Day 109 Karijini Gorges

 We left reasonably early and drove down to the 'main' area of Karijini to do as much as we could. 

First walk was up to the lookouts that over looked the gorges, they are very deep and the look outs give you the butterflies if you're not good with heights like me!

Then we did the class 5 walk down into Joffre Gorge. It had very steep steps and natural rocks toclimb down into the gorge.

You then walk through freezing water to get to a very narrow ledge walk that was extremely daunting. It had tiny little ledges you had to cat walk around hanging on for dear life to the rock formation above you. One slip and you're in the freezing water below.

I chose to stay low down near the water because I knew if i fell the cold water wouldn't kill me but if i was up higher and fell a hit on the head might!

We both very cautiously made our way through this scary section into what they call the amphitheatre. As nice as it all is, we have been very spoilt with the gorges on the Gibb and the Bungle Bungles so while we liked it of course, it certainly wasn't as outstanding as the others we have seen.

We climbed back out of the gorge safely and went to do another gorge called hand rail pool. But half way into it we saw there was no real water and the risk wasn't going to match the reward. Plus there are signs everywhere saying there have been fatalities in these gorges, so not exactly confidence inspiring.

We did contemplate walking down to another gorge which is only class 3 but we think it was dry so we settled to get photos from above.

We popped into the Karijini eco lodge and they made burgers so we payed $52 for two burgers and chips. And to our amusement the chips were actual potato chips, not the fries type, the packet variety you would have with a beer haha

However the burger was nice enough, not $52 nice but thats the price you pay out here.

We then went back to camp and karen did a little bit of hand washing.

We had tea, watched the footy and went to bed, not overly impressed with Karijini. Sure we can see why people rave about the place but not if youv'e already been totally spoilt like we have and see the places we saw already.

Day 108 Buddha's Free Camp to Mount Bruce Free Camp Karijini

 Just down the road about 100 kays or so is the next free camp called Mount Bruce Free Camp. In fact there are several in this same area because it is just outside of the national park boundary.

We found ourselves a spot and setup camp.

We then drove down to the visitor centre and got all the information we needed to see the rest of the park.

We went to Dales Gorge and walked down into Florence Falls which was quite amazing with the layered rock formation wrapping around the waterfalls. 

Then we walked down to Fern Pool which again was a really nice spot for a swim but it was freezing so we didn't swim today! We have also been very spoilt with the gorges along the gibb river road so it is difficult to imagine anything will rival those.

Once we walked back up out of the gorge we got some pics at the lookout then drove around to a couple of other lookouts.

They overlooked the other end of the gorge system. Both very high up with the platforms hanging off the side of the cliff!!

We then drove back to camp to relax for what was left of the day.

We had tea. Karen took some night time photos then we went to bed.

Day 107 The Rocks Free Camp to Buddha's Free Camp Karijini

 It is always an easy pack up when you're still connected up to the Caravan from the day before, so we hit the road pretty early.

Same road, same large trucks one after the other. In fact we could hear them all night last night so they work 24 hours a day.

We were not far from the main junction where there is a road house for much needed diesel. This is also where the road turns off onto the gravel to go Hamersley Gorge or continues on down the bitumen to go to Karijini Visitor centre and the rest of the gorges in the national park.

We wanted to see hamersley gorge so we went down the gravel road which for the most part was a well maintained road. Very dusty of course but not overly rough.

We arrived at our free camp pretty early in the day, we set up and drove down the road to the Gorge.

Now this gorge is what they call a grade 5 walk into it. And oh my god it was dangerous. Not a long walk by any means but just slippery rocks with no support at all.

In fact in the very first climb I slipped and slid down a rock straight into the water below! Of course there was an audience and I had our back pack on and carrying my good camera which all got submerged but luckily the camera is water proof.

I was probably more embarrassed than anything but I wasn't on my own, it is a common spot for the same thing to happen to others.

Those with very grippy foot wear were seemingly doing it fine, but my shoes had zero grip at all.

We sat and watch others for a little contemplating how we were going to get ourselves into this place. I managed to find another way which was no where near as dangerous as the official track.

We couldn't quite get ourselves all the way into the end as we were seeing other falling and risking too much to do it. It is just not worth it for us. We could have swam in to get to the end but it was also freezing haha

After spending some time in the gorge we attempted to come back out the way I slipped earlier. Karens shoes were really grippy so she managed to get down ok but again mine had no grip at all on this iron ore rock so I went back around the 'safe' way!!

We then went around to a couple of look outs before leaving.

That was all that we could do in this area of the park so we went back to camp and collected some firewood to have a fire.

We cooked tea and used the fire to keep us warm while we cooked it before heading inside and to bed. 

Day 106 Cape Keraudren The Rocks Free Camp

 We packed up reasonably early as we had a pretty busy day doing a resupply and driving towards Karijini National Park.

But of course everytime you're packing up people want to come and chat so we didn't get away as quick as we would like!

The camp grounds are really well set up with big skip bins and several dump points for toilets so we took care of our rubbish and toilet.

We drove down to Port Headland south and grabbed some fuel then popped up to Port Headland itself and grabbed some water and then went grocery shopping. 

It is a very busy and chaotic town with all the very large road train trucks and equipment getting around the very busy port.

Once we were resupplied we hit the road down the highway towards Karijini National Park.  This section of highway is the main thoroughfare for all the road trains going from the mines ot the port.

Iron ore must be our largest export because the quad super road train trucks are just one after the other. We must have seen 100 of them in the couple of short hours we were on this highway. 

