We left on Thursday the 23rd of June with Paul then started up the coast to our meeting point at Millstream taking 4 days to get there, where we would meet Katherine, Trevor, Markus and Andrea. The first night we stayed at Ellendale pool. We stopped at Geraldton to refuel. Markus unfortunately had to pull out of the trip to head back to Switzerland for an urgent family matter. We met him at Hamelin Pool to discuss the trip and handover to Pam.
On the way to Hamelin Pool we stopped at the Kalbarri sky walk and some of the coastline. Saturday we looked at the stromatolites but the board walk was almost completely washed away by a cyclone. We then had a look at the old telegraph station before camping at Minilya where we found that Trevor and Katherine were there as well, just at the opposite side of the highway at the caravan park.
Sunday morning, we travelled in convoy up to Millstream where we stayed for two nights. Had a lovely drive through the NP seeing Python Pool, Horse Shoe Gorge and a couple of other sites on the way. We couldn’t see Red Dog Gorge because the mining company build a railroad so you couldn’t access it. We looked at the homestead on the last day that was still in good condition.
Tuesday we stopped at the ghost town of Wittenoom, the beautiful gorge full of Asbestos. Then to the Marble Bar Comet museum where we froze our asses off (in the hottest town in Australia) listening to a funny old man who was supposed to work at the museum for 3 weeks as an emergency but has been there for 7 years. We later went into Marble Bar and saw the only shop which was a general store, camping store, bakery, tools store and post office. After we saw Chinaman pool, Marble Bar Pool and Jasper Rock, we camped at Coppins Gap, lovely spot.
Went back to Marble Bar, had morning tea and lunch, re-filled water and fuel then went to Carawine Gorge.
Friday we went to Running Waters, the 4wd track was awesome but quite hard at some parts so we got out and walked the rest of the track to see what it was like, then continued on down. Had a swim in the thermal spring then we went to Skull Springs that literally had a skull and two springs on a pole hence the name. The 4wding was pretty fun then went back to our extremely windy campsite to have a fire and cook the bread which was beautiful.
Saturday we started our drive to Telfer where we were stopped by mining boom gates then we were escorted to the Rudall River turn off. On the way we saw Christmas Pool with carvings from early explorers then attempted to find Moses Chair but couldn’t then camped at North water hand pump. The next day it was extremely slow going but we made it to Desert Queen Bathes. We explored them and the caves. We only saw two pools because the other pools were sacred and the last one was too far away and you had to swim and climb to get to it. We tried to see Pyramid Point but sadly we couldn’t find that either. Then stayed at the campsite.
The next day we made our way to Kalkan Kalkan soak where we stayed for two nights. The next day Katherine and Trevor decided to have a relaxing day at the campsite while Pam, Paul and Jay attempted to find Hanging Rock. We lost the track too many times to count as everything was over grown because it looked like no one has been on the track in a good few months and Paul and I had to get out a lot to either find the track or see if we could chop something out of the way, go around or make a safer path. This track is DEFINITELY not for towing. We made it to Curran Curran water hole but
abandoned Pam’s dreams of getting to Hanging rock as it took FOUR HOURS to go 20km but it was an awesome experience…. apart from the spiders, spinifex and long grass. Got back to camp then Jay spent about half an hour trying to get rid of all the sticks, grass and spinifex from inside and under the car. We had a fire and cooked some bread to perfection but he unfortunately took much longer to cook then the previous bread.
Wednesday we left Rudall River and because the corrugations were bad for most the road out of the national park, we only made it to Water Crossings Pool and stayed there.
To get to Kalgan’s Pool we had to do 6 river crossings, 3 were pretty big, the highest point of water levels went into the bottom of Trevor’s kitchen and in the longest one the cars were rocking side to side so it felt like we were in a boat. Once we got to Kalgan’s Pool we dropped off Patsy the patrol’s trailer and went exploring. The first point was the top on Kalgan’s Pool, from there we went to Eagle Rock Pool and waterfall and then Three Pools. After we collected the trailer, we decided not to stay at Kalgan’s Pool as we had our Mt Whaleback mine tour at 9 so we went back to the campsite before all the river crossings to make it easier in the morning.
Friday went to Newman to fill up the cars, lollies, some pies and alcohol (only the essentials) then went on our Mt Whaleback mining tour bus. We learnt some interesting things about the equipment used for mining e.g explosives used, trucks/ drill rigs/ crushers, hours worked, money involved and how the machinery worked. After we had a homemade scone for morning tea they prepared for us. 
We then left Newman and stayed at Meekatharra as the home stretch began. In summary we saw lots of beautiful things everyday, had some fantastic 4WDing, great adventures, learnt lots about rocks and geology from our in house geologist, and had many laughs. The casualties on this trip were: Patsy’s rear bumper, Paul’s beast lost its passenger rear side window. Lots of gaffer tape used to keep it in place. Pam and Jay’s kettle, bucket, ensuite and Jay’s bed frame all need replacing.