Day 52 Emma Gorge

 We backtracked from Wyndham to the Gibb River Road and turned onto the infamous road and immediately pulled over to the information boards on road access. A tourist bus had just unloaded its passengers at that point, and no sooner had the Clippers pulled in, then they were immediately surrounded by these tourists asking lots of questions and wanting to take photographs and sometimes people do ask if they can look inside. Matt stepped out into the crowd of paparazzi, while I retreated to the back of the bus, to be out of view of all the photos being taken. 

Finally the tourist bus left and it was safe for me to come out and enjoy the moment. We then headed off down the first part of the road, which is still asphalt, and not far down, we turned off to Emma Gorge. Again, there are views of the Cockburn ranges and the like everywhere you look, the scenery is amazing. The carpark was already crowded but we managed to find a space big enough to park the 3 Clippers. We got info about the walk and headed down the 3.2km return walk. It was graded 4 and difficult and proved as much. There were loose rocks, creek crossings, slippery smooth rocks, scrambles over rocks and tree roots, people coming the other way or wanting to overtake you. Grateful for having waterproof hiking boots, we coped ok. We saw a golden tree snake along the way, a tiny snake that was braving the crowds to have a drink. You had to remind yourself to look up and admire and enjoy the orange and red rocky cliff faces, as you were concentrating so much on not tripping over the rocks.We passed clear rock pools and one was deep which made the water a turquoise colour, but we had been requested not to swim in that. A final rock scramble to reach the end, we had already sensed we were close, as the noise from the gorge pool was amplified by the shape of the pool and the noise carried down the gorge. We could feel the air cool as we reached the end and the circular shape of the rock pool, with mossy green cliff faces and vines creeping over the ledges, a small amount of water flowed down the waterfall, and people of all ages were either in the water or sitting by it. You could tell it was cold, by the body language of a group of men standing in the water, all with arms crossed and shoulders up near their ears. Big boofy blokes with tattoos, it was like “we have to stand in this water to say we’ve done it , tick it off the list, pretend it’s not freezing…” Brenda braved it and stood in it for a few minutes before retreating. We sat and enjoyed the views and took it all in. Helicopters occasionally flew over us, the sound of mirth and laughter as kids clambered over the rocks to jump in, older folk, families, couples and the like, all here enjoying the majesty and beauty around us. The landscape, not the people.  There were some very unmagestic and less beautiful blokes in the water. Just saying …no crocs but plenty of beached whales. We rested up and cooled down, before feeling reenergised to turn around and leave the cool, and face the return trip in the now warmer time of day. The return trip seemed easier as we knew what to expect, but the sun was hotter and had a sting to it, but we made it in good time, as David set a cracking pace. We returned to the carpark, and me feeling quite light headed and not so good, but it was time for me to start my IV fluids, which I was more than ready for. We left the now even busier carpark and headed back onto the Gibb, the road undulating up and down as we regularly crossed creek crossings or would be crossings. We took the turn off onto the El Questro Station, and found the dirt road to be the best we have been on so far. Many creek crossings for Matt to slow down and approach carefully, and drive through the water and rocky creek beds. The last crossing was the longest and deepest, with the water rushing in to the first step of the doorway. The underside of Bridget getting a wash down, with many more to come.

We checked in at El Questro, and found our camp site and settled in for the afternoon. I crashed and had a nap while Matt chilled and answered all the questions of those who walked on by and stopped to ask them.  The whirr of a few generators now fill the air, as people return to their caravans, after a day out. A restful night as we work out what to do tomorrow.

Emma gorge 

The stripes are water falling from above

Day 51 Wyndham

Not a big day today, we did do a short walk to see some Indigenous rock art near The Digger's Rest Station, and anyone watching us would have been bewildered, as we tried to keep moving to avoid being eaten alive by the mozzies at this place. The Cockburn range was always in the distance wherever you looked. The salt crystals of the tidal flood plains sparkled like diamonds in the sun, as we drove past; spying Jabiru and Brolga's in the distance. We arrived at Wyndham and explored the port, local museum and went up a winding road to reach the lookout over 5 rivers. The tide was out, so flat sandy plains and swampy areas was all we saw, with the ranges in the background.

We headed to the local caravan park and checked in and I caught up with laundry, before we hit the Gibb River Road tomorrow. There is a huge boab tree here. they reckon is over 2000 years old, and approx 25m tall and 20m round. A quiet night in really.

Day 50 The Digger’s Rest

 This morning, Matt’s first words to me were ‘Happy Birthday!’ And it has been. Our friends gave me a t-shirt, hand cream, and a book on the Gibb River Road, which we will embark on in a day or so. We headed out of Kununurra and went to the Ivanhoe Crossing, over the Ord River. We were able to capture the 3 buses crossing the river together, and soon a few other spectators joined us in taking snapshots.  

