Dazza Coight – Welding With Car Batteries 101.

So we have a busted shockie. The loop at the end has been turned into a strap by a particularly nasty pothole and if we’re to get out of Bachsten Camp we need to fix it.

Daz has read a lot of 4WD mags in his life – There is a huge pile of them at home to prove it. But somewhere in the dim dark past he read an article about how to use your car batteries to weld your way out of a tight spot. Although Daz has never welded anything more than his initials in a piece of steel before he knows the basics and the theory. He has also equipped the 4WD with the gear he need to weld:

• Welding Rods
• Welding Gloves (we use these for the camp fire all the time)
• Welding goggles
• Jumper leads
• Welding rod holder
• Wire Brush
• We already have 4 batteries (2 in the 2WD, 1 in the camper and a Waeco Outback which comes in handy as a spare)

Busted Shockie

The first thing we do is try to bend the metal strap back into a loop so that it’s ready for spot welding. The problem is that in the act of bending the metal back into a circle the entire loop detaches itself from the shockie. Dammit that makes life a bit more difficult. It looks as if we’re going to have to weld the whole thing back onto the shockie….

Clamped the ring onto the end of the Shockie so nothing moves

Nat files the paint off the bits that need to be welded together and works on a device to hold the loop onto the shockie and clamp it in place so daz can weld it, as it’s not going to work if we weld it on crooked!

Daz gets 2 batteries and links them together in series with jumper leads and gets his tools ready.

Once everything is ready Daz puts the earth on the shockie loop and attempts to weld. Nothing happens…not even a spark! He hooks a 3^rd battery into the series and tries to strike a spark again….tap…tap..tap….ZAP! yeah we have a spark! It’s a bit hit-and-miss getting the spark to happen but Daz is patient and keeps at it. He is being careful to not blow holes in the steel and stops frequently to turn the shockie and clamp it back on the table, and chip off the slag (that’s a proper welding term) before continuing.

Daz Welding!

Eventually this is the result…..

We also have to manufacture a rubber bush to stop the shockie loop and the bolt from bashing together. With the help of some spare bits of hose and a plastic tube we think we have a winner.

The Shockie goes back on the trailer – it has 143.7 km of terrible road to prove itself….we lay bets and cross our fingers.

Derby to Bachsten Camp and Back Again

Looking back on this part of the trip I can breathe easier…but there were definitely some moments where I was chewing my fingernails! We got on the road by 8:00 to get out of Silent Grove and we arrived at Elisabeth Station by lunchtime. While we had originally planned to spend the night here we decided that the day was still young and given that the people at Elisabeth told us that there were quite a few places to camp on the Munja Track anyway we decided to get out on the track and bush camp wherever took our fancy. So we had lunch and headed for the munja track. You need to retrieve a key from a particular hiding place to open the gate to get on the track…which we did and were on our way. With Nat at the wheel the track started out pretty good – just a nice smooth farm track that followed a fence line for the first 15 km or so. There were a few creek crossings that we started using 4WD for (as a precaution) but after a while the nice sandy road became more rocky and we had to slow down and be more careful.

Soon we were slalom driving around tight turns where we had to take the corners a bit wider than the road so that the trailer didn’t get dragged along trees. Some of these corners were so tight that we had the car in low range first gear to inch the trailer past the trees. Of course about this time is when we encounter a 4WD APC Tour bus heading in the opposite direction and we had to get off the road to let them pass. It such tight confines this was quite interesting, but somehow we manage it. (As an aside APT are a big tour outfit and they seem to run a lot of wilderness lodges and stations on the Gibb. Personally I hold them a bit to blame for what I consider the “over-touristisation” of the Gibb and given that their tour busses are usually full of old people, Daz and I refer to them as APT – “Aged Pensioner Transport” or simply “retirement villages on wheels”)

