Day 59 Gibb River, Mt Barnett

 We got to enjoy a slower morning and were able to check out the camp site in daylight, which was beside the Gibb River itself. The river had a lot of beach beside it and was more of a clear, small stream, smaller than some of the other rivers we have encountered. Wattle was quite prolific beside the river, and the wattle flowers were quite robust and floated in the water, downstream

We packed up and headed back onto the Gibb River Road. We encountered some pretty rough patches and corrugations. The best way to drive on the corrugations was to find the sweet spot speed where the tyres just skimmed across the top and you didn’t feel every individual bump. For us it was between 50-60km/hr. But if you had to slow down for a dip or floodway, it was pretty loud and bouncy. The scenery again kept changing and became quite flat with grasses and a few cattle, taller gum trees, and then after we passed the turn off to Mt Elizabeth Station, we got to enjoy some rocky escarpments again. It wasn’t a long drive, but took us 2 hours to do about 100km to the Mt Barnett Roadhouse. We filled up on fuel and once spied by the staff, we were asked if they could take a photo of us in front of their roadhouse while we were filling up. We then headed to the camp ground ready to do the Manning Gorge walk tomorrow. 

After setting up and having lunch, Matt and the gang went to explore and have a swim in Manning Creek, which we will have to cross tomorrow to do the walk. The creek has a sandy bottom, and is very deep but clean and clear. No crocs sighted, but they can appear there. Matt returned and then took me down to the sandy beach and we sat and enjoyed the beauty around us, kids nearby having fun on a rope swing and jumping into the waters, lots of squeals, it’s great to see families out and about enjoying the Kimberley. I could only spy little fish swimming around, the noise and action probably scaring away the bigger fish. The area is very popular and the campground is quite full. Matt and I returned to the creek at sunset but there wasn’t any red rocky range to light up, so not too special. The moon soon appeared, again with a banana smile for us. We came together to enjoy dinner around the fire, and a nearby camper came and joined us for a chat. A better day for Ian and Meredith in Trailways, as the repairs seem to be holding on, despite the rough road today. 

Mt Barnett offers electric vehicle charging too. No one is using it though

Day 58 Ellenbrae Station and the unscheduled roadside stop

 One thing about this trip, is that no two days are the same; and just like the scenery and views changing  every time you turn the corner, today proved that you never know what each day will bring on this big adventure. We headed off early from Home Valley Station, each Clipper leaving as they were ready in the morning. The Gibb River road started out with amazing views of the Cockburn Ranges and other mountainous terrain, before levelling out with pretty ordinary plains of long, golden spinifex grasses, and gum trees, with the odd boab tree or grevillea and Turkey bush in between. The road had the occasional sealed asphalt stretches, usually on the hills. These provided a momentary reprieve for the ears from the rattling of every part of the Clipper. I had my earphones in and listened to Coldplay, to try and reduce the noise, Matt was wondering why I was ignoring him… I just couldn’t hear him above my music and the rattles from every part of Bridget vibrating lol!  I would ask a question , nothing. Just her drumming on her lap.  I thought she was nervous and having a fit of some sort.  Nup just Coldplay. We travelled about 100km before arriving at the next station of Ellenbrae, another cattle station established in the 1960’s. This station was famous for its scones, jam and cream, so we had to try them out of course. So we had a lovely morning tea here. And two coffees just because… I’m going to need it. 

We headed back onto the road, but the road seemed to have become more corrugated and rougher in patches. The corrugations to look at, reminded me of the frozen Vienetta ice cream dessert, just a lot less pleasant! And grittier in your teeth, as I was to learn later.. We were leading on this stretch, and we get message on the CB from Ian ‘I have to pull over, something’s wrong’. We kept going for a minute before Matt asked Ian “can it be driven” and the next message from Ian in the Trailways Clipper was ‘no, not driveable’. 😔. So Matt reversed 300metres back to where Ian had pulled up, and on immediate inspection, the rear left wheels were not where they should be, they were hard up against the rear of the wheel arch, the front spring mount of the rear leaf springs had broken. At 77 years of age, this Clipper part had decided it was too old for the bumpy road and snapped, dislodging the rear spring and moving the diff out of alignment as well. When we used to have the old Scenicruiser bus, it would break down so regularly that the kids named these times as ‘unscheduled roadside stops’. So here we were on the Gibb River Road, having an unscheduled roadside stop!

