Back on the Kulumburu road for another hour, which was feeling better than the way up l must tell you, and we got to the intersection back onto the GRR, Within 5 minutes Marty and l could've sworn we were still on the Kulumburu road it was so heavily corrugated. We reached Ellenbrae Station were we had heard was a must stop for the most delicious scones ever! Huge statement l thought, but still a good excuse to get out of the car for a while. We drove down the 5km dirt road and pulled up to see lush green lawns and flowering shrubs, obviously they have a good source of bore water! We were greeted buy a bloke who really didn't feel like talking to us, didn't engage with the kids or us and we noticed that it was a fairly regulated place with written rules of do's and dont's up all over the place. We also found a "most asked Qs" sheet printed up with answers, obviously so they don't have to chat to people about the same stuff all the time. We ordered our scones and soft drink each, coming to a whopping total of $32!!! The scones were heated up in the microwave and we were served with not even fresh cream on the side, it was from a can! Anyway, you could tell we hadn't educated our girls about old time snacks as Meg let out a big "wow" when she got hers! We even had to tell the girls how to add their jam and cream, oh how deprived they have been! We had contemplated staying at the station, but after the cold welcome we decided to push on to Home Valley. First we took a stroll around the grounds, looking at the boab tree that had a tap out of it and the outside shower, all so farm rustic. Meg had to use the outside toilet which grossed her out having to place lime in to keep the smell away, which didn't really seem to be working too well.
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Had to get a pic of the old boy and old girl after conquering
the Kulumbaru road! |
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| Back on the Gibb River Road.... |
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| Yet more dismantled cars.... |
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| Love this outdoor table set! |
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| Dig in guys! |
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Poor Meg didn't even know what a scone
was...oh how we deprive these girls! |
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| Outdoor bathroom! |
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| Seriously mum....get out! |
After another 2.5 hours in the car we arrived at Cockburn Ranges lookout, along with bus load of bloody tourists. Now you'd think that you'd notice why people wanted to stop at the lookout right? That's right, to take a photo of the ranges. Well stupid selfish nomads decide that they don't consider others around and stand for ages in the middle of what your trying to take a photo of. After all day in the car, overpriced scones and a unwelcoming station owner, l was so not in the mood for a bus load of tourists and rude nomads!!!! Cursing under my breath l returned to the car a bit more grumpier than when l had left, luckily it was only 5 more minutes up the road to Home Valley. We arrived at 4:30pm, the latest we had pulled up for a long while. It had been yet another big day and we still had to set up and cook dinner.....the joys of camping. The girls screamed with excitement when they saw the horses, then the playground, then the big one.....the pool!!!!! Anyone would have thought that they had been deprived of glorious swimming spots for the last week, but all they needed was a pool! With the big day in the car my back was as stiff as anything so l needed to medicate with necking a few coldies, which did loosen both my back and mood up! We were all exhausted so we quickly set up while the girls went off and played at the playground, leaving Marty and l to some peace and quiet.....
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| Awesome countryside to view... |
If its not Bower birds then its bloody crows!!!! That right, we woke early to their annoying sounds. Seeing we woke early and we had been in the car all of yesterday, l decided we should get a short walk out of the way in the morning. It was meant to be a 4 hour return walk to a lookout, but it only took us 2hours, getting back to camp at 10am. The walk was easy and not too thrilling. The girls weren't too happy, all they wanted to do was play at the playground. There was good panoramic views of the Cockburn Ranges and gorge but the smoke haze was still present, not good for photos. The landscape was really dry too, not too lush.
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| The entrance to Home Valley Station....love it! |
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| Girls found a cool toy to play with... |
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| Snack time.... |
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| Nice smiles girls!!! |
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| Not too close to the edge Boo! |
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| Cockburn Ranges in the distance... |
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| Big bugs around these parts! |
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| Girls happy to be back after the heated walk! |
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| Yep a donkey resides here too... |
As l sat updating my blog
back at camp l met Andrea, a mother of the two boys the girls had befriended at the playground. We ended up seeing each other when we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the bistro. It was so well decorated with old saddles up everywhere and cart wheels. $70 later, and that was just for burgers and a drink each, we headed for the pool for the arvo
. Andrea, Brad, Evan and Sam joined us, which meant the girls didn't bother us, which meant happy Marty and Bell!!!! Great arvo
getting to know Andrea and Brad who were from Melbourne, Victoria, on a 3 month trip around Oz. Amazing how quick people can get it done seeing we were in our 4th year and will have only completed the "lap" at the end of the year!!! Evan was a special needs kid but the girls either hadn't noticed or didn't draw attention to it and they all got along so well.
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| Treat for us after a big mornings walk! |
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| Great bistro....decorated superbly! |
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| Whats in the bottom of the toad box! |
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| Girls enjoying the horse wash down show! |
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Great end to the day cooling off in the
very cold pool! |
That night we joined them for some drinks before Marty, the girls and l headed over to see Nathan Griggs, who claims to be the Australian Whip Cracking Champion. We were amazed by his show, with Boo having been picked to get up on stage to help with his act, but she got scared. So what does a mum do? She gets up to show her daughter not to be scared and to have fun. That's right, l stood on stage making "toot toot" noises like a train looking and sounding like an idiot, and l had a ball! We were all amazed at how much core strength he had and his forearms were enormous. Later l Googled his name and found out that he was NOT the current whip cracking champion, worst still, he had never been one. Why do people take others for a ride? I still would have enjoyed his performance knowing he wasn't the Oz Champ! Another tiring day, sick of the early rises and crows waking us up. So dreaming of my bed in the caravan. Sick of the tenting thing, mainly due to my stupid back still giving me grief. But best not to complain....Marty will go even quicker than what we had been.
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| The whip show! |
Home Valley is a cool place but theirs not as much to see or do like the other stations we had been to. You can only go on the horse rides if you over the age of 12, they don't stock groceries, the walks aren't too spectacular, and apart from the pool there are no glorious gorges to swim in, but they do have an awesome and super cool bar and bistro area. Its overpriced for what it is too at $40 per night, no power just close bore water supplied....All in all, one night enough to stay but seeing we pulled in late two was plenty! Tomorrow we would make our final stop on the Gibb River Road at El Questro Station which l had high expectations about from talking to people along the way, so excited!!
Bell Xxx
Knowing we had a full day of driving ahead of us seeing Marty didn't want to break it up along the way, we got up and got going pretty quickly. Before getting off the Mitchell Falls road we stopped off at two cultural sites where we witnessed amazing aboriginal rock art, even more of the Wanjana man.
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