.

We cooked spuds in the weber for tea and for several hours we could here entertainment up at the bar area in the way of some guy singing for the crowds. If it is on tomorrow night we will pop up and have a look.

We watched footy after tea and went to bed.

Day 75 Kununurra last day

 Today we get the 4wd back! We waited until 9am and they hadn't rang us so we decided to walk down to them anyway.

They rang us just as we were getting to them to say it was ready. When we arrived I noticed they put the wheels on the wrong way around to what we told them to do! They put the new tyres on the front, when I asked them to make sure they go back on the rear so we had to wait while they sorted that issue.

After about 30 minutes they finally got it sorted. The 4wd is a lot higher with the new suspension but it will settle down quite a bit.

We decided to pop out to Molly Springs as that was one of the places we couldnt see the other day. And wow what a beautiful little hidden gem this place was. It is only a short walk and has crystal clear water at the base of a water fall for a swim. 

However we decided to walk to the top and there was a private little rock pool right at the top which we could have stayed in all day. A little fresh when first getting in but fine once in.

We then popped into the supermarket on the way back and grabbed a few last minute items before going back to camp to have lunch....a late lunch.

After lunch we popped out to have a look at a fishing spot recommended to us by a friend that lived in the area for 12 months. We could see it would be a good spot but it was really over grown and we didn't feel like bush bashing with the crocs and snakes to get to the waters edge.

So we went around the corner to the boat ramp. The water was running really fast and it was very snaggy, i lost 3 set ups but caught a little brim.

We didn't like that spot so we went up the road to under the big bridge and again I managed a snag so at this stage I was happy to sit and watch Karen who caught a cat fish haha funny thing it was and made weird sounds. I put it back to live another day as we wasn't sure what they were like to eat.

It was now getting dark so we grabbed a gas bottle refill on the way back. Got back to camp had tea, watched footy and went to bed ready to finally get out of here the next day. 

But we loved our time in Kununurra and we would definately come back, so much to see and do and so little time to do it all.

Day 74 Kununurra Delayed

 We were up very early this morning to take the 4wd down to the 4wd shop for its new suspension. We dropped it off at 7am and walked back to camp which was only a couple of kilometres or so.

I went ahead as Karen wanted to get some photos of the locals haha She did in fact get some great photos and one of my favourites of the trip was her being cuddled by an aboriginal man who was very happy to be in the photo, it was hilarious.

We fully expected to sit at camp all day but the shitbox rally cars were coming through town so we walked up to the highway about 1.5 kilometers one way to sit on the side of the highway and watch them go past.

Once we got back to camp we fully expected the 4wd shop to call us to get the car but instead they called us to say they have been delayed. This was a real inconvenience for us because we had booking ahead and of course we were supposed to be checking out of the campground we were already at. Not to mention we have been here for several days more than we wanted waiting for them to do the job.

So we took it as an opportunity to hopefully get the car back early enough tomorrow to spend another day getting to see a few things we didn't get to see while we were here and to go fishing haha.

We cooked spuds and steaks on the weber that night and went to bed.

 

Day 73 Kununurra

 Today is what we like to call restock day. When on the road you have pack up day and set up day which takes up a day if you allow it, we prefer to try and make these days count by doing something and restock day is the same.

But before that we decided to do a walk in the national park that our camp ground has surrounding it. We did do a couple of kilometres in it but we didnt get to the lookouts etc as they were several kays away, again we figured we would do it another day but our time is running out in this area. Cant see everything.

Our brakes on the 4wd have had this annoying squeal that I havent been able to sort out so I pulled the whole brake assembly out for a look. I can see where it is coming from and I tried a little adjustment to fix it but it is still there every so slightly or perhaps there is another wheel making a noise haha It is not terrible by any means but I just l;ike to keep on top of these things.

Then we did our restock. Which consists of buying enough food to last us the next 3-4 weeks as we will be very remote or at best the supplies will be way over priced.

