17TH JUNE 2013 – DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA

Departing Kununurra it’s not long before we cross the border into the Northern Territory again – no quarantine to worry about travelling from this direction but we do have to alter our clocks forward 1 1/2 hours. One of the first signs we see tells us ‘We like our lizards frilled, NOT grilled!’ No towns to go through today & a freebie for overnight. Because of the time change that evening is lighter & longer but the next morning is darker & only 8 degs which meant we were a little slower to leave our bed. At the small township of Timber Creek we top up with fuel $2.05. Timber Creek is a very small town, large aboriginal population, but very clean & tidy with IGA supermarket/general store, roadhouse, & Butcher. A sign outside the latter stated ‘Our meat is tough, fatty & tasteless’ – reverse psychology I’d say. Guess if it didn’t come up to expectations there would be no room for complaint! The town was all nicely landscaped with a nice park in which we saw lots of parrots, the first for a couple of months. Soon we cross the large flowing Mary River & walk across the very long bridge to watch for saltwater crocs – yes, we are back into croc country. Didn’t spot any though. Further along we have our eyes peeled for a property with the name ‘Coolibah’. Some of you may have watched an Aussie TV series ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ – about a family who own an outback station & their day to day lives. We always wondered where it was exactly not thinking we would ever drive by. We managed to find it on a map & sure enough passed right it’s gateway. Felt like being cheeky & driving down to see them, but I remembered the homestead was a long, long way in from the road, along their own very red, dusty one – not good for taking our van along, so had to be content to take a photo of gateway & sign. Another freebie that night, nice & shady to beat the higher temps.

Wednesday 19th we arrive in Katherine by 9am feeling on familiar ground as we of course visited on our last trip up the centre. Katherine is a busy little town with large Information Centre, Woolworths Supermarket & a small shopping mall as well as all the services required for a thriving community. There are always lots of road trains, caravans & motorhomes etc as it is a good stocking up place after many, many kms of nothing with traffic comverging from Darwin, Alice Springs & WA. Fuel is slightly cheaper @ $1.60. And talking of road trains, as we travelled on towards Darwin we managed to get stuck behind an oversized truck with a pilot in front & behind. Because we have a CB radio & they were using the same channel, we could hear the conversation between them all which was quite amusing. The language wasn’t always ‘pure’ but it was mate this & mate that & we learned a few new truckie terms. I have to say they are extremely careful & skilled in what they do & also considerate in trying to let a few of us pass. We knew exactly when they were going to let us through thanks to the radio. The truckie would instruct the pilot to pull aside, let only two vehicles through, & then to ‘close the door’ by closing the gap on the right again.

The roadside in this area is strewn with a bush with beautiful cyclamen coloured flowers & is called Turkey Bush. We did see it last trip but it seems to be flowering particularly well this year. That night in the freebie Stu got talking to a guy in the van next to us on his own, & it turned out they had both gone to the same radio school in the UK but just a year apart. Naturally there was lots of talk of the ‘old days’ round a campfire which we certainly did not need for warmth. Stu reckons Aussie is full of pyromaniac, alcoholic fishermen. There are so many vans with boats on top or pulling a trailer with one behind the motorhome. We never saw evidence of many catches though – would have been nice to have a feed of nice fresh fish. Unfortunately fish is just as expensive or worse than at home. Anyway we had a nice time talking to an assortment of people including a couple of very nice young frenchmen.

 

Aboriginal artist painting a digeridoo

 

Sunset at Mindil Beach

 

