It was a long trip to Karijini from Point Samson so we decided to stay the night at the Munjina (Auski) Roadhouse and go into Karijini early the following morning. An uneventful stay at Munjina although Stephen took the opportunity to wash the caravan. It had been looking very old and used and with some TLC it came up looking loved and new. What a shame we are about to haul it over red dirt: again!
We were up early and arrived at Karijini about 10am. People were lined up and as one lot of campers went out, one went in. Two of the three nights we were there the full sign was up early in the afternoon.
We were staying at Dales Campground which is at Dales Gorge. After setting up and having an early lunch we walked around the rim of the gorge and down to Fortescue Falls. It was really hot and you needed plenty of water and your hat to keep the sun off your head. An easy walk with a set of descending stairs into the gorge at the end. Little did we know that this would be the norm for the next few days.
We walked onto the Fern Pool, a lovely waterhole with lots of fish biting your toes. Met a nice couple from Phillip Island and chatted for a while. After our refreshing swim we headed back to the Fortescue Falls where Stephen took lots of photos while I swished my feet in the water. Lots of people at these two places.
We continued along the creek at the base to Circular Pool at the other end of the gorge. We were completely blown away by the geology of the walls of the gorge. This too was to become the norm over the next few days. Stephen went for a swim at Circular Pool but I chose not to as there were lots of mossies just waiting for me to get into that water and I wasn’t about to satisfy their need for my blood. The pool was really cold as it sees little sun during the course of the day.
Then came the ascent to the top of the gorge. Gasp!! The phrase ‘what goes down must come up’ was very apt in this situation. After breathlessly climbing our way to the top of the gorge we walked back to the van for a well earned drink and nibbles before dinner.
The Pilbara is very different from the Kimberley. The red earth is a much more maroon or rusty colour than the orange pindan of the north, sticky and kind of greasy however they are very similar in that the dust works its way into every nook and cranny. As we had no water for a shower it was a quick wash with the cloth and a new set of clothes to make one feel better. An early night as we had no electricity and no TV; God forbid we might talk to each other.
Up at sparrow’s fart with the birds making a racket as usual. We drove to the visitor’s centre around 9am and grabbed a map of Weano and Hancock Gorges. These gorges were about 45 kms from Dales along a dirt road. All of the walks at Karijini are rated from 1 – 6, one being very easy, six requiring ropes and experience abseiling. On arrival we were not sure how we (I) would go with some of the harder walks/climbs but we were about to find out.
The descent into Weano was very downie, very, very downie (a made up word to describe descending from a great height at a steep angle using steps that do not meet the building code. You know: downie!!). We eventually made it safely to the bottom with me wondering how the hell I was ever going to do the uppie bit at the end. We followed the path along the creek with lots of crawling along narrow ledges, up over very large rocks and then back down through a gap in the rocks we found. This saved us walking through the water and taking our boots off. With shaking limbs because I had never done scary stuff like this before (or should I say had refused to do stuff like this before) we continued on towards Handrail Pool, which is a 5!! Prior to going through the crack in the wall we dumped anything that was unnecessary – everything except the camera – then proceeded to do even scarier stuff. Once through the crack in the rock you had to hang onto the handrail (hence the name) then climb down a knotted rope ladder. How good am I!! The pool was very cold but as clear as you get. We walked around the back of the pool and decided to try our luck and see how much further we could get through the water. I managed to get a little further but Stephen bravely continued and disappeared from sight. Would he ever come back?? Of course he did or I would be home organising the funeral you silly old duffers. It was just as much fun getting out of the pool and back up the rope, back through the crack and then to discover that I had taken the right path while someone, who will remain nameless, took the wrong path and had to go back and start again. We safely retraced our steps and were back on the top of Weano Gorge by lunch time. We sat in the shade and ate our lunch to recharge the batteries.
We were so pumped up we decided to tackle Hancock Gorge. This walk starts as a 4 but quickly becomes a 5. The challenge was not for me this time but for Stephen. Why, because there is a steel ladder involved!! The steps down were again designed to accommodate a giant, not a short arse like myself. Then came the ladder which finally took us into the gorge. After some theatrics for the camera Stephen safely conquered the ladder and we continued on. I was not feeling as brave this time as there were a lot of very narrow ledges to be traversed so I took the sooky la la route, dumped the clothes and swam through the water, while Stephen took the high ground. Not sure that I was that smart as it resulted in me falling twice on my bum because of slippery rocks. I ended up crawling on my hands and knees through the water while Stephen remained high and dry. We made it as far as the Spider Walk but decided we had done enough for this day and began to retrace our steps. Up the ladder yet again then we managed to not follow the track via the steps to the top. Don’t quite know what happened but the path we took was much better, not as long and nowhere near as steep. Sometimes you are just lucky!!
The afternoon was quickly slipping away but we had time to go to Oxer and Junction Pool lookouts, then called into Joffre and Knox Gorge lookouts on the way home. The last two had us gasping, particularly Knox. It was about 100 metres down to the pool and looked fabulous. Oh no, we will have to stay another day and come back. Will the legs hold up???? We arrived back at the camp exhausted and it doesn’t matter how much swimming in beautiful clear pools you do, you still feel grotty. We boiled the kettle and had a wash and an early dinner. We met 4 young men from Lilydale who were taking a gap year travelling around Australia. Unfortunately one of them was wearing a Richmond jumper so we had to do the obligatory teasing and offering our sympathies to him for barracking for such a loser team. Off to bed, we were buggered!!
Up early yet again, those damn birds. We had decided to ‘do’ Knox Gorge first then assess how we felt before going to Joffre Gorge, however we did take lots of photos of Joffre and were not too disappointed when we discovered about 3 bus loads of young people swimming in the falls below.
The descent into Knox was a scree slope which is slippery shale and you really had to watch where you put your feet. My legs were really tired from the previous day and the giant steps once again were not helping. The walk along the creek bed was not too bad and we had brought our water shoes which helped a lot with the slippery rocks. There was one bit of narrow ledge stuff but not too bad. We passed the pool we had seen the previous afternoon and ventured on much further. We finally arrived at a small pool where the water ran through a very narrow crack in the wall leading to a waterfall and Red Gorge Pool (Red Gorge is a 6). This is not accessible unless you can abseil. Stephen managed to climb through the rock via a fallen tree branch to the top of the waterfall and got some great photos. The rocks in this gap look like waves but the photos will explain this better than I can. We spent some time here then retraced our steps and swam in the pool we had previously passed. The water was very cold but we were hot and it was really refreshing. Boots back on and the climb to the top. Back to the caravan and a bucket bath yet again.
We both agreed that we had had more fun at Karijini than at any other of the National Parks we have visited. The gorges provide a refreshing retreat from the arid plains above. In the north of the park, small creeks, hidden in the rolling hillsides suddenly plunge down 100 metre chasms. Hopefully Stephen’s photos will give you some idea of the magnificent geology of Karijini.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/Karijini?authkey=Gv1sRgCKeep_2n1vLWigE#
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Broome – Eighty Mile Beach – Port Hedland – Karratha – Point Samson 11 – 30 August
We finally made it back to Broome, and I never thought I would say this, but it was good to be home (in the van!!!) after 3 weeks in the tent. Had lots of stories for Ali and Dave.
It was Tuesday and we headed straight for the bank on our return as we had been having a problem with our credit card for the past week – it wouldn’t work. We soon discovered the bank had cancelled it, some story about our number being in the public domain which is not good, however it would have been nice if they had informed us before they had cancelled it as we were now left with no credit facilities at all. We had intended to leave Broome on our return from the GRR but now needed to stay until new cards arrived by Thursday/Friday. When they hadn’t arrived by Friday we were then told Tuesday. Poor Ali and Dave, we were so embarrassed to be still at their place after they had been so kind to take us in, in the first place.
However I must say we enjoyed our extra week in Broome. We met up with Bill Wilding and took him up to Cape Leveque, a mere 200 kms north, for the day. If you were at home and decided to travel 400 kms on a day trip people would think you were crazy but when you see how vast the land is up here, it is nothing. We had a great day swimming and lying in the sun. Stephen and Bill bored me silly in the car talking about electronics and telecommunications, although I must admit I finally learnt about what Stephen does at work after all these years. We stopped at the Beagle Bay bakery for morning tea, then the church and spoke with the local hermit Irish priest who lives in the community. Then it was onto Lombardina where we also visited the very unique church. I was interested to read in the St Kevin’s Newsletter this week that they now have a connection with the primary school there and have some of the local kids coming down to Melbourne later in the year. Unbeknown to us, the Head of Glendalough, Peter Finnigan, and some of the boys from SKC were at the Lombardina primary school on the day we were there. All in all, a great day. Bill very kindly cooked dinner for us the following evening and it was shared with Shane and Barclay who live in the Brothers' house in Broome – what a hardship that must be!!
We took time to visit the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which was very interesting. We caught up with Richard and Sandra at Cable Beach one evening for a drink and nibbles and heard Richard’s tale of woe about going on a fishing charter and losing his wallet and keys overboard. We tried to not laugh but that just didn’t happen. Other than that we spent quite a lot of time at the beach swimming and enjoying the weather.
Finally on Tuesday we got our new cards and bid Ali and Dave a fond farewell on Wednesday morning. We would like to thank them for their hospitality and the use of their ‘horse paddock’.
The 300 kms to Eighty Mile Beach could only be described as very boring and it appears as though most of the trip down the coast will be the same. Unfortunately the road is about 10 – 20 kms away from the sea most of the time so you never see the water.
We had to spend one night on an unpowered site. A quick walk on the beach with the tide so far out we couldn’t reach the water, dinner and early to bed as we had no TV and I could hardly expect Stephen to speak to me after all these months away. The next morning we moved to a powered site then spent the next 4 days sitting on the beach reading, fishing and walking along the sand. With 80 miles of it you don’t run out of sand to walk on. We also gathered lots of shells for Maggie and Frankie. Stephen had a great time trying out his new fishing rod and he provided dinner on 2 nights with some lovely fresh from the sea; threadfin salmon. The evenings were quite weird with sea fog rolling in and wetting everything inside and out of the caravan. We just had to put up with wet things as it was far to warm to close the windows and door. On the last night we rolled up the awning, took up the mat and stored the table and chairs away before they got wet, so naturally, the wind was blowing and there was no fog – Murphy’s Law. All of this, of course, made for an early get away the next morning. Eighty Mile Beach was very nice but there is no swimming and I certainly understand why because we watched the fishermen reel in little and big sharks on a regular basis. Even if you could swim there you wouldn’t be able to, as it is wall to wall fisherpersons and you would end up with a hook in a place I can’t mention. I was amazed at the number of women fishing, all ages and all sizes.
