Mitchell Falls
Mitchell Falls is one of the iconic images of the Kimberley, and really inspired the entire trip. The amazing pictures of the rest of the area and comments from people who had been firmed up the desire. Official information can be found at https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/mitchell-river
After a fuel stop at Drysdale River Station and a quick call home before no contact with the outside world for a few days it was onto an ungraded section of road for a few hours, before driving through lush rainforest into Mitchell Falls National Park and onto the campground. The drive in was the worst so far, lots of wash outs, sun setting directly ahead blinding us on the drive in and hills that made seeing oncoming vehicles impossible.
As had become the norm we arrived just before sunset, set up the camp for a few days and kicked back with a couple of ice cold beverages, and started a fire and bbq. On the drive in we had stopped outside the National Park to get some firewood.
We woke early the next day and headed straight to the helicopter booking office to organise a one way trip from the top back to camp. At $150 each this took a bit of thought however I can say that it was honestly the best money spent on the trip. Flights organised we grabbed our day packs and started walking through the bush.
Around half way to the Falls we stopped and had some sandwiches, jumped into a stream that was running alongside the path to cool off, and I put some more sunscreen on in the shade. After another fifteen minutes of walking we made it to Big Mertens Falls.
Crossing Big Mertens Falls
Crossing Big Mertens Falls was straightforward as there is a well sign posted trail, but out to our right was a drop of at least 200 feet, and one of the best views of the trip so far.
Looking into Big Mertens Falls from the crossing
We left Big Mertens Falls and tracked on for another half an hour or so and then spotted some helicopters parked across from us. We spotted some other hikers going around to the right and followed them around for another half hour or so and found the front side of the Falls from the opposite cliffs.
View of Mitchell Falls from the cliffs
After spotting what looked like a small cave we clambered down and into a space created by an overhang for our lunch. An amazing natural lunch spot, the best view in the park and all in complete shade. Happy Days!
We took some happy snaps, found another couple of spots to clamber down and get some photos and then went back to the top of the Falls. At the top is the only place that you can go for a dip, and is possibly the best spot. Up here are some natural whirlpools and the temperature is just right to cool off after all the walking in the 30C+ weather. After about an hour of doing very little we went to the chopper. Que the Arnie quote…
After a safety briefing from the pilot and a quick discussion about using a seat belt we were up in the air. The briefing clearly told us not to put our bodies out of the doorways. I dare anyone who is in this position not to. We had a camera out of each doorway and were snapping like the tourists we were for the entire six minute flight.
Big Mertens and Mitchell Falls from the air
The best part of the flight was that we were clean, dry, and dust free! A big deal in this part of the world, at least it was until we got back to the campground and had to jump off the chopper.
Mitchell Falls campground as we were landing
That night we met one of the more interesting characters on the trip who was a professional 4WD’er and adventure photographer. He had worked on oil rigs and as a pilot before his current gig and gave us some really good tips on campgrounds and joined us around our fire for a chat and a few bevvies.
After hiking down to the bottom of the Falls we went for a swim for an hour or so, we were the only people here for at least half of that. The next morning we went to Little Mertens Falls to find some aboriginal drawings and to clean off before leaving and heading back to the Gibb.
The drawings were amazing and hidden in a cave above the waterfalls, although some filthy people had left rubbish and worse behind. We decided that the cave must have a way out at both sides which led to about an hour of scrambling up and over boulders and rocks until we found a series of rocks that could be used to haul yourself out and back to the top of the Falls. A quick hike out and we were back on the road to Drysdale Station and a call home from a phone box inside of a fridge. After filling up we went back on the road and off to the next spot.
Home Lab – Part Two
After a bit of mucking around I’ve managed to get VMware installed on my two home-brew servers. The first server was completely straightforward and installed the latest version of ESXi6.5. The second took the image, but on boot failed due to a lack of a network driver, with an error talking about nfs41client. After a bit of googling I found an article showing how to resolve this by adding a network driver to ESXi6.5. I followed the steps in the article and the host booted. If anyone else has this problem please take a look at the great blog available here – http://www.computertechblog.com/adding-realtek-r8168-driver-to-an-esxi-6-0-iso/
Unfortunately my NAS, problematic little beast that it is, has decided that the HDDs in it are no longer useful, and has failed them. I’m looking into this at the moment, however I think it is time to admit that the iomega needs to go the way of the Dodo. I’m going to attempt to fix it this week. One last chance…
Home Lab – Back to Physical
I live in Perth WA (Western Australia), and work in IT. Perth is a beautiful place and as per the posts about my trip to the far North West of the state, it is pretty vast area, and largely untouched. This is one of the reasons I love living here, however it brings me to the tyranny of distance. My work lab is in Sydney, and due to the sometimes flaky internet connection I have at home, this can cause me problems in access and working in the lab. So I’ve decided to build my own lab from the odd bits and pieces that I have picked up over the years. The point of the lab is to run an environment that will allow me to deploy new software and see how it goes. The first step though is to build it from scratch.
Back to Physical
The physical components of the lab are essentially old bits of kit that I’ve had lying around for years, cobbled together on a shoestring budget.
