Monday, 13 August 2018

The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018, Executive Summary.

Ok now for some stats and observations from the trip to see the Simpson Desert and the Kimberleys. All up we travelled 10,814 km according to the odometer on Blute over 29 days. The fuel economy for the trip was 14.3 litres/100 km with the best stretch being 12.9 and the worst (over the Simpson with sand tyre pressures) was 17.4 litres/100 km. The total cost for diesel was around $2,700. Accommodation was pretty cheap just $170 for the 29 days, probably should add in $160 for the Desert Parks Pass as that allowed us to camp in the Simpson Desert. We stayed in a couple of caravan parks in Alice Springs and Halls Creek and some National Parks in the Kimberleys, otherwise we were free camping at some great little spots. I ate pretty well having taken 10 or so steaks, half a dozen meals of bacon, meat for a curry and chicken for a Spanish rice dish all cryovacced from home. Not to mention all sorts pies, sausage rolls and burgers consumed along the way. The main issue was fresh fruit and veges which caused problems as we were crossing a lot state borders and areas that didn't allow you bring any in from outside. 
It was my first time across the Simpson and found it relatively easy going as I dropped the tyre pressures straight away and never had any problems getting over any of the dunes. The main problem was the cut up French Line from the Big Red Bash Traffic. It was quite enjoyable and we had some great places to camp. The nice soak at Dalhousie Springs afterwards was a great way to relax and remove a bit of dirt and dust. We explored the East MacDonald ranges out from Alice Springs and it was very picturesque. The trip up the Tanami Track was much better than a couple of years ago with the worst bit being the last section from Wolf Creek Meteor crater to the Great Northern Highway. The Bungle Bungles were nice but didn't really live up to expectations but that may be because I needed to walk longer distances to get to the really scenic spots. 
This was my second time on the Gibb River Road (the last was in 2005 on my big trip) and I managed to see things I hadn't had time for in the last trip. The road was in way better condition than what I remembered. The Munja Track was tough in places, especially Magpie Jump-up but there was some spectacular scenery and it was well worth doing, allow at least four days to get to Walcott Inlet and back. Then it was up to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu where for me, the highlight of the trip was the helicopter flight over the Falls. The road in wasn't nearly as bad as I had been led to believe it would be. Surveyors pool and Walsh Point were also pretty spectacular. After that we pretty much made a beeline for home taking about 4.5 relatively easy driving days, stopping off at a few great spots like Bitter Springs and Daly Waters Pub. 
Blute made the trip pretty easily but some of the third party accessories didn't. I developed a leak in the long range fuel tank, the UHF antenna broke and the nudge bar broke a mount and had to be removed. Along the way the corrugations destroyed a couple of cheapy 12 volt adapters and shook things around in the camper but all up it was pretty good. The Rhino Camper was great, I always had a comfy bed ready to go and the 80 litre water tank kept me going along the way, also as we were moving a lot the 120 Amp hour battery was never under any strain of going flat running the fridge and lights. The longer wheel base of the ute made the rough roads much more comfortable than I experienced in the SWB Pajero. The engine and auto gear box also made the driving experience easy and relaxed. I used the rear diff lock in a couple of places and that was great as it meant I could take certain hard situations a bit slower without relying on momentum. 
Finally, I'd like to thank my traveling companions Brett (for the first half of the trip) and Shane for making it a truly memorable trip. 



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Saturday, 11 August 2018

The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 29

Shane and I were up relatively early and while it was chilly, it wasn't as bad as yesterday morning. After a quick coffee we hit the road returning to Miles and then heading east. Because of traffic and road works this was an even more boring drive then normal. We tried to find a bakery in Dalby but with road works extending through the whole town we couldn't actually get to the one bakery we found. So we ended up stopping at Maccas in Toowoomba it took quite awhile to get our food and coffee so Maccas seems to be no longer good for a quick meal while driving. 
Then we navigated through Toowoomba and continued on east towards home. It was all pretty good driving until Shane turned off the M1 to head home while I ended up in Saturday morning M1 traffic. I finally got home around 1'ish and proceeded to unpack the car and after having a great hot shower, I started putting several loads of washing on. It will feel very strange sleeping in my normal bedroom instead of a 1.5 x 2.1 metre fiberglass box on the back of the car. I now have tomorrow to do some shopping and get myself ready for work on Monday. Another great holiday, thanks to Shane and Brett for being such great traveling companions.

