El Questro

The name means absolutely nothing as far as anyone knows, it just sounded good when they were trying to work up a good marketing name - it worked LOL. It is full of grand palm lined canyons with the most perfect emerald pools just waiting to be jumped in, and yes we did and Ron even tried to scare the natives by skinny dipping, I have pics but on the grounds of decency (and my health) they wont make it on the net LOL. There is the compulsory Gorgeous gorges, and like everywhere else up here you have to be careful of those pesky crocs.

The set up is quite amazing, there is the "Homestead" which is about $3000 per person per night and unfortunately us paupers dont even get the chance to get close to have a look, from what we could tell the only way into there was by air. Then there were the apartments which are about $500 per night, then the tents at $158 per night and then if you look right down the bottom of the creek just next to the cattle (oh it still trades as a ranch, they get some kind of benefits from the state government if they are a working ranch) there's us LOL. The facilities are very good with a Steakhouse open from 7am each day, an A la Carte Restaurant about 30klms away which is at the Emilie Gorge resort, tours of every type, helicopters, 4WD tours, boats, you name it and it's there. We walked Moonshine, ElQuestro and Emilie Gorges and sailed up Champagne Gorge all totally different and great in their own ways.

This is the Road

Now just to dispell any doubts about whether we really go off road, well here's the proof. This is the road to El Questro (and Hans it gets worse the further you go) and this was one of many river/creek crossings. As you can see Ron has just done the walk across to see if we can make it and yes we did - JUST, the water was laping up the doors, we worked it out that we can go to just above knee level without getting wet inside. Easy and cheap way to get that bloody dust out of the brakes/wheels/step LOL

" Whiteman Dreaming"

The luxury of having a week at lake Argyle and here at Kununurra meant I could start and finish something quite quickly. it represents the first rays of sun catching the sand dunes over the simpson desert with dreams.

Argyles' Biggest Diamond

Yep, it is the real Mc Coy, this little baby was found in a truck tyre, one of those BIG trucks, it is about 1 inch high and almost as wide and would look very nice alongside the baguettes LOl. I have been asked who "Sister Helen" is and before anyone jumps to the wrong answer, it is Rons' sister and she is very handy in the garden LOL, especially at weed extermination. Welcome aboard Helen.

WOW

It was sooooo hard to pick a pic for the blog. I decided on this one as it shows the Bungle "Beehives" as well as one of the gorges. When took the all day flight and Diamond package yesterday and what a day. To start Ron cancelled my credit cards, took my wallet and banished me to the back of the plane so that I couldn't get out without his noticing LOL. But truefully it was an amazing trip to the mine, the security is outrageous as you might imagine. It is so strict that if you drop something you are not allowed to pick it up, you must call security and a guard will be dispatched to do the picking up. You are not allowed into any of the buildings but instead you get a bus tour through the whole facility including the pit, crushers and past the 1 in 400 pile, this is the pile of rubble that has a hit rate for diamonds of one rock in every 400 (I want to ply in that sandpit).

From there it was back in the air and off to the Bungle Bungles. As you can see it is a wonderful sight. We have decided not to go there on this trip as it is a pretty rugged road in and then only very basic camp grounds and you can only access two or three places, so we will live with the memories of the flight.

Tomorrow we are off to El Questro on the "Gibb River Road", which is famous for killing all sorts of cars, trucks, vans, bikes and people. Hans asked awhile ago if we were doing all the road and we have debated the question for several months and decided not to. It is 750klms of absolutely torturous roads and you must carry at least two spares and spare petrol, there are no camping grounds, no shops, no petrol stations, just miles and miles of great scenery. So we are going to cheat - El Questro is about 100klms from the start of the road at this end so we will do 3 -4 days there and expect to be off the air, then we will come back here to Kununurra for a night to re stock and head off down the highway towards Fitzory Crossing where we will turn right and head on back to the GRR and do the last 150klms at the other end. WA is proving to be very difficult because of the huge distances between everything.

It's Twins

After a long and stressful labour it's twins. The waters broke with the arrival of some parsley on Sunday straight from the IGA Tuckerbox here in Kununurra and from then on there was no turning back. Labour pains started in earnest yesterday morning with the discovery of window boxes at the Mitre 10, we then rushed to emergency at the Flametree nursery to be told that they only had Oregano and that the last surviving chives and chillies had just been delivered to the IGA downtown, so off we raced to try and beat those native mothers to these rare and valuable commodities. After beating off shoeless children, drunks on the footpath, families laying around the parks and the queues at the bottleshop we snatched the chives only to find they also contained Thyme - Oh bliss. Safely at home in the Miss Guided nursery they had a peaceful night getting used to their new world. AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH real food again.

