Kimberly area 13-7-2018

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We packed and headed off just before 10 and took the short cut to Mt Dare where I filled with 120 litres of Diesel at $2.45.

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We made our way out to Old Andado for a look around

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We then headed out to the Mac Clark Reserve to view one of the rarest trees around [Acacia Peuce]
The bulldust had been pretty bad up till there but the road improved greatly and we managed about 250 Kms from Mt Dare before pulling up to make camp a couple of dunes away from the road.

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Saturday 21st July
It was a very early start … first colour in the sky … when I tooted the horn and made myself a coffee to get the ball rolling as I needed to be in Alice fairly early, as it was a Saturday, to try and source some new Bumpstops to try and stop the Diff hitting the Sump.





I first tried Repco but they had nothing so I tried Toyota but they were ex Japan so tried the wreckers but all the Patrols had broken ones like mine.
I looked around and found a couple of rear Bumpstops on a Toyota 100 Series that looked like they may fit so bought them and headed to the Big 4 Caravan Park and ripped the front springs out and changed over the Bumpstops … they are a fair bit longer but a lot softer so only time will tell.







While I was fitting them an old friend of mine, Shell, came round and we caught up over a Coffee and Tea … was awesome to catch up with her again 
I finished fitting the parts and then took a much needed shower, did some washing and a bit of shopping before Jeff cooked up a great Curry in his slow cooker thingy.

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Sunday 22 July.
This morning we decided to check out the East MACDonnell ranges so after fuelling up we headed out to Emily Gap











We then did Jessie Gap







this tree sure cops some hits when it floods.

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Next up was Corroboree Rock, climbing through the tunnel out on to the ledge on the front face of the cliff … awesome!

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We took the 4WD track our to Hayes Rockhole

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We then drove out to have a look at the biggest Ghost Gum in the country.





Next up was Trephina Gorge.

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Next up we made a beeline out to Ruby Gorge where the End of the 4WD track camp is … the track gets pretty extreme from there so we tackled that and made it across the worst of the rocks when Bretts 200 series decided not to be proceed.
We think its not selecting low range which caused the Auto to get to hot …After letting it cool for a while I towed him a few metres out of the soft sand and then Jeff came through and got stuck in the same place so he grabbed the Maxtrax and drove out.

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We drove a few hundred metres around the bend out of sight of all the other campers and set up camp opposite the high Red Bluff amongst a couple of Ghost Gums on a pebbly flat up against the rocks …awesome views as the sun lit up the Bluff.
Brett found the problem with low range … it wont go into low in Park but will in Neutral so that’s a relief !