Kimberly area 13-7-2018

[Big Red]

Monday 23 July
Jeff discovered his fuel tank had a leak so we inspected it and traced it to what appears to be a pinhole in the weld so luckily its not a major problem.

We had a big feed of bacon then packed up and hit the rocks again for a chance to do a bit of precision steering and some track building … with a few scrapes here and there we were back to the 4WD track and made our way out of Ruby Gorge back to Binns Track …









I hit a dip pretty hard and the diff hit the sump slightly so a couple of light taps with the hammer stopped the knocking and we made our way to the Arltunga historic reserve for a look at some of the best preserved ruins around.
This is the police station area.

[Big Red]

Next was the Arltunga government works.

[Big Red]

Shortly after we stopped for lunch and Brett headed for home via the Plenty Highway and Jeff and I headed back to Alice via the Garden road and Stuart Hwy where Jeff checked in at TJM about his Tank but nothing could be done for about two weeks so we both bought some different fuel tank repair epoxy then headed to Hungry Jacks for a late lunch/early dinner while checking out the maps.



We refuelled then headed west and camped opposite Glen Helen Gorge in the Finke River.

[Big Red]

Tuesday 24th July
This morning was the first time we didn’t have a clear blue sky, in fact it was grey cloud cover from horizon to horizon.
We packed and hit the road westward then turned off towards Haast Bluff and a small blue hole appeared in the cloud cover.
The closer we travelled the more it appeared to hover over an interesting hill to the right, we stopped at the T intersection at Memory Mountain where plans are afoot to install a lighted 20 metre cross on the summit in 2021.














We turned right and drove to the Frederick Blakeley memorial at the base of Haasts Bluff.
The hole moved and the sun lit up Haasts Bluff … talk about perfect timing !!

[Big Red]

[Big Red]

We headed north to an easterly road then back to intersect the Tanami Track and then headed Northwest to Tilmouth Well to have lunch and refuel.
We were still on the Bitumen part of the Tanami at this stage but just before Yuendumu it turned to rough dirt and stayed that way until just after the community where it improved to a wide smooth sandy road.
We were cruising at about 100 when I hit a bitumen section down into a floodway that had a sharp dip in it and smashed the diff into the sump again but this time I couldn’t seem to stop the crankshaft from hitting the sump no matter where I tried hammering it.
We kept going hoping it won’t wear through before Halls Creek.
We stopped to camp at the “Quartz Ridge” not far past The Granites Mine with around 500 Kms to go.
At least we had internet there so got to catch up with everyone.
Nearly 10 PM and its still 22 degrees so a nice evening around our small campfire.

[Big Red]

Wednesday 25th July
Another early rise to Ring Emma for her birthday and get some sunrise pics then we hit the Track again with that incessant knocking gnawing at my mechanical sympathies.
We stopped at the “Border” but there was no WA sign although we found the marker a little further along the road.
A very unimpressive marker it was too!









Next up was Wolfe Creek Crater where I did the climb down and out to the centre while Jeff did his Drone thing over the top.

[Big Red]

We headed back out to the Tanami which had gotten a bit rougher after Bililuna Community and bounced and shook our way to Halls Creek.
After checking in to the caravan park I went looking for a Workshop, Baileys are going to chuck the Ute up on the hoist tomorrow and rip the sump off for some panel beating.
Jeff cooked up another scrumptious meal of Spanish Chicken Chorizo in rice in his Thermopot cooker thingy before a nice hot shower to wash the last few days grime off.

[Big Red]

Thursday 26th July
It was a slow start to the day as I didn’t need to be at the mechanics until 11 Qld time then I sat around for a few hours, then walked up to the Bakery and met Jeff for lunch then sat around the workshop again while they pulled bits to get the sump off, bashed the sump back out, put a back up layer of epoxy on the outside of sump, cut out the brace to clear the sump then put her all back together with some nice fresh oil in time for me to get back to camp at the caravan park and have a peppermint magnum to celebrate.
A grand poorer but a million times more relieved that we should be right from now on.

[Big Red]

Friday 27th July
Another lazy start to the day as we had to wait for the supermarket to open as I was down to only 1 ½ tins of International Roast!
It was then up to fuel up and we hit the road to Purnululu to visit the Bungle Bungles.
The road in was pretty good and it only took us about an hour to get there so we signed in and headed to Kurrajong Campground to stake out a spot and have some lunch