11 September - Bluebush, Sir John Gorge and Paddling in Dimond Gorge, Mornington Wilderness Camp; Gibb River Road

11 September 2016 – 186 709

Bluebush, Sir John Gorge and Paddling in Dimond Gorge, Mornington Wilderness Camp; Gibb River Road

After packing up, we headed back out to the Gibb River Road.  We drove the 4km along the Gibb River Road to the Mornington Wildlife Conservancy turnoff. https://www.australianwildlife.org/where-we-work/mornington-marion-downs-2/mornington-wilderness-camp/ When we went to the radio shack to radio in there was a sign stating that the park would be closed from 12^th to 14^th September for maintenance.  We had planned to stay for two or three days, so needed to do a re-think.  We decided to go in for the one night and see what we could do.  The drive in took a little under two hours and drove through completely different country to what we had seen elsewhere on the Gibb, with beautiful views of the King Leopold Ranges.  We did a minimal set up and then headed to Bluebush Waterhole for a picnic lunch, unfortunately this had no shade and was very hot.  We then drove on to Sir John Gorge – I was disappointed in this, to me it was more like a river than a gorge.  We had a welcome swim and then went back to the Bluebush Wetlands bird hide which unfortunately was currently a completely dry area.  Our last stop for the day was Dimond Gorge for a swim and a paddle – this was beautiful.  While Drew had to paddle solidly for us to get to the end of this 2km gorge and back before it got dark, it was beautiful to see the sun lighting up the red rock walls of the gorge at this time of day.  This paddle would be best done early morning or late afternoon; in the middle of the day it would be extremely hot.  Drew then drove us back to camp in the dark, setting off all the dingo and cat observation cameras as we drove past.  We were all tired but overheated – it was 44 degrees today, and still 33 degrees two hours after the sunset.  What a day!!
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