Heading further West

Today marked the most West our children have been and also as far West on Oz as Donnie and I have ventured. We explored the Gregory NP a little more this morning. Had a quick look at the East Bainie river where we were camped and then over to the original Bullita Homestead. It was a lovely cool morning and the homestead is on a magical bend in the river. My children thought it all very romantic and the idea of living there appealed. I don’t think they quite absorbed all the stories displayed of isolation, drought, flood, harsh conditions etc. This run was considered one of the toughest but also best managed (1950’s and 60’s) in the region. It was only declared a Park in 1985.

A little way on we gave the kids some geology lessons involving Tufa, Stromatolites, Rillenkarren, calcite flow and Karst. Not sure how much anyone other than Donald understood but it was all quite diverse country. I think I saw the female purple-hooded wren at the turnoff so was quite happy on the bird watch front.

Got up close and personal with some Kapok trees, that we have seen quite a bit of in the last 10 days or so. Spectacular in yellow flower and no leaves at this time of year.

Drove on along the Victoria Highway and stopped at various views of the river and surrounding country. Our last stop (before some serious driving to get to tonight’s stop – Keep River NP) was the Gregory Tree. This was a beautiful large Boab emblazoned  by Augustus Gregory and his party in 1856 as they explored the region.

Lynne.

 

 

 

 

 

Some statistics.

Went past 6000km for the trip today. That, combined with the passing of day 20 (and 20% of our trip) means we have been averaging around 300km a day, but the pace has slowed. Certainly the logistics of setup, take down and travel still leaves a good chunk of the day for exploring. The pack is getting quite easy now, and the kids are familiar enough with the routines to find a job to do to make it all run smoothly, even if they aren’t talking to each other (at least civilly).

My repair job on the tyre lasted today no problem, with no leaks, and we did at least 100km on dirt and rocks, then 200km at high speed, so I think all is well. I did note though that the rim suffered some indignity, so I might need to get that checked out.

The children marked the end of the first week of school by dutifully attending to their script for Friday afternoon Drama. Earlier in the week in Darwin they noted the precise moment their colleagues would have rolled in on Tuesday for the start of term. Lynne won’t let me pass on Isabel’s message to her colleagues. However in saying that it makes it sound worse than it is. Suffice to say she is not sympathetic to their plight.