Rocky River Crossing on Munja Track

 As the day wore on the road called for more and more use of 4WD and low range until eventually we just decided to stay in 4WD. Nat’s last hurdle for the day was the upper Drysdale River which is marked on the track notes as “Flat Rocky Crossing”. It’s a bit more complicated than that though as the road sort of S bends through the river – this is made more challenging as the trailer always wants to cut the corners and that is not always a good thing. So  Daz got out of the car and talked Nat through the first part of the S bed to the point where the road crossed the water, but being a bit precious about getting his shoes wet he got back in the car and said “righto this looks like nice flat rock just drive across it now”. So Nat does as she’s told and about ¾ of the way through hits a series of bloody big rocky holes. The only way out is to give it the berries and keep the momentum up which got us across the river but not without a fair bit of whimpering from the kids (whose heads were bouncing off the roof I’m sure)  and spluttering/ groaning  from Daz. When we reached the other side of the river Daz was staring intently out the passenger window and I could hear him thinking “bloody women drivers” all the way from the other side of the car. Never one to take that sort of crap laying down I let him have it. “Flat rocky crossing you said you bloody idiot! You’re meant to be guiding through!! Etc etc” The whole episodes ended with a slightly bent step on the Patrol and Daz back in the drivers seat.  (men!!)

A near "Vertical Jacknife"

So now that his lordship was back in control of the wheel Nat decided to take the role of “guide” a bit more seriously – especially given that after crossing the Drysdale the road became significantly more rocky and there were quite a few steep creek crossings that almost had the stone reflector on the trailer kissing the spare wheel on the back of the truck. Thus we coined the phrase “vertical jack knife”. But at least Daz and Nat were working as a team now..

Stupidly we decided to tackle the first serious jump up (Magpie Jump up) late in the afternoon. Really we should have left it till the next morning but by the time we realised this it was too late. Negotiating Magpie Jump Up means driving down a seriously steep set of rocky drop offs and with trepidation Nat and Daz got out to take a look. In Project Management terms we would call this a “Go/No go decision point” and we took some time to consider if this is too much for us. Daz was more confident than Nat though so taking the lead from Daz we agreed on a track through the drop-offs and discuss if we think we’ll ever be able to get back up this. Again Daz was cautiously confident and decided to give it a shot.

So we took the kids and sat them on top of the hill (In case the car rolls or something) and Nat grabbed the hand held radio and called the wheel positions while Daz eased down the drop offs. It’s worth noting that for the driver, going down this sort of drop off is pretty scary as he’s sitting looking at the nose of the vehicle dangling out into space and putting his faith in the spotter who’s telling him where to steer. Equally the spotter is freaking out over…..well…pretty much everything! (the drawbar, the diffs, the six tyres getting torn apart, the side walls of the truck & the camper…and the driver)

Coming down Magpie Jump Up

It takes a bit of drawbar scraping but somehow we got the rig down the drop off without sustaining too much damage…and the sun is about to set. So we get back in the truck and head on looking for a camp site. But we only got about 20m when Nat hears “SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS” coming from the back passenger tyre. Daz springs into action and before the tyre had a chance to go flat he got the bottle jack under it and pulled off the wheel. With Nat running around fetching this and that for him as we raced the setting sun Daz discovered that of all things it is a Tech Screw that has neatly punctured the tyre. Within about 5 minutes he plugged the hole with a repair kit (what a man huh?!?). We got the tyre back on and pressured it up with the air compressor and get on our way asap as it was now getting dark. After 15 more minutes of crawling over rocky road we hit a sand patch next to a creek and make that our camp site.

Tyre Repair at the bottom of magpie Jump Up

Naughty Tech Screw!

Despite our frayed nerves this turned out to be a beautiful place to camp with no one else within cooee and the first beer of the night may well have been the best we’ve ever tasted.

Next morning we got on our way continuing our winning combination of Daz at the wheel and Nat as spotter/ chief road engineer (given that the job frequently required re-arranging rocks on the road to get the trailer or the diff or various other parts of the car through without getting hung up.) We met a few vehicles travelling in the opposite direction who assured us that Magpie Jump Up was the worst one although we would still need to navigate a few other nasty bits. This we did pretty well and it was late afternoon when we finally pulled into Bachsten Camp. Where we got a great campsite complete with Sink, tables, shade cloth gazebo…and…best of all…No Neighbours!! Bliss at last.

