Forced change of plan

28 August

Up early to walk to Manning Gorge. To get to the start of the walk we had to load our gear into a small tinnie and pull ourselves across to the other side of the waterhole. It was still hot walking even though we started out early, but the swim at the end was welcome and refreshing. We swam up to second waterhole to the falls which was only a trickle at this time of the year. We then walked up to the lookout where we could see a third waterhole at the top of the waterfall.

We packed up the trailers on our return to the campsite and headed back up to the roadhouse to refuel and stock up on supplies. That is when we discovered they had run out of fuel. They were not going to have any until next Wednesday so we had to rethink our future plans as we had hoped to top up the car and fill the Jerry cans. We decided we would head to Mornington Wilderness Conservancy and enjoy a few days there whilst waiting for the fuel.

No sooner were we heading along the Gibb than we encountered not just one passing road train but three

We stopped off at Galvins Gorge on the way, walked down to check it out and to have a welcome swim but we ate our picnic lunch back at the car park.

Of course we had to stop off at Phillips Lookout which was the next spot marked on the map. Not much there except a view of the Phillips Range hidden behind some trees!

Long drive out to Mornington, having stopped off at the radio booth at the turnoff to check that they had vacancies as there is a limit on numbers that can stay there at the Conservancy. On arrival we were welcomed by friendly staff with cold glasses of water. We then set up camp at the lovely shady campsites in the bush next to Annie Creek. It was quite late by the time we had set up camp so dinner was quite late too. There were gas BBQs supplied and there was one near where we were camped. It was the Phillips’ turn to cook so we used the BBQ near us to cook up steak and potato slices.

It had been fairly overcast all day and there had been rain clouds around for the past couple of days but no rain. However it did rain during the night, not enough to wash the dust off the vehicles but nevertheless the first rain we have experienced on the entire trip.