HV8:

The drive way to HV8, seen from HV8.


And there is Dave, working ........ under a car!

HV8, repair man:

It is very normal in these area’s to have flat tires, some times you have none for a long time, some times you have 2 or more in one day. Also wind screens are damaged more often then in other parts of the world. It is a nice thing we have Dave, witch is a very good repair man of all 4wd and other vehicles. He is a man witch can have a short look at your car and know what is wrong with it. Usually he can fix it, unless the parts he needs are not in stock. If I would ever work on a Camel Trophy race or something similar, he is the man to be on your team.

Rentals and production office in the back ground (work station HV8)


Crew cabbins at HV8

More about Home Valley Station (HV8):

Like all people working here on HV8 (Home Valley Station) are special types. A lot off Aboriginals work here as well, like horse man and tour guides and general staff for house keeping and kitchen staff. Most off the (not aboriginals) man and woman working here have there roots in other parts off Australia. Having enough off there formal life or just here working for a year or so, to make some money, some have a criminal back ground. The nicest thing off all is that there is a great kind off family bond between them. You can leave everything laying around, it want get stolen. Ok, there is not much to get, and if there is, where would they go? In my room there was always a lot off cash money laying around, from time to time I did hide it in different spots. I am talking about having around the 20 to 50.000 Australian dollars in your room, witch made me feel uncomfortable some times. With this money I have to pay local staff etc.

HV8 is a government facility witch also trains a lot off young students in agricultural, farming and tourism. HV8 also lets prisoners work here, luckily not when we where around. Actually it is a very nice place to stay , and if you will be ever around these areas, do pay a visit. Its not so expensive as other nearby stations are, like El Questro (where the Americans have been filming the original Outback Jack).

The Gib river road is the longest witch go’s along all these stations, is the longest dirt road I ever have been traveling on. Its longer then 675km, and will be closed in the wet season. Then the road changes in to a rather wet mud track witch is to difficult to travel along. Then the river crossings will be to deep and the mud to dens to travel thru. In these seasons the stations are only reachable with planes. That is why most stations have there own airstrip, to get the supply’s in. In these seasons it must be very isolated here at HV8 and other stations around.

You have to picture that if you travel to the first station next door, you will have to travel at least for 30 to 45 minutes be there. And between these stations there is nothing but bush. Every stations has thousands of acres of land, where the cows (cattle) walk freely. That is why it can be dangerous to travel at high speeds at night over the dirt roads and why all the cars have bull bars. (see previous) I thought I would never kill animals and would be able to avoid them, but in the last week it happened to me twice. I killed to Wallabies with night driving, till now I managed to avoid them all by making small steering adjustments. But no! Twice now, and they always walk precisely the wrong direction, using your horn helps some times. But usually it happens quickly, while traveling between the 80 and 100 km an hour on the dirt road in the night. Like rabbits but then bigger ………… poor animals.

The Gibb river road crossing is a very nice experience and people always stop to make pictures while other cars cross. It is strange driving thru water, but even this becomes normal after doing it at least 4 times a week. When I go in to town, to the bank and some shopping’s and returning again (the trip is always about 3 to 4 hours up and down), the Gibb river crossing for me is the sign that I am almost home again (HV8 is just 7km after the crossing). In the beginning the water was still higher than it is now, since we are well into the dry season now.

But marks ashore and in the trees, show clearly that the water can be very high here. (wet season) Then the river becomes a wild big wide river, and you clearly understand that it is not possible to cross at all.

Gibb river crossing