Kununurra 24/9/18

Hi folks.
Well it has been some time since our last post and so much has happened since then.
We escaped Mt Isa after the fiasco with the air bags, left town 5 minutes after the car came off the hoist, camped o'night at Attack Ck, nice spot but is being over run with real cats!
Caught up with Kathy brother Les at Daley Waters Pub, haven'e seen him for a few years and seems happy enough with his life on Cow Ck Station and the beer was beautiful and cold, meal prices were reasonable as was the camping fees.
Then on to Jasper Valley via the Buchanan Hwy (dirt) where we met Les's partners Father, bloody nice bloke, the camp ground at Jasper was closed due to bush fires so camped in the day use area where the Rangers had done a backburn, very peaceful spot right on the Creek, managed a few night shots of the fires coming over the hill.
Keep River Nat Park was our next stop and what magic little spot that s, like mini Bungle Bungle in area but just as spectacular, well kept secret as we shared with 3 other campers and there is no mention of the vistas etc in any of the literature.
Needless to say that these areas are no mobile coverage so we enjoyed a very peaceful few days.
Then on to Kununurra as the truck was due for a service, straight in and had it back by lunch time, better  prices than Innisfail as well.
We did the Old River Cruise which is a real eye opener, it runs from the Dam wall back to town with frequent stops for viewing wild life, the red bluffs and informative talks by a passionate guide, there are even a few feral cattle left there from the Durack days, they are a pretty scrawny looking lot of short horn and showing signs of severe inbreeding but they have survived a lot of years without intervention.
Onward and upward to Wyndam to see the port etc, now that was a surprise, 2 tiny towns a few klm apart, similar to Kurrumba but on a much smaller scale, not what we expected but different none the less, saw a crock while watching a few locals fish from a floating jetty and they weren't happy with it being there either.
Up to the 5 rivers lookout above town, fantastic views but with all the smoke around from the bush fires, restricted photographic opportunities.
Then down to the Bungle Bungle's, wow ! words just don't do that place justice, the southern end is where the layered domes are and the northern side is just as spectacular only completely different composition, where the layers are limestone and iron stone, the northern ones are all conglomerate  stone. Like chalk and cheese, the Echidna Gorge has 200-300 mtr sides and in places are only a meter apart and all conglomerate, absolutely mind blowing, climbing into Little Palm George there are blocks of the stuff the size of houses to go over, around or under, totally different to the easy walks in the southern end.
The road in was a totally different story however, the first 15 of so klicks had huge corrugations and the rest was heavily corrugated with rock outcrops and bull dust holes. The Park roads on the other hand were really good.  Again the bush fires played havoc with plans with parts closed for days and once opened, just a blackened vista until you arrived at the camps and walk sites.
Kath and I would love to see this place after rain, may be one day.
The whole area seems to be on fire, hundreds of Klm's just black, it extends right across the Gibb River Rd with a lot of places closed because of it, may be just as well if the prices for camping is anything to go by - $44 for an unpowered site and you can't use the boat ramp ! $200 for a 20 minute chopper flight, $220 for 2 hrs of horse riding and the list goes on. Just blatant extortion so we said no.
Kath met her sister and b'inlaw here and the girls are off on the Argyle Diamond Mine tour tomorrow,
she checked out a few samples of pink ones and they varied in price from $1500 for one about a millimetre to $291,000 for a 1.2 ct stone, can't exactly see her splashing out anytime soon for one 😍
I got a tad teary while experiencing all this, thinking about just how close I came to dying 3 years ago  and so appreciative of the Medical Team and supportive friends who have given me this second chance at life, it is a gift beyond value.
Any, thats about it for now, quite a few photo's to bring you up to speed. Oh and by the way, the beard has gone - it got too hot.
Stay safe