The drive to Port Hedland was as boring as the drive from Broome but just as we reached the town things started to get interesting. It was a miracle!!! Stephen’s head began to swivel far more than it had since his accident last year. There were cranes, trucks, trains, boats, salt flats and mound after mound of black and brown iron ore. At one stage his eyes were popping out of his head so I offered to drive the rest of the way in so that he could take it all in, and also because I feared for my safety. This seemed to snap him out of it as that would never do. One doesn’t allow one’s wife to drive the van into the caravan park, it’s not very macho. We were so lucky to have the help of the gardener/maintenance man to assist with the backing in of the van. After 20 minutes of trying to follow his directions and nearly wrecking the car and van I was very tempted to tell him to naf off as we have previously had no trouble at all with this task. We finally settled in and found our NVONBFs (now very old new best friends) Janet and Rob. The last time we saw them was at Windjana Gorge on the Gibb River Road, and only very briefly, so we had lots of catching up to do. We invited them to dinner and had a wonderful night chatting and telling stories of what we had been up to.
Janet and Rob left the next morning for ??? somewhere - they’ve gone now so who cares (of course I say this with love and affection), but we will catch up with them at Karijini or Exmouth in a week or so. Stephen and I spent the morning watching a ship dock and fill up with iron ore at the port. I once had a similar experience watching grass grow. The afternoon was spent catching up on emails and phone calls.
We woke at 6.00am (yes that’s correct we are two hours behind y’all) to ring Fynn for his birthday. After talking to him and hearing how many figurines he had got for his birthday we went outside to find the van covered in dew. The fog was back. From now on we will have to take this into consideration as we move further south. After drying everything off, we moved onto Karratha. We sang happy birthday and watched Fynn cut his cake on Skype later in the day. I am starting to desperately miss the kids.
You are nobody in Karratha if you don’t wear blue denim overalls with a yellow safety shirt and steel capped boots or drive a Toyota 4x4. We felt very out of place with our shorts, tee shirts and thongs but fitted into the Toyota category quite well. We were here to go on the port loading facility tour but had a day to fill in before this so decided on a drive to Millstream - Chichester NP. We were pleasantly surprised by this little trip as the scenery was fantastic with rolling hills and majestic mountains with iron ore trains weaving in and out much to Stephen’s delight. He even got a blast of the train’s horn from one of the driver’s as he was scrambling to take a photo of this enormous train with 230 carriages and pulled along by 3 locomotives. Also the wildflowers are beginning to come out and make the roadside much more interesting.
We visited the homestead which is now an information centre then walked to the nearby river which had been badly damaged in the last wet. We had lunch by Crossing Pool and Stephen even managed to fit in a kip after lunch before we returned to Karratha.
The next morning we spent doing the tour of the port which frankly was a bit ho hum (Stephen’s words not mine). We decided to move to Point Samson where the caravan park was right on the beach and we could swim and then get eaten by the sand flies. The pub was next door and a little café called Moby’s which sold great fish and chips. We also took the opportunity to visit Wickham – boring – and Cossack which was the original port in the area in the late 1800s. It is now a heritage centre and was quite interesting. The beach here was quite spectacular and we watched a guy kite surfing.
We are now off to Karijini for more red dust and hopefully lots of wonderful walks and gorges to keep us busy.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeEightyMileBeachPortHedlandKarrathaPointSamson?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDbtY3xx8DxJg#
It was Tuesday and we headed straight for the bank on our return as we had been having a problem with our credit card for the past week – it wouldn’t work. We soon discovered the bank had cancelled it, some story about our number being in the public domain which is not good, however it would have been nice if they had informed us before they had cancelled it as we were now left with no credit facilities at all. We had intended to leave Broome on our return from the GRR but now needed to stay until new cards arrived by Thursday/Friday. When they hadn’t arrived by Friday we were then told Tuesday. Poor Ali and Dave, we were so embarrassed to be still at their place after they had been so kind to take us in, in the first place.
However I must say we enjoyed our extra week in Broome. We met up with Bill Wilding and took him up to Cape Leveque, a mere 200 kms north, for the day. If you were at home and decided to travel 400 kms on a day trip people would think you were crazy but when you see how vast the land is up here, it is nothing. We had a great day swimming and lying in the sun. Stephen and Bill bored me silly in the car talking about electronics and telecommunications, although I must admit I finally learnt about what Stephen does at work after all these years. We stopped at the Beagle Bay bakery for morning tea, then the church and spoke with the local hermit Irish priest who lives in the community. Then it was onto Lombardina where we also visited the very unique church. I was interested to read in the St Kevin’s Newsletter this week that they now have a connection with the primary school there and have some of the local kids coming down to Melbourne later in the year. Unbeknown to us, the Head of Glendalough, Peter Finnigan, and some of the boys from SKC were at the Lombardina primary school on the day we were there. All in all, a great day. Bill very kindly cooked dinner for us the following evening and it was shared with Shane and Barclay who live in the Brothers' house in Broome – what a hardship that must be!!
We took time to visit the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which was very interesting. We caught up with Richard and Sandra at Cable Beach one evening for a drink and nibbles and heard Richard’s tale of woe about going on a fishing charter and losing his wallet and keys overboard. We tried to not laugh but that just didn’t happen. Other than that we spent quite a lot of time at the beach swimming and enjoying the weather.
Finally on Tuesday we got our new cards and bid Ali and Dave a fond farewell on Wednesday morning. We would like to thank them for their hospitality and the use of their ‘horse paddock’.
The 300 kms to Eighty Mile Beach could only be described as very boring and it appears as though most of the trip down the coast will be the same. Unfortunately the road is about 10 – 20 kms away from the sea most of the time so you never see the water.
We had to spend one night on an unpowered site. A quick walk on the beach with the tide so far out we couldn’t reach the water, dinner and early to bed as we had no TV and I could hardly expect Stephen to speak to me after all these months away. The next morning we moved to a powered site then spent the next 4 days sitting on the beach reading, fishing and walking along the sand. With 80 miles of it you don’t run out of sand to walk on. We also gathered lots of shells for Maggie and Frankie. Stephen had a great time trying out his new fishing rod and he provided dinner on 2 nights with some lovely fresh from the sea; threadfin salmon. The evenings were quite weird with sea fog rolling in and wetting everything inside and out of the caravan. We just had to put up with wet things as it was far to warm to close the windows and door. On the last night we rolled up the awning, took up the mat and stored the table and chairs away before they got wet, so naturally, the wind was blowing and there was no fog – Murphy’s Law. All of this, of course, made for an early get away the next morning. Eighty Mile Beach was very nice but there is no swimming and I certainly understand why because we watched the fishermen reel in little and big sharks on a regular basis. Even if you could swim there you wouldn’t be able to, as it is wall to wall fisherpersons and you would end up with a hook in a place I can’t mention. I was amazed at the number of women fishing, all ages and all sizes.
The drive to Port Hedland was as boring as the drive from Broome but just as we reached the town things started to get interesting. It was a miracle!!! Stephen’s head began to swivel far more than it had since his accident last year. There were cranes, trucks, trains, boats, salt flats and mound after mound of black and brown iron ore. At one stage his eyes were popping out of his head so I offered to drive the rest of the way in so that he could take it all in, and also because I feared for my safety. This seemed to snap him out of it as that would never do. One doesn’t allow one’s wife to drive the van into the caravan park, it’s not very macho. We were so lucky to have the help of the gardener/maintenance man to assist with the backing in of the van. After 20 minutes of trying to follow his directions and nearly wrecking the car and van I was very tempted to tell him to naf off as we have previously had no trouble at all with this task. We finally settled in and found our NVONBFs (now very old new best friends) Janet and Rob. The last time we saw them was at Windjana Gorge on the Gibb River Road, and only very briefly, so we had lots of catching up to do. We invited them to dinner and had a wonderful night chatting and telling stories of what we had been up to.
Janet and Rob left the next morning for ??? somewhere - they’ve gone now so who cares (of course I say this with love and affection), but we will catch up with them at Karijini or Exmouth in a week or so. Stephen and I spent the morning watching a ship dock and fill up with iron ore at the port. I once had a similar experience watching grass grow. The afternoon was spent catching up on emails and phone calls.
We woke at 6.00am (yes that’s correct we are two hours behind y’all) to ring Fynn for his birthday. After talking to him and hearing how many figurines he had got for his birthday we went outside to find the van covered in dew. The fog was back. From now on we will have to take this into consideration as we move further south. After drying everything off, we moved onto Karratha. We sang happy birthday and watched Fynn cut his cake on Skype later in the day. I am starting to desperately miss the kids.
You are nobody in Karratha if you don’t wear blue denim overalls with a yellow safety shirt and steel capped boots or drive a Toyota 4x4. We felt very out of place with our shorts, tee shirts and thongs but fitted into the Toyota category quite well. We were here to go on the port loading facility tour but had a day to fill in before this so decided on a drive to Millstream - Chichester NP. We were pleasantly surprised by this little trip as the scenery was fantastic with rolling hills and majestic mountains with iron ore trains weaving in and out much to Stephen’s delight. He even got a blast of the train’s horn from one of the driver’s as he was scrambling to take a photo of this enormous train with 230 carriages and pulled along by 3 locomotives. Also the wildflowers are beginning to come out and make the roadside much more interesting.
We visited the homestead which is now an information centre then walked to the nearby river which had been badly damaged in the last wet. We had lunch by Crossing Pool and Stephen even managed to fit in a kip after lunch before we returned to Karratha.
The next morning we spent doing the tour of the port which frankly was a bit ho hum (Stephen’s words not mine). We decided to move to Point Samson where the caravan park was right on the beach and we could swim and then get eaten by the sand flies. The pub was next door and a little café called Moby’s which sold great fish and chips. We also took the opportunity to visit Wickham – boring – and Cossack which was the original port in the area in the late 1800s. It is now a heritage centre and was quite interesting. The beach here was quite spectacular and we watched a guy kite surfing.
We are now off to Karijini for more red dust and hopefully lots of wonderful walks and gorges to keep us busy.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeEightyMileBeachPortHedlandKarrathaPointSamson?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDbtY3xx8DxJg#
Monday, August 24, 2009
Gibb River Road Week 3 – Emma Gorge – Kununurra – Bungle Bungles – Fitzroy Crossing - Broome 4 – 10 August
Day 15 – Packed up the tent and departed El Questro for Emma Gorge. A 45 minute walk into the gorge but well worth the effort. A spectacular gorge with tall majestic walls surrounding a clear freezing cold pool into which water cascades down the walls like rain. We bit the bullet and dove into the water. It was absolutely freezing and made your arms ache. The cascading water felt like icicles when it hit your skin. Hundreds of photos later we walked back to the car and headed off on the final 70 kms of the Gibb River Road. More shaly rocks with the odd bit of bitumen thrown in saw us reach our destination without any drama. Our journey completed we headed for Kununurra where we booked into the Kimberley Grande for a night of debauchery and laundry!! We swam in the pool then went to dinner in the restaurant. How luxurious it all was.
Some vital information on the GRR:
• 1882 kms travelled
• 20,695,211 corrugations at an average height of 5.41 cm
• 17,148 large rocks
• 117 creeks, floodways and rivers
• 628 dead tyres
• 207 wrecked shockers
• 14 broken main springs
• 482 songs on the IPod
• 2 very happy people
Day 16 – We awoke fresh as a daisy after a good nights sleep in a kingsize bed. Reality soon checked in when we registered at the Discovery Caravan Park – trailer trash, or worse, tent trash yet again. We spent the day booking tours and replenishing our diminished food supplies. Fresh fruit and vegies were the order of the day. Most importantly we stocked up on grog, our two week ‘drying out period’ – well sort of – officially over.
