The Bungle Bungle Ranges.

A short drive from Wolf Creek Crater is Purnululu National Park, better known as the Bungle Bungles. We left the van at a free camp across the road from the entrance of the national park and drove in to do an overnight camp. The drive in to the park was excellent and took a couple of hours to do the 54 Km due to the roughness of the track. The car still has the factory tyres on it so I took it easy. So with the swag and a bit of tucker packed we headed in.

We arrived and did the walk into Echidna Chasm, it was good to be in the bush again enjoying a walk and the chasm was beautiful.

This completed the northern part of the park and in the morning the southern part before we headed off, so after a few hours of walking a few trails we headed for the camp ground to settle for the night.

                                                      The photo above is in the chasm.

The next day we traveled down the short road trip to the south of the park and to Cathedral Gorge, this is another excellent walk and where the quintessential Bungle Bungle rock formations can be seen.

The end of the walk you are rewarded with a massive open area at the end of the gorge cut into the rock, like a cathedral funnily enough. :-)

All in all an excellent walk and we would recommend it. Lake Argyle next.

Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater

Our first port of call after leaving Fitzroy was Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater. The Crater is found 170 Km South down the Tanami Road just before Halls Creek. An excellent drive with the van and a camp area that was beautiful.

A short walk from where we were camped is the crater and an easy climb got you to the top of it. Nice view of the second largest meteorite crater in the world, the largest on is in the US. The crater is 20m deep but back in the day it was formed used to be 120m deep. Over time the desert winds have blown in sand as is slowly filling it. The crater is thought to be about 300,000 years old.

The above photo is of the bottom of the crater.

Next stop, The Bungle Bungles.

Back On The Road.

After wrapping up business at Broome and saying goodbye to the friends we made, we hedded to Fitzroy Crossing to stay with a friend of Tracey's. Steve is an employee of the same organisation Tracey worked for in Broome and is the Fitzroy Crossing court officer.

We had a good few days fishing and catching cherabin. Steve's family owns a cattle station in the area and they had just shot a beast, known as a "killer", so the engel fridge was chock a block full of beef. We left the Crossing for Kununurra and free camped all the way.

Done and Dusted

I just finished my last shift at KDC, a night shift. It's 6am and we fly out at 9:30am..........for the last time. Although the job out here has been a good experience I don't think I will make a career out of mining as you are away from home too much. Oh well, it served us our purpose.

Picture of me with my favorite moxie.



As soon as I get home it's packing again for the trip to Brisbane to pick up the new car. I fly out tomorrow. Then it's the arduous task of getting back to Broome, about a 5 day drive.

We will hook up the van and head out on the road again, but before that we have been invited to go barra fishing on the Fitzroy river for a few days. Good time to stock up the freezer before heading off. Looking forward to it and spending some time with Trace. Most of the time I am home she is working, so we are well over due for a break.

This is the sunrise at the mine yesterday.




That's it for now, I will post some pictures of the barra. :-)

Close Call, Rain and Other Things.

After riding out the remnants of cyclone Yassi in Mt Isa last year we find ourselves this year the target of another cyclone. Cyclone Lua in Broome. I am at the mine site at the moment and poor Tracey is in Broome hunkered down in the van riding it out.




As you can see by the picture from the BOM, she was a close call all the locals say this is common and took it in their stride in Broome, stocking up on alcohol. Trace reports everything is alright and that it's a bit blowy. Bit stressful being here and Tracey being in Broome.

It's been raining heaps out here at the mine site as well due to a tropical low. It will be interesting to see if we get out on Wednesday morning. The plans can't land and the two 4WD buses we use in the wet are broken, so people have been driving to Derby in the landcruisers. That will be an interesting trip down the Gibb across some of the flood plains!

I have one more shift out here at the beginning of April and that's it, all done. We sold the 76 series landcruiser and purchased the 200 series. She is waiting at the moment in Brisbane for me to fly over and pick up, then scoot back to Broome an hitch up to hit the road again. This time we are going back to Brisbane to catch up with friends and family. Not looking forward to getting back to the big smoke.

The New Year

Welcome to the new year, hope everyone had a nice Christmas, New Year period and got what you wanted for Christmas. Nothing much has changed on our side, we continue to work the same jobs toward leaving the Kimberley around April, May.

Tracey and I bought a new car, 200 series Landcruiser. It will be a step up in comfort from the 76 series and a bit more power too. :-) . We pick that up in early April. Until then we will work the current jobs and sit the rest of the wet out. Speaking of wet seasons, we haven't really seen much of one yet. There have been a couple of storms out here at the mine site but that's about it.

We went fishing a few weeks ago up at Beagle Bay with an aboriginal friend that Tracey works with. Great fun and a beautiful area to spend the day. Beagle Bay is an aboriginal community about half way to Cape Lavique. The guys that took us fishing were spearing the crabs and fish and I was using a rod. Caught only one fish, a cod about 40 cm long. The mob we went with were using hand lines and catching trevalley. We had ann excellent day as we went home with half a dozen of the biggest mudcrabs I have ever seen, the claws were as big as my hands!

On another fishing trip last break I went out with a mate in his boat on Dampier Creek here in Broome and caught heaps of fish, even a shark. I learnt a lesson that day as well, catfish spines when they cut your finger is very painful. The finger is still swollen, that was 2 weeks ago!! Still had an excellent time.

Well it's 4 pm and time to get up and have dinner and go to work, 5:30pm-5:30 am. Only a few more days to go and back to Broome and another swing done. 3 to go!

Hope this post finds everyone well.

Working In The Kimberley

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am working at a diamond mine driving trucks in the Kimberley called Kimberley Diamond Company (KDC). The Mine is called Ellendale. Tracey is working for Aboriginal Legal service in Broome and at Target in Broome. She was bored while I was at work so she got the Target job to work the weekends and Thursday nights.

The mine site is on the Gibb River Road and about 200 K's from Derby. I fly in and fly out of the mine on a 16 days on and 12 days off roster. The 16 days are split between day and night shift. 12 hours a day.

Map of Ellendale (see arrow)

It's not too bad a job when I am driving the trucks, but that is rarely. When not driving I am driving loaders and bobcats around the plant cleaning up mess. It's not a place I'd make a career out of. One of my objectives this year was to drive dump trucks at a mine and I guess I've achieved that.

The Plant at KDC Ellendale

My job in the truck is to ferry ore from big piles on the ROM (Run Of Mine) into a crusher using Moxies, CAT 740 dump trucks. The term "Moxie" refers to a sort of dump truck that is articulated, mine is a 30 tone truck that can carry and additional 40 tone. I get loaded by large articulated loaders CAT 988's and reverse onto a bridge that the crusher is under and tip the load. Sounds pretty boring but I like it, when we get to do it. :-)

Picture of a Moxie

It's frustrating when the the trucks are not running as I work in the plant cleaning up. The plant is a large mud pile, not too nice to work in. Still, the money is good and will do for the next few months.