We spent over $300 which is fine given the time frame.

Back at camp we then had the tetris task of getting everything to fit in the fridge and cupboards.

Not long after that Karen had a photoshoot she organised down at Ivanhoe crossing. So we popped down there for golden hour and got back at dark.

We cooked tea, watched telly and went to bed.

Day 72 Wyndham

 Today is my birthday. 55 years old, I hope I am eligible for some insurance discounts now!

We left nice and early to head all the way up to Wyndham.

Our first stop was a lookout, can't recall the name of it now but it overlooked a valley and nice typical Kimberly escarpment.

We then went out to the port area of Wyndham and what a deserted ghost town it is. All the businesses, including the pub, hospital, post office etc are all empty and abandoned.

There are some displays of old equipment from years gone by and a nice new jetty but thats about it. 

We had a look at a few cemeteries which are always interesting but also very sad of course. Especially a recent grave of an 11 year old girl girled in a car accident in town with a 12 year driver being silly.

There is a mural of her on the supermarket in town, it was a big shock to the small remaining community back in the other section of Wyndham.

Speaking of the populated area, it has a caravan park, supermarket, bottleshop of course and most other things you would expect a small community to have.

We went to a cafe for a nice lunch and ice cream as my treat for my birthday haha 

We looked around town and took photos of the touristy stuff like the big crocodile and I mean really big crocodile they have at the entrance to the town, it must be a 20 metre long ornament. There are some nice aborigine statues and some murals.

On the way back we looked at the afgan cemetery where they bury the camel with the master when he dies!

We went into a billabong that was full of bird life and even saw a croc. Needless to say Karen spent a long time there getting bird photos. Up on the hill in the same area is the site of an old communications area or something along those lines.

We then got to a place they called the Grotto. It is an all year round swimming hole down in an escarpment. There are 140 natural and sort of man made steps to get down into it but it is a beautiful location. The water was a bit too murky for us which was a shame because we were ready for a swim.

On the way back we had a look at some Boab trees. We were going to pop into another natural springs but it was getting quite late so we decided to leave it for the next few days if we get a chance. You just cant see everything in every place you visit.

There was quite a hold up on the bridge getting back into town for some reason so we sat there with 100's of other stranded motorists for about half hour.

Back and camp we had a nice tea and went to bed after a long day.

Day 71 Kununurra

 A nice early start for me today, I took the 4wd down to the tyre shop to get the rear tyres at 7am.

The tyre shop must be the busiest place in Kununurra, it appears as though everyone ruins a tyre doing the Gibb River road. 

I was there until 8:30am waiting and in the end I had to do some of the job myself. The young bloke who put the wheels back on stripped a wheel stud and couldn't put my hub caps back on so it was a case of wait longer for a competent person to do the job or fix it myself!! The owner was very appreciative but I noticed he didn't give me a discount haha

Back at camp we did some baking! Karen was busy making muffins and I made some soft bread rolls.

We then popped into town to grab a baking tray and few things from coles.....well some ice cream and frozen mango.

Back at camp Karen made frozen smoothies which is always welcome on these warm afternoons.

I spent some time on the phone trying to get our steering rack squeak sorted which I am reasonably confident we can under warranty however the logistics of doing it when you're a tourist is quit difficult, so Ill try and time it at a place we are able to spent quite a bit of time looking around the area.

We also have this annoying brake squeal which initially we just assumed it was dirt and dust given the road conditions up here but it isnt going away so I investigated the left hand front brakes and I am very confident it is actually the wear indicator tab making the noise. So Ill try and grab some brake pads tomorrow and pop them in at some stage. Easy job normally but not ideal on the ground in a camp ground.

I popped some pork and spuds inot the weber for tea which was delicious with salad and a freshly baked bread roll.

We watched our tv shows as usual and went to bed. 