I should mention at this point that this is a catastrophic mechanical  failure. Two pieces of 8mm thick steel had snapped clean off the frame of the bus. The primary mounting point for the rear axle.  

Matt gave me the unused triangle warning sign, it was still clean and not at all dusty! and I walked down the hill to the crest and placed the triangle to warn oncoming traffic of a hazard ahead. By the time I returned, David and Brenda in the Discovery Clipper, with Elise and Simon in the car arrived. Matt was already pulling tools out and soon the 3 Clipper drivers were in their overalls and assessing the damage and had the Clipper up on the jacks and the wheels were off, and they made a plan of attack. We were making plans up as we went with this one. Brenda and I sat in the shade of the Clippers and would reassure anyone who slowed or stopped to see if we needed help, that all was going to be ok. Meanwhile Elise and Simon continued on down the road to where we had planned to camp for the night, to try and reserve a place for us all.

The broken parts were removed but the 77 year old nuts and bolts proved impossible to undo. Trailways is an American Clipper, and so some things are quite different to the Australian built Clippers, but the guys had been organised prior to the trip and made sure a welder, angle grinder and many other spare bolts and nuts and many other tools were brought for the ‘just in case’. Today would be the ‘just in case’ scenario. They then spent the next 6 hours under the bus. I’ll let Matt give you all the technical details and the work it involved. The ladies made sure the fellas stayed hydrated and fed. It was fortunately not a hot day with a nice breeze, and the sun was on the other side of the bus, so not directly on the side being worked on. 

Technical details 

The Front spring mount is a U shaped angled bracket that bolts to the chassis of the bus with 5 large high tensile bolts to hold the leaf spring to the chassis. This aligns the differential and transfers the push from the wheels into the body of the bus. Without this the wheels and differential just want to exit the vehicle in which ever direction they see fit at the time. The spring fits up in between two vertical 8mm thick steel plates and a pin passes though them, and the eye on the front of the leaf spring, a bit like this

 but imagine it broken off just below the two bolts at the top  on each side  

So you end up with these , 

Those triangle edges at the top should be part of the frame. And one of them had been cracked for a while as it was not a fresh break for half of it.  When the rest of the crack let go,  the other side said ‘ I can’t do this on my own’ and bailed out as well. 

When I first saw this I thought the metal was cast steel which can’t be successfully welded, and I was imagining having to go to Kununurra again to get something fabricated , but after getting it apart and shining it up with the angle grinder David said “I reckon we can weld that” . So we had to unbolt what was left of the mount on the frame so we could reattach the two vagrant absconding delinquent mounts to their rightful place. 

This proved difficult. The bolts were put on 77 years ago. The bolt heads didn’t like being told to move. They stripped off or just plain refused.  Enter our favourite tool.  Angle grinder.  Actually we had to rat though our collective bolt and nut collection to see if we had suitable replacements before hacking into it and rendering the existing bolts useless. Turns out that I had two high tensile bolts the right size and David had the other three. I put them in the bus 6 years ago.  So off it came with angle grinder and drills until we had the remaining third piece of the Meccano puzzle we now had to weld together.  I had a go at the welding at first but struggled to get it clean, so David had a go and did a great job ( yes we carry generators and inverters to run 240v tools ) so about 4 hours into it we started bolting it all back in.  That went in fine but the spring was way out of alignment as the diff was twisted slightly sideways, so we had to hitch a snatch strap to the diff and connect it to David’s bus and pull it forward again until it lined up with the newly repaired mount. Then we could bolt it all together again and go sightseeing. I watched the sunset from under the bus. Looked nice.  But then it got dark. So we had to look for all the tools and sockets we had strewn around (we all have the same work methodology, it’s somewhere here, I had it a second ago.)

By the time it was all back together we had all emptied the contents of most of our toolboxes all over the side of the road.  So we had a bit of a clean up to do. 