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Friday, 10 August 2018

The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 28

As usual I was awake as the sun came up but it was too bloody chilly to get out of a nice warm bed, so I slept in until about 7:30 am. Then it was a quick pack up and into Longreach to refuel the car and grab a coffee and sausage roll to eat on the road. It was a good run and I stopped off in Blackall for a vanilla slice and an iced coffee before heading onto Morven for a final refuel and a burger for lunch. 

This part of the trip was still a very boring drive and although I had been planning to stop in Mitchell for the night, it was too early in the day to stop. 
I decided to make for Gill Weir camping area just outside Miles, so continued east. From Morven to Mitchell there were a lot of dead Roos on the road and I was glad I wasn't driving in the dark. From Roma to Miles there were several sets of road works with those bloody unattended traffic lights, at which I sat for a not inconsiderable time  while there was no other traffic around. This slowed me down a bit and I drove into Miles just before the sun went down. The usual free camping area on the western side of the town near the bridge was disrupted by road works so I headed south about 5 or 6 km to Gill Weir camping area and found a nice spot down at the end of the track near the water. I quickly setup before the light disappeared, had a quick bite to eat and then sat back and relaxed. After a bit of blog writing I was going to go to bed early and wondered what it would be like being home again sometime tomorrow.
Then some idiot drove down in a noisy patrol with spotties blaring and parked next to my car and it was Shane. Of course he'd stopped off in Roma for some KFC and had the remains for dinner. So we sat around chatting for awhile catching up on the events of the day.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 27

Another early start and we were on the road east at around 7:30 am. We stopped off at the Shell Truckstop on the way into Mount Isa for fuel and coffee and sausage rolls. The section from Mount Isa to Cloncurry is quite twisty and hilly compared to the rest of the drive. At Cloncurry we turned south on the Landsborough Highway, stopping for a toilet break at McKinlay and then a burger at Kynuna for lunch. After that it was just boring, boring driving. A bit after 5 pm I was getting a bit weary so we stopped at Dingo Creek just north of Longreach and I setup camp for the evening. Shane was going to continue on to Emerald to catch up with his parents. 

I'll take another two easy days to drive home and get there on Saturday, giving me a day to get prepared for work on Monday.

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Wednesday, 8 August 2018

The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 26

We were up with the rising sun and a quick pack up saw us hitting the road not long after 7 am. Shane drove into Daly Waters for some quick photos and then we headed south. It was pretty boring driving and we stopped for morning tea and a toilet break at Renner Springs. A little while later we stopped to refuel at Three Ways Roadhouse before turning east on the Barkly Highway. 

Much more boring driving before stopping for late lunch at the Barkly Homestead and then heading further east when we stopped at the Billabong just outside of Camooweal for the night. 

We had been cruising on roughly 105 kph to conserve fuel and still make good time. We used up my emergency wood for the nights campfire and cooked dinner before heading off to bed relatively early.


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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 25

We woke up pretty early and packed up quickly to head into Kununurra to refuel. I got some coffee and a sausage roll from the servo for breakfast and then we headed east. It was a bit of a boring drive and once we crossed the border into NT we lost 1.5 hours. When we got to Timber Creek we stopped down by the creek for a drink and a stretch and then as we were driving through the little township we saw a sign for home made Croc pies so we had to stop and try one. They weren't too bad but also not wonderful. Back on the road until a toilet stop at the picnic area in Judburra/Gregory national park. 
Then more fairly easy/boring driving to Katherine where we refueled and Shane picked up another battery for his tyre monitors. As we were heading to Mataranka, Shane suggested a quick swim at Bitter Springs and this was great. Nice warm crystal clear water flowing smoothly along the creek, an excellent way to relax. 

Back on the road again heading south and Shane's Patrol clocked up a milestone of 300,000 km so he had to stop and take photos. It was getting close to sunset and we wanted to make it to the Daly Waters Pub for dinner. We made it as it was getting dark and had a great meal there, there tons of people there eating and staying in the caravan park. 

