Day 65 Derby

 We had a slow day today, and headed into Derby, only 20km away and met up with Meredith and Ian again, after they had a new fuel tank made and installed into Trailways. We sat and enjoyed a coffee at a cafe and art gallery together. We checked out the jetty and saw where they load and unload ships and trucks. It is very tidal and the tide was out and we could see some small fish swimming in the shallow muddy waters beneath the wharf. Ian and Meredith took us on a tour around town, before we split up to do our own thing. We got some fresh milk and posted a letter and headed out to the Mowanjum art centre and enjoyed the Indigenous art on display, mostly of their Wandjina or creator spirit (God). They played an interesting video explaining all about it and their history of the community and how they kept getting being moved from mission to mission over the years, but Wandjina was always with them, wherever they were.

We returned to our spot at Birdwood Downs Station and relaxed for the afternoon. I started to read the book I swapped at their book exchange. We went to the communal fire pit at sunset and yet again met up with Farmer Greg and partner Donna. It was a nice way to connect with others staying there and seeing if they were at the beginning or end of their Gibb River Road adventure. We then headed back to our Clippers for dinner together and making plans for our time in Broome. As I write this, some  curlews are calling out. I have actually become accustomed to their calls, and will miss it when this trip ends.

Day 64 Tunnel Creek

 We enjoyed another slow morning and packed up and headed down the rough road to Tunnel Creek. It was another bumpy and noisy ride. We waited for Brenda, David, Elise and Simon to arrive, before embarking on this walk. This was the location that the infamous Indigenous fellow Jandamurra had hidden himself from those trying to find him. It was a short walk to the limestone cave, and you had to clamber and climb over large boulders of pink and white quartz to get into the cave. (This cave walk came with many warnings that included that you would need torches, that bats and olive pythons lived in the cave, and often freshwater crocs may inhabit the water, that maybe deeper than your height. 😳 )

The cave had smaller rocks and pebbles and water to walk through to reach the granular sandy beach. The next pool of water required you to walk through (you couldn’t see the bottom of the cloudy water), and Matt went first, straight through the middle, and after a few steps of gradually deepening water, he stepped out  and managed to go almost completely under the water. Classic case of  the bottom gradually getting deeper, then next step not being there at all. Of course it was bloody freezing as well. Some times the purpose of your life is to act as a warning unto others…It was kind of comical really and the rest of us decided to try the edge of the pool, and found it to be shallower, but the water still reached the middle of my belly. You had to tread carefully and feel your way each step, as there were logs and rocks below the water. The water was freezing, but luckily the cave wasn’t too cold. The next section was a sandy beach with a few rocks. We marvelled at the stalactites and stalagmites and other typical features of a limestone cave. Some sections of the cave were 20-30 metres high , and some you could reach quite easily in the middle of the cave. We had been able to hear bats but not see them at the entrance to the cave. Sections of the cave had collapsed in the middle and let in some light but you did need the torches to see your way through a lot of the cave. The sandy beach led to another pool of shallower water and then past more rocks, and then more water and limestone cave features and a dark section. Round the bend the light from the exit lit up the cave enough for us to see and find our way to the end. We took a photo here, as this was as far as you could go, and there was more creek and bush beyond the cave. Here there was also a limestone shawl hanging from the ceiling but it was too high to get a good photo of.

On the return trip we turned off our torches to get a feel of how dark the cave was in sections. This time as we neared the end and the deepest pool, Matt made sure he walked by the edge and not through the middle. As I was a lot drier again by this stage. We hadn’t spotted any crocs or pythons, nor trod on any. We clambered back out over the big boulders and into the warm sunshine and headed back to Bridget. I felt proud of me for overcoming any fears (there were small children attempting to do the cave walk in their floaties and with pool noodles mind you, and if these little guys can do it!!) and for being able to do the walk and keep my upper chest dry and so be able to enjoy the adventure and the beauty of the cave. Then we spent the next hour or so on the very rough and bumpy road. You do see some people being idiots, and at one point as Matt rounded a bend, he saw this huge triple trailered road train coming the other way and then out of the dust from the road train, a car towing a caravan was overtaking the truck in its dust, making it almost impossible to see. Matt had to come to a stop, to allow this idiot to complete this unsafe manoeuvre. So did the road train.  The Truckie and I just exchanged bewildered gestures and carried on.Despite warnings and advice at every roadhouse and information  signposts about how to drive safely on the dusty road, people still take potentially fatal risks.😬😡