Things to note during this. We were all wearing overalls.  We all ate the Gibb river road. David had his best safety welding thongs on. Our wives told us of the lack of personal protective equipment. We did it anyway, and Darrell booth and Matt Thane were ringing in my ears “failure is not an option… work the problem” 

There is now a 5m stretch of the Gibb river road that is levelled out with no corrugations due to “three old Cogs” (as we’ve been affectionately referred to as) rolling around in the dirt for 6 hours 

Good news is the welds held and we made the next 30k of torturing corrugations to the nights campsite. 

Tech talk over…

By the time the fellas had finished, the sun had set and the light was disappearing fast. We had to madly gather up all the tools and equipment removed from the 3 Clippers and pack them up while we could still see, but we soon needed torches. Ian then took Trailways for a test drive and the newly repaired and welded mount seemed to hold. We then headed down the road to the campsite, another 30km away. The corrugations got worse with some pretty bad holes as well. But the new repair seemed to be good, and we were able to find the camp site turn off in the dark, and Elise and Simon had a fire ready and had managed to reserve enough space for the 3 Clippers to fit in. We all made easy dinners, and sat around the campfire to debrief for the day. The moon made an appearance and it looked like a smile. What a day, and feeling blessed that we were travelling together and able help Ian out.

Day 57 Shitbox Rally Pentecost River Crossing

 This morning the alarm went off at 5.30am, as we were hoping to get a prime viewing position of the Pentecost River Crossing to watch all the Shitbox Rally Cars do the river crossing. We didn’t have to drive  far from where we had been camping, but alas Bridget’s clutch wouldn’t work. So the A team (Ian, David and Matt) got into action and had the components out and discovered the air valve was stuck in the shut position, causing the clutch to not engage. So a little WD 40 and a clean, and then put back together in the air system, and we were back in gear and able to move. read as "complete air pressure regulator dissasembly, drop small springs in the dirt, find small spring, drop rubber seal in the dirt, find small rubber seal, clean off dirt, add WD40, drop it in the dirt again, put glasses on this time, clean it again then workout what order the 2 springs, the rubber seal, and the weird slidey bit goes in." cross fingers and hope you got it right whilst bolting it back onto the bus. We parked up in a few prime places, and then just had breakfast and did a few chores, setup the awning and got out the chairs. Others were soon joining us to watch the cars go past. Some rally organisers came across and told us the cars were due after 9am, and it was only 8am. Families joined us and some of the kids positioned themselves on the roof top of a car. They were pretty enthusiastic and excited. and i dare say sunburnt by the end of the morning

Finally at 9.30am the cars arrived, and one by one they attempted to cross the river. Most made it through, but those that didn’t got pulled out by a couple of rescue 4WD’s. The cars were all decorated with stickers, or all types of paint jobs, the participants were also dressed up as all sorts of characters or themes. The kids on the roof top would chant the name of the teams as the cars made it across. They got lots of cheers and applause. Some rally participants threw lollies or handed out stickers to the kids.

 

As the morning wore on, the rocky crossing was getting harder to cross and more and more participants were needing to be towed. mainly cause every time someone got stuck, they dislodged large rocks under the water leaving a hole for the next car to fall in to. by lunch it was like watching cars drive over a field of  concrete basketballs.  We were noting which model cars made it through easily and those that struggled. Ford Falcons, Toyota Tarago’s , Camry, Corollas, and most of the Holden Commodores were pretty reliably getting across. Surprise successful cars were a Suzuki Swift, Mitsubishi Mirage, Mazda 121 bubble car, Ford Focus, Daihatsu Charade, a VW Beetle, Nissan Exa, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Rover. Those that didn’t make it on their own included Volvos, Peugeot, Hiace, Ford Telstar, Camira wagon (we were amazed it had made the rally that far full stop! i was amazed that one still existed), Ford Laser, Hyundai excels, Leyland P76 (lucas electrics dont like water )some Mercedes, and Jaguars (lucas electrics dont like water ) (we didn’t get to find out if the Nissan Micra and old Toyota Seca made it or not, as we had left by the time they went across). The rescue vehicles were a Hilux and Landcruiser that would take turns to reverse in, a guy would  jump into the water (no crocs visible fortunately) and attached the snatch strap and pull the vehicles to the other side. one kia carnival was hauled out with a strap through the front windows across the dash, cause they couldn't get to anything structural to haul  from the front. that was pretty sketchy, i expected the windscreen to come out. pretty sure it cracked it. there was a ford telstar that made it across and once it came out of the water it had so much rust under the doors that water was pouring out of the holes in the sill and doors and floor. i'm pretty sure it was not roadworthy, neither was the one headlighted XC  falcon wagon in the video. that was pretty rough too. 

