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More campfires this morning and evening are driving our relaxation and enjoyment levels to new highs. Unfortunately some of this was undone by the roughness of Gibb River Road west of Kalumburu Road.
One of today’s highlights was a brief photo stop at the Gibb River crossing, which was picturesque with lots of big trees and white sand, wattle trees and rocky knolls. And a bull. A big Shorthorn bull was grazing close by, and I took several shots of it from as close as I dared go, considering that both its horns and its balls were alarmingly large. I wanted a shot of Jesse showing the bull his red undies, but Jesse was unwilling to pose in the required manner. The bull seemed undisturbed by our presence, but when I got within perhaps fifteen metres of it, it started walking toward me, and as I didn’t happen to have a handful of grass with me I immediately started walking backwards. If it charged my plan was to run behind Len’s 1971 Land Cruiser, which I judged to be more bull-resistant than my 2001 Nissan Pathfinder.
Petrol at the Mount Barnett Roadhouse was the dearest yet at $2.05 per litre. Should have topped up at Drysdale where it was ‘only’ $1.95 despite being more remote.
Anyway, the beauty of the waterhole here at the Manning Gorge campground makes all the travelling, bumps and expense worthwhile. The waterhole is large, maybe 40 metres across and 150-200 metres long, it has crystal clear water, the bottom is partly white sand and partly flat rock (not pebbles), and the temperature is a comfortable 24 degrees (rough guess). Around the waterhole are paperbarks and pandanus and more white sand, and the whole place just looks amazing in the late afternoon light. (I’ll make sure to take a photo with the phone for tomorrow’s post.) Of course the place is crowded, with several tour groups and plenty of camper trailers. We are planning to spend Sabbath walking around the lake to the waterfall, then floating around in our boat and swimming. Can’t wait!
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