Day 17 – Picked up at 8.00am for a tour of the Argyle Dam and Ord River. We travelled by bus to the dam where we went on a 2 hour cruise of the dam. Triple J run a pretty slick operation with tour guides who are very knowledgeable and provide lots of facts and figures on the making of the dam and its uses. After lunch we boarded another boat for a return cruise to Kununurra via the Ord River. Our tour guide, Cam, was a font of knowledge re flora and fauna and we spotted a Nankeen Night Heron and two Black Bitterns which are quite rare. We have done lots of tours during our trip and this one, along with the mailrun out of Coober Pedy, have been the best. As the boat pulled back into Lake Kununurra around 6pm we were treated to the site of millions (no exaggeration) of fruit bats flying into the sky as a full moon rose over the lake. Back at the tent I had received a message from one W J Wilding on my phone. Bill was also in Kununurra. After a lengthy chat we arranged to catch up with him in Broome. He was having dinner with the Josephite nuns that night and we were heading for the Bungles the next day.
Day 18 – Up at 4.30am – no I am not kidding – for a 6am flight over Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles. To make a very long story short (not like me at all) Stephen, who was sitting on the right side of the plane saw everything and his photo finger was almost herniated. Anne, who was sitting on the left side of the plane, negotiated a $200 refund with the General Manager of the flight company - not happy Jan. Back to the caravan park to pack up and head for Purnululu National Park – the Bungle Bungles. The road into the national park was windy, rocky and had a number of very high crests and river crossings. Demanding drive but Stephen enjoyed the challenge. A long day with just enough time to go to the Kungkalahayi lookout for sunset. Dinner and then off to bed on a very cool night.
Day 19 – Up very early as we wanted to start our first walk at 7.30am as the heat can take its toll if you start much later. The Mini Palms walk was hard on the legs as it followed a creek bed with lots of pebbles. Thankfully the ankle is coping well and is getting stronger each day. After 40 minutes of boulder climbing and through tiny crevices (this walk isn’t for those who luv cheese) we reached a platform overlooking a chasm. At the end of the chasm was a tunnel that appeared to us to have a neon sign saying, “come and look at me”. We ventured past the No Entry sign and climbed down to the floor of the chasm because we all know that No Entry means Be Careful, right!! We also just happened to have a torch with us so we went through the tunnel opening to find – not much – just a very big hole, however it was a great view back up towards the platform. As we were there on our own we made lots of noise and enjoyed the cathedral like acoustics. Next we drove back to Echidna Chasm, a unique chasm which the photos will give you a better perspective than I can. We drove to the south end of the Bungles for lunch. It was now hitting about 35 degrees and too hot for us to try the Piccaninni Creek Lookout walk so we decided on the Cathedral Gorge walk as we were told it was nice and cool in there. The 60 minute walk took us 20 minutes – they must time this walk with the old lady factor included – and we were happy to find it about 10 degrees cooler than outside. We dallied in here for about an hour and when we emerged around 2pm the heat had gone out of the sun so we continued onto the lookout walk. By this stage we were a bit Bungled Out , however we finished the day with the Dome walk so that we could say we had done all the walks at the Bungles. As we arrived back at the camping ground a fellow camper had his hose out so we asked if we could use it to have a shower. Out came the soap and we soon felt human again. We cooked some chops on the open fire and Stephen wouldn’t let me go to bed at 6.15 so I had to wait until 7.30pm when I fell into the sleep of the dead.
Day 20 – Our day commenced at 5.20am when a flock of yellow-crested cockatoos landed in the tree above our tent. I swear they were louder than a Strathmore girls lunch . Fortunately they were toilet trained and our tent was saved. We drove out of the national park at 7.20am, a record. We were driving to Fitzroy Crossing today which would be our last night in the tent – yeah!! We made a couple of stops along the way at Mary’s Pool, Ngumban Cliffs and an aboriginal art gallery at one of the communities. We arrived at the Fitzroy Crossing Lodge at 2pm and couldn’t believe it when they told us they didn’t even have an unpowered tent site. Fortunately we had Plan B available down the road so at least we had somewhere to stay. Enjoyed a buffet roast at the Crossing Inn.
Day 21 – Well this is it – 21 days since we left Broome for our camping adventure. It certainly has been enlightening to see the Kimberley. The homesteads, aboriginal communities, gorges, waterfalls, chasms, rivers, roads, flora, fauna, bugs and insects have given us a wonderful experience and I only hope that one day some of you decide to take the time to see this fabulous part of Australia. I must say, we have had enough of the dust and can’t wait to find a bit of grass to rub our toes in. My gorgeous Stephen’s comment was: “You haven’t been anywhere until you have been bitten on the bum by a mossie at Mitchell Falls camping ground.” I guess that says it all.
• While watching the sunset at Kungkalahayi lookout in the Bungles one lady was heard to say: “I wonder how long this goes for?”
• Recently the Premier of WA, Mr Barnett, was addressing the Derby community regarding the viability of tidal power generation and made the following statement: “How can you be sure that the tides will occur everyday?”
Some people are just uummmmph - stupid
Photos: Stephen has gone a bit overboard on this edition but persist as they are very good.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek3?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTCwuvFvpK_KQ#
Some vital information on the GRR:
• 1882 kms travelled
• 20,695,211 corrugations at an average height of 5.41 cm
• 17,148 large rocks
• 117 creeks, floodways and rivers
• 628 dead tyres
• 207 wrecked shockers
• 14 broken main springs
• 482 songs on the IPod
• 2 very happy people
Day 16 – We awoke fresh as a daisy after a good nights sleep in a kingsize bed. Reality soon checked in when we registered at the Discovery Caravan Park – trailer trash, or worse, tent trash yet again. We spent the day booking tours and replenishing our diminished food supplies. Fresh fruit and vegies were the order of the day. Most importantly we stocked up on grog, our two week ‘drying out period’ – well sort of – officially over.
Day 17 – Picked up at 8.00am for a tour of the Argyle Dam and Ord River. We travelled by bus to the dam where we went on a 2 hour cruise of the dam. Triple J run a pretty slick operation with tour guides who are very knowledgeable and provide lots of facts and figures on the making of the dam and its uses. After lunch we boarded another boat for a return cruise to Kununurra via the Ord River. Our tour guide, Cam, was a font of knowledge re flora and fauna and we spotted a Nankeen Night Heron and two Black Bitterns which are quite rare. We have done lots of tours during our trip and this one, along with the mailrun out of Coober Pedy, have been the best. As the boat pulled back into Lake Kununurra around 6pm we were treated to the site of millions (no exaggeration) of fruit bats flying into the sky as a full moon rose over the lake. Back at the tent I had received a message from one W J Wilding on my phone. Bill was also in Kununurra. After a lengthy chat we arranged to catch up with him in Broome. He was having dinner with the Josephite nuns that night and we were heading for the Bungles the next day.
Day 18 – Up at 4.30am – no I am not kidding – for a 6am flight over Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles. To make a very long story short (not like me at all) Stephen, who was sitting on the right side of the plane saw everything and his photo finger was almost herniated. Anne, who was sitting on the left side of the plane, negotiated a $200 refund with the General Manager of the flight company - not happy Jan. Back to the caravan park to pack up and head for Purnululu National Park – the Bungle Bungles. The road into the national park was windy, rocky and had a number of very high crests and river crossings. Demanding drive but Stephen enjoyed the challenge. A long day with just enough time to go to the Kungkalahayi lookout for sunset. Dinner and then off to bed on a very cool night.
Day 19 – Up very early as we wanted to start our first walk at 7.30am as the heat can take its toll if you start much later. The Mini Palms walk was hard on the legs as it followed a creek bed with lots of pebbles. Thankfully the ankle is coping well and is getting stronger each day. After 40 minutes of boulder climbing and through tiny crevices (this walk isn’t for those who luv cheese) we reached a platform overlooking a chasm. At the end of the chasm was a tunnel that appeared to us to have a neon sign saying, “come and look at me”. We ventured past the No Entry sign and climbed down to the floor of the chasm because we all know that No Entry means Be Careful, right!! We also just happened to have a torch with us so we went through the tunnel opening to find – not much – just a very big hole, however it was a great view back up towards the platform. As we were there on our own we made lots of noise and enjoyed the cathedral like acoustics. Next we drove back to Echidna Chasm, a unique chasm which the photos will give you a better perspective than I can. We drove to the south end of the Bungles for lunch. It was now hitting about 35 degrees and too hot for us to try the Piccaninni Creek Lookout walk so we decided on the Cathedral Gorge walk as we were told it was nice and cool in there. The 60 minute walk took us 20 minutes – they must time this walk with the old lady factor included – and we were happy to find it about 10 degrees cooler than outside. We dallied in here for about an hour and when we emerged around 2pm the heat had gone out of the sun so we continued onto the lookout walk. By this stage we were a bit Bungled Out , however we finished the day with the Dome walk so that we could say we had done all the walks at the Bungles. As we arrived back at the camping ground a fellow camper had his hose out so we asked if we could use it to have a shower. Out came the soap and we soon felt human again. We cooked some chops on the open fire and Stephen wouldn’t let me go to bed at 6.15 so I had to wait until 7.30pm when I fell into the sleep of the dead.
Day 20 – Our day commenced at 5.20am when a flock of yellow-crested cockatoos landed in the tree above our tent. I swear they were louder than a Strathmore girls lunch . Fortunately they were toilet trained and our tent was saved. We drove out of the national park at 7.20am, a record. We were driving to Fitzroy Crossing today which would be our last night in the tent – yeah!! We made a couple of stops along the way at Mary’s Pool, Ngumban Cliffs and an aboriginal art gallery at one of the communities. We arrived at the Fitzroy Crossing Lodge at 2pm and couldn’t believe it when they told us they didn’t even have an unpowered tent site. Fortunately we had Plan B available down the road so at least we had somewhere to stay. Enjoyed a buffet roast at the Crossing Inn.
Day 21 – Well this is it – 21 days since we left Broome for our camping adventure. It certainly has been enlightening to see the Kimberley. The homesteads, aboriginal communities, gorges, waterfalls, chasms, rivers, roads, flora, fauna, bugs and insects have given us a wonderful experience and I only hope that one day some of you decide to take the time to see this fabulous part of Australia. I must say, we have had enough of the dust and can’t wait to find a bit of grass to rub our toes in. My gorgeous Stephen’s comment was: “You haven’t been anywhere until you have been bitten on the bum by a mossie at Mitchell Falls camping ground.” I guess that says it all.
• While watching the sunset at Kungkalahayi lookout in the Bungles one lady was heard to say: “I wonder how long this goes for?”
• Recently the Premier of WA, Mr Barnett, was addressing the Derby community regarding the viability of tidal power generation and made the following statement: “How can you be sure that the tides will occur everyday?”