 From there we headed out and every turn there were views to enjoy, mountains with rugged and rocky tops, gorges and canyons. This area is not short of a view. We headed off the main road and started a dirt track down to the cattle station ‘ The Digger’s Rest’. We crossed a salty dry lake bed, and the road was pretty rough and very corrugated, a taste of what we expect to find the Gibb River Road to be like. Along the way, we stopped at the ‘Prison Boab’, a very large boab tree with a hollow, that was used as a place to imprison Indigenous people that had been captured and on the way to being taken to Wyndham. Not a nice history. The tree is over a few hundred years old. Today was not the day for our mate David’s alternator belt tensioner, and we had a few stops. One stop involved David and Ian heading to nearby Wyndham to find a new bearing for the idler pulley. Luckily, a guy there had the part and it was back and running again.

A couple of k’s down the road we had to stop again to tighten his fanbelt and then a couple more to replace the fanbelt that then snapped… all good now though.

 At the end of the dirt road was the cattle station, which became famous after being a filming location for the movie ‘Australia’ with Baz Luhrmann and Hugh Jackman signing the pool room wall, and now most guests usually sign the wall at this property. I became one of the dogs best friends cause my hands were tasty. We were able to find a nice camp spot by the King River and set up for a chilled afternoon. David went fishing, and the rest of us went croc spotting, and found one that would appear then silently disappear beneath the water, then reappear elsewhere. We set up a camp fire and then relaxed. I enjoyed some phone calls and messages for my birthday. David caught a small catfish, endemic to the area, but it was too small, and got returned. We got the fire going while we enjoyed watching the sunset and the colours of the rocks across the water light up, the water stilled and we got reflections of the rocks in the water. The coals of the fire were perfect for the making of damper and the others all enjoyed some savoury damper for pre-dinners. Cows and bulls were baying across the water and their cries were echoing across the valley we were in.

 After dinner, we filmed the croc swimming about. The stars started to come out and the sky darkened. I was able to reposition our camp chairs into a recline position and could comfortably look up at the night sky and the millions of stars. If you shined a torch on the water, you could spy pairs of eyes sparkle in the water, there were more crocs than we had realised in the water. I was able to spot 3 shooting stars over the evening. I have been enjoying the glow of the campfire reflected back at Bridget’s front, crickets chirping, and here I am writing today’s blog, a rustle of a cow coming down to drink, or a splash of water and presumably noises from a croc on the hunt. Just had a dingo howling a couple of hundred metres away, What a way to end my birthday, staring at millions of stars.

Day 49 Mirima National Park

 This morning we explored the Mirima National Park, which is right in Kununurra town. It had some great walk options among rocks and cliffs, similar to what we had found yesterday in the Bungle Bungles. In fact locals referred to it as being the mini Bungle Bungles. The rocks had layers similar to what we had seen yesterday but also had a few other types of layered rocks, some reminded me of a petite millefeuille pastry or a baklava😜! Some rocks we marvelled at how the layers were stacked and staying upright, a bit like the game jenga, as we could see air between. Again the red rocks were so vivid in colour. The hike upwards was worth the effort with some amazing views out to the Carr Boyd range, and over towards other features of the area.  We headed back down and around the rest of the walk, and into town for some last minute veggies and we got lucky finding potatoes and eggs, so Matt won’t completely starve after all. We went and visited a local photography gallery and a jeweller that had some pink diamonds. We didn’t have a spare $300,000, and to be honest, they kind of looked like pink cubic zirconia, so it’s at this point I acknowledge sounding very, well bogan😂. there were 15 diamonds there that were worth way more than the bus. and i could've sneezed and lost every one of them. 

there was a 55 dollar one but i couldn't see it... thought it was dust.

We had a quiet afternoon as I was quite symptomatic and needed to rest, but tomorrow we head out to Digger’s Rest.

Day 48 Purnululu (Bungle Bungles)

 Our plans for touring the Bungle Bungles, changed and kept changing. Initially, we were going in the 3 Clippers and staying in the national park and doing the walks; but after speaking with the manager of the caravan park located near the National park, when doing my initial homework for the trip, they strongly advised against taking in our vehicles, as the road was unpredictable and our size would be against us. So we decided to play it safe and not do it, (well 2 out of the 3 Clipper group decided this). So then we booked a helicopter flight from outside the park to fly over it, and the following day we were to do a 4WD bus tour in and a couple of walks. So I lined that all up and they were  booked and paid for, for our group. But about a month ago, we got contacted by the 4WD drive tour company saying they had to cancel our booking, as they hadn’t got the necessary authority from the government to run it. 😩. So while we were already away and on the road, I managed to find an alternative plane flight and walk tour, and was able to get full refunds for the other bookings. Meanwhile the 3rd Clipper managed to drive in no worries last week, oh well. Better safe than sorry. I had been really looking forward to the helicopter flight; as I had never been on one before, so I was hoping the plane flight would be just as amazing.

