Jenny and Larry, the Rock Wallabies!

 

Tuesday – 01 June 2021 – Jenny and Larry, the Rock Wallabies!

Leisurely start to the day as we were exploring Mt Hart today so Larry made yummy cheesy omelettes.  Drove out to the crossing at Annie Creek and the crossing was closed. You could see why as it was very deep and the track out is overgrown. We walked a bit on the trail and it is a good place to swim at the moment as the water is clear and deep with lots of tinkly waterfalls. We took photos and Gopro footage and back in the car as we were going to do the walk into Dolomite Gorge.

The track to get to the car park was definitely rougher but we made it ok.  Donned our hiking boots, packed the backpack and off we went. Well the walk wasn’t any easier and it took about an hour of serious rock clambering and we crossed the river a few times.  Once we had to take of our shoes and socks and wade ankle deep but nothing too serious. We finally made it and had the gorge to ourselves so we swam the length which isn’t very far (probably about 50m) but vertical rock cliffs either side and a small waterfall at the upstream end made it an interesting visit.

Once we had enough of the swim we went back the same way, which always feels easier when you are cool and wet in the hot sun, until we arrived at the last swimming water hole before the car park. It is quite small but a little waterfall made it refreshing. It was the same one we swam in 2019 although it didn’t seem that much deeper.  Had our sandwiches and relaxed for half an hour and made our way back to the car for a cold refreshing drink from the car fridge.  Jenny thought she had burnt enough calories after two hours of being a rock wallaby to deserve an ice cold Coco-cola.  God it was good!

Back to the van for a sit down and it took some getting up again as by now our quads were protesting at all the unusual work we had made them do this morning (they are much more used to sitting under a desk thank you very much).  Took the dirty clothes bag to the homestead to use the (free!) washing machine which involved another sit down with our books while the load ran its course.  (Jenny might have driven the car up to the homestead and done this on her own but for the scary, steep, muddy river crossing between camp and there).  After that was finished Larry extended the you beaut retractable clothes line and we had our very own line at the back of the van.  You could feel the envy from the other campers.

Chilled out a bit, as we are on holidays, with a couple of drinks and Larry gave Jenny an electrical lesson as we had to start the generator to charge the batteries as it completely clouded over and we would have struggled by tomorrow morning. We only needed it running for about 30mins and the batteries were charged enough to get us through the night as we will be running the inside fans as it is humid tonight due to the cloud cover.

Once the washing was dry Larry packed up the outside of the van in readiness to leave tomorrow for our next stop at Mornington Wildlife Conservancy. It will be a test of patience at Imintji road house when we refuel as there is only 1 bowser with 2 hoses, a lot of travellers and some, shall we say, are fucktards.