This road , Fairfield leopold downs road, is the worst road off the Gibb river road for me . It’s like an assault to all your senses , worse than walking into rooty hill RSL. I wanted to take a video of it but didn’t have my phone on me at the time and I couldn’t stop as every time I got below 40kmh the rear of the bus would start to bounce sideways and try to get in front of me. I’ll try to describe it. Imagine a four lane road like the m4.  Then make it dirt. Then corrugate it with 15cm deep corrugations in sand and dirt spaced 30cms apart , like rungs of a ladder .  Then eliminate the middle two lanes by making them wet and driving 14 mud ripping 4WD & caravans, and just tear up the middle of the road with 30cm deep trenches, leaving a single track down each side of the road that is passable. The mud ripped up section has dried out but the ruts are so deep that you could still get stuck in them , especially cause they are all over the place like a mad woman’s breakfast , as my dad says. So I had to stay at 55-60kmh to stop the windows falling out, and any faster the ruts would threaten to bottom out the suspension and the bus was very drifty and floaty on the rough surface. But all credit to Bridget, she battled though it and is still in one rattly piece.

We finally made it to the end of this terrible road and back on the Gibb River Road, heading to Derby. The road was now asphalt to Derby 🎉🎊. We feel like we can say ‘we survived the Gibb!’ We enjoyed the smoother drive and our ears were appreciative of less rattles and noise. We turned off about 20km short of Derby, to our location for the next couple of nights at Birdwood Downs Station, a cattle property. We checked in and as I walked into the office, the attendant said ‘you must be Sarah Smith, is that your impressive bus out there?’ Turns out Meredith had just called them to book in for tomorrow night and warned them of our imminent arrival. The managers are keen to take photos of the 3 Clippers when they are back together tomorrow. We enjoyed a most spectacular sunset, which was made to be so colourful because of a few wispy clouds and a hint of smoke. The Bakers arrived a while later and we were setting up and  enjoying dinner together before long and chatting about our day. We are all proud that despite the couple of issues for Trailways, all 3 Clippers made it down the Gibb River Road independently (not on the back of a truck!) I second that, most people we met were dubious about these 70 year old vehicles getting through the countless creeks and rivers we’ve had to cross, and the rough roads, but everyone was happy to see them wherever they went. Then they’d proceed to tell us all the places we’ve been spotted by them…

At lake argyle , Ian had a German couple camped next to the three of us, and people would be walking back to their vans past us, and then the German couples van beyond us . They told him that they had noticed that everyone who walked past the busses were smiling, like the busses made them happy. And they do.

