Day 19 Helicopter flight am

No sleeping in. Off to the airport for our chopper flight to the Grand Canyon.

The longest trip in a chopper for me. 45mins to fly there, land for 30mins, then 45mins back.

Here we go again......

There were 4 helicopters doing the same trip we did, but there were 6 in the air around us, but not too close.

Hoover Dam...

Lake Meade...

Our pilot Ryan was cool. We all had the chance to sit in the front...

Grand Canyon...

Then we landed in the Canyon, drank champagne & ate nibblies...

Then off again. This time in the front.

Landed for a quick fuel stop...

A bit of colour amongst the brown...

Off again....

 

Colorado River...

We have met many Aussies on this trip & these 2 girls on our flight were from Sydney...

A massive solar farm, in the middle of nowhere...

Back to Nevada...

More Aussies who did the trip. The family of 3 were from Gailes. Just up the road from home.

Back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thursday 25 July

The best view to wake up to.

We thought this was Mt Carbine, until we found out there was no Mt Carbine.

If you look closely you can see 2 permanent residents from the park... Tawny Frogmouths, who didn't seem concerned about all the attention & let us take their pic.

We said farewell to Anne & Graham who will continue their nomadic travels in the van.

Thanks for a great trip & being our travel buddies, had an awesome time.

Decided to head to Port Douglas. We loved it last time we went there, so thought camping would be great.

The cane slasher is in the background, but the birds just love the grubs they leave behind.

Had lunch in Port Douglas but the parks were full up with backpackers. We hadn't seen any in the Cape.

Sean did some fishing & we headed back to Cairns for the next 2 nights.

 

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Wednesday 24 July Coen, Mt Carbine

Stopped in Coen for fuel. Not the most expensive. It was $2.27 in Bamaga.

Just outside Coen we had to declare & hand over any fresh fruit/veges & meat that wasn't sealed due to the quarantine rules.

We knew we were getting closer to civilisation when we started seeing roadworks again.

We went from this.....

To this... Yeah! Bitumen again, what a relief.

We decided that we wouldn't visit Lakefield NP on this trip & started heading towards Cairns.

Our countryside is truly amazing & it goes on forever.

Just beautiful

 

We arrived at Mt Carbine, which isn't a mountain. It used to be M.T. Carbine due to the mining taking place there & everyone just started calling it Mt Carbine.

It was definitely the nicest, friendliest & cleanest park we stayed in on this trip.

This is also where Anne & Graham stored their van while travelling with us.

Not the best sunset we saw but.....

The full moon just perfect & lit up everything.

 

 

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Tuesday 23 July to Wednesday 23 July Archer River

We're back on the road again, heading for Archer River for the night.

Here comes a truck.....

Windows up.....

Here comes its dust.....

Can't see a thing....

There was a bit of this as we slowly head back to civilisation.

And there was a lot of this...... Red dirt & corrugation. Won't be missing either by the end of this trip.

Set up camp at Archer River Roadhouse.

Had a couple of extra guests for dinner.....

Who shared an apple.

 

Archer River

Our camp sites

 

Had to get another shot of the dirty Navara.

 

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