After a disturbed night from the Wedding mob's next site. We had a 5 am rise this morning as we needed to be on the road early. We left the backup crew packing everything away after breakfast and headed out at 8 am. The plan was to head for Manning Gorge, but not far down the Gibb River Road Jamie got a call on the satellite  phone (all that works in this area) from Bruno. They had just pulled out of El Questro when the axle on the trailer broke, leaving them stranded with all our camping gear etc... There was some consternation on board, although at least we had our personal luggage in the trailer being towed by the coach. It was decided by the management that we should haul into Home Valley Station for an early morning tea break, as this was the nearest watering hole on the Gibb River Road to us and a good place to stop while things were sorted out.

Word came through that we should head for Mount Hart station, missing Manning. We left the GR Road late in the afternoon at the Mount Hart sign.  It turned out that there was still quite a long way to go on this very basic road with lots of creek crossings and one quite large dry river bed.  It turned into a long day, not least for Jamie, our driver, but he got us safely to our destination at sundown and everything had been prepared for us.

Tina and I were allocated a luxurious tent with en-suite and massive double bed and, after a very welcome shower, we discovered the very welcome sight of a bar and restaurant dining room. Refreshed inside and out we caught up on the plans for the next few days. Tomorrow we were going to Bell River Gorge, to make up for missing Manning, and then back to our schedule with Windjana Gorge on the following day and from there to Fitzroy Crossing.  All the camping gear and staff, including the boss Colin, were on the way in the stations fire engine truck and would be with us again.

Given the disruption, we were all very pleased with the way the thing had been managed.

All for now - Peter