2024 Finke desert race and after-
adventure
If you’ve never visited the outback,
you really should
Our Values
31st May 2024; Travelling to Alice Springs
Travelling to Alice Springs: Canberra to Renmark SA
Finally, it’s time to take off for the Finke race
1st June 2024; Renmark to Coober Pedy SA
Travelling to Alice Springs: Renmark to Coober Pedy SA
An early start, 6am out of Renmark. Not too cold this morning but lots of fog.
2nd June 2024; Coober Pedy to Alice Springs
Travelling to Alice Springs: Coober Pedy to Alice Springs
Sleep in to 5.30 for a 6: 30 departure. Not too cool this morning and a bit later than our usual start so the dawn is already starting.
3rd June 2024; Practice Day 1. Alice Springs
Practice Day 1; Alice Springs
Sleep in for a change. Had a cabin in the first row near the Stuart highway and had quite a lot of truck noise compared to cabins further back.
4th June 2024; Practice Day 2 Alice Springs
Practice Day 2. Alice Springs
Managed to organise a satellite phone for delivery from Adelaide to Alice before we leave next Wednesday.
5th June 2024; 'Rest day’ Alice Springs
‘Rest day’. Alice Springs
Washing day. But grey clouds, but fingers crossed the sun will come out like yesterday.
We all went out to the Telegraph Station for coffee and cake.
6th June 2024; Alice Springs, Standley Chasm
Alice Springs; sight seeing
Relaxed start. Roy tinkered on the bike.
Headed to ARB to see if they could fix an intermittent fault in the car- failed front camera-so we lose cruise control.
7th June 2024; Alice Springs scrutineering
Alice Springs; Scrutineering
Lots of organising bike and kit ready for this scrutineering this afternoon.
Satellite phone hotspot arrived from Adelaide- yea!!!!
8th June 2024; Alice Springs Prologue
Alice Springs; Prologue
Out to the track at 9am.
Riders sign on at 10:30am then we headed down to the car to kit up.
9th June 2024; Race Day one. Alice Springs to Finke.
Race Day one: Alice Springs to Finke.
Out to the track in time for sign on at 10 o’clock. We left the cabin about 8.30am to make sure we were there in plenty of time for Roy to kit up
10th June 2024; Day 2 racing. Finke to Alice Springs
Race Day two: Finke to Alice Springs (there and back) .
As usual, there was lots of car noise very early and well before dawn as teams rebuilt their engines and ran them in.
11th June 2024; Alice Springs, Ford service
Alice Springs; Ford service
Normally we get a big sleep in the day after Finke but not today. Had to get the car up to Ford for a calibration of the camera so we can get cruise control back for the big drive
12th June 2024; Pamayu
Alice Springs to Pamayu
Woke early well before the 6am alarm, shower, breakfast and throw last things into the car.
Results are in.
13th June 2024; Manballoo (Katherine)
Pamayu to Manballoo
We had a reasonably relaxed start to the day.
More below
14th June 2024; Victoria River Roadhouse
Victoria River Roadhouse
We made a leisurely start on a cool morning. What a change from the stinking heat yesterday when we arrived.
15th June 2024; Kununurra
Kununurra
We left Victoria River 7:45am to drive west in the golden hour light.
Settled in for the drive.
16th June 2024 Kununurra
Kununurra
Rest and sightseeing day
17th June Gibb R Rd
Gibb River road to Ellenbrae Station
Headed off to the Gibb River Road about 7:45am after a big reorganisation and pack up at Kununurra.
18th June Ellenbrae station
Ellenbrae station to Drysdale Station
Cold night!
Should have known better and taken sleeping bag up top.
19th June Drysdale to Mitchell Plateau
Drysdale Station to Mitchell Plateau
Driving out of Drysdale at 9am to head off to Mitchell plateau.
We crossed the Drysdale River and other smaller water crossings. Road was rough.
20th June Mitchell Falls
Trekking in to Mitchell Falls
5:30am alarm for plenty of time to be at the helicopter office by 7, packed and ready to walk. Got there about ten to 7 and waited with another couple for the office to open.
21st June King Edward River camp; Day 1
Exploring King Edward Falls
Not far to go today from Mitchell falls to King Edward campground. Rough corrugated road but most freshly graded and probably as good as it ever gets.
22nd June King Edward River; Day 2
R & R at King Edward Falls
Not any hurry this morning. Planning on three nights here to get back to communications at Drysdale for Roy’s MA interview on Monday.
23rd June King Edward River camp; Day 3
Such a beautiful and remote place.
A relaxed start for breakfast. Started the car to make sure we had power for the toaster and made coffee with the gas burner.
24th June Drysdale Station
Civilisation!
Up around 6am to have breakfast and pack up ready to leave and go back to Drysdale Station.
25th June; Drysdale station – Mount Barnett
Heading towards the west coast
Breakfasting by 7am. Another beautiful morning.
26th June; Manning River
Big hike to the gorge
Camped at Manning Gorge campground.
See below…
27th June; Leaving Manning Gorge
Running repairs
First priority, heading to the repair shop
28th June; Bell Gorge
Walk to Bell Gorge
Up before six so that we could do the Bell Gorge Walk nice and early.
29th June; Broome Day 1
Fixing the car
We spent all morning chasing around after getting the car fixed.
30th June; Broome Day 2
Moving
Time to pack up and leave Oaks Hotel
1st July; Broome Day 3
Sight seeing
We enjoyed the complimentary breakfast
2nd July; Broome
Broome
No hurry to do anything today but relax
More below
3rd July; Broome to Karratha
Broome to Karratha
On the road by 8am on our way to Karratha
4th July: Karratha - Broome
Karratha to Broome
Transport day to get our car and the hire car back to Broome
5th July; Broome to Victoria River
Victoria River
Today is a day of big driving.
6th July 2024; Victoria River to Alice Springs
Victoria River to Alice Springs
Up at 3am. Miscalculated the time change at the border.
7th July 2024; Alice Springs
Alice
Slept in.
A nice change and a leisurely breakfast.
8th July 2024; Alice Springs to Coober Pedy
Coober Pedy
Up at 6am, breakfast and packed, driving out by 7am.
9th July 2024; Coober Pedy to Adelaide
Adelaide
6:30am departure from Coober Pedy.
10th July 2024; Adelaide
Adelaide
Lots of shopping.
11th July 2024; Adelaide, test track; Acusa Park
Training
Brenton picked us up at the at 6.30am
12th July 2024; Adelaide & Kapunda
Kapunda
This afternoon we head to Kapunda for scrutineering.
13th July 2024; Adelaide & Kapunda
Race Kapunda
We left Adelaide around 8.30am for Kapunda
14th July 2024: Kapunda to Adelaide
Kapunda to Adelaide
We had breakfast with cousins…
15th July 2024; Adelaide to Balranald
Adelaide to Balranald
We packed all the last things in the car and headed off
16th July 2024; last day headed for home.
And last day headed for home.
Out of the hotel before 7.30am
31st May 2024
Travelling to Alice Springs: Canberra to Renmark SA
Finally, it’s time to take off for the Finke race, Alice Springs to Finke and back. We had a late night of last-minute packing and getting the house ready to leave for the house sitter.
It’s been raining over night, but thanks to our new carport much of the load was undercover. Loaded up last bits and pieces in the rain and left at 6:30am, about half an hour later than planned.
Caught up with our team members traveling separately in their car as we were leaving Canberra and exchanged messages.
They were spending time in Wagga with family, and we were taking it easy in the weather with our big load, so we ended up together again when we stopped for fuel down the track.
Caught up again for lunch at the birdcage roadside stop.
On the road again
We saw so many groups of emus along the way that I lost count. Large and small groups and individuals. So wonderful to see them.
Nearly 6pm by the time we got to the citrus motel in Renmark SA. Team was already checked in.
We all went in to the Renmark club for dinner. Sadly, too dark by now to enjoy the view of the River Murray.
1st June 2024
Travelling to Alice Springs: Renmark to Coober Pedy SA
An early start, 6am out of Renmark. Not too cold this morning but lots of fog.
Morning tea stop at Gair pulled into the memorial park and used our toaster to toast banana bread.
Kept bumping into our team members at the most out of the way stops! Crazy!
Many large flocks of tiny birds flying up from the roadside. Finches probably.
Nearly there…
We all stayed at the Mud Huts Motel and had dinner at the grill over the road at the roadhouse.
We are both still recovering from the virus I picked up in Melbourne, so happy to turn in early.
2nd June 2024
Travelling to Alice Springs: Coober Pedy to Alice Springs
Sleep in to 5.30 for a 6: 30 departure. Not too cool this morning and a bit later than our usual start so the dawn is already starting.
