Beautiful Broome

12th October

We have turned the corner and we are now at beautiful Broome. With sunshine, pearls, and palm trees.  I loved it already and we have just arrived.

Nathan had a surprise for me and organised my mum and a good friend Sophie to spend a few days with us.  It was such a surprise. We also stayed in a nice apartment and we don't have to have baked beans or noodles for a few nights, this is fantastic.

The first night had a lovely dinner at the sunset restaurant with beautiful views of Cable Beach.

The next night we surprised the girls and went on the sunset camel ride on cable beach.  These camels are part of the original camel train Ships of the Desert.

With 22 kilometres of white sand and turquoise blue water, Cable Beach is a world famous place to swim and watch the sunset into the Indian Ocean on a tropical Broome night and what better way than on a back of a camel.

Nathan also had a place of interest, which was Matsos Brew House.  We spend a lovely night trying mango Beer and Chilli Beer while eating food from the curry hut.

Also spent a night at the Sun Theatre which is in the middle of China Town.  It is the longest running out door theatre in the world.  It is also right under the flight path so the movie is interrupted a couple of times by the awesome spectacle of the aircraft seemingly only meters overhead coming in to land at Broome airport.

On our last day we spent the afternoon at Willie Creek Pearl farm for a brilliant afternoon. All the girls now want is a pearl necklace. So instead of spending $65,000 we told them the ones from the markets for $15.00 were nicer. Early evening we watched the stairway to the moon, it was a little cloudy to see.  Jade kept asking if she could climb them. Later that night we went to see some Crab Racing which seems to be a bit of a Broome tradition, our little guy didn't do very well but its all for a laugh and the proceeds go to charity.

On the way out of Broome we hear that Cable Beach has been closed due to a large crocodile making his presence felt along the beach.

Derby Town

9th October  2010

We are still travelling with our friends from WA. We stopped in Derby for a few days so the boys could do a bit more fishing.

"Percy" at Derby Caravan Park

This afternoon we have awesome cloud formation with a storm brewing up in the distance and then nothing, not a drop of rain, but another fantastic sunset. Its very strange to watch, but we are getting used to it now.

We had a lovely lunch at the local fish and chip shop and had the best Barra and chips.

Nathan and Steve went to a "secret super hot" fishing spot on the Fitzroy river and experienced the famous Derby high tide.  It was like turning a tap and filling a bath, that was how fast it happened.  Full trees rolling down the river and with the nearby station hands opening fire on something after sunset, it was very exciting. The trip back out after dark was very difficult without driving lights. Still no Barra and only a few cat fish, he was very disappointed.

On the way out of Derby we took a look at the infamous Prison Boab.This hollowed out Boab was once used as a temporary lock up for aboriginal prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing.

Windjana and Tunnel Creek

9th October 2010

Made our way to another free camp today.  Its nice traveling with another family.  The girls love having the other kids around too.  We were going to stay in Halls Creek but have been recommended not to as its payment day and the town can get a bit exciting by the evening.

That night we meet an old hippy that has travelled around Australia 10 times.  He usually walks or hitch hikes.  This time he has an old car.  In his car on the back seat is heaps of feathers that he has collected.  He believes his mission in life is to collect feathers and to clean up Australia.  He was a very interesting man.  He gave the kids a feather as thanks for their didgeridoo playing scaring away the evil spirits from the campsite, he said the feather will give us good luck on our travels.

We are now back on the Gibb River Rd ready to explore Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge.  1st stop was Windjana Gorge which had colourful rock and a impressive Gorge with many freshwater crocodiles.

Checking out a little "Freshie" 

We walked about 3kms, that was all the girls could do this day as it was 39% and it was only 9.30am.

Next stop was Tunnel Creek, we have been looking forward to seeing Tunnel Creek .  The girls are excited about walking in the dark with a torch also walking knee deep in water with the bats and crocs. 

Tunnel creek flows through a spacious, water-worn tunnel beneath the limestone of the Napier Range in the National Park.

On the way driving back to Derby we could see a large storm ahead.  Then it started to rain. We just made it up the exit of a creek crossing but the Germans following us through were not so lucky and got well bogged in the gutter at the side of the road. while we were helping them out with the snatch straps a water carrier approached the creek crossing and become bogged as well. Once we had the Germans out we both towed the semi out with us hooked up in series.

Kimberley peak hour!

Was a pretty eventful afternoon, It's not everyday you get to tow a Semi-trailer out of a bog on a remote Kimberly road!

Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park

Wednesday 6th October 2010

We are finally on our way to check out the Purnululu National park and the Bungle Bungle range.  Stayed at a free camp just a few minutes away from the turn off.  Meet a lovely couple with 2 boys which the girls really got on well with. We decided that we will all camp together in the Bungle Bungle.  We left our caravan in the free camp over night which I was a bit hesitant about but our new friends say they do it all the time and they have never had a problem (so far).

Purnululu, like Kakadu has been granted world heritage status.  The 50km track into the National Park visitor center was not very good, no wonder they don't allow caravans. After 2 hours of very slow driving we arrive.

We are now ready with the 1st walk into Echidna Chasm.  It should be a lot easier with other kids around as they all walk better with other little ones to talk to.

The walks in and around the Bungles were very impressive.  Deep gorges that change colours as the sun progresses across the sky from brown to oranges and reds.