Sometimes you just have to wonder - "WHY"

This is the Prision tree, and yes it was used as a prison to lock up the locals when they got a little out of control back when you could do that sort of thing.

Sometimes it's a little hard to find the bottleshop

Like all well laid plans sometimes you just miscalculate on the number of bottles required to get from point A to B. In this case we were many many many miles from anything that resembled a grape, oh well thank god for the gin. LOL

Art and Kulture

Well now we havn't been driving all over the place without doing the local galleries. Here is a small example of some of the offerings that have been served up to us. Makes me feel better about some of mine LOL.

Keep River

This was the view from our camp site - spectacular

Shower with a view

Di emailed me today and suggested that the trip is a big hoax and that Ron and I are holed up at the Park Hyatt in Broome scanning pics from tourist brochures etc so here is a little proof. As I said in a previous entry the facilities at "keep River" were a bit primitive and we had to bring out the solar shower bag, much to the amusement of the neighbours, but within 24 hours they were all agreeing that it is a great idea and they wished they had a couple as well. At least we smelt cleanish. LOL

Yes Liz, we have been where the big ones lurk

We're back, for a week

"Hello Bailey"

Well we finally returned to civilization (and I use that word very loosely) here in Kununurra, WA. We arrived in this afternoon after spending the last 6 days out at Lake Argyle, but before that I need to bring you up to date on where we've been. We left Victoria River and headed on down the road to Timber Creek (and I promise I am not making up these names) and decided that we would stick around for a couple of days. Day one we took off to the Johnson Gorge and both of us were eagerly looking forward to a good long walk among spectacular scenery, unfortunately the dam gorge is soooooooo big that they built a road through it and its all done in the car. Pretty but not grand. Day 2 was off to the Limestone Gorge which was fantastic. We walked around Tufda dams (1600 years old and only grow .16mm per year), along calcium flows that go for miles, climbing over stromalyte reefs fossils that predate animals and through baob forests, but I have to say the bloody road in and out was a bitch, more on that later. That night we headed off on yet another river trip and the next pic is a result of that.

That night a 4wd bus tour arrived at the camp and surprise surprise a couple of lost Sydney queens trying to put up a tent. Much amusement to all watching. We finally introduced ourselves and this was their first day and they had left Syd on an early morning flight, arrived in Darwin and straight onto a bus and driven to Timber Creek without seeing anything other than what went past their window. FOOLS.

The next morning we were up bright and early and looking forward to moving on to Keep River. The packing went really well and we were ready to hitch Miss Guided up when Ron started waving his arms in the air !!! ( now this could mean anything from i need a toilet stop to in coming missiles) but unfortunately this time it was RT, we had a flat. Picture it, 2 poofs, butch park, flat tyre - Oh dear, thank god for our years at Budget. After chatting up the mechanic (NO HANS NOT THAT WAY) and getting him to repair the tyre we were on our way.

"Keep River" National Park is truly stunning. In one of the books it was described as the "best kept secret in NT" and it is. It is like a mini Bungle Bungles without the tourists. We rough camped for two nights and did both the walks and it was breath taking. I will post some pics later.

From there it was off to Lake Argyle, which is 18 times the size of Syd. Harbour and a wonderful place to kick back and relax, but absolutely no communication of any description.

We said we were back - We lied LOL

Sorry about that but we thought we would have reception at Lake Argyle but we dont have anything. We will be there until Sat and then into Kunanarra for a week of R and R. We have lots to tell you and some great picks of "Keep River" which is just amazing. If anyone is trying to contact us please ring on Rons phone as Optus havent discovered WA yet.

The pic are for our international travellers, here are some of the colours of keep River. Truely a magic place.

Another big river

Here we are at Timber Creek which is set on a billabong which has taken me two days to find LOL and near the Victoria River again. Every time we go near water we encounter these signs and Ron keeps suggesting that I go for a swim ! Does this have something to do with the updated will?????

Today we are off to Keep River(Yes it sounds like something out of an American western) let just hope it's not a Deliverance" type of place.

