Morgan Safari

May 19

Ningaloo

Day 35:

KLMS Travelled – 10,106

The ‘Ningaloo Reef’ – we’d been dreaming of this destination for a long time and couldn’t wait to get there. The spectacular reef and its abundance of marine life earned itself a World Heritage status in 2010 so the snorkelling, combined with the prospect of finally being able to swim with Whale Sharks (which had been #1 on our bucket list for many years) meant excitement levels were going through the roof!

The Cape Range peninsular itself is pretty bleak – a sparse rocky landscape – it’s definitely what’s under the water, than what’s above it that makes this place so amazing! Exmouth, a typical cyclone prone town of unremarkable 1 storey buildings thrives off the Whale Shark tourism. Holding the monopoly over an experience that it is ‘once in a lifetime’ for many, prices are around $380 per adult!!!! It seems that ‘living the dream’ certainly comes at a price. We headed round to the National Park and unaware of the booking system for the park campsites didn’t realise that most campsites are booked out weeks in advance. Fortunately we managed to rock up in our usual last minute style and secure one of the last spots available at Yardie Creek – apparently the previous tenants had packed up a week early due to the strong winds. At this point, i think our over-excitement had made us oblivious to the strong gusts of wind as we were just thrilled not to have been turned away at the park gate! The weather forecast wasn’t looking great so we thought we’d sit things out for a couple of days and book a whale shark trip in for later in the week when hopefully the wind would have died down and the sea wasn’t so rough.

We set up camp for our first night at Yardie Creek and enjoyed beers at sunset with the rest of the campers onsite. The camping community is always a wonderfully random assortment of people from all walks of life – it makes for fascinating chats over sundowners. We picked up lots of great tips of where to go next as well places to avoid – as we headed back to camp the wind had really picked up and we began to wonder whether we were heading for the same fate as those who were camping here the night before. The wind got stronger and stronger throughout the night and trying to sleep was impossible – being in a rooftop tent in gale force winds was like being in a small plane in turbulence! We were literally hanging on –the car was rocking in the wind making the whole tent shake and you could feel the wind rushing beneath us between the tent and the car – and the noise of the heavy duty canvas windows and doors flapping was deafening combined with the worry that the tent might shred itself to bits meant we had a long sleepless night. Fortunately our South African Echo Rooftop tent is made of strong, heavy duty canvas, so survived the wild weather much better than we did! Mind you, as we much we love our Roofie, we were jealous of those camping lower to the ground as the wind didn’t die down for 3 days!!

Despite the weather, we still spent the days venturing out to the main snorkelling sites Turquoise Drift & Oyster Stacks – which were both some of the best snorkelling we’ve ever done – and straight off the beach! Turquoise Drift is particularly good as you can walk straight in off one sand bar and let the currents sweep you across to the next one. The water, was teeming with colourful fish and corals and we even saw a number of turtles – fortunately it was pretty warm whilst in the water, but once out we had to huddle in the car with copious amounts of hot tea to warm up. It all wasn’t just watery adventures – whilst packing up one morning a guy came running over to say he’d got bogged in the sandy creek crossing and could we pull him out. It was like music to Richard’s ears and if there’d been a phone box around, i’m sure he’d have run into for a quick change into his Superman outfit – he just loves a rescue! However, there wasn’t one, so minus cape we set off to the creek to rescue the stricken father and his 3 children. Was good to be on the other end of the tow rope this time!

Finally our Whale Shark day had arrived and we were up early and ready for our pick up to go to the marina. The weather was still awful and now the wind was accompanied by driving rain, but we were still keen to go no matter what! Our pick up time came and went and after an hour we decided that the trip must have been cancelled due to the conditions, we had no way of knowing as there is no phone signal, so feeling deflated we packed up the tent and left the camp – we weren’t sure when the next trip would go out and we really needed to start heading south. We drove 40km to the nearest phone box and rang the tour operator to work out what to do next. What followed was the most infuriating conversation, establishing that no, the trip had not been cancelled, we had simply been told the wrong pick up point!’ The blasé nature of the tour operator only fuelled the fire, insisting that we had got it wrong, not her. Raging by this point, that not only had we stuck it out in the wild weather for this trip and were now facing the possibility of missing out on a lifelong dream and hadn’t even had an apology we hung up the phone and headed the 80kms back to Exmouth to the office to have it out. Fortunately her manager took over when we arrived but despite her efforts there was no other availability for another 3 days so refunded our trip. We were gutted. Everywhere else was also just as booked up, but remembering that a guy we’d met at the campsite had done the trip from Coral Bay, we called the Eco Tours company down there and to our surprise they had 2 spots left for the next day! The anger soon subsided as we sped down to Coral Bay – so relieved that our Whale Shark experience was back on the agenda.

