The Kimberley Trip, WA.
According to Nakkas
Day 1. At the pre-arranged meeting point of BP Palms, Nakkas and Jacalyn, Steve and Rose Rhodes and John, Jane, Alain, Amy Montz and Jessie, ventured forth to the Kimberleys to meet with another group consisting of Kevin, Karon, Charmain and Daniel Pearce and the Symons, Graham, Alice, Kaylan and Aden who both left two weeks earlier. The trip to Kununurra was uneventful and camp was setup in one of the camp parks. The Montzs "camped" at the Motel.
Day 2. Onward bound to Drysdale Station for a 4 hour drive. HA!.. Nakkas was tail-end Charlie following on the dirt, corrugated Gibb River Road following what was thought to be the Montzs.
The car being followed turned off to Elquestro which was not the plan. Nakkas radioed to the Rhodes what had happened and Nakkas started to give chase as they had no Radio. A couple of minutes later Rose radioed that the Montzs were parked behind them and the car I was following was someone else. Doh... and when Nakkas turned the Jeep around he found a flat tyre. The others turned around and drove back to lend a hand. This was to be the first of 4 punctures for Nakkas to be found that day.
A stop at Jacks Hole was spent chatting to the locals whilst Nakkas repaired some tyres to get him through. The tourists in the bus thought this was what the outback was all about and were busy taking snaps while the sweat rained down. The most work ever seen from the comments.
The corrugations got worse as the night fell upon us. Nakkas was about to slash his wrists. We finally arrived at the Drysdale station campsite named Miners Camp and here we all met up, at 8pm.
Day 3. The morning broke at 6am and all were laughing at the 4 punctures Nakkas received, but to make matters worse the front tyre was also flat. 5 punctures. We drove to the Station to see if any tyres could be bought. 2 x 225/15 or 4 x 265/15. The decision was 4 big 265s which lightened Nakkas pocket by $1040 and raised the Jeep about 4 inches.
2 rear shocks for the Rhodes Jeep were ordered from Jeep to arrive in 4 days. A set of Gabriels for a Toyota were purchased as a temp' fix. These took about 4 hours and much modifying to install, but Kevin loved every minute. Some new shocks for the Pearces truck were brought over and installed as well. Graham Symons also repaired a rear brake line that was leaking on his Hilux.
Day 4. After a fuel top up we all left for the next campsite on the King Edward River. This site is on the Mitchell Falls turnoff about 100km from Drysdale and the road was like a freeway compared with the Gibb. A very nice spot along the river was found and this was base camp for a few days.
Day 5. A trip to the Falls was the plan. About 75km severe corrugation was the menu. Could it get worse? For Steve and Rose, yes. Their new Gabriels chucked it in after 26km and the car was left on the side of the road to die. The Rhodes continued the trip in Nakkas Car with Jacalyn. The road in was all single lane and because of the school holidays was very busy. The camp sites at the end were full of rubberneckers. A walking trail of 2 hours round trip was ahead of us when we arrived at the end of the road and with dog and all, we trekked off to the falls. First falls encountered were the M falls which, with no signs, many others before us thought were the Mitchell falls and headed back to camp not knowing the real Mitchell falls were another 15 minutes beyond. The falls were worth the trek.
Fantastic. The water was cool and clear and most of us had a dip. Some good vantage points were found to take some great photos which I' m sure you will all see at the Photo night coming up. After lunch was consumed, we left Alice and Kaylen to return in the heli-taxi while the rest foot slogged it back to the cars. By the number of people there, you would think there was a main road to the falls. After collecting Alice and Kaylan, we left to return to the much loved corrugations back to the campsite. On arrival a much needed rest was in order but the kids were off to a horse riding operator for an hours ride on the bush trails. On their return from their quest, dinner was ready to be devoured. Every one to bed at around 9 pm which was the norm on this trip as we were all up at the break of dawn (6am).
Day 6 The Pearces and the Montzs plan was to travel to Kulunbaru today and stay for two nights while the rest stayed for one more night at King Edward site and then stay at the Gibb River crossing. A nice site that was spotted on the way up and which Nakkas wanted to stay before Drysdale. More on this later. The Pearces and the Montzs left at 9 while the rest of us relaxed. Steve wanted to leave early to pick up his shocks but a call on the radio to Drysdale Stn put a halt to that idea as the mail plane hadn't arrived yet.
Day 7 After a quiet night, the two Jeeps and the Hilux sped along the freeway to Drysdale to pick up the shocks and to replenish our fuel at $1.18 a litre and milk/bread. The bread at $4.50 was frozen for us at no extra cost. On the way to Drysdale, Nakkas was short 3 litres of unleaded and required the spare fuel from the Rhodes to continue. Travelling on corrugated unsealed roads really stuffs up your fuel figures. $95.00 later the gauge read full.
