Thursday August 6

Today was an interesting and trying day. First we woke up to a howling easterly wind that made our beautiful perch high above the surrounding world a little uncomfortable. So we shifted the van to lower section to get shelter from the wind and got the van filled with red dust, sort of out of the frying pan into the fire! So we took off to find a dust free roadside park and clean up our van. Before that I walked down the cliff into the valley which features multicoloured rocks, very nice and very energetic. 

About 30 kms down the road we found a spot and did a pretty basic clean up before heading off to one of our favourite spots, Mary Pool. As we left we spoke to another van who turned out to be friends of my sailing companion Brian Williamson and they decided to join us for the night. We or rather I also left behind our doormat and the new wood bag that Elaine made and it was full of wood cut to size for our fire pit.....silly boy. 

So having arrived at Mary Pool we found a spot and undertook a major cleanup, as usual Elaine was the driving force and did most of it. But we did get to relax and enjoy a sundowner with our new friends and another couple who we met at Ellendale Lake. 

Mary Pool is an official rest area with toilets and dump spot reached by turning off the main road and crossing the river on a very old bridge. The bridge is actually better described as a causeway and the river has very little water in it. It is a very popular place and tonight has 50-60 RVs parked around the trees. However I note that the sign now says 24 hr parking and wonder if this will be policed, as a lot of people spend a few days here, and that would be a pity and spoil things a little. 

Wednesday August 5

Well yesterday's camp spot was very very nice, a large grove of trees spread around a small clean looking lake. Last night one of the couples organised a sundowner which was attended by about 30 people but on my morning walk I reckon that there was at least 30 RVs parked there. We were surrounded by birds, willy wagtails, swallows, kites, very noisy corellas, pink and grey galahs and others that I could not identify. Add to that cows and you have one great camp site which we made the mistake of leaving this morning. 

But we wanted to get going and make tracks east despite the headwind which has been dogging us for the last few days of driving. Headwinds are not our favourite because they cost us close to 1 km per litre of fuel consumption. 

Today the scenery was well spaced trees mostly under 5 mtrs, scrub, grassland and of course the ever present Boab trees. We were also treated to some good large rocks, actually small mountains. There were also a number of 1 lane bridges after Fitzroy Crossing. Talking about Fitzroy Crossing we had to pay for water, not bad seeing that the area is very dry at the moment, and there was no public dump point. Derby has the same issue which makes both towns unfriendly to RVs , not good. 

Tonight we are camped on Ngumban Cliff which offers a magnificent view of the roar below and the surrounding countryside along with more than 20 other happy campers.