After dinner we went a couple of km down the road to the free camp at Stuart's Tree where we simply parked and climbed into bed. I noticed that I had a return of my diesel leak with it coming from around the epoxy filler. It wasn't too bad and I used soap to stop it as much as possible and I'll look at it again in the light of day. It should be fine for the trip home as I'll never be too far from fuel. Then it was time for blog writing and also posting some blogs from the time I was away from civilization.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 24

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning as we couldn't get fuel until 8 am. Several people lined up at 7 am but we sat around drinking coffee and chatting before heading over at about ten past eight and getting served essentially straight away. While there I ran into the other Rhino Camper people from a few days ago. Then it was out onto the road and 60 km south to the Gibb River Road. It was a reasonably smooth trip with not much traffic. Same thing on the GRR until just short of the Durack river when I got a call from Shane on the UHF that one of his tyres was going down. It just happened to be the one with the working pressure sensor, so he was able to pull over off the road with plenty of time to spare. The problem was a fairly decent sized gash in the inside tyre wall. Shane quickly changed it and we continued on to have some morning tea parked in the Durack river. 
There was tons more boring driving until just before the Pentecost River crossing, where the hills in the background are spectacular. 

Then it wasn't far until the start of the bitumen at the El Questro turnoff where we stopped and put some air into the tyres and continued on into Kununurra. We stopped at the Coles shopping centre and restocked our supplies and had a quick meal at the nearby fast food store. We were also able to pick up some new batteries for Shane's tyre pressure sensors and after fitting them they are all back and working. At that stage I headed out to The Hoochery which makes Ord River Rum. I had visited this place back in 2005 when I was last here and now it looks like they are winning awards for their rum. I had a little tasting and picked up a couple of bottles, one liquor and one Spiced rum. Then I headed off to Invanhoe Crossing which had some water flowing over it but it was only half wheel height so the crossing was pretty easy. 

Shane was already there and he had swapped over his other new spare so it wears the same as the one he replaced earlier. 
We drove down the river a bit and found a nice place to camp, we got the fire going and cooked dinner, keeping an eye on the river in case we had uninvited guests in the form of crocs. 

We also checked the map and tried to work out the best way home, via the bitumen to Katherine or cut across the dirt to the Stuart Highway. We'll have to sleep on it.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 23

We were up early with the sun and had some coffee and a leisurely pack up, hitting the road a bit after 7 am. We turned north on The Kalumburu road and found the road conditions deteriorating the further north we went. About the only thing of interest on the road was crossing the Carson River and the number of wild horses that we saw along the way. Kalumburu on a Sunday morning was deserted, we only saw one person walking about. On the way out of town we saw a sign to some WW2 wrecks so we followed this around to the back of the airport and found the remains of a crashed plane. 

We stopped in at a site marked as an Art site but didn't really see anything, then there was a lookout over the King Edward and we made a quick stop at the town Tip to dispose of our accumulated rubbish. Further out of town was an Art site called Turtle Rock Art Site and I was expecting lots of depictions of turtles, what I wasn't expecting was a rock shaped like a Turtle. 
🐢 

The art there was pretty good and Shane was satisfied with it. We then dropped into a boat launching area called Longini and Shane saw a croc in the water so didn't get too close. We continued north on a little used road to the Pago ruins. It must have been a big place once upon a time but there's not much left now. 

We followed the road to a rock shelf overlooking a beach on Tidepole Hill and had some lunch while keeping an eye out for any crocs that may come to visit. 

There was some slow bits on the road and a few river crossings but nothing especially hard. 
Then it was back towards town until we turned off to go and have a look at McGowans camping area, which seemed quite nice and also very full. We continued on north to Honeymoon Bay Camping area which was not bad but seemed to be aimed at people with boats who were wanting to go fishing. On the way back past McGowans I noticed a full sign which directed people onto Honeymoon Bay. As we went back through Kalumburu it had livened up with one person and a dog walking around. As it was getting late in the arvo we weren't sure how far we would get but we aimed for Drysdale River Station to refuel and camp for the evening. Unfortunately we missed the 5 pm fuel cutoff time but managed to book in for the night and even had a cooked dinner and a few drinks before going to setup the cars. 
Once setup the next step was a hot shower as it had been a few days since we had anything but a swim in a creek. As we were late getting to camp we didn't have a fire so we sat around a led light and chatted and wrote up our trip reports. Tomorrow we will head towards Kununurra where we will do some shopping and start to get ready for the long sprint home.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 22

We were up early with the sun rise and I cooked up some breakfast using the last of my bacon and the inshell scrambled eggs. Then it was back to the Port Warrender Road where we turned north and headed to Surveyors Pool which was about 10 km off the main road to the car park and then a two km return walk to the pool and water fall. It was an easy walk and then a little scramble over the rocks for a spectacular view. While Shane explored the area I soaked in a lovely little pool at the top with its own tiny water fall that made a great spa. Shane had a swim down stream a little and then we walked back to the cars and had a quick drink. 

