Kimberley July 2004

Roger & Cherryle Hi! We would be very interested in joning you on your Kimberley trip in July as that is around the time frame that we hope to be hitting the road ourselves and the Kimberleys is very much top of our list. The Gibb has been an obsession of mine for a while now. How long do you expect to be away??? Also will you be attending the Rally at Copeton Waters in September??? We have a 2000 Troopy Turbo & a 19ft Bushtracker July 2003, (our first) so as you can see we are new at the game and would much appreciate a chance to do the Gibb with someone that has done it before. We are not total novices though as we have owned 4X4's for about 30 years and done alot of Camping, Fishing & Pig Hunting in that time. Terry is also quite handy at just about anything, as long as it is not a computer, TV, VCR etc, bush craft is more his speed and I am not entirely useless. Our travelling conpanions are 2 tiny dogs, will that be a problem? We don't smoke, Terry doesn't drink (he gets too sick) but I don't mind a glass or two of wine at the end of a long day. We love fishing and the bush, have lived in the country all our lives and can't wait to get out and explore this great land of ours, every nook and cranny. Looking foward to hearing from you. Lynne & Terry Lorraway The Whitsundays

You should enjoy the trip, and the GRR is not the most terrible road in Aus as described in "Adventure" magazines.
The biggest problems on this track are the OS turists in rented 4wd's that believe the only way to smooth out the corrugations is to fly over them, and sometimes on the wrong side of the road.
In our opinion Old Mornington Station is a must. About 90K off the main road but there are 3 great gorges out there, as well as a good campground.
Old Mornington is now managed by a conservation group so a phone call to check about the dogs would be wise.
Pick up a GRR guide, about 4 A4 pages, at the Kunnunurra tourist info. Best 6 bucks you can spend, full of info updated each season.
May be worth checking with the WA parks people about dogs in the Nat Park campgrounds. Not sure about that situation but we did not notice any on our trip.
You will need to camp in some of thier spots if you wish to have "easy" trips to some of the gorges such as Bell Gorge.
Normally plenty of good drinking water at all established campsites.
At Fitzroy Crossing camp at the Lodge, the other areas are really a no go if you want to have all the wheels on the car when you wake up in the morning.

If you need any other info my email and mobile number details are on the BT data base.

have a good time
Turist.

PS. If returning via the Tanami try not to plan for a fuel stop at Rabbit Flat. Diesel at $3.30 ltr when we came through. Tilmouth Well Ok and a good restaurant as well as campground.

Good day Lynne & Terry I must appoligise for not responding before this, but farm business has been busy & I have paid no attention to BOG especially this segment. OK here is some drum for you (1) You are more than welcome to join us if you are game (2) Those signed up for this trip are: (a) Daughters, Peta & Jana.Peta works with me in stock and trying to grow native trees in big numbers on the One Tree Plain under natural conditions. She is a ex Vet Nurse. Jana is a Vet Nurse at a Wagga Vet Clinic & Hospital. Both will probably spoil your panlickers rotten (b) Son, Nicholas, about to complete his apprenticeship as an electrician in Sydney. Best discribed as "you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy (c) Girlfriend, Gulia, Italian decent, Uni. student, learning how to cook Italian, a condition for her to be able to join us (d) Mother& myself (3) We don't have a problem with dogs only their owners sometimes (4) Most of us have & still do work in the bush all of our lives (5) We have experienced about 50,000klm of outback travel down mainly dirt roads with a camper trailer this is a first with a caravan. Dirt roads have always been a part of our every day life coming in lots of variences. We have never experienced the GRR (6) Most of our more memorable holiday meals have been the camp oven variety (7) We all like a drink & like Terry we have all been sick, just never admitted the cause (8) I think most of us have given up smoking (9) Final dates not finalized. Depends on Uni & TAFE & the marking of 1200 plus calves etc (10) No we will not be going to Copeton but Cherryle & myself hope to take a week in Sept to do the Birdsville Races (11) We only have a month but Mother & I may stretch that a little, we will see (12) You should find direct contacts to us via the BOG membership list (13) I or we should make direct contact with Turist I hope this is to your satisfaction Roger & Cherryle

Roger Hi, Thanks for your message could you please send me an E-mail at terraway@mackay.net.au as I can't find your adress in the members list. Lynne