5th September 2008

After an easy start, we packed up the Karavan and by 0830 we were ready to leave the Town Caravan Park in Kununurra. We went into the CBD and parked the vehicles before we went to the Boab Cafe for coffee and fruit toast.

Then we went into a shop opposite where the Cafe is located so that Prue could purchase a travel bag of some description. This is because there have been plan changes again.

Our daughter in law, Carrie, is unwell as is our grandson, Isaac, with a ‘flu like illness and Malcolm is in the USA doing a conversion onto the Beech King Air 350 and will not be back until about the 20th. To add more problems, Malcolm's best friend, Lindsay Sojan, died riding to the Navy Base outside Perth yesterday. He called to his ride partner that he was unwell and when he stopped Lindsay had died even though he tried to revive him with CPR. Both Mal and Carrie are absolutely shattered so Prue is going to help at Sale with Carrie and Isaac.

I organised a flight on Virgin Blue, from Darwin via Brisbane to Melbourne, and a trip on Greyhound Coaches from Katherine to Darwin. Prue will have most of Sunday with her brother and sister in law in Darwin.

I will continue on alone. My proposed new route is as follows:-
Katherine arrive 6th
Mataranka - 7th & 8th
Daly Waters - 9th
Bank Banka Station -10th
Barkly Roadhouse - 11th
Avon Downs - 12th
Mt Isa - 13th & 14th & 15th
Winton - 16th
Longreach - 17th & 18th
Alpha - 19th
Emerald - 20th & 21st
Rolleston - 22nd
Roma - 23rd
Surat - 24th
St George - 25th
Goondiwindi - 26th to 29th (morning)
Home - 31st

Plans are always to be revised after an incident/emergency. That is what I used to teach in Emergency Management!!!

So, we departed Kununurra for Timber Creek by about 0930. We had an uneventful trip only stopping for lunch under a tree in a rest area. Often we have been passed by road trains hauling 3 or even up to 5 trailers. There were a few caravans there along with an old Citroen car which had been involved in a trip from Kalgoorlie along some very remote roads even doing parts of the Canning Stock Route before eventually finishing in Derby.

We arrived in the Timber Creek Caravan Park and found a nice shady spot. Then we had a swim in the pool nearby to cool off. After 1700, there was a feeding of the crocodiles that reside in the creek joining the Park. It is a tributary of the mighty Victoria River.

Prue was sorting out her clothes for the trip to Melbourne and eventually we went to bed after having a stir fry for dinner along with several red wines. The end of a quite tiring day for us both.