Still, it is always beautiful. The sun rose beautifully though perhaps not as spectacular as sometimes. Nonetheless we stopped on the road briefly for some photos.
On to Alice Springs.
Lots of fresh roadkill around from night time road trains, and many crows and wedged- tailed eagles feasting on them.
We pulled into Marla Station for a tea break only to find our team there already setting up their coffee!
Lunch was at the Desert Oaks roadside stop. Lovely red sands and native trees. Once again, our team somehow followed us in.
3 emus! Don’t remember seeing them on this stretch of road before, except fenced in at roadhouses.
We arrived and settled into the Winter Sun caravan park. Did some dinner shopping at the local supermarket which had had a make over and was much more inviting than in the past.
Due to the new alcohol rules, we had to drive into town for some beer and wine. The local grog shop is not open until Wednesday!
We shared BBQ chook, potatoes and salad for dinner with the team who are in the cabin next door. Early night for me but someone watched the Moto GP until late.
3rd June 2024
Practice Day 1. Alice Springs
Sleep in for a change. Had a cabin in the first row near the Stuart highway and had quite a lot of truck noise compared to cabins further back.
Tried to organise a satellite phone in Alice Springs with no luck. All rentals out for Finke. No phones in stock for sales. Mines had bought out all phones now that the old satellite system had gone down.
At 11am the four of us headed out into the race track for pre running. Drove to the first fuel stop at Deep Well, had lunch and coffee.
Took some photos of Roy doing wheelies and we all headed back towards Alice.
OMG red dirt
We pretty well kept pace with Roy on his bike for the distance and met up with him at the beginning of the track near Alice. The bike had an oil leak so, after packing up we stopped at the Yamaha shop in town on the way home. Left the bike there for repairs and headed back to the park. A very kind fellow at the shop agreed to get it fixed either that afternoon or tomorrow. Later in the day we had a call that it was already fixed!
We’ll pick it up on the way out to the track in the morning.
Finally located an iridium system for satellite communication via Adelaide. Sent off the identification information and will talk to them again to set it up in the morning.
Dinner with team again. C cooked salmon, mash and broccolini. I made a salad and supplied chocolate! Yum!
4th June 2024
Practice Day 2. Alice Springs
Managed to organise a satellite phone for delivery from Adelaide to Alice before we leave next Wednesday.
For pre running today, we all jumped in the car and headed out to fuel stop 2 for practice day 2.
Fortunately, the Yamaha shop has been able to fix the oil leak yesterday. Turned out to be quite trivial- a pinched O-ring, so the bike had not lost significant oil. They only charged us $70 for a half hour of labor and were very kind and helpful.
The weather was looking inclement with low grey clouds, but the forecast is for sun. Soon cleared up as we headed out to the track.
Drove all the way to Bundooma and pulled over for lunch. Set up table and chairs behind the car for a wind break. Road was very messy, wet and carved up.
OMG more red dirt
After lunch Roy set off back towards Alice on the bike. We followed along beside him. Much of the track is very close to the road. We lost him a bit before the shared meeting point at fuel stop 1 and he beat us there and got on the two-way radio. We caught up, he refueled and set off again, destination the starting point near Alice. Again, we kept up with him until about the 15km mark then just focused on finding the tricky entry to the car parking area. Thought we missed it and back tracked but then had to turn around again as we hadn’t. By then Roy had come looking for us and guided us back where we pulled off next to the entry road and loaded him up for home.
We nipped into town to post some papers, get groceries for dinner and look for the pop-up merchandise shop. Couldn’t find the latter but all else was successful.
Cooked the steaks on the BBQ, microwaved potatoes and had a green salad followed by yummy ice creams for dessert. Yum.
5th June 2024
‘Rest day’. Alice Springs
Washing day. But grey clouds, but fingers crossed the sun will come out like yesterday.
We all went out to the Telegraph Station for coffee and cake. Beautiful there if a bit cool. Very cheeky birds, either Noisy Miner or Yellow throated honeyeater, also pigeons and butcher birds. Lovely dry creek bed on the way in to the cafe.
Did a little souvenir shopping then headed out to the track for sign-on.
Transponder was flat so headed home for lunch and charge the transponder.
After lunch we had another try to locate the pop up merch shop, this time successfully. Spent lots of money and then nipped back out to the track with the charged transponder- checked in took only moments and then back to the van via the shops for a quick top up of greens and beer.
Time for the traditional team ‘selfie’ at the track starting line.
State of Origin: Go the Blues!
Worked on the bike, oil change etc. then out to Lassitters casino to watch the state of origin game 1.
Sad result, Blues didn’t win.
6th June 2024
Alice Springs; sight seeing
Relaxed start. Roy tinkered on the bike.
Headed to ARB to see if they could fix an intermittent fault in the car- failed front camera-so we lose cruise control.
They sent us out to Ford for calibration of the radars. Ford is booked in for Tuesday (after the race).
More work on the bike, then after coffee we all packed lunch and headed to Standley Chasm for a walk and coffee!
A beautiful drive down Larapinta Drive along the west MacDonnell ranges.
Standley Chasm
Saw: Grey headed honey Eaters
The walk into the chasm was lovely, and the light in the chasm itself was beautiful and a vibrant colour.
On return we had ‘coffee’ at the cafe.
Drove a bit further west and pulled off onto a track and down to the river for our sandwiches. Took loads of photos then headed home.
Street party tonight in town and dinner at the Todd tavern 7pm. Tavern was in chaos. Staff tried hard but had no clue. Clearly no one knew the systems. Guessing all standard staff left town when the curfews were put in place.
Home to watch second half of women’s state of origin. Hopefully a better outcome than the men’s game last night. (Not).
7th June 2024
Alice Springs; Scrutineering
Lots of organising bike and kit ready for this scrutineering this afternoon.
Satellite phone hotspot arrived from Adelaide- yea!!!!
We had a team strategy meeting over coffee in the van then walked down to the fancy new shop for the makings of spaghetti bolognaise for Sunday night at Finke camp.
Chris and I did the cooking while the boys loaded up the bike and got it ready. It’s always a long (cold) night out at the racetrack for scrutineering. No one can take bikes home until 9pm.
We headed out to the track for scrutineering around 3pm only to find that we were not only first there but the only ones there. Car park nearly empty!
Such a big drop off in competitors this year. Presumably the cost of living has hit hard and the cost of competing has gone up. Anyway, being first in line they used our bike as the training exemplar and we passed scrutineering OK. Parked the bike near the exit and wandered round for a while.
Long cold night
Caught up with the team, looked around the cars and had an early dinner before the big queues, bought paella from a food truck to share- was spicy and nice.
More looking at the cars and bikes then back to the car for more warm clothing. Chris and Graeme headed home but we are stuck here ‘til 9pm before we can take the bike home. Impressive fireworks heralded going home time, hooray!
Back to the van park, cold and tired.
8th June 2024
Alice Springs; Prologue
Out to the track at 9am.
Riders sign on at 10:30am then we headed down to the car to kit up.
Back up to the track for 11:15am for riders briefing, then back again to the car to get the bike off the car and head over for the sighting lap.
Raced back up to the top, near the race start line to find Roy’s starting time: 13:36.
Had lunch.
Took team pics.
A good start
Race time 6:51. Under 7’ was good.
After prologue, it’s time to pack up and head into town for maybe a bike wash. It was too big a queue at the car wash, so we hunted around using Petrol Spy app for a good price and filled up the car with diesel. Drove all over town for the best price as it was a big fill.
Stopped at the IGA and bought chicken for a curry dinner then home for a rest!!
Put the rock guards back on the car for the drive to Finke tomorrow. Packed things up ready for the camp out.
Team came in for a drink and I cooked chicken Rogan Josh with Naan and rice. They brought chocolate for dessert, and we all packed it in for an early night.
9th June 2024
Race Day one: Alice Springs to Finke.
Out to the track in time for sign on at 10 o’clock. We left the cabin about 8.30am to make sure we were there in plenty of time for Roy to kit up and take the bike up for the start, and to let us head off up to Finke to set up camp. Also an opportunity to take more team
We set off for Finke just after 10am. Me in our Ranger and the team in their VW Amarok. After a bit of fishing around for them to get fuel we ended up at Stewart’s Well for them to get fuel and a pit stop. Next stop Erldunda Roadhouse where we stopped to have our sandwiches. Neither of us needed more fuel. The long range tank in our car makes a big difference.
Made a quick pit stop at Kulgera and headed down the long red sandy Finke road for an additional 150km. Kulgera is an interesting place! photos:
Off to Finke!
