Derby

We have had fun at our stay in Derby. Upon arrival we we informed of the Mud Crab races that were being held that night. The Pocock's thought this was a must attend event. As you can see the mud crabs are released from the bin (with nippers tied up). The first mud crab to reach the rope wins.

Ethan had impressed Dags the commentator greatly. We do nor know how it happended but Ethan ended up announcing the crab comprtitors in one of the races.

The cra  races inspired the boys to try and catch their own crabs off the jetty using a dilly.

The caravan park we are staying at is nice and shady. Here is the afternoon view from our campsite.

Derby has a boab tree which is over 1000 years old and is 14.5m in circumference.  It was used as a prison in the 1800's and hence is called a Prison Tree. Spectacular.

Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge is an open gorge with some pools large within it. The pools have many Freshwater Crocodiles in them. To start our walk to the pools we had to walk past a Bower Bird nest and between these two rocks. Windjana Gorge was Mitch heaven as he loves crocodiles and his keen eyes were constantly looking for them.

Look through the nest to find the male Bower Bird.

Here is one of the pools with some fresh water crocs in it.

How many crocs can you see in this pool? There are 7.

Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek is a creek which flows under an ancient limestone reef. The walk involves walking through a tunnel. To do this we needed to wear a headlamp (to see as it is very dark) and water shoes ( we we have to walk through the creek; goes up to our knees).

Entering the tunnel.

A small waterfall in the tunnel. The small wite dot is the eye of a fresh water crocodile. Sorry hard to see.

Inside the tunnel. The white line is a bat that flew past as the photo was taken.

End of the tunnel.

King Leopold National Park - Bell Gorge

Bell Gorge was Prue's Favourite Gorge to visit. After hoping in at the waterfall we swam down the gorge to the next waterfall. We passed 5 Mertens Water Monitors on the way.

Manning Gorge

Manning Gorge was Chris's favourite Gorge. The walk started with crossing the river in a boat. When not in use by other walkers the boat was used by the boys to play crocodile hunters. They also provided ferry rides to walkers.

The falls we stunning and provided a great place to swim.

Ethan taking in the falls.

Mitch sunbaking amongst the falls.

Looking down the gorge.

Mount Elizabeth Station

Mount Elizabeth Station has bought on a few challenges for the Pocock's. Firstly we visited the Hann River. Here we became misguided by the road/track and ended bogged in the sand. After a range of problem solving activites, we discovered that putting rocks under the wheels was the best way to get out. Lowering the tyre pressure did not work and the Max Trax we safely packed in the shed at home (they would have been beneficial to get out of this situation).

We alos drove along another track to see Wumumarra gorge. The track was rocky, slow going and tested your 4WD skills. However, the swim was worth it. Unfortunetaly, we could not find the Aboriginal rock art in the area.

Kalumburu - Honeymoon Bay

Our stay at Kulumburu was fantastic, we would recommend anyone to make the effort to get there if in the area. The road into Kalumburu is said to be rough. Whilst the  term 'track' would be better describe the road, we found the road doable providing you went slow.

Many activities we completed during our stay at Honeymoon Bay and the owners would do anything to help. Fishing off the beach was a popular activity. If you wanted to find Mitch you just needed to go to the beach and find him with his fishing rod. He found live bait was the best form of bait; if he wasn't fishing he was annoying Chris to get live bait.

We were fortunate enough to be taken out on a boat to do some fishing. Here Prue out fished the rest of the family with 3 FingerMark, 1 Red Snapper and 2 Rock Cod. Ethan came in second with 3 Finger Mark and 1 Travelly. Mitch came third with 2 sharks and dad came last with nothing.

The beach at Honeymoon Bay is  stunning with its crystal clear water and Boab Trees, unfortuneately we could not swim in due to crocs.

The boys were fortunate enough to meet two girls similar to their ages. At the night the Hermit Crabs would move into camp looking for fresh water. The kids spent many hours catching the Hermit Crabs and buidling a home for them out of a cardboard box. They caught over 100 and the test was to try and prevent them from escaping, a hands on science lesson.

Other activites included eating fresh oysters that you can pick off the rocks yourself and making your own spear for spearfishing. The boys we meant to make their own spears but ended up having them given to them.

We also visted the Kalumburu Mission where we visited the musuem, church and old bakery. Ethan purchased a decorated Boab nut with a story etched into it by one of the locals.

Mitchell Plateau

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting the Mitchell Plateau and the Mitchell River Falls. One of the most spectactular falls we have seen. The walk in also takes you to Little Merterns and Merten's falls on the way, along with some Bradshaw painting dated back 30 00 to 40 000 years ago.

Instead of walking back we opted for a helicopter ride. This time Mitch sat in the front. He had a door and see out below his feet. He thought it was great. Ethan, however, was desperate to sit on a seat which had no door. He loved it and conforms our suspicions he is an adrenalin junky.

At the plateau we camped at King Edward River. Just near by we were able to see some Aboriginal Art Sites. Here the art consisted of Bradshaw art, Wandjina (pictured) and a buriel cave. We were very impressed to have access to the buriel cave.

Drysdale Station

Drysdale Station provided an opportunity for us to catch up with the washing. It also provided us with the opportunity to meet Ron and VIv Moon. For those of you who don't know Ron and Viv are iconic Australians renowned for their trek notes to various remote places in Australia including the Kimberely's and Cape York. Ron was the editor of 4x4 magazine, however, now they contract to Hema Maps.

We can say that Ron and Viv are champions, not only did they pose for a photo and Ron sign our Kimberelys Hema Map, but Viv was so impressed with our greeting (she says its the most enthusiastic greeting she's had) that she gave us a signed cook book.

Check out the payphone, it is located in a fridge.

Ellenbrae Station

Ellenbrae Station is a quaint little sation run by Larissa and Logan. The highlight here is the famous scones. They were good. Mitch took the opportunity to catch Cheribin again and we had a swim at Sandy Gorge.

Home Valley

Our adventures to home valley started with crossing the Pentecost River on the Gibb River Road. A celebrated event by the Pocock's.

But our adeventure did not stop here, we had the rain to contend with. We celebrated Chris's Birthday by starting out with a fish for the ellusive Barramundi. We had to cut short this trip to return to camp due to the rain. Whilst two showers passed through for the day (one substantial) the rest of the day was spent trying to dry things out, prevent other thing from becoming wet and cursing the rain as it was preventing the sun from charging solar battery which was operating the fridges. However, we still managed to have a cake and go out for dinner to the pub on the station.

Thankfully Mothers' Day was fine and most of our stuff has dried.

El Questro - Moonshine Gorge

This is our last walk for El Questro, a 5 km circuit walk. Moonshine was the boys favourite as they walk a circuit instead of in and out of a gorge and the swim was at the end instead of in the middle of the walk. Like most walks in El Questro it  invloved channelling your inner Rock Wallaby to rock hop.

El Questro - El Questro Gorge

So far on our trip this has been our favourite walk. The water was crystal clear and the ferns and rocks pretty. It reminded us a lot of a walk in the Daintree. Unfortunately we could not complete the walk all the way to the top waterfall as this would have involved lowering the boys down over rocks. A simple solution to this would be to install a flying fox system.