Monday, 7 July 2014                                                                                                    82.5kms

We were up at 7am this morning and greeted with another beautiful winter morning in the Kimberley. We ate breakfast and packed up camp. At 8.55am we left camp and headed west on the Gibb River Rd, back to the Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge turnoff. It was a nice drive through the King Leopold Ranges. The sign at the entrance said to count the creek crossing and enjoy the serenity, so we did just that. We counted 5 creek crossings with water, but plenty without, so perhaps we should have been counting them instead. Maybe tomorrow on the way out.

We arrived at the reception and booked in for just the one night. That has cost us $50 for the family. The price has gone up as the information I have said it would be $40. A massive $10 price rise! Anyway, we are here now and driven the 50km driveway to get here, so we aren’t turning around now. The staff was very friendly and up for a chat which is always nice.

By 10.45am, we had set up our camp in the campground and were heading off to the gorges on the property. The track to the gorges starts from the campground and heads north. We decided to drive to the furthest point and then make our way back stopping at all of the sights. So 8kms from the campground is the Big Boab. We crossed a deep creek crossing to get to this, even though the man at reception said to walk across and it would be thigh high. When we reached the creek Nath said that this must be what we walk across. I looked over and saw 2 cars parked on the other side and disagreed with him, that the car park must be on the other side. No, Nath was right, but we made it through like the 2 vehicles before us, no worries. The boab tree is said to be one of the oldest in the Kimberley and around 1000 years old. It is not alone, as it has a strangler fig holding it tight. It was really impressive to see and absolutely massive.

 

We left there and made our way back 500 metres to the fork in the road that leads to Annie Creek Waterhole. It is then a 1km drive to the car park and a short stroll up a rocky creek bed to the water. We were slightly disappointed with the waterhole, as it would have been nice had it not been covered in spider webs and spiders. We are guessing that no-one has swum here for quite some time.

We moved on and drove back 5kms to the junction for Mt Mathew Gorge. It is then a further 1km drive over a rocky but graded road to the car park. Here we ate lunch in the car park before setting off up the creek. The walk is marked by rock cairns and is an easy, but uneven walk across boulders and a rocky, dry creek bed. Now, you can walk as far or as short a distance as you like. The emphasis on this gorge is more of a sink and dip in the pools along the way, more than an actual bushwalk. So the first deepish pool that we came to, Nath slid into, and encouraged Elokin and Hendrix to follow. Elokin got in, eventually, but only because her dad assisted her. Hendrix was going to get in, but changed his mind.

 

After they were refreshed, we continued on to an even bigger pool and waterfall. It was a great place for a swim, although the temperature was refreshing. But luckily there were nice hot rocks to lay on to warm up. We all got into this pool, and then a family from Sydney that we had chatted with earlier and another couple joined us in the water. A few bright red dragonfly’s were flying around and landing on the rocks near us, so Elokin took the phone after I put it on macro setting for her, and I had my camera. We each had a dragonfly near us to photograph. Elokin got really close to hers, and with the macro setting, she got an excellent photo! I was jealous. Mine were not as good as it with the expensive camera.

We were the last ones to leave Mt Mathew Gorge. Nath decided he would swim back through the pool as far as he could. He didn’t get very far, and then had to wash off in the deeper pool he was in earlier as he got covered in green slime. The reflections on the pools by this time were fantastic and I loved it.

 

Once back at the car, we drove back another 2kms to the secret fishing spot for a look. The pool itself was very pretty, with lily pads, paperbarks and reeds. We don’t know how much fish would be left in there, but we weren’t going to try. We continued on, past camp and the homestead to Barker Pools, south of the homestead. We found a spot by ourselves and got out to go for a swim. Barker Pools is a deep section of the Barker River that is suitable for swimming; however the part we went to wasn’t. Downstream where the other people were may have been, but where we were was covered in slime and not very deep, so we gave it a miss and headed back to camp. It was too early to stop at the sunset hill, so we figured we would head back to that after we got dinner organised at camp.

Of course things don’t always go to plan and this time ours didn’t. We cooked dinner and got our shower stuff organised, but by the time we were eating, the sun was getting low and we would have needed to put our dinner down and leave to make it to the summit of sunset hill before the sunset. Nath decided that was a silly idea and I had to agree. We called it and enjoyed the sunset from our seats eating dinner. Hendrix then got the soccer ball out and started to kick it around. Elokin joined him and they both have good dribbling skills. They then changed ball and game and started to kick around the football. Nath joined in and taught them how to drop-kick it. I decided they were having way too much fun without me and joined in as well. It was a fantastic way to end the day.

We then got our shower stuff and headed to the ablution block. The kids got stripped off, but when Nath checked the water only to find that there was no hot water, we got them dressed again, got into the car and headed off to the homestead for a hot shower. No way I was paying $50 for my piece of dirt and not enjoying a hot shower, considering it has been about 3 weeks since we had a decent one in Broome and we all needed to wash hair. The shower at the homestead ablutions was great and the four of us piled into the ‘disabled, or for those who are confused’ shower/toilet cubicle. Back at camp, I cut Elokin’s hair after brushing it, as she had too many split ends and it was getting far too knotty. It looks so nice and healthy now.

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.