Total about 400km Alice to Finke. Arrived around 3pm and caught up with Chris and Graeme on the 2-way radio. Chose a camp spot near where we usually camp. Areas either side are really packed! Our chosen site looked like a major camel route with lots of prints, looked fresh, traipsing through the site. Also, lots of little freshly dug holes; bettong?
According to our prearranged plan I then moved our car over to the road where Roy could see it when he came in and could then find us. As a result, I couldn’t set up camp at all so walked over the ridge to see if I could see the track and yes, a good view of the bikes coming in and I eventually saw Roy coming in, so I headed back to camp- he was already there by the time I got back. Looking only half dead.
I fetched the car and we set up camp.
All bike maintenance had to be done ourselves, “by the light of the moon”!
Heated the spag bol dinner on the induction cooker, Graeme lit a fire. Gave Roy a wash. Had to use the bucket for hot water and a washer as the new shower seems to have been left at home!
Delicious spaghetti bolognaise for dinner followed by Tim Tams from Erldunda – thanks Graeme.
We enjoyed watching the fireworks from a variety of different camps and the beautiful starry sky. Each encampment seemed to be in a competition to outdo each other with fireworks!
Early night. Turned cold but we had a blanket and sleeping bag so we were warm enough. Team members however were cold in their tent. Graeme ended up in the car!
10th June 2024
Race Day two: Finke to Alice Springs (there and back) .
As usual, there was lots of car noise very early and well before dawn as teams rebuilt their engines and ran them in. Finally, we heard the sounds of the first race cars heading off. We dragged ourselves out of bed around 7am and it was cool and beautiful sunrise, but not bitterly cold as in some past years.
Graeme got the fire going and we had hot tea and breakfast. The new camp set up in the car is working a treat. So easy to plug in the jug and the toaster!!
Lots to pack away that needed Roy’s help before he headed off to rider’s briefing- including packing up the roof top tent, toilet etc.
Eventually all done, Roy headed off to the start line,
Chris and Graeme headed off to see Lamberts dead Centre and I headed up to the start line. Roy flagged me down to take photos, especially with the ‘I made it to Finke’ sign, and a few other shots of the start area which is always colourful.
Off to Alice!
Then I headed off down the track/road to Kulgera and Alice Springs.
I stopped at Erldunda for my sandwich. Didn’t catch up with Chris and Graeme as they had made the detour to Lamberts Centre. Then, back in the car and home to the track at Alice. Made it there around 3pm and checked the leader board- Roy had yet to reach Deep Well check point.
He arrived just before 5pm very worn and worse for the wear but in one piece and safe. Another successful tilt for a spike.
Packed up all the race gear and then back to the cabin. Time for Roy to have a shower but not before we headed out to Lassiter’s to pick up the spike, photos, have a drink and head home for us all to eat the rest of the spaghetti bolognaise. I’m sure it tasted even better than last night. Finished off the meal with old gold chocolate with Baileys Irish cream. Yum! In to bed!
11th June 2024
Alice Springs; Ford service
Normally we get a big sleep in the day after Finke but not today. Had to get the car up to Ford for a calibration of the camera so we can get cruise control back for the big drive ahead. Roy and Graeme headed up to Ford around 7:30am as they opened at 7:45am.
Meantime I had enough dollar coins to put on a load of washing. A perfect warm sunny day for drying.
The day warmed up so much that I broke out a t-shirt for the first time and took off the leggings from under the jeans.
In preparation for heading North tomorrow we packed up what we could without an actual car to put things in- frustrating.
After 9am I was able to get 5 more dollar coins from the office for another load of washing and we booked another couple of night’s accommodation for the return trip.
Managed to sort out the Iridium Go satellite hot spot that hasn’t been working. Turned out not to have been activated properly, but all sorted out now with the provider once they finally answered their phone.
Back in Alice!
The car took so long at Ford that I ended up walking to the local shops for provisions rather than a big shop at Woolworths. Was able to carry enough to keep us going for a while.
Finally, the car was done and the boys headed off to pick it up.
Some bits calibrated but fundamentally the front camera module is faulty and needs to be replaced (incorrect as it turned out!). None in stock so no cruise control until we get home. All that time for essentially nothing.
We hurriedly packed everything into the car ready to head off in the morning.
Our lovely team took us out for dinner at Bojangles in town as a birthday treat for me.
Bojangles Pub
A fascinating place full of memorabilia- reminiscent of Daly Waters pub. A lovely evening out with them and we headed back for last minute packing and sleep.
12th June 2024
Alice Springs to Pamayu
Woke early well before the 6am alarm, shower, breakfast and throw last things into the car.
Results are in.
Headed out around 7:30am and filled up the long-range tank at the Shell servo as we headed out of town.
Headed north for phase two of the adventure. The Kimberleys!
We saw:
Aileron big man on the hill
Flocks of budgies across the road
Occasional small birds flitting across- maybe finches.
Lots of long straight road.
Kites
Wedge tailed eagle
Mulla mullas
Heading North
Stopped and boiled the kettle for morning tea around 10:30am.
Devils Marbles, Karlu karlu, did a quick drive through and took a few pics. As we had a long way to go and had camped here last trip, we didn’t stay long.
Filled the fuel tank at Tennant Creek
Lunch at Battle Creek. Good chat with another couple.
On to Pamayu. Had a lengthy road stop for roadworks only to find our destination of Renner Springs was a couple of hundred meters down the road!
After unpacking we had a bit of a wander around, found the springs where there was lots of earth works going on and a large windmill. A few water birds that flew away but couldn’t see any of the other birds that were trilling in the reeds.
We had a drink at the bar and a sunset walk around the springs then back to the restaurant for a Barra and chips for me, Parma the size of the plate for Roy. Both high quality and delicious.
13th June 2024
Pamayu to Manballoo
We had a reasonably relaxed start to the day. Made a full breakfast in the room and were driving out before 8am.
Back on the road in lovely early light. Farewelled the peafowl family that was hunting breakfast around the precinct.
Nice temp this morning. T-shirt temp.
Saw:
Couple of small pigeons flew across the road
Magpies beside the road
More kms of yellow pea and red grevillea. (bumper season never seen so much flowers)
Patches of pink flowers.
Kites
Crow
Corellas off in the trees
Apostle birds at Elliot
Pink flowered bush
Pee wees
Water under the bridge s with water birds- egrets etc
Increasing numbers of small dark termite mounds
Sporadic salmon coloured trunks on gum trees
Also sporadic white flowering gums heavily laden.
A girl on a Triumph pulled up where we stopped for tea so we offered her a coffee. Her name is Catherine from Hobart and she has ridden from Perth, normally works in Ethiopia as a project manager at this time but cultural issues prevent her from going over at the moment.
Temperature is heating up
We found a spot for lunch in the park leading up to Mataranka. Set up lunch and were joined by a pied butcher bird.
Filled the fuel tank at a cheap place north of town then headed out to Manballoo homestead where we have a cabin booked.
Checked in and turned on the air con- 38C outside. Too hot!
Once temps had cooled down a bit, early evening we went for a walk down to the Katherine River. It was a bit cooler by the river but still warm and lovely. More water than our last visit a couple of years ago.
After a wander downstream we headed back to barbecue some burgers and onion which were yummy.
Then indoors to chill out for a while.
Tomorrow on to Victoria river.
Victoria River Roadhouse
14th June 2024
Victoria River Roadhouse
We made a leisurely start on a cool morning. What a change from the stinking heat yesterday when we arrived. Air conditioners here don’t even have heat as an option! It warmed up to 20C quite quickly though we didn’t sit outside for breakfast. We were well on the road by 9am even without stopping for the 8:30am bull feeding opportunity. We did pass the group of people bull feeding on our way out. Looked like they were having fun feeding the huge Brahmans.
Very familiar and characteristic landscape with scrubby trees and grass underneath. Start of the red termite mounds. Quite small though.
What we saw
Turkey bustard strolling among the side of the road!
Tiny kangaroo hopping away from the road
Stopped at a wayside stop for a cuppa. Lots of caravans. Its a free camp site. Beautiful trees. Kids playing hide and seek with their dad. Some kapok and pink flowering bushes.
29C
Kites
Arrived 11:06am
Lunch down on the river, it’s been changed and we can’t easily drive off the concrete anymore. We still managed to find a spot to enjoy our sandwiches.
Pee wee
Small bird – rainbow bee eater?
Corella
Crows
Kites
First boab tree
Drove off to the right into the Old Victoria River crossing. 4wd only. Not crossing here! Beautiful scenery. Lots of photos.
Boiled the kettle.
Blue and red dragon flies, yellow butterflies.
Bus load of tourists “Gecko” tours. Can’t get away anywhere anymore!! How remote is this?
Back to our cabin for a rest. It’s very hot. Headed out to escarpment walk for 3:30pm start but still very hot. It gets dark around 5pm so couldn’t wait too late.
