Thierings on Tour

We took our time getting ready today knowing we didn’t have too far to go. The girls were playing together from early morning and making the most of it.

Then it was time for goodbyes yet again as we work out when our paths will cross again… 

I had called around all the road houses to check on road conditions and got some positive responses about people recently coming through from Adels Grove.

The first road we tried had a clear CLOSED sign on it with big warnings of fines up to $22,000 and conditions not being safe. We decided not to do it and turned back to try the alternative.

The next one didn’t look like much of a road, rather a dirt track which didn’t look like it had been driven in ages. After navigating it for a while we decided to head back to the main road to go around the long way.

About halfway up we turned off to follow the road that others had taken and an hour or hour and a half later we turned up at a water crossing where we saw a crocodile swim off just as we approached the water. Never a pleasant thought!

The ground looked really boggy and the crossing was long, so it was impossible to tell how deep or soft the ground was. There were no recent tyre tracks, we hadn’t seen a car since the main road and no one could radio check us on channel 40.
The croc sighting really didn’t help with the idea of getting bogged in the middle. I think we considered our options for about an hour – tossing up whether we risk it and save time or turn back on ourselves and add another 3 hours to our long day. In the end, we just couldn’t justify risking getting bogged in the middle of croc infested waters with the whole family at dusk time with no one around.

Chris and I felt really defeated to have hit the third dead end for the day and I had to scramble around to see where we could stop for the night as our original destination of Hells Gate was now just too far to drive in the dark. I spoke to Jenny at Hells Gate and she said she would not recommend that road in the dark with all the potholes and wild horses.

So I called Tirrina Roadhouse and they said they had a spot for us for the night. When we finally arrived there we had been on the road for 7 hours. The kids had been incredible and we were just so grateful to be safe. Absolutely no regrets about not going through the boggy water!

The kind owner at Tirrina even made an exception for us and opened the kitchen back up after he closed it for the night 10 minutes prior because he knew we’d had a crappy day. The food was really delicious and after a quick set up we got the masses ready for bed. While I was putting Scarly to bed the big girls saw their first shooting stars of the trip! So that made the day for them…

Kms travelled – 401