BROOME

It really is a beautiful place.  The colours are amazing - deep red rocks, white sand and blue sea.  And the weather's not bad either, though it can get a bit windy. 

We've had a really restful week.  Learnt about the history of Broome at the local museum - which is filled with information and paraphernalia about its pearling past; the cyclones that have caused much damage; the attacks of WW2; its population of so many different races.

On two evenings we visited Gantheume Point and Cable Beach to we watch the sunset.



Watching the sunset at Cable Beach



Gantheume Pt

One day we drove a few kms. north of town, and after travelling along a wide, red dust road,

suddenly found ourselves on a white, sandy salt pan.  As we reached the beach, we came to Willie Creek where they farm pearls.  We'd driven by ourselves, and felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, but when we stepped inside the building we found ourselves in the middle of a crowd of tourists, all looking at a wonderful display of pearls. 

The tide was starting to come in amongst the mangroves, and it was amazing to see how quickly the water flowed closer to the pathways.

We drove back to another section of beach, where Geoff was pleased to catch a couple of bream - a tasty dinner!  We just about had this place to ourselves, and we both enjoyed the quiet and the beauty. 

I spent quite a while watching little crabs scurrying across the sand.  Whenever they heard or saw something, quick as a flash they would disappear inside their shells. 




We're heading up to Cape Leveque for another couple of days in our tent.
We've heard that it's beautiful.  Will let you know how we get on.

ONLY A  SLIGHT  HITCH

Geoff turned the key - and there was dead silence.  Not what you want to hear when you're wanting the car to start.  We'd reached Hall's Creek, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it had improved greatly since 2004.  Had taken a drive out of town on a fairly rough road to Old Halls Creek, and seen the ridge of rock known locally as the Wall of China. 

Back at the caravan park we were preparing to drive along the first 120 kms. of the Tanamai Road to look at the Wolfe Creek Crater.  And that's when our problems began. The Terrano was deadly silent.  Being a manual car we were able to roll start it, and Geoff found a mechanic in town.  He in turn diagnosed a problem with the starter motor, but assured us that a good bang on the solonoid was all that was needed.  "Probably just dust" he said.  That made sense after where we'd been driving.

Hall's Creek

So we abandoned our plans, and next morning after another lot of banging, the car started.  We drove straight along the main road to Fitzroy Crossing.  As a precaution, we didn't turn the engine off all day - even while eating lunch. 

Along the road to Fitzroy Crossing

However, backing the van onto its site at The Lodge ( a beautiful caravan park near Fitzroy Crossing), Geoff stalled the car on a slight rise.  And it refused to start again.  Nothing!   A bit of a problem when you're blocking the driveway.  Other travellers came to our aid, & used their 4WD to back our van onto site.  So next morning, after banging the solonoid, Geoff got the car to go again.  We headed straight to Broome.  Here we were able to get it fixed quickly and easily.  What a blessing.  The sights we missed along the way, (exceot for the Crater) were places we'd been before, so we weren't too disappointed.  Just happy to have the car working again.

THE  KIMBERLEY

PURNULULU  (BUNGLE BUNGLES)

We loaded our tent and camping gear into the car, left our van at a caravan park, and drove the 54 kms. into the Bungle Bungles.  The road in was quite rough and windy, along which we encountered about 16 water crossings, the first of which was quite deep - about 50 mm.  It took us 1.45 hrs to reach the Visitor's Centre, where we had to register.  We had previously booked a campsite, a process which has been started just this year, due to the high numbers of tourists wanting to stay in the national park.  There are two main areas where you can walk, so we headed for the northern  end, past Kurrajong campsite.  We did three walks  a short one to a lookout with lovely views; then along Echidna Creek bed to the Chasm; and finally along another creekbed  to the Mini Palms Gorge.  We didn't finish the third one, as I was finding the going a bit hard on the pebbly surface, and it was getting quite warm. 


Echidna chasm

The light streaming into the Echidna Chasm at midday was spectacular.






