Buccaneer Bound: Derby Day

It’s Derby Day! 6 days on the road so far and we’re on course to arrive in Derby at mid afternoon today.

There’s been a few minor hiccups on the way but nothing too serious (touch wood). On Departure day, we pulled away from home at about 0715. Mum and Dad departed Hervey Bay at about 7:45 and we were soon thundering up the Bruce Highway Heading the D'aguilar ranges. With all the gear running well, we made it a bit further along than we planned, passing Muckadilla and getting another 150 or so km under our belts.

We stopped at Mungalilla at a free camp that even had a bit of firewood available which was a bonus cos it was a pretty cold night. To save ourselves a bit of work we set the kids sleeping quarters up in the bow of the boat. They scramble up the ladder and through the hatch in the bow. It works well because they can leave their beds made and keep all their clothes bags in situ as we travel. Although I’m fully expecting to find a shitfight up there when I dare to look inside once we get to Derby. Whiff of teen spirit anyone??

But I digress.

Mungalilla...the town we renamed to Mongreldogga. Pretty sure no one sleeps in that place on account of the 6 or so dogs that bark non-stop all night. The only relief was when the roosters joined in, signalling the arrival of morning and time to hit the road again.

Daph And Bruce spent that night at Durringa. Where they also had a pleasurable night listening to the rain pitter pattering on the $30 tent.

Needless to say when we met up on the outskirts of Barcaldine around lunchtime the next day we were all suffering a bit from lack of sleep, but excitement was keeping us pinging.

That night we camped at a free camp about 20Km north of Longreach. Another great campfire and enough room to kick the soccer ball around with the kids in the dust. The kids and I were a bit grotty after World Soccer Championships so we devised a way to have a bit of a bath thin the back of the boat, and came out smelling like roses.

Another 650Km the next day got out out past Mount Isa. We had a few things go wrong that day. We pulled over for a wee break and Bruce’s front right tyre was looking a bit baggy. So he pulled out his compresor and pumped it up. But soon realised the air was coming out around the outside of the valve. So we pulled out the jack and replace the tyre before it had time to go fully flat and were soon on our way once more.

A fuel stop at Isa and again pulling out of town I start adjusting the air con. It’s a bit hot. But wait...it’s running...apparently. But definitely not working. Great. This was the first sign that something was amiss when the Dmax motor shat itself a few months ago. So straight away we had eyes on the temperature gauge waiting to see if it was about to overheat again. Thankfully the engine temperature remained steady (although it was pretty warm in the cockpit) so we wound down the windows and headed to our campsite about 50km West of Isa.

After setting up camp we had a look at the AC in the Dmax and found it to have zero pressure in the hoses - indicating a probable rupture resulting in loss of refrigerant gas. Well at least it’s not the motor. Uncomfortable as it may be, we can still get to Derby without AC. Everyday since then has been windows down at about 10am followed by about 4-5 hours of noisy buffeting. At first the kids found the situation rather intolerable, but a few old fogie war stories ...

”when I was a kid there was no such thing as air con…” etc. They soon adapted. If not just to shut us up.

Next morning we were up in the dark as usual and on the road by sunrise. It was Barkley Tablelands day! There’s not a lot to say about the Barkley - Its 600km of flat straight boredom broken up by the Blue Healer Pub at Kyurna, Camooweal, NT border, the Barkley Homestead, and finally 3 ways where you turn right to head up to Katerhine.

3 times on that long boring road we were overtaken by a bronze Ford Ranger. Bruce was in the lead so I radio’d ahead.

“You got a Ranger coming up on your 6. He’ll want to overtake” Daph:

“Roger. Is he a LONE Ranger”

Well.

Later he passed us again. “Lone Ranger on your 6 again”

And later one more time “Lone Ranger Coming up behind”....”is this the same bloke every time or is it a different ranger”

Daph: “I dunno. I need to take more notice of their number plates”

Lone Ranger: “What’s that about my number plates?”

Daz: “Nothing Mate it’s all good. It’s not falling off”

Lone Ranger: “Oh good thanks mate. Are you the boats?”

Then a bit of Radio chit chat. At three ways we stopped for fuel and the Lone Ranger was topping up oil. So dad gave him a hand and we have a bit more of a chat. Turns out the Lone Ranger is a bloke called Cam Nicholson who is a muso. He’s had enough of the industry for a while and is heading up to a property near Katherine to work for six months. He gave us a copy of his CD and we shook hands and headed off.... Cam to hightail it to the property near Katherine as he had to start work tomorrow. Us to Banka Banka station - 30km up the road.

Banka Banka hasn’t changed in the last 2 years. It’s a good place to pull over - $25 for a family of 4 gets you an unpowered site and access to warm showers - our first shower in 4 days (hallelujah!). Driving in felt like we were the star attraction in a 3 ring circus. All the Grey nomads were staring at us in slack jawed wonder. Boats? As we were escorted to our camp site past the rows of big caravans we were besieged with shouted comments

“Just park it here mate!”

"I’ll have the red one!”

“You forgot water!”

Yep. Righto. (eyeroll). With Camp set up we settled in for a few drinks and dinner & Showers. Daz discovered a rock had take out one of our fog lights (more $$!) as the kids squared off for the handball world championships. As evening drew close the night turned freezing cold so we went to bed early to keep warm.

Next day took us through Katherine and 100km further west on to a free camp called Mathias - We’d just set up camp when a vehicle pulled up and 2 people headed straight for us. Uh oh. Are we in trouble?

No, not at all. Turns out it was Cam the Lone Ranger! He’d Just finished wrapping up day 1 as a station hand (maintaining fences) and saw our boats pull into the free camp. This is the property he’s working on. What are the odds? We had a beer and a chat and soon Cam and his mate were off to get dinner.

Next day we crossed over into WA. The Victoria River escarpment country is a pretty spectacular introduction to the Kimberley region, then onto the Customs stop then onto Kununurra for fuel. We had lunch in sight fo the mighty Cockburn Ranges near the beginning of the Gibb River Road. This part of the world brings back many happy memories of our Kimberley trip 7 years ago and I can’t help but feel a twinge of regret that we here, but not going down the Gibb. Ahhh well - a different adventure awaits us.

Instead we turned left away from the Gibb and kept on the tarmac, down past the Argyle pink diamond mine and towards Halls Creek. Last night was spent at another free camp about 100km N of Halls Creek. Bruce had to do a bit of running repairs on his boat trailer springs as one of the u bolts had come loose and the leaves on that sprong were starting to twist. A bit of bashing and tightening of bolts soon had it sorted out though. Another bird bath in the back of the boat and a lovely campfire that night. It’s much warmer now. We’re making do with 1 blanket at night and shorts and tee shirts during the day.

This morning we packed up ready for the final 650km to Derby where, all going well, we’ll be able to have a hot shower, and a sleep in tomorrow. A few days prep for the boat, hopefully maybe we’ll get the air con fixed in the Dmax, and then we’ll be hitting the water baby!! Here’s hoping the weather plays nice!