Coral Bay itself is little more than 2 caravan parks but nestled next to the most beautiful bay, it has a very relaxed and chilled vibe in comparison to Exmouth. We’d been told to give it a miss, but we were so happy to be going on the trip that we saw Coral Bay through very rose tinted glasses and thought it was a great little place. So, Whale Shark trip take 2! The next day we couldn’t believe it when we woke up to blue skies and no wind – maybe fate had been trying to tell us something the day before? The trip itself was more incredible than i could have imagined – the spotter plane soon found a whale and we had our first swim less than an hour into the trip. The first drop into the water is an exhilarating experience – jumping off the back of the boat into water hundreds of metres deep, you’re heart is pounding as you scan the water to see where the shark is but as it gracefully emerges out of the blue it is just breathtaking. Our second shark of the day was an 8m male, who seemed to enjoy swimming with us as much as we did with him and stayed with us for nearly 2hours. They are incredibly docile and curious creatures and as we swam towards him for the first time, he actually turned round to swim towards us – a hilarious sight as everyone tried to back-peddle as quickly as possible to get out of his way! Following 6 swims, we headed back to the inner reef for more snorkeling – this time fish, turtles, rays, reef sharks – just amazing and all topped off with a glass of champagne. So if you’re ever in the area, we couldn’t recommend Eco Tours @ Coral Bay highly enough – they’re a fantastic crew & will make your day really spec

May 7

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Broome – Karijini NP

Day 26:

KLMS Travelled: 8,498

We’ve made it coast to coast! Driving up to Broome, we found a great free camping spot at a pearl farm in Willie Creek – it was so good to see the sea again – we’d missed it on our trek through the middle! We parked up on the headland, which had a stunning view across the bright blue ocean – although frustratingly, the promise of a cool dip after a long drive was quickly aborted when we came across the croc warning signs!

Taking a few days out in Broome, it was good to get back on top of blogs/emails/photos/laundry and cleaning the car which is full of about 3inches of dust. The car also seemed to be making a strange creaking sound which had been gradually getting worse so we decided that we’d get it checked over to make sure it wasn’t anything serious. It’s hard not to feel nervous anytime the car makes unusual noises as we’re conscious that she’s an old girl and she’s got a long way to go. But, no sooner had we decided to take her to the mechanics, the noise seemed to miraculously disappear the next day? So we pointed her South and kept going keeping our fingers tightly crossed!

Our next destination was Karijini NP, a place that had come highly recommended by the camping legends the Schwind Family, who thoroughly vetted our trip before we left. En route, we stayed at Cape Keraudren, an amazing spot on the coast managed by a crazy warden and his pet roos – i still can’t comprehend how people live such lonely and remote lives, but he seemed content with his family of Kangaroos, all of which were rescue cases which he’d nursed back to health, but following their recovery they’d decided life was pretty good hanging out with him, so had stayed.

The drive to Karijini isn’t pleasant – unfortunately outside the paradise of the national park the surrounding areas are all big iron ore mining areas. The huge road trains thunder up and down the highway and with their speed firmly set at 110km/hr, they are very intolerant of cruisey travellers like us who bumble along at 90km/hr! Feeling rather harassed by the time we turned into the park we were relieved to find a camp spot at Dales Gorge campsite inside the sanctuary of Karijini. The park is famous for it’s deep gorges, waterfalls and swimming holes and we spent the next couple of days getting our fix of all 3. The highlight had to be walking into Hancock Gorge as the rain the previous day meant there was more water in there. There were sections where we had to take our boots off and paddle through, but each section seemed to get deeper and deeper until we had to ditch all of our gear on a rock ledge and swim for it. At the end we had to scramble down waterfalls into the bottom of the gorge to get to a deep swimming hole. It was so stunning that Rich went back for the camera which he then had to swim back with one arm holding the camera up in the air and out of the water. Really should have got a Go Pro before we left!!