The wind was blowing terribly too so the caravan and 4wd get blown around quite a bit which makes it very daunting as these huge trucks go past.

Mid afternoon we decided to pull up for the night at a place called 'The Rocks' free camp. It is a nice open area beside the highway behind a rock formation, much like the Devils Marbles in the NT.

Free camps are always the best, not just because they are free but others always pull in as well so theres comfort having numbers around you but they are usually quite large so you get a good spot in your own space.

We watched the sunset and went to bed after tea.

Day 105 Cape Keraudren

 Because yesterday was so windy we decided to stay another night here to try and get a bit of fishing in.

The wind was still around but it wasn't terrible today so once the tide had come in enough which was around 11am we went fishing out on the rocks.

As usual Karen caught more than me but nothing we caught was overly large so we put them all back. But there was a real mixed bag of fish.

We saw turtles swimming in front of us and the largest shark I have ever seen in real life also swam past us. Pretty sure it was a great white shark too. It was well over 1 metre long if not close to 2 metres.

After our fishing efforts we went and watched our teams play each other, which was another reason we didn't want to be on the road driving today haha.

Of course Karens team won...... :)

We spent the rest of the day watching the sunset and went to bed.

Day 104 Cape Keraudren

 This morning we woke up to a very windy day. So windy we had no other choice but to spend it indoors for the most part!

Very little to say other than we took the time indoors to catch up on a heap of our photos etc 

Mind you, just out our window was a very beautiful blue water coast line, so it was not all bad.

The wind did drop off at times and we went outside to watch the ocean when we could. The footy was on so we also watched a lot of footy!

We cooked a barby for tea when the wind had dropped off enough to get out there and pretty much went to bed.

Day 103 Eighty Mile Beach to Cape Keraudren Campground

 Only a short drive today to a camping ground that we were able to book into so no major hurry.

We were packed up and on the road by around 8:30 or so. We couldn't dump our toilet as something had gone wrong at the caravan park so we hit the road.

It was a very windy day which we knew we would eventually get being near the Western Australia coast.

My main focus was on the fuel gauge! It was showing the same amount of kilometres left in the tank that our fuel stop was down the road so it was going to be very close. I put our spare drum of fuel in the car but it had been laying on its side in the back of the ute and some of it had seeped out over the last 3 or so months, so we didn't get as much as we expected.

We had 120 klms to travel so all we could do was drive as economically as possible but about 10 kilometres away from the roadhouse we ran out of bloody fuel hahaha What an adventure we are having!!

It was about now that Karen pointed out that perhaps we should have waited in line back at the last roadhouse!! 

But never fear, I always have a back up to these situations and I knew the diesel heater in the caravan had enough fuel in it to get us to the roadhouse. Just getting it out was going to be the issue. But I managed to join together some spare hose I had packed in my parts kits to syphon enough fuel out of the heater tank into our jerry can and put it in the ute. I had to prime the utes fuel filter a few times to get the air out of system but away we went and got the 10 klms down the road to the roadhouse. And would you believe to another line up to get fuel!! This time we patiently sat and waited our turn hahaha

The camp ground is just around the corner from the roadhouse so we found ourselves a really nice spot right on the edge of the cape over looking the beautiful blue water. Heaps of space in this place, you could fit 1000's of campers if needed.

We set up camp and to our disappointment people with caravans all set up right near us on both ends!! There is around 20 acres of camping here and they set up right next us!

Anyway there is nothing we can do about it. We spent the day looking around the area, which is really nice. The tide was right out so there was no fishing at this point and it was quite windy.

We sat at the edge of the cape and watched the sun go down then made some honey chicken and rice for tea.

We watched some footy and went to bed.

Day 102 Eighty Mile Beach

 Over 3 months of sunshine and perfect weather and today we woke up to rain. And not just light rain, it really came down for quite a while.

We are camped on red dirt and when this stuff gets wet it is an absolute slosh heap so when the rain stopped and the sun came back out it was a welcome site, but to have some rain after so long was quite the novelty. 

So it was a slow start to the day but we eventually took the 4wd down onto the beach for a drive. We couldn't drive far as we were going to be very close on fuel to fill up the next day.

But we flew the drone, collected shells and played around on the beach for quite a while. 

Back at camp we relaxed. Karen went bird watching of course and had a magpie attack her head!! That'll teach her for being a collingwood supporter. :)

We went back to the beach for sunset which was a non event due to the clouds that decided to form right at sunset time!

Back to camp for tea and bed.

Day 101 Broome to Eighty Mile Beach

 Today we packed up reasonably early to drive down the coast around 300 or so kilometres to Eighty Mile Beach. It was just a highway drive but still interesting as the landscape changed shape a bit and we got to see a dingo.

There was a fuel stop at a roadhouse that we wanted to get fuel but when we arrived the line to the diesel bowser was back out along the highway!! We carry a spare drum of diesel in the back of the ute so after a quick calculation I decided we would just have enough to get us to the next roadhouse after our stay at eighty mile beach.

We arrived at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park and it was packed and jammed in like sardines. We set up camp on the very red dirt and had a look around the place. 

It is just a caravan park in the middle of no where but on the most spectacular white sand and blue water beach that in fact goes for 80 miles.

The caravan park had a little pop up markets so we spent a heap of time looking at the 4 little stalls which were mostly books, so karen bought another 5 kilos worth of books. Yes I count them in weight, not actual books hahaha

We of course spent plenty of time down at the beach where Karen collected 500 grams of shells :)

Back at camp we had tea and went to bed.

