To Hell and Back

Hi all
The trip away last weekend was EPIC.....but not in the normal epic sort of way..........more like watching every episode of Neighbours produced, while wrestling Crocodiles. It was torturous and never ending.

Once again it was through Indigenous Land (with permission) , so no details or place names will be mentioned.

Saturday started innocently enough with a cruise down the Highway to point A, there has been an Exploration Drilling crew in the area recently, so the track had been Graded.

With just a few thunderstorms pretending to be a Wet Season this year, it was as dry as a bag of Smiths Crisps.

Now, let me say at this point I did try to research this track, but being on Indigenous Land not a lot of Information could be sourced. I spoke to one of the Elders and a guy that does a few tours into the area but information remained sketchy at best.

Saturday Night we pushed on to camp at a large swimming hole......well it was before it dried up.
An enjoyable evening around the campfire under a moonlit night was had. About 3.00am I got up to "water the horse" and the sky was amazing, billions of stars to be seen.

Sunday began Innocently enough also, 19km to our destination, and after a Bacon and Eggs Breakfast we headed off.

At this point things turned to shit.

After a 500 metre run up a very soft river bed and we confronted our first challenge.

At this point the track was disappearing faster than fruit pickers when Immigration Officers pull up out the front.

Onwards we pressed using the GPS to plot our position when the track disappeared.

The track, when we could find it, just continued to get rougher.

It was approaching the point where we were making our own track, I am sure no one has been through here in a long time.

We got to the point of considering our options..........do we turn back? We were rapidly running out of daylight, do we camp overnight and come back monday?
Surely 19km isn't that far............it took us 9 hours of bulldozing our way through scrub that was thicker than a Greens Voter.

Rocks the size of basketballs, washouts, scrub bulls, to pick out way slowly through, never ending and unforgiving. It was brutal

As the sun was setting we reached the saddle above the road out but the track just kept on giving until the very end.

At this point, Col was suffering badly with Tourist Flu and was struggling.

A broken Col......we could see the main road but a thousand monster rocks and washouts stood between us.
tally for the weekend..........

100 Series Cruiser
2 x staked tyres and one slow leak
trailer plug ripped off.
mudflap ripped off
graze on wheel arch from tree
nasty gouge on alloy wheel from rocks

Hilux
Exhaust squashed flat
some nasty gouges on long range tank
both side steps damaged
one sidewall cut on tyre

Facts and figures
without the Gps we would still be out there trying to find our way back
approx 120k of track............19km of that took us 9 hours
I didnt count but I estimate four or five recoveries
It was hard 
It was brutal
It was unforgiving

I am hoping for something a little easier next trip in a few weeks, a run down the Duncan Road before it starts getting too hot.

Bye for now

Not dead, just busy

Hello All
Its been quite some time since I last posted on here.Tourist Season is well until way here in the Kimberley. 
Although, with very little Wet this year the place is as dry as a chip, yet still they come at breakneck speeds.

Marlgu Billabong

 I have still managed to get out and about, while steering clear of the touristy places.

Marlgu Billabong

House Roof Hill

Next weekend we have an epic trip planned to a secret location and should have some awesome photos to post, but I won't be giving locations, as it is through Indigenous Lands and we have been granted permission to visit. Very exciting......

Limestone Gorge Gregory National Park

Over the last long weekend I ripped over to the NT for another poke around Gregory National Park chasing Boabs.

Bullita Outstation

Gregory National Park

Bullita Stockyards

With our dismal Wet Season even Lake Argyle is looking a bit sad......

Lake Argyle

Boabs on the Wyndham mudflats

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be Invited to a Local Indigenous Community for the weekend. The 35km driveway scenery was breathtaking.

I am not going to mention locations here out of respect and thanks for being allowed to visit this area. 

I have also had a couple of treks out to the Karunjie Track, this is simply stunning at sunset.

Cockburn Ranges from the North

Cockburn Ranges

Karunjie Mudflats

Karunjie Mudflats

King River meandering across the mudflats

Last Sunday we went boating on the lower Ord River.