On the 20th we arrived in Darwin about 10.30am & headed for the same caravan park we stayed in last time. They don’t take bookings so we were concerned we wouldn’t get in. Luck was with us & we were given a nice shady site not hemmed in by other vans. The weather is overcast but a lovely temperature with a nice breeze. It felt strange to be back as we hadn’t really planned to do so this time. However having passed through WA quicker than anticipated, a week in Darwin is not really too bad. Nice to stay put for awhile. There has been growth in the two years since our last visit with new housing estates close by & road improvements. At least we know our way around a bit. It’s a good chance to do a bit of cycling which hasn’t been easy in most places though it has to be done in the mornings before it heats up too much. There is a pool in the park so afternoons are better spent there or reading in the shade. It’s such a pity that with some lovely beaches here it’s too dangerous to swim because of the saltwater crocs who come in from the rivers – & of course the stingers too. We are so lucky in those respects in dear little NZ. At least it’s only the cold that keeps us out of the water. So in general it becomes a very relaxed week though we did do a trip to Berry Springs about an hours drive from Darwin - another place we had visited last time. It is a natural warm spring with lovely cascades which flow down to two huge pools & is very, very popular. The following day we took a short ferry trip across Darwin Harbour to a place called Mundorah accompanied by another couple from the caravan park. It proved to be pretty boring though we had a very nice lunch of Barramundi & salad. Unfortunately if we had known we could have taken our bikes on the ferry & got some exercise over there, & with swimmers we could have used the resort pool. The resort is apparently going to close in the near future through lack of patronage. Not surprised as there is not much to attract people though we enjoyed the ferry ride & the view of Darwin city from the water which was very hazy to more burning off. One of the things I disliked was waking each morning to the smell of smoke but it does create wonderful sunsets one of which we witnessed from the Mindel Beach night time market on the Saturday evening. It has such a great atmosphere with entertainment, from music to whip cracking. A number of aboriginal artists were painting on the spot, one very talented young woman had her daughter of 5 or 6 painting as well & the talent was amazing. People watching in the cool evening air , cool drink in hand is our favourite. There is such a cultural mix of people in Darwin & the food stalls have so many different ethnic foods it’s mind boggling. Hundreds of people line the beach at sunset with cameras clicking madly & it’s a real family attraction, one we were happy to repeat again.

Bee Eater posing

Mandorah Beach across water from Darwin



 

 

13TH JUNE 2013 – KUNUNURRA, KIMBERLEY WEST AUSTRALIA.

Another day, another destination. Temperature 27deg at 8.30am, filled up with fuel $1.99. Apart from the price of the latter I just love this part of the country, with the blue mountain ranges in the distance & the morning sun setting off the bright green of the trees & the orange roadside grasses, red earth & rocky escarpments. We witnessed a controlled burn off not far from the highway & a few burnt Boab trees, though because they store water in their bottle-like trunks, I think they do survive??? At the moment most of them are bare but apparently if they have leaves on it is a prediction of rain as they catch the rain on their leaves in order to store the water. It is amazing the surprising sights there are sometimes. This morning we saw a group of cyclists pedalling along the highway – why anyone would want to do that way out in the middle of nowhere in that heat I have no idea. Some of them were well behind poor things – luckily there are not too many hills. As we approach Kununurra we see hundreds of acres of Sandalwood trees which are processed locally & are used all over the world in the perfume industry.

Kunanurra has population of approximately 6000, an average rainfall of 790mm & a temperature range of 15-25deg in the wet season & 30-39deg in the dry. It originally existed as a cattle town with cattle numbers reaching a peak of 800,000 head in 1978. It is the youngest town in Australia established in 1960 to service the Ord River Scheme. The Ord River was dammed in 1971 to form a storage reservoir supplying water to one of Australia’s largest & most ambitious irrigation schemes. Argyle Downs, a one million acre cattle station was flooded to create a vast & beautiful lake, the largest man made lake in Australia. Lake Argyle is classed as an inland sea covering over 1000 sq kms & holds approximately 32 times as much water as Sydney Harbour. Without agriculture, Kununurra would not exist today growing large amounts of melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, pawpaw, bananas etc. The lake is also a major tourist attraction with full day boat tours available.

Another major industry in the area is the Argyle Diamond Mine, at which the unique & rare pink diamond is found as well as other fine diamonds. Visitors from all over the world come to view the collection made by the local firm of Kimberley Fine Diamonds. There is a large aboriginal population too & some very good aboriginal art is produced in the region. One of the popular things made by these people are carved Boab nut shells which are really nice when done properly. I was offered several which I could have bought very cheaply but sadly I couldn’t bring them back to NZ.