Short but steep walk. Water warmed up in the bottles quickly. I didn’t quite make the top, it was very hard going in the heat, and quite steep. Roy did. So glad we came. Amazing views over Victoria River and escarpment. New yellow wild flowers. Couldn’t reach the orange gum blossom.
Fantastic but very hot.
Back at the car 5:07pm 38C
Back to the room to drop core body temp before heading over to the bar for beer and lemon squash; battered Barra and calamari.
Nipped down to the bridge to catch the sunset just in time. Probably a bit later than we would have liked but we were too tired to race down before finishing dinner.
15th June 2024
Kununurra
We left Victoria River 7:45am to drive west in the golden hour light.
Settled in for the drive.
What we saw
Spur winged plovers (masked lap wings) on the ground at the roadhouse.
Bustard in flight
Galah
Small birds flying on the road/ finches?
Small kangaroo by the road-same as we saw at the roadhouse
Flock of pee wees
Flock of corellas feeding on the ground
Red termite mounds getting taller
Cattle by the road
Kapok trees
Willie wagtail
Dumped remaining greens at Timber Creek. In boab country now.
Flight of 7 black cockatoos
Stopped for tea 55km out of Kununurra
Lots of wildflower pics on phone.
Change in termite mounds. Still red but fatter, much more substantial but still quite short.
Orange flowering grevillea by the km!
Pic of hills in road 9km out of K.
Tourist information
Library for permit to visit the very top (not received yet in October!!)
Markets
Bought dry bag and water canteens at the local camping shop
Smoothie and carrot cake at cafe
Art Gallery
Hoocherie for lunch (not open Sundays!)
Premium rum
Spiced rum
Aguardinte- anise liqueur
First two mixed well with soda and lime, definitely not third!
When we left the hoocherie we headed back into town and found the IGA supermarket where we picked up some chicken, peri peri marinade and a few other bits and pieces for 2 nights dinner, then we headed out to the lakeside villas in Packsaddle Road. This time we have number one which is on the front looking directly onto the lake and, from the shoreline, Elephant Rock which is particularly attractive at sunset. It is a lovely spot.
With new owners it is subtly different. No one to welcome us or ensure we had the right place. We wandered around and enjoyed the scenery before setting out to cook dinner. As we had photographed the sunset it was getting a bit dark. The only cooking is the outdoor BBQ which is fine except the outdoor light didn’t work, the BBQ was filthy and when turned on was swarming with tiny ants!
We had text exchanges with the host who was in Perth and very solicitous. Promised to send her husband to fix things but it turned out he was away. Offered us an air fryer but by then we had brought in the camp gear to cook and used that for a yummy dinner.
No soap or shampoo in the shower so we used our own. Disappointing for a premium stay.
Nevertheless, a good sleep in a lovely location in a comfy king bed.
16th June 2024
Wash, shop and prepare day
Lots of re-organisation of the car and contents, then into town to the laundromat, gift shop and Cole’s supermarket. Big shop.
Collected washing and took it back home as there were no dryers available.
Kelly's Knob
Back for lunch and brief rest before packing and a dash to Kelly’s Knob for the advertised sunset extravaganza. Arrived just in time, just before 5pm, and yes it was a good view but mostly over the town. Best bit was the knob behind that is catching the golden glow of sundown.
Kelly’s knob at sunset.
Stopped to fill up with fuel. Not too bad a price here.
Back to the villa for dinner.
Just managed to catch the Boabs by the Weir before it got dark!
BBQ was cleaned but light still not working so cooked inside on camp cook top.
Water supply in car was leaking badly from the air valve. Explains the loss of water!
17th June 2024
Gibb River Road
Headed off to the Gibb River Road about 7:45am after a big reorganisation and pack up at Kununurra. Shadow selfie by the Boab out front.
Cut up a stubby holder to block the water tank leak in the car. Fingers crossed.
A beautiful sunny day 25C and not a cloud in the sky.
We saw:
Pee wees
Brahmans grazing
Took a video of Ranges as we approached Gibb turn off.
Looks like the roads are all open! Woo hoo.
Gibb River turn off- signage pics.
Big ranges Cockburn?
Guys flying drone.
Magpies
Stopped for pic of Boab in front of ranges.
Loads of termite mounds but very small and brown dirt coloured.
Pentecost River crossing.
Very busy as everyone lets down or pumps up their tyres here.
We saw:
Down by the river, pee wee, rainbow bee eaters and a guy in a boat fishing.
Video of a couple of cars coming through.
Dirt road from here
Brief stop Homestead Station. Bought t shirts each.
Recorded corellas on audio and had tea.
Photo Cockburn Ranges
32C 10:47am
Video of road. Small trees golden grasses, so green!
Brilliant orange flowering gum trees
White flowered gums
Video big water crossing.
Ellenbrae turn off. Red dirt, big red pond to go through.
Up to the homestead, very attractive buildings, green lawns and tables and chairs. Barred finches at the feeder.
Had scones and a mango frappe. Yum.
2 choices of camp
Ringers and Jackeroos. The latter further from the waterhole and less busy so we set up there before walking back over the road for a swim!! Cold water and lovely. Very small access beach and popular. At least a half dozen people there!
Back to camp, hot donkey shower was an option. Scrounged enough wood from the surrounds for an atmospheric fire but cooked on the induction plate. Can’t believe we have internet!
Orange grevillea smells strongly of honey!
Early night and watched movie in tent. iPad battery flat and lots of movies expired!
18th June 2024
Ellenbrae station
Cold night!
Should have known better and taken sleeping bag up top.
We had a leisurely breakfast before packing up and going to the larger Sandy Gorge – access only available to overnight campers.
We drove down 2km of narrow dirt road through the bush and then had a bit of a walk down to the sand. More than hot enough to want a swim by now- which we did and enjoyed the cool water. No sign of crocs. Not really expected!
By the time we had finished our swim and were ready to head back it was around 10am so we decided to head backs to the homestead for a repeat on the scones, jam, cream and mango frappe. Very good decision!
Tried to book a camp site at Drysdale Station but it’s a just turn up for camping. So headed out around 11:30am.
Charged my iPad on 240v outlet which worked well but used a lot of power.
12:30 – 30C
Lots more small but beautiful water crossings.
Turned right up towards Mitchell Falls and pulled up at Drysdale Station to stay the night.
Drysdale Station
Filled up with fuel at $2.90/litre, booked a camping site and passes to Mitchell Falls @100 for two.
Chose a camp spot. Made lunch then decided to move to a better spot and set up the tent.
Had showers, bit of hand washing and generally fussed around. Roy tightened up everything on the car. We changed some money for the campgrounds ahead that were ‘honesty’ systems.
Found the bar that opened at 5pm. They had internet and phone service!
Had loaded wedges, ‘big pour’ of wine and second thoughts about cooking dinner!
Might just skip to tea and a Mars bar!!
(nothing like a bit of health food!)
19th June 2024
Drysdale Station to Mitchell Plateau
Driving out of Drysdale at 9am to head off to Mitchell plateau.
We crossed the Drysdale River and other smaller water crossings. Road was rough.
We saw:
Magpies
Soon caught up to the grader and beautiful road!
Giant blob termite mounds
Beautiful oases at most water crossings
Willie wagtail
Pee wee
Forests of cabbage palms
Tiny birds flitting across the road
Very tropical landscape
11:40am 31C Mitchell plateau
Little pigeons drinking from river crossing
GPS gave us a bum steer into an aboriginal community.
Backtracked.
Termite mounds were more small and red again. Still cabbage palm forest.
Less than 200km from the Drysdale station to Mitchell plateau but a fairly exhausting drive.
Even though we caught up with the grader, much of the road was very corrugated, patchy, rocky and occasionally worse. Probably not as bad as we had anticipated though and the Ranger had no trouble.
We arrived in time for a late lunch. Tried to find a way to pay camp fees, unsuccessfully so far.
Once we had chosen a spot for the night, we set up table and chairs and had lunch. It’s very hot!
We walked over to the helipad office and booked a flight to return from Mitchell Falls tomorrow at 12:30pm. It’s a 2 hour walk in and the office doesn’t open until 7am. Later than we had planned due to the heat, so we’ll be on the doorstep before 7 so as to get a start in the cool.
Set up the roof top tent and walked into little Merton falls for a swim. Only 2km/15’ walk. Very beautiful and we had a lovely dunking in the pools above the falls.
Explored a bit before walking back for wine and chips at camp!
Have to keep looking around and just remembering where we are!!
Will get a back pack organised tonight for tomorrow’s walk.
20th June 2024
Mitchell Falls
5:30am alarm for plenty of time to be at the helicopter office by 7, packed and ready to walk. Got there about ten to 7 and waited with another couple for the office to open.
