Howdy Forumites,I got back Monday night from my three West Australian adventure .
There was three parts to the trip :
.......................................................................................................................
Sydney to
Mitchell Plateau and
Kimberley Coastal
Camp :
I overnighted in
Bourke , a roadside stop west of
Camooweal and
Jasper Gorge in
Gregory NP. I arrived in
Kununurra at 9.00 am on Day 5 . The Buchanan Hwy from Dunmara on the Stuart Hwy was pretty deeply corrugated , and I blew the side right out of a Cooper AT at 90 kph on the first part of this road – en exciting couple of seconds ! Driving up through Jaspar Gorge was very pretty , but I was on a mission and did not stop .
I met my friend Godfrey ( a long time EO lurker ) and his wife Judy and we set off for
Mitchell Falls . We went
Kununurra to Drysdale Station on the first night and arrived at
King Edward River crossing next afternoon . The
water was over the bonnet and a totally burnt out huge 4WD Ford F250 was parked there – the
water had started an electrical fire during the crossing .
There is two great aboriginal
cave painting sites here , so we had a swim , explored these and headed off to
Mitchell Falls
campsite where we arrived mid afternoon . There was two quite deep mud holes on the road and I know that one Ford Maverick blew up his diesel in them while we were there ( no
snorkel )
Next day we walked down to the falls and then up the
Mitchell River about 2 klm to look at another great aboriginal
cave painting site .
Next day, my wife flew in from
Sydney to join me and we flew by helicopter into
Kimberley Coastal
Camp for a 10 day stay . This was a great place with five star food , wonderful walks to excellent aboriginal
cave paintings and a bit of barra fishing thrown in . Four of us hired a helicopter for half a day and flew to see some super
aboriginal paintings and brilliant scenery .
......................................................................................................................
14 Day
Drysdale River Bushwalk :
When my wife flew home to
Sydney , the three of us set out for Carson River Station where we started a 14 day bushwalk up the
Drysdale River , across the Carson Escarpment and then to a meeting on the Carson River with a helicopter which flew us back to where we left the cars at the start of the cars .
We had decided that the only way to see and photograph the
aboriginal paintings in the Drysdale NP was to walk in . It was a tough trip as we had to carry all our food for 14 days . My pack weighed about 23 kg when I started , but gradually lightened off as I ate my way through the food .
I gave up smoking and went in to a hard training regime for this trip , but I still found the first 5 days going very tough . After that , the weight was down and I was toughening up rapidly . BUT THEN IT STARTED TO RAIN ! I had no tent , only a mossie net , so I spent three nights under rock overhangs , sleeping where the aboriginals had for the last 20,000 plus years .
The last two nights we were down on the Carson River and there was no shelter . I was wet for three days with no dry clothes – my feet turned to YUK and I had about 2 hours sleep in two nights . We ran out of food when our helicopter could not get in to pull us out , so we caught 26 fish ( catties and grunter ) and threw them on the coals .
After I got back to the car , I had a lot of trouble on the wet greasy tracks getting out of Carson River Stn , back onto the
Kalumburu Road . The
Kalumburu road was very slippery too and when I reached
Drysdale River Station I was immediately set upon by Anne the owner , for driving on a closed road . The shire had closed the road to minimize the damage and had signs up at each end - I never saw them though because I joined the road halfway down . She calmed down after a while and booked me into a cabin which was clean and comfortable . Stayed there another night and dried out my gear and washed some clothes .
When the road opened ,we headed off – me for
Marble Bar to start my gold fossicking tagalong and Judy and Godfrey to the Burrup to look at the aboriginal
engravings on their way home to
Perth .
.....................................................................................................................
10 day Gold Fossicking Trip :
I met the Coiltek / Gold Expeditions tour as arranged in
Marble Bar and headed out to a gold mining area about 50 klm south of the town where we stayed for two days . I found my first nugget there with the detector – It was a “sunbaker” – just sitting on the red sand looking up at me . I was very excited at finding my first bit .
The next 7 days were spent camped at Mosquito
Creek ,which is west of
Nullagine off the Skull Springs Road . Mark from Coiltek who was running the tour , spent a lot of time showing me how to use the detector and in the next week I found 11 nuggets . Most of the people on the tour were catered for and the food was great . After dinner every night , we all sat around the fire talking about our discoveries and planning the next day’s attack . Mark had done a fair bit of detecting in this area , and took us to a new spot every day .
I can recommend Coiltek / Gold Expeditions – I was more than happy with the training , the equipment and organization of the tour .
I had such a good time I stayed an extra day and am waiting to get next years itinerary so I can book two trips with them . I am now busy looking around trying to get the best deal I can on a Minelab 4000 detector . Any suggestions ?
I left Mosquito
Creek at 8.00 am and drove to
Marble Bar via
Nullagine . I topped up the fuel and headed east along the
Telfer road to Punmu where I refueled . I then drove into the night until I hit
Well 33 (
Gary Junction ) – a good days drive .
Next morning I had a
dingo’s breakfast , rolled up the swag in below freezing temperatures and headed east once more . The road here was not as good as west of
Well 33 where you could comfortably sit on 90 kph on the straights . The ruts and corrugations seemed to get worse the further east I went . I reached
Alice Springs at 9.00 pm on the second day after being breath tested just east of
Papunya . I used 230 litres of diesel getting from
Marble Bar to Alice , and I made it across to Alice in two days , after leaving
Marble Bar at 11.00 am on Day 1.
Left Alice at 7.00 am and reached Pt
Augusta 12 hours later where I stayed at a nice Motel . Went straight through
Peterborough as Willem was away in
the desert .
A day later , I was enthusiastically greeted by the dog who definitely missed me ! Not so sure about the rest of the family !
Never saw another EO sticker , which is pretty normal . Only ever met one member on the road .
Toyota 100 TD went really
well and just needs a service .
Cheers ,
Willie