Day 100 Broome

 Today we got up early to get out while it was high tide. We went to a place called Crab Creek which was down the same road as the bird place we went to the other day. Same bad road!

The crab creek wasn't what we hoped it would be but we found the spot we wanted on the way back. It is a beautiful length of beach that has white sands, red sands and blue water.

We then went to Simpson Beach for a look as it is also down at the main large jetty where the port is. We couldn't access the jetty. So we went to the touristy jetty a bit closer to town. It looks brand new and it was quite the treat because turtles were swimming under it.

It was quite a windy day so the water was swirling up the sand so it wasn't very clear but the locals said on a clear water day you can see the sharks and other fish swimming around.

I popped into an auto spares shop to grab a new air cleaner for the car because we have been in some really dusty conditions.

We finally got to walk around all the shops in the main area of Broome. Very touristy of course. We also had a light lunch at a cafe, much better value than the pub meal yesterday!

We then did some grocery shopping  and headed back to camp for a little while to unpack the groceries.

We had to leave pretty much straight away again because we wanted to watch the Camels on Cable beach at sunset. Which we did exactly that. 

To our disappointment as we were taking the photos of the camels with the sunset behind them a very rude couple decided to get themselves in every shot, running down at the camels to take their own close up photos. Totally ignoring the 100's of other people standing back out of the way trying to get photos of the camels.

I couldn't help myself when we were walking back to the car the same self centred couple were taking photos of them selves so I deliberately walked in front of their camera messing up their shots and they knew exactly why I did it too. Humans ruin everything.

Anyway back at camp we had tea and went to bed.

Day 99 Broome

 This morning we got up early and drove all the way up to James price point. The road up there was very rough, very bad corrugations so we were glad we didnt take the caravan and only visited on a day trip.

But there were 100's of people up there camping. It is a location where the red sands and red cliffs meet the ocean, very scenic in a rustic sort of way and it is a free camp so really popular even given the terrible road to get it.

After spending quite a bit of time there we popped into another side track on the way back but it didn't really lead to a great view or beach access.

Once back in Broome I had to grab a couple of gas fittings for our gas cylinder because I noticed a very tiny leak in one that was on it. The hose had failed on the rough tracks so I purchased a different more robust style.

We then had a look at a look out but the tide was out so it wasn't a very appealing lookout at this time of day. Not terrible but could have been nicer.

Then we popped into what appeared to be a main shopping area for a walk around. We stopped into a pub for a parmi lunch as that is not something we do too often. The parmi's were massive, so large we only ate half and took the other half home. 

However we also ordered a ginger beer with our meal and to our shock they were $19 each!! Absolute daylight robbery.

 We then walked around the streets a little but it was very hot and humid so we gave up on that for today and went back to camp so Karen could watch her Pies lose the football haha

We had our left over parmis for tea and went to bed.

Day 98 Broome

 Today we got on the road pretty early as we wanted to visit the Boome Markets. They were quite a large market too and Karen did 4 laps of the place buying things that we will never use haha

After that we had a good look around Broome. We tried to get to Cable Beach but there was an even on so the area was closed. But we visited a Jetty, went to the car wash, looked at the Japanese and Chinese Cemeteries, bought some supplies and then drove all the way down to a bird sanctuary.

The bird place didnt impress Karen but it was quite a nice location on the beach so worth the drive on the rough road.

We then went back to camp to watch some footy and did some planning for the next phase of our holiday.

We ended up booking one more night at this place as we need a little more time in Broome to see what we would like to see.

We had steaks and salad for tea and went to bed.

Day 97 Birdwood Downs Station to Broome

 We didnt need to rush this morning as we had. booking for 3 nights at place just outside of Broome called Broome Gateway caravan park, but in reality it was just another station stay.

We packed up, filled our water tanks and drove the 200 or so kilometres down the road to our station stay. 

It was quite a busy place but still your typical station where its just acreage set up with designated camping spots, although they did have a tap at each site just no power.

Once set up we popped into Broome for a quick look. We didnt do a lot, just called into the local shopping centre and went to kmart for Karen to buy even more clothes haha

We did also buy some beer so I shouldnt complain!

We went back to camp for what was left of the afternoon and watched the footy. 

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. 

Day 96 Derby

 Today we were really only going to go and do some touristy things in Derby so I started my morning doing a few chores.

Firstly that very annoying squealing sound on our brakes has now started on my side after I fixed the passenger side a few weeks ago! So I pulled the wheel off and the brakes apart and for the life of me I can not find a thing wrong. Very annoying!!

Secondly our solar panels on the van were totally covered in dirt and dust so no where near as efficient as they could be so I jumped on the roff of the van and washed them as best as I could.

Thirdly our waste water was not flowing out of the waste water tank as fast as it once did so I suspected Karens hair was blocking it, as this is a regular thing with the drains at home!! And yes, once I pulled it apart thats exactly what the problem was.

We then went into Derby for a proper look around. The squealing in the brake was still there of course so as desperate measure I sprayed the brake pads with some brake cleaner and would you believe it, I think thats all it was. Usually when you get some dirt or dust on your brakes it goes away pretty quickly, but not this fine red dirt it appears.

Our first stop at Derby was the Boab Prison tree. Whilst it believed the Aboriginals were held prisoner here it is not actually fact, but a nice large Boab tree anyway.