After lunch, we decided it was time to move on to our evening camp site, so we waited our turn to be able to cross over, going the opposite way to the rally. We got just as much attention and cheers as we crossed, and some had thought we wouldn’t make it across. cause we are so old and only 2WD. it was pretty ripped up though  On the other side, as we drove past the queue of the remaining rally cars waiting their turn, we got toots, waves and cheers and compliments and even had a sticker passed into the window. These people have given up their time to fundraise, and prepare their  $1500 or less cars (some have completed a few rally’s too) and by all accounts, it looks like they were having a wonderful time. There were 250 cars (shitboxes) all up. Some that crossed looked like they had broken, or no working suspension, one had hit their sump and were leaking oil. We had been told that some had already had complete car failures and they went out and bought another car and kept going. All this to help raise money for the Cancer Council.

After we crossed the Pentecost River with ease, we had a short drive to Home Valley Station. We were finally on the dirt and gravel that makes the Gibb River Road famous for the challenge (and for being a caravan killer too!) The station had hosted the rally participants the night before, and they were still cleaning up. We were able to check in and catch up on washing, before we had to drive down to our camp site for the night, on the banks of the Pentecost River, but this time on the other side to the past couple of nights, and further down. No crocs spotted, but we suspect they were there. We were there in good time to enjoy the sunset and the amazing colours of the western aspect of the Cockburn Ranges. Again we were spoiled with such spectacular views.

We had dinner around another campfire and again able to recline our seats, and look up towards the sky with the twinkling stars and enjoy the serenity. This property also had cows that go for walks to the river for a drink at night, and we spied them walking through the bushes. Another fun day on this big adventure.

Day 56 Pentecost River 2

 Nothing much to report today, as the guys want to watch the shitbox rally cars go past tomorrow morning at the crossing, we chilled here all day. For those who don’t know what a shitbox rally is, it’s a fundraiser car rally, for the Cancer Council. This year it goes from Perth to Darwin. The premise is you drive a car you purchased for under $1,500 (aka shitbox) and raise a minimum $5k in fundraising and drive it along all sorts of challenging roads and hope to make it to the end. A lot of fun and antics happen all along the rally, so hopefully seeing the Clippers parked up beside the road at the crossing will bring some joy. Photos in tomorrows edition.

So we just slept in, played scrabble, worked out our itinerary for the next few days, relaxed, and chilled. A barmy 30 degrees, with a refreshing breeze all day. Not bad for mid Winter! I was glad to be relaxing today as I wasn’t feeling well and just focusing on managing my symptoms, but still able to beat Matt in scrabble, to make up for him beating me yesterday. We had another group dinner and campfire. A good day.

I must’ve got bored cause I spent 2 hours trying to get a photo of a brightly coloured kingfisher. ( not to be confused with the brightly coloured boganfisher in the thongs and shorts.) they are so fast and impossible to capture. (The birds that is. The bogan fishers are slow and attached to a case of beer so they don’t move much , but not worth photographing ) Got some shots but nothing spectacular. 

Everyday there has been someone getting bogged in front of where we are camped in the deep sand which is why we stopped where we did. But anyway we will be right getting out .also the road trains from yesterday went back through this morning and had a trailer dolly on the back instead of the one that had the broken axle , they must be picking up another trailer down the track.  It’s a constant flow of caravans and campers though. Not a quiet road by any means. 

Day 55 Pentecost River

 We got up early and headed off from El Questro, but not before stopping back at Zebedee Springs for a quick warm soak for everyone. I opted to stay out, and instead just observed and took photos of the plentiful palms that surrounded the water. But soon we were back on the Gibb River Road, and again spoiled for views as we drove down the road. We didn’t get far before we reached the destination, the Pentecost River, just beside the crossing. This is where the bitumen ends, and the dirt starts on the Gibb. Being free, and beside the river, getting a spot can be difficult but being quite early in the morning, we managed to find a spot big enough to fit the 3 Clippers end to end, and a smaller spot for Simon and Elise’s car.