We drove south to Walardi Campsite, to set up camp before sunset, which happened at about 4.45 pm.

The evening was fun, sitting around a communal campfire, chatting with other campers.

Despite the temperature falling quite dramatically overnight, we slept comfortably on the lilo.  However, we were amazed to hear dingoes howling early in the morning - a haunting sound which we'd never heard before.



Cathedral Gorge

The next day we drove a short distance to Piccaninny Creek car park, and from here we walked for about 2 hours.  This is where  the domes are situated - the iconic rock formations for which Purnulu is known.  It's a fascinating area, with the striped rock, grey creek beds, and beautiful gorges. 
 Because we'd started quite early in the day, it was reasonably cool, and there were also some shaded areas we walked through, particularly as we got into the gorge. 




Later in the afternoon, we sat and waited for the sun to go down, so we could get some photos of the changing colours on the hills in the distance. 

THE  KIMBERLEY

WYNDHAM

aboriginal statue

Despite being a busy port, Wyndham looks unloved and rundown.  It's best features for tourists are the view of the five Rivers as they converge into the gulf, and a group of large aboriginal statues. The rest of the place is quite delapidated, unlike most of the towns we've seen in the north-west.

We stayed about 26 kms from town at Parry's Creek Farm - a lovely grassed park next to the creek.  It's within a nature reserve, and the birdlife both at the farm and also at the nearby billabong bird-hide is prolific.

For dinner one night we joined about 40 fellow travellers around a blazing campfire for Hotpot & Damper, while being entertained by a local teacher who sang and played guitar.  Ken the chef cooked his hotpot in big camp ovens, and checked how the stew was going, after scraping coals off the lid, and peering in by torchlight.  It was very tasty.  He was quite a character, reading a few funny tales while we waited for dinner to be cooked.

One evening as I was cooking tea outside, a little green frog jumped onto my face - I don't know who got the bigger fright, him or me!  Needless to say, I didn't get a photo of him. 

We had a great day driving out along the King River Road, not far from Wyndham, where  we





saw lots of wildlife, including goannas, crocodiles and birds.  We ended up at Diggers' Rest Station, where they apparently filmed some of the movie "Australia". 

Brolga

For people who love horse riding, it would be a wonderful place to stay -  it is very basic, and a genuine outback experience. You'd need to be an experienced horserider, as they go on treks into fairly rugged country for days at a time.  Buzz was an old chap who spent the dry season at the station, and he chatted to us, filling us in on the history of the place.  A couple of emus think they own the place - particularly Marilyn, the female.

A Diggers' Rest resident.

Lucky this croc we saw was on the opposite bank of the river!

THE  KIMBERLEY

EL  QUESTRO

Driving along the Gibb River Road to access El Questro, we met up with lots of bike riders.  Turns out they were on the last leg of the Gibb River Road Bash.  Teams & individuals had ridden about 600 kms. from Derby - a pretty good effort.  But it meant that we shared the Station campgrounds with between 300 - 400 riders & support staff for the first couple of nights we were there.  Not exactly peaceful, particularly when the entertainment started up.  But we enjoyed the atmosphere - Geoff said it reminded him of something out of M.A.S.H.  Helicopters taking off every few minutes, tents, dust, noise, people - but fortunately no gunfire.
The scenery in the wilderness areas surrounding the station is stunning.  Huge, red rugged cliff faces; river crossings; gorges with beautiful trees & palms; waterfalls; hot springs; ghost gums; magnificent views down to wide rivers. 

We hiked into Emma Gorge over uneven river rocks - with a couple of little wobbly water crossings along the way.  We were glad to have a swim in the pool below the waterfall, despite it being very cool.






Emma Gorge



We did a bit of 4W driving, including some river crossings, and steep tracks to wonderful views.



Putting the tent up was a piece of cake!  Sleeping on the lilo turned out to be more comfy than we'd anticipated, but we were happy to get back to the van after 3 nights.