Camping – Kevins Adventures in Life and IT

Wolfe Creek

Wolfe Creek. Ask anyone who has seen the film Wolf Creek if they would go there and the answer is extremely likely to be “No!”. But if you’re this close it’s hard to say no, especially if you love photography and really strange spots.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to go all round Western Europe when I was younger, and as I’ve gotten older some of the most beautiful ski spots in the world, and some of the best places in the world for work.

Wolfe Creek stands apart from these places and is in the same league as Uluru, Pearl Harbour, and Normandy for the haunting stillness, and sense of grandeur.

Wolfe Creek is a crater from a meteorite impact around 300,000 years ago and is about 870 metres in diameter and 60m deep. To get there you have to go down the Tanami Road. Calling it a road is a bit of a leap though as it was a dirt track about 8 lanes wide through cattle country, and the cattle were crossing it whilst we were going along it, and graders were on some sections but not others. Continue reading “Wolfe Creek”

Mitchell Falls

Mitchell Falls is one of the iconic images of the Kimberley, and really inspired the entire trip. The amazing pictures of the rest of the area and comments from people who had been firmed up the desire. Official information can be found at https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/mitchell-river

After a fuel stop at Drysdale River Station and a quick call home before no contact with the outside world for a few days it was onto an ungraded section of road for a few hours, before driving through lush rainforest into Mitchell Falls National Park and onto the campground. The drive in was the worst so far, lots of wash outs, sun setting directly ahead blinding us on the drive in and hills that made seeing oncoming vehicles impossible.

As had become the norm we arrived just before sunset, set up the camp for a few days and kicked back with a couple of ice cold beverages, and started a fire and bbq. On the drive in we had stopped outside the National Park to get some firewood.

We woke early the next day and headed straight to the helicopter booking office to organise a one way trip from the top back to camp. At $150 each this took a bit of thought however I can say that it was honestly the best money spent on the trip. Flights organised we grabbed our day packs and started walking through the bush. Continue reading “Mitchell Falls”

Windjana to Bell, A Tale of Two Gorges

The plan for today was quite simple, spend some time at two gorges. I spent the morning doing some mechanical checks on the truck, specifically looking at the suspension to see if any of the nuts had come loose on the gravel roads that we’ve silent a lot of time on recently. As the suspension has been upgraded this was a basic check, with the left front shock needing a bit of tightening. I also managed to get some photographs of the Wedgetail eagles that make WA home, and are up here in huge numbers. I must admit I had thought these beasts were up there with Yowies and Dropbears as I’d never seen one until now.

Continue reading “Windjana to Bell, A Tale of Two Gorges”

The Gibb

Today we reached the Gibb River Road. Two years of planning (somewhat weakly as my better half says), dreaming, and reading as much as we could get our hands on. We left Broome, and headed to Derby for a refuel and then a 5km backtrack to the start of the Gibb.

And its just another bitchumen road. What the hell has gone wrong!

Well it is for the first 50km. Then the gravel starts. And it steadily gets harder. Here we go, it’s getting fun. After more roadworks, they seem to have cursed this trip, we get to Tunnel Gorge. This is a naturally occurring tunnel, formed by water over the centuries that goes for about 750m. The creek that has formed it still runs through it, providing a rare chance to walk a tunnel that has a creek and bats flying through it.

Continue reading “The Gibb”

Karijini

We’ve spent the last few days in Karijini National Park enjoying walks, climbs, and the gorges there.

On the day of arrival we ended up sleeping in the overflow day parking lot as this was the first weekend of school holidays. Whilst there was barely enough room to swing a cat between campsites, this has worked out in my favour as a sparky was in the camp opposite and came over when he saw me fiddling with my dual battery setup. More on this in a separate post, needless to say it worked out extremely well for me, with about an hour of free work. Continue reading “Karijini”