Back out to the main road heading north and the road condition started to deteriorate quickly. There was a lookout about five km along the road that gave a great view out over the bay which is Port Warrender. 

We kept following the road as it got worse and worse until we were down to a low range crawl to stop getting shaken about. At the end is Walsh Point and there were several campers setup there and a boat ramp. After exploring this we backtracked a little to a flat rocky headland and had lunch with a fantastic view. I flew the drone around for a while but it was hard to capture the magnificence of the scenery. 

Then it was back south along the road backtracking to view the Art sites near King Edward River, as it was getting late we decided to collect a little fire wood and head back into Munurru (King Edward River) Camp. 

At the first Art site we visited I saw my first snake (and second snake) of the trip. Both were about a metre in length and black on their backs but otherwise I had no idea what variety they were. We setup camp and Shane went for a drive and walk to see the Falls while I stayed at camp and wandered over to the swimming hole and soaked off some more dust. The aboriginal rangers dropped in to check our permits and while talking to them about our plans to head up to Kalumburu tomorrow, they told us that the shop there would be closed as it was Sunday. No real worries as we were just going for a look for the day. As usual we sat around the fire for awhile chatting and writing up our blogs before heading off the bed relatively early.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 21

We were up early, caffeinated and packed up not long after the sun had come up as we wanted to head out to Mitchell Falls campground and find a campsite. The road out to the Falls has been described to me over the years as one of the roughest roads around. However there has been a lot of work done recently and the main road out towards Port Warrender was in pretty good condition. It wasn't until we turned off towards the campground and Falls that it got a bit rougher but even so that last 16 Kms or so wasn't too bad. 
Shane found a nice spot right beside the helicopter take off area and radioed back to me that we had a spot so I filled in the camping forms and paid as I came in the gate. 

It was about 8:30 am. We sat down and had a drink, then I wandered across to helicopter office and booked us both on a flight up to the Falls around 10:15 am and a flight back for me at 12:30 pm, Shane was going to walk back. It cost $150 per person each way. So back at camp we got ourselves ready, put the swimming gear and lunch in a pack and then headed back to the helicopters. It was our first time in a helicopter and before we left they gave us a safety talk and then we loaded in. It was a five seater copter with just Shane and I in it so we had good seats facing forward with no doors. This worked out great for taking photos. 
It was really quite smooth and both Shane and I spent so much time taking photos that we didn't get worried by the fact that the only thing holding us in was the seat belt. The view was stunning and as there were a few copters already on the landing space we got a bit of extra flight time waiting for them to clear. Then it was down onto the rocks at the top of the Falls and we climbed out, having survived our first copter ride. 

We then wandered around the rocks to get a good view of the Falls for some more photos, before Shane headed off to explore some caves and I found the swimming hole. This was an excellent place to go swimming as there was a little waterfall that swirled around and gave you a nice little boost down stream. 

I got back to the take off point and caught up with Shane again and he headed off for a swim and then the walk back. There were two other people for the flight back and I ended up in the front passenger seat for the trip. It wasn't nearly as good for taking photos but it was great to see out, especially as it was glass under my feet which looked a bit weird. I walked back to camp and had a very lazy afternoon tidying a few things up in the camper, reading a book and having a little snooze. Shane got back pretty early, around 2:45 pm and he looked pretty worn out. He'd had a few swims along the way and was dying for a coffee. After that we had an even more lazy afternoon and eventually lit the fire as the sun was going down. We both cooked over the fire, steak wraps. Once again we sat around the fire for awhile discussing how much we enjoyed the copter flight before having an early night in bed.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 20

We got up early as the sun came up. After a quick coffee and breakfast we hit the track. We stopped to have a look at Jameson Arch as we had missed that on the way in. It's a bit hard to see from the parking spot but we went for a walk up the hill a bit to try and get a better view. Shane decided to go mountain goating while I went back to the car and got the drone out. It was still hard to see properly so we backtracked along the road a couple of hundred metres and found a reasonable spot for photos. 