Then we had a look at these metal sculptures called the walk along the marsh. I am not totally sure what it was about but Ill read the signs that we photographed at some stage I guess haha

Next stop was the Jetty. Which is quite impressive given the massive tides they have in Derby. The dirty water and the ocean and the sky in the horizon all seemed to blend into one giving this really weird look into the distance.

We stayed there for quite a while looking at the fish below and trying toi spot any crocs, which we didnt. Karen did get some bird photos though.

I forgot to have breakfast so popped into a bakery and two days in a row spent money on food from shops haha

We popped into a couple of shops of interest in the township which is always interesting and then we popped into a couple of known bird watching spots. Both had some birds but I dont think there were too many that Karen hasn't already photographed. Mind you, she would stay there for days if you had no time constraints!

Then back at camp we went to the station reception as they had a new delivery of beef, so I bought some mince, rumps and a tomahawk steak.

I then put a roast pork on the weber with some roast veggies for tea.

Tv and bed haha

Day 95 Windjana Gorge Camp ground to Birdwood Downs Station

 We didn't need to rush this morning as we were booked into the Birdwood Downs Station about 130 klms down the road so we did the walk into Windjana Gorge.

It is another beautiful wide open gorge that has a short walk into it. The water is full of fresh water crocs so they do not allow swimming and it was a little murky in places so not overly inviting.

We were lucky enough to see a little croc sunning itself on the river bank.

Once we finished the walk we slowly packed up and drove the 20 or klms out on the very rough back to the Gibb River Road.

The main road now turns to bitumen for the remaining 120 klms all the way to Derby, so we aired our tyres back up to highway pressures along with a heap of other delighted people.

As soon as we got back to highway speeds the caravan was not liking it at all. It was wobbling all over the place so I pulled over to double check everything.

Everything seemed to be as you would expect but the shock absorbers on the caravan and 4wd for that matter were still very hot from the rough road back out to the main road. When they are very hot they do not work as they should and do not control the weight of the vehicle they are supposed to control. Plus with our new suspension in the 4wd, it makes the van sit a bit too high at the front which also upsets the balance a little. We haven't really had to opportunity to experience any of this because we have been on very rough gravel roads for the last 3 weeks and driving quite slow, or at least not at highway speeds.

However as we drove along on the smooth bitumen the shock absorbers were slowly cooling down and regain their ability to control the weight of the van which made it a lot better.

We arrived at the Cattle station and set up camp. Birdwood Downs is owned by the same people that won the Mount Elizabeth Station amongst a few others as it turns out. It is the Burton Family. So all the Beef you buy at these stations is called Burton Beef.

After setting up camp we went straight into Derby for a look and to empty and clean our toilet cassettes. Which was much needed as there are no dump points along the gibb river road to do this.

Derby at first impression was not an overly impressive town. 

We ran into the people that I fixed their caravan back at the other cattle station and they were still grateful that the welding job I did was still working!

We were both craving hot chips so we found the only place that had them, a kebab shop and went grabbed some hot chips and a kebab! 

Derby has a woolworths so we popped in there and did a much needed grocery shop. 

Back at camp we loaded our food into the van and spent the rest of the day relaxing, or what was left of it. 

Of course we watched the footy, had tea and went to bed!!

Day 94 Imintji Community Campground to Windjana Gorge Campground

 We left the Imintji Campground quite early because we had full intentions of grabbing a spot at the Lennard River free camp but when we arrived the Lennard River it was not as appealing as we were led to believe it was.

I think partly because the water wasn't flowing and it was quite stagnant.

It is free and we contemplated staying but we had a plan B and that was to drive down to the Gorge Campground that were in the area to visit anyway.

So we did exactly that, the road in was again very corrugated and rough. We arrived at the camp ground, chose a spot and set up. The microwave had tried its best to hop out of its hole and one of the fridge surrounds had broken off allowing the facia panel on the fridge to partly fall out, so I spent a little while fixing both those issues so they shouldn't happen again.

We then decided to drive down the road to Tunnel Creek. It is about another 40 klms on the rough road to get there.

Tunnel Creek is a pretty much what its name says it is, a dark tunnel with a creek running through it. It is quite interesting and a little daunting given that it is pitch black dark and you have to wade through the water to get to the other end of the cave like tunnel.

It is around 700 mtrs long. We wore head torches so we could see. There are frogs, bats and fresh water crocodiles in the creek but it doesn't deter the 100's of people that walk through the creek daily.

By the time we got back to camp it was quite late. Karen spent a bit of time walking around taking bird photos but we decided to do the Windjana Gorge tomorrow morning then leave once we have done the walk.

We heated up some of our frozen premade meals we made before we left Tassie for tea and went to bed in what was a fairly lively camp ground.

Day 93 Bell Gorge

 Today we drove the 40 klms into Bell Gorge. We left camp around 8 am drove 10 kays down the road and turned into the road that goes to a campground called silent grove. 

The road in is pretty rough so we elected to do this one from our camp back down the main road.

The walk into Bell Gorge is quite interesting. First of all you walk around 1 klm over a rocky track and arrive at the top of the gorge. It is again a large open gorge with a very high and spectacular water fall. 

We grabbed some photos from the top looking down at all the people below. We could see the next section to get down into the swimming area was going to be quite the challenge.

However we crossed the river and climbed our way down the shear rock face into the swimming hole.

You would never get a place like this in Tassie, they simply wouldn't allow people to take the risks involved in being in such a place.

But once down there we swam until we were wrinkly. And so did 100's of other people!!