Our Neighbour

This was our neighbour at Victoria River Park. This amazing truck is a mobile R M Williams store and van that travels around the outback. The side opens up to a bull nose veranda with down pipes etc, sounds very much like the ol' pub LOL. I have got them searching for a croc belt for me and we intend to meet up again somewhere around Broomeish in about a month. Great paint job.

Gregory National Park

Next stop was Gregory National Park which is the second biggest in the NT. We decided after our bush adventure at Flora that we would stop at the Victoria River Roadhouse park which at least had showers and explore from there. The park is massive. We climbed the escarpments (which is where the pic is take) and walked along ancient water courses and discovered rock paintings that are magnificent. Pics to come.

Bruce you will get a laugh out of this surreal experience. We were driving between these amazingly old rock formations listing to Jean Michael Jarre - Zoolook. Had a quiet chuckle to my self about the extremes LOL. All I needed was fire works going off and the scene would have been complete.

A big tks to Blue for the "Wailing ladies" they are getting a good run.

The Rod Doesn't Strikes again

Hello world, here we are again back in communication after a week of absolute silence from all kinds of electronic media. The beginning of this little sojourn started at "Flora River Nature Park" which is about 150klms west of Katherine and the reddest of the reddest dirt you have ever seen, which of course is everywhere. We arrived at the camp site and there were three other campers there. The two nomads in their A frame van (obviously took a wrong turn) which looked totally out of place. The collection of tents from the ferral family from hell (darwinish) who made it there goal to totally spoil any peace and tranquility and HIM. !!!???#@%*&

He was nearest us and very strange. When we first spotted him we couldn't see any means of transportation, no tent just a piece of plastic strung across a couple of tree branches, a pot and a camp fire - all the trappings of the "THE MALLETS".

We decided that to ignore him was what was required so we set about exploring the immediate area. The park is a 25klm stretch of the Flora River which is a spring fed river and crystal clear and warmish. Everyone says great for barra and canoeing etc but just be aware that there are crocs of all sorts !!!!! "If you think I am getting into D'luded and paddling down a croc infested river, then you don't know me very well". So that finished the kayaking.

Ron decided to take out the new "ROD" and catch that first fish, while I just sat in a big hole (absolutely no comments) in the waterfall, as I figured any croc that climbed up this far deserved a bit to eat. Needless to say the rod is still a virgin LOL.

Day two and I was presented with "HIM" naked wondering around his campsite. Not a pretty picture. This must have spooked me because that night I had this anxiety attack about 2am about an axe attack on Miss Guided with us inside. That's it we're out of here. The next morning he was gone and we ended up passing him about 20klms from the camp site, riding along on his bike (clothed). WEIRD. More to come later today.

Latest painting

The latest offering is called "Lake Maraboon - Last Gasp" The jury is still out on this one. I was doing it for Dan and Tania in Blackwater, which is just down the road from lake maraboon, but it just doesnt work for me, so I am throwing it out there, if you hate it let me know and I will start again.

Now for those who dont know, Hans (of comment fame)he is a very old old old friend who now lives back home in Switzerland and sometimes his hold on sanity (the english language as well) is somewhat at risk. LOL

How Embarrassing

Now before I get into the nitty gritty of our stuff up, here's the latest on what and where. Monday we decided to take D'luded for a swim in Fanny Bay and as you would expect I was a tad nervous about salties etc as we sit on top not in, but my reservations all sailed (pun intended) out the window when we sailed into to a herd of Dugongs and dolphins. Amazing, not quiet along side but close enough to get a really good look. We stayed out there for almost three hours - no crocs. Tuesday was "NT Day" the only day of the year when every hoon can legally buy fireworks and they did. From sun down until midnight the sky was ablaze, as one stage I thought we were at war and it was a night time attack. Rockets everywhere.

Now THAT moment. Well you know how we had complained that the fridge had not been fixed while we were in Melbourne and the only reason we were stuck in this god forsaken place was the fridge, well off we went to the repairer Wednesday morning (at 7am). So picture it, we had to apologise to all the neighbours the day before about the early start and then pack up Miss G in the dark trying not to wake the world - Failed. Well we arrive at the repairers and set her up again (as that's the only way you can get in) to gain access to the fridge inners. After taking off the exhaust and lots of screws, nuts and thingys (tech term) the repairer looked at the power switch !!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY O WHY WOULD ANYONE CHECK TO SEE IF THE POWER IS TURNED ON. Yep we had accidently knocked the on/off power switch in the cupboard and there was nothing wrong with the fridge. At least the exhaust is now clean. LOL We fled town asap.