Day 93: Wed 19 Jun 24 - Dales Campground (Karijini NP)

Wed 19 Jun 24 - Dales Campground (Karijini NP) 

Wet Wet Wet was a 1982 Scottish Rock Band, but for us, a day in Karijini NP. (Approx 100mm of rain)


Around midnight it started raining lightly with thunderstorms in the distance, then the rain became heavier from 3:00am, and it continued all day. Apart from a 20km return drive to the visitor centre at 11:00am, we were confined to the inside of our caravan all day. At the visitor centre, we were advised that access to all National Park gorges and nearby Mt  Bruce were closed and would be reassessed again Thursday morning at 09:00am. With phone service available at the visitor centre, we checked our messages and returned calls, then returned to the van for lunch and a very quiet afternoon of reading, sleeping, sudoku and crosswords, all while rain continued falling heavily. The AGM batteries seemed to be holding up ok at 4:00pm at 70% capacity (after 4 days off grid, 2 of which were cloudy), so I decided not to use the inverter to power the Starlink - hence the delay in posting this update. Looking into upgrading to Lithium batteries is first on my to-do list when we return home. 


At 5:00pm, the campground around us was looking more like a swimming pool, with rain continuing to fall heavily into the night. Meanwhile, as conservative as we were with power, our batteries began draining more rapidly (down to 50% at 8:00pm), so we had a much earlier night than usual. Tomorrow (Thu) we are meant to leave Dales CG for a 3 night stay at Eco Retreat (about an 80km Drive). The retreat is located near to the majority of other gorges that we planned to see, but they are all closed, so it would be pointless continuing especially for another 3 nights off-grid and the batteries already struggling. We will decide in the morning (Thu), and if everything remains closed, we may pull the pin on Karijini and start heading home. 




Our not so pleasant morning view

Our not so pleasant morning view


The road out to the Information Centre at 11:00am


The campground at 5:00pm.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 109: Fri 05 Jul 24 - Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta

Image
Merghiny Gravel Pit (Ceduna) to Port Augusta (450km)  It was 8 Deg and feeling much less, raining on and off from 4:00am for the first 100km, then cloudy and very windy for the rest of the day. At Port Augusta it reached 18 Deg with strong winds gusting in excess of 60km/h. The past few days have been tiring driving in the wind and rain with lots of heavy transport travelling in both directions, so it was nice to have a quiet start to our 450km drive today. This post is a little light on photographic material, as we have now covered the stretch between Ceduna and Port Augusta three times in the past 18 months, so we kept driving with minimal stops.  Coffee was had at the Minnipa rest area, then lunch at the Kimba roadhouse, before arriving at 3:00pm at the Discovery Parks Caravan Park in Port Augusta for an overnight stay.  We have a drive through site for the night for a quick get away tomorrow. From here we have settled on a couple of nights at Clare for a bit of a brea...
Read more

Day 111: Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare

Image
Sun 07 Jul 24 - Clare  The overnight temperature dropped to 6 Deg with 54km/h winds which eventually eased by the time we climbed out of bed. No surprise though when we woke, it was raining again, and it continued raining until mid afternoon, so it was a day of forced rest which we both enjoyed. The day comprised coffee in town this morning, then a visit to Hill River Wines to buy a few local wines. I chose this winery out of all others because t hey are a young cellar door and they are family owned. The wines also tasted nice. Back at the van, we had a quiet afternoon resting and watching a documentary series about one of Australia's biggest and strangest art heists on SBS.  It's about an investigation into the art heist from the New Norcia monastery where we recently visited - it's very interesting. Check it out.  The clouds cleared late afternoon, so I mustered the motivation to go out into the cold (6 Deg) for a late walk, before we drove back into town for an Indian ...
Read more

Day 11: Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) - Madura Pass to Norseman

Image
Fri 29 Mar 24 (Good Friday) Madura Pass to Norseman (530km) It was 14 Deg with a very slight SE breeze and a light dew, reaching 32, clear and sunny with no wind at Norseman. It was a lovely morning, and a nice change waking to early daylight, so we took the opportunity to get on the road earlier than usual. Today was a long haul, 530km along very good road, but with not a lot to see. We were amazed at how green the countryside was, and particularly so around Madura. This is clearly a reflection of all the recent heavy rain had in the region. One other observation from our trek across the Nullarbor, is despite the various Camel, Kangaroo, Wombat, Cattle and Emu warning signs, we did not see any roadkill. Disappointingly, Noeleene went another day without spotting a camel (dead or alive). The traffic today was well spread out, and the majority was Heavy Transport Trucks and caravans - all well behaved, and surprisingly a lot of three-wheeled motorbikes.  We also spotted a couple mor...
Read more