After a period of time we did the climb back out, which is always easier one the way out. Back to the car and back out.

Once back at the community we popped into the little shop to grab some fuel, a couple of tins of peas and some baked beans! I also grabbed a new singlet which was $50 but they are quality items.

We then went back to camp and relxed for the rest of the day.

We had lamb chops, garlic spuds and Karen made a nice pasta salad for tea.

Then the usual telly and bed!

Day 92 Manning Gorge Campground to Imintji Community Campground

 We didn't bother to pack up too early because the campground down the road don't really want you to turn up before 12.

We were out of the campground around 8 or so and stopped at the road house to drop off our rubbish in the designated trailer and we grabbed a packet of very expensive frozen veggies. People were already lined up trying to get water and fuel, I am glad we didn't need any.

Not far down the road we stopped at Galvin Gorge, parked the 4wd and van in a spot and walked in.

It wasn't a long walk, around 1 klm but the little gorge was as usual full of people. A nice little swimming hole under a reasonably tall cascading water fall.

We didn't swim this time as it was still pretty early, although warm enough but neither of us wanted to get wet, plus it was quite intimate with a lot of people walking in.

We continued our drive down the road to the Imintji Community. The roads are a lot better at this end of the Gibb. You still need to be careful and drive slowly but there are also bitumen sections form time to time.

I stopped and put a little bit of air back into the caravan tyres because of the better roads or more to the point the slightly faster speeds. I don't want to over heat the new tyres.

We arrived at the campground just before 12. We had to go to the community shop up the road to checkin. The camp ground was nice enough. You typical red dirt but had a nice grassy section in the middle with toilets and showers and a bbq area. Plus there are taps if you need to fill your water tanks.

We set up camp and spent the day relaxing and trying to catch up on some photos from our camera's.

We had quite a lot of water so we both took the opportunity to have nice long showers and wash our hair considering we can fill up again when we leave here.

We had left overs for tea and went to bed.

Day 91 Manning Gorge

 To walk to the Manning gorge first you have to swim across the river so we decided  not to leave too early as we are not fans of an early morning swim when it is cold hahaha

But once the sun comes up it warms up quite quickly so we set off and yes got in the chilli river with our back pack and cameras etc in a plastic tub that they supply to get all that gear over without getting wet. Once over the river I stcked two tubs on top of each and swam them back across for others that will use them behind us.

It was quite a walk into the gorge, up and down little valleys and over large rocks but wow when we arrive we were gob smacked at the beauty of this place. It was a huge waterfall and massive gorge and swimming area. 

People everywhere but the shear size of the place meant you could fit 1000's of people into this place if needed and still have room to swim.

We spent a significant amount of time swimming and jumping off the rocks into the water. We only jumped from the kiddies rocks haha There were people jumping from way up the top of the waterfall which to us was crazy but each to their own.

After we were all wrinkly and well and truly water logged we walked back out. Quite a hot walk too as it is very exposed to the sun but of course we had the nice refreshing swim to get back across the river once back at camp.

Some people turned up and camped right next to us, laughably close really and they even blocked the poor bloke near us from being to hitch up his caravan when he leaves. We are not sure how all that will work out but people are so inconsiderate.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around camp. It gets dark around 5:30pm so we never really have a lot of afternoon left. We try to cook tea while its still just light enough to see which out having to use the insect attracting lights.

As usual we had tea and went to bed a little tired from our strenuous walk.

Day 90 Mount Elizabeth Station to Manning Gorge Campground

 We didn't overly rush getting packing up but we were out reasonably early. We got rid of our rubbish in the trailer provided and grabbed some water because we heard the water supply at the roadhouse was slow and it caused lengthy delays.

The 30 klm road out of the station was as horrendous as we remembered but the main Gibb River road to Mount Barnett roadhouse was actually pretty good. Yes it was corrugated but no where near as deep as the first section and there were your typical wash outs and river crossing so we still need to be careful and drive to the conditions.

The roadhouse was chaotic, very very busy with people lined up for fuel and water everywhere. Lucky we didn't need either so we grabbed our camping permit and a box of hot chips and left to do the 7 klm road down to the campground. Hot chips feel like such a luxury when you've been away from civilisation for a while!

The campground was very large and we found a spot no problems at all. We set up and decided it was early enough to drive down the road to look at the two gorges that are near this main gorge.

We drove down to Adcock gorge which has quite a 4wd track into it so we glad we decided to do it from our campground and not on the way out like most people said to do!

There was a bit of a walk and rock hopping to get into the gorge but it was yet another beautiful swimming hole and water fall. We swam until our skin was wrinkly.

Once back out to the main road we popped into Galvans gorge on the way back. It was really packed with people at the car park and it was another 1 klm walk in so given it was getting late in the afternoon and we are able to do this gorge on our way out we will do exactly that when we leave our current camp site.

Back at camp and we cooked a couple of steaks from the previous cattle station. They were only rump and they cooked very quickly so a little over done but thats how Karen likes her steak!! I cook supermarket meat too often that is full of water so these real steaks cooked so quickly.

We watched some footy and went to bed.

Day 89 Mount Elizabeth Station

 We spent the morning doing some washing, or at least trying to. The washing machines at the station were mostly broken and the wait was painful trying to get the only one that was working so karen washed our smaller clothes by hand. And they turned out better than the washing machine would have done it anyway.

The station has a lot of 4wd tracks but most of them are pretty extreme and given how far from home we are we decided it was best to not risk breaking our 4wd but we did pop into one of them to have a look at a couple of swimming spots.