It was nice to sit by the river and watch the birds flittering from branch to branch. It soon warmed up and we set up some shade. We collected some fire wood and just chilled for the hot part of the day. Matt and I went for a walk back to the road and sat for a while watching the various vehicles crossing the river. A couple of road train trucks ferrying some demountable buildings from a mine camp, came through. in the video you may hear a smoke alarm going off in the first trucks load, due to the dust from the road. the last truck also had a broken rear axle on the last trailer and the wheel was flopping about backwards and forwards, i mentioned it to mine workers travelling with the trucks, and they just fobbed it off, "yeah we are breaking them a lot, the other day we only got 5km" Observing the various techniques and vehicles provided some entertainment. We headed back to camp and enjoyed another great sunset on the water and as Matt and I had hiked up the hill a bit, we were able to enjoy the amazing colours appearing along the rocky escarpment of the Cockburn Ranges behind us. Matt was able to hopefully capture the beauty in photos for you. The fire was lit, so the coals could be made for people to cook some dinner with.  Fires are always mesmerising to watch, as the flames dance about. I cooked some corn and a potato in the coals for Matt, while we BBQed some herbed chicken and he had salad too. He doesn’t eat too badly or starve in any way. I again enjoyed sitting reclined and looking up at the stars, listening to the song of the crickets. We played a game called ‘Blank Slate’, which was fun. My pump was being overly sensitive and alarming regularly because of tiny bubbles in the fluid. Grrr. Another beautiful evening otherwise.

pentecost river crossing.

on dusk a bush fire up the road looked pretty cool

 

Day 54 Amalia Gorge

 We headed off early this morning, trying to beat the heat of the day to do the Amalia Gorge walk, which was about 3.5km grade 4/5, so a difficult walk. It was just Matt and I together. The walk started out through a rocky creek bed, with wobbly rocks on each step. After a small creek crossing, the rocks started to get bigger, some jutting upwards and on their side, some were wobbly but you didn’t know that until you stepped on them, others were slippery because the slightest bit of sand or dirt made them slippery, otherwise were well polished and slippery or wet, rocks also were slippery. Every step involved a decision and concentration, and again you had to remind yourself to stop and look up to enjoy the changing scenery that we were surrounded by. More orange red rocky cliff faces and hills covered in spinifex grass, trees and scattered rock, the occasional pool of water, some with little trickles of water and others babbling away as the water moved downstream. As we headed further down the track, the walk got harder with some clambering over rocks and trying to pick the best route. Eventually we reached the half way Rockpool, with water almost the colour of Bridget, a shade of teal. The water was deep and very clear, and you could see the fish swimming around. We stopped here for awhile to enjoy the beauty and watch the fish.

After a rest, we continued further down, where the track involved some serious clambering over rocks, and at one point, the angled rock overhung the path and the Rockpool was down below, and there was a chain to hang on to, to give you something to hold onto, as you pulled yourself around this point. The next hard bit involved climbing up and finding grip points on the slippery rock as you climbed up and around. It was kind of like the rock climbing walls you can do. without the safety rope and foam mats It was challenging, fun and scary all at once. Matt was very quick but I took my time, and sometimes I would slide down on my bottom, just because it was easier. We finally reached the end and there was another large rock pool with a waterfall, it was shaded and so the water was freezing but there were people that were brave (senseless) and had a swim. The rocky cliffs again partially surrounded the rock pool. We sat there for a while and just immersed ourselves again in the moment. 

We had to eventually leave,mainly cause our bums had gone numb from sitting on a rock for 40 mins, and head back, before it got too hot in the sun to walk. The return trip, felt easier, as we knew where to go and what to expect. I was very proud of me for my achievements. It was a great morning. We returned to El Questro to cool down and relax for the afternoon. It was nice to plug into power and put the air con on and chill and we played scrabble.  As I write this, the sun is setting behind me and I have the perfect view out Bridget’s kitchen window. Tonight we are having dinner at the restaurant here at El Questro, so that will be nice for Matt to enjoy, maybe some local Barramundi. Not sure if we will encounter the cattle again, from last night, when we head over to the restaurant.