Sitting along the Pentecost River

 A calm morning on the Pentecost River between Wyndham and the Gibb River Road and the stress of waiting for the camper leg is long drifted with the changing

tide. We did finally get the leg in Kununurra and Matt went to work fixing the leg and putting the motor back on. He also did some fancy wood work on the base of the camper to keep it from sliding on the tray on some of our more adventurous tracks. He's quite the handy man indeed and I've been more than impressed with my man!

Well on our way now, we did stock up with fresh fruit and veg at the Saturday markets in Kununurra, meat from the butcher, essentials from the supermarket, and fuel from the petrol station, of course. We took the Parry Creek Road as a pass way off bitumen through to Wyndham and stayed overnight along the way at the Mambi Island Boat Ramp. Such a secluded spot was beautiful except for the one other camper that switched his generator on just in time for a peaceful sunset.

Wyndham is a sleepy port town on the top end with a wide open beautiful view from the Five Rivers Lookout where you have the intersection of the Ord, King, Forest, Durack, and Pentecost Rivers. What a view from on top of the world it seems! But we were on to our next track - Karunjie Track - which was clearly posted at the beginning that it was "not a gazetted road" so you're on your own! After passing the Boab Prison Tree which was actually used as a holding cell back in the 1800's,

we arrived at Diggers Rest Station where I decided we both needed a shower so we'd stay at the homestead. What a brilliant night chatting around the campfire with a group that was leaving the following day for a 7 day trail ride. The wife of the rancher was American and we figured out our mums went to university together at UNC Chapel Hill!

Clean and ready for the dust again, we hit the track moving through a variety of conditions, we drove through the salt flats, over dry ridges on the edge of the Cockburn Range, and through deep troughs of sand before arriving at our first camp on the Pentecost River. We had a mud map of the perfect fishing spot but every side track seemed like the right one and we decided to

try a spot for chance. The Pentecost is tidal and so we arrived at mud flats on the bank with only a small trickle that a few hours later rose 8 feet

within an hour. It was fascinating to watch the birds, fish, cows, and crocs all sort out their needs with the tide. Pelicans would coast the tide with their mouth open just to scoop up the fish. Crocs would take advantage of the tide to get in and out of the river before it was too late.

Moving on to our next camp, we found "the spot" from the mud map near the Killing Tree with a smaller stream feeding in and water all day (meaning fishing all day). Matt was in heaven and I was happy to sit and read the day away. Catfish did seem to be the only thing going for awhile and Matt created his own catch pond to hold them with our favourite, Jaws, who would stride through the pond with his top fin gliding out of the water. Although the elusive barramundi still escapes catch for now, we did feast on delicious jewfish cooked on the fire.

Sunsets are amazing with a full moon rising and bush fires in the distance that make the Cockburn Range glow in orange and red. Moving on today to Home Valley Station - another shower is in order and maybe some laundry. I also heard on the Kimberley Station that a gig is happening so we're keen for some live music (it has been 4 years since we met at Splendour and I know a few of you are at the festival now).

Tattoo, poles & moving on

A few updates are required at this point to keep you in the loop.

• Kakadu Tattoo - how is it and will I live? Yes, it does seem like I'll be ok but the local doctors needed a lesson on understanding your surroundings even if you're only here for a rotation. I did most of the research on my
  
  own to determine what I had and how long it would take to heal. So another visit to the doc and another round of cortisone pills with a stronger cortisone cream and I'm on my way. It is a chemical burn so a longer healing time than just a rash. The indigenous kids get themselves in trouble by using this sap from the caustic tree to give themselves tattoos but it takes a couple days to come up so if they reapply, then they can need skin grafts to repair the damage. Luckily mine was only one application! 
• Camper pole- still waiting! Turns out it never left Perth for some reason so I pitched a fit and maybe threw in some good old fashion female hysterics (thanks Mum) and we have it redirected to Kununurra so at least we can get moving on our way. 
• Albert's periodic physical- like every good health care routine, prevention is
  
  the best cure, so Albert the Grinch had his tyres rotated in Katherine and got a full service in Kununurra. He even got his squeaky tray tightened for another round of corrugation. There was also a charity car wash in town so he got a full wash. I don't think those kids knew what hit them when we drove in! 

As for travels, we stayed a couple nights in Kununurra with errands and then went for a couple nights to Lake Argyll where the water is big and blue! The lake was made when the Ord River was dammed to create a body of water 8x the size of Sydney Harbour.

Thanks go to Sever at Kimberley Motors who looked after Albert and let us use his address to deliver our elusive camper pole.

Next up? Bring on the Gibbie! Time to find out what all the fuss is about with the Gibb River Road. We've got a month to get to Broome where we'll take a holiday from our holiday with a trip back to the States for my birthday to visit the fam!

Alien beehives in multi-color

The amazing Bungles!! I should just stop there because like a photo, words will not be able to properly express the awe of this place but I'll try anyway.

