Submitted: Saturday, Jun 28, 2008 at 09:21

Well that's Four weeks holidays. First week was spent meandering around catching up with old friends down the Duncan and back up the Gibb.
Second and third weeks fishing crabbing and lazing around.
Fourth week we took off to halls creek and started to look up old abandoned mines. All in all we found eleven mines all different, some were strip mines which doesn't leave a lot to look at. Some like Butchers creek are open cut. But the best was Ruby Queen and Sunny corner mines.
The old road in from the north was a washout and could not be traversed, Hasn't been maintained since the sixties, Been a lot of wet seasons since then. So we went down the Tanami to Kidmans Station had a natter to them and headed north east by gps. The track on Hema maps has long since gone as Kidmans graded, fenced into paddocks and put in bore roads. Looks good on Google but wait till you are on the ground. We had met up with a Father and son the night before and had a natter and told them where we were going to try to go to. They liked the idea and asked if they could tag along which wasn't a problem.
We took seven hours to do the fifty klms to Ruby Queen but to us it was worth it as the old pub building is still there and the mine shaft hasn't completely fallen in yet. The old steam engines and battery are still standing as are a couple of water tanks. It is on a water course with fresh water, swimming hole and a wash..Yea hah..stayed overnight and then in the morning took and hour and a half to do the ten klms to Sunny Corner mine. This was a different type of mine as they cut a ridge of quartz out all the way to the bottom across a hill. Dropping rocks from the top of the cut it took between seven and nine seconds to hit water at the bottom. That would of been one mongrel of a job out there digging that hard quartz out in the sun.
Whilst on top of the hill there we could see away in the distance a white blob. Using the glasses we worked out it was a tower of some type so thinking it may be an easy way out decided to head over to it. The Father and son duo wanted to stay and try there luck at getting rich. So Di and I headed off keeping in contact by uhf with Mike, It took a couple of hours but we finally made it there and found the white blob was a water tower for an abandoned Aboriginal Settlement. We stayed at the water hole that supplied it that night. Bugger two nights in a row with somewhere to bath.
In the morning Di and I decided instead of going back the way we had come to go DAT AWAY north and see if we could get to the Duncan. Had a natter to mike on the uhf and exchanged phone numbers with the criteria that one would ring the other on Monday next week to make sure both lots of us got out, off we went, ( by Davids usb gps and raster maps the gps on the dash we had twenty-five klms to traverse) Ten hours of scrabbling over rocks through gully's and following tracks to nowhere we made it - Bent the underneath of the bullbar,pulled the trailer plug and all things under the towbar off and bent the bash plates underneath the car we made it to the Duncan. ( Mind you all good fun and easy to repair)
We have a three inch lift and run thirty-three inch mud terrains and still bottomed out so isn't for the faint hearted methinks.
After that it was all a sort of anticlimax as we only had to follow tracks,albeit rough ones to a few more mines as we headed home.
There is some lovely country out there and lots of room to be alone. So always be prepared for the worst and hope it doesn't happen.
We always carry enough water and tinned food for two weeks, two fuel tanks and also three jerry cans in case you hole tanks. UHF, HF, Sat phone and epirb A large tupperware box with a first aid kit that has all those things that don't come in a store bought one. Also a coastal flare kit from the boat sits under one of the seats.
Also snatch straps hand winch two fold up shovels and toolbox and jacks.
This country can be a bit like one of those tennis balls on a pole with a bit of string, looks fine when you hit hit it and then it swings around and whacks you from behind... b@stard...
You all go out there and have fun. Be careful and let someone know where you are going.

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Tags: 4WD, Hobbies/Interest
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