So the day finally arrived, and we had an early start to the airport and on check-in, we got weighed, yes we had to stand on the scales with our day backpack (I opted not to ask my weight😜). We had to watch a safety video before boarding the plane, which was a 12 seater with a further 2 seats for the pilots and it was a full plane of 14 people. Although it was bigger than the 4 seated Cesna plane that I had flown in for 15 minutes with the Scouts many years ago, it was still my first time in a plane this size. We had a smooth take off and before long were flying over the Lake Kununurra and its irrigation channels and some huge irrigated crop paddocks. As we continued to go up, the spectacular ranges began to appear. We flew over the Carr Boyd Ranges and out over Lake Argyle and the Ord River, (I thought I spotted some crocs in the water, way below). We went over a few huge cattle properties saw no cows, Evelyn Ranges, Osmond Ranges, Bow River and more. There were views both sides of the plane, you didn’t know where to look, you were spoiled for choice. The ranges were all quite green still, as it’s only the beginning of the dry season, and they had unseasonal rain a few weeks ago. You could see the rugged escarpments revealing the red rocks, all sorts of shapes of hills and mounds, gorges and canyons. They seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. We had a fair bit of turbulence and I was beginning to feel unwell, and was glad when the Bungle Bungles came on view and we flew over them. You could see the striped layers of rock in the beehive like shapes. Again, the ranges were spread out and seemed to go on forever. Finally, the Bellburn airstrip came on view and we had to wait for another plane to land, before we lined up and landed on the gravel airstrip. I was relieved to be back on the ground, and hoping my motion sickness would subside quickly. The trip had taken an hour. it was a bit of a rough ride

Once off the tarmac, we met our guide and discovered our names weren’t on their list, and they hadn’t got enough food for the provided meals for us. Fortunately a phone call back to their boss and this was resolved, but phew! So Matt and our friends Ian and Meredith had morning tea and muffins after all. We headed out in a truck converted into a 4WD bus, and were taken to the Picaninny Gorge area. We had a guided tour out through the Domes, and then onto the Cathedral Gorge (the Australian children’s choir sang ‘I still call Australia Home’ for a Qantas ad in here). We saw a monitor lizard lazing in the sun on the way, crickets and birds were chirping around us. The walk was easy but there was a lot of sand on the rocks, so you had to be careful as it was slippery. I was the youngest there apart from the tour guide, so it was a slow walk too, due to the age and limited abilities of some of the other participants, but it gave you the chance to make sure you looked upwards and took in the amazing rock formations and colours of the striped sandstone. Iron oxide gives the red colours and the grey areas is due to a type of bacterial algae. There were termite mounds constructed on the rocks, Kestrels with their nests, and trees and spinifex grass growing in places between the rocks. Lunch was provided whilst we sat in the cathedral gorge, and Matt being the audio technician, was checking out the acoustics of the place. Soon we had to head back, but as we walked we spied another monitor lizard watching us as we watched him, and he eventually slipped into the pool of water and proved to be a very smooth and fast swimmer. Matt had noticed when the ground hopped after I took a step, and then another look and this little frog was there. Except it wasn’t a frog, it was a tiny juvenile cane toad. 😬. i poked it, but didnt kill it. i wasnt convinced. They have become a real pest in these areas and are responsible for decreasing the native animals numbers greatly. Fortunately it appears some species are adapting to them, and have learned to flip them over to eat them and thus avoid the toxins on its back. Unfortunately, the species that have learnt this are bin chickens and crows.🙁. 

 We made it back to the 4WD bus and they handed out icy cold, wet face washers to refresh us all, before we headed to the nearby Savannah Lodge and had a big afternoon tea was served of scones, jam and cream, slices, and fruit. Nice. Eventually we were returned to the airstrip and we boarded our plane, but this time it was half full and we took a slightly different route and flew over Deep Gorge, yet another uniquely australian named gorge, its deep so we will call it "deep gorge". and some other gorges, (unnamed because they were also deep and "deep gorge" was already taken, and naming them "slightly deeper gorge" or "not as deep gorge" doesnt really sound very official...) before flying over the Argyle Diamond mine. Although the mine has closed, it is currently still busy as they work to rehabilitate the area before returning it back to the traditional owners. they've been at it for over 4 years and it still looks like a working mine site to me. The return flight was a lot smoother and I wasn’t feeling motion sick fortunately. Again you were spoiled for views, and I apologise in advance for the many photos. We had another smooth landing and headed back to our Clipper for dinner and my much needed IV nutrition. We are both still adjusting to WA time and waking up too early, so we were very tired. We both feel so blessed to have been able to do the plane flight, which enabled us to really appreciate how large these landscapes are, and how spectacular and breathtaking they are. It gave a totally different perspective on them, that walking around them or a short helicopter flight would never have given us. Although I felt small and insignificant, it made me feel so much awe for our creator God, who designed and made this vast, diverse and unique landscapes and reminded me how much he loves me, and that I am also fearfully and wonderfully made by this awesome God too, and so are you. 

Upon returning to Bridget after dinner with our friends, I looked up at the starry night and smiled, knowing God is with me, even though I feel small under this blanket of beauty stretched out above me.

argyle diamond mine