Leaving Lake Argyle this morning we had planned to start the Gibb and hoped to make it to Home Valley Station. But we were a little ambitious so pulled up a little short of even getting on the Gibb River Road. Still it was a great day.
We’ve seen a few cyclists on the roads and have said we should always stop, have a chat and see if they need anything or just want a coffee or some COLD water. So we see a bike and decide to stop, then realise there is another. Cool, it’s a couple I think. Then we pass them and realise they have TWO KIDS with them on tandem bikes. Now that’s hard core!
What legends, having ridden from Tassie they are doing a lap and have a bunch of schools following their travels and progress as an online one year geography lesson. They make 5 min videos and have a great little website to track them. Being teachers this has been developed to cover the Australian curriculum, so amazing. Google them, The Sway Family.
It was getting pretty hot and while they still had a bit of distance to cover, meeting people along the road and in towns is a big part of their trip. So we cranked up the coffee machine, got the kids some ice creams and put the air conditioner on. It wasn’t long before the kids were painting and playing with babies and more folks who were following their progress had seen the bikes and stopped for a chat too. We topped them up with cold water, took the photos and it was back on the road for everyone. Gorgeous, amazing people and happy lovely kids. The girls were pretty amazed and realised just how easy they’ve got it.
Kununurra was a rushed post, shop and fuel stop before we made our way down to the Ivanhoe Crossing for a late lunch and the game of tetris that is putting the shopping away. Ken wanted to fly the drone as we crossed so while I was feeling nervous about doing the crossing I also wanted to get that great footage so talked myself around. It was now getting late, the light was softer, images beautiful and fishermen out trying to catch themselves some dinner. Nothing more needs to be said here just watch the video.
The final leg of the drive was fun, I really don’t drive much but do love to get behind the wheel. Dirt roads for a bit, then smooth bitumen once we got back on the Victoria Hwy. The scenery is really beautiful as the sun sets on the Cockburn Ranges and as is typical in the northern parts of Australia, the rock turns from pastel orange, to vibrant orange, to red and finally brown once the sun has gone for the day. Then you get to watch the sky put on its show of delicate sunset hues.
The roadside stop is pretty full but we pull up next to a family from Israel. The kids play for a bit and we are about to have our late dinner and clearly something pretty awful has happened to their little boy. It’s pitch black and he’s screaming in pain so we get them to come in the van so we can see how to best help. It seems his sister kicked him down the ladder and he landed on his face. Blood, swelling and pain, it looks awful but not too bad. We clean him up a little, get some ice and check him out but we all think a hospital trip can wait if they observe him closely overnight.
Despite being so close to the road it was a pretty peaceful night. It has actually turned out perfectly as we had missed walking Emma Gorge while staying at El Questro, and it looked like we were just going to have to miss it altogether. But seeing as we haven’t passed it yet, we realise we can do it on our way past tomorrow. It gets great reviews so we were pretty sorry to be missing it. Hopefully with an early start we can enjoy the walk in before it gets too hot.