Swimming pool at Lake Argyle Resort

Lake Argyle

Dam wall Lake Argyle

Arriving at our caravan park we meet up with our kiwi friends again & view a delicate pink sunset by Lake Kununurra on which the park is set, viewing a freshwater croc who seems to be a regular each evening. The next day the four of us took a boat trip of the Ord River itself. Picked up at 11.30am by bus & driven 70kms to Lake Argyle, visiting the old Durack Homestead en route. This lovely old building had to be removed from it’s original site to make way for Lake Argyle. It’s history was so precious that it was totally rebuilt with it’s original materials on the present day site as a museum. The bus then continued on to the Lake where the river starts by the dam wall. The views of Lake Argyle are very beautiful & I was able to take a couple of photos by the ‘infinity’ pool belonging to the Resort on the shores there. The boat trip proved to be a wonderful excursion with a great captain full of knowledge of the history & flora & fauna of the area. The men were particularly impressed by the boat which had 3 x 350hp outboard motors & moved rather well! There were many freshwater crocs to spot & photograph as well as beautiful scenery, lots of birds etc. A delicious assortment of home baking & tropical melons was provided for afternoon tea on the banks of the river in a permanently set up picnic area (built by the boat company). The final thrill was a race between our boat & another one also owned by the same company – great fun! After a journey of 55kms we watched the sunset & were delivered right back to the shore of our caravan park. It was a fantastic day enjoyed by all.

"Freshie" Ord river

 

Tranquil waters Ord river

 

Soldier, natures creation, Ord river

 

Reflections Ord river

 

Next day our kiwi friends left to head to Katherine in NT, so Stuart & I did a bit of fossiking around the town, visited the local market, & caught up with cleaning the caravan & car etc. We made a decision to book another tour to an area called El Questro, once a large cattle station of one million acres, but now a tourist resort. It is currently owned by an American family who subleased 100,000 acres out to a cattle farmer, keeping the remaining 900,00 for the resort. It is a pastoral lease from the government & has been for almost 100 years & the lease expires in 2015. It is possible to camp there but is only suitable for offroad vehicles. We did think about driving out there but when we weighed up the costs (it is very expensive even to camp), we decided it would be a nice relaxing day to take the tour. So collected from the caravan park at 6.30am by a big off road coach, we set off over the very dusty corrugated road. The bus was so comfortable we hardly noticed. Our first stop was Emma Gorge & waterfall which was a 1 hour walk each way over a very rocky track, however with the correct footwear not a problem for most of us though a couple of ladies did turn back before the end. At the end of the trail after passing some gorgeous little pools of an amazing green, we arrive at the impressive Emma Gorge plunge pool. Unfortunately the waterfall was only a shower but the pool was a delight to swim in & although we expected it to be very cold we discovered it was fed by warm springs so was not too bad at all. It was a race to find where the spring fed in through the large rocks at the base, but a joy to sit in once found & everyone was very generous & we all had a turn. Some children (not with our group) found another tiny pool on a rock ledge & were delighted because the rest of us were too old & doddery to climb up there.

Zeberde springs El Quetro Nature Park

 

Well refreshed, we wandered back to the bus at the resort & were served a delightful morning tea of cake & fresh tropical fruits in the outdoor dining room together with tea or coffee, then it was back onto the bus for our next destination. Another swim at Zebedee hot water springs. This was a delightful area of Liverstona Palms with their black trunks, & a myriad of small pools again fed by warm spring water. Most of us found a pool of our own in pairs, swapping now & again (the pool not the partners)! It was such a relaxing, tranquil place it would be lovely to stay for hours. But as is the way with organised tours, it was off again, this time to the station for a delicious lunch in the restaurant there. We had a choice of Barramundi or steak, with salad & chips. We both chose the Barra as we had been wanting some nice fish & it proved to be a great choice & was mouthwatering. Off again for the last part of the tour, the boat trip up the gorge, this time on a very slow little boat with a Hamilton jet engine. I think they only had that engine because the river is quite shallow at times, & also quite rocky. We had a youngish pilot who I am sure was Maori & also another older guy who was a Kiwi & gave the commentary & entertained us with his guitar, singing & poetry. We were told that when we got to the end of the gorge we would be given a warm welcome by some of the local wildlife & imagine wallabies or roos or such like. To our surprise when the boat was launched onto a sandy beach, all of a sudden loads of catfish & ‘spitting’ fish arrived beside the boat. The latter had everyone in fits, as every time someone leant over the side they spat at you. It was amazing how far they could do it. Apparently they do it to insects who then land in the water & the fish are able to catch them. They were also joined by a very large Barramundi. Our captain could actually lean over & catch the catfish in his hands. ‘Bubbly’ or orange juice was then handed around with more tropical fruit & then it was time to return to the bus for the journey home, accompanied by a rather nice sunset before the dark settled at 5.30pm. Luckily we were the first to be dropped back at our park, so it was nice to have a hot shower. a light meal & head for bed.