Every IT environment is made up the same core components, Storage, Compute, and Network, with additional components such as the rack it is all in, UPS, physical security and so on. As this is a home lab I’ll be focussing on the core components, and will outline the future growth plans in a later article.
Compute
The Compute section of the lab is essentially a desktop PC that has had an Intel NIC added to provide connectivity options. I have two of these boxes and so far so good. I’d like to add more “servers” and as a result I’m keeping an eye on some old desktop PCs that I should be able to finagle and then repurpose as ESXi hosts.
These are pretty low spec desktop boxes with a single CPU and 32GB RAM per box, however I should be able to get a few VMs on each one.
Network
I’d love to say my network is made up of some cool things, the reality is though that it is a 8 port Gigabit Ethernet switch from Netgear and does the job that I need it to do at the moment. I’d love to get hold of a managed L3 switch in the future, but this will do for now.
Storage
Ah storage, the bane of my home lab. I purchased an Iomega PX4 NAS from EMC when they owned the brand. I added some 2TB drives to it, and have had nothing but problems with it. I’d love to replace this box but until it goes the way of the Dodo I won’t get a replacement approved by the Minister of Finance.
Finally there is the keyboard, video, and mouse, again made up of old kit that still works. All of the above live under the stairs on a set of repurposed adjustable shelves, which work for the moment, and due to the space issues I have, will probably stay there.
Dual Battery Setup – Part Two
Disclaimer: this is how I put this together, it is not intended as a guide, and is based on my limited personal experience. I am not an electrician, nor do I accept any personal liability for any accidents that may occur after reading this post. Always speak to a professional and be aware that electricity kills.
Well the second battery has been a constant source of pain throughout the trip. It seems to finally be resolved, however it’s been a long and exquisitely painful journey.
After arriving in Karijini I had some help from a friendly camper next to me with the cabling. It turned out he was a sparky, so I let him loose and didn’t check his work, after all I’m just a tinkerer. Turns out i should have watched this a bit more.
The Gibb River Road is pretty much non stop corrugations, which work electrical connections loose. Cue one dead battery. Pretty much every night I was having to borrow power from Brienne in order to keep my battery going. At the end of the road we stopped in Kununurra and I bought an Optima Yellow Top. I should have done this in the first place as you can run these until they have no charge, and then recharge them. The one I ended up going with wasn’t like this and ended up in the scrap heap after a week. A swap of the battery, check the solar works, and off again to Lake Argyle. Where the battery was dead once more.
More borrowed power and some checks on the cabling and rewiring late at night whilst most of the camp slept. Unfortunately we were in the middle of the campground. The next morning everything looks good, and it’s time to go to the Bungle Bungles, so off we go again, with an upgrade of an automatically powering on battery charger thanks to another cable run.
On arrival into the Bungle Bungles the battery is dead again. And I lose the last of my cool with this system.
Five minutes later and it’s a full rip apart of every connector, to find that the auto sensing cable has shorted, the cables connected in Karijini are not, and everything is essentially held together by electrical tape. A full rip apart of the system and re-connect of all the cables and everything is back on track. For about a day. The fuse that was in place between the RedArc and the battery kept blowing due to heat. Once back in Broome a trip to the local auto-electrical store and I had some different connectors to connect a midi fuse rather than the car stereo one. After changing this out and using cable ties to hold the system in the air I’ve not had a problem so far. Touch wood.
Windjana to Bell, a tale of two gorges
I spent the morning doing some mechanical checks on the truck, specifically looking at the suspension to see if any of the nuts had come loose on the gravel roads that we’ve silent a lot of time on recently. As the suspension has been upgraded this was a basic check, with the left front shock needing a bit of tightening. I also managed to get some photographs of the Wedgetail eagles that make WA home, and are up here in huge numbers. I must admit I had thought these beasts were up there with Yowies and Dropbears as I’d never seen one until now.
After this I went to Windjana Gorge and saw my first crocodile in the wild. You can only swim in certain parts of the North West because of the crocs, and watching these guys on the shore i had no intention of getting in. I think they saw me first as I had a weird sensation of being watched, similar to when I was at an alligator farm last year in Florida. The crocodiles were all on the far bank and in the water, however I heard that a French backpacker had asked if anyone would pay him to touch a croc just a few hours before. You can’t stop stupid I guess.
After this we went back to the cars and then headed to Bell Gorge and falls, about a two hour drive over gravel roads with just enough blacktop that you knew what you were missing, and the first water crossing of the trip.
This was more like it, waterfalls that you could swim in, even if there was a bit of a hike. The water was quite warm compared to Karijini, and pretty powerful, I couldn’t swim against the current directly to the fall edge, instead I had to go side on, then drifted back to shore with the current.
The hike back to the car was a bit more fun when not stinking hot and then into camp for another fire and some Mexican inspired food.
We also got an update from a DPAW volunteer on the Freo game, a win for us!
The Gibb
Today we reached the Gibb River Road. Two years of planning (somewhat weakly as my better half says), dreaming, and reading as much as we could get our hands on. We left Broome, and headed to Derby for a refuel and then a 5km backtrack to the start of the Gibb.
