Day 20 Durba at last

Day 20 CSR Seven chilly degrees greeted us this morning upon emerging from the tent at 6am. Well not me, I waited till 6.30 when it was a bit warmer...9 degrees! It was a cold night so had to add an extra sleeping bag to the bed and keep our socks on. We watched the sunrise over a far dune whilst eating our porridge. Packed up and out of camp by 8.20, destination Durba Spring for two nights rest and relaxation. We passed one vehicle on the track this morning. He was also in the Nissan club but chose to camp at Durba last night instead of well 18.  We also came across a wrecked camper trailer. Enough said........
As the track alternated between rocks and sand dunes, the scrub pressing in against the car, we could occasionally catch a glimpse of Deibel Hills, off to our right. The track in to Deibel was 10k's and we decided that Durba was the pick, so we kept going, losing our fourth sand flag somewhere along the way...bugger!
We arrived at the turnoff to Durba 34 kms later at around 10.30.  We took the turnoff to water 17 which is at the entrance to Killugurra Gorge. We had a bit of of an explore, the gorge is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited.  It was lush and green with running water, enormous 100 feet high red rock cliffs, white gums dotted all over standing out in contrast. We arrived at the parklands of Durba Spring at around 12 o'clock. The place was deserted, we had the pick of the camp sites. We chose one near the back amongst some tall gums, pitching the tent on long, soft green couch grass. A welcome change from the sand we have been camping in for the past 19 nights. There is water in the spring, not drinkable, though perfectly acceptable for clothes and body washing. We had a bucket bath by the car and both now feel human again with clean hair and bodies! We also washed clothes ensuring an adequate supply until next we hit civilisation. This afternoon we had an explore around the camping area. A wide gorge of big chunky red rocks, again around 100 feet high, lots of lovely white gums and very photogenic.  Just as we were preparing dinner at around 5.30 two cars arrived, spoiling our exclusive camp! They proceeded to light a fire, and set up camp away from us, over near the water. After dinner Bob and I did some light painting with the camera and torch on the gorge walls and the results are amazing! Bob made a damper in the camp oven for  lunch tomorrow before we hit the sack at around 9pm.

View south towards Durba Hills

campsite, Durba Gorge

Durba spring