Kimberley and NT roadtrip

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Broomstick
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Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by Broomstick » Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:45 pm

This report is a little belated, but better late than never…

All my life I’ve wanted to live out of a 4WD, and at the start of the year I finally bought one:

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A 1993, 80 series landcruiser. She’s old, chews fuel, and has a plethora of little issues, but I absolutely adore her. When an opportunity popped up for me to do some work in the Kimberley a few months ago, it was time to finally live the dream:

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Mattress in the back, fridge, camera, and fishing rods – what more do you need? I decided to drive straight up the guts, through Alice Springs, up to Katherine, then west to Kununurra and the Kimberley. I made it to Alice in two days, stopping only for the spectacular sunrises and sunsets:

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As some of you may know, I’m a keen birder and all-round wildlife junky, so a lot of this report will be animal pics (scroll down a bit if you just want fish pics). Alice is home to some wonderful birds, and I couldn’t drive through without having a little poke around the spinifex:

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This is one its more enigmatic inhabitants, the dusky grasswren:

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From Alice I drove straight to Kununurra, stopping only for animals:

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And some of the more special sites:

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Kununurra is famous for its finches, and I’d set aside a couple of days to get some snaps. I set up camp at a likely looking spot:

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Built a bird hide:

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Set up a few perches at a water hole:

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Spent some time in my yowie suit:

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And a couple of days later, I had some nice pics:

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This was my number one target for the area, the spectacular Gouldian finch:

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From Kununurra, I jumped on the famous Gibb River Rd. I’ve always wanted to drive the Gibb, but I was also a little nervous, as it’s notorious for killing cars. Mine lasted about two hours (lol!):

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I’d stopped for some dinner, then couldn’t get the engine to turn over. I let it sit for an hour or so and I managed to get it going, but something definitely wasn’t right:

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The dash was lit up like a Christmas tree, but I was a long way from help, so I just decided to drive while I could. At least it didn't die during a water crossing:

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Surprisingly I managed to drive for about 8 hours whilst I slowly lost power, until it eventually died completely. Bugger. Nothing to do but sleep and worry about it in the morning. An inauspicious start to my time in the Kimberley, but with a beautiful sunrise:

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And some fresh oysters for brekky (a local guy had given them to me the day before for helping him change a tyre – oh the irony):

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It was hard to be too deflated. I thought my battery might be playing up, so I swapped my main with my auxillary:

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But it was still dead. Unfortunately that was the limit of my automotive knowledge, so I made a cuppa and waited:

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About 6 hours later, I had half a dozen caravans pulled over trying to help me. Gotta love the bush!

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Unfortunately, no one could figure out what was wrong, so I borrowed a satellite phone and called the local mechanic (or rather, the only mechanic for 1000km). Another 5hrs and about 16 cans later (14 drunk by him), he’d charged up my batteries for me, told me I needed a new alternator (at the time I had no idea what that was), and sent me on my way. My batteries weren’t charging, so I only had a few hours of driving time to get to the research station where I was working, which was still a couple of hundred km’s away. It was touch and go, but I made it:

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For the next month I helped out a conservation group with their annual biodiversity surveys. I won’t go into too much detail, but I saw heaps of cool animals:

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Some spectacular scenery:

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Bogged a work vehicle:

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Ordered a new alternator:

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And spent two days fumbling around in the workshop trying to put the stupid thing into my car, only to find out that there was nothing wrong with my alternator. Bloody hell. So I charged up my batteries again and took the old girl to the famous Nev at Beyond the Range Tyre and Auto Repairs:

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It took him about 30 seconds to find the issue (a dodgy battery connection), and 20mins later I was back on the road:

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If anyone is in the market for an alternator for a 1993, 80 series landcruiser - I’m your man.

With my car back up and running, and my work in the Kimberley done, I decided to visit the famous Mitchell Plateau to find some of the Kimberley’s cool endemic species. The road in is an 800km nightmare, and after a couple of scares (the car died again and I spent a night on the side of the road, but I got it going in the morning – I’m a fully-fledged bush mechanic), I made it:

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I spent a couple of days here chasing animals:

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It really was spectacular:

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Before getting back on the Gibb:

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And driving to Broome to pick up my number one fishing mate – my Dad (Bristle):

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Apologies to those who have read this far and only want to see some pics of fish – they’re not far off. Bristle and I spent a few days in Broome while I fixed up some gear, sorted out my car, replenished my food stocks, and recuperated from an eye infection that I got from taking a bath in this scungy little pond (while locals burnt off in the background):

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We did manage to do a bit of exploring:

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And I found a few cool birds:

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Before we went back on the Gibb, and made our way to a secluded little campsite:

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There is nothing quite like camping in a place where there is no one else for hundreds of km’s. It also helps when the place is full of fishy, pandanus-lined creeks:

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I’d done a week of surveys at this spot a month or so earlier, and at the time I thought it just had to hold fish. And hold fish it did:

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It was a fish a cast pretty much the whole time we were there, but unfortunately most were either archer fish:

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Tiny grunter:

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Or catfish, which ranged in size from tiny:

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To big-ish:

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To big enough to put a nice, big puncture in your hand with their dorsal spike:

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My dad reckons this was the worst pain he’d ever felt – 4 hours of agony. We used pliers to unhook them after that.

