Fitzroy Crossing & Halls Creek - Day 206

Trip Start Jan 31, 2008
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140
254
Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Australia  , Western Australia,
Monday, September 15, 2008

This morning I visited the Geikie Gorge National park which is just down river from Fitzroy Crossing. The 5km long gorge has been carved by the temperamental Fitzroy river. The river can be a real dangerous force of nature in the wet season. I saw on the walls of the gorge how high the river has risen in past floods, some of the marks are well over 15 metres above the current water level. At the visitors centre which is set back several hundred metres from the river banks, the flood waters have completely submerged the building on numerous occasions over the past decade. Had a brief walk on the trail along the gorge. Only walked a couple of kilometres before heading back to the car due to the thousands of annoying fly's constantly buzzing around me.

Passed though Halls Creek later in the day which appears to be a strange and really run town. Stopped there briefly to grab a Pie and a rest. The town has a really sad and deprived feel about it
Drive to Halls Creek
Drive to Halls Creek
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I really want to visit the Bungle Bungles which is a spectacular honey comb formation of domes and gorges. I'm pretty close to the national park now but the road leading to the Bungles is a very rough 53km long undulating dirt track. My two wheel drive Toyota isn't going make it, so I've been exploring other options. I was thinking of treating myself and splashing out on a helicopter. So I drove past the national park to a place called Turkey Creek around 50km away to the north. There's a company there who can fly me in for a short 30 minute scenic flight. I went to the office next to the roadhouse but it was closed. So I thought I'll find somewhere to sleep close by and go back to the office first thing in morning to make a booking. As I left the office, I turned on the car radio. There was a local news report saying a helicopter from this same company crashed in the park today and killed the pilot and three young female passengers, shit!! If I'd arrived a day early, I could have been on that chopper!!

After hearing the news, I thought there's no point me waiting around. So I'll head to Kununurra in the north tomorrow and try and arrange a scenic plane flight instead. The news report said the crash had caused a bush fire, and from where I've parked-up tonight I can see the orange hue of the fire burning in the distance. Such a terrible incident.
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Comments

numberjuan on

your lucky you were not in that copter. it was a very story

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