Some people are just uummmmph - stupid
Photos: Stephen has gone a bit overboard on this edition but persist as they are very good.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek3?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTCwuvFvpK_KQ#
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Week 2 Gibb River Road - Manning Gorge – Drysdale – Mitchell Falls – Home Valley – El Questro 27 July – 3 August
Day 8 – What started as an early night (Day 7) proved to be an interrupted night’s sleep. A young German couple camped next to us decided to have a couple or 6 bottles of wine. The girl went quietly off to bed but the bloke decided to sit in his car and listen to (c)rap music. After several hours of the same CD over and over Stephen went to ask him to turn it off to find him fast asleep (pissed) and unable to rouse him. Stephen opened the door of his car and turned the volume off. About midnight he woke up and turned it on again and this time decided to sing as well!!! Fortunately he only ‘sang’ one song then turned it off and loudly got into bed. Hmmm, the joys of camping. We were on our way to Manning Gorge by 8am. Quite a difficult walk in but well worth the effort. A series of falls into a glorious waterhole. We watched the German people jump off the high rocks into the swimming hole. It probably wasn’t such a bad way to clear the cobwebs from the previous night. After much umming and ahrring we decided to drive to Drysdale around lunchtime and check out the road to Mitchell Falls. We had heard some horrendous stories of broken down cars and shredded tyres and that the road was in the worst condition it has ever been. The drive to Drysdale wasn’t too bad and when we arrived we were delighted to hear that the grader was currently grading the Mitchell Falls road. Yahoo, just in time. We booked in for dinner at the ‘bar’ then ordered a drink and rang the kids from a public phone housed in an old refrigerator. Great to hear Fynn and the girls voices and Cath, Julse and Pat’s also. Set up camp then back to the bar for dinner. We were chatting to some people when I spotted Kununurra Scott. He was supposed to take a group of 4 up to Mitchell Plateau but had been unable to get his trailer up there. He assured us that we would be okay as the grader had almost finished its job. We sat next to a couple who said they had driven/crawled for 9 hours to get to the falls but had a wonderful time and were very encouraging. We had lamb shanks and chocolate pudding for dinner and some very good company.
Day 9 – We left for Mitchell Falls at 8.30am. It was 105 kms to the falls turn off and we did that in 1 hour and 40 minutes. The last 20 kms were shocking with corrugations that went up to my elbow and there was quite a lot of rock. It was 87 kms from the turn off to the campsite. The first 7 kms were very bad conditions but after that the grader had been through which made it a lot easier. However, it was not an easy drive by any means, very slow and you needed to concentrate. The last 16 kms (which were not yet graded) were again very, very slow and hard driving but at 1.40pm we finally reach the Mitchell Plateau Camping Ground. We had made it unscathed but very tired. We found a shady spot, set up camp and did very little for the rest of the day. Lots of animals crawling around outside during the night.
Day 10 – We commenced the 1 ½ hour walk to the falls at 8.30am. Got to Little Merton Falls in about 20 minutes where we found lots of aboriginal art including some Bradshaw art. We spent 40 minutes walking under the falls and exploring the artwork. We ventured on to find more artwork along the way before finally reaching Big Merton Falls. These falls were dry but quite spectacular all the same. Took some photos and moved onto the top of Mitchell Falls where we waded across the water. We had finally reached our major destination for this trip. Much excitement. We went for a bit of an explore and found the track Dave had told us about which took us right around passed the falls to a ledge where we could look back and see all 4 levels of the waterfall. It was magical. We sat by ourselves and ate our lunch on the ledge looking at the most beautiful setting in the Kimberley. If we had walked 5 steps forward we would have plunged into the gorge below. With photos taken we put our backpacks back on and went back to the falls for a cooling swim. At 2.30pm we caught the helicopter back to the camping ground. Well, sometimes its just nice to take the easy option. Spent the evening with Rosemary and Bill, a couple of 'old cockies' from the Mallee.
Day 11 – 5990 kms from home we backtracked along the MF road to Drysdale. The grader had finished the last 16 kms and it was a nice smooth track out. We were accompanied by Rosemary and Bill and it was good to know we weren’t completely alone. Turned onto the Kalumburru/Drysdale Rd in under 2 hours. About 7 kms down the road we came across some poor bastard who had broken a main spring and was limping back to Drysdale. Not much you can do except let them know back at Drysdale that they are coming. Got back to Drysdale in 4 hours, an hour off our time going up. As it was lunchtime we had lunch with Rosemary and Bill and Jo and Donald, a couple from Kojanup in south WA at the pub then decided to push onto Home Valley. In hindsight this was not such a good idea as it was much further than we though and the road was shocking, shaly and rocky. We stopped at Ellenbrae for scones, jam and cream – yummy but $4.50 for one scone was a bit rich. We were getting a little concerned as it was almost sunset and as we came over the crest towards Home Valley we were greeted with a magnificent view of the Cockburn Ranges in full light from the setting sun. For the first time we put the tent up in the dark then hit the bar for a much needed and deserved beer for Stephen and G & T for me.
Day 12 – A day of rest. We were stuffed after the drive from the previous day so decided to spend the day rubbing our feet in the grass at Home Valley and swimming in the very nice pool. We are definitely sick of the red and gray dust and dirt and this little oasis of grass was just what we needed. As the sun set over the Cockburn Ranges we rang the kids from the lookout – unexpected phone coverage – and Ails to catch up on all the gossip and footy scores. Late in the evening while sitting by the fire a young couple, Anna and Brett from Port Melbourne, asked if we could keep an ear out for their sleeping children while they had dinner at the homestead. It was good to act like grandparents again.
Day 13 – Destination El Questro. After much uummming and aahhhring (again) we decided on the $30 a night camping option rather than the $2000 per night homestead suite (minimum stay 2 nights). The camping ground was very picturesque and shady and the amenities very good – I’m still thinking we chose the wrong option. We spent the morning at Zeberdee Springs, beautiful spring falls which ran rings around any other springs we had previously seen. In the afternoon we went to the Branco and Saddle back lookouts – real 4x4 stuff and Anne was a bit scared-y-catish. Great vantage points to look out over the property. Ran into a couple of donkeys on the way back. We also took a detour to Chamberlain Gorge for a sticky beak at the homestead. Also caught up with Tyreman and Shazza and heard their tales of woe of wrecking 5 tyres on the Gibb and having to limp into Kununurra for a complete set of 6 new tyres. They didn’t get to see or do much at all after we last saw them. We obviously had luck on our side.
Day 14 – We started the day early with a walk to El Questro Gorge. A lovely walk with ferns and crystal clear swimming holes. Feeling ready for a challenge we passed/climbed the halfway point where most people stop, waded through a pool up to our chests with our gear above our heads and climbed/or was pulled up a very large boulder. We came across some magnificent waterholes so clear you could count the pebbles on the bottom of the pool. A demanding walk but a lot of fun. Back to the tent for lunch then a river cruise up Chamberlain Gorge for 2 hours. Lovely gorge but we should have saved our money on the cruise and hired a couple of self drive boats, it would have been better value. Returned to the camping ground to find Anna, Brett and the new grandkids camped behind us. We sat around the fire after dinner chatting for several hours and it must have been at least 9pm when we crawled into bed!!
Lots of photos on: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek2?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2jnd6Sv8KIVg#
Day 9 – We left for Mitchell Falls at 8.30am. It was 105 kms to the falls turn off and we did that in 1 hour and 40 minutes. The last 20 kms were shocking with corrugations that went up to my elbow and there was quite a lot of rock. It was 87 kms from the turn off to the campsite. The first 7 kms were very bad conditions but after that the grader had been through which made it a lot easier. However, it was not an easy drive by any means, very slow and you needed to concentrate. The last 16 kms (which were not yet graded) were again very, very slow and hard driving but at 1.40pm we finally reach the Mitchell Plateau Camping Ground. We had made it unscathed but very tired. We found a shady spot, set up camp and did very little for the rest of the day. Lots of animals crawling around outside during the night.
Day 10 – We commenced the 1 ½ hour walk to the falls at 8.30am. Got to Little Merton Falls in about 20 minutes where we found lots of aboriginal art including some Bradshaw art. We spent 40 minutes walking under the falls and exploring the artwork. We ventured on to find more artwork along the way before finally reaching Big Merton Falls. These falls were dry but quite spectacular all the same. Took some photos and moved onto the top of Mitchell Falls where we waded across the water. We had finally reached our major destination for this trip. Much excitement. We went for a bit of an explore and found the track Dave had told us about which took us right around passed the falls to a ledge where we could look back and see all 4 levels of the waterfall. It was magical. We sat by ourselves and ate our lunch on the ledge looking at the most beautiful setting in the Kimberley. If we had walked 5 steps forward we would have plunged into the gorge below. With photos taken we put our backpacks back on and went back to the falls for a cooling swim. At 2.30pm we caught the helicopter back to the camping ground. Well, sometimes its just nice to take the easy option. Spent the evening with Rosemary and Bill, a couple of 'old cockies' from the Mallee.
Day 11 – 5990 kms from home we backtracked along the MF road to Drysdale. The grader had finished the last 16 kms and it was a nice smooth track out. We were accompanied by Rosemary and Bill and it was good to know we weren’t completely alone. Turned onto the Kalumburru/Drysdale Rd in under 2 hours. About 7 kms down the road we came across some poor bastard who had broken a main spring and was limping back to Drysdale. Not much you can do except let them know back at Drysdale that they are coming. Got back to Drysdale in 4 hours, an hour off our time going up. As it was lunchtime we had lunch with Rosemary and Bill and Jo and Donald, a couple from Kojanup in south WA at the pub then decided to push onto Home Valley. In hindsight this was not such a good idea as it was much further than we though and the road was shocking, shaly and rocky. We stopped at Ellenbrae for scones, jam and cream – yummy but $4.50 for one scone was a bit rich. We were getting a little concerned as it was almost sunset and as we came over the crest towards Home Valley we were greeted with a magnificent view of the Cockburn Ranges in full light from the setting sun. For the first time we put the tent up in the dark then hit the bar for a much needed and deserved beer for Stephen and G & T for me.
Day 12 – A day of rest. We were stuffed after the drive from the previous day so decided to spend the day rubbing our feet in the grass at Home Valley and swimming in the very nice pool. We are definitely sick of the red and gray dust and dirt and this little oasis of grass was just what we needed. As the sun set over the Cockburn Ranges we rang the kids from the lookout – unexpected phone coverage – and Ails to catch up on all the gossip and footy scores. Late in the evening while sitting by the fire a young couple, Anna and Brett from Port Melbourne, asked if we could keep an ear out for their sleeping children while they had dinner at the homestead. It was good to act like grandparents again.
Day 13 – Destination El Questro. After much uummming and aahhhring (again) we decided on the $30 a night camping option rather than the $2000 per night homestead suite (minimum stay 2 nights). The camping ground was very picturesque and shady and the amenities very good – I’m still thinking we chose the wrong option. We spent the morning at Zeberdee Springs, beautiful spring falls which ran rings around any other springs we had previously seen. In the afternoon we went to the Branco and Saddle back lookouts – real 4x4 stuff and Anne was a bit scared-y-catish. Great vantage points to look out over the property. Ran into a couple of donkeys on the way back. We also took a detour to Chamberlain Gorge for a sticky beak at the homestead. Also caught up with Tyreman and Shazza and heard their tales of woe of wrecking 5 tyres on the Gibb and having to limp into Kununurra for a complete set of 6 new tyres. They didn’t get to see or do much at all after we last saw them. We obviously had luck on our side.