                                                              night shot of the Keep River

                                                                    Old River 1

                                                                      Ord River2

                                                                   Old River 3

                                                                Sunset at Lake Kununurra

                                                                 bush fire at Bubgles

                                                                The Domes

                                                                  The layer vista

                                                         Kath and I up Pickinni Ck

                                                          my moment of reflection

                                                             200mtr cliffs at Echidna

                                                             Kath enjoying to cool walk

                                              some of those boulders are huge, even bigger

                                                                 Little Palm Gorge

                                          the end of Little Palm, water inlet during the wet

Mt Isa 10/9/18

Hi folks,
Still in Mt Isa !!  everything was going according to plan, the tyres were ordered and organised to be fitted Saturday arvo, the air bags were for Friday delivery and fitted same afternoon and the Hema Map people contacted the TJM Dealer here and organised a replacement unit.
Huge thank you to them as we depend heavily on that Hema Mapping, way over and above customer service there from both Companies.
Well we went to the tyre shop on Saturday afternoon at 1pm as organised, Toyota on the hoist and 'boom',  they some how over extended the bags and ripped the top off them ! at 50psi they make quite a noise when they let go. Ok so new tyres fitted and $1760 later all looks good, TOYO brand which has a deeper lug, stiffer side wall and a lower tyre pressure for the rough stuff , however new air bags need ordering on Monday so extra couple of nights in the Isa.
Found out the airbags supplied were standard size and not extended ones required for the heavier springs we have fitted. The dealer phoned this morning and advised us a new set were on their way from NSW, hopefully will arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed.
So Kath and I started touring the sights of the Isa starting with the Museum, the fish hatchery and the outback gardens. While in the gardens I spotted a Satin Crested Bower Bird's bower, moved closer to have a look and he started to kick up a stink. I settled myself down next to a shrub to break my outline and waited, sure enough he returned and resumed his duties of maintenance and hopefully enticing a lady friend to join him, After about 30 minutes sure enough along she comes and admires his handiwork, typical female, not happy with it so she shifted a few small sticks and a berry.
Well did he go off, put on one hell of a turn,  loud cries and proceed to 'repair' his bower, while he was doing this a leaf dropped into the arena so that definitely had to go ! luckily I got quite a few good shots of the whole show, just wish I had the longer lens,  well worth the admittance fee for me.
Meanwhile while all this was going on, Kathy wandered around and found a 'new' favourite flower which is the Cats Tail, a very pretty mauve flower with a delicate honey like perfume, so after a relaxing lunch and stroll we headed out to Lake Moondarra for  the rest of the afternoon.
Very tranquil way to end the day, heaps of bird life and reflections on the water
Tomorrow starts with a guided tour of the Riversleigh Fossil display and workshop, we have been told it is very interesting and informative, what happens after that depends on the freight.
All in all we are still enjoying the travels, stay healthy my friends.

Bob n Kath

                                                    checking out his handiwork, well camoflarged

                                                                looks good to me

                                           chucking a fit because she changed things !

                                                           that leaf has to go

                                                  Kathy and the Cats Tail

                                                   close up of the cats tail

                               here she is changing his bower, not on !!!!!

                                          then berry !

