Author: Chris Riley

Time to relax at Edith Falls

| Chris Riley

With the wedding done and dusted, it was time for a bit of sightseeing and relaxation.

We’ve camped at Edith Falls before and loved it. It’s approximately 90kms north of the farm, and as Nikki hadn’t as yet been there we figured it’d make a good day trip. It’s in a National Park, so Mr Tilly had to stay behind. We figured he’d be okay inside the house with the air conditioning running (how wrong we were – more on that later).

A beautiful swimming spot for a refreshing dip

There’s a camp ground, a day use area, a kiosk, the lower area and another top area. The top area is accessed by a hiking track and has a beautiful swimming hole to cool off in after the hike I seem to remember from our last visit. This visit wasn’t about hiking though, it was about relaxation, so we stayed at the bottom pool.

Paul managed a quick dip, Kelvin dipped a toe in the water proclaiming it too cold, and Nikki (a non-swimmer) stayed clear of the water altogether. I though, couldn’t resist a chance to freshen up with a good cooling swim, and set out for the water fall. I’m not the swimmer I used to be so took it slow, with a few little rests on the way.

The waterfall’s a bit more powerful up close.
There was another little creek area that Kelvin managed to get into

There were lots of birds and lizards including this little wavy lizard – if you’re quiet and can get close enough he lifts his front leg and seemingly waves at you. I loved the little Zebra Finches too.

On the way home we called into the Katherine Hot Springs, a favourite place for locals, tourists and backpackers.

Theres a lot of work being done in the surrounding areas of the Katherine springs to upgrade the area, so I look forward to seeing how it all turns out on my next visit to Katherine.

It was nice to get out and relax after such a hectic week. Clearly though, Tills hadn’t been happy at being left behind. He had tried to get out, ripping the floor vinyl near the door in the process. Oh dear! In fact, he wasn’t very well behaved on the farm at all. He ran wild chasing birds and butterflies and wouldn’t respond at all when we called him – and now he had destroyed the flooring. What to do with him! I don’t know – clearly some serious training is needed. He needs to be adaptable in the different situations our future planned travel is going to be taking us. Mmmm – wish us luck on that one!

A small wedding in the outback – part two (the newly weds)

| Chris Riley

As is often the case, nerves made it difficult to get good photos during the service. As is also the case at most weddings, some time was set aside away from the guests and pressure of the wedding just to have some fun and try to get some good photos. Paul was the photographer.

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A small wedding in the outback – part one

| Chris Riley

We arrived in Venn, 25kms south of Katherine on Sunday afternoon, five days before the marriage was to take place. Initially the only people that were going to be in attendance was to be Kelvin & Dara, Paul and myself, and the celebrant. I think Kelvin was concerned that if he started inviting friends to a wedding, then a wedding was going to be expected, and a wedding means money, an expense not wanted at this point of time in the newly-weds lives.

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Busselton to Katherine – 5th, 6th and 7th nights, Broome

| Chris Riley

That head wind that I mentioned earlier hit us as we journeyed from Cape Keraudren towards Broome. Paul dropped the speed down to around 80, but still the revs were high, as was the fuel consumption. We should have had enough fuel to get to Broome easily, but to be safe we refueled at Sandfire roadhouse, and used that as a place to have our breakfast. It saved a second stop later, and with the wind being so strong it was more comfortable to sit in the van than at a picnic table in the open, so it didn’t really matter where we were.

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Busselton to Katherine -4th night, Cape Keraudren

| Chris Riley

We set out on the morning on our 4th travel day with the intentions of staying at the free camp on the side of De Grey River. Our plans are never written in concrete, and with Mr Tilly clearly not speaking to us, we thought we’d better give him a bit of consideration, so mid trip a change of destination was decided. An adolescent dog needs to have a good, off lead, romp at least every other day, and De Grey River would definitely not have been the place for that. Cape Keraudren would give him the space he needed to burn off some of his energy.

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Busselton to Katherine – 3rd night, Mt Robinson

| Chris Riley
Mt Robinson

The third day was to be the longest of our travel days on the Busselton to Broome leg of our journey up to the Northern Territory. Day two had seemed to drag. We were tired at the days end, and Mr Tilly was clearly, ‘over it’, by the time we had arrived at Lake Nallan.

To try and make it easier for our third day, we had everything ready the night before ready to set off at daybreak. We were awake at 5.30am (I always am), so a leisurely cuppa before securing the van ready for our 6.45am start.

The wild flowers start in the north earlier, so they had virtually all finished north of Meekatharra. Without wild flowers to see, if you’re not a fan of wide open spaces full of red dirt and scrub you would find this next section of our trip a tad boring. I find a landscape with nothing much except wide open spaces and red dirt quite gorgeous, so I wasn’t bored.

We stopped around 2 3/4 hours into our trip at Gasgoyne River South for our breakfast. We always enjoy this free camp spot, whether it be for a meal stop or an overnight break. Today there was just a little trickle in the river, but there are always lovely gum trees lining the banks of the river.

Lovely river gums

For an overnight stop the Gasgoyne River South Branch has the usual facilities of a well serviced overnight stop in WA. These include a dump point, long drop toilets, rubbish bins, and shaded picnic tables. In WA you’re unlikely to find water at any of the free road side places. The other thing in abundance (sadly) were signs of ungrateful campers. Obviously the long drop toilets (quite clean) had been overlooked by too many in favour of squatting in the bush. Ok – I don’t have a problem with that for a pee, but please ladies don’t leave your loo paper behind to decorate the bush as it blows from place to place!

There’s definitely nowt queerer than folk – this time leaving a real blot on the landscape

Our next stop was for fuel just before we reached Newman. We took advantage of a toilet stop while there, and enjoyed an ice cream in the shade before continuing on to Mt Robinson.

Mt Robinson is a place similarly equipped to Gasgoyne River South, long drop toilets, bins, shaded picnic tables, and a dump point. A winding track takes you far off the highway, so you’re far away from the noise of the highway.

Our caravan – in the middle of nowhere

Whilst it doesn’t have the lush green meadows, the lake and the wild flowers than we enjoyed last night, it does offer a peaceful outback setting. Opposite where we’ve set up is Mount Robinson, and behind that is Karijini National Park.

For many people Karijini is up there amongst their favourite places in Australia, and not without good reason. It’s a place full of stunning gorges, water holes, and bush walks, enough to keep the most avid explorer happy.

Paul took Mr Tilly for a walk up the hill behind us. I’ve been up there before but decided my dodgy knee wouldn’t appreciate the steep gravel decline this time.

I love the dramatic colours of the Pilbarra, but could do without this gravelly slope

We’re far enough north now that the jumpers are off through the day. However, the nights are still very cold, so our woolly top blanket will remain on for one more night, and the jumpers won’t be packed away completely until after we’ve left the early morning chill behind on day four.

Day three