Wednesday 24 August 2011

Mt Hart-  Charnley River Station -180km  

Set off about 11.30 am . Drive down to join the GRR was uneventfull with no traffic either way .
Once on the GRR the corrugations started in earnest with kilometres of the road hard going . Traveling at 10kms per hour for some bits .
Beautiful scenery but sometimes hard to take in due to road conditions .
Road from Silent grove turnoff to Imiitji store was great as it had recently been graded. 
Imitiji store was a disappointment as on our last visit it was a bit of an oasis of fresh coffee , muffins etc and a nice feel to the place .
This time it had little selection and the shelves all seemed a little bare or just had tinned stuff, pie warmer empty.
Settled for two crunchies ( crunched being the correct word) and a chocolate milk for lunch while driving.
Road from then on was bloody murder until the turn off to the campground.
Drove 43kms off the GRR to find the campground along a pretty good track with a few decent creek crossings. 
Drove round one corner to find a dingo in the middle of the road chewing on a dead kangeroo , nice.
Settled into the campsite and it was very peaceful in a great shaded clearing with hardly any other cars here .Lots of wildlife here with heaps of birdlife and wallabies hopping in front of you. 
The station is 750,000 acres with it being a working cattle station as well as a wildlife sanctuary .
It has some great gorges but are another 30kms drive in land from the campgrounds .The bush walks and swimming holes are nearby though.
Got here about 3.30 pm
Went to get the trailer and tent set up when we discovered all the corrugations or creek crossings had made the jockey wheel come off !
Houston we have a problem !
Propped up the trailer with a log and opened the wine.
Day two
Very lazy day , read books , dozed in the sun and took a 4.5 km walk in the afternoon through the bush to two small gorges and to the lookout which looked over the whole station. Nice flora and lots of kangaroos .
Day three 
Now we have no jockey wheel we cannot really separate the trailer from the car as the trailer has no support on the front end .
Rang the manufacturer in Brisbane from the station to let him know the issue and he is going to send a replacement to Kunnarra which is at the end of the GRR  and we can collect it there in about 8- 10 days .
Managed to separate the car and trailer with the help of a fellow camper , car jack and a few logs of wood to support it but not ideal    
Drove the car to Grevillea gorge which is 30kms from the campground  Up a dirt track that was in good condition with only a few rough spots.
Accessed the walk by a ladder tied to the rocks ( very OHS) and walked up the gorge which had some pools still running but give it another month will probably be dry. Bloody hot in the mid day sun .
Surprise , saw nobody all the time we were up there .

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