2nd May - Left the rest area and were deciding if we were going to make it all the way to Derby today or stop somewhere for the night to break up the day. We thought we may as well go all the way through and surprise Ross and Sandy by arriving a day early. Got to Derby around 2pm and headed to the Tidal Wave store (which they are managing at the moment) to see what they were up to. Great catching up with them both again. Derby doesn't appear to have changed a great deal since we were here in 2009. We have parked the van up at Ross and Sandy's place for awhile so we can have a good explore around the area this time. They will look after Bud for us if we go anywhere we can't take him which are truly grateful for.

5th May - Ross and Sandy took  us out to May River to have a look and to have a fish. Headed out on the Gibb River road for a bit before turning onto a gravel road and heading for the river. Beautiful spot with a few people out there. Since Ross and Sandy had been out to the river it had gone done a fair bit after all the rain they have had. Still a decent amount of water in it though. Noel and Ross had a bit of a fish with Noel catching a small Barramundi. Not a keeper but Noel didn't mind as he hasn't caught one before. Sandy and I just sat on the bank enjoying the scenery and the fresh air.

6th May -  Went for another outing with Ross and Sandy today. Went out to the May River again but to the tidal section. It was low tide when we got there and had to wait for high tide so the boys could have another go at fishing. What an amazing sight watching the tide change. One minute it's nice and quiet and then all you can hear is rushing water. The amount of debris and rubbish that was heading up the river was amazing. As the tide got higher you could hear a loud popping type of noise which were the big fish eating the bait fish on top of the water. It was funny watching the bait fish skip across the water as they were trying to get away from the big fish. Was quite warm today as there wasn't much of a breeze blowing. Noel caught another Barra which was bigger than the one yesterday but still not big enough to keep. Still plenty of time to get that keeper. Thought we might have seen a crocodile today but we didn't which is a good thing I suppose. Would have been cool to see one in it's own habitat although who knows they may have been there we just couldn't see them. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home Bud included.

17th & 18th May - Noel and I went for an overnight trip on the Gibb River Road. We couldn't take Bud so a big thank you goes out to Ross and Sandy for looking after him for us. The majority of the Gibb River Rd is gravel and we wouldn't take our van along it so it was the perfect opportunity to take our swags and camp out. The road was pretty good in some areas but as rough as guts in others and corrugated. Still managed to sit on 70 - 80km's p/hour depending on the road. There are a few gorges out there that we wanted to have a look at. Had seen photo's but wanted to actually see them ourselves. Drove out to Mount Barnett which is an aboriginal community and also has a roadhouse if travellers need to stop. This was our turn around point to start heading back towards Derby checking out the gorges along the way. First gorge we stopped at was Galvans Gorge. Had to walk in about 1km to get to the waterfall and what a nice surprise it was at the end of the walk. You can swim at this gorge but we didn't as we wanted to get to the next one to have a look. Next on the trip was Adcock Gorge. Had to drive into this one and the track was definitely 4wd only. We had to get across a creek line which still had water in it and it was quite rocky. Had to walk into this one as well and climb over a few rocks but again once you got to the waterfall it was beautiful. The colours in the rocks are amazing. There was tree growing down the side of the fall which makes you wonder how they can actually grow like that. Back to the car and we headed off again. Next stop was Imintji. Another aboriginal community with a roadhouse travellers can stop at. We had to stop and check this one out as we had heard alot about it as Ross and Sandy used work out there. They were out there for about 18 months I think it was. From here we went to Bell Gorge. This is where we camped for the night. They have a campground there called Silent Grove. It costs to stay here and you have to pay to enter the National Park to see the gorge. Nice campground and we were surprised to see that they had showers which had solar hot water systems. So didn't have to have a cold wash in the morning. Also had flushing toilets and not the good old pit toilets. Had a good nights sleep and we were ready to head to Bell gorge which was about 10km's from the campground. Had to walk into this one as well. I think it was about 2km one way to the bottom of the gorge. Had to wade through water to get to the others side of the river and continue following the track to the gorge then it was climb down the rocks to the bottom of the falls. What a beautiful spot, well worth the effort to get to the bottom. You can swim at this one as well as no crocs are here. Noel and I went for a swim but I must say the water was a wee bit fresh when you first got in. Once you got used to it, it was beautiful. Swam over to the falls but didn't go under them as we didn't know what the current was like under them. There was a hell of lot of water tumbling over the falls. Stayed here a few hours as it was a nice spot to sit and watch the water. Back to the car and continued onto Lennard Gorge. Had to walk into this one as well and it was a 3km return trip. Track was a bit over grown and was a bit of an uphill climb but once again a beautiful reward when you get to the end. Couldn't get real close to these falls at this one as you were on a big cliff which they had a fence about a meter in from the edge because apparently some one fell off the edge and was killed. It's a bloody long way down to the bottom. After visiting this one it was time to start heading back to Derby. We saw some amazing country and sights out here and were really glad we took the time to have a look. It's quite green out there still for this time of the year but it was a pretty wet wet season. Still quite a bit of water lying around and flowing over the road in some areas. If you are ever up this way and have a 4wd we recommend having a look. Absolutely Amazing Country!!!

26th & 27th May - Today the 4 of us went on an adventure out to the Horizontal Falls. We decided to do the overnight trip. We got picked up from the house around 2:15pm and headed out to Derby Airport. We had to wait about 5 mins before the Seaplane we flying on turned up. Had the usual briefings on safety etc and then it was time to board the plane and then off we went. It was about a 30min flight. I didn't enjoy the flight all that much as it was a bit too bumpy and I don't like small planes. Once we got to the falls the plane did a fly over tilting the plane both sides so everyone got to see the falls from above. This nearly tipped Noel and myself over the edge as neither one of us was feeling the best by this stage. It was the best feeling once we were off the plane. Once we were off the plane it was straight onto one of the jet boats to have a look at the falls. Only one was flowing as the flow depends on the tides. Went up the creek a bit and saw some amazing scenery. Zipping around on the boat was fantastic. After this it was back to the mother ship to be shown to our rooms for the night. After this it was time to go for a swim in the shark cage and see the sharks being fed. There were about 5 Tawny Sharks hanging around. I actually got to hold a shark they call 'Bruce' by the tail. That was pretty cool. After this it was back to our rooms to get changed and then it was time to head up to the top deck for a few drinks and watch the sunset.What a beautiful spot we stayed in. The bay we were in was called Talbot Bay. One of the female crew made us a beautiful dinner of fresh Barramundi and salad. Sat around chatting with the crew for awhile before heading off to bed ready for an early start in the morning. Got up around 6am so we could watch the sunrise and have breakfast. Then it was time to jump in the Jet boat again and head back to the falls again. This time the falls were both flowing and man there was alot of water flowing through them. It was an absolutely awesome sight. Time to hold on and take the boat through the falls. That was the best!!! We actually had the boat sitting in the middle of the falls with enough power to just hold us in the one spot. If the motors weren't going we would have been pushed out the otherside. Once we had sat there for a bit it was time to really power up the motors and take off. Went through the falls a few times and got a bit wet in the process. What a bloody awesome ride it was and we all wished we could have done it a few more times. Time to head back to the mother ship so we could catch the seaplane back to Derby. Flew home a slightly different way so we could fly over the islands and see some different things. What a beautiful place it is out there. Was a better flight home but I was glad when Derby came into view as I knew we were almost back. We were all glad we had done the trip and paid the extra to stay overnight. If you are ever up this way make sure you do the Horizontal Falls. You either fly out of Broome or Derby but the overnight trips only fly out of Derby. We got back to the house about 8:30 and big welcome home from a very excited Bud.