From: Barnett River Gorge
To: Manning Gorge
Author: Mr A
All gorged out? No not yet. This was a cracker again today. After navigating out of last night’s camp without causing damage to the mobile apartment…phew…we turned our nose westwards again on the Gibb. The road is in better shape on this section. Some corrugations but nothing like what we experienced from El Questro to the Drysdale Sation turn off. No sharp “cut your tyres as soon as look as you” rocks…corrugations still but sandier. We think the grader might have come through as well.
We pulled into Mount Barnett Road House and got our day pass for Manning gorge (’tis privately owned), thinking we wouldn’t camp here given it was a mere 3.4 on WikiCamps (our cut off point usually 3.5), but after a longish walk into the gorge and then a swim and a bake, we found our fresh water tap was not spewing forth the good stuff. We decided to try changing the filter, and got so far, then stuck. A kindly neighbouring van man helped us get it off (I can do it next time!) and still the fresh tap wasn’t working. Ah he said “that will be a fuse then”. Sure enough one of our fuses had been dislodged. So all sorted. People are so friendly and helpful on these camps. It’s a great atmosphere. So after a few beers together we ended up staying here the night (or long term parking as our neighbours termed it).
But back to the gorge walk. It was a hot one – no, not the ‘backpackers-walking-in-their-bikinis-and-boots’ hot, the temperature, of course. A fantastic swimming hole awaited us, framed by a picture-perfect waterfall. It was simply wonderful. A feta cheese and beetroot wrap (sheep cheese of course, given madam’s dietary needs), and a lovely cup of herbal lemongrass and ginger tea and we were set.
So dinner was another magnificent concoction from Mrs A, a gnocchi based dish with a chicken and chorizo in a tomato, ginger and garlic sauce. A Barossa Shiraz just kept it company nicely. Now we will take the rest of the bottle down to our neighbour’s campfire and exchange travel stories, and tips of how to live and love life on the road.