Day 70 Kununurra

 Spent quite a bit of time sitting around camp in the morning, but eventually went for a look up to Kelly Knob Lookout.

The main walk appeared to be closed off for some reason or perhaps we miss read it because we saw a little track on our way back from the main walk that looked like it could have been it, but it was way too snakey for us.

But there were a couple of other walks on the other side that was a great view of Kununurra and surrounds.

After that we went and grabbed a few groceries and looked at another shop that Karen wanted to see to try and grab a basket for a baby/family photo she is doing Wednesday afternoon.

Once back at camp I investigated this annoying creaking noise our 4wd has had for the last few days. Initially I just assumed it was the suspension because our front struts are not working great once they get warm on corrugations, hence we are getting them replaced Thursday.

But as it turns out it is in fact in the steering rack. A quick google would suggest this model Dmax does have an issue with the steering rack and they are replacing them under warranty.

I am convinced we wont get any warranty up here so I popped the boots off the ends of the rack and put a bit of grease on the shaft hoping it may find its way under the seals and stop the squeaking/creaking noise. 

I am getting two new tyres on the rear of the 4wd tomorrow morning so Ill pop around to the Isuzu Dealer and ask the question.

Later in the arvo we was going to go fishing at a recommended spot but on the way out there we decided to go where Karen is doing a photoshoot Wednesday to see what the light is like at sunset. So we went out to Ivanhoe Crossing and sat there for an hour. No fishing, there were heaps of people there fishing so it wasnt easy or safe to fish.

We then came back to camp, I mashed some spuds and heated up a precooked meal we had in the freezer, we watched some telly and went to bed.

Day 69 Kununurra

 Another relaxing day doing very little in this perfect climate. 

We popped down to the markets for a look around and that was pretty much it haha

Karen wanted to be back at camp to watch Kiarnna play footy online and I wanted to watch the car racing so we did exactly that.

The camp ground is packed so a lot of people watching, people are funny things to watch haha

We had yummy spicy snags and salad for tea, watched footy and went to bed :)

Day 68 Kununurra

 We had a lazy morning this morning but eventually we went and had a look at Diversion Dam again to do some croc spotting. We then went for a look for a fishing spot recommended by a friend which we will head back to at some stage to try and catch a fish.

We went to the tyre shop to book the 4wd in to get two new tyres on the rear as ours have worn massively on this trip, mainly due to the extra weight of towing.

We popped into the Zebra rock place which was really interesting and they have a lot of really nice stuff in there. Then we went and wasted $10 at the car wash giving the ute a bit of wash although its a loosing battle up here.

After that we popped into the Diamond shop for a look at the diamonds we will never be able to afford. We grabbed some horrible takeaway chicken and chips which made me feel sick but Karen loved it haha

We tried to look at the local museum but the volunteer wasn't there to open it so we went back to camp to relax.

Back at camp I spent some time cleaning the outside of the car and we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

I cooked lamb chops, sweet potato and salad for tea. 

Then of course we watched the footy and went to bed.

Day 67 Lake Argyle Drive

 Today we started pretty slow, relaxing at camp before we went for a drive down to Lake Argyle.

It is approx a 70 klm drive through your typical kimberly ranges down to the Lake. 

Lake Argyle is WA's largest and Australia's second largest man made lake. It is huge and the dam wall is made from rocks, lots of rocks, 1.5 million cubic metres in fact!

The whole area is beautiful. We went to all the lookouts and down to the boat ramp. There is not a lot in the area other than a caravan park which was jammed in like sardines and lots of hire boats and cruises etc. 

After spending a few hours soaking up the views we stopped at a little billabong on the way back so Karen could get some bird photos. 

We got back to Kununurra mid arvo and went the supermarket yet again and grabbed a few things then to the bottle shop to grab some beers.

