Week 65- Tuesday 29th August- Tuesday 5th September

Gibb River Road, WA

Day One, Two and Three

El Questro Station

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star ☆=Half Star

At El Questro we:

• Swam in the little water hole that was near camp, I spotted a snake swimming in the shallows.
• Hiked up to El Questro Gorge on Dad's birthday-to get there you had to wade through chest deep water before scrambling up the rock and rock hopping for another few km. It was worth it though as when we got to the last pool we had it all to ourselves.
• Celebrated Dad's birthday. We got him chocolates, a ticket for a concert and a fishing shirt. For dinner we had steaks with salad…and for dessert we had cheesecake with grated peppermint chocolate and cookies and cream balls!!
• Walked to Amalia Gorge-on the way I saw a MASSIVE olive python! We had a cold swim up in the top pool-it was nice to cool off after a long and hot walk.
• Relaxed in the warm water at Zeebedee Hot Springs.

Clambering up the rocks to get to El Questro Gorge.

It wasn't just El Questro gorge that was beautiful! On the walk to get there we criss-crossed over a little stream so there were some beautiful views.👇

Standing in the rushing waterfall at El Questro Gorge.

🎈Happy 43rd Birthday Dad!!!🎈

Looking out across Amalia Gorge.

I saw this big olive python on the track in front of me on the way up to the gorge, but it slithered off so quickly that I didn't realise that it was a python. But on the way back we found it again, this time it was in a cave and we got to see just how big it was!

Sitting in the warm water at Zeebedee Springs.

Day Four

Pentecost River

Star Rating:★★★

★=Full Star ☆=Half Star

At the Pentecost River we:

• Chilled for almost the whole day-it was way too hot to do anything else!
• Swam in the river crossing at sunset. It was great to refresh ourselves.

The beautiful view from our camp.

There was heaps of cute birds flitting around our camp, they kept hiding in the trees when I tried to take a photo of them!👇

Getting ready to have a quick swim in the river crossing.

Day Five

Durack River

Star Rating:★★★☆

★=Full Star ☆=Half Star

At Durack River we:

• Play a game championship-I won and got two dollars!
• Sweated back at camp, we couldn’t swim because there were crocodiles.
• Put the nets in, in the morning when we took them out we'd caught seven massive cherabin!!

The beautiful sunset over the river.

Holding one of the massive Cherabin we caught in the nets. 

Day Six, Seven and Eight 

Gibb River Free Camp

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star ☆=Half Star

At Gibb River we:

• Relaxed in the shallow water near camp-the sun was boiling hot!
• Built a dam to try and make a deep hole…it didn’t really work.
• Went on walks up and down the river, we found a deep swimming hole-it was nice to have a proper swim.
• Went up to look at some rock art and watch the sunset. The rock art was really well preserved and the sunset was beautiful.

Our camp on the Gibb river was less than 50 meters from the water!

Swimming in the refreshing water at Gibb River.👇

The beautifully preserved rock art.

The sunset we watched from sitting up on a rock near the rock art.

Week 64-Canoeing Trip~🛶

The Ord River, WA

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

Our arms were SUPER sore by the time we got back from our self-guided canoe tour!! The first day there was no wind so we covered 23 km pretty easily-but there was a couple of hard bits to get through…thankfully we didn’t tip the canoe over! We stopped for lunch and a swim at Sandy Beach, the boys tried to fish but didn’t catch anything. When we arrived at Cooliman Camp it was nearly sunset so we quickly set up the tents and sleeping bags-then happily, as we were so hungry, we made dinner.

After a night full of tossing and turning (listening to weird animal noises) we had a filling breakfast of bagels and baked beans before heading off. The wind was hoofing down the river (in the wrong direction) so it made it really hard to paddle…luckily we had a few places to stop and have a look at.

We had a look at:

• Pelican Rock Creek. We walked on the rocks and went to a shallow pool where Jackson and I did races with our thongs.
• Herbie's Hideaway. After paddling up the stream for a bit we walked for a while before finally getting to the massive gorge. It was beautiful-but cold!
• Jump Rock. We all had heaps of fun jumping off the rocks, Jackson and I jumped off one that was over eight metres high!

When we finally arrived at Stonewall camp (where we were getting picked up from) we were super tired-I felt like I could just lay down in the dirt and fall asleep!! On the boat ride back we chilled with some soft drink and watched the sunset. We had a great time on the canoe trip…even though our arms felt like they were going to fall off and we practically fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow that night!!