We camped at the Eco Retreat the second night, but in hindsight should have just gone back to Dales. Eco Retreats generally mean you pay a lot of money for the privilege of cold showers& basic toilets all in the name of saving the planet, which i’m all up for, but I can also be eco to my wallet as well and stay in an NP campground for $14 a night!

May 1

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The Gibb River Road

DAY 20:

KLMS TRAVELLED 6,500

After Alice we scooted up the Stuart Highway to Tilmouth Wells RoadHouse ready to hit the notorious Tanami the next day. We’d checked the road conditions and had been told that the track was ok at the moment, but in the back of our minds we still had a niggling feeling as we’d been told by many people how rough it could be. But as a 1,000klm short cut, it was worth a crack. Up at 5am the next day, we set out and almost as soon as our wheels hit the gravel, the corrugations began.Not just the gentle type that go brrrrr on the tyres, but bone shaking corrugations that make every inch of you wobble! We were both worried that the car would shake itself to pieces and with such a long way to go we didn’t want to put the old girl under more strain than she needed to be at this stage, so made the quick decision to abandon the Tanami and hit the highway.

Frustrating at the time, we’d done a 300klm round trip to a dump of a roadhouse and were now looking at adding a further 1500klms to go round the top. But we soon found our silver lining – the realisation that we could now do the Gibb River Road! So we continued up the long old highway for what seemed like an eternity– thank god for good tunes and Trivial Pursuit on the Ipad!!! We turned off as soon as we could, taking another back road shortcut across the Buchanan Highway, an unpaved section that cuts out going all the way up to Katherine. It was a beautiful drive through ‘Big Sky country’ and we set up camp in Jasper Gorge towards the end of the track. Just us, in the middle of nowhere! The remoteness has definitely taken some getting used to, but now really enjoying setting up camp away from everyone else – and of course an even bigger bonus to find a gem of free camp spot!

Heading into Kununurra we stocked up on supplies and prepared the car for the Gibb River Road (GRR). We were exhausted and the pace we’re moving was starting to get to us, so we stayed an extra day. When planning a trip like this on a map, the theory of driving so many KLMS a day sounds fine, but in reality it’s full on. Australia is a BIG place, so with it come the long drives especially if you only have limited time and budget.

So the GRR! We’d travelled through the NT the previous year, but had hired a campervan so hadn’t been able to go down it and had always regretted not having a 4WD to be able to do it. But here we were, in Kylie! The GRR is an old beef route for driving cattle the 700kms between Wydham and Derby cutting across the Kimberleys. The seasons are extreme out here, with the dry, arid landscapes quickly becoming unpassable during the wet season. This year the NT hasn’t had it’s typical monsoon season and so although we hit the track at the beginning of the open season, the water levels were very low. In some ways a blessing as the drive was much easier, but disappointing that we wouldn’t get to experience the real challenge of crossing the Pentecost and Durack River. Both are legendary for being long deep, croc infested river crossings, but as we passed through, the water barely covered the wheels!

We skipped past the ‘big wilderness resorts’ of El Questro and Home Valley – both great if you’ve got the cash and are looking for a little luxury in the outback – but only needing something simple we headed to smaller station – Ellenbrae. A quirky little place with an amazing outdoor shower, toilet and tub! For the first time on the trip, the moon wasn’t up meaning that the stars were just immense. We cracked up the vino and spent the night staring up at the millions of stars in the sky – have never seen so many stars!