Kununurra Diversion Dam

boating on the lower Ord

Reflections on the lower Ord

lunchbreak on the Ord

rapids....time to turn around

lunchtime

Thats about it for now, I hope to do a post on next weeks epic trek over the next few weeks. 

Bye for now........

An April Fool does Kalumburu

Hello all
April has not been kind to me.............I have been driving 4x4's for 43 years, completed 3 laps of this great country, visited most of the dream locations at least once, but on April 13 .....I made a mistake.

I had been to this location 4 weeks prior and took a wrong turn. A dumb mistake a brain fade, call it what you want.

My point is.......no matter how much experience you have, how careful you are mistakes can happen.

My wrong turn ended with my hilux neck deep in water on the passenger side and chest deep on the drivers side. The dash was completely underwater, my phone, camera, hema navigator and drone was on the passenger seat.
The vehicle I was travelling with pulled me out and the decision was made to get the chairs out, have some lunch and assess the situation.
While having lunch, we heard a vehicle approaching pretty fast, and around the corner came an old Prado with 9 backpackers on board. Without hesitation or a snorkel they hit the same hole at speed and promptly sank.
Recovery number two within an hour.........

The decision was made to tow my hilux out with the 100 series turbo diesel Landcruiser, loaded with two friends plus an additional 8 backpackers, towing me with a backpacker and all the gear from the Prado and the Landcruiser in the back of mine.

The 17km trek back to the road is a mixture of steep rocky climbs, tight maneuvering between trees, and very soft sandy sections. It was not easy...........with no power steering, no lights, and bugger all brakes it was a nightmare tow in the dark.

It was 10pm by the time we arrived back in town.

A huge shout out to the guys at work..........with 5 days until a Kalumbaru trip 3 turned up on Sunday to help out. By 10am they had the engine running, albeit with computer issues.

A new computer (ECU) and turbo driver was required, which were supposed to turn up on Tuesday morning..................they finally arrived at 1pm thursday before easter. Things didn't look good for Kalumburu.
At 5pm on thursday evening, I had lost all hope, as the new ECU would not communicate with the immobilisation system.

At 7.30pm, after persistent efforts by the guys from work Pheonix rose from the dead........

Good friday, two others from work came in to put the final bits back together and get it on the hoist to check underneath and check all the oils.

After a couple of good runs Good friday and Saturday, to make sure everything was OK before going remote, it was 6am Easter Sunday departure to Kalumburu.......better late than never.

Welcoming Committee

During the week the grader had been through, and the Gibb River Road was like a Highway, as was the Kalumburu Road as far as Theda Station.
The Shire had opened the road as far as the Mitchell Falls turnoff, we had 'closed road access permits' to continue the rest of the way.

Carson River Crossing

From the Carson, it was onwards to McGowans Island Sunset Beach for the rest of the week.

Sunset Beach, Mc Gowans

I will add at this point the vehicle performed faultlessly.

World War 2 Wreckage at Kalumburu

Next day it was a run in to town to have a look around and visit some of the sights.

Mc Gowans

Midweek we teamed up with some other visitors for a trip to Wongalala Falls, only opened up to tourists in August last year.

Wongalala Falls

Wongalala Falls

After Wongalala it was off to Pago Mission ruins

Pago mission ruins

Pago was established in 1908 but was later moved to Kalumburu as there was a more reliable water source in the King Edward River.

Mc Gowans Sunset Beach

Mc Gowans Sunset Beach

All too soon it was time to start thinking about the journey home.

a couple of friends I met along the way

After a stop at Theda Station to say hello to friends I headed to King Edward River Campground.

King Edward River

I saw lots of Dingoes

The trip was excellent and the ute performed faultlessly. The best part was no traffic and no tourists, as the road was still closed to traffic.

expenses from the dunking,......camera, phone, ECU, turbo controller, starter motor.
things that came back from the dead......HEMA navigator, GPS stereo system in dash, UHF radio, IPOD and drone (saved by carry case)

The tourists have started arriving in town and the busy time has begun, I will be visiting some special 'off the beaten track' locations over the Dry season and will post on those accordingly. My new phone has arrived also, so I can now operate the drone again.

Bye for now.....Unbreakable Hilux..........I'm a believer