27 June 2019
Bill and I started the day with our first camp site workout. VDF ELQ, the workout written in the dust on the Ranger. Then we packed up, headed to the Station for showers and to fill everything up with water, as it will be 6 nights until we get to our next water point.
First stop was Home Valley Station for a bit of a bo peep and then Bindoola Falls for a short walk to an escarpment looking out over a large deep pool, where falls would be in the wet season. Dad, Bill and I all proceeded to pick up large rocks and throw them as far as we could into the water, to which Mum claimed that she didn’t realise she was travelling with 3 children.
Then it was off to Ellenbrae for their famed lemonade scones. We all got one, and the fellas a second one. They sold almost about 17,700 scones last year – almost double to what they sold just 4 years ago. One of the things that made the scones so special in the early years was the jam they made from rosella fruit grown on the property. Being so popular now, they have gone to using the ol’ strawberry jam out of a 5 kg tub. A make your own cup of Nescafe blend 43 was an eye watering $3.50, and their ‘speciality’ coffee (the tubes of moccona latte mix) $4. Bill thinks it was a disgrace and has declared that he should buy a station so he can rip off tourists with overpriced Nescafe too.
We continued on to our camp for the night, on the banks of the mainly dry Gibb River. It was a great campsite. Level with lots of wood and a few stray bulls that weren’t concerned in the slightest that we’d camped just near their watering hole. There were a couple camped not far away from us, and after tea we wandered over with our chairs and chatted to them.
Travelling the Big Island 