Day 23 – Wednesday 11 August 2021 – 280km

Up at sunrise again and as we were packing a trio of brolgas flew across in front of us, they are really big birds, more so when flying. We stopped in Camooweal, handed in our census form and refuelled before heading off towards Gregory.

The bitumen road was OK, but then we hit the dirt road & it was a lot of very slow going with corrugations, washouts & dips in the road making for a slow trip. We came across another Kimberley Karavan coming the other way & stopped for a chat on the road with Wayne & Theresa. It is a 2006 model, the same as ours & they have owned it for 6 months. It is their home & they are just travelling.  Wayne suggests a camping spot on the Gregory River as the usual spot at the bridge is so crowded. We spend a few more hours driving slowly on the dirt, sometimes the road is so bad, locals have created their own tracks off the side of the dirt road, and they are much smoother to drive on.  We don’t see any sign of habitation between when we left Camooweal & arrive in Gregory, the country is like desert, we don’t know how the cattle we see survive out here.  About 20km from Gregory we have new bitumen, so good. We stop in Gregory and have our lunch at around 2pm and chat to some more travellers. They suggest the same spot as Wayne did as they are staying there as well. Our very favourite camping spot 11 years ago, when we maybe had about a dozen campers under the bridge, now it is like a city, so full of campers it is so popular. 

We turn back onto the bitumen to try and find this new camping spot, we find the marker and turn in onto a rough track into the bush. It gets worse as we get closer to the river & drive down the banks, where are we going we think. The track is rough, now we know why there are only about a dozen campers here.  The track opens onto gravel & there is the river, pretty as a picture with lots of birdlife. We find a spot & set up camp then walk 10 metres to the river, the water is refreshing. Back to the van & time for cheese, bikkies and a glass of red. Tereza prepares a nice chicken stir fry for dinner, also making custard and fruit salad. We are so full after dinner we go for a walk & end up chatting to a couple having dinner on the river bank. We chat until it gets too dark to see them, then walk back to our van in the starlight. Another great day.