Alien forms of beehives with banded red and black stripes on domes surrounding a dry river bed that looks like a thousand meandering snakes cut into rock. Does that help? Ha!

The Bungle Bungles are properly called Purnululu National Park and I've been wanting to visit these since I started exploring adventures for this trip. The iconic shapes are like nothing I've ever seen and obviously earned their World Heritage ranking for good reason. Flights over the area are meant to be a special way to see the domes but having done the hikes, I can't imagine a better way to appreciate their immensity as we're encompassed in their depths and surrounded by the alien forms.

We stayed two nights on the North end from Kurrajong Camp and then two nights at the Southern camp of Waladi. This was a good way to do (not that it was on purpose) as the northern end with beautiful gorges and cliffs, lets you appreciate the scene before moving on to the more iconic dome shapes. Echidna Gorge hike is a must especially timed for the sun to hit centre gorge at noon. Then Mini Palms hike lets you rumble over boulders to reach the inner sanctuary.

The must hikes from the South side are Picaninny Creek lookout, Cathedral Gorge, and the Dome Loop. We did wake early one morning to do the longer 12k hike to Whip Snake Gorge as well which lets you get deeper into the dry river bed and a gorge to yourself.

Oh and the sunsets here? Unreal! The light brings the cliffs alive and the lookouts give you 360 degree views of this sacred land.

Along this trip, it seems Matt and I have become Twitchers in some right as we are overwhelmed by bird watching. Our second camp at Waladi was abundant in winged visitors. We had a daily visit by a beautiful blue winged kookaburra, an overnight stay by a tawny frogmouth to wake to two of them, as well as cockatoos, bush quail, honeyeaters, and robins! We did get to see the double barred finch deep in Whip Snake Gorge - a bird only found in this area.

Then leaving the park, we ran into our lovely friends, Sally and Keith! We joke that stalking must be occurring as since Finch Hatton Qld, must have crossed paths at least 6 times! We always have a good swap of stories and then move on till the next meeting.

Luxury in Halls Creek

The least likely place I would have chosen to live it up in a hotel but alas we've been at Kimberley Hotel in Halls Creek for five

days now. There were only two choices and we couldn't get in the Best Western so a deluxe queen we have in the town's historic hotel. I can tell you we have been taking full advantage of access to a tv, our own toilet and shower.

Emma, thanks to you and Cameron, if we couldn't find our fill on tv then we enjoyed a few selections from your hard drive.

The hotel stay had two reasons:

1. My lovely Kakadu Tattoo needed medical assistance as well as some proper cleaning - on the mend now but will likely have a great scar to tell the tale.
2. The camper had an accident that left it a 3-legged one.

Yes, the track in Gregory gave a beating to the camper on one of the steep creek crossings and then add an over extended lift to level the camper back and we had a stuck pole with the camper raised off the ground.

Matt quickly went to work as the sun was setting and we could neither drive it or sleep in it as was. Plus we were a full days drive away from civilisation and a whole lot more 4wd track before we reached the dirt highway.

The new pole was meant to be here in Halls Creek within the week but seems like we have another one to go (never use Couriers Please!). So we are going to head on to the Bungle Bungles with a 3-legged camper and return to Halls Creek after with hopes the pole will be here by then. Matt will do his magic again and reinstall the pole and motor.

It's all part of the adventure!

Albert does Gregory

The title may have grabbed your attention but Gregory National Park definitely got ours. This was an extreme driving experience as the park can only be seen by 4wd. The tracks follow old stock routes from the 50s but I can't imagine cattle or drovers having much luck in these harsh conditions.

The tracks were rocky and dry with limestone sheets that cracked like glass when the truck (aka Albert the Grinch) rode over them. We had

creek crossings, mostly with no water, dirt runs, tall grasses, and steep jump ups. Our camps were proper bush camps on a water source of some sort - all croc murky. We LOVED it!

The markers to keep us on track were blue boab trees on periodic posts. And the real boabs were amazing! These trees have been around for hundreds of years. They grow up and then out with age. Some have carved markings from the drover days when they called them hotels which was appropriate as the stayed at them while tracking.

The only set back of our time in Gregory was my 'Kakadu tattoo' was starting to not look so good and be properly itchy and spreading. When I

finally showed to a few people one guy called it when he said it was a chemical burn from the caustic tree or blister bush - yep, the sap from a tree in Kakadu has left me with a good story to tell and a helluva scar.

After following the tracks through Bullita Stock Route, Humbert, Wickham to Gibbie tracks, we exited the park on day 4 very much in love with this special place. It was 1st of July which is NT Day but we had a mission to make Halls Creek by sunset as they had a hospital for my new and expanding tattoo.

Just as we thought it couldn't get better than Northern Territory, we started to cross into Western Australia and realised there was a hole lot more beautiful to come!

Story to be continued...Gregory won

the battle but not the war as Albert carried a 3-legged camper back to Halls.