We realised that neither of us had brought money so Roy tore back to the car for his wallet while I got weighed in and realised I could pay with the credit card in my phone which I fully did! Roy eventually came racing back with wallet to find it all done and was not happy! Got weighed in and we had a safety briefing and headed up the track to walk to Mitchell falls, at 7:15am for approx. 2 hour walk.
The Trek
Walked in past another lily pond to the Mitchell falls plateau and saw our first glimpse of these amazing falls. Walked off to the side to get a good look before walking on and finding a lovely spot for a swim and our lunch of Vegemite sandwiches! We had a great spa under a small waterfall. Even though small it was very powerful and difficult to swim against. Had to approach from the side to get a good seat!
Eventually, we packed up and headed back to the track which took us across the river towards the helipad. Roy took an extra unscheduled swim on the way across.
The walk from there around the cliff was fabulous and gave great views of the waterfalls. I’d have been happier if Roy had stayed away from the edges of the cliffs!!!
Back to camp to rest during the heat of the day.
Around 3:30pm we roused from torpor and headed off to little Merten falls for a cool down in the ponds on top of the falls. A 15 min walk, not too hard but very welcome to get into the cool water and lower core body temp!
Took a couple of photos and headed back to make sure we were back before dark.
Enjoyed Happy hour with beer, wine and the last bag of chips before cooking butter chicken for dinner. Brown rice would take too much energy as we hadn’t a fire so I diced up onion, potato and sweet potato instead. It was all yummy.
Early night, movie on the ipad and sleep.
21st June 2024
King Edward River camp; Day 1
Not far to go today from Mitchell Falls to King Edward campground. Rough corrugated road but most freshly graded and probably as good as it ever gets. Beautiful countryside of cabbage tree palms. Tough terrain.
A fabulous location
Doesn’t appear to be a water supply anywhere.
After sitting in the shade drinking Gatorade and reading books, we set up the roof top tent, collected our swimmers and went looking for the river.
After a bit of a wrong turn we found the lovely river, perfect for swimming and even with ladders embedded in the rock.
Roy pushed on a bit further, of course, and found a lovely spot beside some small rapids, changed into swimmers and hopped in. Played in the rapids for a while then went exploring further downstream.
The rock beside the river is of the most beautiful polished red stone- quite slippery though. We found a moderate sized waterfall where we might try and swim tomorrow. There is apparently a bigger fall further on (no, that was it).
Many new flowers here. A sea of purple grass up by the loo. Small flowers in the swampy bits by the river.
Loads of birds including pied butcher birds, blue faced honey eater, crows, pee wees, corellas chopping off the orange grevillea and dropping it.
Back in time for happy hour!
Cooked dinner in our new spider gas cooker which worked a treat. First use. Saving electricity as we expect to be here 3 nights and have already had 2 nights at Mitchell falls. Battery is getting a bit low.
As dusk fell some micro bats flew through the camp site.
22nd June 2024
King Edward River camp; Day 2
Not any hurry this morning. Planning on three nights here to get back to communications at Drysdale for Roy’s MA interview on Monday.
Breeze came up early. Unusual but keeping the temp down- quite lovely sitting under the trees having breakfast.
Conserving on battery power we’ve used the tiny gas cooker for tea and coffee. Fired up the car engine while cooking the toast!
We brought a bucket of water back from the river yesterday to conserve water use. Just using that water for rinsing and washing up
A great choice for some time out
We will use the Eco Billy for washing up hot water. Plenty of leaves and twigs for that.
Loads of birds flitting about in the flowering trees. Sitting with the big lens on ready but they move so fast! Wind is not good there either.
After breakfast we headed down to the waterfall with our swimmers and dirty clothes. We had a fun swim right under the water fall which was pretty challenging but worth the effort. Dried off for a while then collected the washing off the hot stones and headed back. The waterfall was really lovely and the polished red stone is amazing.
Back for a cold water and Berrocca. Mmmm!
We had a bit of a rest before lunch, sitting in the shade of the car while birds flitted in the trees. There were lots of corellas down by the river but not much here.
We had wraps for lunch and defrosted some sausages for dinner. Sat outside with a book and a big lens and captured lots of bird shots. Particularly excited about some corellas who came down into the orange grevillea for ages!
Back to the river for a swim if Roy can wake up by 3:30pm.
Off to the river and back in to play in the rapids. Walked back in the golden hour and took a few pictures for a change!
Changed into dry clothes and got into cooking dinner before it gets dark. Having to manage water and power pretty carefully. Started the car up for 25’ to charge the battery to make sure the fridge keeps going. Used the metal fire place that Ian made to cook the sausages and onion and the gas burner for pasta with peas and corn. Gourmet dinner!
Moon is coming up a bit later but still very bright, pretty much a full moon so stars other than the Southern Cross are difficult to see even in this remote setting.
It’s Saturday and there are a lot more people camped here. I would not have thought that the weekend would make much difference so far from civilisation.
23rd June 2024
King Edward River camp; Day 3
A relaxed start for breakfast. Started the car to make sure we had power for the toaster and made coffee with the gas burner.
Took the drone down to the waterfall on King Edward River and had another swim under the falls. Couldn’t believe another couple of blokes turned up with their drone and stood right above us while we were changing into swimmers! At least they waited for us to bring our drone down before starting their own.
So relaxed. Really enjoying it here
After the swim we sat in the sun as the breeze was keeping the temp down and had muesli bars before heading back. We are hunting for the manager’s camp so we can pay camping fees with eftpos rather than cash.
Toilets here are hybrid and pretty good except they all have run out of water so getting a bit gross. Tried a different one, same story but I did spot a parrot/rosella in my way back that I’ve never seen before. Took phone shots but they’re only silhouette.
After lunch we sat around in the shade and read books. Took a few pictures etc.
Around 3pm we headed back to the river for another swim in our other favourite spot. This time we took the serious cameras to take golden hour shots of the white paperbarks reflected in the river. Forgot to take the bucket though so afterwards had to race back down to the river to get a Pail of water for washing up etc.
Flight of brolgas 6
Fired up the magic cooking pot with a few twigs, made by Ian, and cooked the rest of the packet of sausages for tea.
Threw in the left over pasta, peas and corn to heat up and had a delicious dinner. Jelly snakes for dessert before washing up and heading up top at the late hour of 7pm to read and watch movies on the ipads.
Tomorrow back to Drysdale Station for Roy’s interview with MA. Hoping that we might be able to get a powered site to top up the battery and all other electrical devices. (we did)
24th June 2024
Drysdale Station
Up around 6am to have breakfast and pack up ready to leave and go back to Drysdale Station.
On the way out we managed to find the manager’s camp which was an indigenous encampment of literally tents and lots of machinery where we were able to pay the three days camping fees on line, of $17 per head per adult for three nights which was $102.
Identified the orange flowering gum tree as a Darwin woolly butt using the CSIRO App.
Sad to leave; on to the next adventure
On the road out we saw the sign two km’s to the South to an indigenous cultural site, so we drove in and parked and walked around. It was a beautiful outcropping of rocks of beautiful colour and we found many indigenous paintings. Some were marked by having fenced off walkways but others we found that were fainter and were just there. We really enjoyed seeing them and we’re so glad we stopped.
On the road we headed back towards Drysdale station there was a river crossing but I started to video but somehow turned off and we didn’t get much sadly.
After while we turned back onto the Kalumburu Road, which will take us back to Drysdale River. It’s a long straight Dusty Road but in pretty good condition as it’s been recently graded.
We saw:
Flight of black cockatoos 6.
2 big black cockatoos in a low tree- palm cockatoos?
Got rid of our bags of rubbish at the tip opposite the entrance to Drysdale station.
Went in to the station and filled up with fuel and water, booked a powered site to top up the battery. A new experience, circling the wagons around the power stanchions. A bit closer to the neighbours than we like!
Queued up for the sole working washing machine and eventually got the clothes washed and hung up. Managed to catch up on a bit of news via Wi-Fi at the restaurant. Read for a while before Roy’s interview with MA, followed by a wonderful hot shower and wine and dinner for my birthday at the restaurant. Lots of good wishes from friends and family.
25th June 2024
Drysdale station – Mount Barnett
Breakfasting by 7am. Another beautiful morning.
Such a luxury to have a bathroom available to do teeth etc.!
Packed up and spent a bit of time organising the
timeline for the rest of the holiday.
Really headed to the Western Coast now
Left about 10am for Mount Barnett.
Diverse forests.
Patches of many Rosella plants. Corridors of
wattle. A number of water crossings.
Love those red roads.
Little colourful birds flying across the road.
Huge flock of large grey birds taking off.