There was only one other couple at the camp and on their good advice we headed onto Mount Barnett and the Manning Gorge. We spent the afternoon swimming in the crystal clear waterhole by the camp – perfect way to cool down on such a hot day. Despite the heat, we still decided to have a campfire to cook on that night, but after lighting the fire within seconds the flames had leapt over the rock fireplace and onto surrounding grass. Shit!!!! The flames were racing off through the grass and despite throwing water onto it, it wasn’t enough to stop it. The shovel was still bolted onto the back door and we were running out of ideas fast. Fortunately the caretaker onsite came rushing over with his wife and 2 spades and began shovelling dirt over the spreading fire. Thank god they’d seen it as we would have been in big trouble!! The fire was put out in a matter of minutes, but not before burning out a huge patch of grass, not to mention coming within feet of the car!!! The speed at which it all happened was frightening and we were kicking ourselves that we’d let it happen – easily avoided if 1) We’d cleared the area properly 2) Had the shovel to hand – both of which we’ll ensure we always do in the future! Lesson learned!

Feeling rather sheepish after the incident we were up early and out of the camp not long after sunrise, walking the track up to Manning Gorge waterfall. It took about an hour, but after the hot and sweaty walk we were rewarded with the most amazing waterfall. We spent the morning swimming and Rich regressed to schoolboy age, daring himself to jump off higher and higher rocks into the waterfall – each time surfacing with bigger and bigger grins – haha such a kid!

The gorges and the waterfalls are what make this area so worth a visit and we were lucky enough to arrive the day after Bell Gorge had just opened. Again, another short hike to be rewarded with yet another stunning waterfall for swimming in! Bliss. We camped up by the gorge that night in ‘Silent Grove’, but don’t be fooled by the name! The morning light bought with it a cacophony of birds – Corellas, Black Cockatoos, White Cockatoos, Crows – you name it, it was squawking!!

Apr 25

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The Red Centre Way

Days on the Road 13

KLMS Travelled 4,103

Back on the tarmac we headed to Uluru – another long day at the wheel but realising that the next day was Anzac day, we were keen to attend the dawn service there. We’d never been to an Anzac dawn service and felt it was something we should do before we left Australia. We arrived late into the Uluru camp resort – have driven in the dark from Curtin Springs – this time dodging the wild camels rather than Kamikaze roos – they reckon there’s around 30,000 wild camels living in the centre of Australia! The Uluru resort is just one huge complex catering for the masses whether you’re looking for exclusive suites or just a camping spot it’s smartly done and the facilities are great – considering it’s remote location we found the prices were pretty reasonable too.

Alarm call at 5am the next day for the Dawn Service – which could have done with being slightly later – as it was still dark when it finished! However, it was good to go and the service was very moving. In true Aussie style, the solemn remembrance service is swiftly followed by a day of celebration and Bundy was being served with coffees by 7am!! The 2UP tournaments started straightway, making the most of the only day you can play it in a pub (apart from Broken Hill, where they have a special license to allow you to play it all year round!) Got to love the Aussie spirit for finding any opportunity to booze & gamble! The rest of the afternoon we went to the Olgas, another spectacular rock formation west of Uluru, before heading back to the big rock for sunset. Watching the sunset at Uluru is on most people’s bucket list, which means that you also have to share this special moment with hundreds of others! We went early to get a good spot, and once parked up, we climbed up onto the roof to watch the spectacular sunset show. Despite the hoards, it was amazing to see and we stayed later than most watching as the moon rose above Uluru. In fact it was so stunning, that we got up again at 5am the next day to go and watch the sunrise followed by a walk to the rock itself. I think we both underestimated what Uluru would be like and we both quite taken aback with just how stunning it all was, combined with the Aboriginal significance we both felt quite moved by our time there and would easily have spent longer there to simply sit back and take it all in.

Driving on towards Alice Springs, we took the loop road through Kings Canyon and into the East MacDonnell Ranges – stunning drive through the valley spotting lots of wild horses, roos and dingos, although the unsealed road was corrugated and slow going so we didn’t make it to our intended stop at Finke Gorge. Instead we took the upper road and camped the night at RedBank Gorge. Arriving after dark, isn’t ideal as you really have no idea where you are or what’s around you and as we set up the tent, we could hear the dingos howling and wasn’t long before we had a visitor. Having both recently seen an episode of ‘I shouldn’t have survived’ where a guy got mauled by a pack of dingos, we were thankful that this dingo hadn’t bought any of his buddies along! However, as soon as we’d gone to bed, the little bugger kept us awake with his running back and forth and at one point jumping up onto the bonnet of the car and standing on his hind legs looking at us through the tent window! I can’t believe that in a few months this could be lions and elephants running around our camp – not just 1 little dingo!!

