Day 20 - Day trip to Ruby Gap

Last night was by far the coldest night we have experienced. We are having beautiful 20 -26 degree days and chilly nights but last night was freezing a freezing -3. So freezing that our water pipes froze over. When we checked in the guy running the place said make sure you have your showers in the afternoon because he wasn't coming to unfreeze the pipes in the morning and he wasn't kidding. Icicles hanging from the taps. Thank god for warm days to thaw us out.

I had heard a lot about Ruby Gap and was very keen to check it out. Ruby Gap was named this due to back in 1887 an explorer came through and thought he had found Rubys but it turned out they were just Garnets and little Garnets are everywhere. There were 3 other cars who decided to come along for the adventure. The drive into Ruby Gap said 66km and some parts along a 4WD track only. It took us 2 1/2 hrs to get there! Very very rough track but a lot of fun. Some parts I am almost closing my eyes but all cars did it easily. Linda came with us and ran ahead on foot at some points to make sure it was okay for the cars. Long long drive but so worth it, we collected lots of little garnets and could have spent hours down there but we had a long long drive back. A beautiful tranquil place. Just perfect.

On arriving back at camp we were then informed about another track going out to Trephina Gorge. Trephina Gorge itself is beautiful but the reason the guys wanted to go was the water holes we had to drive through to get in there. The first water hole was the largest. Jacko was in the front and slowed down to have a look. Matt radioed to see which way he was headed through the water, with the reply being no guts no glory he took off through the middle of the water hole. We followed closely behind then Darren & John. With that out the way they were looking for more. Darren had been out earlier & informed them we had two more water holes to drive through, but smaller ones. Little Rueben who is almost two said that the little water holes were boring. But off we went. I get a bit nervy driving through water but these little one were not too bad. Making it to the Gorge its self we stopped for a quick look at some Aboriginal Petroglyphs. Linda is a photographer so heading back to camp we dropped her off at the waterholes and she took photos of the guys driving through and loving every minute of it. The car came out a little reedy and the number plate a little bent but it was fun.

After an exhausting day, it was a quieter night around the fire and early to bed. We were off again in the morning for our last stop Gem Tree on what has been an incredible couple of weeks.

Today's blog was written by Di