Day 63 Windjana Gorge

 It was nice to have a slow morning and take our time. We headed out on the gorge walk and the first section has this narrow gap to walk between the huge rock walls of the face of the gorge. The path was sandy, as it led us past the body of water. There was a good amount of teal green waters, with the odd freshwater crocodile sun baking on the other side. The path took us along the right hand side of the gorge, and if you looked up at the rock face next to us, you had to keep craning your neck until it almost snapped off, so your eyes could reach the top that was towering above. Corellas and Cockatoos flew usually in pairs through the gorge, the sound echoed throughout the gorge when they screeched. There were trees dotted along the bank and within the crevices of the cliff face, some trees had fallen down and we had to climb over them. The path split and we took the high road and walked along beside the cliff face, which had some cracks and crevices big enough for smaller people to explore. Going from the foot traffic on the dirt track, you could see lots of little people had done just that. Cockatoos were munching on seeds in trees, screeching when they flew away, and then the echo of their piercing calls could be heard from anyone there. The path led us back down to the water and the end of the trail. We opted to sit on a log beside the water for awhile and just enjoy. A tour group came through spent literally less than five minutes there before turning around and heading back. One old bloke took longer cause he dropped his walking stick and had to pick it up. . But if you stopped like we had, you could observe the suspected bubbles across the water, and watch the movements that would be a croc. You could enjoy the sheer cliff faces before you and how the shade and sun changed the colours, you could see that cattle had come to the water to drink the night before, as their hoof marks were in the mud beside the waters edge. You could see lots of algae and river weed growing at the water’s edge and wonder at what was causing the steady stream of bubbles from a few areas. You could see little Archer fish swimming in the shallows. We then walked along the waters edge and spied a large cane toad sitting in a hollow in the mud made from a cow hoof. If only we had a way of dispensing it. We found another spot further back towards the start of the walk to again just sit and observe. We watched a suspected croc log and once the sun had left the area it was sitting on the bank across the water from us, it ever so slowly and carefully slipped into the green waters, without a splash or wave. It swam almost completely under the water and unseen, until it reached another rock in the sun. It then quietly left the waters and hauled itself up not the bank. It stayed there until some guy decided to disobey the rules and jumped into the water for a swim. I think he was from far north QLD. so he didn’t care.   He made such a noise that it scared the croc back into the waters. It also prompted a comment from a lady walking the track “oh well looks like someone’s dead “

We headed back and watched smaller freshwater crocs sunning on the bank of the waters. This place was a place of beauty and majesty. We rested up for the rest of the day back at Bridget, doing chores and repairs. As I sit and write this blog for the day, the sun is starting to set. The cliff faces that we can see are lighting up. I can spy a little wallaby, venturing out from the golden grasses, it is trying not to be seen, but I can see it moving about, having a scratch, looking around maybe for its friends. We have had lots of action in the tree beside us, a great bowerbird hopping around the bottom, magpie lark getting confident and getting close to our chairs and being busy around us. A large bird is busy making a nest and coming and going with components for it. The coming and going of campers, choosing a spot and capably or not so, trying to reverse their vehicles, setting up campsites quickly or not. Younger kids giggles or singing songs, teens whinging and complaining and not being willing to help or participate. People hanging their solar panels vertically under their awning in the shade 🤔. You can observe a lot. It’s starting to get cooler, after another perfect day here in the Kimberley, time to cook dinner for Matt.

We’ve covered over 10,000km so far , about 1000 of that on the dirt with quite a bit more before we get home but we are 2/3rds through the trip now and starting to wonder how we will adjust back to everyday life, cause it doesn’t seem that appealing at this point. Much rather be doing this… but then I’d have to monetise all my videos and start talking like an influencer to fund the travel by making you guys watch ads  every time you click on something. That would wear thin pretty quickly  I can’t talk to myself that fluently  

Day 62 Bell Gorge

 This morning we packed up and parked Bridget up in the day area, and jumped on board the Discovery Clipper, and headed to Bell Gorge with Brenda and David.  Packing up Bridget for a dirt road involves closing all windows, putting the dowel rods in to try and keep the self-opening windows shut, putting on the kings size fitted sheet over all the bedding, making sure all drawers and cupboards are firmly shut. Ian  and Meredith had to take Trailways into Derby to repair their leaking fuel tank. Elise and Simon came along the walk with us and the 6 of us did the walk to the top of the waterfall at Bell Gorge. It was another beautiful waterfall, that had a series of ledges that the water flowed down into a large rock pool. There was an extra walk over the creek and up over the rocks and a clamber down the steep and slippery rocks to the rock pool, which we all managed. Brenda and Simon braved the water, though Simon opted for a quick swim, but Brenda the water baby, enjoyed exploring all the rock pools and swam around to the next pool to see where it went. We just sat basking in the warm sun on the rocks. We could see the other sightseers above at the top of the waterfall. Others also got brave and did the climb down to where we were and jumped into the green waters.

