Heading west

 

Tuesday 15 June 2021 – Heading west

We have gone as far east as we are going on this trip and this morning we hitched up and started heading west so I guess we are now homeward bound (albeit with another diversion north in a couple of days).  The first hour was easy going on the bitumen and we stopped at the El Questro turn off to let down the tyres, take off the weight distribution hitch spring bars etc and then before you could sing “Shake, rattle and roll” we were back on the dirt.  The Pentecost River crossing seemed  even lower than when we came across last week (looked like the tide was going out) and H&M were so close behind us I didn’t have a chance to leap out and film them coming across. Miranda says she got good footage of us bumping across from behind though!

Up to the Cockburn Range lookout where we stopped for a morning tea break then continued on our way.  My personal opinion is that this is probably the most unattractive section of the GRR with an ugly, grey, rocky road and scrubby, usually burnt out bushland to either side.  We put the talking book on (“The Ones You Trust”) and the time passed okay and we made the turn off to Ellenbrae  by about midday.

                                                                 

Having learnt our lesson about nabbing a good camping site asap (especially when trying to find a space for 2 vans) we didn’t stop for scones but paid for our campsites and headed straight down to Ringer’s campground.  We ended up pretty close to where we had camped last week in the spot where we had seen two vans parked up before.  It was a pretty sandy spot and Hendrik did some spectacular wheel spins for a while but we eventually got the two vans in, level and set up.  Miranda had made a loaf of bread for last night which we hadn’t ended up eating so we had that for lunch with various ham, cheese, salad, condiments .  We then decided we probably had just enough room to squeeze a scone in so all piled in the Jeep and back to the Homestead. It really is a cool, green oasis so once again, very pleasant to sit on the verandah and relax with a giant scone and very nice cup of coffee (H&J) or tea (L&M).

We had planned to get a fire happening by 3pm but it was already about 2.30pm and we still had to squeeze in a swim down at the waterhole to wash the worst of the dust off so it was probably more like 4pm before we had rebuilt a fire pit and started a fire.  Never mind, with L now packing a blow torch (to light the fire) and a hand blower (to blow lots of air onto the flames) we soon had the fire roaring and the beginnings of some coals worthy of a camp fire dinner.

Tonight’s menu was beef, red wine and mushroom casserole in the cam oven.  Rather than do potatoes separately and risk them not cooking through or else burning we had purchased a tin of baby potatoes (French, no less!) and just threw them in the pot.  They ended up holding their shape and cooking through easily so they were definitely a winner and we will always travel with a tin or two in future.  The casserole was very tasty and the fact that there were no left overs vouches for that.

                                                            

We invited the nice couple in the van next to ours to join us at our campfire so they came over for a drink and a chat and Miranda miraculously produced a bag or marshmallows from her van so a very pleasant evening was had.  It was chilly overnight and a blanket had to be sought out sometime in the early hours.