Once back at camp I decided to sneakily give the 4wd a wash. I say sneakily because I am sure they prefer you didn't in the caravan park. But they have sprinklers on around the park 24/7 trying to keep the grass green so I wasn't hurting anything and we see others doing the same thing. Some even wash their caravans. We wont do that because we are wearing all the dirt on the van like a badge of honour haha

I cooked steaks for tea and karen cooked a mushroom, zucchini and egg dish to go with them.

And yep, you guessed it, we watched the footy and went to bed!

 

Day 66 Kununurra

 Given our strut is failing on us on rough roads we decided to bite the bullet so to speak and put new suspension on the ute. It would have continued to bounce its way all the way home but for the sake of looking after our 4wd and a smoother ride for us we will do the suspension now.

Kununurra is possibly not the best place price wise to get new suspension but to our surprise it is not a lot different to home. The only real difference is at home I would fit it myself, up here I have to pay someone to do it.

Our only real negative is that the 4wd shop cant get us in to do the kit until Thursday next week which is a week away. We had a 3-4 days here anyway so its not too bad. 

So today we worked out a plan of things to do over the next week and todays was a simple one, we relxed haha We did go and get some groceries and have a look around town though. I also wanted to put a tap on our tank breathers so I did that too.

I also started cleaning the car, I washed everything in the back of the ute and just did a bit of organising. Everything gets so dirty on these big long dusty roads.

We had left overs for tea, did our usual watching the telly and off to bed.

Day 65 Bungles to Kununurra

 We were up reasonably early to get to Kununurra at a decent time as we had a long drive out of this rough road.

We packed up and hit the road a bit after 8am. We popped inot the visitors centre on the way out to grab a souvenir and have a bit of a look.

Then we tackled the very rough road out of the National Park. We noticed the day before one of our suspension struts was making a bad noise and today was just as bad, in fact we came to the conclusion one of our front struts was not working well at all.

We slowly snuck our way out letting everyone else overtake us haha But we got to the end unscathed, aired up our tyres and headed to the closest servo as we were running on empty.

The first servo was 70 cents a litre dearer then the one up the road which is ridiculous so we just put enough fuel in to get us 100klm up to the cheaper servo!

And yep 100klm up the road we filled up again. Mind you the fuel in this area is not cheap either way but paying an extra $50 is something we try to advoid.

Later in the day we arrive back in Kununurra at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park, checked in and set up. We simply relaxed the rest of the night, had tea watched telly and went to bed.....our usual routine haha 

Day 64 Bungle Bungles

 This morning we were up early to get away reasonably early to do the southern end of the national park. 

The road down to Piccaninny is very rough and its around 27 klms from our campground. We stopped at 'Elephant Rock' which is of course a rock formation that looks like 3 elephants. We both did a terrible job of photographing it but we moved on a little further down the road to another photo opportunity and took more photos but to be honest these opportunities are now everywhere.

We started our walk into what they call 'window'. The walk or this entire place is truly the most amazing place we have both been to. If Ulura, The Olgas and Kings Canyon are a 10/10 then this place has to be a 15/10 it really is that spectacular everywhere you look.

The walk into the window winds its way along the gorge, the track is not marked and we had to make our own tracks at times because there was too much water in the gorge. We were wondering if we were in fact on the right track but soon enough a sign presented itself to turn off into the window. Given how beautiful this place is the window was actually a little underwhelming haha it was a tiny hole in the rock and the lookout through it wasn't as nice as we hoped for. But none the less we took some pics and away we went towards the Creek Lookout.

We climbed our way up the lookout and it was in an ideal location overlooking the area. Again us and everyone else that was sitting at the look was in awe of this magnificent place.

Then we headed down to the 'Cathedral' gorge and oh my god, mind blown. We have never seen anything quite like this place. This would have to be the most awe inspiring gorge you can ever imagine. The shear rock walls tower up over 200 mtrs high around most of it yet the other side has this massive overhang that almost covers the hole above leaving this amazing amphitheatre feeling or the largest cathedral you could ever imagine. Photos will never do it justice.