Day 14 – We started the day early with a walk to El Questro Gorge. A lovely walk with ferns and crystal clear swimming holes. Feeling ready for a challenge we passed/climbed the halfway point where most people stop, waded through a pool up to our chests with our gear above our heads and climbed/or was pulled up a very large boulder. We came across some magnificent waterholes so clear you could count the pebbles on the bottom of the pool. A demanding walk but a lot of fun. Back to the tent for lunch then a river cruise up Chamberlain Gorge for 2 hours. Lovely gorge but we should have saved our money on the cruise and hired a couple of self drive boats, it would have been better value. Returned to the camping ground to find Anna, Brett and the new grandkids camped behind us. We sat around the fire after dinner chatting for several hours and it must have been at least 9pm when we crawled into bed!!
Lots of photos on: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek2?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2jnd6Sv8KIVg#
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Broome - Gibb River Road Week 1 18 - 27 July
Our fishing charter was a huge success. We came home with 9 big fish to fillet and put into the freezer, or should I say Ali and Dave’s freezer. AOC fishing charters did a great job and we thoroughly recommend them. A great day was had by all even if there was a ‘Dick’ on board who swore the best fishing ever was at the Florida Keys in the US of A. Needless to say he hardly caught anything all day while all around him reeled them in. At one stage I thought our placid Stephen was going to push him overboard.
The next few days were spent gathering stores and packing for our journey along the Gibb River Road and beyond. At the last minute we decided to leave our good chairs behind and bought 2 pack away chairs – “pink” Maggie – which fitted into the back of the car more easily.
As this adventure took us 21 days and is quite a lengthy edition I am going to divide it up into 3 weeks. I am relying on Stephen’s great photos to tell the story about the places we visited and I will provide some insight into the people and events that took place which hopefully will make it a bit more interesting.
Day 1 - On Tuesday 21 July we set off with Anne driving to Derby where we stopped for lunch and filled up on fuel. We found a fuel pump behind the information centre which was selling diesel at 12c a litre cheaper than the BP or Shell. Stephen could not believe his luck. Had chicken sandwiches at the park where we found a condom dispenser hanging from the tree limb. Hmmm!!! Stephen took over the driving and we turned onto the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge, our first stop. There were lots of people in the camping ground but we managed to find a nice spot under a tree. Walked to the Gorge late in the day. There is no swimming at Windjana as there are lots of freshwater crocodiles and the water is quite murky. When we returned to camp a couple had setup their camp on the other side of “our” tree and they had decided to sleep under the stars on their camp stretchers. Unfortunately the stars do not muffle the sound of snoring!!
Day 2 – The camp started to stir at 5.30am. What the !!! Apparently they were all up to see the sunrise. Hope this isn’t going to be a daily event. Just as we were heading off to Tunnel Creek a huge gust of wind came through the camp and blew the canvas off a camper trailer exposing all the worldly possessions of the owners, who were not there. Stephen and a couple of others pegged down the canvas as best they could before we left. The road to Tunnel Creek wasn’t too bad and we arrived at 8.45am – told you we were up early. A number of people were already there including 2 young fellas from Zimbabwe who were ‘racing’ around Australia in a ute and a motorbike taking turns riding and driving. They initially started with 2 bikes but found the going to difficult so had sold one bike and bought the ute. They were taking all the back roads, Tanami, Gibb River etc. Tunnel Creek was really interesting. It was a hideout for Jindamara (Pigeon) a rogue aborigine in the early 1900’s who caused the landowners quite a bit of grief until finally cornered and gunned down. A bit of a legend at the time. It is an interesting underground walk through the tunnel often wading through water. On the way back to Windjana we were hailed down by two old new best friends, Janet and Rob. We had not seen them since we left Kununurra so stood in the middle of the road and chatted. At this point I should point out that we had decided not to bring any grog with us on this part of our trip. You may now pick yourselves up off the floor and continue reading. There were two reasons for this decision, the first was that space was an issue and the second was we felt we needed to ‘dry out’. Rob was aghast when Stephen told him this and promised to call in at Windjana on his way back to Derby with a refreshing ale for Stephen. Back at camp while having lunch we noticed some familiar faces nearby, our NBFs Sandra and Richard. So the rest of the day went a bit like this. Rob and Janet called in so Stephen had a beer or two with Rob while Janet and I chatted, spent dinner with Sandra and Richard while the boys drank more beer and I chatted with Sandra. All this time I am drinking water and getting extremely irritated at Stephen’s ‘drying out’ phase. I should also at this point introduce some new campers who took the space of the snorer from the night before. At this time we will call them Tyreman and his missus. He had spent the afternoon fixing a tyre that had a slow leak and needed plugging.
Day 3 – Up again at sparrow’s fart (bloody campers) and on the road by 8am. Passed the camel man for the 4th time and hit some roadwork for a couple of k’s. The scenery was quite mountainous and the road windy but not too bad. We stopped at Lennard Gorge for a look see and a 3km walk. Sounds good. It was very hot and the first opportunity to try out the recovered ankle. The path to the Gorge was quite rocky but we made good time and were treated to a wonderful view above the falls. After a bit of exploring we discovered some pink ribbons which we thought was the road back on this loop walk to the carpark. After 30 minutes walking through scrub and an ever diminishing path and Anne starting to suffer a ‘meltdown’ Stephen made the decision we should retrace our steps and go back to the Gorge. We had just about run out of water by the time we reach the Gorge again so Stephen made me wait in the shade while he went back to the carpark along the original track and got some more water and something to eat. Meanwhile in the shade I was settling down for a nana nap when others arrived. How embarrassing!! We finally made it back to the car and immediately turned on the air-conditioning. We continued on to Silent Grove where we had a cold shower and spent the night under another shady tree.
Day 4 – We drove out of the camping ground at 7.59am (a pattern is emerging I think). The road to Bells Gorge was very rocky with some water crossings but generally not too bad. A rocky walk to the Gorge was well rewarded with a great day swanning around for hours in the water, eating, reading books and basking in the sun. A very beautiful place. Returned to our camp at Silent Grove to dinner then we listened to Collingwood thump Carlton on the radio. We were stunned that we could pick up reception because we were definitely out in the middle of nowhere.
Day 5 – On the road at 7.27am. Hmmm!!! Our destination today was Mornington Wilderness Camp which is owned by the Australian Conservancy Society. It is 90kms off the Gibb River Road but well worth the detour. The road in was quite smooth and we made very good time arriving at around 10.30am. What a gem of a place, great camping ground, great facilities and a restaurant and bar. We booked into the restaurant for dinner then set up camp. Unfortunately we broke a tent pole in our rush to set up and spent the next hour fixing it with some help (a battery drill) from a couple of old blokes camped nearby. We soon realised we were camped next to Tyreman and his missus – Bruce and Sharon from Bendigo. After lunch we drove to Sir John Gorge, a challenging little 4x4 track. We could not believe our luck when we realised we were the only people there. It was magic, just the two of us in this remote and very beautiful setting. We decided it was an optional clothing opportunity!!! Try not to think too deeply about this as it could upset your day. We shared a table with our NBFs for dinner. A very pleasant evening spent with fine food, NBFs and yes, red wine.
Day 6 – Finally got to sleep in. We hired canoes at the office and set off to Dimond Gorge at around 9.30am. We paddled down the Fitzroy River for several kilometres where we pulled onto a beach for a lunch of biscuits and sardines, snack bars and some water. We slowly paddled back in the afternoon surrounded by the walls of the Gorge and wrapped in serenity. Shame we had to share the setting with about 6 other couples. The drive into Dimond Gorge was another 4x4 and Stephen is having lots of fun crossing creeks and going over rocks beds. After dinner we went to a talk by the ranger on the work being done in the park. Since the society has undertaken a reduction program on wild cattle and donkeys and a controlled burning program some species of birds and small land creatures that were endangered have dramatically increased in numbers. This truly is a magnificent place, the wildlife and the scenery takes your breath away.
Day 7 – After a noisy evening we were up very slowly. The camping area here is huge and you can just about camp anywhere, however an elderly couple had arrived late yesterday afternoon and had decided they wanted to set up their tent on the doorstep of the old blokes. The old blokes were none too happy, which was fair enough. Unfortunately the old blokes had decided to enact revenge on the new arrivals and spent the evening drinking, playing canasta and making snide comments about people invading others space. This was all well and good but we were also kept awake by these irate and somewhat inebriated gray haired nomads. We packed up our little tent and heading for Manning Gorge. We were about 17 kms from getting back onto the Gibb River Road driving what could only be described as a freeway surface when we hear ph, ph, ph, ph, ph, ph. A flat tyre, poop. Stephen got down and dirty and in 30 minutes we were once again on our way with every rock now looking like a grenade. This was not a good sign as the most difficult part of the journey will be over the next few days. Along the way we stopped at Adcocks Gorge and Galvins Gorge for a swim and lunch. Feeling cooled and refreshed we stopped at Mt Barnett Roadhouse where we luckily purchased a secondhand tyre. We set up camp around 4.30pm at Manning Gorge. A night by the fire with marshmallows before yet another early night.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek1?authkey=Gv1sRgCK-Cm9y4zaLr8gE#
The next few days were spent gathering stores and packing for our journey along the Gibb River Road and beyond. At the last minute we decided to leave our good chairs behind and bought 2 pack away chairs – “pink” Maggie – which fitted into the back of the car more easily.
As this adventure took us 21 days and is quite a lengthy edition I am going to divide it up into 3 weeks. I am relying on Stephen’s great photos to tell the story about the places we visited and I will provide some insight into the people and events that took place which hopefully will make it a bit more interesting.
Day 1 - On Tuesday 21 July we set off with Anne driving to Derby where we stopped for lunch and filled up on fuel. We found a fuel pump behind the information centre which was selling diesel at 12c a litre cheaper than the BP or Shell. Stephen could not believe his luck. Had chicken sandwiches at the park where we found a condom dispenser hanging from the tree limb. Hmmm!!! Stephen took over the driving and we turned onto the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge, our first stop. There were lots of people in the camping ground but we managed to find a nice spot under a tree. Walked to the Gorge late in the day. There is no swimming at Windjana as there are lots of freshwater crocodiles and the water is quite murky. When we returned to camp a couple had setup their camp on the other side of “our” tree and they had decided to sleep under the stars on their camp stretchers. Unfortunately the stars do not muffle the sound of snoring!!