They have what they call the plunge pool only about 500 mtrs from the camp grounds, which was nice but we went up the track about another 1klm or so and there was a swimming hole that was really nice.

We had it to ourselves, the water was initially cold of course but ok once your body temp gets over the shock haha

We also went up a nature drive, which was really just a track in the bush but it was good for karen to do a bit of bird spotting.

Back at camp later that day we saw a poor family with a badly damaged camper, both wheels were almost totally collapsed. We didnt see the people to ask if they were ok but clearly they were not going anywhere fast, I am shocked they actually drove into this cattle station given the road into it. Perhaps they were oblivious to the damage!

We went to the station bar and restaurant area and had one of their 'famous' burgers. Which was exactly that, just a burger, no chips haha Nice burger but the raw white onion was a bit different.

After tea we watched telly as usual and went to bed.

Day 88 Hann River Free Camp to Mount Elizabeth Station

 We hung around for quite a while at camp as karen took photos of the bird life but ultimately she didn't think the bird life was great enough to warrant staying another night.

So we packed up quite a bit later than we normally would but this didnt matter because the station stay we were going to was not a great distance down the road. The driveway was 10 klms down the road then another 30 klms along the station driveway.

Again the road conditions or more specifically the stations 30 klm long driveway was unbelievably bad. Or good I guess if you are looking for four wheel driving adventure!!

But we snuck in slowly and gently and arrived at the station mid morning. 

Hilariously we are getting quite the name for ourselves as the people that built our own and took it to the gibb, so when we were walking to reception there was a guy on the phone frantically trying to get someone to weld up and broken part on his caravan. He spotted us walking and and said to who ever he was talking talking to, its all good i've got it sorted they just arrived!!

We grabbed some station meat, it sells out very fast, they only restock the freezer once a week, as this place sells their own beef.  And to our surprise it was not expensive at all.

We grabbed some water to refill our water tanks and unhitched our van then I went over to the station workshop welded up the broken caravan!

The station manager then asked if I could fix his station trailers so I proceeded to do that also haha They all offered payment in various means but I of course declined. I was so grateful that this station allowed us to use their welder only a few days ago, so taking any sort of payment was not going to happen.

Anyway, back to camp and Karen pretty much had set up our camp all on her own. We usually have a his and hers type of arrangement for set up and pack up, i do the dirty outside, she does the clean inside haha.

After relaxing for a while we went back to the station and grabbed one of their famous home made meat pies and we both agreed it was the best pie we have eaten.

We then decided to head out to the old station homestead and a gorge for a look. 

The old homestead was a great step back in time with the old dilapidated stone built house and out buildings. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the property looking at all the old treasures laying around.

There is also a really old grave yard that weirdly had very fresh graves with some burials only being last year. We could night find any information on any of this but the graves were sunken and the grass around them was very high and unkept. It was sad really.

The old homestead is around 15 klms from the new homestead and station down a 4wd track. After exploring that area we went back out to the main road and then turn off onto another very rough 4wd track that led to Warla Gorge. This was a paradise that had a beach like sandy bank on one side and a beautiful escarpment gorge on the other side lined with large river gums.

The water was quite cold as you would expect in running river water but it was crystal clear and a very spectacular location. It was in fact the Hann river, the same river we camped at the night before.

By the time we got back out of the 4wd track and back to camp it was quite late.

To our absolute shock and disbelief when we arrived back at camp a group of campers who were set up about 30 or so metres from us had ran a noisy generator out with two extensions leads and sat it right at our caravan awning!! No noise for them but thought it was ok for us to listen to it.

And even more unbelievable the blokes at the camp wanted to argue that it was ok and were getting verbally confrontational so they needed convincing that they should put the noisy thing over at their camp, not ours. And even after all that one of the blokes said well ill move it over here but itll only annoy someone else!! hahaha people are so inconsiderate sometimes.

After that excitement we had left overs for tea and went to bed.

Day 87 Gibb River Free Camp to Hann River Free Camp

 We were up at first light to pack up and hit the road nice and early so we can take our time to drive to the next camp.

It was only around 60-70 klm's down the very rough road so we drove nice and slow and did our best to minimise any damage.

When we arrived at camp we were really lucky that a couple of vans that we keep camping near at other places was just leaving a really nice river side spot, so we drove straight in as they left.

We set up right near the Hann river. It was an idyllic spot with running water and shallow sandy bottom. 

We spent the day relaxing and swimming in the beautiful water. We seriously contemplated staying two nights but that was going to gauged on the bird life the following morning haha.

We cooked a nice stir fry for tea, watched some telly and went to bed.

Day 86 Gibb River Free camp

 Another day slowly drifted away as we sat by the river in this perfect climate, albeit a little chilli in the morning for about 30 minutes and a little hot during the day for about an hour, otherwise no complaints from us.

A lot of the camp ground left and it refilled just as fast. We were lucky enough to meet some youtubers we follow, that are also from Tasmania, they have a youtube channel called Chasing Dreams. They were a lovely young couple doing their best live life on the road full time. They left today also but took the time out of their day o come and have a chat to us before they left.

I started working on my tax return but the motivation for that quickly goes! 

So we simply sat on our backsides in a beautiful location. A large group of lets say less than desirable humans decided to set up right on the sandy area that all the campers enjoy next to the river and played loud music for the remainder of the day, so tomorrow morning we will pack up and move to our next destination.

We had roast veggies for tea and a tiny pork off cut form a lot larger pork shoulder we bought back in Katherine.

