55 Kms Alpha to Jerico

Went we go to Jericho .we set up camp at the Show-ground Caravan Park.

We went into town and checked out these rock sculptures that tell the story of the real Jericho (The Crystal Trumpeters).

In 1988 the 'Crystal Trumpeters' were constructed in memory of the Biblical story where the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for six days and blew their trumpets on the seventh day and watched as the city walls collapsed.

The crystals symbolise various moments in the Old Testament such as the slavery in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the receiving of the Ten Commandments, the crossing of the River Jordan and the arrival in the Promised Land.

As always we checked out the local pub as well.

174 Kms to Alpha

We headed off from Emerald towards Jericho but before we got there we visited Alpha.


Alpha has many murals (27 in total) painted around the town.


We went for a walk around the town and took pictures of these beautiful mural paintings on the buildings.


There is a nice country pub where we stopped for a drink, before heading off to Jericho where we planned to stay the night.

Emerald

Day 11

We went back to the welder and dropped the caravan off then we went for a drive up to Fairburn Dam just outside Emerald.

The Dam was really brown from all the run off from rain over the last month.

We had a picnic lunch and took some photos then went back to town.





There was an amazing fossilised tree which was 250 million years old outside Emerald's Town Hall. We had a walk around town then headed to back to pick up the caravan.

It turns out the suspension had "flipped-over", presumably because of going over some rough ground or over a big bump. The van looked the same as when we bought it, but looks much higher now it has been fixed. Funny no one had picked this up before now, it had been for a service and everything. Oh well - all sorted.

160 Kms to Emerald

Day 10


Today we drove to Emerald via Rolleston and before we'd left Carnarvon we stopped at an old plane wreck and I found kangaroo bones.




In Emerald we found someone to fix the suspension and he told us to come back tomorrow.

Carnarvon Gorge

Day 9

Before we went into the gorge we stopped by the rangers office.


The Ranger said there was lots of damage on the track because of the floods and that they had to close some of the track because it was too dangerous.





We hiked as far as we could into the Gorge and the furthest point we got to was a spot call The Art Gallery.




The Art Gallery a sandstone rock face that is covered in Aboriginal artwork which is an amazing site to see.























Next we started to head back and went into Wards Canyon, which is a canyon lost in time because of the Rare King Fern that grows there, this is strange inland because of the harsh climate but in the canyon the climate is cool and lush environment for which Australia was like a very long time ago.


Next we stopped at a natural Amphitheatre, which is a 60m deep chamber gouged from the rock by running water, hidden inside the walls of the gorge. Resounding acoustics add to the awe-inspiring atmosphere within. Mum and Dad sang songs so we could hear the acoustics at work.

We were heading to the next spot called the Moss Garden when it started to rain (with thunder and lightening), but it stopped before we got there, but Mum was a worry wart and wanted us to go straight back.

When we were going back to camp when we stop a place called the Rock Pool and went for a swim in the river, it was warm and refreshing.

We had a barbecued dinner to finish off our day.

330 Kms to Carnarvon Gorge

Day 8
We drove to Carnarvon Gorge and I spotted wild Emus running along the side of the road which was pretty cool. The Takarakka bush resort is where we stayed and there were only as couple of other camping groups there at the time so it was very quiet. We had lots of Kangaroos around our camp site too, they were very friendly. The owner said there were 600 booked to stay at Easter and I think that would be too crowded for me.



We travelled on gravel for 11 kms and went over our first water crossing on the way in to Takarakka, which was pretty cool.

Mum got out of the car and walked across to photograph it - so it wasn't too deep.

Melon Festival

Day 7

There was a Sausage King competition and we got to taste some. I entered the dash for cash, I didn't win but did ok. I also did melon skiing which is were you wear melons on your feet and people pull you along this tarp. I fell out of my melons, as soon as they started pulling my melons fell of.

I did melon bungey and melon toss which was were you try to throw a melon though a hole. Dad watched pip spitting and we played poker I won.

Later we went to a concert were we saw fireworks and a lazer show which was amazing.

There were 3 singers which were, the Melon Idle winner, Adam Harvey and Tom Black and there was a band called The Wolverines and they were bloomen awsome!