Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek
12 October
Tunnel creek is further down the rough dirt road towards Fitzroy Crossing than Winjana Gorge. As we mopped up our flooded camp, the park Ranger opined that the RTA might close the road that day. In any case, it seemed likely to rain again that day so we headed off as early as we could after hanging everything out to dry.

Tunnel Creek used to be called Bat Cave but could more accurately be called Cave Creek. It is a limestone cave running through the Devonian reef with the added appeal that you have to wade thigh deep through the creek complete with freshwater crocodiles.

From Tunnel creek

At the far end the cave opens up again to bright sunshine and a nice swimming hole.

From Tunnel creek

We had a look at the aboriginal rock art above the swimming hole before heading back, conscious of the threatening weather.

It started raining on the way back, and the road was a long muddy pool in sections. A fun distraction was a frill neck lizard on the road which Fabian managed to pull out of the tree it skittered up.

From Tunnel creek

From Tunnel creek

We had decided to pack up our camp at Winjana Gorge and head out before we found out that the campground had been closed in our absence. When we reached the Gibb River Road, we found the road we were driving on back from Winjana Gorge had also been closed.

From Tunnel creek

We were lucky to get in. The Gibb River Road seemed like a highway in comparison and it was an easy drive to Derby.

Winjana Gorge

Winjana Gorge
We arrived late in the afternoon after staying a bit long at Manning Gorge. Maggie and Bro at least were feeling all gorged out, but Winjana Gorge had a trump card up it's sleeve - the promise of seeing lots of crocodiles in the wild. We started down the walk though the Gothic-like limestone gorge walls and,sure enough, there they were in broad daylight floating on the surface or sunning themselves on the far bank.

From Winjana Gorge

It took some coaxing to get Maggie in for an afternoon dip further down the gorge, away for m the crocs.

At first we couldn't find the wall of fossils at the far end of the gorge, but after a bit of scouting around, we found them on the opposite side of the dry river bed. Subtle imprints of Devonian Corals which deposited the limestone which now forms the towering gorge walls.

From Winjana Gorge

On the walk back up the river bed there were lots of spots where the Euros had dug a hole in the sand for a drink of water rather than risk their necks drinking in the river.
We got back to camp under a bruised sky. That night, it let loose a nice heavy shower of rain. Nice until I stepped down to check the camp and found the tent floor floating.

From Winjana Gorge

We let Fabe Millie and Bro sleep on until the water started leaking in at the corners. Then Bro and Millie joined John up on the raised queen size bed above the trailer while Maggie and Fabe tried to sleep on the car seats. Neither camp slept well. Next morning, the tent was still standing in the deepest part of a puddle which covered a significant part of the campground.
I dug a drainage channel across the gravel perimeter road which was holding back most of the water, and we started mopping up the mess, before moving to higher ground.

Ellenbrae Station, Manning Gorge and Bell Gorge

Ellenbrae Station , Manning Gorge and Bell Gorge

After leaving El Questro, we continued along the GRR.

From Gibb River Road

The boys were disappointed that the road was not very rough, and ''wanted their money back'' when the Pentecost River turned out to be a dry crossing. We dropped in to Ellenbrae Station for the Scones and Jam touted on the sign, as a supplement to our lunch and were glad of the shelter as an afternoon shower came over. I helped Dave the manager with some measurements and we ended up camping there, won over by the camp shelter with a a huge steel drum water heater in the middle of the camp kitchen, and the shelter from more threatening storms.

From Gibb River Road

9 Oct After a quick dip in the nice swimming hole a Ellenbrae, we hit the road again. More mechanical trouble struck when a trailer wheel refused to turn after I stopped to photgraph the beautiful red soil of the road. The trailer brake cable was slack, so I figured the worst had happened – a bearing had seized up. When the wheel was jacked up off the ground however, it turned freely.

From Gibb River Road

A guy who had stopped to help noticed the problem – the brake callipers were hanging by just one bolt and jamming the brake disc. I was pretty pleased to be able to fix it with fencing wire – real bush mechanic stuff!

When we got to the Mt Barnett Roadhouse, we found it closed for lunch so we drove in to the river to have our own. Bro and Millie loved fooling around in the punt which was tied to both sides for getting across to the start of the Manning Gorge walk.

From Gibb River Road

We did the walk, misinterpreting the signage and thinking the distance to be half as long as it was. We had little time for a dip at the Gorge and really didn't do it justice.