Day 85 Gibb River Free Camp

 Today was a very lazy day sitting next to the river watching life go by....and watching the hundreds of other people enjoying life in the river haha

So not a lot to write, beautiful weather and location, it does not get a lot better than this.

Still a lot of tow trucks etc taking 4wd's and campers etc out of this area, people requesting help on facebook groups etc.  A you couple pulled up near us and opened their caravan door and a heap of plates etc fell out of the door!

We have had quite a lot of people coming up to us asking about our van, even had one guy want us to build one for him haha

We had a bloke on one side of us turn up in his van, set up on the river bank like all of us and proceeded to reverse his car and park it right in the way of our view, so I had to politely ask him to move!

I did grease a few things on the vehicles and did my usual checks of nuts and bolts to make sure nothing is rattling loose but other than that we sat around all day and thoroughly enjoyed life. Made pizzas for tea and went to bed :)

Day 84 Ellenbrae Station to Gibb River Free Camp

 I had the worst nights sleep you could imagine tossing and turning stressing if the suspension repair I did was going to be adequate for these rough roads.

We got up at first light and after packing a few last minute items away we drove up to the station to fill one and a half of our tanks up with water as thats all we should need for the next 4 days and we do not want to carry too much water or weight.

We then nervously drove down this very corrugated and extremely rough rd and we pulled over and checked everything every time we had an opportunity to get off the road safely. Every check was ok so we were growing in confidence but not allowing ourselves to be complacent so we continued the very slow and steady approach.

Even the very slow and steady pace was still extremely rough, the roads really are that bad.

But to our absolute relief we made it to our camp ground and it was a beautiful spot right on the actual Gibb River. There were a lot of people here. You can swim in the river as it is a nice shallow stretch of water so it is easy to check for crocodiles.

We spent the day relaxing and splashing around in the water very happy that we are on the right track to get out of this area without breaking anything else....fingers crossed.

Sadly we cant say the same for other people. It truly is a harsh environment. Everyone speaks of their problems and we are still seeing flat bed tow trucks go past with 4wd's etc on them, so we are pretty lucky at this point.

We do have a couple of broken cupboard latches but I think I have some spares with us. The plastic latches are just not up to the torture of these roads.

We made a nice chicken dish for tea and did the usual tv and bed. I was absolutely drained from the stresses of the last few days! 

Day 83 Ellenbrae Station

 Today is a rest day to enjoy this station and its surrounds. We still did very little but we did drive down to what they call Sandy Gorge which is a very nice swimming hole in the river that runs through the station.

It is a bit of a 4wd track getting in and there are supposedly fresh water crocodiles but we and others jumped in and had a swim. It was quite cold and refreshing but had warm spots in it which was a little odd. And lots of smallish fish swimming with us too.

After that we went up the station itself to see what was happening there. A lot of people eating the famous Ellenbrae scones. We were tempted but neither of us are scone eaters, well i'm not and Karen reckons her scones would be better anyway. So besides its $7 per scone so we gave them a miss!

We then went back to camp and relaxed. We pretty much packed up everything we could and connect the caravan to the 4wd so we can get a very early start tomorrow morning. We want to take it very easy on these stupidly rough roads.

We had a very nice barby tea with pasta salad watched the footy and went to bed. haha

Day 82 Station to Station Suspension repair

 We were up at first light and hit the road. Oh my goodness the road to the next station was horrendous. It took us 3.5 hours to drive the 160 klms. 

As we drove this very rough road we both said we really need to go back out the way we came give the Gibb River road a miss towing the caravan. But in reality the road back out is just as bad and by all the information we are getting the road gets better and better as you get to the western side. And it did start to get better we just hope it stays that way!

So we got to Mount Elizebeth Station and the owner was very nice and accommodating, pointing me to the work shop and said use what ever you need! I couldn't believe a person could be so trusting.

It literally took me less than 15 minutes to fix this crack. I also braced it with some steel they had laying around. There welding gear was very primitive, it was like the gear I used 40 years ago when I learnt to weld haha But I was very grateful. 

With suspension fixed or dodgied up would be more to the point, it wasn't pretty but it should be ok if we keep an eye on it and drive stupidly slow until I get home and sort it out with the manufacturer or fix it properly myself.

I fueled up at the station and went to ask the owner what we owe them for allowing me to do this and again I was shocked when she wouldn't take anything from us. Good honest hard working Australian people right here.

We spent the next 3.5 hours bouncing our way back to our camp ground questioning if we should or shouldn't attempt to continue this track with the van in tow.

Once back I put the suspension back in which again is a terrible job rolling around on the ground under a 3 tonne van with only a small jack, the vans corner steadies and couple of wheels under it to hold it up in case it fell! But I got the job done and I was feeling a lot better that we had caught it early and we went to the trouble of at least attempting to solve the problem.

We have been carrying around 250 kgs of water extra that we really dont need because as it turns out the stations all offer a good water supply. So we will get rid of that for a start to help easy the load on the suspension.

I also must say all these camps grounds in this area has carnage everywhere. You do not need to go far to see people laying under 4wd's and vans fixing things or the amount of tow trucks with vans and 4wd's or workshops. The infamous Gibb River Road caravan and 4wd killer is real. Yet there are still people online telling others that are asking what the road is like that it is smooth and fine!! For the most part they get called out but its hardly smooth, it is badly corrugated in places so much so that you can only go walking pace without risking breakages.

We decided that rather than get up early and head out tomorrow morning we would stay another night and spend tomorrow relaxing!!

