Kimberley Pre-Trip Preparation (so far)

Keyla and I have decided to take a bit of time and head back up to the Kimberley region for another look.

We visited Broome in July and loved the area so much that we were determined to go back.  On that trip we spent a rushed day on the Gibb River Road visiting Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek before returning to Broome.  That gave us our first taste of the region and we vowed we would be back.

As I left my job in mid-August (after having far too much fun in NZ and Broome), we've decided to head back up to the Kimberley for the majority of September (before it gets far too hot up there).  Keyla is taking a couple of weeks off work prior to the school holidays and flying to Broome and meeting me there to give us enough time to have a good look around, have some good walks and hopefully take some awesome photos.

This blog is a bit of an experiment.  I went and purchased one of those wireless internet sticks and will hopefully be able to give an update or two as we make our way around the place.  I did check out the NextG coverage maps of the Kimberley and the coverage is pretty damn sparse so don't expect updates to come flooding through day after day.  Maybe it'll work or mabe it won't - gotta have a go...  Feel free to forward the blog addy along to whoever you think may be interested.

The preparation so far has involved a bit of research on the area and buying heaps of books and maps (yes - a weakness of mine) along with a few mechanicals and a bit of fruit for the beast.

The first bit of fruit was putting a quick-erect awning to the roof rack bars of the beast  This'll give us a bit of quick shelter especially for the middle of the day when it's hot.

I had a go at putting it up myself yesterday - and have concluded that whilst it will be quick and easy to put up and knock down - it's a 2 person job.  It took me almost 5 minutes doing it by myself and just needed the "third hand" to do it easily.

The second bit of fruit was getting a wench (in-joke with Keyla) fitted to the beast.  I'm sure we'll have no need whatsoever for it on this trip, but I've been procrastinating for years about putting one on so I finally went ahead and did it.

I ended up fitting a Premier 9,000lb winch.  It has always mystified me why winch strengths are measured in pounds and all the associated gear (shackles, straps, pulleys etc) are in kg or tonnes.  I keep having to convert (by halving the pounds and taking off 10%) to make sure the associated gear is up to the job.  I just got all the snatch straps, winch extension straps, tree protector/load equalising straps together in one pile and decided that there simply isn't enough room to carry them all.  Anyone wanna buy a snatch strap??

The rest of the preparation has been about giving the Beast and Ellie (the camper-trailer) the "once-over".  About the only things left to do on that front is replace the oil in both diffs and the gearbox and tansfer case oils (an easy job once it stops raining here).  Ellie has a new poly water tank to replace the ever-leaking stainless steel one and a new gas regulator as the previous one was stuffed and wouldn't let any gas through.

Today I started planning the overall direction of the trip - given that a major aim is to find a couple of nice spots and pull up for a few days and walk and read a book or two. However, apart from meeting Keyla in Broome on the 12th Sep, the only other fixed date(s) is the 22nd and 23rd Sept where we'll be at El Questro celebrating Keyla's 45th Birthday.  We have to be back in Perth for a wedding on the 3rd October.  The trip will consist of (Plan A only) me driving from Perth to Broome alone and picking Keyla up from the 'plane on Sat 12th.  The general idea is then to slowly make our way up the Gibb River Road (visiting the Mitchell Falls along the way), stopping wherever it takes our fancy. As mentioned before we'll celebrate Keyla's 45th at El Questro which sits at the northern end of the Gibb River Road.  Following that we plan to spend a day two at Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) and visit the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater (time and weather permitting).

Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to give another update either just before heading off or on the road to Broome.

Stephen.