Headed off to Finke National Park advised by ARB in Mandurah, through Running Waters and Boggy Hole. Drove back up to the Ernest Giles and turned East. Too eager to get off the road and adventuring, turned north too quickly, ignoring the No Entry, Permit Required, $5000 fine, notice. It wasn't until we almost stumbled upon the Aboriginal community it dawned on us we had actually taken the wrong track in our eagerness for some 4x4 driving. We beat a hasty retreat and found the correct track some 20km further along the Ernest Giles. This track took us into the Ilpurla community, searching for the track to the Ilpurla Springs. This was the site of an 1880s police station. We did a lap around the community's corral, before finding the track, much to the disgust and complete dismissal of its inhabitants, except for a dozen dogs who saw us off. Found the right track and had lunch before walking to the spring – which was dry. Quite a few ruins. It must have been a tough life in the 1880's.
The afternoon saw us heading into the national park through numerous gates and boggy mud holes which redecorated the vehicles. We pushed onto Running Waters for the first creek crossing. All the cars passed their first swimming test , but some drivers failed their driving test by forgetting to undo their seat belts (but it was only 2 metres wide). The driving was very enjoyable through a variety of terrains, including riverbed gravel, soft sand and mud. Quite a few photo stops. Continued to boggy hole were we stopped for the night. Nice to pull up in daylight and it had also started to clear during the day, with patched of blue sky. Was very amused to see the first thing Rachel did was put up a washing line to dry out some of the wet clothes. We had collected some wood before the park so the boys proceeded to get the fire lit, and we got into doing what we enjoy most – cooking and socialising around the fire. Tried to get some bedding aired out as well.
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