Then more driving to reach the Silent Grove campground near Bell Gorge just before dark. The shadiest camping spot was near a couple who had Billy Joel's greatest hits pumping out of the car stereo. We headed for the next best spot. As it turned out, the music stopped at a reasonable hour but after our Wyndham experience, we weren't taking chances.

10 October

Bell Gorge

Rain fell during the night and again as we walked the short track down to Bell Gorge. That made the rocks a bit slippery and the popular jump look scary.

From Bell Gorge

I piked out but Fabian stepped up and jumped. It looks all of 12 meters high. We all enjoyed swimming in the lovely cool water and later I got up the courage to do the jump. I experienced plenty of terror as I jumped out. I think it's good for you. Fabe and I also swam down to the lower falls above the much bigger lower gorge, but weren't sure of the return route so we left that one for another day. Maggie started a linocut of the top gorge The rain cleared and we had a nice afternoon catching up with work and repairs at camp.

El Questro

6 Oct Emma Gorge
The first point of call on the GRR is Emma Gorge. This is a part of El Questro Station and they charge what some people consider an outrageous fee to visit the features on the station. We duly paid up and took a picnic lunch with us on the hike up to Emma Gorge. This is the maybe the El questro Gorge with the biggest wow factor. A lovely big pool under a waterfall which was barely more than rain when we were there. Still it was a beautiful place to swim. Bro caught a small Mertens Water Monitor - he was surprised at how easy it was to catch.

From Emma Gorge

Then we drove over to El Questro ''village'' and took a private campsite along the river. That night we went hunting for crocodiles. You can see their eyes shining red in the night. We managed to surprise a small freshwater crocodile in a shallow gravelly section. It went running helter skelter down past Broughton who was equally surprised. We managed to catch a few freshwater shrimp to put out as live bait for Barra, but didn't hook anything and ended up eating them for breakfast – delicious.

7 Oct El Questro Gorge
We chose El Questro Gorge for our next hike at EQ station. It was a good choice. Much smaller gorge and hardly anyone climbs past the halfway pool and continues to the small clear swimming hole at the top.

From El Questro

It was also a good way to keep out of the sun. The swimming hole back at El Questro village that afternoon seemed so dirty after the pristine gorge water.

8 Oct Zebedee Springs
On our way out we visited Zebedee Hot Springs. It was still cool enough to enjoy the 32 degree water and not crowded now that it's off season.

From El Questro

The springs were full of tadpoles trying to eat your skin or so it seemed. It ticked more than hurt.

Wyndham

2-5 October

We had planned to return to Kununurra after Purnululu. We had even booked a shady campsite, but we didn't realise that returning involved a 40km backtrack from the turnoff . We were interested to visit Wyndham so up we drove, stopping at the Grotto for a refreshing dip in some green end of season water.

From wyndham

Wyndham turned out to be much smaller that Kununurra - no nice air-conditioned library there.

The Wyndham Caravan Park was half filled with a city of almost identical tents. One of the residents informed me they were surveyors for the army, and I was too unobservant to notice the name Rycon everywhere. All of the tents had an air conditioner pushed against the screen, although most of them were empty. We should have been warned off by two of the Rycon boys sitting drinking and playing loud music in the front of their tent. But we pitched our tent not far away under a shady tree and near the only power outlet left in the caravan park. It is a strange place with a mule walking around hoping to get a dish cloth or towel to eat, and a pool that is closed but everyone swims in it when the proprietor is away which is most of the time because he also runs the crocodile farm. We tried dinner at the local community club, and by the time we got home, the temperature had dropped enough that we could sleep (after yet another dip in the pool). At about 1am, the music started - lyrics screamed on one note to a thrash background. After a couple of failed attempts to ask politely for the music to stop, I went to join them. No they would not turn the music off but they did turn it down and face the speakers the other way. A couple of hours later they finally went to bed.
Next day, I dozily started work in the relatively cool morning while Maggie took the kids to the crocodile farm.  Later that afternoon, we quickly relocated our tent to a safe distance before racing up the road to see the sunset from the 5 rivers lookout. It was cool and there were friendly travellers to talk to.