We did manage some nice sized sooty grunter:

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We kept a couple for a feed each night:

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Not bad bush tucker:

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A bit further upstream the creek opened up a bit:

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But it was catfish city up here. We threw surface to get away from the cats, but they didn’t care:

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A few sooties managed to outmuscle the cats:

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And we caught a couple of nice tarpon:

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We turned a catfish into a curry to try and deter the others:

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It didn’t work (pretty tasty though!):

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I’m sure there are barra at this spot, but the catfish and archers were just insatiable:

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After catching our fill of undesirables, we hit the road again. During my time working in the Kimberley, I heard a few stories about this legendary 4WD track in the most remote part of the Kimberley – the Munja Track. It was talked about in hushed tones, a place not yet devoured by tourists, where you could experience the real Kimberley in all its glory. Wildlife, rockart, fishing – it had the best of everything. The only problem is, the track is about as rough and remote as it gets. If you get in trouble on the munja, help is very far away. So what do you do when you’ve just bought a 4WD with a chequered recent history, have limited 4WDing experience, and know sweet FA about cars? Whack a few jerries on the back of the car and give it a crack:

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The start of the track was easy enough, a few gentle river crossings:

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And some lovely scenery:

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But then we came to our first ‘jump up’ or range crossing (this part of the track wasn't actually too bad, but it's the only photo I took):

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And we soon realised just how out of our depth we were. Imagine driving for hours in low range, over huge boulders, big drop-offs and up sheer cliffs, sh!t flying everywhere in the car, dad is stressed out, fridge has stopped working, food is exploding, water spilling, car breaking. Every time we stopped I’d look under the hood of the car and see something new that had snapped off (thank god for cable ties!). We’d driven so far in low range that we’d burnt through most of our fuel. At the end of the first day, we were exhausted:

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We considered turning back, but I’m a stubborn d!ckhead, so we continued on. And thank god we did. Comparatively, the next day was a breeze. Beautiful scenery:

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Amazing rock art:

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And word-class wildlife:

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This is one of Australia's coolest birds, and one of my main targets for the Kimberley, the black grasswren:

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This was the Kimberley I’d envisaged. We made it to the halfway point, a beautiful campsite called Bachsten:

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The wildlife here was out of this world:

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But we were in a pickle. Another 120km’s down the track was the mythical Walcott Inlet, a place considered by the locals to be the best barra spot in Australia (probably because it’s bloody impossible to get to). This was the main reason I convinced dad to do the Munja, and I desperately wanted go. But we weren’t sure we’d have enough fuel to get there and back. So close, yet so far. We deliberated, did some maths, and rationalised, and in the end we did the responsible thing – risk it all and continue on! We arrived a day later (how’s this for a campsite!):

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Got a fire going, rigged up some rods:

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Then hit the hay. We woke up with the sun the next day to find the inlet swarming with pop-eye mullet and barra boofing everywhere:

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I was so excited - I was convinced the barra would be jumping out of the water. Turns out, I’m an idiot. This was one tough place to fish landbased. The tides were monstrous, the banks were steep and muddy:

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And there were crocs EVERYWHERE:

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After two days of being covered in thick, stinking mud with nowhere to wash, eating baked beans and rice (we had planned to eat fish), and throwing every lure under the sun without getting so much as a nibble, I was done. In desperation, I rustled up a few old hooks from the bottom of my tackle bag and went looking for something to use as bait. It took me two hours, but I finally caught a little fiddler crab:

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I chucked him over the bank, and it took about 30 seconds before I had a little catfish on the bank:

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I whacked a fillet off, gave it to Bristle, and he floated it down in the current. His rod soon buckled with what we thought was another catfish, when a dirty big Barra came flying out of the water! Unfortunately, we were several metres up a steep bank, and dad was only fishing 20lb leader. Despite my best recovery efforts, it busted off. It’s amazing what the sight of a fish can do for your morale. In the space of about 20 minutes I went from “just throw me off the bank Bristle and let me float away” to “how bloody good is this place!”. Next cast dad jumped off another barra while I replenished our bait stocks with a bigger catty:

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The catfish fillets turned out to be a revelation. We didn’t hook another barra, but we caught dinner in the form of bull shark flake (they became a nuisance after a while):

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And mud crabs that were silly enough to hang onto the mullet fillets:

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And to top it off, I found a big old pot to cook them in:

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You beauty:

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Our last morning delivered another perfect sunrise:

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The mullet bait had been huge, but I’m a lure tragic, so I decided to spend my last few hours flicking. I opted for my bream outfit, just so I could catch something. Anything. Five hours later, I finally had a hit:

