Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Having ascertained that my car and its contents were still intact, I headed out before 7am (not that a Kimberley 7am is really like a 7am in other places) ahead of a planned long day on the road. Included in my online searches on Halls Creek generally was a hit on an entry by someone who'd posted a lap of the airport as a run route, so I thought that sounded like a good idea (in a place where I didn't really want to be running through residential areas because of the likely large number of dogs); once that was done the rest was essentially an out and back on the Duncan Road (one of the roads out of town). Felt a bit flat but a day when you get more than an hour on the board's a good day, isn't it?

The other place to stay in Halls Creek has put itself behind an electric fence but where I was hasn't, and they said they generally don't have trouble - as they put it "we respect the locals and they respect us". Probably didn't hurt that there was a police car prominently parked outside the first row of rooms - I'm guessing that extra police were sent to the town after it hit the news a few weeks back and they were staying where I was.

From there it was the first half of the Tanami Road trip, with a side trip to the Wolfe Creek crater (about 25km off the main road, the last few of which were severely corrugated). For the most part road conditions weren't too bad, a few sections which were rocky or corrugated but also plenty where I could comfortably drive at 80 (particularly the stretch either side of the border, which is the part which I expect gets the least traffic). My set-up for carrying extra fuel on the roof also worked fine, and didn't affect the aerodynamics/fuel consumption as much as I thought it might (the distance between fuel stops is 580km; as it turned out I could have got away without it, but that's not something you want to put to the test out here, and it would have been a different story if there had been a significant headwind, or significant stretches where I was going 40 or slower, which really blows your fuel consumption out).

Distances feel different out here too. At one point I saw a shining object on the horizon which I thought was something to do with the border, then about 10km away. It turned out to be the sun reflecting off yet another redundant Covid sign, an NT one this time.

I got to the overnight spot I was aiming for, a rest area (of sorts) at the junction of the Lajamanu road. This proved to be considerably more appealing on the map than it was in reality, although as I realised during the evening, the reason why there was so much rubbish on the ground and not in the bin had at least as much to do with wildlife extracting it from the bin as it did with humans not putting it in the bin in the first place. At least it had a table to use for cooking dinner (I do have a portable one I can set up if I need to, but would rather not), and an occasional mobile phone signal from a nearby mine (which one lot of passing travellers stopped to take advantage of), and either the howling dingoes moved elsewhere after 9pm or I managed to sleep through them (the latter seems unlikely).

More humid this morning (similar to last Saturday) on my last morning in Kununurra. Started out into the block on the southeast side of the lake this time, before coming back along the lakeshore westwards; the track there didn't go as far as I thought it would so headed up to the main road for a bit before coming back. Probably felt a bit better on balance than yesterday but was fading towards the end, probably because of the humidity.

After that it was time to start moving southwards. Halls Creek wasn't my original plan for tonight (but became so in the reshuffling which followed my changed plans for the Bungle Bungles and not going to Balgo). As noted yesterday the town does not have a good reputation so I'll be satisfied to get out tomorrow without any trouble, although those staying where I am seem fairly relaxed about it. The trip down was pretty nice though, with the classic Kimberley big red sandstone hills, but also smaller granite (I presume) hills rising from the plains in between, before flattening out in the last 100km before Halls Creek. Quite a bit of smoke haze today - perhaps it's as well that my plans changed (on my original plans I would have been going to the Bungle Bungles today).

Headed up this morning in the direction of Mirima NP (aka Hidden Valley) - this is an area of sandstone cliffs and pinnacles on the northeast edge of town. I'd been here in 2009 (mainly because it was the most interesting option available within walking distance of the town centre) and remembered it described as a 'mini Bungle-Bungles' - now that I've been to the real thing, I can report that it doesn't have the latter's rock domes, but it is still an impressive place.

The run was fairly patchy. I'd hoped beforehand for an hour (which is what I had originally planned for yesterday), but will settle for this two days after what seemed to be potentially a fairly significant injury.

The day's main target was Wyndham, with a couple of side visits to lower-profile but still interesting sites off the highway (the Grotto and Molly Springs). Wyndham is the oldest town in the area and has been hanging on to a greater or lesser extent for the last century (it's on a bit of an up at the moment as the port is the export point for a couple of significant mines), and is noteworthy mainly for its big tidal range (and thus vast tidal flats, several kilometres across in places - I was there at low tide), the convergence of a lot of rivers (there's a good lookout for this, which also hosts a Bureau radar) and having the highest average annual temperature of any location in the Southern Hemisphere.

