MT ELIZABETH STATION 13 MAY 2008

Made a slow and lazy start and cruised down the Kalumburu and Gibb River roads to try two nights at the Mount Elizabeth station which had its own gorges and rock paintings. I was delighted at the prospect of having a whole campsite to myself. including a large fireplace.Especially as the nights were very cold.

LOVELY SPACIOUS CAMPSITE ALL TO MYSELF
Alas, the condition of the roads on the station prohibited access to gorges and rock paintings ( So I was told initially but they relented in due course and allowed me access) Ah well, at least it was a good plce to squat and peacefully recuperate from the kalumburu madness-then the bombshell dropped!I was advised that the Gibb River road cyclathon was to stage there for the night and that 250 dirt road cyclists were to arrive that afternoon and set up camp.

CYCLISTS TO THE LEFT OF ME, CYCLISTS TO THE RIGHT
They did-complete withmass catering,refrigerated truck, ambulance, police back-up team etc.There was a great festive atmosphere and somewhere amongst them was the young cop who had booked me on the Shark Bay road on Anzac day!
They were aiming to cycle between Derby and Kununurra(600klms)in 5 days(some day sections as long as 200k)The overall organiser was a policemanwith a strong Merseyside accent who came from Birkenhead to WA some 30 years ago.
Everyone of them was very friendly and as they walked past my tent they apologised for disturbing my peace.
The cooks worked really hard-dinner looked likemass spagh-bol and serious mechanical repaires were underway in the background.Some bodies limped with fatigue and there were long queues for the overwhelmed showers and loos.Their pack-up and departure on the following morning would be quite a sight.

THEN THEY WERE GONE
Wonder how they would tackle the crocodile infested Pentecost river ( now that would be a sight to behold)
On the second day I did a short walk on the station involving some minor stream wading.

FRIENDLY RESIDENT COMES CALLING
After this I enjoyed a siesta( too late for the Station owners wife to fulfill her promise to draw me a mud map of where the rock art was) So, was this to be a solo night-no!A delightful couple-Psychiatrist and a social worker from South Yarra made themselves known. they had recently re-married with 6 grown-up children between them.Another couple from perth joined in the drinking of wine by the fire. The husband worked for Murrin Murrin mine and his wife ( who came from Manchester) taught leadership at Curtin university.

WANJINAS AT LAST-15MAY
Packed up and set off early as advised it would take take one and a half hours to drive the 30 or so klms to where the art was( an indication of how difficult the road would be)

HARD ROAD AHEAD
The station owners wife's map left much to be desired and the sporadic burning off in the bush along my way obscured the trail.


FIRE ON THE TRAIL
As a result I took a wrong turn and in a moment of inattention crashed off the eroding track and got stuck fast in a gulley.Half an hour of digging with my entrenching tool and piling sawn logs into the space under the wheels was not looking promising, when ,fortunately,a station hand came along, used the electric winch on his vehicle to haul me out and guide me back on to the right track for the art sites.
The first paintings I encountered were fairly ordinary but very colourful.


The wanjinas were much harder to find and required a lot of bush bashing and backtracking in the hot afternoon sun. Then just when I had despaired of finding them,there they were in the most perfect and sacred setting.

WANJINAS BY ROCK POOL
I found them on a rock wall across a beautiful secluded and inviting rock pool.but such was the atmosphere of this sacred place I felt no inclination to indulge in swimming.adding to the idyllic setting was a small waterfall to the right of the art which replenished the pool.

WANJINAS AND WATERFALL
I didn't dally on the way back to avoid the embarrassment of a search party.(the stockman who had rescued me said that if I had not returned by 3pm a party would come looking)Hit the main road by 2pm and made rapid progress-but the experience of getting bogged and the heat were making me too weary to push on all the way to Kununurra in one go, so I returned to Ellenbrae camp site for the night. This was very disappointing as the extremely basic facilities were in contrast to the ambience of the place I had had breakfast on my earlier visit.Everything was very Heath-Robinsonish-clearly the work of the "husband" who appeared to have put all his collection of spare materials into the bath house.A scratch dinner and early to bed. At least I had found the paintings and so my Kimberley mission was complete.