Burn off near Kununurra

 

11TH JUNE 2013 – BUNGLE BUNGLES, KIMBERLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Up early to leave at 7.30am as we have a big day driving into the amazing area of the Bungle Bungles in the Purnululu National Park, leaving the van behind at Spring Creek with other vanners. I’m sure most of you will have seen photos of them in all the Aussie tourism brochures? (Large sandstone domes of orange & grey horizontal bands). It has been a tourist destination since 1983 & gained World Heritage status in 2003. It is estimated to be approximately 360 million years old, rises over 200 metres & was formed during the Devonian age, which means it was originally under the ocean. It has taken about 20million years of erosion to carve the domes out as they are today. The grey banding is formed by cyanobacteria & the orange is the result of oxidised iron compounds within the layers. All this makes for an amazing formation which is only open from April to early December dependent on weather conditions. Access is only granted to 4WD vehicles. It is possible to camp with a tent or camper trailer in basic campsites with water & toilets, but impossible to take a caravan. Naturally there are several tours available, either by fixed wing plane, helicopter, or big offroad bus. Our ex pat kiwi friends did the fixed wing & loved it – $175 each for 30 minutes.. Would be fantastic to see but we like to get in amongst things ourselves. With the usual cloudless blue sky we travel 100kms of extremely rocky, corrugated, dusty road & the first really bendy road we have been on as well. I think Stu is going to join the next rally at Paparoa as he did really well with six creek crossings to boot. We have learnt by now that it’s not always a good idea to go too slow on these sort of roads, so Stu had let our tyres down to about 24psi instead of 40 which apparently helps not to get a blowout & is also a bit more comfortable, & travelled at a reasonable speed for the conditions. All quite adventurous for a couple of seniors! The scenery was quite nice & by the time we arrived at the National Park the temperature was about 27deg. Another couple we have become friendly with followed in their own 4WD – far enough back not to eat too much of our dust.

Entering Echidna Chasm

Echidna Chasm

Echidna Chasm

 The first attraction was Echidna Chasm which is another 20kms from the Visitor Centre. There is a two km walk trail through a spectacular long chasm with livistonia palms, & striking colour variations dependent on the angle of the sun beaming into the chasm from the 200mtr high ridges above. Great for photography! Nearby we did the short walk to Osmond Lookout, which takes in the grandeur of the Osmand Range & Red Rock Creek. No time to waste though, so it was off to the other end of the park, another 50km drive. By this stage we hadn’t actually seen any domes & were becoming worried that they were not going to come up to expectations.

Wattles and Ranges

Bungle Bungle Domes



Carpark in Bungle Bungles

  Thankfully we were wrong & they really are a great sight & we were able to wander on a trail among them. My photos don’t do them justice but they really do look like the advertised photos. After lunch with our friends in the shade of the supplied gazebos it was off to Cathedral Gorge, a very lovely cavern with pools & like a large ampitheatre with honeycomb weathering on the walls. Now in the 30’s so we were glad to sit & relax in the lovely cool atmosphere provided in there, with the looming cliffs & evidence of waterfalls which must cascade down the walls during the wet season. It had been a great day but we had to make sure we got back over the road & creek crossings before dark, & it proved be a slow journey due to a very slow vehicle in front & there is no place to pass. Of course we had to stay well back to avoid his dust & our friends well back behind us to avoid ours. To make matters worse there was a grader working on a very bad corner & what a mess it was, so that held us up as well. However all was well & it was back to a lovely cold drink & a nice cool shower & early to bed.

On our way out of Bungle Bungles

 

8TH JUNE 2013 – KIMBERLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Two nights out from Derby spent in freebies again, the first very large & had about 50 vans there, all parked on lovely hard surfaces. The second right on top of cliffs & what a beautiful view we all had, overlooking a small valley & out to the distant ranges blue in the distance. It was a little breezy which was a distinct advantage as we are now back in to higher temperatures & don’t expect them to go down from here on in. Between the two we visited Fitzroy Crossing, a small town with a population of about 1500, mostly aboriginal, & situated on the Fitzroy River. It has a visitors’ centre (not open because it was Sunday) which also contains the shire offices & the library, & also a supermarket, a caravan park, a Post Office, an Inn (1897), a police station, & a roadhouse. The supermarket, Roadhouse & Inn are run by the Aboriginal Community. The average temperature is 35.7C with a minimum of 19.2. The Fitzroy Valley contains some of the best cattle lands in the Kimberley.