And its just another bitchumen road. What the hell has gone wrong!
Well it is for the first 50km. Then the gravel starts. And it steadily gets harder. Here we go, it’s getting fun. After more roadworks, they seem to have cursed this trip, we get to Tunnel Gorge. This is a naturally occurring tunnel, formed by water over the centuries that goes for about 750m. The creek that has formed it still runs through it, providing a rare chance to walk a tunnel that has a creek and bats flying through it.
To make it even more interresting there are stalagmites and stalactites throughout the tunnel, along with waterfalls in a couple of spots.
The most interesting ones that we saw were the ones on the waterfall that weer inside the tunnel. These were little more than shelves of rock about six feet above the creek, but also highly impressive. At the far end of Tunnel Gorge was my first look at Aboriginal Art.
From here we went to Windjana Gorge for overnight camping. We had a small fire in one of the campsites, and went over the plans for the next day. Whilst doing this and getting stuck intosome raviolli and sauce we had a kangaroo bounce out of the bush about ten metres from us, before bounding away across the campground.
I also got to try out something I had been considering since the start of this trip, camping Ugg boots. They are keeping my feet toasty warm, and for a $25 buy, are up there with the best purchases of the trip, and mean i can keep my good Uggs for at home in the house.
Broome
Broome is a pretty spectacular place. We got into Broome just after lunch and managed to get a start on the normal things in life like washing and cleaning. The miracle of indoor plumbing was not lost on any of us.
Once the basics were sorted out we went out to Cable Beach Club and the Sunset Bar for one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen. There were no tables left when we arrived at 4, we got lucky and ended up sharing one with another couple. We had dinner at Divers Bar just down the road and ended up having a relatively early night as we were all a bit tired from the previous week.
The next night was a bit of a bar crawl starting at Matsos, and ending at Divers, with the obligatory photo of me in front of the only Irish Bar in town, called Captain Murphy. Unfortunately there wasn’t any Murphys on tap, so it was a quick pint of Guinness.
The next morning we packed up and left Broome to head to the start of the Gibb River Road.
Kimberleys Food Preparation
The biggest problem that I’m hoping to face on this trip is food. The reality of three and a half weeks on the road with a week between major towns means that a bit of planning is needed. To this end I’ve grabbed some steaks, snags, and burgers from Harvey Beef and put them into vacuum sealed bags. This should maximise space and keep everything for as long as possible.
As well as this I’ve packed some Weet Bix and dairy products for breakfast and snacks, and most importantly the milk will help with my Nespresso fix in the morning.
Lunch will be cold cuts, antipasto, and sandwiches on travel days, to be honest anything I can eat whilst driving.
I’m hoping to catch some fish, however given my complete lack of ability so far I’m putting this into the “it might happen, but just in case” basket. To help here I have a couple of rods and reels, some tackle kits, and a filleting kit. If anything is caught the vacuum sealer and freezer will help to keep it as fresh as possible, for as long as possible.
Add some junk food to this and I’m good to go.
Karijini
We’ve spent the last few days in Karijini National Park enjoying walks, climbs, and the gorges there.
On the day of arrival we ended up sleeping in the overflow day parking lot as this was the first weekend of school holidays. Whilst there was barely enough room to swing a cat between campsites, this has worked out in my favour as a sparky was in the camp opposite and came over when he saw me fiddling with my dual battery setup. More on this in a separate post, needless to say it worked out extremely well for me, with about an hour of free work.
The second day saw us move to a proper spot, almost without meaning to as we chanced our arms and ended up with a spot big enough for us and our new temporary guests. The crew of Pod are a lovely couple and their amazing almost two years old little girl, nicknamed Boo for her love of the game, who immediately ran the six adults around as though it was her own private kingdom.
We spent the next couple of days in Fern Pool, Hammersley Gorge, Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge.
Fern Pool was easy enough to get to, a quick five minute drive, 10 minute descent and walk, and then a swim in an Aboriginal site (allowed). The water was extremely cold, but very needed after a couple of days of no showers.
Hammersley Gorge was a drive and a half, almost at the opposite side of the park, with the majority of it being on corrugated dirt roads.
Once at the gorge the buzz of drones ruined the serenity, however these left about ten minutes after we reached the bottom. Some sandwiches and discussion over whether or not to swim was had, along with some photo opps. We then ended up in the icy cold water, significantly colder than the previous day – which is not something that I thought could happen, for a swim and then the climb to the top. Boo decided I was to walk with her to the top holding her hand. The only trouble being that some of the steps were the same size as her, so I ended up carrying her and my kit about halfway to the top. Bring on the cardio workout!
After the drive back to the centre of the park we came to Joffre Falls for a look at the least favourite named falls (we’re all game of thrones fans), before moving onto Knox Gorge where we got a couple of shots that look far worse on camera than they actually are.
Back to camp and another night of food, wine, and laughter before a pack up and Boo wishing us all goodbye as we were off on our way to Eighty Mile Beach.
Kevin's Musings 