Brolgas?
Magpies
Barnett River Gorge Road was closed. Apparently
didn’t do well in the floods.
Beautiful scenery, constantly changing. Lovely golden grasses and escarpments.
Straight to Barnett River roadhouse where we
booked camping for two nights so we can see Manning Gorge tomorrow.
Quite a significant stop here. Loads of people, a
cafe where we got some hot wedges!! Data cost money so we passed on that.
Didn’t need fuel or water.
A significant range of groceries, artworks, t-shirts but we don’t really need anything and $10 seems a lot for a pack of chips!!
Driving out of the Station towards Manning Gorge campground.
7 km down the road to the campground we found a
spot amongst a crowded campground-fortunately a pretty big campground, but it was a long walk to the amenities block.
Set up the tent etc. had a cuppa and went back down the road to have a swim and check out the beginning of the gorge walk for tomorrow morning.
Clearly not going to get across the river for the gorge walk without a swim- it gets quite deep! Not worried about the freshies in there but how cold the morning will be!!
Back to camp to cook chicken sausages and pasta
after happy hour!
26th June 2024
Manning River
Camped at Manning Gorge campground.
It’s very crowded here. It’s a big campsite but there are hundreds of people here.
Set up camp
Fortunately, we found a pretty good spot to set up camp in a relatively private spot next to some bush so people can only park next to us on one side, so it worked out pretty well.
It was a cold night, but we had plenty to keep us warm and we got up early so that we could hit the trail to MG nice and early, but not too early as it was very cold, and we have to swim the river for the start of the walk.
By the time we got to the river to swim across it was about 9 am and the temperature of the air had really warmed up so we were quite happy to jump in the cold water and swim across. Roy went in first and fetched the floating half drum from the other side to ferry our gear across. The dry bag that we bought at Kununurra was very handy to put our cameras and phones and keys in. When we reached the other side, we put our walking shoes and socks on ready for the hour and a half walk to the gorge. We were surprised to see families with small children making the same journey with no hats, no water and even no shoes. It was quite long and challenging and quite hot by the time we got there.
On arrival we made our way down to the rock platform and got ready for a swim. Roy dived in and I dutifully photographed him doing so.
We swam across to the falls and swam in behind the falls and then through the falls. We swam back to the rock platform and Roy climbed up to the very highest rock possible and jumped into the water. It was the highest jump so far that we had seen, and everybody watched him jump in and climbed up to copy him. he survived the fall but was a bit sad & sorry having done his shoulder and got slap marks on his arms and other places.
Happy hour:)
We bumped into Sybil and Neil who we had met a few times at various campgrounds and had a bit of a chat before coming back to camp for wine and cheese and cooking dinner.
27th June 2024
Leaving Manning gorge campground.
First priority, heading to the repair shop 20 kms West to get some bolts to replace the ones that fell off the bash plate.
Turning back onto the Gibb River Road, we found ourselves on asphalt which was a bit of a surprise. Maybe that explains why there were so many people at the campground.
Looking for repairs
We stopped at Over The Range Tyre repair about 24 km down the track to get those bolts replaced. As well as replacing the bolts in the bash plate, the mechanic found a bit of an oil leak and our oil was pretty low so he was able to get on the Internet to find out what oil to use and fortunately had some, so it looks like we might need a gasket repair and will have to change our plans and go pretty much straight to Derby to get that fixed. Lucky, we found it now and not in the middle of the desert.
We back tracked to Galvans Gorge and walked in to the beautiful waterfalls. Saw barred finches along the way. No time for a swim but it looked really lovely, and others were swimming there.
We stopped at the Inimitji roadhouse to contact the repair place in Derby and book accommodation there the previous night. The first, we could get into the repair shop was Monday, so we booked a night in Derby for Sunday night. Due to school holidays, we are paying a premium and were lucky to get anything! Inimitji had internet so we did a bit of catching up and enjoyed a couple of ice creams too!
As we couldn’t get the car repaired until Monday we decided to stay at silent Grove campground tonight and walk into Bell Gorge tomorrow before heading into Broome where we have already booked two nights’ accommodation.
We found a lovely spot at Silent Grove and set up camp. Had a real shower, more or less and chilled out before cooking dinner in the evening light.
28th June 2024
Bell Gorge
Up before six so that we could do the Bell Gorge Walk nice and early. A quick breakfast and pack everything up and on the road by just after seven. It was a remarkably warm night and we didn’t even realise that we had left the door flap open so inside was ambient and we were still quite warm.
There are flocks of tiny birds everywhere. I think they might be barred finches but they’re so fast it’s hard to tell. There are loads of small pigeons, and waking up in the treetops in our rooftop camper was like waking up in the middle of the dawn chorus which was quite lovely. we were also overwhelmed by the scent of the honey from the green bottlebrush that was flowering all around us.
Time to pop into Bell Gorge but concerned about the car
Saw a little kangaroo cross the road, flushed out by the car in front of us and did several water crossings on the way out to the gorge walk.
Parked the car and walked into Bell Gorge. After all the information we read we anticipated a difficult walk but it was only about a half hour walk and not that hard and we were there in no time. Must have been much hotter last visit as I remember it being harder.
29th June 2024
Broome Day 1
We spent all morning chasing around after getting the car fixed. RAC had to send two technicians to assess car, first for NRMA and then for Ford care. Both concluded that the car needed to be flat bed towed to Karratha which is the nearest Ford dealer, for repair (~850km away). Probably engine not diff issue. Maybe a little oil goes a long way? Certainly, everything is covered in oil.
Tow to Karratha!
Eventually Joe the tow truck guy picked up the car and there was nothing much more we could do. We’ll get the airport shuttle tomorrow morning to pick up a hire car and move to a (slightly) cheaper hotel for the next few nights before driving the hire car to Karratha to pick up the car, fixed, however long that takes and then drive both back to Broome to return the hire car before high tailing it to Alice Springs!!
30th June 2024
Broome Day 2
Time to pack up and leave Oaks Hotel as the only remaining rooms were $450 per night!
Enjoyed breakfast and stored our luggage at reception before heading to the airport to pick up the rental car. Caught a taxi as it was cheaper than the shuttle and the airport was very close. It was a bit of a shock to find that km over 100per day would incur 25c/km. That will hurt as Karratha is >800km away!!
Back into town, which is very close to the airport, and to the courthouse markets where we moved around and bought a few things including a clock for Roy’s bathroom.
Touristing
We will check in this afternoon to the Kimberly Sands resort this afternoon which is marginally cheaper than the Oaks (special deal) and is also on Cable beach.
The KS resort is lovely, and close to the beach, very Bali inspired. Our room is on the third floor and the lift is broken but they kindly brought our bags up. Our balcony overlooks the pool and the room is lovely.
After cobbling together a sandwich we headed off to the light house to get some photos and hoped to fly the drone. When we got there it was clearly too close to the airport to sensibly or legally fly the drone which was a bit sad. Nevertheless, it is a stunning location, and we took many other photos. Watched the Osprey on its nest and bring in a fish for the nestling.
We took a break back at the car so the sun could go down a bit then found a new spot to take some golden hour photos. We hiked back to the car and stopped again on the road to get a different view and a few more photos!
Back to cable beach we hunted down a takeaway pizza at the local pub which was very loud and buzzing with activity. The glow of the sun going down behind the sand dunes was beautiful.
Back to the room with the pizza which we had on our balcony in the warm evening overlooking the blue pool with a glass of wine. Lovely.
1st July 2024
Broome Day 3
We enjoyed the complimentary breakfast this morning at the Kimberley Sands resort. We ate way too many croissants and omelet but at least we won’t need lunch.
We phoned the Ford place in Karratha, but the car had not yet arrived.
Not much we can do at this point, so we drove down towards the big wharf and around the corner to look at the beach which was quite spectacular. It was a windy morning so we couldn’t wear our hats, but we went down onto the beach and took lots of photos anyway.
Sight seeing
We were pretty hot after that, so we came back to the room and cooled off. We did have a bite of lunch and a short rest. After that we decided to do a bit of a drive north to Point James Price where it looks like there might be some spectacular scenery where we might be able to fly the drone.
It was an interesting drive first on the road to Cape Leveque and then turned off to the road to the James Price Point where there was 35 km of red sand road. A lot of it had about 15° tilt where the grader had been and had big banks on each side. Nevertheless, we made it just fine and found a place to pull off and park and walked into the cliff face where we launched the drone and took some photos. By this stage it was nearly 4 o’clock so we had to head back to Broome so we would be back before dark.
We ordered the Moroccan lamb pizza, and it was the (biggest) yummiest ever. We enjoyed it on our balcony overlooking the pool as the sun went down with a nice glass of wine and Roy had a beer and wine.