From wyndham

Next morning,  we packed up and left for the Diggers Rest Station just 37km away where Maggie had established there was horse riding, fishing and mobile phone coverage. We'd had enough of Wyndham town. Bro got directions on google maps on the Blackberry and we headed out across the dry mudflats on the local shortcut. Unfortunately Google Maps got it wrong and the directions stopped in the middle of the mudflats!

From wyndham

Luckily it was on the right route and we found our way to the Wyndham Prison tree, and a bit later to Diggers Rest where the movie Australia was filmed. It was hot when we arrived with little shade for camping. The horse riding had finished for the year a couple of days earlier. We could rent a bunk-house for $150 a night... We camped, and just kept away from our tent during the day. Fabe, the Caretaker and  myself helped Roderick, the station owner, dissasemble part of the stockyards and move the rail panels to horse yard where some cattle had been jumping the fence to share the horses hay. Meanwhile Millie and Bro helped feed the horses and the goats. It was good to be able to help just a bit on the station.
Today, I worked on my laptop while Maggie finished a linoprint and the kids went down to the creek to try to get some mullet for live bait, plus did some school work.

From wyndham

Tomorrow it's off down the Gibb River Rd

Maggie's Prints

        
I started the trip with the idea of doing one linoprint every week, that meant finding time to be inspired draw/photograph and carve a block. I think I've pretty much kept up with that idea except for a lapse in Darwin when I spent time printing more images and then the week after when I had a low period which corresponded with the halfway point of our trip and having an average market experience.

I've regained my enthusiasm and now have 7 images including the Boab Tree which I printed today.
Printing on the road has been tricky in some ways but has led me to be more spontaneous.

 Some of those picnic tables can be a bit rough  and then trying to find a place to dry the prints - that's hard !
John's elasticized clothesline did the job well.
I purchased a plastic sleeved A3folio which fits inside a big plastic tub -this gets stored in the trailer and holds all my finished works.
I have found a soft computer bag fits all my lino, ink, perspex and tools - I keep this in the back of the car so it's easily accessible.
I'm hoping the extreme heat will not effect the prints in any way.
The image below is one I did in the Flinders Ranges - the first time I drew directly onto the lino,
23rd October
I had a fun time at Broome markets, being nice and small and friendly. I ended up selling a few works too. If you click on artwork below you can view some of the other work done on the trip including the kids prints.

S

From artwork

Purnululu aka the Bungle Bungles

On the afternoon before we set off, I noticed cracks in both of the trailer front spring hangers. I rang all the engineering shops in town but Kununurra shuts down at 4 or 4.30pm. We didn't feel like hanging around next day trying to find someone to weld them up so we headed off anyway on the long drive.

As predicted, the 4wd access rd from the highway to the visitors centre took over 2 hours to drive. This park has lots of good information about distances and travel times, as well as rules like "you must take your camper trailer directly to the campsite and leave it there." It all makes sense though. There are fairly long drives between the main features at either end of the park, and there is a temptation to drive straight to one gorge and do a walk as soon as you arrive. At peak period, there would not be enough parking space at the start of the walks. So we headed to camp where I made a few video recordings of Fabian's audition pieces for the PAU ensembles.
Next day, we drove to the Cathedral Gorge walk early as it was reputed to be more exposed. As it turned out it really doesn't matter. All the walks are hot near the carpark and cool and shaded at the end. The domes are fantastic to look at, but I also marveled at the termites building nest right to the top of some domes and other cliffs. Fabian picked up his first goanna on the way in. The great form of Cathedral gorge is unphotographable.

From Purnululu

The pool was clear but you are not allowed to swim in it. We got treated to a didgeridoo performance by a tour group operator on the last tour for the year. They had two guides and just one person on the tour. Although it was 40 plus degrees outside, it was beautifully cool at the end of the gorge. The walk up Picaninni Creek afterwards was hot but rewarding.

From Purnululu

In the middle of the day, we drove back past our camp to echidna chasm right at the other end of the park. We paused at camp just long enough to refill the water bottles and pick up the trumpet. Echidna Chasm is a long windy crack 100m deep that you can walk through touching the sides in most places.

From Purnululu

Near the end is a small amphitheatre where we had lunch before recording Fabian's audition pieces again - this time with LOTS of reverb. While Fabian was playing, Greg, the didge-playing tour guide turned up so they had a little jam. It sounded great. After a final walk to Mini palms Gorge, we were all Purnululued-out.
New Birds - long tailed finch