Day 2 – The camp started to stir at 5.30am. What the !!! Apparently they were all up to see the sunrise. Hope this isn’t going to be a daily event. Just as we were heading off to Tunnel Creek a huge gust of wind came through the camp and blew the canvas off a camper trailer exposing all the worldly possessions of the owners, who were not there. Stephen and a couple of others pegged down the canvas as best they could before we left. The road to Tunnel Creek wasn’t too bad and we arrived at 8.45am – told you we were up early. A number of people were already there including 2 young fellas from Zimbabwe who were ‘racing’ around Australia in a ute and a motorbike taking turns riding and driving. They initially started with 2 bikes but found the going to difficult so had sold one bike and bought the ute. They were taking all the back roads, Tanami, Gibb River etc. Tunnel Creek was really interesting. It was a hideout for Jindamara (Pigeon) a rogue aborigine in the early 1900’s who caused the landowners quite a bit of grief until finally cornered and gunned down. A bit of a legend at the time. It is an interesting underground walk through the tunnel often wading through water. On the way back to Windjana we were hailed down by two old new best friends, Janet and Rob. We had not seen them since we left Kununurra so stood in the middle of the road and chatted. At this point I should point out that we had decided not to bring any grog with us on this part of our trip. You may now pick yourselves up off the floor and continue reading. There were two reasons for this decision, the first was that space was an issue and the second was we felt we needed to ‘dry out’. Rob was aghast when Stephen told him this and promised to call in at Windjana on his way back to Derby with a refreshing ale for Stephen. Back at camp while having lunch we noticed some familiar faces nearby, our NBFs Sandra and Richard. So the rest of the day went a bit like this. Rob and Janet called in so Stephen had a beer or two with Rob while Janet and I chatted, spent dinner with Sandra and Richard while the boys drank more beer and I chatted with Sandra. All this time I am drinking water and getting extremely irritated at Stephen’s ‘drying out’ phase. I should also at this point introduce some new campers who took the space of the snorer from the night before. At this time we will call them Tyreman and his missus. He had spent the afternoon fixing a tyre that had a slow leak and needed plugging.
Day 3 – Up again at sparrow’s fart (bloody campers) and on the road by 8am. Passed the camel man for the 4th time and hit some roadwork for a couple of k’s. The scenery was quite mountainous and the road windy but not too bad. We stopped at Lennard Gorge for a look see and a 3km walk. Sounds good. It was very hot and the first opportunity to try out the recovered ankle. The path to the Gorge was quite rocky but we made good time and were treated to a wonderful view above the falls. After a bit of exploring we discovered some pink ribbons which we thought was the road back on this loop walk to the carpark. After 30 minutes walking through scrub and an ever diminishing path and Anne starting to suffer a ‘meltdown’ Stephen made the decision we should retrace our steps and go back to the Gorge. We had just about run out of water by the time we reach the Gorge again so Stephen made me wait in the shade while he went back to the carpark along the original track and got some more water and something to eat. Meanwhile in the shade I was settling down for a nana nap when others arrived. How embarrassing!! We finally made it back to the car and immediately turned on the air-conditioning. We continued on to Silent Grove where we had a cold shower and spent the night under another shady tree.
Day 4 – We drove out of the camping ground at 7.59am (a pattern is emerging I think). The road to Bells Gorge was very rocky with some water crossings but generally not too bad. A rocky walk to the Gorge was well rewarded with a great day swanning around for hours in the water, eating, reading books and basking in the sun. A very beautiful place. Returned to our camp at Silent Grove to dinner then we listened to Collingwood thump Carlton on the radio. We were stunned that we could pick up reception because we were definitely out in the middle of nowhere.
Day 5 – On the road at 7.27am. Hmmm!!! Our destination today was Mornington Wilderness Camp which is owned by the Australian Conservancy Society. It is 90kms off the Gibb River Road but well worth the detour. The road in was quite smooth and we made very good time arriving at around 10.30am. What a gem of a place, great camping ground, great facilities and a restaurant and bar. We booked into the restaurant for dinner then set up camp. Unfortunately we broke a tent pole in our rush to set up and spent the next hour fixing it with some help (a battery drill) from a couple of old blokes camped nearby. We soon realised we were camped next to Tyreman and his missus – Bruce and Sharon from Bendigo. After lunch we drove to Sir John Gorge, a challenging little 4x4 track. We could not believe our luck when we realised we were the only people there. It was magic, just the two of us in this remote and very beautiful setting. We decided it was an optional clothing opportunity!!! Try not to think too deeply about this as it could upset your day. We shared a table with our NBFs for dinner. A very pleasant evening spent with fine food, NBFs and yes, red wine.
Day 6 – Finally got to sleep in. We hired canoes at the office and set off to Dimond Gorge at around 9.30am. We paddled down the Fitzroy River for several kilometres where we pulled onto a beach for a lunch of biscuits and sardines, snack bars and some water. We slowly paddled back in the afternoon surrounded by the walls of the Gorge and wrapped in serenity. Shame we had to share the setting with about 6 other couples. The drive into Dimond Gorge was another 4x4 and Stephen is having lots of fun crossing creeks and going over rocks beds. After dinner we went to a talk by the ranger on the work being done in the park. Since the society has undertaken a reduction program on wild cattle and donkeys and a controlled burning program some species of birds and small land creatures that were endangered have dramatically increased in numbers. This truly is a magnificent place, the wildlife and the scenery takes your breath away.
Day 7 – After a noisy evening we were up very slowly. The camping area here is huge and you can just about camp anywhere, however an elderly couple had arrived late yesterday afternoon and had decided they wanted to set up their tent on the doorstep of the old blokes. The old blokes were none too happy, which was fair enough. Unfortunately the old blokes had decided to enact revenge on the new arrivals and spent the evening drinking, playing canasta and making snide comments about people invading others space. This was all well and good but we were also kept awake by these irate and somewhat inebriated gray haired nomads. We packed up our little tent and heading for Manning Gorge. We were about 17 kms from getting back onto the Gibb River Road driving what could only be described as a freeway surface when we hear ph, ph, ph, ph, ph, ph. A flat tyre, poop. Stephen got down and dirty and in 30 minutes we were once again on our way with every rock now looking like a grenade. This was not a good sign as the most difficult part of the journey will be over the next few days. Along the way we stopped at Adcocks Gorge and Galvins Gorge for a swim and lunch. Feeling cooled and refreshed we stopped at Mt Barnett Roadhouse where we luckily purchased a secondhand tyre. We set up camp around 4.30pm at Manning Gorge. A night by the fire with marshmallows before yet another early night.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/BroomeGibbRiverRoadWeek1?authkey=Gv1sRgCK-Cm9y4zaLr8gE#
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Broome 3 - 17 July
We left Kununurra with no real plan on where we would travel to for the night. The drive was quite spectacular with lots of mountain ranges and interesting landscape. We were soon passing the morning tea set and stopped for lunch just past the turn off for Purnululu National Park, the home of the Bungle Bungles. A stop at Halls Creek for fuel and we were making good time so decided to push on. We thought we might stay at Mary’s Pool (will stay when we return) but still had a far amount of daylight so continued on to Fitzroy Crossing arriving about 5.30pm. The Fitzroy Crossing Lodge was full so we ended up staying out near the old tavern (the Crossing Inn) which we soon discovered was the ‘locals’ favourite drinking hole. The annual rodeo was scheduled for the coming weekend so it was especially busy. It didn’t really matter as we were both very tired from the long day’s driving and were asleep in no time.
Fitzroy Crossing is the gateway to Geike Gorge and we will definitely be visiting on our return but in the meantime we are on a mission to get to Broome. The drive to Broome was not as interesting as the previous day, a lot flatter and not as many trees although the boabs certainly are growing in girth.
We arrived at Ali and Dave’s about 2.00pm. No sign of the occupants so we followed their instructions and set ourselves up in the back (horse) paddock. We finally manoeuvred the van between the trees and made ourselves at home. A trip into town for a quick look and then home for dinner and to watch the Collingwood/Essendon game. At half time there were lights in the drive and our hosts appeared fresh (or not so fresh) from the Mitchell Plateau where they had spent the past 10 days hiking and camping. Time for a chat then they were off for a shower and a good night’s sleep. Stephen and I watched the rest of a very good game – Magpies winning of course. What a shame we weren’t at home to gloat!!
Saturday we spent the day reacquainting ourselves with Broome, did some hydrotherapy in the pool and watched a bit of footy. We had dinner with Ali and Dave and reminisced about our trip on the Great Escape last year and chatted about their recent trip to Italy. There was no shortage of conversation. Sunday we spent the afternoon on Cable Beach, as one does, and arranged some accommodation in Derby for a corroboree next Thursday night, the 9th of July. We also booked 3 days at Middle Lagoon camping on the Dampier Peninsula which we were very lucky to get as it is WA school holidays.
We have spent our days hobbling out to Gantheaume Point which has the most beautiful sandstone rocks with so many different colours and textures, buying a fishing rod for someone whose name starts with S and seems to have visions of catching fish, meeting with Catherine and Kevin in our cars on the beach for sunset drinks then eating out at a Thai restaurant, swimming in the pool and organising our camping gear for our few days at Middle Lagoon next week. Life is sooo tough!!
Ali has very kindly been looking after my rehabilitation and sent me to have some ultra sound treatment from a colleague. The foot is gradually improving and hopefully won’t take too long to heal.
Thursday morning up bright and early for our trip to Derby. On arrival we ‘did’ the township, took all of about 10 minutes, and then headed out to the Mowanjum Art and Cultural Centre. The corroboree was being held in a circular area outside the Centre so we set up our chairs and waited for dark. For some time we watched the Mowanjum children play in the dust on the arena. They were all decorated with ochre and special tribal clothing but still acted like all kids touching each other and then running off to be chased or jumping around the fires and making the adults worried while all the time not giving a tinkers cuss about the danger. The first ‘act’ was a group from One Arm Point (north of Cape Leveque). They were brightly decorated and very professional. Apparently they are off overseas next year to perform. There was a young boy of about 12 years of age that was terrific. The second group to perform were from the Tiwi Islands and let’s just say they weren’t as good as the first group. Finally the Mowanjum tribe performed and brought the house down (only there wasn’t one). There was lots of dust kicking, singing and stick clapping and many encores. We felt very privileged to attend (along with about 250 others) as it is the only corroboree to which white folk are invited but it is also the largest aboriginal ceremonial gathering in WA. The final dance everyone was invited to join in. I hope you will enjoy the photos of this event because it was quite spectacular.
We arrived back in Broome late on Friday where we spent the next few days getting prepared for our trip to Middle Lagoon. We also managed to squeeze in a few trips to the beach and some drinks with friends. We also took a drive up to Quondong Beach and Price's Point. Price's Point is very in the news as the WA Premier is keen for some big company to come and build a gas processing plant in the middle of the Kimberley. He is trying his best to not get reappointed for another term. Everywhere you go there are people asking you to sign petitions to stop him.
Fitzroy Crossing is the gateway to Geike Gorge and we will definitely be visiting on our return but in the meantime we are on a mission to get to Broome. The drive to Broome was not as interesting as the previous day, a lot flatter and not as many trees although the boabs certainly are growing in girth.