Apr 21

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Oodnadatta Track & Lake Eyre – 3 TIMES!!

Days on the road – 10

Kilometres Travelled – 2,502

After spending an extra in Wilpena following the previous days walk, we left the Flinders Ranges at 5:30am. We were conscious that we had to push on to make up some time as we are unfortunately on a time schedule for this part of the trip. We must make Perth by the 25th of May to meet Sophie’s parents.

It had been raining since late the previous night and although not heavy it was wet enough to make packing up that bit harder as it was still dark. I am pleased to say that we definitely chose the correct tent. The heavy-duty canvass keeping us bone dry throughout the night. We drove out through the Edowie, Byneroo, Brachina and Parachilna Gorges. They were stunning. They were all formed over 550 million years ago and even the untrained eye could see the many contrast of rock and stone formations. The gorges made for an exciting if bumpy road out, the bumps vibrating the UHF antenna until it snapped in two.

We rejoined the main road at Parachilna and stopped for a morning coffee and shared a scone, all $14 dollars worth. The smart looking outback pub is located in the middle of a tiny town that feels like the middle of nowhere. The quiet surroundings were a stark contrast to the inside of the pub which also has a very upmarket restaurant that was serving breakfast to a smart Melbournian crowd that had been there the night before for a function, a 50th Birthday I think. The owners of the bar were busy working away serving guests. They had the rugged outback charm but were also dressed in the latest RM Williams gear fresh from the nearest outlet. The place is well worth a visit and I hear the evening food menu is great.

We pressed on North to Leigh Creek. This was going to be the last stop in pseudo civilisation before we ‘went remote’. With remoteness comes the increased cost of fuel and the lack of decent fresh food. With it being a Sunday the supermarket was closed the finest food the servo had to offer was meat pies and tins of garden peas. The cost of fuel was steadily heading upwards the nearer we got to the Oodnadatta track. All topped up on pies and gas off we went further north.

We later arrived at the start of the Oodnadatta track. The landscape had changed from the greenish rolling hills of the Flinders to the sandy arid flats. The Oodnadatta track proper starts at Marree. This was a major stop on the old Ghan railway, the small town had a caravan park, a derelict station, a few houses (in which about 60 people live) and one of the biggest pubs I have ever seen! Oh yes there is also a yacht club. The pub still functions as the centre for the town but you can only imagine how busy it was back in the height of the old Ghan Railway. The yacht club was also an interesting place in which we met the commodore of the club. He’s was a very friendly chap who told us all about the MYC. The nearest lake to the club is Lake Eyre, Australia biggest. The problem is that the lake only floods every 20 years and for the rest of the time it’s a dry salt pan. Just as interesting is that the members live Australia wide and they all converge on the area for one regatta a year. This is held at the nearest body of water that can be up to 800klms form the club.

Cooling off after a hard day at the wheel.

After a look round we picked up some West End Draughts form the pub and headed up the track. About two hours in we passed Lake Eyre. An impressive sight as the might salt pans stretched into the desert. It had already been a long day but we decided to push on to Coward Springs campsite, one of only a few sites on the track. This site also held the promise of being a desert oasis as it has a thermal spring. We eventually arrived at the site in the mid evening. Just enough time for a dip in the springs and put the tent up before dark. West End Draft in had we made for the spa. The spa was about 2m x 2m and made out of old Ghan Railway sleepers. The spring water was pumped in through a massive pump so not quite the natural spring I was expecting but it was refreshing all the same. WE had an early dinner that night, I fiddled with some bits on the car and then we just after the sun went down we went to bed. It was all beginning to feel like a holiday after the manic start to the trip.

The next morning I was awake well before sunrise, as I have been for most of the trip. I like am settling into the routine of getting up, making tea and not having to go to work. We packed up in double quick time before the files and the soaring heat arrived as they had been arduous the day before. As the first files showed up and it climbed to 25°C at 8am we jumped into the car. Sophie turned the key; a faint click was heard from the engine and nothing. Sophie tried it again but to the same result. I popped the bonnet and asked her to do it again but to the same result. We had broken down, properly broken down this time in the middle of nowhere and the nearest one-horse-town being 185klms.