Mt Isa 5th Sept - first hiccup

Hi folks,
Left Birdsville on Monday and travelled up vial Betoota to Boulia fully intending to take the Plenty Highway to Alice Springs.
First off, the girl manning the Boulia Information Centre  didn't know didly squat about it,  the surrounds or road conditions, but then again we can't expect an emigrant to know our country, especially when her English was difficult to understand, I thought I had a call centre!
At first all went well, out over the Donnahue Hwy to the Qld-NT border and onto the Plenty Highway.
After 70k's sugar turned to shit, big time. Our so called Light Truck tyres are highway usage and far from suited to these roads. My mistake in the end I suppose as I should have insisted on a lung tyre, the lowest tyre pressure I could use and have the side wall bulge was 60psi !  far from optimal out here, well once they get hot it is over 70psi and then it delaminates.
The whole tread strips off and buckles the mud guard up under the tray, tore the stabiliser leg off it's mount and generally creates mayhem all round, at least I could stop in time before it deflated and wrecked the rim. Checked the other side and it was showing serious signs of problems as well. Couldn't believe it as we were only travelling at 60 - 70 k's/hr and the worst part was we hadn't got to the worst section of the road yet! OK spare on and backtracked to Toobermerry Station at the border as they advertise tyres etc.
Wow ! $30/night unpowered and $100 for a second hand tyre! Needless to say they have you by the short and curlies with no option but to cough up. Second rate facilities and the workers start just after dawn so everyone is up. Best thing I got from there was a night photo.
Kath and I considered our options and decided the best and shortest dirt road was up through Urandangi to Mt Isa and get proper tyres, yep - none in town ! order from Townsville and get here late Friday so Saturday fitting, The you beaut Hema Map HX-1 GPS has decided to go out in sympathy with the tyres and stop charging, so will have to take that to the Distributer here tomorrow and see what can be done, it is only 9 months old so is still under warranty.
So all in all it has been an eventful couple of days, it can only get better from here, we hope.
We will spend a couple of days exploring around here and get the history of the area, mine tour etc so all is not lost
Stay happy and keep smiling.

Birdsville 2/9/18

Hi folks,
Well, what a week that was, after setting up camp we explored Birdsville in 2 hours. This place has totally changed since our last visit in the '90's, it has lost its identity in our books anyway, no longer the sleepy little outback town, very commercialised and is now like any other place that depends on the tourist dollar with prices to match. $8 for a beer ! $80 for a carton etc etc, we didn't buy any at those prices,
While we thoroughly enjoyed our Volunteer duties, met some great people etc, the van park experience will never be repeated! Wednesday night started with some fireworks across the billabong which wasn't so bad but the predawn antics of some people meant no body had a nights sleep, Thursday the fireworks started with a bang at midnight, if that wasn't enough, it woke the hundreds of corellas/galahs etc which roost along the river banks beside the park made a racket followed by the usual pre dawn episodes.
Friday night as part of the weekend festivities was the band at the pub, the noise from that was horrendous, not our taste of 'music') heard clearly kilometres out of town, Fred Trophy Boxing tent belting the drum and their microphone up louder than the band, that ended at midnight then the drunks started arriving back at the park with the associated language/noise etc followed by more fireworks.
This was repeated on Saturday night as well so we will be very happy never to return.
Our Volunteer duties included Marshalls for the fun run, ticket and souvenir sales, driving the courtesy bus for the Volunteer crew, media and other officials. I managed to raise quite a few dollars for the RFDS with my fascinator and Kath helped with the stocktake today, all in all that part was very successful even if the numbers were down from last year. General concenscious was the Big Red Bash a couple of weeks ago has impacted on the attendance.
Kath shouted me a 1hr flight over the area yesterday, now that was awesome, seeing the Goyder lagoon and flood plain so green with large areas of water still there, left over from the floods in Winton some months ago which runs down the channel country to the the Diamantina River, it ends   and the Warbuton River which runs all the way to Lake Eyre begins, what an oasis, the bird life was spectacular as were the expanses of wild flowers. Most of the flight was at 500', after the Lagoon we went west out into the Simpson Desert for the red sand dunes and returned over Big Red. Thanks sweetie, my highlight so far.
This country never ceases to amaze me with it's diversity and beauty, the brilliant colours of the flowers contrasting with the reds and soft greys of the various soils etc is truely mind blowing.
I hope you enjoy the following photo's.
Good nights sleep tonight as the town is nearly empty with the mass exodus today.
Bye for now, stay safe.

                                                 the mandatory sundowner

                                                    dust storm residue !

inner Birdsville track - closed 

the Lagoon

desert eastern edge

                                          these blokes are legends, the Dr is priceless! a real wag

nuff said

welcome aboard

at the races

fun run

ten foot tall wins the first race

Kath on Big Red, glass in hand

the volunteer crew