Tag Archives: 4wding

Overnighter at Jarrangbarnmi / Koolpin

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Seeing Jarrangbarnmi (which used to be called Koolpin Gorge) was at the top of my list of things that I wanted to see up here. It was cancelled on us once before, because they couldn’t remove a croc. And all the permits were booked out the last time we tried to go. We decided to book the permits for one night on Saturday and Sunday. It was nearly 5 hours from Darwin, but it was worth it.


That rock is much higher than it looks in the photo

We got there, set up, then went to have a look at the river. It was amazingly clear. There was no swimming here because of possible crocodiles, but it was nice to see. The only thing that irked me a little about the campsite was the massive section reserved for ‘tour groups only’  which is fine, except there weren’t any. Meanwhile the other permit holders were forced to set up next to each other. We had run out of time to do the walk to the Gorge, so we just had a few drinks, watched the sunset, set the fire up and had dinner. Later that night we experienced this strange sensation I had not felt since being in Victoria… I remember it was called… cold?


With beanies by the fire

The next morning we packed up and headed to the Gorge itself. The walk… is… not very well signposted. It would be, if you decided to read the map that you were given. But since we had been down to river and there was a big sign about the walk, and a well worn trail, I assumed that was the starting place. Maps are stupid anyway. After about an hour we hit a trail marker, which meant that
a) There were trail markers, and
b) We had not been on the trail

After that we got to the pink pool, the smaller and easier one to get to. After our long walk across a lot of rocks we decided to swim and eat here before moving to the black pool upstream. We were the only ones around which makes things that much better. We had a long swim involving jumping off some rocks, and just generally lay around. Claire was having some trying to take photos of me jumping off the rocks. She was finding it hard to time which meant I probably did it twenty times in a row. It was pretty funny, and of course, a lot of fun!

I went for a walk to check out the black pool. It was amazing, far larger than I thought it would be. I sort of regretted having spent the day in the pink pool, but the way that I figure, it gives me an excuse to go back.


The black pool

On the way back going across the correct track markets, it took about 15 minutes. Whoops. Otherwise everything went well, the new car suspension was fine, I used the roof rack for gathering a large amount of firewood and that worked well. It was great to get away, even if it was for the night, and now I’ve been to all the swimming spots in Kakadu.

The Long Trip Home – Part 3 of the Kimberley

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The next morning things looked a bit better, I found someone with a bit of knowledge of cars who explained to me what it meant. You can still drive it but you have to go slow. Not knowing exactly how must to trust him we decided to do just that and we drove to 99km to the next station in 4.5 hours. We were pretty happy to get there, had a few drinks that night and met a few people. So far the total was:
– One broken Patrol fan belt, had to be towed
– One broken suspension on a Hilux, fate unknown
– One abandoned Hilux (with a note saying they were ok)
– One landcruiser with a broken strut
– One camp trailer (owned by the Hema map people) with a bolt issue

Plus our car made it 6 in 24 hours since we left mitchell falls. I hate to sound like a jerk, but I had a few people comment that ‘smaller cars aren’t suitable for the road’ so it made me feel a tad better that we weren’t the only ones having problems with the shocking state of the road. I called around Kunanurra but no one had the parts I need, not that surprising really given my car.

Apart from the strut having us worried, and parts being unable to find, Claire really smashed her head into the car door. She decided that Suzi was trying to kill her. The corrugations didn’t help her headache much, she said “I didn’t know what a corrugation was, now I do, I don’t like it, boingey boingey boingey boingey”

The next day was about 170km to Ellenbrae station, where we got a great scone. It was the first night we were starting to think we would make it back to Darwin. Plus there was a lot of firewood available, so it was nice to unwind a bit. We had decided that this holiday would later be considered a “team building exercise”.


Nice to relax by the fire

About 30km before the paved road arived, we heard the same noise in the front right strut… so we were now without any shocks at the front, and noise of the car was terrible. But we got to the paved road okay… and were quite relieved to see it.