We left thinking we could go home now and be happy. Just kidding we are not even half way!

Next was the domes loop which also had another split rock formation that in fact joined up with the cathedral. No where near as spectacular but all the tourists from a tour group were telling us that this much lesser rock formation was in fact the cathedral and how great it was! We were thinking, i hope they take the time to walk down to the actual cathedral if they thought this little place was nice hahaha

Wwe then walked back to the car, we had drank all our water in our back pack so lucky we both had extra water in the car.

On the way back on the rough the cars suspension was squeaking and groaning so we checked that and just came to the conclusion that the factory suspension is struggling on these rough roads. We may need to look into this further once back in civilisation.

Back at camp we relaxed and cooked a brisket on the weber. Karen had a little nap, we had tea, watched some telly and both fell a sleep quite early as we had covered over 10 klms on foot today.

Day 63 Bungle Bungles

 We are camped at the north end of the Purnululu national park at Kurrajong campground so we decided to do the northern end of the national park first.

We started out by driving up to the Stonehenge walk which was just a short walk around the bush really.

Then we went up to Echidna Chasm which was a spectacular walk through the weird rock formations and palm trees into this very large split rock forming the chasm. It had a cathedral type opening at the end. Everyone was there around 11 to see the sun pass over the gap in the rock which didnt really happen as we might think given it is winter and the sun doesnt really rise in the sky but still very spectacular.

We then walked up to Osmand Lookout on the way back.

Once back at camp we relaxed for a little bit but but we soon had to head off again this time down the road to Kungkalanayi Lookout to watch the sunset. It is a 360 degree view and was also very spectacular. We say it all the time but photo's never do these places justice.

It was dark when we got back to camp or close to it so we cooked tea inside, in fact we only really heated it up as it was precooked meals. 

We watched a bit of telly and went to bed.

Day 62 Kununurra to Bungle Bungles

 We were up early because we had a big day ahead of us. We filled up with water and emptied our loo before 8:30.

I had to get tyres on the van and we had a time crunch so I dropped Karen off at the markets for a look while I went and spent $930 on some tyres that will hopefully last.

It was around 10 or so we were off on the trip down to the bungle bungles. We grabbed some fuel on the way and a bucket of $10 hot chips and arrived at the national park turn off around 1pm.

We aired down our tyres a little and headed in on a very corrugated and rough 4wd track. We were only 5 minutes in and starting to question if we should continue. But in the spirit of adventure we took our time and let everyone overtake us and slowly bounced our way into the visitor centre just before closing time at 3:30.

We were lucky enough to see a dingo on the way in too. However, we booked our camp site and did the 6 kays trip down to the camp ground.

It was a beautiful grassy area with lots of space so we set up in a nice private area and very pleased that we arrived and the only thing we broke was a mudflap off the ute. 

We popped a tiny pork roast in the weber, had that for tea, watched some footy and went to bed quite tired.

Day 61 Kununurra Ivanhoe Area

 So we decided to have another look at the camping stores this time maybe for a cheap little tent, you know the cheap things you get from kmart for $15......but as expected no stores have such a thing in this area.

So we decided to go to the park and wildlife office to get our parks pass and ask about the roads we wanted to take to get to the bungle bungles. The girl told us if we have a 4wd, an off road van that is only single axle we are allowed to go in.

So we thought, bugger it, we will just take the caravan all the way in and camp down there for a few days!!

We then went for a drive up to buttons crossing to check out the free camp. Great free camp on the Ord river but really rough 4wd sections getting into. On the way out we walked into Black rock falls which were really nice then to middle springs which had some adventurous water crossings but also lots of fun.

On the way back we accidently came across the famous Ivanhoe crossing, it is a very daunting water crossing on a causeway with a lot of water spilling over the edge of it. We met vehicles coming the other way so we figured if they did it we can too!! And across we went, karen was terrified and if i am honest i was a little terrified too!!

