Wylie Adventures; There and Back (Finke Desert Race 4)

 Tuesday June 22nd 2021 Lorella Springs, Savannah Way NT. Camping out night 2. A beautiful morning in the wilderness. Mist drifting across the river in dawn light. Morning view from the camp site Handy road signs to keep you on track, in MOST places Morning coffee was at the gulf. We parked on the sandy beach while we explored the beautiful white sands and turquoise waters.  Beautiful waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria At the Gulf we flew the drone which attracted a lot of interest from the local small eagle/kites both high and low. We chatted with a couple of travelers who recommended Karumba and Lawn Springs. Eagle's eye view of the gulf and us. The tide was too high to do as had been suggested and walk a mile out to sea. There's the crocodile issue too that made this an unattractive option (and sharks). Nonetheless there was still plenty of room for the tide to rise further as we noted it getting uncomfortably close to the car tyres while we drank our tea. Discretion be...

Monday June 21 Exploring Lorella Springs Wilderness Today we are going to head out from the home camp ground into the Lorella Springs wilderness and explore and camp out. Lots of beautiful wildflowers Out of our snug rooftop bed at homestead campsite,  6:30am, broke camp by 8 (office opens at 8). Waiting for diesel Instructions/information and diesel at homestead information office.  First leg to Flying fox wetland Loads of frozen white bread available for $6 so we grabbed one as the only option. Food supplies getting a little low and no supermarket for 1000km. We filled in the forms for our expected time out of camp and camp locations in case of disaster. Our first camp site destination Rosie big hole. Lots of sand and bull dust on these highways. At the first billabong, Flying Fox Wetland, full of water lilies, there were 2-person canoes to go out and have a look around - but don't swim! The canoes were very stable so we took the cameras. Not so many birds. I think that...

Sunday 20th June 2021  Day 3 Savannah Way NT Lorella Springs Rest day. Its now obvious that we are not tearing off from Lorella Springs to return to the Lost City today. We will get there, but meanwhile there's 1 million acres to explore and some R&R to be had. What a find! The playground at Lorella Springs A very good system here where you pay for your accommodation/camp fees as you leave, just in case you decide to stay an extra night or two, or three, or four..... Boiling the Eco billy for a relaxed breakfast in the camp ground Found a washing machine and for $10 we could do a load. Filled up the machine with hot springs water from a big hose and left for 45’ to finish then hung the washing on the big line the middle of the camp ground. Meanwhile pulled out the little computer and down loaded all the photos from my camera and both our iPhones. Managed to get that all done without completely flattening the battery. Downloading pics for safe keeping. No internet to worry about...

 Saturday 19th June,  Lorella Springs. Unbelievable wild flowers! Took off from Roper Bar in a leisurely manner and headed into Limmen national park. An out of the way , be self sufficient kind of place. Camping at Roper Bar Entering Limmen National Park Many creek crossings. At one we stopped for morning tea and boiled the eco Billy- watching out for crocs! There were feathers everywhere and I chose us a couple each for our fancy hats. A couple of fellas drove up and parked right next to us then got out and asked if we had seen a green fishing tackle box, which we hadn’t. He did tell us that the feathers would be from when an aboriginal person shot a bird. They would pluck it on the spot. He said it would have been a Turkey bustard. Such beautiful feathers. Loads of red dust in our wake One of many creek crossings Feathers of the turkey bustard We stopped at a camp site for lunch then headed out on the road again, stopping occasionally to take photos including the blue flower...