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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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