So we had tea, watched some footy and went to bed to sleep a lot better than the night before!

Day 81 Pentecost River to Ellenbrae Station

 We packed up early enough from the Pentecost river free camp and had to reverse out of our spot due to the nature of free camps and people park anywhere around you.

Once out we set up our go pro camera and put our drone in the air to film us crossing the infamous Pentecost River.

The crossing was of course uneventful but still quite the photo opportunity.

We took our time driving the extremely rough road about 120 klms to Ellenbrae Station where are camp is for the next few days.

This station is famous for the scones, no doubt over priced but we will give them a go at some point.

We booked in for two nights and chose the camp ground closest to the swimming hole, a swimming hole we probably wont use but still we had a good spot.

Then disaster struck!!

Doing my regular checks of the car and van I noticed a slight crack forming in one of the suspension arms. My initial thoughts were holiday over and the feeling that we had broken something that major that we couldn't continue was not a great feeling at all.

But true to my style I straight away went through the possible solutions. 

1, Get the suspension manufacturer to post a new arm to somewhere near us. This turned out to be not ideal, mainly because there customer service is pathetic and secondly we don't really want to be stuck here for several weeks waiting for them.

2, Get towed out of this very remote location and have someone else fix the problem as we are very well insured for remote recovery. But this also may take weeks or even longer as we are no where near people who would have the parts or resources to do a repair like this.

3, Fix it myself. Deep down I knew this was our only chance of continuing our holiday.

So first thing I did was to ask the cattle station we are staying at if I could use thier welder or if not would they kindly weld the part as it really was a minor repair. It would almost certainly escalate if we left it and end in total disaster as the suspension arm would break totally off on these rough roads.

And to my surprise they were not willing to help in any way at all. They get this all the time so now they have a policy of not fixing anything and not lending anything. I guess humans have messed this up over the years. They said we would have to go all the way back out to Kununurra to get it fixed which is about a 500 klm round trip back on the very rough road we just did.

This is something I would have done if needed as we really didn't have any other choice.

However I rang the next station down the road and they were totally opposite to this station. They were only to happy to help me and let me use whatever I needed to fix the problem. It is worth noting one cattle station is privately family owned and one is owned by tourist operators........the family owned station were the nice people.

They were around a 320klm round trip but seemed like the better option as it also gave us an idication what the road is going to be like pushing on.

So rather than let this little mishap dampen our spirits we went for a walk to the water hole for a look and yep it was a murky water swimming spot that has fresh water crocodiles but non the less it was crowded with people swimming!

That afternoon I went to work to pull this suspension arm out. I can tell you, doing this on the ground in the dirt is not a pleasant job. I had no jack stands and only our tiny little jack we use to change wheels.

But I got it done. I didn't put a call out on a gibb river road facbook page for anyone in this area that has a jack stand and jack and in typical Aussie style a bloke near us had all that! Neither of them were large enough to help me but I gave him a couple of beers for letting me try them. I do appreciate good people.

Anyway with the suspension out I was able to see what had happened. In the manufacturing process one of the welds was not great right a critical spot. Easy to see now it was cracked but it of course looked fine before it was cracked. And also we made the right decision to take it out and fix it because it was also starting to crack in another spot due to this initial weld not holding.

This particularly annoys me because in my last camper I built I made the suspension arms myself and they took an absolute pounding on the outback trips that camper did in its life with no issues. Yet on this build I was more than happy to use 'quality' suspension arms built commercially. They came with a heap of gear we purchased to make the van, also I didn't have time to make my own anyway.

But here we are, suspension arm loaded in the ute ready for us to drive down to the next station early the next morning to fix it.

Off to bed we went and a sleepless night for me.

Day 80 Pentecost River Camp

 We spent the majority of today simply relaxing by the river. 

Although we did go for a drive across the crossing and down the road to Home Valley Station. It is a nice spot that has a pool and a nice little camp ground and a bar with a restaurant but unfortunately for them it is also right near the very large free camping of the pentecost river.

Once back at camp we popped a pork roast in the weber and sat around by the river.

We had a very nice roast with much needed veggies for tea, watched some telly and went to bed.

Day 79 El Questro to Pentecost River Free Camp

 We were up nice and early because we were hoping to snag a spot on the Pentecost River free camp down the road.

So we packed up, emptied our loo which was important because there are no dump points on the Gibb River road. We filled with water, filled up with diesel and dumped our rubbish in the bins provided.

The drive down to the infamous river crossing was really only 30-40 minutes down the road so very easy and uneventful.

As luck would have it we got a spot right on the rivers edge and right at the crossing so we can watch everyone tackle the rocky crossing.

We set up and spent the day thoroughly enjoying the scenery and entertainment. We very quickly decided to stay for a couple of nights at least. 

We did have two families with young kids either side of us though so it was not the peaceful expereince we were looking for!! They were both leaving the next day so fingers crossed no kids camp near us tomorrow haha

The entertainment of people tackling the river crossing was endless. There must have been over 200 cars and vans etc cross the river.  It is a shallow but long rocky crossing that really requires to go across it at walking pace as it is very bouncy but some people enter it at quite a speed and very quickly notice the mistake they have made. Yet others just keep bouncing through very fast risking breaking things. It truely is quite remarkable what must go through some peoples minds.

The sunset was beautiful. We got some drone footage and there would have been 100's of vans along the side of this river going down for kilometres.

We cooked a nice chicken pasta meal and went to bed.