We continued on over several creeks and rivers and the odd jump-up or two. After one rather innocuous creek crossing the car gave out its Bing-Bong warning sound and I nearly had a heart attack, when I looked down at the dash I saw that Windscreen Washer Fluid low level warning light was on, and I immediately felt better. 
Finally we got to the top of Magpie Jump-up, probably the hardest bit of the track, and what is officially the start and end of the Munja Track. We had a celebratory drink for morning tea and then continued on. Lunch was had by one of the river crossings back on Mount Elizabeth Station and then it was a cruisey run into the station to return the gate key and get the deposit back. As we left the station Shane's tyre monitoring system started playing up and he tried swapping the batteries around but it's still not working properly. Back on the Gibb River Road and we had a fairly steady run behind a tour bus (80 kph) while staying back far enough to miss the dust. We passed them at the Kalumburu turnoff when they stopped for a break and we continued onto Drysdale River Station where we refueled the cars and grabbed some quick afternoon tea. 
We continued north to the Munurru (King Edward River) Campground, only stopping along the way to pick up some firewood. We paid our camping fees and the Uunguu Visitor Pass as the sun went down and we picked our camp site. The fire was going quickly and dinner wasn't far behind, Shane was trying to come up with a fancy name for has Sardines on toast but while he was trying to think of it he burned one of his pieces of toast. Shane tried a few mores things with the tyre monitors but they still refuse to work properly, the only thing to do now is to replace the batteries but I doubt we'll find them before we get to Kununurra on the way home. The current plan is to head out to Mitchell Falls tomorrow and see the Falls, camping the night out there.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 19

Once again we were up early as the the sun was rising. We had some coffee and breakfast before spending ages getting our GoPro's set up. Shane wanted to do a time lapse of the whole track and I wanted a few video shots of river crossings, driving through seas of grass and climbing rocking jump-ups. My GoPro however wasn't behaving well as it would record for a couple of minutes or so and then simply shut off. I thought it may have been overheating with the sun directly on it but I directed the air-con to the screen to cool it down and that didn't work. I checked the Micro-SD card and it seems fine, as is the power supply and battery. When I'm stopped it records fine so it looks like it may be the motion of the car and the bumps that are upsetting it.

The trip back along the track was as rough as the way out but we made good time, stopping at the Calder River for a spot of lunch. Then we stopped off at Wren Gorge again and went for a walk to the Falls and art site. 

We dropped into Bachsten Gorge and Shane went for a walk to the Falls while I stayed at the car and tried to troubleshoot my GoPro problems. After that we headed back toward Mount Elizabeth station passing a couple of cars coming in along the track. There was some very rocky sections that required low range to go slow enough so that the car doesn't get shaken apart. 
We ended up stopping for the evening at Pearson Camp on the banks of a small creek.

After collecting some firewood we had a quick wash in the creek to remove the dust and grime of the last few days. We lit the fire as the sun went down and cooked dinner on it before writing up blogs and chatting and heading off to bed relatively early. If things go to plan we will get at least to Drysdale River Station to refuel and then head off to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu.

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Tuesday, 7 August 2018

The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 18

We were up relatively early for coffee and a chat about we to do today, then it was a quick pack up and we hit the track around 7:45 am. The driving was slower than yesterday and we stopped at Wren Gorge. While Shane went for a wander up the gorge I had another attempt at sealing blute's fuel tank leak. The soap trick was working while the car was stopped but after driving a bit it would start leaking again. So I used soap then cleaned all around the leak using some soapy water, dried it and then tried to seal it up with Sika flex. After an hour or so of driving the leak was back and it looks like the diesel was dissolving the Sika flex. 
We stopped on a rock bar beside a creek as it had some shade, Shane thought he saw a freshwater croc scurry off as we arrived. After a drink and a bite to eat I got Shane to help me hopefully seal up the fuel tank leak properly and by help me, I mean he did most of the work. 

It was out with the portable grinder with a sanding pad to remove the paint on the tank, then use a sharp knife to scrape out any paint around the weld. Finally, wash it down with soapy water and then water and then dry. The epoxy sealer needed a few minutes of kneading to activate and then Shane applied it to the cleaned area around the leak. The pack says it sets in five minutes but we have it an hour before heading off. 
It all seemed good when we stopped a little later at an aboriginal Yam site, where there were heaps of stones arranged in patterns on the ground. You couldn't see a lot from the ground so I put the drone up for a few quick pics.