Trailer Shockie

There was only one small hitch – We can only assume that it was in the 5km before reaching Bachsten Camp that when Daz hit a nasty pothole with a bit too much speed (neither of us saw it coming) that we has busted a shockie on the camper. The steel loop on the bottom of the shockie (the bit where the bolt goes through) had been pulled into a straight line and the shockie was now dangling loose. Hmmm What to do????

Well it’s a running joke in the Semmler household that Daz is a genius but usually this term is rolled out in sarcastic tones. This time there’s no sarcasm – Daz literally outshone himself by fixing the shockie by welding it up using the car batteries and welding gear he has in the car….for a full explanation on how to do this see the next blog post “Dazza Coight – Welding With Car Batteries 101” This activity took up our first day at Bachsten Camp and we spent the rest of the arvo generally bludging around and reading books etc. Late in the Day we took the kids fir a swim and set some Cherabin traps. 

Cherabin

Next morning we had 10 huge Cherabin, so we rest the nets before hiking to Bachsten Gorge. This would have to be one of the most impressive gorges in the Kimberley with a 5 tiered waterfall. It’s also a pretty serious hike to make it to the bottom of the 5^th tier where we were assured that we could catch Black Bream (Sooty Grunter).  Despite our best intentions (we took our fishing gear) the last part of the walk was just too dangerous with kids in tow and we aborted the mission at the 3^rd tier. We had to satisfy ourselves by gazing longingly at the hallowed fishing pools below whilst eating our lunch. We had a terrific afternoon swimming in the sae 3^rd tire pool with the kids. Jess (after he success at Honeymoon Bay) was keen to catch another fish with her new pink handline from Derby and spent a fair while patiently fishing on the back although she didn't catch anything.

Jessica Fishing

Bachsten Gorge

When we returned to camp we pulled our nets and found we had 1 more Cherabin to add to our entrée. And some campers had arrived back from Walcott Inlet. After several days they had caught nothing (2 catfish actually) and they told us that Walcott was teaming with mozzies and crocs, and that you have to wade out through knee deep mud to be able to fish. This information – added to growing concerns that Matilda was getting an ear infection (we’d be 5 days drive from medical help if we went to Walcott) was enough to stop us in our tracks. We decided that Bachsten camp was far enough and to head back to the Gibb instead of attempting to reach Walcott inlet.

So after 3 nights at Bachsten camp we packed up the camper and turned our heads for home. We dis a quick tour of some aboriginal rock art and honeycomb caves before we left so it wasn’t till lunchtime before we headed off.

Obviously getting out was going to be every bit as rough as coming in except this time we were keeping a close eye on one welded shockie. Every creek crossing and jump up that Nat spotted Daz through via the hand held radio was followed with an epilogue of “…..and the shockie is…………….still there!” We took a bit of tyre side wall damage going up Bachsten Jump Up on the same tyre that we had to repair on the way in, but so far it was holding up.

That afternoon we made camp on a nice creek crossing and as it was pretty warm Daz and I sat our camp chair in the creek and had a few coldies while the kids paddled about.

Next morning (after following some obscure directions we got off a local) we checked out some of the best rock art that I’ve seen in the Kimberley to date.

Winjana Rock Art

 Not long after this the side wall of that injured tyre finally started to star hissing air. So with a quick tyre change we kept going until we reached the dreaded Magpie Jump Up. This was going to be our trade test – of Darren’s driving, Nat’s spotting, Darren’s welding and …..Jessica’s cinematography skills! Daz and Nat picked a path and agreed on where the tyres had to go, we repositioned a few rocks and got Jess into position….Show time….

As daz starts driving up the Jump up, Nat’s spotting… and suddenly Daz is halfway up and Nat is in the way!! At this point the whole procedure turns into Nat running up the hill trying to get out of the way while Daz chases her up the hill (Maybe all those years of take the piss out of Daz has finally made him snap?!!) Thankfully we get to the top and Daz finally stops trying to run over Nat. “…..and the shockie is…………….still there!” 

We load the kids back into the car, give Daz 3 cheers for being a legend (and in Nat’s case for nor running her over), and to the sound of Queen’s “We are the Champions” we press on. Jess’s footage is not too bad…she even managed to get the truck in the frame a few times…check it out!

