We packed and headed out of Mary Pool , stopping at Ngumban Cliffs Rest Area . We have enjoyed camping here on a few prior occasions , great views & sunsets - trouble is , it was only 10am - bit early to stop , but it did cross our minds though 😂 . This is the view of the eroded section of the hill .
An aerial shot looking back to the rest area .
This is looking out at a section of limestone ridge that has Mimbi Caves in it .
As we leave the rest area , the road drops away down the hill , revealing these sections .
From here we drove through to Fitzroy Crossing , stopping for fuel again , then continuing on for another 40 kms , before turning off onto Leopold downs Rd . Last time we were on this road , it was terrible - we were going to Tunnel Creek & Windjana Gorge , fortunately the grader was out doing the repairs to the road or we wouldn't have gone . Today the road appeared to be better , so we headed in , it was 11 kms to the campsite and took 30mins . Some sections were limestone - white gravel - then others were red - pindan - both had corrugations & dust & sand , so it was a slow drive in with the van attached . Here's one of the limestone sections .
Where we were camping for the night is called RAAF Boab Quarry . At this point I must thank our friends Ric & Marc for telling us about it last year !!
This is the quarry that has turned into a large swimming pool , you can see from the tide marks on the rocks , it usually has more water than this .
It was 37 degrees and we were starting to melt again , time to get wet . There was plenty of weed on the bottom , but there were a few rocks you could sit on that were above the weed , and we were a lot cooler , so didn't really care too much about the weed . We chatted to a young couple from Geraldton who had just spent 5 weeks on the Gibb River Rd . He flies a paraglider , so we had something in common that we chatted about for quite a while .
Time for some aerial shots of this amazing landscape , complete with Boabs .
This one shows the size of the quarry .
There are many caves in amongst all this limestone . The limestone has a distinctive exterior caused by carbonic rain - that when the air has sufficient carbon dioxide and forms rain which leaches away at the limestone , creating very sharp textures that you don't want to fall on - it will remove skin easily !!
We are the little white speck just left of middle towards the top of photo .
Here's a better one - middle left .
This is the typical shapes of the limestone , eroded vertical furrows and angled cracking .
As the sun went down and the temperature dropped , we went for a wander around , getting a nice sunset .
Next morning , before it heated up too much , we headed off for a walk around the quarry rim , it'a about 2klms around , so we took the part that was in full sun first - certainly looked good in the morning sun .
Whistling Kites flew around happily in the morning breeze .
We checked out a few of the caves - nothing very large that we could see - and made it back to the van . All packed up , we drove back toward the quarry and parked near the entry to the water , before going down to cool off again .
All refreshed , it was time to crawl back out to the highway again - taking 35mins today - more corrugations on that side of the road !
Can recommend having a look here , well worth it . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1QBQJrQrw57N93Ns02ffI5W6UqgrqdWg&usp=sharing
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