Then we continued on stopping occasionally for photos and crossing quite a few creeks we finally got out to Walcott Inlet around 3:30 pm. It had taken us all day to travel roughly 75 Kms. Then we explored the tracks around the Inlet looking for the old home stead but didn't really find too much except a plaque to a previous owner. 

We came back to a great camp spot over looking the Inlet and set up for the evening. It was about four metres above the high water level so hopefully safe from the crocs. 

We lit a small fire and cooked dinner and then sat back and relaxed. Shane started playing around with some astrophotography while the moon was still below the horizon. Earlier in the afternoon we had seen the speed that the tide came in and then started going out again. It was pretty spectacular. Tomorrow we would head back towards civilisation. We hadn't seen anyone else out here, so I suspect we are alone except for the crocs in the water.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 17

We were up pretty early and had some time to chill out around the camp fire. I cooked some bacon and eggs for breakfast, while the eggs were externally intact the inside was well and truly scrambled when I broke them into the pan. Meanwhile Shane was extending his cooking repertoire by turning bread into charcoal. Around 8'ish we headed off to Mount Elizabeth station where we checked in and paid for the Munja Track ($150 each car and $50 key deposit). They didn't have much information on the track and the one page sheet of distances was the last one so I had to use my phone to take a photo of it. We were on station roads for quite awhile and it wasn't too difficult at all. 
We stopped at a couple of Aboriginal rock art sites and had an early lunch at the second one. 


The difficulty increased once we had entered the Munja Track proper at Magpie Jump-up and it was back to low range first gear to crawl down the hill. There were a couple of other difficult spots but on the whole the track wasn't too bad. There was also a couple of interesting creek crossings mainly because of the steep entry and exits. We saw quite a few nice camping spots along the way but I convinced Shane we should go to Bachsten Bush Camp as it had hot showers. 
We arrived there around 3:30'ish, checked in and then went for a very pleasant swim in the creek. They fired up the Donkey for the hot water showers about 4 pm so after setting up camp I went for a shower while Shane went for a walk to the top of the hill to look at some caves. I got the fire going and then used the supplied metal plate to cook up some steak for dinner. It's a very nice spot to camp once the sun goes down and the flies disappear, luckily there were no mozzies to annoy us. Once again we sat around the fire writing our trip reports and chatting. It was still over 20 deg C after 7:30 pm at night and didn't feel like it would get too cool overnight. Tomorrow the plan is to head out the Munja Track to hopefully get to Walcott Inlet.

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The Simpson and Kimberleys trip, 2018 Day 16

We were up relatively early, caffeinated, packed up and headed off up the Gibb River Road. When we ran out of bitumen we stopped and let about 10 psi out of the tyres to make it better on the dirt road. Along the way we came across two vehicles towing that had stopped with a flat tyre after checking to see if they were ok we continued on westwards. We crossed the Pentecost River which was wide but not very deep. 
Morning tea/early lunch was had at the Durack River where after driving up the sandy river bed for a bit we found a nice spot next to water to pull over.

Then it was westwards again past the Kalumburu turnoff and onto the Mount Barnett Roadhouse where we refueled and then came back east 30 odd Kms to the Barnett River Gorge turnoff and we headed in there for a walk, a swim and to camp the night. 
The Gibb River Road was pretty good so far, with only a couple of rough spots and corrugations. The walk was a bit confusing as the sign and the directions weren't that good so instead of the 1 km return walk to the plunge pool we ended up doing the 3 km return Gorge top walk. The pool at the end of the gorge walk wasn't that deep but it made for a very pleasant spot for a swim to wash the dust of several days travel off. While there we saw a couple of freshwater Crocs sunning themselves on the rock. 😊

On the walk back we got a tad lost for awhile but ended up finding the track again and then finding another great swimming hole, so we had to have another dip. 

Back at camp we set the cars up in a nice flat spot and then rehydrated while lazing around. There were a couple of wallabies feeding not too far away so we watched them. As the sun went down Shane got the fire going and then proceeded to not quite char another two sausages. We sat around the fire for awhile writing up our blogs and chatting before retiring to bed early. Tomorrow we are heading to Mount Elizabeth station where we hope to head down the Munja Track to Walcott Inlet.

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