We arrived at Ali and Dave’s about 2.00pm. No sign of the occupants so we followed their instructions and set ourselves up in the back (horse) paddock. We finally manoeuvred the van between the trees and made ourselves at home. A trip into town for a quick look and then home for dinner and to watch the Collingwood/Essendon game. At half time there were lights in the drive and our hosts appeared fresh (or not so fresh) from the Mitchell Plateau where they had spent the past 10 days hiking and camping. Time for a chat then they were off for a shower and a good night’s sleep. Stephen and I watched the rest of a very good game – Magpies winning of course. What a shame we weren’t at home to gloat!!
Saturday we spent the day reacquainting ourselves with Broome, did some hydrotherapy in the pool and watched a bit of footy. We had dinner with Ali and Dave and reminisced about our trip on the Great Escape last year and chatted about their recent trip to Italy. There was no shortage of conversation. Sunday we spent the afternoon on Cable Beach, as one does, and arranged some accommodation in Derby for a corroboree next Thursday night, the 9th of July. We also booked 3 days at Middle Lagoon camping on the Dampier Peninsula which we were very lucky to get as it is WA school holidays.
We have spent our days hobbling out to Gantheaume Point which has the most beautiful sandstone rocks with so many different colours and textures, buying a fishing rod for someone whose name starts with S and seems to have visions of catching fish, meeting with Catherine and Kevin in our cars on the beach for sunset drinks then eating out at a Thai restaurant, swimming in the pool and organising our camping gear for our few days at Middle Lagoon next week. Life is sooo tough!!
Ali has very kindly been looking after my rehabilitation and sent me to have some ultra sound treatment from a colleague. The foot is gradually improving and hopefully won’t take too long to heal.
Thursday morning up bright and early for our trip to Derby. On arrival we ‘did’ the township, took all of about 10 minutes, and then headed out to the Mowanjum Art and Cultural Centre. The corroboree was being held in a circular area outside the Centre so we set up our chairs and waited for dark. For some time we watched the Mowanjum children play in the dust on the arena. They were all decorated with ochre and special tribal clothing but still acted like all kids touching each other and then running off to be chased or jumping around the fires and making the adults worried while all the time not giving a tinkers cuss about the danger. The first ‘act’ was a group from One Arm Point (north of Cape Leveque). They were brightly decorated and very professional. Apparently they are off overseas next year to perform. There was a young boy of about 12 years of age that was terrific. The second group to perform were from the Tiwi Islands and let’s just say they weren’t as good as the first group. Finally the Mowanjum tribe performed and brought the house down (only there wasn’t one). There was lots of dust kicking, singing and stick clapping and many encores. We felt very privileged to attend (along with about 250 others) as it is the only corroboree to which white folk are invited but it is also the largest aboriginal ceremonial gathering in WA. The final dance everyone was invited to join in. I hope you will enjoy the photos of this event because it was quite spectacular.
We arrived back in Broome late on Friday where we spent the next few days getting prepared for our trip to Middle Lagoon. We also managed to squeeze in a few trips to the beach and some drinks with friends. We also took a drive up to Quondong Beach and Price's Point. Price's Point is very in the news as the WA Premier is keen for some big company to come and build a gas processing plant in the middle of the Kimberley. He is trying his best to not get reappointed for another term. Everywhere you go there are people asking you to sign petitions to stop him.
I should also point out that we now have a second camp site in the ‘back paddock’ at Ali and Dave’s. A family from Kangaroo Island are now sharing with us. On Sunday morning Dave had a big ‘cook up’ of bacon and eggs for all of us which lasted for most of the morning before we headed back to the van to pack.
Monday morning we left for the Dampier Peninsula. We stopped at Beagle Bay where we visited the church which has a beautiful pearl shell altar built by German priests before WW2. The same priests were to be interred during the war but the nuns who were working with them and the aboriginal communities said they would leave if the government did this so the government sent a guard to watch them at Beagle Bay instead. Who said women don’t rule the world?
On arrival at Middle Lagoon Stephen went into the office to find out which site we had been allocated. Not that easy!! No booking, no site. What!!! I had rung 10 days ago to arrange a site and the fellow had rung me back to confirm. Not happy. His reply to this was, “just find a spot somewhere over there and set up camp”. Hmmmm. I should point out that all of the camping areas up this way are run by the local indigenous communities. We found a spot “somewhere over there” and set up our tent. The area we were in had 3 sites and by the end of the day there were six camps on the 3 sites. Very cosy!! We had paid by card but several of them had been told cash only. He might sound as though he doesn’t know what he is doing, but I think he knows quite well. 3 sites at $15 per head would normally be $90 but he was making $180. No power, cold water and only a cleaner to clean the ablution block. This guy is making a killing with about 60 “official” sites on the property.
Enough of that, we stayed for 3 days and apart from the wind, which was howling for the first two days, we had a lovely time. We got the opportunity to test our camping gear and work out any kinks for our trip up the Gibb River Road. The beach was beautiful and Stephen got to try out his new fishing rod, unfortunately not with any success. We met a lovely couple from Mansfield and a d***head from Tweed Heads who had been a jet pilot one minute and a real estate salesman the next. He called Stephen ‘Pete’ for 3 days so we referred to him as ‘Dick’ for obvious reasons. It takes all sorts; I just wish they wouldn’t camp next to us!! On Wednesday we packed up then drove further on to Cape Leveque. We had a look around and then headed for the beach and a swim. A very beautiful beach although there were lots of rocks in the water at low tide which was a shame. We are thinking we might try and come back after our trip up the Gibb. After our swim we arrived back at our car to find Catherine and Kevin loitering around the ‘blue lux’. Our car is very distinctive and people are beginning to put notes on it saying they know we are nearby. We arranged to meet Catherine and Kevin at Divers in Broome for dinner that night.
We are off fishing on a charter tomorrow morning and no doubt will have so much fish on our return that we will be able to set up a stall at the market in Broome on Sunday morning.
Congratulations to our darling niece Justine and her husband Adrian who are now the proud parents of Mitchell Leonard ‘John’ (the saint’s name that needs to be included in all Hede children’s names) a bonnie 9 pounder who joined the clan on 12 July. Congrats also to Grandma Mary and Poppa Brian who are grandparents for the first time.
Happy birthday to Meg, our niece and, of course, the one and only Catherine Maree Hede (oops Foster) who also had a birthday this week. Sorry we weren’t there to join in the birthday fun but we did send a good present.
To finish this episode I will give you some important statistics which we have gathered during our trip just in case you might one day attempt such a journey.
- It takes 3 months at a leisurely pace to travel 14,000 kilometres pulling a caravan by car/blue lux.
- The largest road train we have seen, so far, has had 82 wheels.
- There are 96 white road lines and 4 white posts per one kilometre of road (yes, we counted).
- There is a repeater station approximately every 4 kilometres.
- An average of 4 'Wicked' vans per day.
- 100s of swooping kites (birds), road kill, tyre kill, abandoned cars (or temporary homes depending what race you are!) and dry creek beds.
- No clouds - ever
- 1,000,000s of termite mounds
- We have used 4 bars of soap, two tubes of toothpaste, but are still on our original shampoo and conditioner bottles (obviously the hair is becoming feral).
- it is too embarrassing to tell you the number of bottles of wine we have consumed since we left home, we'll just leave it in the 'many' category.
- Very little beer - not!!
Access photos on http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/Broome?authkey=Gv1sRgCOObnJCblrCkgAE#
Monday, July 6, 2009
Timber Creek to Kununurra 21 June - 2 July
On arrival in Katherine we realised that not only was it a Saturday but also school holidays so a visit to the School of the Air was just not on. It was interesting to see the temperature of the pool had decreased by about 10 degrees since the last time we were there, it is winter after all!! We spent the rest of the day restocking with the essentials – food, alcohol etc and Sunday we had a big washing day. We gave our next door neighbour from Strathmore, Gary, a call and arranged to catch up with him while travelling from Katherine as he was heading there from the west.
On Monday we were up very early to Skype Maggie for her 4th birthday. I had forgotten how exciting birthdays are when you are four. We are missing our babies and were very sad we couldn’t share her day.
We headed off along the Victoria Hwy not sure exactly where we would go. About 100 kms west of Katherine we saw a white ute (think Murdoch / Falconio) flashing its lights at us – Gary. We pulled over and stood by the side of the road catching up. He had caught a good size barra while at Timber Creek and gave us a sampler from his freezer. He also suggested we stay at Timber Creek overnight and told us the best place to camp. All the morning tea caravans whizzed by us but we knew we would soon catch up to them when they stopped for their 2 hour lunch break. We are amazed by the nomads that get up at the crack of dawn and head off before we have gotten out of bed. They always stop for m/tea by the side of the road, get their table and chairs out, put the kettle on and have tea and cake for about 45 minutes. Why would you do this when you can stay in bed for an extra hour? We zoom by them as they are sipping their tea and orange cake. We stopped for lunch at Victoria River and were not very impressed by the roadhouse caravan park (very red and dusty) so continued on to Timber Creek. We noticed that they had a 4.00pm cruise up the Victoria River so we booked in then headed to the pool. Stephen managed to get in but I settled for dangling my feet in – too cold. The cruise up the Victoria was good value with lots of birds and prehistoric critters along the way and then a very pretty sunset before heading back down the river in the dark.
Up late as usual and off to Kununurra. The drive from Katherine to Kununurra proved to be quite interesting with the landscape changing quite a lot. It was not long before blue gums, boabs and kapok trees soon became the main flora and the flat land gave way to mountains. We were finally in the Kimberley. On arrival in Kununurra we booked into the Discovery Big 4. Not the best of sites, right next to the ‘dump point’, but very grassy (must be all the fertilizer). We really had no choice as the place was full. We drove into town to replenish our fruit and vegies as you cannot bring these into WA when you cross the border. We also ventured over to the Argyle Diamond shop to try on whatever was on display. Lots of very pretty pink diamonds. Tried on a little treasure which I thought looked quite lovely on my petite hand. It was a brown pink diamond with a lovely emerald cut diamond on either side. I obviously have very good taste as it had a price tag of $29,000. After Stephen dragged me out of the shop yelling and kicking we crossed the road where we ran into Carol Stanesby from Winchelsea. Carol and Ken camped next to us at Kennett for many years and we had not seen them for quite some time. We arranged to have dinner with them the following Thursday evening.
Wednesday we mooched around, reading and swimming, as the temperature had crept up to about 35 again. Wednesday night the management of the CP runs a “happy hour” for the camping ground so we joined in the fun. We caught up with Kevin and Catherine who we have also met along the way. Thursday we ‘did’ the local attractions and the galleries and we also commenced our “best mango smoothie in Kununurra” competition. We had dinner with Carol and Ken and the ‘crap-o-meter’ was running very high with stories of our days camping together. Stephen very kindly allowed me to drive home that night.