But we got across safely and then sat on the other side watching the other 4wd's doing the crossing. A lot wouldnt do it, they turned and went back!

After all that excitement we went to the supermarket to grab a few things for the next few days and went back to camp to cook tea. We made pulled lamb sliders, they were yummo.

Watched some footy and went to bed.

Day 60 Kununurra Costly Repairs

 We got up all excited to do a bit of research and find our next adventure. We decided we would pack tomorrow and head down to the bungle bungles for a few days, its a 600 klm round trip so a big one!

But we decided to go and buy a swag or some way of just camping from the ute for a night or two every now and then as this sort of situation may arise several more times where the roads in are not suitable for caravans.

We looked at every camping store in the area twice and the price of anything here is very high so we went back to camp to have a think about it.

When back at camp I decided to adjust the brakes on the caravan and check the wheel bearings. It was lucky I did because we found that both our tyres have blistered bad and really are not safe to risk using any further. We can not work out why it is happening as we have been very careful with pressures so we can only put it down to the weight (even though they are rated to our weight) and or the build quality of the tyres, they are chinese made.

I rang around town for a suitable set of tyres and 2 replacements are going to cost us nearly $1000 so that will hurt. :(

And if our luck wasnt going bad enough when i went to adjust the left hand brakes there was something scraping inside the drum. So on further inspection a part had broken allowing the brake assembly to scrape. I didnt have the parts so again I rang around and the only place that had the parts only had the complete assemble which cost $370......mind you i only need about $100 worth of the parts but I had to buy the whole thing.

I went back to camp installed the new parts and adjusted the brakes!!

So we were both a little bit sad but you have to expect these things to pop up from time to time.  I was now covered in grease so a nice long shower later and it was time to cook tea.

We made pizzas, watched some footy and went to bed.

Day 59 Kununurra and Karens Birthday

 I got up early to make sure Karens Birthday present and card was out of hiding and ready for her when she woke up. It wasn't much but I know she appreciated that I went and did something haha

I made us pancakes for breakfast and made sure karen knew she also had a custard tart in the fridge that I hid for her birthday too!

I had a few things I need to sort out on the car and van but Karen was ok to sit around camp and relax while I did that instead of going out for the day......it was her choice, i was happy to whatever she wanted.

First of all our cars battery kept going flat after towing the van. The caravan has a dc to dc charger in it that was taking more power than our cars alternator was able to produce spare. After a lot of testing I turned the dc dc charger down to half its capacity and that has sorted the issue, well the testing shows it is sorted, we wont really know until we are in the real world using it again.

Second problem on the list was our caravans water pump was getting really rattly but only on tanks 1 and or 4. I checked the breather pipes and sure enough they were blocked full of red dust. The reason they were blocked was because I took it upon myself before left to put fine filters on the breathers to stop insects getting in and to stop the water running out so easily........as it turns out that wasnt a great idea. I removed all the filters and now the pump is a lot quieter.

During these fixes I went to the autoparts store and was buying a few parts to try and sort the car, as it turned out I didnt need them so we eventually returned them.

We then went for a drive to look at a dam wall look out and a walk around near the kununurra lake. 

We also did a little bit of shopping at the supermarket and had a walk around the shops. 

Back at camp we relaxed, i cooked Karen her requested tea which was Steak and chips haha

We had tea, watched a bit of telly and went to bed.

Day 58 Keep River NP to Kununurra

 We have been at Keep River NP for a few days and we havent done the main walk that was right on our camp site, so this morning we woke early and did it.

It is a very spectacular walk around the rock formations. Lots of burning off was done which in some ways isnt great for photos but in others it added something to the photos.

When we got back it was time to pack up and head towards Kununurra.

We didnt need to hurry because when we cross the border the clock goes back another 90 minutes and we were not allowed at our next camp ground until 11am.