In the afternoon we surprised the girls and we all went on a helicopter ride over the Bungle Bungles. I have never been so scared as I didn't realise the helicopter didn't have any doors at all.  I had to stay calm though, as I didn't want the girls to panic. The view of the range and the gorges from the helicopter was truly awesome!

We all camped in the National Park that night.  Nathan slept in his swag and the girls and I slept in the tent.
We didn't get much sleep that night as I had some wild buffalo right next to my tent all night eating grass.  They were very noisy!

Gibb River Road

Tuesday 5th October

Today we are leaving our van to do the notorious Gibb River Road.  We have negotiated that we will do part of the Gibb River Road and camp and drive back and get our van later.  Nathan was very excited as the part of the trip he has always wanted to do.  The weather is all clear so today is the day. Despite it's reputation this part of the Gibb is quite well maintained and quite a bit of it is even sealed.

1st night accommodation was at a station called the Home Valley Station which we were recommended to stay at by some travelling families, it had a great swimming pool and play ground.  The grounds were beautiful but not much else to do unless you drive. We had a few drinks at the range bar and it looked like a bad storm was coming over, again the weather was only teasing us, not one drop of rain.

The next day we travelled back towards Kununurra and stopped off at El Questro Station, loved the ancient rugged landscapes, views of the majestic ranges and the unique environment. We had a few casts for Barramundi at the Pentacost River Crossing (again no luck) and checked out some waterholes and spectacular gorges!

After arriving back in Kunanurra we decided to head off for Bungle Bungle ranges to save a day but half way to Halls Creek we realised that "someone" had left our only copy of the keys to the van on the dog box! So about face and back to Kununurra to engage the services of the local locksmith! Oh well so much for saving a day!

Kununurra

Saturday 2nd October

Pulled up at a lovely shady caravan park where we will sleep for the next 3 nights. Around the caravan park are the largest mango trees I have ever seen.  The kids grabbed a bag and started picking some lovely mango's which will be our breakfast.

Just outside of Kununurra is Lake Argyle where the Argyle Diamond mine is located which is famous for the pink diamond. They employee around 500 people.

Kununurra has a lovely indigenous art gallery and also some beautiful jewellery shops. I had Nathan worried for a while when I walked out of the jewellery shop with a small bag.  I told him a have bought myself a early birthday present which was only a few thousand dollars.  I finally told him the truth and showed him the necklace which I purchased which was only $50, made by a local artist.

Spent the next day at Lake Argyle which is the largest man made lake in the southern hemisphere and has to be seen to be believed, the drive to the lake itself is astounding, showcasing some breathtaking Kimberley landscape.

In the afternoon we raced to the pub to watch the NRL grand final but missed the first half due to the time difference and the changeover to daylight saving time over in NSW. It was really weird being away in a non NRL state on grand final day.  The pub showed the match but only a handful of people were watching.  The atmosphere was not the same.  It has been the only time I said that I wish I was back at home.  At least we could get good seats :-)

Wyndham Prison Boab

Took a drive up to Wyndham, the northernmost town in WA to check out the WA Gulf, checked out the prison boab which was about 30km off the main road just south of the town, couldn't find much info on this particular one (much more info available on the prison boab near Derby) but was once used as a temporary lockup for local police.

Litchfield National Park

28th September 2010
Short drive into Litchfiled National Park.  Litchfield National Park have some great bush walks and also famous for the Wangi Falls.  The plunge pool at the falls were beautiful and cold with lovely mountains around them and the kids scrambled up the falls to a deep pool on the cliff. 

We also visited the Lost City which was a good off road excursion and we startled an emu on the track on the way out.

There were also the magnetic termite mounds which towered above the kids!

29th September 2010
We have been advised to drive the Douglas Hot Springs! So that's were we are headed this morning. These Hot Springs are in some parts over 60%.  It was very therapeutic soaking in these springs.

We decided to have a camp fire tonight.  After collecting the wood  and starting the fire a huge storm came over out of nowhere, we had gotten used to them brewing up and not actually delivering anything but a bit of thunder and lightning so the rain took us by surprise, and we had to scramble to get everything inside, it was a wild 20 minutes.  It was lovely as it cooled everything down for a good nights sleep.

Calm before the storm

Now our our caravan is full of mud again!

Top End Darwin

We have made it the top end of Australia, DARWIN!!!!!!! its really hot and extremely humid and mozzies around all day and night but we love it here!!!!!!!.

We stopped off at the Adelaide River to check out the Jumping Crocs where they take you out on a boat and encourage the crocs to 'jump' out of the water for some pork chops!

Agro

Darwin city has heaps to do and its great for kids.  The population is about 100,000 so its not very big. Darwin is clean, new and the people are very friendly and well as having a mix of different cultures.

The local Mindil beach markets we loved, with great food and street performers.  The kids loved the fire dancing. We also took the girls to the local museum and the water slides which were also free.

We went to the local Sailing club to watch the football final, taking a bag of craft for the girls thinking they would be bored in 5 minutes.  We didn't even have to open the bag the girls had the best day with the swimming pool in the club and huge play area.  At 7pm each night they pull down and huge screen and the kids can then watch a movie. When our girls are happy we are happy also, with a nice cold beer.

Heading for Kunanurra in Western Australia tomorrow where I hope to find a pink diamond, with an overnight stop at Victoria River Roadhouse on the way..

Go Saints x 2