Nat took over driving from the Drysdale River and the sun is getting low when we make it to the locked gate. Unfortunately someone has swiped the key from the hiding place and it takes a Satphone call to Elisabeth Station to get someone to bring a key to let us out….so it’s pitch black by the time we get to Elisabeth and set up camp.

Cooling our heals waiting for the gate key

Next morning Matilda is covered all over her body in an itchy rash and we’re glad to be only an easy drive along the Gibb to get to Derby.  After a night in Derby were we get some good antiseptic cream to help poor Matilda we head to Broome for a few days

Boab Prison Tree outside Derby 

Honeymoon Bay to Derby

We made it back to Drysdale Station comfortably and treated ourselves to an overpriced meal for the evening there. Next morning we moved on to the rather crowded Manning Gorge camp ground and settled in for the night. We saved the walk to Manning Gorge for the next morning.

Swimming our gear across the Manning River at the start of the walk to Manning Falls 

This was an interesting walk as it started with a swim across the Manning river which was pretty icy.  There are a few polystyrene boxes on the bank that we used the float our backpacks and camera and shoes safely to the other side. After we got saddled up on the other side there was a 2 km walk to the beautiful waterfall and pool (the pool was freezing but very refreshing after the walk). On the other side of the pool the kids found a nice bit of smooth rock which, once wet, made a great slippery slide into the pool while Daz and I soaked up some rays. Eventually we had to leave and it was back to the car and onto Charley River Station, stopping at the Mt Barnett Shop where we were able to buy a couple of tomatoes! (Sadly none of the shops on the Gibb sell beer and we were getting frightfully low by this point necessitating the decision for beer rationing!)

Nat rock hopping into Manning Falls

Beautiful Manning Falls

Jess and Matilda at Manning Falls

We stayed 3 nights at Charnley with the first day being a rest day and the second day an adventure day to Gravillia Falls,  Dillie Gorge and the Donkey Pools. With good facilities, friendly caretakers and some great scenery the  other endearing thing about Charnley was that it wasn't as busy as the rest of the Gibb (maybe because it's  about 45 km off the Gibb).

Dilly Gorge and Charnley Station

Ladder leading into Gravillia Falls

Gravillia Falls

The Donkey Pools

In general as the tourist season picks up we've noticed the road and the camp sites getting more crowded (annoyingly so). On the main part of the Gibb its becoming prudent to get to camp by about midday if you want a spot with shade! So it was nice again to get off the main drag. As it seems like the key to getting away from the masses is to get off the main part of the Gibb (like we did at Honeymoon Bay and Charnley), we started checking it the map a bit harder for some more 'off the beaten road' tracks. One that took out interest was the road to Bachsten Camp and Walcott  Inlet. One track began at Charnley  but upon asking the caretakers they told us that it was shut. So if we want to do it we'd have to backtrack about 50 km along the Gibb to Elizabeth Station....initially we decide 'nah....forget it ...not enough supplies'.

Next stop was Silent Grove so we could visit Bell Gorge. Well I don't know what moron named the place "Silent Grove" but as it is packed to rafters with campers it is not even close to being silent, and as there is very little shade there I don't think it would qualify as a grove either. As you can probably pick up we were both getting a bit ticked off with the Gibb River Superhighway (or maybe it's just that we'd run out of beer!) and we decided that if we were going get some adventure we'd have to go out of our way to make it happen.

Sooooo.....new plan! Tomorrow we'd do the Bell Gorge walk with the rest of the tourists, then the next day we'd leave the camper and run in to Derby to grab supplies (especially beer) and the day after we'd head back to Elizabeth Station and then head for Bachsten Camp and maybe Walcott  Inlet to do some fishing. A few phone calls on the sat phone and Elizabeth Station had confirmed that the road was open. They said it would take us all day to do the 150 odd km to Bachsten Camp and a further full day to get to Walcott Inlet (that's a further 70 km) and that fishing off the bank is very good (must watch out for Salties of course).... OK now that sounds like an adventure!