We saw heaps of animals, birds and insects on the tour. We saw:

• Lots of Kingfishers and Rainbow Bee Eaters.
• Two Sea Eagles.
• Heaps of Australian Darters, Pied Cormorants, Black Swamp Hens and Grey Pygmy Geese.
• Two dead freshwater crocodiles.
• A few turtles.
• A couple of tiny little freshwater crocs, they were so cute!
• Heaps of freshwater crocodiles.
• A snake swimming across the river.
• Plenty of DISGUSTING cane toads.
• Heaps of dead cane toads (that Dad and Jackson had squished).

We stopped at Sandy Beach for lunch, the sand was so hot! 

The beautiful view from our camp-can you see Jackson and I paddling up the river?

Relaxing on the rocks at Pelican Rock Creek.

Floating in the cool water at Herbie's Hideaway.

Can you spot the little freshwater croc basking itself in the sun on the reeds! 

Jumping off the cliff at Jump Rock!👇

There was a massive boab at the Stonewall Camp-it was so awesome!

Watching the sun set over the river on the boat ride back to Kununurra.

Different views of us canoeing down the beautiful Ord River!👇

Week 64- Monday 21st- Tuesday 29th August

Roadside Stop, Judbarra Gregory National Park, NT

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

After a big day driving and stopping in Katherine for a big shop we were relieved to finally get to Judbarra Gregory NP -but we were still able to fit in a walk before collapsing into bed!  We did the Nawilbinbin Walk, on which we watched the sun go behind the mountains. The next morning we got up early to do the Escarpment Hike. On the way up we stopped to watch the sunrise, the view was amazing and we spotted a super cute rock wallaby!!!

The beautiful views from the Nawilbinbin Walk.👇

The sunrise from up on the escarpment-the colours were beautiful!👇

Walking up the Escarpment.

The super cute black brush tailed rock wallaby we saw on the walk.👇

Timber Creek, Judbarra Gregory National Park, NT

Star Rating:★★★★

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

There was MILLIONS of bats in the trees at Timber Creek!! Every night, at sunset, they flew off to join the billions of bats in the sky. During the day the slept up in the trees and put poop on everything! Sometimes a dead bat would fall down and the groundskeeper would feed it to the freshwater crocodiles that lived in the little stream down the end of the park.  

During our time there we went to explore Bullita Homestead-there was heaps of cool old buildings to look at and Jackson and I climbed the massive boab tree that was near the Homestead. We also had a look at the bush police museum-we had a great time thanks to Bazza who showed us lots of awesome things! For the rest of our time there we watched the sunset from a look-out, had a look at some old stock yards and walked through a shallow river.

Pretending to be police at the Police Museum!

A few of the MILLIONS of bats that flew past us every night!

Climbing the massive boab tree that we saw at Bullita Homestead.

Keeping and eye out for crocodiles as I walked across the shallow river near the homestead.

Kununurra, WA

Star Rating:★★★★☆

★=Full Star☆=Half a Star

At Kununurra we:

• Splashed about in the pool at the caravan park.

• Collected boab nuts.

• Went to the splash park in town-we had a great time whizzing down the water slide.

• Went on a couple of short walks to Mirima NP that was next to the caravan park. The views from the top of some of the mountains were gorgeous!!

• Marvelled at the world opening of The Journey Down Tour (https://tura.com.au/tura-program/the-journey-down/) -a collaboration between composer and sound artist Jon Rose and the nearby Warnum Community. The finished artwork is a old car that has been turned into a musical instrument!!
• Canoed down the Ord River, then camped under the stars (more about it in Week 64-Canoeing Trip~🛶).

• Had a delicious dinner of fish and chips.

• Cruised around Lake Argyle on a sunset cruise. We got to feed some Banded Archerfish-we laid down at the front of the boat and held a piece of bread above the water. The fish came up to us and, using their incredible aim, spat water at the bread! After they had hit it 2-3 times we ripped of a bit of bread and threw it to them!! For the rest of the afternoon we explored the lake then jumped in the water to watch the sun go down. It was really awesome!!

 The views from the mountains at Mirima NP.👇

Looking out across Lake Argyle.

It was awesome waiting for the fish to spit at the bread...even though after a while we got dizzy from hanging our bodies over the boat! 

Floating in the water whilst watching the sunset-the water was super warm!!

Heading back in from the sunset cruise, it was nice to feel the cool air behind us.