Eventually, Brenda hopped out and enjoyed the sunshine with us and we soon headed back up over the rocky cliff and over the creek crossing and returned back to the Discovery Clipper. David drove us back to Bridget and then we headed back down the terrible road, which had fortunately just been graded and was a much better drive back out to the Gibb River Road. The Gibb was still having sections where it was very corrugated and rough. We went through a few spectacular ranges, before stopping for lunch at Marchfly Glen. Fortunately, the location didn’t live up to its name. We continued down the Gibb, while David, Brenda, Elise and Simon headed off to Mt Hart Homestead for the night, and we kept going down the Gibb, until we reached the Windjana Gorge turn off. This road was equally as terrible as the road out to Bell Gorge had been, only difference was that it was wider and we had more options to drive around the torn up patches. I put my headphones in to use as ear protection from the noise. Everything that could, rattled and vibrated in Bridget. Finally, we made it to the campground and drove around until we found a spot. Then it was time to do the post dirt road procedure. This involves  removing the fitted sheet from the bedding and shaking out the dirt, removing the dowel rods and opening the windows to let in some cool air, dusting all the window frames, sweeping the floors, wiping down the kitchen benches, shower floor, tops of bed storage units and sometimes mopping the floor too. Most of our clothes, towels and sheets have an orange tinge and today Matt’s right side of his beard was distinctly orange.

After a break, Matt went to check out all the rattles and squeaks in the suspension, while I went and checked out the options for the walks of Windjana Gorge which we will do tomorrow. We then headed out for a stroll to see the sunset at the rocks. After only saying this morning that we hadn’t seen any kangaroos on the Gibb, we saw 6 today, including one we could hear in the bush in our sunset stroll. Just being Matt and I here, we took the chance to call Callum and see how he is going. So a quiet evening to reflect on our day and wrote up the blog for you all to keep up.

Day 61 Galvan Gorge

 Last night we both froze and needed an extra blanket and I was wearing my winter pyjamas. In the morning, we discovered that the windows had been left wide open from the afternoon before, which explains why it was so cold. A taste of what weather we have been missing out on I guess. We had a slow morning and Matt enjoyed his smashed avo, mushies eggs and toast for a  hot breakfast. We packed up and headed back down the road to fill up on water at the Mt Barnett Roadhouse, before we headed back onto the Gibb River Road.

Our first stop was not too far down the road, at Galvan Gorge. As luck would have it, two 4WD tour busses were there as we pulled up.  None of us were very quick to get out of the bus. When we did I was approached by an old fella who said to me “you guys have turned up in the only things worth taking a photo of on this tour so far” what a sad sorry man.  To quote buzz Light year , “ you are a strange little man, you have my pity” A half a kilometre walk into the gorge and we were greeted by the sight of another beautiful waterfall, red rock faces and a green waters in the  rock pool. There were a few Indigenous rock paintings as well. A lone boab tree sat at the top of the waterfall. For those who were keen to enjoy the water, which wasn’t as cold as yesterday’s apparently, there was a rope swing too. Matt and I were happy to enjoy watching it all, rather than get into the water.

From there we headed back onto the Gibb River Road. Going along this road, there have been a few things we have noticed, the different colour dirts have meant different types of rides on the road. Red dirt, which stains the nearby grasses, shrubs and trees red, is usually quite rocky, with a few lighter patches often being clay. Grey dirt is usually very corrugated with firm corrugations and gravel. Light colours is usually sandy. The cows are pretty good at ignoring the vehicles passing by, though we do slow in case they do decide to move onto the road. We haven’t seen any Roos along the Gibb River Road. As we drove along, a few rocky escarpments appeared for us to enjoy along the way. We knew from comments from others that the road wasn’t suitable for us to go and visit Adcock Gorge, so we gave it a miss and headed onto Iminitji. We then decided wouldn’t stay here but rather headed down the road to Bell Gorge. This was the worst road we have driven on. Very chewed up in places with some bypasses around some dug out parts. There were a few creek crossings and one I noticed contained a croc, which I told Matt about after we had safely got to the other side. This road led to a National Park, and despite paying all the fees to go there, that money isn’t going to maintaining the roads. There were a few more sections that really were dug out and still wet and boggy, one section looked like a 4WD club had made an obstacle course with deep ruts and holes that we had to crawl in and over, but the clipper handled it with ease, and a bit of clunking. 