It was interesting enough for a short visit and had a good museum (in which I found a 1939 photo of the Post Office, with observing site), but at the same time I didn't see a lot to challenge the assessment of a writer of some decades ago who opined that "Cambridge Gulf is the a***hole of the world and Wyndham is 65 miles up it". At the lookout I came across a group who were in a discussion which involved a similarly unflattering assessment of Halls Creek, featuring some second-hand stories which were so lurid that if they had actually happened they would have been all over the mainstream media. (I learned some time ago to apply a certain discount factor to such stories of outback towns coming from older white people, although Halls Creek is clearly a significantly troubled place - and in fairness your perceptions of safety are going to be different when you're in a caravan/campervan and your vehicle and contents are all you have). I'll find out tomorrow, but if the place I'm staying wasn't reasonably safe I imagine someone would have mentioned it in the reviews. (I suspect it has a fairly formidable fence).

Dropped in on Kununurra's "Anzac Hill" on the way back, mainly out of curiosity as to what was commemorated there - it certainly wasn't locals who served in the World Wars because there weren't any (Kununurra wasn't founded until 1961). The plaque (of fairly recent vintage) turns out to refer to those who served "in all conflicts".

Settled down somewhat overnight and was probably back to where I was yesterday morning by this morning, but still thought it best to bring forward my session in the water. (Things have continued to improve during the day and I expect to be running tomorrow).

It dropped to 8.5 in Kununurra this morning; had this been one day earlier it would have been a monthly record. Given this I expected that locals would be nowhere to be seen in the pool and I was right, even if it was already close to 20 by 7.45 when I started. Quite a good session, and the lifeguard who had to sit on the poolside while I was there (not sure what she does the rest of the time) didn't have anything to do so hopefully she didn't get too bored.

Main sightseeing target of the day was Emma Gorge, the only part of the El Questro empire that is accessible without a high-clearance 4WD (which may explain why it was one of the more well-populated sites I've been to on this trip). As gorges go it was certainly worth the trip (particularly the pool at the end with a waterfall dropping into it), although it perhaps suffered a bit by comparison with the previous day.

Also confirmed that I can get fuel on a Sunday where I'd hoped to on the Tanami, and have taken an initial step into the world of YouTube instructional videos for blokes, trying to work out how the straps I got to tie down the fuel container work. (This may make for some interesting future recommendations). Will test the set-up tomorrow - if there's something else I need it will certainly be a lot easier to do something about it in a regional centre on a weekday than it will somewhere more remote. (That wasn't the end of my use of technology to plan remote area travel - I also used Google Maps satellite images to verify that the rest area I hope to camp at on Sunday night exists).

I'm also taking advantage of being in ABC radio range while I can, even if it involves the occasional talkback caller wanting the new Premier to revive the idea of sending water southwards from the Kimberley (I have three words for such people - "water is heavy"). Also featuring was a country and western song with the seems-logical-enough lines "Rain is good. Rain brings corn, and corn brings whiskey", even if this departs a bit from the usual subject matter for country and western songs (as the old joke goes, what happens when you play a country and western song backwards? Your ute gets fixed, your dog gets better and your wife comes back).

Had issues intermittently during the night with soreness in my left side (with back tightness nearby I suspect that was the fundamental issue) and was wondering if this was going to happen. Worked out OK once I was running (just felt like a bit of a mild stitch) and if anything felt better when I was running faster.

My chosen venue for this was the football ground at Kununurra, scene of perhaps my favourite photo from the 2009 trip (green grass and boab trees with a backdrop of a sandstone hill behind). It wasn't as good a view this time because the rocks looks better in the afternoon light than the morning light, but still pretty nice. (It was also one of only a handful of sub-10 May minimums in Kununurra, but sunrise and sunset are early here - about 5.30am and 5pm respectively - and by the time I was out it was in the high teens, still pleasant with the low humidity).

Warm-up and down. Felt a bit better than I expected to.

The day's main activity was the trip to the Bungle Bungles. As noted earlier this was an expensive fly-in/fly-out trip and I was wondering if it might be a bit of a let-down after how impressive Keep River was, but the Bungle Bungles are on another level in terms of the size, colour and extent of the rock domes - certainly a special place and I'm glad to have got there. (The gorges on their own are pretty spectacular, too). The only drawback was that I aggravated the back/side issue mentioned earlier by turning around too many times in the plane to take photos (a somewhat original way to get yourself injured) - sufficiently visibly painfully that the person sitting next to me was wondering if I had a more serious problem. This was an annoyance through the day, and while I've seen things like this settle overnight before, I'll still be mildly surprised if I'm running tomorrow.

Interestingly, all of our group were Australians (I guess most of the internationals who have made it back to this part of the world are backpackers who don't have $900 to spend on a day's sightseeing), and quite a few were locals (enough to make me wonder if there's an unadvertised locals' discount).

C • Local discount 3

C • Hidden Valley 1

Keep River National Park deserves to be a lot more famous than it is. The rock formations are spectacular and have been described as a "mini Bungle Bungles" (I'll be able to compare after seeing the real thing tomorrow), but not all that many people go there - the only places to stay are two smallish campgrounds, but it's well within day trip range from Kununurra (it's about the same distance away as Lake Argyle and Emma Gorge) - the border must create a bit of a psychological barrier (and perhaps more if you've got a rental car that can't be taken out of WA, although I suspect most of those sorts of cars can't be taken on dirt roads either). Those I did see, apart from myself, fell into one of two categories - grey nomads and Germans (the return of the latter an indication that normality is returning, along with the Irish accents you'll hear serving at roadhouses and hospitality venues across the north).

