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Matthew Chapman

Matthew Chapman

s’est rendu dans 6 pays. En savoir plus
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    • Parental Leave Trip
      12

      Bungle Bungles - Catherine Gorge

      27 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      We spent a day driving to the Bungle Bungles. It's about 2hrs from the turning onto the unsealed road, with lots of creeks and some rocky sections. It's a beautiful drive though as it winds towards the range and you start to see the orange and black banded rocks.
      We camped at the southern end first and were all happy to have a stretch and a play! Rosie and I explored the campsite on her bike and came across a bird of prey in its nest. And after the girls went to bed, Matt and I heard rustling in the grass next to our tent and jumped up to investigate. Eventually we spotted the culprit, a cane toad.
      There's lots of wildlife here which is lovely to see.
      In the morning we headed over to do the walk to Cathedral Gorge and see the famous beehive shaped domes. They were spectacular, much more impressive than any of our photos can do justice. The gorge opening was absolutely massive, it was hard to get our heads around the size of it and how old the layers of rock are!
      After lunch at the car parks shady picnic benches we drove to our next campsite, located at the northern end of the park.
      We stopped at a lookout on the way which had beautiful 360 views of the range. And had time that afternoon for a walk up the limestone ridge, through the spinifex grasses. It was cool to see another side to the Bungle Bungles.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip
      112

      Pentecost River and El Questro

      25 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      This morning we crossed the Pentecost River, the widest river crossing on the Gibb. It was a pretty low tide when we woke up, so we packed up as quickly as we could.
      It felt like we were the first ones there. We got out to have a look as it was hard to see how deep it would be at the other side. Luckily someone else turned up and came across, so we knew it was ok.
      Once across we turned to drive alongside the river and drove across the sandy banks to find a spot for Matt to go fishing. He'd heard this was the spot to catch Barramundi. Didn't have any luck and instead he got covered in flies. Rosie enjoyed hitting Matt with a stick to scare them off. We did find a snakeskin though which was pretty cool.
      Drove on to El Questro, one of the largest stations / campsites on the Gibb, and it seems like the most commercial one. We arrived in time to do Zebedee springs, where small waterfalls drop into warm pools, surrounded by palms. Rosie enjoyed clambering up the little falls with Matt and Poppy had a great time splashing and waving at people.
      We grabbed some sandwiches at the main campsite then headed off to do the El Questro gorge walk. It was tricky like people had said, with rocks to walk over nearly the whole way, apart from when you had to walk through the river. Rosie did well, but was pretty tired by the end. We stopped at a pool just before the halfway pool, had a snack and watched the fish before heading back. It was a stunning walk. The green of the palm trees contrasted with the red rock of the gorge walls which towered next to us. Just beautiful :)
      We decided as we'd done the main things we wanted to do at El Questro, we would head back to the banks of the Pentecost River to camp there for the night. More natural setting, but it did mean putting up with more flies!      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip
      11

      Home Valley Station

      24 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      We'd heard the next 100km from Ellenbrae to Home Valley station would be very rough and rocky. Some fellow campers in a caravan said it took them 3hrs!
      Luckily it wasn't too bad in the jeep. Matt had to keep an eye out for big ruts in the road, but we made it to Home Valley in time for a play in the play park, lunch and even a swim in the pool!
      Our campsite was away from the main facilities, but it meant we had an amazing view of the mountains. The sunset and sunrise were spectacular.
      It's getting trickier to put Poppy down now whilst we cook etc. as she's got good at commando crawling and can go fast if she wants! Her favourite thing to do it pick up sticks, gravel and leaves and try and eat them before we take them away.
      Our campsite was above the imposing Pentecost River (which we will cross tomorrow) so we did some croc spotting before dinner. We saw a couple of crocs that looked like they were hunting the birds.
      We also spotted some toads and frogs by the showers. Rosie found them fascinating and was really pleased to have saved a frog from getting stuck in the toilet! (It was sat on the rim and we used a stick to scare it down).
      And I saw a shooting star which was cool. I think Home Valley had the best star gazing so far!
      After we'd put the girls to bed, we heard a huge splash and a distinctive growl. Us and other campers ran over to see what had happened. We couldn't spot the croc, but I'm pretty glad it wasn't on the bank next to the campsite!      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip

      Manning Gorge and Ellenbrae Station

      23 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      Stayed overnight at Manning Gorge and in the morning we went down to the river for a swim. Such a beautiful spot. There's a sandy beach with pretty trees around providing dappled shade, so perfect for us and the girls.
      There's a hike to Manning Gorge which starts with a walk and swim across the river, but we decided to have a play with the girls on the beach there instead. Rosie still had a go in the blue container 'boat' and we had a swim across the river and back.
      So nice to have a hot shower and wash our clothes in the campsite's washing machine.
      We headed on to Ellenbrae Station in the morning. The Gibb River Road is getting rockier now with worse corrugations. We saw the graders come along and they made the road much smoother for us though! Others at Manning Gorge had been stuck trying to do repairs. And we saw a caravan get towed away from My Barnett Station at lunchtime.
      Ellenbrae Station was such a welcome surprise. We thought it would just be a handy place to stop, we were greeted by a tropical oasis.
      We played by the river with the girls for a bit before dinner. Rosie made friends with an Aussie boy who's 3 and also liked collecting sticks for the fire!
      They had lots of play time together in the morning too. It was very sweet listening to their conversations.
      Overnight we were kept awake for a while by dogs howling (maybe Dingos?) and cows mooing. Both sounded very close, I'm sure they were in the campsite.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip

