Bradby Trip - Planning and Itinerary

The time is fast approaching (8 sleeps to go) and the excitement levels are rising for the Bradby family to leave Brisbane on our 15 week camping adventure across to Western Australia. The trip will be the culmination of 3 years planning originating on the way back from our 2006 Cape York trip.

During the planning phase there have been many purchases both for the car, the camper and, of course Jack and my favourite pastime, fishing and crabbing. We’ve put a bulbar and winch on the front, diff breathers and polyairs underneath. Inside an inverter has been installed, under the bonnet the Prado has had the timing chain replaced (its recommended at 150K, the Prado’s done 132K and we expect to do around 18K), the belts, hoses and water pump replaced and the old ones kept as spares and a complete going over by the best Mechanics in Brisbane, Carindale Car Care (free plug team).

We’ve upgraded the suspension on the camper trailer, replaced the wheel bearings, mounted a high lift jack and added a couple of extra jerry can holders. Fishing wise we have more lures and soft plastics that we’ll use in a lifetime (BCF love us) and I shouted the tinnie a fish finder mainly to use to know the depth of water we are in with the big tide ranges in the north. Other purchases include a Garmin GPS, an EPIRB and numerous other gadgets one can not do without (at the time).

Linda, Jack (13years) and I leave in our 1998 Prado towing an Aussie Off Road Camper Trailer and with the trusty tinnie on the roof on 19 June 2009 returning home around 30 September 2009.

The initial 2 weeks will see us travelling with the Casey’s (Mark, Karen and their 2 boys, Mitchell (14) and Brent (12)). The Casey’s are family – Linda’s sister, husband and kids.

We plan on getting out of Queensland as fast as possible, so we intend spending the first night on the road at Neil Turner Weir camping area just west of Mitchell and then through Longreach, Winton and Boulia. We’ll camp between Winton and Boulia on the night of the 20th.

It’s then across the Donahue and Plenty Highways to Gemtree where we will stay for a couple of nights and fossick in the Hart’s Range gemfields area before heading onto Alice Springs for a day to restock and fuel up prior to heading to Palm Valley, Kings Canyon, Uluru and the Olgas for a week or so.

Further west we head to Docker River to refuel before travelling up the Sandy Blight Junction Road to Kintore. This is where the Bradby and Casey families part company with Mark, Karen and their boys heading east into the West MacDonald Ranges while we head west along the Gary Junction Road and Jenkins Track to Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route.

We head down the CSR to Well 23 to pick up our pre-arranged fuel drop courtesy of the Capricorn Roadhouse before heading along the Talawana Track and into Rudall River National Park where we will explore the various pools and gorges for a couple of days.

Our next destination is Newman to restock and refuel and then into Karijini National Park for some more exploring before making our way to the coast and heading south of Coral Bay to Warroora Station initially.

That’s when the plan becomes a bit more flexible depending on the weather mainly. We will be hanging out to get the tinnie in the water and a fish on the end of the line. So we will stay in the Ningaloo Reef area for a week or so, then we intend moving up the coast via Millstream Chichester National Park at a leisurely pace checking out other camping/fishing spots along the way until we hit Broome.

Broome will provide the opportunity to restock, get the Prado serviced and hopefully time the “Stairway to the Moon” before heading to Middle Lagoon and La-Djardarr Bay and onto Derby and the Gibb River Road to the King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park and its many gorges.

Next stop after that will be Drysdale River Station on the way to the Mitchell Plateau and Kalumburu and McGowans Island for a week of relaxing and fishing. After that we head back down to the Gibb River Road and onto Wyndham via Home Valley and the King River Road.

Next we head into Kununurra to restock and then amble down to the Bungle Bungles for a few days of exploring the gorges, chasms and pools.

Depending on how we going time wise, we’ll probably make a dash across the Top End to Borroloola for some more fishing and crabbing, then back into Queensland for a stopover in Burketown to catch up with some work acquaintances and more fishing.

Again depending on time we’ll either head back via Townsville or make a beeline for Fraser Island to wash off the dust, relax and do a bit of fishing up our favourite creek on the western side of the island. It’s nearing the end of what will have been the trip of a lifetime for us and back to reality of having to put on the work attire and head into the office on 5 October 2009 and start dreaming about the next adventure.

We’ll keep all those that are interested in following our journey up to date with regular more detailed updates as the trip unfolds and look forward to your comments.

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