2nd July 2024
Broome Day 4
No hurry to do anything today but relax and have a sleep in and a late breakfast. Breakfast is part of the deal here so we once again over indulged in a full breakfast.
Exploring
Did a bit of washing and transferring photographs etc and we will go and look at some of the local galleries this morning.
Once again, a beautiful blue sky nice and warm outside with a bit of wind, much like yesterday.
Back to the resort for a welcome swim in the pool. Our one and only for the stay.
After a bit of a chill out and rest we walked up the street to the pub and had Barra burgers which were very filling and very nice.
Explored downtown Broome, the galleries, shops and Coles. Bought a few odds and ends including a new bikini top and some food for lunch on our drive tomorrow. We had smoothies for lunch and made our way up to a couple of galleries near Matso’s. The Black Stump gallery was outstanding but a cool $30k necessary for an original work.
We drove all around looking for well-priced diesel only to find they had either run out or 24-hour credit card stations which we didn’t want to use with the hire car. We also took the opportunity to have a look around the port and take a few photos. The colours of the ocean are so beautiful.
Back to the room to pack up and make sandwiches for tomorrow.
Turns out the car trouble was quite trivial so we can pick it up tomorrow and drive back Thursday. Some big drives ahead to get back on track.
3rd July 2024
Broome to Karratha
Up early, car packed, breakfast was part of the package so we were there at opening for a big breakfast.
Black faced cuckoo shrike on the wires outside the hotel.
On the road by 8am on our way to Karratha together in the hire car.
Long flat plains, cattle, some scrub.
Narrowly missed a small kangaroo on the road, flocks of cockatiels across the road.
Podcast for a long drive.
Stopped for diesel at 24hr credit card style station. Very barren area.
Long drive
Pt Hedland is a mining town. Very flat. Loads of big equipment, hugely long trains. Blocks of dormitory style buildings. Big banks of power poles.
4th July 2024
Karratha – Broome
Transport day to get our car and the hire car back to Broome from Karratha. Early start, on the road by six. Breakfast in our room and just drive, drive, drive, 850 kms back to Broome. Difficult early in the morning driving directly into the sun but once it came up it was okay.
We stopped again at the Roadhouse halfway, filled up with diesel both cars as we’ve been fighting a headwind all the way. Got back to Broome around 3.30pm filled both cars up with diesel again and returned the hire car at the airport. Unfortunately, a road train had thrown a big rock up at the car. It was a big hit on the windscreen with a lot of cracks.
Checked into the Airbnb and briefly crossed paths with the owners as they were leaving. Outside gate digital pad was not working for us so other overnighters let us in. Had to park the car outside on the road and just take our overnight bag in. Took the car up to the Headland to see if we could see another sunset over the ocean but it was very busy, still loads and loads of people.
Long drive back
We went back to the pub on the corner of Murray Road and shared a pizza with a glass of wine and went back to bed at the Airbnb.
5th July 2024
Broome to Victoria River
Today is a day of big driving. Up at 3:30am. We are driving off by four am. Skipped breakfast.
We have to get from Broome to Victoria River Roadhouse tonight which is about 1300 km.
Drive, drive, drive
The sunrise was quite beautiful and orange glow across the sky and when we got to the junction to turn right there was a big boab tree in profile, we grabbed a few pictures. Loads of great flights of bats taking off in the early morning light and we are back in Boab territory with a vengeance. Lots of kites and an occasional eagle huge flocks of galahs, on one each side of the road that we managed to avoid hitting. A flight of cockatiels occasionally, kangaroo hopping away, lots of life.
8 am cross the new bridge at Fitzroy Crossing – very fancy. The river looks pretty devastated.
We’ve seen loads of flights and flocks of galahs and lots of other little birds; Pee-wees, a couple of wedge tail eagles and lots of little birds flitting around.
We also saw a flock of tiny birds probably finches and yellow flowers, flowering tussock grasses, more flocks of finches. Flowering wattle.
Occasional groups of Brahman cattle
Small grazing kangaroo.
4 black cockatoos
2 brolgas under a bridge just past Tanami turn off.
Loads of eagles today. Don’t recall ever seeing so many. Was one or two at nearly every road kill.
2 wild pigs by the road- one dead, one mourning?
Pond by the road at dusk; huge flock of corellas, egret.
Timber creek: Roy gets a speeding ticket in town.
6th July 2024
Victoria River to Alice Springs
Up at 3am. Miscalculated the time change at the border. Intended a half hour sleep in relative to yesterday but achieved getting up two hours early!
Sadly, we’re driving in the dark for the remaining east Kimberleys. Can’t be helped. We did get a good head start at least.
With the early light came all the waking birds. So many flying across in front of the car. Hard to miss and I fear we may not have missed them all. A number of small kangaroos hopping away from the road- and roadkill, hence many scavenging birds- kites and crows. No eagles today.
Fueled up in the dark at the 24hr pump at Katherine. Getting good at these things now. Definitely the best price.
Made a short stop at the Roadside stop for a cuppa and for Roy to eat his yoghurt.
A flock of around 30 pelicans flew overhead. So graceful.
Another long drive
Switched back drivers at Renner Springs, to Roy’s relief. 666km from Alice. Still doing roadworks there and we had to wait 6’ for the lights to change.
So many flowers. Wattle, red grevillea bachelors’ buttons, mulla mullas.
So definitely back in the red Centre. Red soil, golden grasses, blue skies, scrub and flowers.
Several huge flocks of green budgies after Tennant Creek flying to and fro across the road.
Took a couple of videos as we flew past the Devil’s Marbles.
A big day of driving and we made it to Alice springs just before 5:30pm, just in time to get the key for the cabin.
We popped down to the local IGA and got a lasagna for dinner with some greens for salad and fruit for the morning breakfast. We ate and watched a bit of telly, read a bit and slept.
Nothing like a 15-hour drive. Crazy.
7th July 2024
Alice Springs
Slept in.
A nice change and a leisurely breakfast. Once the office opened at 9am we could get change for the washing machine and put a big load through. Fortunately, the cloud burned off and it turned into a nice sunny day, t- shirt weather still but into jeans not shorts.
Roy fetched the bike and trailer from its stored position and reorganised everything for the next leg south to Adelaide.
Another long drive
A big job at the car wash to find the car under all the red dirt and squashed bugs. Certainly, it looked sparkly clean afterwards. A short drive around to dry it off and we found diesel at the best price from one of those 24-hour pumps and filled up for the journey tomorrow.
We had toasties up at the telegraph station for lunch. Our mango smoothie arrived fine but after an hour of patient waiting, we chased up our toasties which had been filed under a list of receipts and I was asked “are you sure you ordered?”.
They arrived shortly afterwards, barely toasted with a “sorry” from the waiter. Even though they had been busy at lunch time we weren’t particularly happy about that!
Back to the cabin to finish the packing and reorganisation, retrieving the washing and talking to the kids.
Quick trip into town to look at the Art Galleries.
Back before dark to finish all the packing, enjoy happy hour and heat the remaining lasagna for dinner.
8th July 2024
Alice Springs to Coober Pedy
Up at 6am, breakfast and packed, driving out by 7am. Heading south. Homeward bound. Feels a bit sad after our big adventure in the north. It will really be winter where we are going from today on. We’ve been lucky not to catch really cold days in Alice. There was significant violence reported in Alice over the weekend, but we didn’t see any suggestion of it. There was a lot of shops closed in town though.
A strange beginning to our trip south on the Stuart highway, heavy fog! For more than an hour. Can’t see any of the landscape beyond a few meters into the side of the road.
To the next adventure
Passed Desert Oaks rest stop about 2 hours out of Alice. Fog getting thicker again. Beautiful red sand hills.
Drive out of the mist past Kulgera, 10am.
Big wedge tailed eagle on dead tree.
Stopped for lunch at Marla and consumed our dumped last greens and fruit here.
Chatted with the manager about an injured wedge tailed eagle that needed transport, but we were too full to take it to Adelaide or Pt Augusta. Other patrons were able to help out.
Drove to the Mud Hut hotel and booked in. Our back left tyre had been a bit dodgy, so Roy decided to change it over. Had trouble finding the tools but improvised.
Walked down to John’s pizzeria for dinner then home for the night.
Will head off early tomorrow for Adelaide.
9th July 2024
Coober Pedy to Adelaide
6:30am departure from Coober Pedy. No cloud but still a beautiful sunrise. Orange and yellow in the east and pink and blue in the west,
Camera struggled to focus on the horizon in the dark but blew a few pixels anyway.
Fabulous light over the desert.
Stopped in a wayside stop and boiled the kettle for a cuppa, took a few photos of mallee trees.
headed to the big smoke
Made a brief pit stop at Pimba and had ice creams!