The campground was lovely, and we were able to park up and had access to hot showers and flushing toilets. The guys went over all the suspension of the buses after the terrible road, but otherwise another relaxing day. When we pulled in, the friendly guy  farmer Greg that had been enjoying the fires after dinner at Manning Gorge was there, and he said we must be following him, he came and joined us again, with his partner after dinner, though tonight we didn’t have a campfire. We will do the Bell Gorge walk tomorrow.

Day 60 Manning Gorge

 After testing out the waters in Manning Creek yesterday, and knowing it was somewhat rather chilly, we opted to do the walk a bit later in the morning, in a vain attempt to hope the water would be warmer. The group ventured to Manning Creek, and there were blue plastic 100L drums that had been cut in half, that we could use to ferry across the water your shoes and backpacks. One of the other people in the queue for the drums, kindly swam to the other side to bring them across. We loaded our gear in the drums and I climbed into my blown up tyre inner tube, and we all took deep breaths as we stepped into the freezing waters, and Matt pushed the inner tube with me in the middle, trying to stay dry, to keep my central venous line from being submerged. Poor Matt, it wasn’t hard while the water was shallow enough for him to wade in, but then there was a sudden drop off and it became very deep,  and he had to paddle and push me. But we all made it across the creek, safely to the other side. We dried off and Matt went and hid the inner tube, for the return trip. We headed along the 5km return track to Manning Gorge. We clambered up rocky sections, where there were several stacks of rocks that you could add to as you walked past, through sections of tall grasses, with a few holly grevillea, wattle, and gum trees. When we were high enough, if you looked behind, you could see a rocky escarpment in the distance. There was no evidence of any gorge if you looked in the direction we were heading, it was well hidden. Eventually the path involved a lot more rock and we were going up and down small rocky hills and valleys, until we were  near the gorge and then it was all downhill, slowly, slowly, with big steps over the rocks. As we entered the gorge, we had bigger rocks to climb down, we passed some faded Indigenous rock art, and then finally reached the rocks beside the water. They were dark brown and black and very smooth, and quite slippery. There was a waterfall, and large deep, rock pools with deep green, clear waters, a sandy beach and smaller cascades heading down the gorge. There were several groups of people sitting on the rocks in the middle, soaking up the sunshine and the beautiful waterfall, and the relatively short rocky gorge cliffs around us. Kids were jumping in from a rock ledge, people were sitting under the waterfall, others floated about in the water with pool noodles. If we thought the water in Manning creek was cold, then this water was much cooler again, but Matt and our friends braved it, and went in for a swim. I enjoyed just looking our for floating logs in the lower pool, and just again enjoyed absorbing in the atmosphere and surroundings. Matt was more than happy to step out of the water and join our mate Ian and myself and sit on the rock in the sun. Matt’s favourite red dragonfly was flittering about, so he was able to get a good photo this time, as it seemed to not be fearful of him at all, and let him even touch its wings. Matt had his lunch and we took our selfie, before heading back. 

We had to climb up the rocks we had climbed down, and through all the rocky hills and valleys. It doesn’t take much to make me bruise, so my shins are all colours of the rainbow from all the little knocks and bumps against the rocks. It wasn’t too hot and the walk was quite pleasant, but my energy was waning, so I was glad when we did reach Manning Creek, for our return trip across. Matt retrieved the hidden inner tube, and some people also about to cross, were jealous of me, but we explained it was to keep a medical device dry. People are just usually polite and nod blankly, and don’t ask anything further. I was able to paddle backwards until I bumped into the big rock in the middle, and Matt then turned me around and pushed me along until we reached the other side. I climbed out and waited with our gear, while he paddled back to the other side with the blue plastic drum for the people on the other side, but luckily someone had met him half way and took them from there.

We returned to Bridget for a welcome ice block and afternoon rest. Matt meanwhile worked on troubleshooting an electrical charging issue in Ian’s Trailways. Another relaxed afternoon after our big walk, and dinner together around the fire. Some people we had met today and yesterday joined us for the conversation after dinner around the fire. A lovely evening spent hearing their stories and you discover things like the seven degrees of separation, and one of them had worked with one of my cousins in Tamworth Base Hospital. We have met some interesting people and heard some great stories on this trip.