I went through all the possibilities in my mind. OK that battery is good – check, the car worked last night – check, the power was going to the starter – check (I could hear the solenoid throwing the starter into the flywheel), so it’s the starter motor. The corrugations from the day before must have killed it. This seemed sensible enough answer even though the starter was only 3 month old. It must be a defective one. Luckily enough Sydney City Mitsubishi had provided me with a spare, this was a must have as the car being an automatic can’t be towed easily and can’t be bump started. With this in mind I told Sophie that I will change the starter motor and we will be off in no time. I cracked on jacking the car up and got to work. Soph went to fetch help from the quickly disappearing campers that were all trying to get off before the heat and flies arrived.

Getting busy fixin,

Two great gents Mike & Steve came over and leant a hand. They agreed with me that it was probably the starter. It took a bit of time and fiddling around but I got the starter changed. By 11:30 we were good to go. The heat was not at about 36°C and the files were unbearable. I was not too bothered by them but the small crowed were covered head to toe. They were very patient waiting for me to finish. I dropped the car off the jack and jumped in to start it. Click – nothing. Bugger! This was not good. We were proper stuck. Mike and I decided that I would have to be towed to the nearest town, Marree, which was 200km away! This meant removing the driveshaft as automatics can’t be towed far. We would also have to stick to 50kmph. We tied Kylie to Mikes truck and set off vary slowly back to Marree. Being towed on a dessert track has its drawbacks. No air con, lots of dust and you get showered with stones form the car in front. Our windscreen copped a hammering and we managed to pick up three large chips and on 25cm crack. That will need replacing at some point!

The towing was slow but we eventually arrived back at Marree, a town which consists of a pub, a disused railway station and a Caravan Park. I tormented myself all the way with thoughts about how we were crazy to do this trip in such an old car. I even convinced myself at one point that the engine was ceased and this was the end of the trip. Dark times. We were exhausted the tow had taken 3.5 hours with lots of stops. I thanked mike and his wife Lynne for the tow and offered him a case of beers of his choice but they politely declined.

Soph and I got ourselves together had some lunch and I decided that I would have another go at fixing the car. The few ideas I had didn’t work first up. While working away I attracted the attention of Neville the park owner. He was a rugged chap, an ex stockman. He gave me so great tips and showed me how to test the starter by bridging the solenoid and motor connections. He also showed me how to rig up a hot wire to start the car if we had no luck. He was a very resourceful guy as you would have to be in a place like Marree. The only real mechanic in town was on holiday for a month.

Fixed at last after 15 hours!

Sophie had been feeling a bit helpless all day and decided to help any way she could and spent an hour studying the owner’s manual and the Haynes manual for the car. Hidden in the troubleshooting section she found a section about the wiring of a starter motor. These typically have two positive connections. One from the ignition (which we knew was working) and one from the battery directly. When she read this out loud it sent a flash bulb off in my mind. That hint mixed with the effects of a few cans of West End Draft and I had cracked it! The solenoid was working but the motor wasn’t. I’d found the problem, it was simply a faulty electrical connection that had come lose during all the corrugations, after some further investigations i found the culprit wire underneath the battery terminal connection. So I replaced the original starter motor, cleaned up and tightened all the connections to the battery and bingo – Kylie was working again! It had only taken 15hours, 200km of being towed across the desert and replacing the starter motor twice to finally realise that all it was, was a lose connection. Lesson learned – go for the easy fixes first!!

We celebrated with a few more West End Draughts and then headed to bed – exhausted. The next morning we were not up early. The previous day had taken it out of me. We packed up slowly and headed off up the Oodnadatta track and past Lake Eyre for the third time in three days!

The once mighty Ghan

The rest of the track went smoothly as we traced the route of the original Ghan Railway line. We didn’t quite make the whole track in one day and just after passing the famous Pink Road House at Oodnadatta we pull Kylie off the track and into the a small valley in the dessert mounds. This was to be our second ‘free’ camp. With camp set up and dinner cooked we relaxed and sat back to take in all the sounds and sights of the desert in a beautiful sunset. It was without a doubt the quietest place I have ever been. Our ears rang it was so quiet. The most peaceful place.