From up on a ridge we saw a train heading north that must have had 100 carriages. Possibly for ore?
Damp river bed, trees covered in corellas! A little oasis in the salt bush.
Lunch at Australian arid landscape botanic gardens outside of Port Augusta.
Good view of Flinders ranges, lovely plants and birds.
Continued on into Adelaide. Stored the bike and trailer at Brenton’s warehouse and checked into the Ibis Adelaide Manor.
Dinner at Gepps crossing, Coopers Ale house then back to chill out.
10th July 2024
Adelaide
Lots of shopping.
Needed more gear for Roy’s sidecar 24hr bike race
Needed lots of food items to leave at drops for the race and had to get 3 boxes from Bunnings to put it all in!
After lunch we went out to Brenton’s workplace to check everything over and have the tour around. Vicky was there.
Organised an Indian take away for dinner which was delicious; Dial a curry. It was a good sign that the shop was full of Indian people!
Prep for the side car race
11th July 2024
Adelaide, test track; Acusa Park
Brenton picked us up at the at 6.30am
Cold and wet and dark
Up to the sheds to pick up the bike and an hour and a bit trip out to the track at Acusa Park.
Prep for the side car race
The boys practiced with the side car. Lots of rain and mud. Very short practices 2 x 22 mins.
Headed back a bit before 11am to get back to town in time for lunch with the cousins. Stopped for hot chocolate on the way.
We ran a bit late for lunch and ordered late and the hotel lost our order but we did get served eventually, and they gave us a nice glass of white each while we waited, just as everyone else was leaving for the wake! But still it was nice to see everyone.
We did a bit of shopping on the way back, wine, chocolates and a knee bandage to protect Roy’s knee during the race.
After a bit of a rest we headed out to have dinner at Brenton and Vickie’s house in Tea Tree. A lovely evening.
12th July 2024
Adelaide & Kapunda
This afternoon we head to Kapunda for scrutineering. We will try and catch up with cousins who live there.
Headed out around 12pm for Kapunda. Not able to reach cousins so went to the bakery for lunch. Weather was cold with rain sweeping through every now and then.
Had a look at the local gallery which was rather disappointing and went to look at the racetrack where the bikes were assembling for the big race. We were quite early so when the cousins got in contact we nipped over to their place for a quick cuppa and chat.
Then back to the racetrack to meet up with the team and take the bike through scrutineering, riders briefing etc.
Scrutineering
Eventually we followed Brenton to the fuel stope near Truro where he set up his van for tomorrow. Then we headed back to Adelaide, found a kebab shop to get some dinner.
Back to the motel. Kebabs were quite yummy but could have been warmer.
13th July 2024
The boys had meantime changed out of their wet riding gear into some nice warm clothes and felt much better and regaled us with their tales of falling out of the sidecar and one landing on the other’s head at speed from height.
It got dark, very cold and it rained, and it blew. There was a very big fire and a very big fire pit to keep us warm. Lots of people from the club and elsewhere. Eventually we said our farewells and headed back to Kapunda where we stayed overnight with my cousins. They very kindly provided us dinner of soup and salmon mornay, and we had a (not so) early night after lots of chat about family stuff.
Adelaide & Kapunda; 2
We left Adelaide around 8.30am for Kapunda for the start of the big race which was going to start at 11:40 in the morning.
Really, we got there early, and we met up with the team, and Roy had some chicken nuggets and chips to keep him going. We met up with a few people around the place and Roy was introduced around.
Back to the cars and the boys got their gear on ready for the big race, and we went back to the start line and the boys went down to the bike after a friend turned up and took photos of the team for us.
Race on!
First bike left at 11.01am and our boys left at 11:40am in bike number 40. We waved them off and then Vicki and I went back to the cars, and I followed her to the fueling station 2 where their club Levis was set up for the day. There was a bit of mud on the last section of the road and managed to cover the car pretty well in light brown mud.
We had a cup of tea and stood around in variable weather which was pretty cool from rain to Sun.
The club kept a good eye on the times that the team was doing and were concerned a few times that they weren’t moving. Eventually they came across and said they’re out, they’ve timed out. So, one of the team’s sons, went and picked them up and brought them back to the field where we were all parked. When they arrived the same guy Steve gave the boys beer and then red wine and ultimately some port which had been aged in very special casks.
14th July 2024
It turned out to be a lovely little restaurant cafe with a very friendly lady called Josie who provided a tasting of many different wines, red, white bubbles and port and we ordered a platter of meats and cheese which was very generous and we enjoyed the platter very much and the wines were lovely. We thought we could only fit six bottles in the car so we had to pick and choose six bottles but kept the list in case we wanted to get some more later.
Kapunda to Adelaide
We had breakfast with cousins and then headed out with a bit of a stop at the local bakery for hot chocolate and Roy to have a sausage roll. We bought some cheap books at the local secondhand charity store.
Race over!
We had a bit of a walk around the streets and had a look at the outside of the museum (not open) and then we headed down to the racetrack for the Bikes.
It was just about time for the first sidecars to come in from the 24 hours. The remaining field was about half what went out and Roy was interviewed as the most very important President of Motorcycling Australia.
The sidecars started coming in looking very sad and sorry and covered in mud. Just surprising that anybody made it at all on such a tough track in the cold for such a long time. And afterwards we stood around and watched a few come in and had a bit of a chat and met a few people.
We bought some 100th anniversary port at the Merch shop on the way out and headed off in the car, we also got a poster. We headed back towards Adelaide and took the opportunity, seeing as we were so close to the Barossa Valley, to visit a winery. we chose Grant Burge because it was in about the right direction and it was something we knew we liked.
15th July 2024
Found them and took some photos, even found the single public toilet, hidden cleverly behind the sign! We were lucky to get a ray of sunshine for photos then it started raining so instead of boiling the kettle we grabbed the left-over Vegemite sandwiches from the fridge for lunch.
Headed back to the main road to home. The sun showers produced amazing rainbows, even a double and we stopped for that.
The rain and sun have made the field colours incredible and rich.
Went through some quite heavy rain.
Another group of 11 emus. Interestingly all on the left side of the road. Perhaps I’m not looking on the right! Stayed at the Balranald Club Motel and ate at the Club next door. Good place to park the car and trailer.
Adelaide to Balranald
We packed all the last things in the car and headed off to meet Brenton at his warehouse by 8:30am. It was intermittently raining lightly, and we saw a wonderful rainbow across the sky which ended right at Brenton‘s place.
We picked up the trailer with the bike on it, and bits and pieces from the 24-hour race. Said our goodbyes to Brenton and drove off towards home. We made a small diversion into Waikerie to see the painted silos and stopped there long enough to have a hot chocolate at the cafe next to it.
There was also a walk on the cliffs above the Murray right there, so we were able to get a lovely view over the Murray.
Painted silo trail
We headed off towards the next painted silos where we would have to turn off near Renmark to get there. A small diversion but silos that we had not seen before.
Between Renmark and Mildura, a huge flock of about 50 emus!! and then again, a few kms later.
For the third group we stopped and took pictures though there were only 8 in this group, it was still amazing. We walked close to the fence, and they were at a bit of a distance and amazingly they turned and came towards us! Unfortunately, a car on the road frightened them and they walked off.
Just past Paringa we turned off towards Red Cliffs towards the painted silos at Werrimull.
16th July 2024
Quite cold still, 11C and breezy and damp.
Very large flock of corellas on the ground.
Occasional groups of chuffs, the odd crow and magpie.
More rain and road trains. Sure gives the car a good shower!
Collingullie rest stop looked nice. -for next time! (before Wagga)
Filled up with fuel in Wagga and had Subway for lunch.
Onward for the last leg of our journey.
Still raining. Everything is so green.
Increasing numbers of sheep and cattle.
Flocks of white birds, probably Sulfur crested cockatoos at this stage.
Landed home around 3pm. Still cold wet and rainy.
Unpacked and cuddled the Phantom. Turned on some heat!
Adventure wrapped up!
And last day headed for home.
Out of the hotel before 7.30am and on the road on a grey wet day and quite cool. Checked the tyre pressure, everything is good enough to keep going.
Countryside is a bit damp today.
Homeward bound
We passed a creek and there’s about 100 pelicans! They’ve been lots of magpies and Pee-wees. Willy wagtail at the hotel waved us off. There’ve been egrets by the side of the road. Three of them nearly flew in front of us. I’ve not seen any emus or kangaroos or any outstanding wildlife. Have seen several large flocks of galahs.
After we stopped to boil the kettle for a cuppa, another 60odd km towards Canberra than Bird cage, we finally saw a kangaroo under a shrub in a field.