We then went onto Kunanurra, stopping at Home Valley station for a burger. Claire decided she had had enough of packing and unpacking the tent so we checked into a hotel, had some beers and pizza and watched the footy.

Very happy to see paved road again

The next day was Saturday and we went onto Edith falls, thinking it would be a good stop on the way home. School Holidays turns that place into something else, it was utterly crammed full of people. We were planning on having a swim before heading home but thought it might be too crowded. We got into the water at about 10.30am to find zero people at the lower pool… weird. That was our last bit of fun before heading back to reality.


Edith Falls

Mitchell Falls – Part 2 of the Kimberley

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King Edward River Campsite

As we went along the Gibb River Road things were going well. I had always had a theory that some of the horror stories, especially from punctures is actually a result of poor planning. I had brand new Yokohama AT’s, and I had dropped to 25PSI, so I thought the odds of a puncture were very low. I also drove a lot slower than most, and had two spares. Not to mention the servicing, researching the most reliable parts for the car… this all led me to be a bit smug about what might go wrong. My lack of technical knowledge was a benefit, I had to be very very careful with my planning.

The Gibb River road had some sharp rocks, but was generally in an okay condition. That changed dramatically when we turned North to the Kalumburu road. It was the worst road I have ever driven on. I have never seen anything like it, the corrugations were deeper than my ankle for kilometres. It made things very slow going.

The track to Mitchell Falls was the same but at least this as a 4WD road, as opposed to an “unsealed road”. We made it to King Edwards river and the camp site was really nice. Even during peak season there was heaps of space, and the volunteer manager was very nice, and came over to see us. We set up and enjoyed the sunset before heading to Mitchell Falls the next day.

The next day we made it to Mitchell Falls. The first thing we noticed was that the number plate on the front of the car had fallen off. All of sudden I went from “smug Stuart” to “Stuart”. I realised that car issues can happen to anyone, all the preparation in the world wasn’t going to guarantee me anything. We got there and had a really good talk from an enthusiastic guide. We decided to walk up and get the helicopter back. It wasn’t long before another snake ‘tried to eat Claire’. This snake was massive, I am guessing a python from its thick body. Unlike the last one, it was terrified of us and fled as quickly as it could. We stopped at a few nice swimming spots. We were told there was some indigenous art, but we were only successful finding one site.


On the way to Mitchell Falls

Great view

We skipped past the waterholes, preferring to get to the famous Mitchell Falls. On the way we also went by Mertens Gorge. It was utterly amazing. I would say as good maybe better than Mitchell Falls. It was so enormous, to be right on the top of it was amazing, even a little scary.


Merten’s Gorge, is more massive of a drop than it looks

When we got to the top of Mitchell Falls we were hot and bothered and wanted a swim. But because we had an appointment booked with the helicopter we decided to press on to get ‘the money shot’ which is all of the waterfalls in a row. It took a while to find it, and Claire wasn’t overly happy with all of the walking. Eventually we got there, got the photos, and went back to the areas you could swim. The timing worked out great in the end as we had a bit over an hour there in the water and some lunch before we had to get the helicopter.


Came a long way for these photos!

I was told that the helicopter didn’t have back doors. I thought that meant it had only walls. As it turned out, no, it had nothing. Was a little scary, for me. Claire just thought I was being a giant wimp, she was probably right. Was a great way to see the falls and to get back to the car.


Merten’s and Emma side by side.

Once we were on the car we soon came across a fairly new Patrol. It had blown a fan belt and was stuck there. He had sent his mate in a black Hilux onwards, as they had problems with his suspension and would assume he would catch up. After seeing this I went from “Stuart” to “Petrified Stuart”. I just knew there was going to be an issue with the car. I didn’t know when, but I just knew. I decided to drive the road back to camp very slowly. The 89km took 2 hours 50 on the way there, I went even slower than that. With 25km to go we here a massive boom and suddenly the front right tyre feels wrong, assuming it is a blown tyre I pull over to discover the tyre is fine. Which means it is something else, and I am petrified.