 So we did the Bell Gorge walk - this is another set of spectacular falls and we stayed for a few hours at the bottom and had a swim and a sun bake.

Rock hole below Bell Falls

Bell Falls

Above Bell Gorge

Once we got back to camp and did the washing. Next day we headed into Derby and topped up on supplies and then we doubled back to not-so-Silent grove - ready (hopefully) for an adventure!!

"Queen Victoria's Head" on the Gibb River Road between Silent Grove and Derby

Kalumburu & Honeymoon Bay

Corrugations on the road from Mitchell Falls

The road from Mitchell falls to Honeymoon Bay is more like a farm track and it took all day to cover the 200 odd km. There's lots of little creek crossings as well as the significant Carson River crossing. You've also got to get 2 permits to pass through Kalumburu. We were able to arrange the first permit with the help of our trusty sat phone, and the second permit we picked up upon arrival at Kalumburu (with only 15 mins before closing time!)

We drove about another 20 minutes to Honeymoon Bay and we arrived just as the sun was setting. I really don't  have the words for Honeymoon Bay. It is by far my favorite place on the trip to date. The facilities are really basic - you can can forget your 5 star ensuite, but if you're williing to help keep the fire pig running you can get a hot shower and there are 2 flushing toilets. Toilet paper, power, lights in the amenities and fresh water there is not....so you need to be pretty self sufficient.

 What makes this place great is the blue ocean, white sand, oysters on the rocks, mud crabs, good fishing, isolation and some bloody nice people.

Honeymoon Bay

Honeymoon Bay

Black Lip Oysters off the rocks

It's  funny how places that are harder to get to seem to filter out the comfort-addicted grey nomads and you find yourself among people who have more interesting things to talk about than the size of their Air Con units. One such couple we met at Honeymoon were Ken and Shirley who usually spend 3 months or so each year at Honeymoon Bay with their boat. On the first morning there was Ken cleaning a decent haul of  Saddle Tail Snapper (STS) and we went over to have a chat. We hit it off immediately with a common love of travel and fishing and Ken and Shrley were kind enough to take is for a fishing trip next morning.

 Oh boy that was Soooo much fun! In the space of 2 hours we'd all pulled in a few STS's each including Jess on her trusty hand line. Then  the sharks moved in and we were getting snapped off left-right-and-centre as well as hauling in severed fish heads! It was Jessie with her 150lb handreel that was able to best the sharks (with a bit of muscle from Nat to assist) and she landed 2 sharks before releasing them. But really the ones who were hooked was us - on Honeymoon Bay!

Daz and Ken get the boat ready to go fishing as the sun rises

Jess pulls in a decent Saddle Tail Snapper - Wooooo Hoooo

Shirley's STS gets chomped off on the way to the boat

Nat lands a black tipped reef shark on Jess's hand line.

A 15 min walk down the beach at low tide brings you to some rocks. You gotta tread carefully and keep an eye out for crocs and muddies but with a hammer and screw driver you can get a dozen black lipped oysters to go with you grilled STS for dinner.  When I die I want heaven to be Honeymoon Bay!

Kalumburu is an interesting place too. It's a dry aboriginal community based around a mission. In WW2 the airstrip was used by the Aussies & US to launch bombing runs  over Japanese forces to the north until the Japanese bombed the airfield and the town. Near the airstrip there is wreckage of some Mitchell bombers, and mission has set up a museum in the town which has some very surprising treasures including aboriginal artifacts and art, ancient Egyption and Roman items as well as local relics from WW2. 

Wreckage of WW2 Mitchell Bombers

Supplies come into Kalumburu via barge and depending on when the barge comes in you may or may not get much from the community store. In our case there wasn't much but it didn't matter anyway. You can get good water from the mission and there is fuel avalable also if you can afford it at $3.70 per litre!

After 3 nights at Honeymoon Bay it was time to say farewell to Ken and Shirley. With a mental note to plan a trip back here in 2014 we hit the road once more, heading south for Drysdale Station.

