The flight path for the second day on the helicopter. What a spectacular part of the Kimberley.
This area is rarely seen, you must fly in. It is also different landscape to most other parts of The Kimberley. Flying down a gorge with 80m high sides was something to behold.
Sorry pictures will come later.
A nice mud flat on the way.
Some more Mornington Magic. A sunset shot at Sir John Gorge, at AWC’s Mornington-Marion Downs.
AWC also announced today an historic deal with NSW Parks and Wildlife to bring back long extinct animals into NSW National Parks. Press Release here.
The Doc was in the helicopter today flying over the Derby mud flats, King Sound and the many islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.
The tidal movements can be as large as 10.5 metres in Derby, high tide today was 11.33 metres.
The mud flats contains natural fractals. Fractals exhibits a repeating pattern that displays at every scale.
The Doc flys over AWC’S Artesian Range-Charnley River Sanctuary tomorrow.
A map of today’s trip.
The R44 at Derby Airport and on a deserted Island in the Archipelago.
When The Doc arrived at Drysdale River Station on 19 May the damaged trailers total was three. The tally started on 1 May. The bushfires had closed the road for a week, so the total was for 2 weeks only.
Drysdale River Station is located on the Kalumburu Road, off the Gibb River Road, on the way to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu.
On returning from Mitchell Falls on 22 May the total dramatically increased that day. The day’s total included:
While the Kalumburu Road is not great, the Mitchell Plateau Track to the Mitchell Falls is a shocker, this is what did most of the damage. Some of the damage is preventable by not over loading the vehicle and driving slower. However, the road was so bad there will always be damage, even if you are prepared and cautious.
One of the lessons of the Excellent Adventure is to have a general overall plan and be flexible. It probably started out as have detailed plans and cover all your targets.
Another lesson: knowing how big Australia is, is not the same as travelling the vast areas. You often get a sensation of only scratching the surface, although the occasional flight helps address that. The Doc never got that sensation on the 4 day helicopter trip around Cape York.
The Purnululu (Bungle Bungle Range) trip was originally to be 4 nights but The Doc changed that after finding out about Mitchell Falls. If The Doc left 1 day earlier and returned to Kununurra to refuel and resupply The Doc could visit El Questro and Mitchell Falls along the Gibb River Road and still make it to Mornington, AWC’s Wilderness Camp by 4 May.
It was not to be. While at Purnululu The Doc felt moisture on his forehead, where the skin cancer had been removed. So he placed a bandage on the area, as it has been slow in healing. When returning to Kununurra it became clear it was infected. A quick fix on the road (having a good first aid kit is an essential), then to Kununurra Hospital to have it looked at and treated. The heat and humidity are not helping. The wound was opening in 2 places, so it was cleaned again, butterfly strips used to close the wound, re-bandaged and The Doc given anti-biotics. The Doc hired an air conditioned room at Lake Argyle for 3 nights to help the healing. It would be foolish to enter the remote Gibb River Road until the infection is clearing up.
A change of plans again, visit El Questro, then Mornington and head back to Mitchell Falls afterwards. The roadhouse where The Doc was refuelling is between Mornington and the Mitchell Falls turnoff. So only little back tracking is involved.
Next report Katherine to Kununurra.
The Doc has turned off comments for this trip. He has been getting a lot of spam recently. Comments are only visible after they are approved by me, that is why you never see the spam.
The Doc leaves for the Kimberley tomorrow. The trip should take 4 months. One month up to the Kimberley, then 2 or 3 weeks at AWC’s Mornington Sanctuary, then a month travelling around The Kimberly, Derby and Broome. Then the trip back, perhaps down the WA coast and across the Nullarbor Plain.
View from the base of Mount Killiecrankie , Flinders Island, looking across Killiecrankie Bay at Killiecrankie. Click on image to see full size.
A photo from The Doc’s recent visit to Flinders Island. This is Castle Rock a granite monolith on the edge of Marshall Bay. The rock is 4 or 5 stories high. The “small” rock on the right side is taller than a human. That is orange lichen growing on the rock, something not uncommon in Tasmania. The earlier image The Doc posted had even more lichen, click here.
The picture is two images stitched together. The Doc was testing a new tilt + shift lense. Nothing special in post processing, just a small re-crop, plus some saturation and sharpening.
The final day of the trip from Weipa to Port Douglas, via Piccaninny Plains, Oyala Thumotang National Park, Archer & Coen Rivers, Coen, Lakefield National Park, AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary and its luxurious mountain rainforests of this World Heritage Listed area.Report and photos here. Enjoy.
You must be logged in to post a comment.