My run was from the Jarnem campground. There's a 7k loop from there but that included a climb to a lookout which didn't look runnable - plus my back wasn't great today (maybe two nights on an air mattress?) - so instead I did an out-and-back to Nigli Gap (easy name for an orienteer to remember). This turned out to be easily the best option for views of rock domes, with a bit of Aboriginal art thrown in at the far end. Plenty of photo stops on the outward journey, perhaps not such a bad thing the way I was feeling. Did another walk on the way out which was even better.

Continued on across the border without any issues (having eaten all relevant items before crossing), ignoring the I-can't-believe-someone-hasn't got-around-to-taking-it-down-in-a-year (or at least covering it up) sign saying that only essential visitors were permitted entry and had to quarantine for 14 days. (As I've observed before, signs like this - and you will still see plenty of 2020-vintage signs outside premises across Australia telling you not to enter if you've been overseas in the last month - must be very offputting to international visitors who don't know they're out of date).

From there it was on to Kununurra with a side trip to Lake Argyle. This isn't my first visit here, but the last one was a few hours in 2009 in between the mail plane that had got me out of Kalumburu and the onward flight to Darwin (during which my main priority was to satisfy cravings for fresh fruit and vegetables, not in abundant supply in Kalumburu, although I did manage a walk in the rocks next to town).

C • Opportunity 1

Spent quite a bit of the afternoon attending to various logistical issues, and when the laundromat's drier said it was going to take 99 minutes I thought that left a good timeslot for a swim that I would have otherwise done a bit later. (Perhaps it wasn't supposed to take 99 minutes - which does seem a very long time for a commercial drier - because when I went back the dryer had an 'out of order' sign on it, although it dried my clothes perfectly well; there's nowhere where I'm staying to hang them outside otherwise I would definitely have taken advantage of the excellent dry season drying conditions).

The sign at the entrance to the pool meant that I spent most of the swim thinking about logistical issues of a different sort - the sign in question advertising opening hours for the WA Day public holiday next Monday, whose existence I had forgotten. This complicates things in some ways for the Tanami traverse - and probably rules out a visit to the Balgo art centre which is disappointing (it's probably a bigger disappointment to Mum) - although as long as fuel is available out of hours at Billiluna (likely but I'd want to ring them to confirm 100% - but if I have to carry 40 litres from Halls Creek then so be it) it probably makes other things fit together a bit better. (My original plans involved camping Sunday night at Wolfe Creek, which had it been a solo experience might have been a bit too spooky).

The swim itself was pretty reasonable. The water was quite cool - it's not heated and with the recent cool spell the water temperature had dropped to 22.5, which was clearly much too cold for the locals because I had the water to myself. Maybe this encouraged me to go a bit faster because this was one of the quicker sessions of its type I've done for a while. (The cool spell has involved days in the high 20s and lows around 10 - Wyndham even set a May record low this morning, although I think where I camped was a bit warmer).

C • Forgettable public holidays 11

I thought when I booked the campsite that there was one other site booked, but if there was they didn't show up (I suspect I was looking at a weekly view and there was one other booking this week). I don't mind solitude but this was perhaps a bit too much solitude - at a guess I'd say I was perhaps 30km from the nearest other human. A dingo wandered up while I was cooking dinner to check me out before deciding that I was presumably too big to be of interest, then after dark a very loud "moo" alerted me to the presence of a cow nearby which I couldn't see (probably not supposed to be in the National Park, but with no fences it's not surprising the odd one wanders in). At this point I retreated to the tent, hoping that the night vision of cows is good enough that it wouldn't accidentally trample the tent with me inside it. At least the scenery, at the outlet of Jasper Gorge, was good (and another plus of the gorge-outlet location was outflow winds which kept overnight temperatures mild).

The run was along the "highway" (in reality a dirt road, and not an especially good one - definitely a 60 km/h one, not an 80 one - with a daily number of vehicles that I suspect you wouldn't have to take your shoes off to count). Started heading east but saw a cow that I didn't want to spook (possibly the same one which was creating spookiness last night) so switched to west instead, which turned out to be more interesting anyway with some good gorge views (although I was going to be driving that way anyway). Unsurprisingly in the circumstances I hadn't slept that well, but the run was OK by Monday standards.

Next objective of the day was another site visit, at Victoria River Downs (about another 60km to the south), before returning back the way I'd come (if the Victoria River crossing here had been passable to vehicles like mine at the moment I'd have come in from the southeast, though as it turned out I would have missed some interesting country by doing so). Hit the bitumen again to go west almost to the border, timing my lunch stop so that a caravan convoy had cleared out of the Timber Creek petrol station by the time I'd finished. The final destination was the Keep River National Park, and a campground that this time had other people there.