We swapped the tyre over anyway, pull a dead bird from the undercarriage, but Suzi (the car) makes this awful groaning noise when you go over 10km an hour. So we stick to crawl speed for the entire trip back, getting back to camp around 3 hours after dark. It turned out the camp volunteer was really worried about us, and was about to go out looking. That is something that has stuck with me, despite us not being in any real trouble, it was something that I really appreciated, what a champ. At night with a torch I can clearly see oil all over the place, confirming it is a shock.

I have a very limited technical knowledge, sometimes it works to my advantageous as I am extremely safe. Sometimes it really sucks, I went to bed that night not knowing what a blown shock meant… was I going to have to get a tow? Could we get close to Kunanurra? Might we break down on the side of the road? It was really really daunting and the mood was very sombre.

 

El Questro – Part 1 of the Kimberley

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We arrived in El Questo for the first part of our trip. We managed to get a private campsite. It was $174 for two days, though about half of that was the “park pass” that gave you access to the gorges. A bit pricey… but wow! It was worth it. It was the best campsite that I have seen. Right on a river, under some great trees, with no one around. It is a cattle station and we were a bit suprised to see a herd of cows sitting around the camp site. Most left but one was a bit bold and kept trying to come over. We shooed her away, but she would always come back. Eventually we managed to chase her off in the car.


Campsite

Moonrise by the River

The next morning we woke up early and headed straight to the thermal spring. It was a great spot to swim, with only a couple of people there we timed it really well.


Then we went to Emma Gorge. Claire nearly walked over a black snake. Usually snakes are quite scared of humans but this one was quite happy taking the path, not interested in leaving on account of us.


Emma Gorge

The Emma Gorge walk was amazing, when we got there it was far too cold to swim, but we had some bikkies and dip before heading back.

On the way back we went to El Questro gorge. It was really Jurassic Park like. Walking at the bottom of some massive escarpments all the way through. Had a good swim in the half way pool too, then headed back. The water crossing there was a bit scary, all of them are very easy but this one started easy at about 300mm on rocks then suddenly changed to 500mm on mud. But we got through without a problem.

That night we had some more fun with a swim a few drinks by our river, once again had a great moon in the blue sky. One of the neighbours was pumping music, and I went over to ask them to turn it down… turns out it wasn’t them, but the homestead. What was even funnier was, thanks to WA time, it was actually 7.30pm at night. I’ve clearly turned into a grumpy old man.

The next morning we packed up and checked the stockmans waterhole out. We had a bit of driving to do to get to the King Edward river camp site, so we didn’t go for a swim.

Long weekend in Wagiman Country

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Just got back from an amazing long weekend away.

On the first day we got to Douglas Hot Springs to find the camping ground was packed! I guess you can’t really expect much else on a long weekend. We found a nice spot and then went to the thermal springs. I was expecting them to be like the luke warm pools of Mataranka, but I was wrong. Parts are hot enough to burn you! Everyone sits up a bout 20 metres downstream and the water temperature is fantastic, ranging from a hot bath to cool.

Claire and I had a swim and a drink, before heading back to camp. We were treated to an amazing sunset. I used this to take some snaps of Suzi with her new roof rack. (And everyone knows bullbars double as clotheslines).

The next morning we went to Butterfly Gorge, and I managed to leave my camera at the campsite! We had been there before it wasn’t so bad. It is one of the best places to swim in the NT. I have to admit the rock hopping can get quite difficult – I am always a little relieved that Claire manages to get out uninjured.
We went back and hit the thermal pools again in the afternoon, it was much needed, as the water at Butterfly Gorge was freezing.
The Sunday night was slightly less crowded but unfortunately it brought out the camping behaviour that makes me avoid busy periods. A shame, but I would still recommend the campsite, especially to those with young children.
Got up on the Monday and headed to Umbrawarra Gorge. It took a bit of finding, but it was a really lovely spot, a nice beach next to a striking gorge. You could have spent a lot of time moving up it, but we only had a few hours, so we just had a swim and some lunch, before having to head back home.