Matt and Sharon were up at the crack of dawn to leave for their long journey to Chilla Station then Karijini…. So we got up to say goodbye and farewell…

Matt noted that there was no movement in the Hunter Lotus so he went over and knocked… knocked…and then banged on the bedroom window…

Kerry appeared and finally a sleepy Gordie… so we all said our goodbyes and watched them drive out on the next leg of their journey….

Well…. things had been too good to be true… Branch had been having a great holiday relaxing in the Ranger taking in the sights with not much to do….. until it was time to check out of Exmouth…

We had planned to depart at 0800 and so all the cars were hooked on, ready to go…. And then there was noted to be a flurry of activity at the Wells draw bar…

There appeared to be a problem with the you-beaut techno up to date Black Jack device that Dave had purchased instead of the standard jockey wheel….

It was jammed and would not go up…. Branch was so excited – now he felt useful again and he dragged MacGyver over to take a look…

Unfortunately, we were all situated on the main exit road out of the van and the fact we could not move out due to Dave’s Black Jack issue became quite awkward with a traffic jam starting to form… the pressure was on….

MacGyver identified that the gears appeared to be stripped in the Black Jack (? how did this happen???) and so after many attempts to reengage the mechanism, he decided to completely undo it and remove it – replacing it with Klaus’s jockey wheel…

Gordie did a great job directing the traffic and ensuring there were no collisions…

During this lengthy period, Klaus had managed to slowly squeeze his van past (very nervous about the tree close to his van…) and drive out….

Branch had to rescue his step as in all the anxiety of getting out it had been left behind…

Back to the Black Jack fiasco… the Black Jack lay forlornly on the gravel beside the Pearl – a tribute to modern technology and its fickle behaviour…

the jockey wheel was on and the Pearl was now securely connected to the Franklin… Dave and Rose ready to drive around the block to Exmouth Caravan Supplies and buy a replacement jockey wheel…

We were finally on the road at about 10…. Stopping for fuel at the cheap Shell just outside Exmouth…. Dave managed to pay big $$ for a replacement hydraulic jack – opting for that rather than a standard jockey wheel… in his whirlwind morning that had thrown everything out of kilter he came in too hot to the turnoff to the Shell servo and had to turn around….

The iconic anthills on the road from Exmouth seemed to have proliferated in the last couple of days…

Despite all the hiccups we made it to Bullara Station for morning tea… Matt and Sharon had been there earlier… Matt had managed to but out the last of the scotch fillet and porterhouse… sending us a triumphant photo (pseudo apology!!)…

The landscape as we continued north was extremely dry and arid – the classic red dirt, spinifex, blackened bushes, and blue sky made for some great pics…

We drove past mesas, dry creek and riverbeds……

… finally arriving at the free campsite we had chosen for the night – Warramboo Creek. The site was large and flat, so we were able to set up as a wagon train…. and built our firepit in the centre…

We had happy hour amongst the flies which were pretty persistent… Trev tried a novel was to keep them at bay with not much success….

The sun went down…..

and we sat around a great fire… Gordie led us in a reading from John where Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy – JC Ryle had some great comments on it – very important for us to all look at ourselves… pride can be a big stumbling block to us all…