Kununurra is only 40 kays down the road but we had to do the border checkpoint. They took our honey, half a capsicum, a chilli, an avocado, our spuds and our cherry tomatoes. :(

We arrived at Kununurra a little early so we drove around town a little for a look then headed to our campground.

We filled up with water at a tap and set up camp.

We were still having the flat battery issue with the dmax so I need to sort that out, plus our caravan brakes are acting a little weird so I need to check that out as well.

We popped around to the visitor centre and grabbed a heap of information on the area and had a nother look around town.

I dropped Karen back at camp while I went out by my self to grab Karen a little something for her birthday tomorrow!

Back at camp we had tea, watched a bit of telly and went to bed.

Day 57 Keep River National Park

 A very relaxing lazy day today.

There is not a lot to say other than we watched the big freeze footy, slept, layed around in the hammock and that was about it haha

I cooked a nice meal on the weber, we ate it, watch telly and went to bed.......yep a very lazy day and sometimes it doesnt hurt.

Day 56 Keep River National park

 We wanted to do the walks in the area so this morning we drove up to the Jenemoom walk which is a 3klm walk along the Keep river to a sacred Aboriginal site. It is a very large overhang on the escarpment that has some art and many stories to tell over the 1000's of years.

We then did the Gingers Hill walk which is just a few hundred metres up to a rock shelter that the Aboriginal people used to light a fire and entice hawks down to them so they could catch them for food.

Then we popped down the road to Cockatoo Lagoon. Karen wandered around and took some photos, there is also a little visitors centre with a lot of information on the area. This is also where the rangers station is located.

After that we spent the day relaxing back at camp in this beautiful camp ground. We flew the drone around for a look, cooked a yummy pork meal, watch some footy and motorsport and then went to bed.

Day 55 Big Horse Creek Campground to Keep River National Park

 We packed up reasonably early, well we didn't really have to pack up because we were still atacthed to the 4wd but we got away around 9 or so. We grabbed some photos of the Boab trees then went back down the road a little to have a look at Nackaroo Lookout which overlooks the township of Timber Creek and surrounds.

We then drove around 200 klm's down the Victoria Highway to the Keep River National Park to Goorrandalng Campground.

On the way we drove through some very beautiful country, saw some brolga's on a billabong and a very large flock of Galahs, as well as 100's if not 1000's of Brahman Cattle.

It is a very spectacular campground with some great scenery surrounding it. 

We had a very nice antipasto type dish cooked on the webber for tea and the people camping next to us invited us over for a drink around their fire.

We popped over for a drink, they were Kununurra locals and it was interesting to have a chat. They were cooking their tea so we didnt stay too long.

Back at camp we had a shower and put a movie on but I was so tired I couldn't tell you what the movie was about.

Day 54 Katherine to Big Horse Creek Campground

 Pretty casual and uneventful day today. It was pack up day from Katherine Big 4. We got our usual info from other caravanners around us as we were packing up which is always helpful and proceeded to pack up.

We had our loo emptied and we were out of the caravan park before 9:30.

We popped into the train station just out of Katherine to grab a photo of the Ghan Train that was there at the time then we drove towards Timber Creek.

We stopped at the Victoria River Roadhouse as there was some sort of event or muster happening, there were cowboys and horses etc everywhere it was a real hype of activity.

The location of the roadhouse is very spectacular too, lots of beautiful escarpments on a very large river.

It was about a 300klm drive to Timber creek where we fuelled up and had a look in that roadhouse. There was a caravan park and a pub and a roadhouse in Timber Creek. Its about the halfway point between Kununurra and Katherine.

Our campground was just outside of Timber Creek, it was called Big Horse Creek campground. The sites were ideal for us and they are long and narrow and drive through so we could leave the caravan connected to the 4wd as it was just an overnight stop.

We relaxed around camp for the arvo in amongst so many boab tree's, some of them were giants too.

