And more again
It was a fairly hot afternoon so a nap was in order, although when I awoke I did regret it. I am sure you can all recall that feeling of waking on a hot afternoon with a very dry mouth and a head that feels like you have just woken from an alcohol induced sleep.
After a nice cool drink of apple juice and a sit in the shade of a Boab tree, we again wandered down to the river and this time we had our fist sighting of a crock in the wild. A local who was sitting 30 metres up the boat ramp, pointed him out for us, as the crock was about a further 150 metres away. The guy said he was fishing from the ramp when the crock appeared about 2 metres out. He had retreated back up the ramp and decided a beer and a sit in the shade was more prudent than catching a fish. While we were chatting with him, another couple arrived with a little dog on a lead. They asked if there were crocks about. The guy said " just take your dog for a little paddle and you will see a big fella real soon". They declined, and the lady made a hasty return to the camp area with her dog.
CROCK PIC
You may have heard the army is conducting a joint training exercise with the Chinese and the US. Well, this is where it is happening. The Marines were just down the road on the other side of the river. Setting up a medical unit. The Yanks don't do things in a small way. We heard many trucks rumbling across the nearby bridge.
TRUCK PIC
Tuesday 22nd JULY
We Departed Big Horse Creek, and about 130 km further west we popped into a roadside stop for a coffee break. We had not had our little thermos of hot coffee the previous day so we had iced coffee without the ice effect.
UDF hit almost as quickly as the first cup of coffee went down ( our thermos has a tiny little cup that we share ).
For the uninitiated, UDF is Ural Delay Factor. Meaning you always get delayed by someone wanting to look at and talk about the bike.
A gent said "that's one of them Ural thingies isn't it?" He went on to say he had seen one on the Sorrento Ferry, which just happens to be down the road a bit from my home. He said he had a chat with the owner who was a lovely chap heading home to Adelaide. I guessed it must have been Norm, so I said it would have been a red Ural then. He agreed and showed a little bit of surprise that I would know not only the colour of the bike but the name of the owner as well. He described you well Norm.
When we were back on the road, wifey said I should not mention it is a Russian Bike as Russia seems not to be all that popular at the minute.
After MH370 I read Malay Airlines bookings had dropped 60% and the share price fell 13%. Now I am guessing MH17 will probably see the airline collapse altogether.
Our days destination is Keep River National Park and after turning off the highway we blatted along 18 km of corrugated red dust and into the campsite. Less than 200km for the day, so we were unpacked and soon ready for a scratch lunch in the shade.
Now mid afternoon and quite warm so staying in the shade and catching up on the story. Will go for a good walk when it cools down a wee bit.
After our walk we settled into happy hour and I enjoyed my scotch & coke. Another camping couple wandered over for a chat and offering us the use of their fire which they were going to light when it cooled down a bit. I must say, I like a camp fire, especially if it is big. However, I really do wonder at the necessity, unless it is your only means of cooking, when the temperature has been in the 30's and one can sit around outside till bedtime in just shorts and shirt.
The man was Ivan, and of course he was interested in the Ural. During our discussions I mentioned the common Ural repair question that is asked when the solution is not obvious, "what would Ivan do?" This brought great mirth and his answer was "use the credit card". I told him that was the BMW repair method and although it can work on the Ural, it is frowned upon.
Ivan was from north of Adelaide somewhere and professed to have travelled extensively throughout the Flinders Ranges. I told him we were on our way to a Ural gathering at Angorichina and he said he had never heard of the place. His wife did however know the place well, but she pronounced it very differently to AngryChina.
It's difficult sometimes to cope with names in the country. This campground for instance, has two different spellings on the same sign. Gurrandalng and Goorrandalng.
After a pleasant dinner of rissoles, carrots and canned beet root, we were enjoying the peace and serenity when two 4x4's rolled in too quickly, engulfing everyone in dust. As luck would have it, they made camp right next to us. Every other camp was 30-40 metres apart but these two couples seemed desperate to be very very close to us. It was pitch black by now and we had to endure 4 people going every whichway, all wearing head lights and flashing them everywhere while they made camp and prepared their meal. They lit a fire so close to us we could feel the heat and they were quite noticeably of the loud voice variety...... A pleasant evening stuffed !
I did sleep well till 4:30 am when I awoke to loud snoring from our neighbours. That was the end of a good sleep.
Wednesday 23rd
We left to do the 2km walk before it got too warm. The sign said easy to moderate walk....allow 1 hour.
I thought if it was to take an hour to walk just 2km, then we must be climbing right over the magnificent rock cliffs. Not so. It was a wander through and around the cliffs but the scenery and things to look at were just so so stunning that we were 2 hours on the walk......just magnificent. The shortness of the walk makes it hard to quantify as the best I have ever done, but wow, is it close.
Pictures are all on wifey's million dollar camera, so may not get on here as we need a computer to transfer them.
Every Wednesday night the ranger does a slideshow and talk about the region and park, starting about 6:30. We have just come back to our camp for a late dinner of chocolate biscuits and milk at 8:00 pm. Too late to cook in the dark. It could have been a really interesting session. The slides were great but with the necessary generator running in the background and a quiet mumbling indigenous ranger, much was lost. Pity, because he obviously had a wealth of knowledge but lacked the delivery to maintain the interest that we all started with.
Only half the number of campers here tonight and none close by. Should be a nice quiet night for a good sleep.
Tomorrow we go to Kununurra. Through the quarantine check at the border of NT and WA. Perhaps we should have eaten the nuts instead of the biscuits.
It will be a long day tomorrow. We gain 1.5 hours changing time zones.
Goodnight all.......
On the way out of the park Sue and Stephen stopped to look for birds at a water hole and saw this......
Ranger Lance said he had only seen 3 water monitors in 2 years. Should we tell him where to look ?
