Mon, 11th July, 2022 Bush camp by Lennard River, Gibb River Road to Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park, Derby, WA

6.15am 9.9 degrees - still put the heater on as it makes it nice and comfortable to get up and have breakfast.

8am onto the bitumen heading to Derby. Blue clear sky, grass and trees on flat plains then through some treeless plains.

Passed the turn-off to the Blina oil field (named after the station it is on) which is at the base of the Erskine Range. Oil is pumped to the site then taken to Broome for shipment to Perth.

Long low hills covered in trees that we then cut through. Sadly lots of dead roos on the road as the vehicles can travel at faster speeds on the bitumen and into the night without having to worry about the corrugations etc.

Continued through trees and lots of boabs. Checked Steve hasn’t nodded off on this smooth road!

Near Birdwood Downs Station we got phone reception and got a text from Gavin who Steve helped out at the Pentecost River with bits to fix his exhaust bracket. He said the ‘bush’ fix survived the Gibb River Road and now they were on the Dampier Peninsula. That was so nice of him to let us know.

Cheryl and Gary made it to Horizontal Falls and took some amazing photos.

We reached the end of the Gibb River Road at the turn off up to Derby.

Headed into town and spotted a ‘welding’ sign on a building so turned in there and enquired about getting the water tank fixed. He was fully booked but when Steve explained it was just a split weld he said if Steve can get it out he will have a look at it this afternoon. We put up the roof and Steve got to work. It was a long slow job (two hours) as he had used the very good glue to put it into place but eventually he won and we lifted it out. Amazing how much water was still in it which of course went all over the floor but we had towels ready so it wasn’t too big of a mess.

Took a photo of the crack to show Daniel. It was down the back wall which Steve thinks happened because one of the baffles inside let go.

While Steve was doing that I rang Club 4x4 to check on our claim. Found out the ‘fine print’ in that the extra recovery and normal recovery part of the cover is a once-only use for the time of the cover so we won’t have any recovery for the next 6 months. If we have an accident then towing is covered. So much for ‘up to $15,000’ cover - we thought we would have that much to use over the year if needed. Not happy Jan! Also there is a $200 excess on the first normal recovery amount of $1500 then a 5% excess on the remainder of the claim so that was another $112.80 off the claim. So we paid $3756 so we will get $3443 back which helps. I should have asked how long we have to claim as it might have been safer to wait in case we needed to claim a bigger amount. Oh well we have learnt something about our insurance policy.

We left the water tank with the chap and headed into town.

Drove down the main street which is wide from the camel and mule trains of the past but they have made the strips of bitumen quite narrow now. Boabs line up down the middle. Great information about boabs in the Derby booklet.

Out to the mud flats and the narrow road to the wharf area to have lunch. Looking across at a walking path that joins the town to the wharf.

We passed a car that waved and pulled into a parking area. The car had turned around and came back to find us. One of the lovely people from Gibb River who checked that we were ok when the truck wouldn’t start. He recognised the truck - had to miss now, and was curious as to what the problem was - a relay for the ECU. They are in the Kimberley Entrance Van Park. Last night someone left their van unlocked and someone tried to break in - apparently that is a common occurrence here. At least we have been warned as we decided to stay the night there. Just as we pulled in the chap from welding place rang to say he had already done the welding so we turned around and went back to him. DWA Industrial Services - many thanks for being so accommodating and quality work.

Went back to the van park and put the washing on. This trip has seen us in the most van parks and using washing machines more than in the 5 and half years of previous travel. Steve started putting the water tank back in. Took a while but it now full of water and not leaking. I tried to upload my blog but there isn’t enough ‘oomph’ in the 4G service here.

Rang Erica for a chat then Jon rang so we caught up on all the news. Ray and Carol are in Old Halls Creek now so we decided to head that way and join them for a week. We will come back to Derby and do the sightseeing after that.

Locked up everything on the truck and camper as night fell. Still cool outside but the camper is warm from the sun today. Forgot to take a photo of our camp tonight!