Monday morning we arrived back in Carnarvon and the first stop was the Laundromat, one load of washing, popped it in the dryer and headed into IGA and a caravan supply shop. Got some great meat bargains in IGA and a new sink plug, as one was thrown out into a fire with veggie scraps. Back to grab the dry washing, only to find the washing as wet as we put it in, and we had no change, so we decided to head into town and get some lunch, and more change.

Here we are at a café, chatting away and Alan looks over at a couple sitting at another table and said 'isn't that Steve and Kim?' Yes it was, they came and had lunch with us. For those who aren't Rye locals, Steve and Kim were once the owners of Rye Video Ezy. Their business was only two doors down from where Alan had his business and they were Tara's bosses for many years, when she worked at Video Ezy. It was great catching up and talking about our travels, as we parted ways they told us the caravan park they had booked into and invited us to join them for 'Happy hour'. We then did our shopping and back to get some clothes dry before heading over to have happy hour with them.

At 6pm, a quick dash up the road, and we pulled into the back of a motel, where we then caught up with Neil and Trina (Lorelle's cousin and wife). They had flown into Learmonth, pick up their truck and were driving it back home to Melbourne. We enjoyed drinks in the bar, dinner and then more drinks back at the bar, then by the poolside. It was a great night and fantastic to catch up with family whilst travelling across this vast country of ours. Back to DABUS for a sleaze camp in the motel, then we said our goodbyes early in the morning.

Before heading out of Carnarvon we checked out some produce farms, the fridge and freezer is certainly well stocked now.

Our first stop 50km east of Carnarvon was at Rocky Pool, this is a permanent waterhole, along the Gascoyne River, with sandy beaches and a great picnic spot. It was lovely and warm when we arrived so we decided we would stay for another day and enjoy the beach. This was not to be, the following day the wind was relentless and didn't stop all day. It was a day inside DABUS and was certainly a day to be off the road.

Thursday morning we continued heading towards Gascoyne Junction (GJ), were we saw endless waterholes, claypans and from recent rainfall the area is so green. We came across some brahma cattle near one waterhole and stopped and enjoyed watching two young steers battling it out, head to head. We watched them for about fifteen minutes, and they were still at it, before moving on.

Once at GJ we travelled 75km on gravel road to the Kennedy Range National Park. This was an area we weren't going into, but after speaking with Steve and Kim, they advised us that the road was fine for DABUS to travel on. Heading towards Kennedy Range NP we crossed through our first river crossing at Lyons River, it was only shallow and on our return trip to GJ there was no water across the crossing.

The first night at Kennedy Range NP we enjoyed 'Happy Hour' around the communal campfire and got chatting to one couple who asked the standard questions 'where do you come from, what direction are you travelling, how long are you away for etc etc." Well this couple certainly knew of Rye as her brother is our local MP (M. Dixon), Alan has stated that we shouldn't put his name on our blog, so…….. Martins name is safe with us.

During our time at Kennedy Range NP we enjoyed doing the Temple, Honeycomb Gorges and the Escarpment Trail, along with walking down to view the Dawson Burrowing Bee. These bees are one of the largest Australian native bees and the females burrow into bare clay flats to make their nest.

We loved our hot shower after completing the 3.2km Escarpment Trail walk, this hike was a Class 4 trail that lead into a narrow gorge that ascends to the top of the range for spectacular views. Great camp host, clean campgrounds and a stunning place to visit.

On our way back to GJ we stopped at a place of interest, which was a part of a 1930 'work for the dole' scheme to develop roads for early transport.

At GJ we booked into the Caravan Park, as we wanted internet to watch the nighttime Supercars at Sydney. Alan had sent a message to Cuppa and Mrs Tea (Ian & Julie) on the Thursday to touch base and let them know what we were up to. They received the message on Saturday, 20km out of GJ and sent us a message to let us know that they had just fueled up at GJ, Alan then rang them to let them know that we were only 100mts from them.

They drove into our campsite and we all enjoyed catching up and after a couple of drinks it was decided they would stop for the night. As they went to set up the Tvan, we flicked on Foxtel and started watching the nighttime racing. It didn't really do a lot for either of us, as it was harder to see the action being nighttime. We had checked out the menu at the hotel and decided that we were having dinner there, so ducked off for dinner but came back and enjoyed the rest of the night catching up and exchanging stories.

The following morning, Sunday, we bid our farewells as they are heading north to Kennedy Range NP and we will continue heading south.