Continuing on from my last blog, we had gone for a walk around our campsite after setting up.

The next morning we were a little slow off the mark. Last year the temperatures were in the mid to high 30s, this year it was mid to high 20s, so we thought we could get away with a later start to our walk along Piccaninny Creek to Cathedral Gorge and Whip Snake Gorge. How very wrong we were. Last year when we parked at the start of the walk there were probably about 6 cars in the carpark, there's room for around 50 cars and when we arrived this time we though we weren't going to find a spot, it was packed!

Our first stop was Cathedral Gorge, where last year there was a small puddle of water, this year there was more, but we had to share it with a lot more people. Just a short side note; last year Michael had walked into gorges on the Gibb River Road bare foot, so this year he started the walk to Cathedral Gorge in thongs (flip flops), half way in though he took his thongs off and walked bare foot, you can't imagine the comments it evokes, none too bad, but comments all the same.

On the walk from Cathedral to Whip Snake Gorge we came across 4 others walking bare foot, though one had put his thongs back on because of the comments.

Back to the story; on the way to Whip Snake we stopped at The Window where we had lunch, in the shade, it was now getting quite hot!

By the time we got into Whip Snake we were glad for the rest and the coolness of the gorge, it was also quiet, there were no people, at all.

We stayed for around 30 minutes and took in the energy of the gorge before making the trek back to the car, around 5Ks. On our walk back we saw one other couple, everyone had gone!! Too hot.

The next day we only planned to visit one Gorge, Echidna Chasm. Between 11am and noon the sun shines into the very narrow Chasm and produces great lighting, so there was no need to get there early.

We did however arrive a little early to beat the heat and crowds, though it turned our we didn't need to. But we did find the lighting was better before 11 and we had a bonus, a chap came in and played his Didgeridoo for the time we were there, it was awesome, I'll post a small video.

The next day we headed out reasonably early as we wanted to head back to Halls Creek. The road out to the highway is 53K of very rough corrugated (washboard) dirt road that takes around 2.5 hours to cover, in this time we passed 20 cars heading in.

We arrived back in Halls Creek early afternoon, we had thought about camping out at Palm Spring or Sawtooth Gorge, two popular places out of Halls Creek, but then we thought about our chances of getting a spot and decided to head out onto the Tanimi again, another lovely night to ourselves.

In the morning we headed into town and out to Sawtooth Gorge, where we found a beautiful oasis and only two other people out there. We could have camped. This spot was amazing, clear flowing water past cliffs and huge Paperbark trees and some palms. Palm Springs on the other hand had had its toilets burnt down and there was a bad feel to the spot.

Back in Halls Creek we topped up with fuel, had lunch, then headed to Wyndham, to a place called Parry Creek Farm. A nice campsite not too far from Wyndham town.

Having been to Wyndham last year we had only planned to stay a few days before heading into the Northern Territory. Now is where the story may become a little long and confusing, though I will do my best.

Our granddaughter Ella was scheduled to fly to Darwin on the 12th of July to spend 5 days with us in and around Darwin. The problem is that both Perth and Darwin recorded community transmission of Covid, so both states put restrictions on their borders, Julie and I could cross into the NT with paperwork only, but there was a strong chance that if Ella came to Darwin she would have to quarantine on returning to Perth. So it was decided to change her flight to Kununurra and she would spend time with us looking around Wyndham and Kununurra with us.

Obviously we have seen it before, but that is kind of good, because we know where to take Ella and it will be fun showing her around.

So now we are enjoying some warm/hot weather while we wait for Ella to arrive.