We then went down to the boat ramp which was walking distance tried our luck at some fishing again. As usual plenty of bites but no fish haha.

But we weren't alone, the locals were not catching any either.

Then it was back to camp for tea, watched the footy and went to bed.

Day 53 Katherine

 You guessed it another lazy day haha

We spent the morning generally cleaning things and doing a bit washing etc. 

Then we did a big grocery restock and karen took a few more pics around town.  We unpacked our groceries and headed out to Knotts Crossing to try some more fishing.

As usual Karen caught several little fish and all I did was feed the fish! She also caught a decent sized black bream which we gave to some local indigenous gents who were helping us fish, they really appreciated it too. 

Back at camp we cooked up a curried snag dish, ate that, watched the footy and went to bed.

Day 52 Katherine

 Yet another very lazy day today which given my sore toe is very much needed.

I started the day by servicing the car, the oil that came out of it was black as black. I also did some more organizing in the back of the ute plus I got up on the roof of the caravan and cleaned the solar panels, they were the dirtiest I have seen them.

Besides a few more visual checks I think we are as ready as we can be to tackle the next adventure which is the notorious Gibb River Road.

After lunch we popped into Katherine to grab a bbq scrubber for the weber and drove around for a while so karen could take some street photos. We also grabbed another parcel from the post office.

Back at camp we decided to grab some bait and popped down to the low level crossing and did a little bit of fishing. It was really snaggy in the river so all we were doing was loosing gear but karen did manage to foul hook a tiny little barra!

I cooked burgers on the weber for tea and we went inside to watch a bit of telly then bed.

Day 51 Katherine

 A few lazy days coming up but we did pop out to mitre 10 to grab a plumbing fitting because I fitted a one way valve to our shower water outlet. We found when we were draining our kitchen sink the rush of water would sometimes push up out of the shower drain, so the one way valve fixed this.

I did that little job, fitted a dedicated 12v outlet for the starlink or tv beside our bed and sealed up a little gap under our fridge where we would get a bit of dust in on really dusty roads.

I also did a little bit of sorting out inside the ute to get it a bit better organised for the rest of our trip. I think a canopy would better suit us in future.

We then had smoothies before popping back out to go to the supermarket to grab some milk and bread rolls.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at camp. Karen did a little bit of cooking and I hopped around because Ive still got as little bit of gout in my right toe!!

Watched a bit of telly and went to bed.

Day 50 Kambolgie Campground to Katherine

 Just a simple travel day today. We packed up and headed out around 10am and drove about 90 minutes down to Katherine.

We decided to stay at the big 4 caravan park again. There are a multitude of options around here to stay but we are creatures of habit or comfort and we know this park now and like it so we were comfortable coming back.

We will stay here for 4 nights at least to prepare for the Gibb River Road. Ill service the ute and clean everything up, pretty much have a reset and restock for the big adventure ahead. I want to check everything as best as I can to make sure we have no loose nuts or bolts etc.

Once we set up camp we went to the post office to collect a heap of mail that has been sitting here waiting for us for quite a while then of course we had to go to an Op shop haha

Back to camp to relax for the arvo. 

I cooked a roast lamb and veggies on the weber yummo

Watched a bit of telly and then to bed. I have a bit of goat in my right toe that is hurting.

Day 49 Kambolgie Campground

 Today was a total relaxation day at camp, its such a beautiful spot and the climate is perfect.

We did disconnect the 4wd and go for a drive down to where all the walks start but we decided in the spirit of relaxation the walks were all too long for us in the heat of the day so we didnt bother doing any of them haha

There was a huge flock of black cockatoos so Karen spent some time on the side of the road photographing them.

Then we had a little bit of a fish in the river near camp where we were getting bites from tiny little fish who knew how to strip the hook from bait but wasn't catching anything.

 We then spent the rest of the day watching people at the camp ground with the footy playing in the background on the telly.

We had a nice cheese and crackers platter and that was our day.