Wed, 28th Aug, 2019 Temple Gorge Campground, Kennedy Range National Park to Kingsford Smith Pathway rest stop, east of Gascoyne Junction, WA

Up at 6am to catch the sunrise from a viewing area further north. 16 degrees, clear sky and light breeze.

Took our breakfast with us and ate as the pre-dawn colours appeared. No colour on the escarpment yet.

Climbed up the little hill for the view of the sun rising.

The colour on the escarpment wasn’t very exciting.

Scanned around again as the sun rose higher. A bit better.

I can see a pussy cat.

The north section is more colourful now.

Walked back to the truck – last look.

Drove back to the entrance to Honeycomb Gorge.

Lots of broken bits lying around. Now what do you think this look like. 

Some sections are so smooth.

More nature ‘art’.

The wallaby spotted me first and hopped further up the hill.

Lots of interesting shapes in the rocks.

Reached the end – now this would be spectacular to see with the water cascading down.

You can see why it is called Honeycomb Gorge.

Scanned around.

Not sure if these rocks in the cavities are natural or someone has had a tossing good time.

Lovely and cool in here in the early morning. Walked back to the truck then headed back to the campground to pick up the van.

Said farewell to Nadine and Andy and headed back out to the main road to head 60km south to Gascoyne Junction.

Across the Lyons River – wide and sandy with a little bit of water along one edge. Lots of cattle about.

Pretty yellow wildflowers appearing along the side of the road.

Just after we crossed Davis Creek we stopped to check out the Cobble Road – another Kingsford Smith Pathway stop. Fascinating and very impressive. Just imagine doing that today.

Onto bitumen for the 5km left before Gascoyne Junction. We turned off to a picnic area by the Gascoyne River – lovely. Lots of water here and even two black swans.

A bit of information to read in the shelter.

Walked down to the water’s edge.

We pulled out the awning then Steve set up the washing machine so I could do our washing. We tipped the water well away from the river. The wind picked up and with the sun shining it didn’t take long for the washing to dry. Had lunch and uploaded my blog and did my internet stuff. Steve researched brake master cylinders for the Nissan as ours is leaking and we ordered one online. He then ordered new annodes for the hot water system as we haven’t replaced that in 2 years and with all the minerals in the bore water it will be amazing if there is anything left. I rang Mickey to check it was ok to get things posted there. Steve then tested the TV aerial and reckons it is only the ‘head’ that is the problem. Unfortunately you can only buy the whole thing in Australia and Winegard is a US company. Eventually he found a company that will post just the head to Australia so we ordered that too. Certainly makes buying things easier when you are nowhere near big towns. Gave Mum and Dad a quick call to see how they were. Mum thinks she can see a definite improvement in Dad’s knee which is wonderful. She is fine. I said we probably won’t have reception again for two weeks till we get to Meeka as we are doing some prospecting on leases before there.

Packed all the clothes etc away then headed around the acreage properties – one chap selling rocks from the mine on the south end of the Kennedy Range.

Crossed the causeway over the Gascoyne River. Obviously we were parked on a nice big waterhole as the first part was just sand then the next section you can see the water hole further up.

Bit more water in the next section – there is an island. This would certainly be a sight after good rain.

Looking out Steve’s window.

Turned off at a sign about Hacker’s Hectare. We turned left as we could see a fenced area but that was the pioneer cemetery – only saw a couple of graves.

Went back across to the other side and found the hectare. It is a picnic area where they put some big rocks hoping people would carve them – hence the hacker name. I found one etching on one of the last 3 rocks remaining here.

More Wool Wagon information – great photo of the camels pulling the car through the sandy Gascoyne River in 1919. The Gascoyne River is WA’s longest river (760km) with the major contributory, the Lyons River.

Still another causeway to get to the other side of the river. Looks like salt is all that is left.

Drove into the little township of Gascoyne Junction. We were expecting just a roadhouse but there is a school, shire office and a few nice homes. The new roadhouse and caravan park are clean and spacious. We topped up the diesel – cheaper here 165.8c/l. For $5 we could fill up the water tanks too which we did. I even found a mouse trap.

Stopped at the new War Memorial for a photo.

Had a cuppa at another picnic spot with information shelter – the same info as the other one plus a good town map on which I noticed the changes. The caravan site is now where the new war memorial is. The historic Junction Hotel is no more. Shame they didn’t put up info about what happened to it.

I walked down to check out the sign where the old Junction Hotel was. The shire has put up great street/info signs.  The road sign needs fixing up.

Only the bowser roof is left of the Junction Hotel.

These metal signs are terrible to read and photograph.

Looking on the Hema the Lyons River joins the Gascoyne a bit further west of here as it heads towards Carnavon.

We headed east on the bitumen for a bit then back onto the gravel road. We are running parallel with the Gascoyne River which we can identify by the big white gum trees.

Crazy cows were prancing along the road, eventually they ran off to the side so we could pass.

Mainly flat plains with an occasional hill and scrubby trees and shrubs.

Stopped at another Kingsford Smith trail sign about fossils.

As it was 5pm we decided this would be a good spot to park up for the night. There was a picnic table near a small creek further away from the road so we parked the van there.

The wind is whistling through the needles of the she-oak trees making it sound like crashing waves on the beach so it is very soothing.

Played Skipbo while we had our drinks. Another warm day with a top of 31. Our fridge is still struggling – they don’t like travelling but this new one seems to be struggling more than our old one did. Steve sprays water on the vents and we have a fan that sucks out the hot air so it should be has happy as mud. Maybe we just notice it more as we have a thermometer in the fridge where most people don’t.

The wind settled after sunset and we had a lovely evening with the windows open. Easy dinner then a movie.

Put out the trap for our unwelcome visitor.