      Adcock and Galvans Gorges

      22 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

      Woke up to lots of birds singing at our campsite at Bell Gorge. We drove back down the bumpy track and through some smallish (but some steep and quite deep) river crossings to rejoin the Gibb River Road. Stopped at Imintji Community where there's a store and toilets, they didn't have any of the veg we needed, but I was quite impressed they had some fresh produce. Bought a coffee and cake instead before heading on our way to Adcock Gorge.
      It was quite a challenging walk to the gorge, with rocks to scramble over and bits of river to walk through. Rosie did great though and seemed to really enjoy it.
      The pool at the gorge was idyllic. Steep rocky sides and a deep round pool where you could swim across to some trickling waterfalls. The water was a bit chilly for the girls but Matt and I took it in turns to have a swim. When I got out there was a small yellow snake in the water at the edge. We also saw some really pretty butterflies.
      I've really loved seeing so many butterflies and dragonflies as well as interesting birds at the gorges.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip

      Bell Gorge

      21 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

      Travelled to Bell Gorge in the morning. Stopped to feed Poppy on the way, so Rosie hopped in the front and did some tracing of letter and traced her name. She was so pleased with herself 😀
      Had lunch in the car park when we arrived, sat in the shade of our jeep. A few other families arrived at the same time. Went for a swim in the gorge. The water was quite chilly but also very refreshing on a hot day.
      Rosie enjoyed playing with some older kids making a "dam". Poppy had a dip in the water too and didn't seem bothered at all by the temperature. Poppy and I had a lovely play, she was giggling so much on the beach whilst I pretended to eat up her fingers.
      Spot Rosie and Matt at the top of the waterfall in one of the photos.
      Drove back down the rocky road to our campsite.
      Chose a pitch with a fire pit and had chocolate bananas on the fire for pudding.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip
      1

      Windjana Gorge

      20 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      Wow. I thought Windjana Gorge would be beautiful but I couldn't have imagined just how beautiful.
      We arrived at Windjana Gorge in time to have some lunch, before our walk through the gorge. In front of the huge vertical side of the gorge we're pretty grasses and trees, including baob. Once inside the gorge we were greeted by the huge red rock on both sides, with water birds and white cockatoos in the trees. Fossils, caves and holes could be found in the rock face. And at the end of the walk was a beachy area where a little freshwater crocodile was sat partly submerged and soaking up the last of the day's sun.
      We sat and had a snack whilst watching the croc and saw a tiny wallaby of some sort on the opposite bank.
      On the walk home both the girls fell asleep (Rosie in the rucksack carrier).
      Chicken curry for dinner, although burnt rice meant noodles went in instead.
      Couldn't have asked for a better start to our trip on the Gibb.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip
      111

      The start of the Gibb

      19 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Walked up the creek in the morning and Poppy had a sleep whilst Rosie and I made a sandcastle of our house in Downderry :) Stopped to let the girls cool off in a rockpool on the way back. Didn't spot any crocs but Matt found some awesome shells!
      Stayed at Derby for the night after picking up some camping supplies from the shop next door. At reception we were warned to lock everything away at night and "you'll be fine"... Bit disconcerting.
      Nothing got nicked thankfully!
      The next morning we did our big food shop as we need to have enough for 8 days on the Gibb. There are a couple of Roadstations but it sounds like fresh produce will be very limited.
      Soon after getting on to the Gibb River Road, we saw lots of birds of prey. Some were definitely eagles of some sort. Huge with big feathery legs and sharp hooked beak. First stop on the Gibb? Windjana Gorge.      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip

      Willie's Creek

      18 juillet 2024, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      We had to leave Smithy's quite promptly this morning to get to Willie's Creek Pearl Farm for the tour we booked.
      Whilst en route we were simultaneously trying to work out if we had enough fuel to get there and if we had enough time to get fuel as Sat Nav said it would take way longer than we anticipated!
      Luckily the Sat Nav was overly cautious and we had plenty of fuel, so made it to the tour ok.
      The tour was great and included an informative talk about how pearls are formed (and the meticulous and surgical procedure they do) and a tour on the boat to see some oysters growing in the creek (as well as say hi to a resident croc sunbathing) and then a demo of how to open an oyster and extract a pearl carefully so they can reseed them. We also learnt about the new product Pearl Bone they're making alongside researchers to patch up people's bones!
      Had a lovely lunch there before driving down the road to a campsite they pointed out from the boat. I was a bit nervous about snakes and the crocs but it was a stunning spot, right by the sandy beaches and bright blue creek.
      Matt tried some fishing there (keeping well back from the edge) but no luck.
      Another pretty sunset. So nice to eat dinner outside. Although I think Poppy gets confused by it getting dark and wants to go to bed just after sunset, which is about 6pm!      En savoir plus

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    • Parental Leave Trip
      1

      Smithy's

      17–18 juil. 2024, Australie ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

      We drove the long straight sealed road towards Cape Leveque and saw some wild horses, huge termite mounds and wild donkeys.
      Exciting to be at the start of our adventure on the Gibb River Road.
      We had our first night in the jeep (roof tent and ground tent). Rosie and Matt on the roof and Poppy and in in the ground tent. Poppy had a temperature so fed lots but it was nice to be next to her to look after her.
      Stocked up at the supermarket this morning and got food for a couple of days. Will restock at Derby, that's where the Gibb River Road starts.
      We're at a beautiful campsite tonight called Smithy's (very appropriate). We drove 43km up a dirt road with lots of corrugations and some deep sand to get here. Luckily not many rocks! Matt said it felt fine to drive and the girls liked going ahhhhh over the bumps.
      We had walks on the beach in the afternoon and Rosie enjoyed setting up the jeep for bedtime and getting a pile of sticks ready for a fire.
      Beautiful sunset :)      En savoir plus

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