Cold Night

SUNDAY 23 JUNE 2019

Well that was possibly the coldest night we have experienced this far north.  At some stage during the night Larry got up and closed every single air vent/window in the van to block out the cold air but that still wasn’t enough so we had to dress in warmer clothes and find an extra blanket for the bed.  In the morning the floor of the van was too cold to walk on in bare feet and our thermometer read 10 degrees.

Packed up, topped up the van with water, and then were on our way south.  The Kalumburu Road was even rougher than we remembered it being – three more days worth of traffic on just bumping up the corrugations nicely.  We encountered the grader about 10km from then turn-off so the last little bit wasn’t too bad.  Turned west onto the Gibb River Road and that seemed to be equally horrendous – far worse than we remember it being last time and we are much earlier in the season.  Dread to think what it will be like by July school holidays!

We turned north again at the turn off to Mount Elizabeth Station and then for about 10km there were constant signs suggesting we stop at Dondun which has a shop and every kilometre it told us of all things we could get there so that we decided to stop and at least buy a ‘cool drink’.  When we got there, however, it was closed (maybe cos it’s Sunday) so we felt cross that we had had this place built up for ages only to be disappointed in our pursuit of all the things they had offered.  Oh well, maybe it’ll be open on Tuesday on our way back out.

Continued on up the road and after passing through a couple of gates (where is Ben when we need him?) we arrived at Mount Elizabeth Station.  Checked in and found a nice shady spot in the campground which we proceeded to share with more and more people as the afternoon wore on so that it almost felt like a caravan park!

We had some idea of heading out to one of the gorges in the afternoon but you needed to head out by 1pm in order to back in time in the late afternoon and when we found we could get internet access, decided to camp out by the van and catch up with all that has happened in the world, check in with the children etc etc.

After we had had our fix of wifi it was time to put the roast beef in the Weber and then hit the showers.  Mount Elizabeth Station has recently rebuilt their amenities block so the toilets and showers are clean and new and the wooden bench for your clothes still smells like new timber so all in all a very pleasant experience.

Yummy roast beef, potatoes and frozen veg for dinner and then the usual evening routine.  The temperature drops at night here also so we were tucked up inside the van by 7pm.