Kalumburu Road to Home Valley, Kimberly, WA

The Long and Winding Road

 Thursday 24th July

After an efficient and stress-free pack up we left King Edward River at 7.30am and headed back to the GRR a mere 250km to our next stop! Crossing the river was pretty simple but it proved to be an arduous hot journey, without aircon or conversation as no-one could be heard above the noise of the vibrations!

King Edward River Crossing - I'm driving!

 

The Gibb became steadily more winding and challenging, testament to the dangers were all the rolled cars abandoned on the side of the road. The conditions increasingly tested the car; the jockey wheel struck a rock jamming itself into the trailer and our water tank lost a drain plug and dumped all our water. So after 5 hours of driving we pulled over for a cup of tea and discovered an empty water tank!!

 

Pushing on for another couple of hours brought the welcome sight of Home Valley Station and their amazing oasis included a swimming pool, restaurant and bar, showers, washing machines and flushing toilets!! Oh how you learn to appreciate the little things! As we were setting up camp we discovered the final casualty of the day, the trailer electrics had given up the ghost!!

A little bit of indulgence!

 

 

Willy Willy

 

We stopped just prior to Home Valley at an amazing lookout point and experienced our first Willy Willy or Dust Devil! It scared the life out of Jacob who jumped into the car to escape it, but I had the camera poised for another photo and managed to snap it as it spun passed the car.

 

Freaky Willy Willy

 

The BoM defines the phenomenon as: 'local hot spots can develop on the ground, drawing in cooler air from around them and causing spiraling of the air.' So now you know!!