Just as we were leaving on Friday morning to drive to Wyndham our new best friends (Janet and Rob) arrived. We took the drive to Wyndham via the Ivanhoe Crossing dirt road. At the Wyndham end of this 70 kms stretch is Parry’s Lagoon, a wonderful wetland area. We were once more overcome by the beauty of the wetlands. We saw your Brolgas, your Rufus Night Heron, your Comb Crested Jacana, your Radjah Shelduck and of course your very large crocodile among loads of other beautiful fauna (Stephen’s commentary this time). We treated ourselves to a counter lunch at the Wyndham pub of barra and chips before driving to the port and then to the lookout over the five rivers. Friday night at the Big 4 is hamburger night and we queued up with all the other campers (pensioners) to enjoy our burger. We were joined by our new best friends, Rob, Janet, Kevin and Catherine for a drink after. We have for many years realised that you always surround yourselves with older friends, that way you are always the young ones, no matter how old you may be.
Saturday morning we rode our bikes to town for the Kununurra market. More mango smoothie tasting and some vegies and fruit cake purchasing. We also ran into Carol and Ken as they were heading off to the Bungle Bungles to go camping. By the time we rode home the temperature had climbed quite dramatically so we headed for the pool. After lunch we drove to the Stonecraft gallery to pick up a pendant I had ordered and to try their mango smoothies. They are leading the competition at this stage. The rest of the afternoon we watched the Magpies slaughter the Dockers on the telly. Saturday night a troupe of Gurkha from Nepal were camped in the grounds. They had been to Bradshaw Station training with the Australian Army. They put on an impromptu concert of Nepalese dancing and singing for the campers. One guy even did some Nepalese rapping??!! All in all, a great day.
Sunday Stephen drove for 2 hours there and back to Wyndham, as you do, to take 4 photos of the 5 rivers at high tide. I stayed at home and alternated between reading and swimming in the pool for the day. We watched some new neighbours set up their van, always good sport if tempers are short after a long drive. Sunday evening we had booked to go to a restaurant, the Pumphouse, with the ‘4 new best friends’. They have a wood fired pizza oven outside on the deck and we had some delicious pizzas for dinner washed down with some Crownies and a bottle of red. Stephen and I were keen to go to this restaurant as last year when we were in Kununurra it opened on the night we left so we hadn’t a chance to eat there. We all had a very nice evening, no shortage of chat.
Monday we ventured out to the ‘little Bungles’ or Mirima National Park for a walk to the lookout. We had only gone 600 metres or so when I walked over a rock and fell twisting my ankle. There was a loud crack and all was not looking too good. Fortunately the path ran parallel to the road so Stephen went back and got the car then carried me to the car, quite comical if my foot hadn’t hurt so much. We drove straight to the hospital where an x-ray revealed torn ligaments and fortunately no break. The doctor recommended I stay off it for two to three days then no bushwalking for 2 – 4 weeks. Groan! Our trip to the Gibb River Road looks like it could be in jeopardy. Unfortunately we had booked to go on a flight on Tuesday morning over the Bungle Bungles and a cruise on Lake Argyle in the afternoon so both were cancelled and our money was refunded, which was very lucky. After a long sleep in the afternoon (good drugs!!) we were joined for dinner by our friend Scott from Kununurra. Scott is a tour guide for Kimberley Cruises and we met him a couple of years ago when we did a 4x4 course in Melbourne and again last year when we were in Kununurra to go on our boat trip. He is a lovely young man and we spent a very pleasant evening with him.
The next two days we spent hanging around the van and pool as I wasn’t in very good condition to do much else. One good outcome was that we got to use the ‘disabled’ bathroom – no sharing. We had numerous discussions on what we might do and have decided to leave on Thursday and head for Broome where I will convalesce. Once I have fully recovered we’ll tackle the Gibb River road with the tent. This will be “real camping” not the wusses version in a van.
For when you next visit Kununurra the results of the mango smoothie competition using the following criterion in the judgement: flavour, consistency, size, ambience and cost were:
1. The Salad Bowl Café
2. Stonecraft Gallery (yes they produce zebra stone as well as smoothies)
3. Ivanhoe Farm Café
We also had a very exciting phone call from Ken and Maree to announce the early arrival of their first grandchild, Archer Henry. Rachel, Vin and bubs all well. Congratulations to the Maher family.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/TimberCreekAndKununurra?authkey=Gv1sRgCJLa-PXKtIPgFw#
On Monday we were up very early to Skype Maggie for her 4th birthday. I had forgotten how exciting birthdays are when you are four. We are missing our babies and were very sad we couldn’t share her day.
We headed off along the Victoria Hwy not sure exactly where we would go. About 100 kms west of Katherine we saw a white ute (think Murdoch / Falconio) flashing its lights at us – Gary. We pulled over and stood by the side of the road catching up. He had caught a good size barra while at Timber Creek and gave us a sampler from his freezer. He also suggested we stay at Timber Creek overnight and told us the best place to camp. All the morning tea caravans whizzed by us but we knew we would soon catch up to them when they stopped for their 2 hour lunch break. We are amazed by the nomads that get up at the crack of dawn and head off before we have gotten out of bed. They always stop for m/tea by the side of the road, get their table and chairs out, put the kettle on and have tea and cake for about 45 minutes. Why would you do this when you can stay in bed for an extra hour? We zoom by them as they are sipping their tea and orange cake. We stopped for lunch at Victoria River and were not very impressed by the roadhouse caravan park (very red and dusty) so continued on to Timber Creek. We noticed that they had a 4.00pm cruise up the Victoria River so we booked in then headed to the pool. Stephen managed to get in but I settled for dangling my feet in – too cold. The cruise up the Victoria was good value with lots of birds and prehistoric critters along the way and then a very pretty sunset before heading back down the river in the dark.
Up late as usual and off to Kununurra. The drive from Katherine to Kununurra proved to be quite interesting with the landscape changing quite a lot. It was not long before blue gums, boabs and kapok trees soon became the main flora and the flat land gave way to mountains. We were finally in the Kimberley. On arrival in Kununurra we booked into the Discovery Big 4. Not the best of sites, right next to the ‘dump point’, but very grassy (must be all the fertilizer). We really had no choice as the place was full. We drove into town to replenish our fruit and vegies as you cannot bring these into WA when you cross the border. We also ventured over to the Argyle Diamond shop to try on whatever was on display. Lots of very pretty pink diamonds. Tried on a little treasure which I thought looked quite lovely on my petite hand. It was a brown pink diamond with a lovely emerald cut diamond on either side. I obviously have very good taste as it had a price tag of $29,000. After Stephen dragged me out of the shop yelling and kicking we crossed the road where we ran into Carol Stanesby from Winchelsea. Carol and Ken camped next to us at Kennett for many years and we had not seen them for quite some time. We arranged to have dinner with them the following Thursday evening.
Wednesday we mooched around, reading and swimming, as the temperature had crept up to about 35 again. Wednesday night the management of the CP runs a “happy hour” for the camping ground so we joined in the fun. We caught up with Kevin and Catherine who we have also met along the way. Thursday we ‘did’ the local attractions and the galleries and we also commenced our “best mango smoothie in Kununurra” competition. We had dinner with Carol and Ken and the ‘crap-o-meter’ was running very high with stories of our days camping together. Stephen very kindly allowed me to drive home that night.
Just as we were leaving on Friday morning to drive to Wyndham our new best friends (Janet and Rob) arrived. We took the drive to Wyndham via the Ivanhoe Crossing dirt road. At the Wyndham end of this 70 kms stretch is Parry’s Lagoon, a wonderful wetland area. We were once more overcome by the beauty of the wetlands. We saw your Brolgas, your Rufus Night Heron, your Comb Crested Jacana, your Radjah Shelduck and of course your very large crocodile among loads of other beautiful fauna (Stephen’s commentary this time). We treated ourselves to a counter lunch at the Wyndham pub of barra and chips before driving to the port and then to the lookout over the five rivers. Friday night at the Big 4 is hamburger night and we queued up with all the other campers (pensioners) to enjoy our burger. We were joined by our new best friends, Rob, Janet, Kevin and Catherine for a drink after. We have for many years realised that you always surround yourselves with older friends, that way you are always the young ones, no matter how old you may be.
Saturday morning we rode our bikes to town for the Kununurra market. More mango smoothie tasting and some vegies and fruit cake purchasing. We also ran into Carol and Ken as they were heading off to the Bungle Bungles to go camping. By the time we rode home the temperature had climbed quite dramatically so we headed for the pool. After lunch we drove to the Stonecraft gallery to pick up a pendant I had ordered and to try their mango smoothies. They are leading the competition at this stage. The rest of the afternoon we watched the Magpies slaughter the Dockers on the telly. Saturday night a troupe of Gurkha from Nepal were camped in the grounds. They had been to Bradshaw Station training with the Australian Army. They put on an impromptu concert of Nepalese dancing and singing for the campers. One guy even did some Nepalese rapping??!! All in all, a great day.
Sunday Stephen drove for 2 hours there and back to Wyndham, as you do, to take 4 photos of the 5 rivers at high tide. I stayed at home and alternated between reading and swimming in the pool for the day. We watched some new neighbours set up their van, always good sport if tempers are short after a long drive. Sunday evening we had booked to go to a restaurant, the Pumphouse, with the ‘4 new best friends’. They have a wood fired pizza oven outside on the deck and we had some delicious pizzas for dinner washed down with some Crownies and a bottle of red. Stephen and I were keen to go to this restaurant as last year when we were in Kununurra it opened on the night we left so we hadn’t a chance to eat there. We all had a very nice evening, no shortage of chat.
Monday we ventured out to the ‘little Bungles’ or Mirima National Park for a walk to the lookout. We had only gone 600 metres or so when I walked over a rock and fell twisting my ankle. There was a loud crack and all was not looking too good. Fortunately the path ran parallel to the road so Stephen went back and got the car then carried me to the car, quite comical if my foot hadn’t hurt so much. We drove straight to the hospital where an x-ray revealed torn ligaments and fortunately no break. The doctor recommended I stay off it for two to three days then no bushwalking for 2 – 4 weeks. Groan! Our trip to the Gibb River Road looks like it could be in jeopardy. Unfortunately we had booked to go on a flight on Tuesday morning over the Bungle Bungles and a cruise on Lake Argyle in the afternoon so both were cancelled and our money was refunded, which was very lucky. After a long sleep in the afternoon (good drugs!!) we were joined for dinner by our friend Scott from Kununurra. Scott is a tour guide for Kimberley Cruises and we met him a couple of years ago when we did a 4x4 course in Melbourne and again last year when we were in Kununurra to go on our boat trip. He is a lovely young man and we spent a very pleasant evening with him.
The next two days we spent hanging around the van and pool as I wasn’t in very good condition to do much else. One good outcome was that we got to use the ‘disabled’ bathroom – no sharing. We had numerous discussions on what we might do and have decided to leave on Thursday and head for Broome where I will convalesce. Once I have fully recovered we’ll tackle the Gibb River road with the tent. This will be “real camping” not the wusses version in a van.
For when you next visit Kununurra the results of the mango smoothie competition using the following criterion in the judgement: flavour, consistency, size, ambience and cost were:
1. The Salad Bowl Café
2. Stonecraft Gallery (yes they produce zebra stone as well as smoothies)
3. Ivanhoe Farm Café
We also had a very exciting phone call from Ken and Maree to announce the early arrival of their first grandchild, Archer Henry. Rachel, Vin and bubs all well. Congratulations to the Maher family.
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