Bransby & Friends’ Oz Trip 2025

We hadn’t had enough of the crater so we set our alarms for 5.20am to head up again and watch the sunrise. The colours were spectacular and it just got better and better. Managed to get some good pics of our campsite too and a little loving in the sky! 💖 Back to camp for a cuppa to prepare ourselves for the 130 kilometres to get out again!! Was it worth it?? Hell yeh!! Maybe we were prepared better after yesterday but the road didn’t seem so bad today. I was driving so it was definitely a slower journey but also less carnage lol. Stopped at Halls Creek for fuel and to buy a lotto ticket - glad we survived the Tanami Road! 🤞🏻 Had lunch on the road as we headed towards Wyndham, stopping for a quick coffee from Cafe Menner at Turkey Creek. Arrived at Parry Creek Farm around 5pm and what a hidden gem this place is!  Plenty of big sites, gorgeous shower blocks with hot water and lots of it, washing machines that work, a swimming pool and a bar.  We set up our vans and then heade...

 Up early as usual, the body clock has changed! 🤦‍♀️ We went for a walk over the old bridge and checked out the campground.  And then we were off - 228 kilometres to Wolfe  Creek! The first 100 ish kilometres was on the main road so not a problem. The next 130 were on gravel, very rough, very dusty and severely corrugated in many, many parts! Whoever told us the road wasn’t that bad was having us on! At the turn off from Tanami Road we decided to check inside the van. Carnage!! 😢 The top of the table had unscrewed itself and lay on the floor, amongst a dozen or so screws from various parts of the van! The oven door was hanging from one side and one of the vents had opened so everything was covered in red dust!   The next 20 kilometres (22 actually!) were horrendous! More ruts, corrugation, dust and a particularly deep dip! Finally we made it to camp, along with Sus and Amanda of course. 💖 Time to assess the damage again! It got worse! The oven had almost unscrewed...

We were up early this morning to bid Amanda and Steve farewell. There were lots of hugs and a few tears as we waved them goodbye. The first month travelling with them and doing the Gibb has been amazing and exceeded all of our expectations- we are sad to say goodbye.  And then there were two! A quick stop in Derby and we were back on the road. . We stopped at Fitzroy Crossing for fuel and had lunch in the shade at the rec centre oval. Don’t know that we need to come back here….ever! 🤣 We pulled in to Ngumban Cliff rest area to check it out. There were lots of vans there, beautiful view, toilets, tables, barbecues, will put it on our list for next time! Our stop for the night was Mary Pool Campground, a very popular rest area on the Mary River. There wasn’t a lot of water in the river but there were lots of shady spots to camp and toilets.  Cafe Menner opened soon after, set up doesn’t take long when you don’t have to unhitch, and we relaxed with a cuppa. After dinner Ian set ...