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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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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