We continued to the Gibb River crossing and picked a quiet spot on the banks of the Gibb. The Symons picked a spot they called Gibb River Waters while Nakkas and the Rhodes picked Gibb River Heights. This spot was excellent and going by the amount of people seen a few days before, was quite popular. The river was flowing gently and there was ample sand for the kids to play in. A few campers arrived late in the day and notably, 5 4 cars all with kids camped next to us. The must have been handicapped with hearing loss as their conversations could be heard all over the Kimberley region. While we were grouped around the mandatory campfire, the music started from their vehicles and a normal conversation at our site turned into a sign language demonstration. Nakkas yelled out to the noisy campers to turn the music and after two attempts to get their attention, was successful and was appreciated by the other campers at this site going by the applause heard. It was a late night for some trying to get to sleep because of the partygoers next door. Nakkas spent many hours awake as something didn't agree with his stomach. It was either the water or the vegies and curry.
Day 8 Next morning all the other campers left and we again lazed in the Kimberley sun pondering the meaning of life and whether the grader would grade the road back to Elquestro Station. Miracles do happen but as we found out later we must have kicked a sacred rock somewhere.
Graham and the family washed their steed in the river and changed a damaged tyre while the others arrived in the afternoon and set up camp. Kevin parked the number 9 bus on the riverside sand to be next to the Symons while the Montz picked the noisy campers spot so not to have a repeat performance of the previous night. Many stories were told of the ones that got away and the $1.30 litre fuel at Kulumbaru. Kevin got a puncture on the way back and it was noted that the 55 looked like a beached whale with a flat as the Toyota's tyres have a very high profile and from behind looked like it had a collapsed spring.
Day 9 By now we are all in the swing of packing up tents and stacking everything in the 4x4s that there seems to be a lot of space left and maybe we forgot something. Practice makes perfect they say, and we got plenty of that. When it was time to leave, Kevin lived up to the beached whale description by getting bogged in the Gibb River Waters sand. With a bit of help from Nakkas and some Snatch 'em Straps we were off to those damm corrugations again. About 30km into the journey, the Rhodes Jeep's rear shockers (the Toyota type) decided enough is enough of these damm corrugations and sprayed oil all over Steve as he was attempting to remove them on the side of the road. So much for Toyota shocks. After replacing the shocks, we continued to Jacks waterhole, not to repair any cars but to relax and have morning tea. Very friendly people there even though they had run out off most supplies. They managed to scrape up some coffee, bickies and cakes. We left feeling better for the break and ventured back on that damm road to a stop called Coburg Range Lookout. Lovely spot for photos as you'll see. Kevin noticed that his front axle will never rust going by all the oil emanating from the crack in the front axle and the diff oil pouring from that crack. Oh well he said, lets keep going, there's not much we can do. At about 2pm we finally arrived at our destination without a puncture. Amazing... but that small crack in the axle was big enough to poke a couple of $50 dollar notes. Funny, that's how much it cost to fix. After chatting with Cookie, the chef and lightning our wallets we proceeded to Brumby Lodge, our home for 4 days. This site had Hot and Cold showers as long as we stoked the fire under the 44 gal boiler, a kitchen with gas stove and fridge, a fire place and a dinning table. This setup is used for bus tours and the like. After a hot shower that you would die for, we cooked and chatted around the campfire before bedding down for the night.
Day 10 Not much happened today. Just catching up on the repairs to some of the cars and enjoying the hot showers.
Day 11 We decided to do the Chamberlain Gorge tour after we were offered a good deal. Normally the price is $30 a head but they let the kids go for free. A bargain. This was going to be a 3 hour trip. All it ended up being is a 5 minute tour in a boat that travelled at crawling pace up the gorge, look at some touched up painting on the rock face, then travel back again. The kids played cards for most of the trip. I must admit that most of the commentary was educational even though it was only on the way down the gorge. Back to Brumby Lodge for a hot shower.. Some other campers decided to camp in the site next to us and one of the ladies wanted to use the toilets which are for use just for our site. Nakkas explained that this was a private site and she got all narky. Must be PMT, what ever that is....
Day ... I'm loosing count. The kids went on a horse ride for an hour, the Rhodes and Jane went for a joy ride on a Helicopter, and Nakkas got into a drinking competition with Cookie and Buddy ( the local Ringer and celebrity) and lost...I think...
Home Day After saying our last goodbyes Nakkas and Jacalyn left to drive all the way to Darwin with the Rhodes in hot pursuit 20 minutes behind. The Symons and the Montz stayed for another night and the Pearces stopped at Emma Gorge and some more rock paintings before camping at Katherine for the night.
Post Mortem
If asked, would I do the trip again, the answer would
be ... no.
The roads didn't
do the cars much good even though the Jeep came
through ok except for the tyres, but the strain on
my sanity was a bit too much. Also I wasn't
prepared enough and in hindsight it doesn't
pay to be stingy on equipment for you 4x4, eg. shocks,
tyres and spares.
Luckily for me we had enough puncture repair kits and
plugs to get me and some others through to the other
end. Another footnote is that I was told after I got
back that the best side of the road to travel on corrugations
is the other side of the road. (Note.. Make sure no
cars are coming the other way).
[Ed: I always drive on the LHS!]
Always carry enough
spare tyres is another good idea. 2 is a minimum.
Take it from me and remember someone else might need
your spare.. Thanks Steve and Rose for the use of
your NEW spare wheel.
It was an excellent trip and it was good to go on
a long trip with other club members. I'll remember this trip for a long time
- Nakkas
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