I woke up early today (6.15am…) and got out of the swag to enjoy the cool quiet morning, unfortunately it was still overcast and our batteries were so low that both the fridge and the freezer had switched off, lucky today involved a decent drive and the batteries would recharge. We packed up quickly to avoid the next passing shower and before long we were back on the OTT.
Bertie Creek was next up and was a simple shallow little crossing that gave us no grief and then we had several kms of fairly boring track through scrubby heath lands. Next up was the infamous Gunshot Creek, again we had heard tales of doom and destruction about this crossing... We were expecting the campgrounds here to be occupied by more people... We arrived fairly early in the morning and were surprised to find just 2 blokes waiting for us at Gunshot.
We checked out the famous near vertical drop offs and I was surprised to see how many crossings had been made over the years. Not waning to be a hero or break our little 4wd we opted for the "chicken" track which we tackled without issue, it wasn't as tricky as Palm Creek but still a nice challenge.
From here we continued north stopping briefly at the grave site of WJ Brown who was a linesman that passed away working on the line in 1945. Our next crossing was the Cockatoo Creek crossing which was a shallow rocky crossing, the entry was fairly gnarly and took a bit of care and I had Anna stand in the creek to mark the large holes that I needed to avoid. From here the track is pretty straight forward and easy going with the occasional branch or tree to avoid and the usual washouts overall a pleasant easy drive. Sailor Creek was next and here you have 2 options... Drive over a small rickety looking wooden bridge or drive through the creek, as we were by ourselves and the bridge looked dodgy we drove through the creek and by the tyre marks it looks like most people take that option.
After a short blast along the corrugated PDR Fruit Bat Falls was our next stop and we all enjoyed an hour or so swimming in the clear warm water. This place is spectacular it as just a pity that it was raining on and off while we were here. Our destination for today was Elliot Falls and wasn't far away so we opted against having lunch at Fruit Bat Falls and continued north.
Just before the turn off to Elliot Falls we came across Scrubby Creek which was a muddy dark looking piece of water and I couldn't persuade my faithful navigator to walk it... We got through OK but the depth took us by surprise and so far was definitely the deepest crossing on this trip. We soon got to camp and set up for the next few days, this post is already long enough so I'll wait until tomorrow to talk about Elliot and Twin Falls.
Distance travelled = 64km.
 |
| Bertie Creek |
 |
| Photo's just don't do it justice.... |
 |
| Gunshot "chicken" track entry |
 |
| Gunshot exit. |
 |
| Unnamed crossing |
 |
| Cockatoo Creek |
 |
| Wooden bridge at Sailor Creek |
 |
| Fruit Bat Falls in the sun |
 |
| and in the rain..... |
Comments
Post a Comment