Derby | The Doc's Blog

When posting some Kimberley images recently The Doc realised he has not posted images from his 2-day helicopter trip out of Derby in 2015 (better late than never!) – except 2 or 3 images.

Starting with Day 2, here are images from flying along the Charnley River Gorge, Artesian Range, The Kimberley, Western Australia. It was a thrill of a lifetime, breathtakingly beautiful place. We had permission from Australian Wildlife Conservancy to do the trip over their property and land. With both the pilot and the passenger being AWC supporters helps!

The Artesian Range is the only part of Australia that has not suffered any mammal extinctions since European settlement, but the cane toads got into the area in the last few years. So that may change.

Where the river bed is a muddy light grey, the river is tidal. The clearer water is beyond the tidal zone and is fresh water coming down the river.

We landed and took pictures of Aboriginal art, which had some very rare figures. The Doc may post one or two later.

Make sure you click on the image to see the full size slide show.

The Doc decided to put some trivia together about the longest trip so far. Enjoy.

Time, distances and economy

the Kimberley/Pilbara Trip lasted 108 days;
total distance travelled was 27,000 kilometres exactly (what a coincidence!). The Patrol has now driven over 70,000 kilometres on The Excellent Adventure;
most kilometres travelled in one day, 1,032 kilometres;
average kilometres travelled each day was 250kms. In reality the figure was less, as 9,000kms was driven to and from the Kimberley which were concentrated days of driving;
best fuel economy was 12.4 litres per 100 kilometres. In 2WD, not towing, driving on the bitumen;
worst economy 15.1 litres per 100 kilometres. In 4WD, towing the trailer in sand at Cape Peron National Park;
average for the trip 14.4 litres per 100 kilometres, which makes sense as the trailer was attached for much of the trip. So the Pod Trailer adds about 2 litres per 100 kilometres, a modest increase compared to towing heavy trailers or caravans;
most expensive diesel was $2.50 a litre at Mt Barnett Station Roadhouse, Gibb River Road; and
total fuel bill, decided not to add it up!

Flights

Several flights were taken on the trip including:

helicopter trip over Purnalulu National Park (Bungle Bungle Range);
light plane flight out of Drysdale Station over Prince Regent River and the Mitchell Falls;
seaplane flight to the Horizontal Falls;
helicopter flight over the Horizontal Falls; and
2 day helicopter trip over King Sound (Derby) and here, Buccaneer Archipelago and The Artesian Range.

Corrugations

Over 60% of the trip was offroad. On badly corrugated roads, you can hit over 10 corrugations every metre (the four wheels do). A very, very conservative figure would be the car, trailer and driver went over 20 billion corrugations!!!! No wonder things break and get damaged.

Breakages

The breakages included:

hub cover on Patrol, it fell off and was lost on Charnley River Station;
broken wire on coolant alarm (it has broken twice before). Field repair that is still working;
striped thread on a shock absorber. The front shock was replaced (The Doc was carrying spares). No dramas as the damage was detected early;
after a car service an ignition fuse started to blow. It turned out to be a bare wire shorting on the rear towbar and nothing to do with the service;
front control arm bushes needed replacement;
a broken windscreen 3 days before the trip finished. Thanks to the driver who did not slow down properly on the Plenty Highway. The Doc got more stone hits on the windscreen that morning than the rest of the trip combined;
rivets on an awning came out, thanks to the corrugations on the Plenty Highway on the return trip.

Tucker

Best meal, no contest, Restaurant at Mornington Wilderness Camp. Drysdale River Station also put on a good meal.