Mitchell Falls

Heading west along the Gibb we stopped at Ellenbrae Station for some lunch. Back on the Gibb, which was at last becoming a bit rougher, we came across a couple who asked for some help as their suspension as their shock mounts had disintegrated. It took maybe half an hour to canablise his mud flaps and turn them into temporary shock mounts before he was back on the road again.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished and while helping this couple Daz had unloaded a couple of supply boxes to get to his tools. In is wisdom he stacked the boxes 2 high on the side of the road. This was fine until the top box fell off. This happened to be alcohol box (well one of them anyway) and we lost 3 cans of beer and a bottle of Kaluah.....bugger! For his irresponsible behavior the kangaoo court (ie Nat) sentenced Daz to 2 nights without drinking however this was generally accepted as un-enforceable so the sentence was suspended.

 Continuing west we were starting to finally hit some decent corrugation patches on the road....some of them were making the patrol drift sideways and some were big enough to slow you down to a crawl. This was more like the Gibb River Road we'd read so much about -  hooray! We turned right to head up the Kalumburu Road towards Mitchell Falls. The road wasn't terrible but it did get worse as we continued on to Drysdale Station. We camped that night at the Miners Pool with the Summers family and made plans for them to drop off their box trailer at Drysdale (it was in need of some minor repairs which the welders at Drysdale could do, and rumor was the the rest of the way to Mitchell Falls was rough and slow and not kind to run-of-the-mill box trailers).


 So the next, morning with the Summers Family sporting tents on their roof rack it was time to hit the road again. The road definately got worse as we headed north - we were now without doubt in the 'rattle zone'. This means that this is where stuff starts to fail....like beer cans exploding in the fridge, trailer shackles rattling loose, the Anderson Plug rattling out of the truck, the door open light turning on and off, and the EGT gauge wigging out intermittantly. It's the sort of place where you get out and check your gear every 50 km or so, and if you hear a new rattle you stop to check it out in case something serious is failing. That said you could get a commodore up the road if you were prepared to go sloooow. 


Turning left onto the Mitchel Falls Road, the road turned into more of a track lined nearly the whole way with palm trees. While the track wasn't terrible, you still had to get down to a crawl for parts of it. It took about 2 1/2 hours to travel the 80 km to the Mitchell Falls camp ground. The camp grounds were good and we were soon set up complete with camp shower set up (after chewing dust all day that shower was worth is weight in gold). 

Chopper flight to Mitchell Falls

 Next morning while the Summers family bush walked to Mitchell falls we got our washing done (hand washing in the fish box) and then hopped on a chopper and flew to the top of Mitchell falls celebrity style! If you come to Mitchell Falls I definately recommend you save up for the chopper ride as it's the only way you can get a look at all the layers of the falls. They dropped us off at the top of the falls where we met the Summers and started back down the 4 km return walk taking photos the whole way. 

Jess is the co-pilot

Matilda give the thumbs up on her first Chopper flight

Mitchell Falls from the air

Mitchell Falls on the right (3 tiers) an Big Mertons on the left

Chopper landing at Mitchell Falls

Big Mertons falls. A few days after our visit a lady fell to her death over here :-(

The falls are amazing around this place and there's plenty of places to stop and have a swim on the way back. One such place is Little Mertens falls. You follow the track under an over hanging rock with aboriginal rock art and next thing you know you're behind the waterfall! You can swim in the plunge pool or stand in the falls and get pummeled by the water from above. Nat did both! We had lunch under the falls and then made it back to camp. Happily both Jess and Matilda can walk 4km and even managed it without too much whinging! 

Cave under Little Mertons Falls

Nat finally get a shower with decent water pressure.

Jess in particular is really becommimg a bush tucker girl. She's been catching the ants with the bright green bottoms and eating the green tails off them! Later in the arvo we doubled back to the nearby creek with the Lilo and had a ball swimming around the little rapids. 

Kids are turning into pretty good rock-hoppers

Next morning we said goodbye to the Summers family as they were heading back to the Gibb (they need to get home a month before us so can't dawdle!) and we did another bush walk and went swimming in the creek. On a whim we decided to head north the next day through the aboriginal community of Kalumburu to Honeymoon Bay on the northern Kimberley coast.