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Only a tiny barra, but it was a barra! We’d finally landed one. Walcott Inlet hadn’t quite been the barra mecca I’d envisaged (you really need a boat to fish this place), but it had been an adventure:

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The drive back out was blissfully uneventful. We stopped at an aboriginal yam site:

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Spent a refreshing night at the beautiful Bachsten (I’ve never been so happy to see fresh water):

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Visited the resident bowerbird:

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And before we knew it (and with fuel to spare!), we were leaving the Kimberley:

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But we weren’t done yet – we had Kakadu in our sights. We drove through the night, spotting lots of cool critters on the roads:

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And arrived in Katherine, where I hoped to get a few things fixed on the car (I’d cracked a break disc and she was leaking fluids from somewhere), and see the beautiful hooded parrots at nearby Pine Creek:

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We also popped in to the magical Fogg Dam:

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I got down and dirty in my yowie suit:

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Well worth it:

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This place was birder heaven:

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Before continuing on to Kakadu! This was the last leg of our trip, and the plan was simple. Spend a couple of days chasing wildlife, then catch a goddam legal barra. Easy. It goes without saying, but Kakadu is spectacular:

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So is the birdlife:

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The reptiles and frogs ain't bad either:

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My number one bird target for Kakadu was the white-throated grasswren – one of Australia’s most sought after and hardest to find birds. They favour the most remote and rugged areas in northern Australia – like the top of giant rocky escarpments:

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I climbed these rocks for two days, but didn’t see a feather. Dang. The views were nice though:

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With only a couple of days left, it was time to catch a legal barra. We chanced upon this secluded little billabong:

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And set up camp. This spot was shmick, and at first light the next morning, we were out having a flick:

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It didn’t take long before dad had the first fish on the bank – a nice tarpon:

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I followed it up with a an archer fish (sigh):

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I thought I had another next cast, but it was a little barra:

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You beauty! Good signs. The fish started rolling in:

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But they were all tiny. A couple of bigger sooties got the heart pumping a bit:

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And I hooked and lost a couple of beautiful toga, including one monster that would have been pushing 70cm (I cried a bit), but the bigger barra were nowhere to be seen. Oh well, can’t complain, life was good:

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The next day rolled around at it was the same old story – small fish, and lots of ‘em?:

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It wasn’t until mid-morning that I finally had a decent hit:

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A barra around the 50cm mark – a nice fish on bream kit, but not quite legal. We were about to head back in for brekky when I tossed my little double clutch into this gnarly snag:

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And it was hammered by a good fish. After a short and brutal fight that tested my 10lb leader to its limits, I dragged a lovely 60cm barra up onto the bank. FINALLY!! Dinner!

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If someone had told me before the trip that I’d spend 6 weeks in the Kimberley and Kakadu before I caught a legal barramundi, I would have laughed in their face. Maybe all this birdwatching has made me rusty ha. Anyway, fish has never tasted so sweet:

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On our way back home, we popped our head into Arnhem land:

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Not many places have genuinely taken my breath away, but this place did. That will have to wait until next trip.

And that’s all she wrote for northern Australia! On the way home, we popped into Lake Eyre where my mum was staying with a friend:

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The lake was meant to be full – could’ve fooled me:

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The only water I saw was in these beautiful springs:

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Perks of camping with mum:

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By this stage, the car was looking a little worse for wear:

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Time to get home and give the old girl some TLC! All things considered, she had held up remarkably well. I bloody love that car – I’m already planning the next trip!

Cheers!

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I'll leave you with a few more bird pics, if you're not sick of them already:

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croe04
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by croe04 » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:11 pm

Those are some awesome pictures, i'm also a wildlife junky and these flicks are amazing. Fishing looked like a lot of fun too, that barra looked pretty chunky. 4WD is something i'd love to get into, still saving up for my first car though lol. Looks like an great trip, thanks for the share mate :tu:

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Brett
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by Brett » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:18 pm

Absolutely stunning as usual. Something I’ve always wanted and hoped to do, sometime in the future.

purple5ive
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by purple5ive » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:55 pm

Brilliant work as usual pat.
Thanks for the share, such a great part of Australian you have just visited
Cheers

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Kimtown
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by Kimtown » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:59 pm

Awesome as always!

Strange question. But what brand sunnies are they?

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fishingvic
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by fishingvic » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:54 pm

Magnificent report Broomstick. Thank you so much for sharing on the forum!
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denis barden
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by denis barden » Fri Oct 04, 2019 3:22 am

Kool
Top Pics

smokin_reels
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by smokin_reels » Fri Oct 04, 2019 5:49 am

Mad report Pat!
:tu: :tu:

Love the finches.
There is always more to learn , fish to catch , places to see and friends to make.

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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by rb85 » Fri Oct 04, 2019 5:52 am

Great pics

e.welch
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Re: Kimberley and NT roadtrip

Post by e.welch » Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:24 am

are you a photographer because those are high-quality pics

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