Home Valley Station - Gibb River Road

We spent 3 nights at Home Valley Station. The facilities here are pretty good with warm showers (albeit the 'warmth can be a bit tempremental) in ensuite style amenities. In the camping grounds there is plenty of shade and green grass as well as a bar, swimming pool, and kids playground. There is also a "fisherman's camp" about 5 minutes drive away on the Pentacost  River, but this lacks all the nice facilities of the main camp ground (although the view of the Cockburn ranges from here is splendid), so we opted to stay in the camp grounds with the Summers family.

On day 1 we headed west to Bindoola falls for a day trip. After some initial difficulties finding the place we found some great rock formations with lots of waterfalls ranging from 'small enough for the kids to climb in' to 'stay the hell away from that drop off'. The kids spent an hour or so playing in the smaller waterfalls while the adults wandered around and admired the red stepped rock formations.

Nat and Jess at Bindoola Falls

Dazza - King of Bindoola Falls

After an enjoyable morning, we had the idea to hire a boat and go for a fish for the afternoon, but the hire boat motor had packed it in and it was off the menu. Instead the barman told us about the 'secret fishing spot' used by the local fishing guides.  With directions (never trust the barman) we jumped into the patrol and headed off down the track.  Well we had a great time 4wding through some very interesting bulldust holes and rocky drop offs, but after about an hour guess where we came out? The Fisherman's Campground 5 mins from the main campground. Yep we had done a big loop and the barman got his laughs on us that time.
Not to be easily beaten we had a crack at casting for barra at the fisherman's camp. But all we got was a chance to watch the 4m saltie cruising the bank and Nat sconed a mullet with her lure, scaring it out of the water, but not onto the hook sadly.

As we'd booked the kids in for pony rides, we headed back to camp and found the campground inundated with swags, mountain bikes, and support vehicles! Yep, the place was full of crazy mountain bikers who were cycling the Gibb River Road for charity and there were hundreds of them! Suddenly you couldn't  walk 5m in any direction without tripping over a swag, and god help you if you needed to use the toilet or wanted a shower! As it was the last night of the official part of the ride they flocked to the bar and turned the place into an inner city night club for about 8 hours before staggering back to their swags and spending the rest of the night vomiting and snoring. 

Matlida - after half an hour of refusing to even look at a horse eventually plucks up the courage to ride one!

Next morning we got up a 5 am (partly to annoy  the bike riders and mainly because we wanted to get some sunrise photos around the Pentacost River and Cockburn Ranges before walking Emma Gorge in the cool part of the day. So making as much noise as possible we got ready to leave, and discovered that the bikers had helped themselves to a large portion of our firewood overnight. A couple we STILL brazenly  helping themselves at that moment! Without saying a word Daz walked up to them, picked up the last 4 pieces of wood and stalked back to our camper and stashed them. Then we drove off. ( I'll add that when the Summers family got up they also had their own version of a hissy fit over the firewood theft problem....the bikers must have got the guilts because they donated their left over food to our combined families by way of apology as they left)

Oblivious to the happenings at camp, we spent some time taking some photos of the sunrise over the Pentacost and tried a bit of early morning fishing (with our usual lack of success) before heading off to Emma Gorge. This was a 3.6km return walk...and for the kids it was a big ask as it involved a lot of rock hopping. Still it was worth it as the falls there are really beautiful.

Sunrise at the Pentacost River

Emma Falls

Kids just near Emma Falls

We'd planned to chill out at Zebadee Springs after the walk to Emma Gorge but it closes at noon to make way for some kind of yuppie guided tour where you can drink Champaign in the springs without all the peasants spoiling the view. So instead we went into El Questro and had lunch before heading back to Home Valley Station. We got to give the firewood-thieving-mountain-bikers a bit of a dust up to help cure their hangovers as we passed them on the way back - revenge so sweet!

Back at camp we headed back to the fisherman's camp to try again to catch the elusive barra. Nothing as usual (although Nat did catch a few live mullet for live bait in the landing net) and watching the sun set in to part of the world was really something special.

Sun set at the Pentacost River looking back at the Cockburn Ranges

Back to camp and pack up. Next stop Drysdale Station enroute to Mitchell Falls.