Geikie Gorge

  20kms out of the town is the Geikie Gorge which we visit & take a one hour boat excursion on the Fitzroy River. The cliffs are magnificent & are what was once a Devonian reef so it is possible to find marine fossils in the rock faces which are full of colours & textures. Freshwater crocs inhabit the river & although we saw quite a lot of very small ones, I am sure some of the mamas & papas were around somewhere. A very wellspoken & well educated young Aboriginal woman was both pilot of our boat & commentator & we were all very impressed. Our tour started at 9.30am & it was delightful being out on the water but we were glad not to be doing a later tour as the temperature was rising quite quickly.

Spot the Croc

 

Colourul Cliffs

 

The third night & another very large freebie at Mary Pool, over a causeway to a lovely treeshaded area beside the Mary River. We were lucky to be there early & gain a possie looking over the water. It wasn’t long before it all became quite busy & we met up with people from previous stops. We are all so much ‘on the same page’ with our ages & situations in common so it isn’t hard to find a topic of conversation. In conversation with a nice couple we mentioned that we were intending to sell our van before returning to NZ, & much to our surprise they showed an interest. Later in the day they came to inspect it & seemed quite impressed, & as we are heading to the same place next we will have further contact with them. They went away armed with information about it so here’s hoping, though naturally we are not getting too excited yet. Between conversations our time was spent reading in the shade, or in my case chasing small birds trying to get photos in order to identify them. Some of them are so small it’s almost impossible. When driving we see quite large flocks of tiny ones & they are too quick to identify but I would guess they may be finches as I know they have quite a few of those in this area.

Red Dragonfly

 

 

Heading on now we reach Halls Creek, larger than Fitzroy Crossing & again a large population of aborigines.  Temperature was 27deg at 8.30am.  It's a pleasant enough place & we laughed about the large IGA store there was very well stocked & owned by Asians - just like NZ.  Fuel is now $1.84.

Further along the landscape was really nice, with orangy coloured grasses by the road & lots of trees & distant ranges & intermittent rock formations.  By 10am temperature rose to 30deg .  After a two hour drive from Hall's Creek we find our next overnighter called Spring Creek & we were lucky to get there early enough to get shade.  We meet up again with the couple interested in the van & sadly they had realised it wouldn't fit in the space back home.  We all agreed to drive out to the Bungle Bungles next day & leave our vans behind in the care of other vanners as the road out there is far too rough for towing.

 

 

 

 

4TH JUNE 2013 – BROOME & DERBY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Broome thankfully was fine & warm but with evidence of heavy rain overnight. The temperature was 16deg when we arrived, rising to 30 by the time we left at 3.30pm. It’s a nice town with a tropical feel centred around the pearling industry. There is a Chinatown so I guess that means there are lots of chinese there. There are tours of pearl farms, glitzy expensive pearl shops, cafes & not a lot that interested us. We did visit the famous Cable Beach which is supposed to be one of the eight most beautiful beaches in the world, & I guess if you just want to sit in the caravan park or on the beach for several days or more it would be OK.

Black Kite Cable Bay Broome

 

Lifeguard setup Cable Bay (not busy)

 

  Unfortunately that’s not for us – we like to get out & involved with the environment. So it’s off to another freebie for the night where we met a couple with a van the same as ours, only the second one we have seen. We had a good time chatting to them & had happy hour joined by two guys who were doing all the offroad routes. They had been stuck every day in the last 4 days due to the rain even though they had the right rig & were just about to attempt the famous Gibb River Road which goes from Derby to Kunanurra a distance of approximately 600+ kms of red dirt road. There are a few basic camp sites but that is all , but I believe there is some awesome scenery to be seen. When we awoke next morning the area was once again a mushy mess & in the middle of it all was a very large red Brahmen bull enticed by the large pools of water which he was slurping up oblivious of all the cameras clicking around him. Once satisfied he moved quietly on though we feared he may be run down as he stopped in the middle of the road for a few minutes finally reaching the other side.

Brahmen Bull at rest area

 

     We left too, reaching the funny little town of Derby on King Sound, with quite a large population of aboriginal people. It’s major claim to fame is the jetty where it is possible to witness a 11m tidal range, the highest in Australia & second highest in the southern hemisphere & also the Boab (bottle) trees seen in this area. We made it our base for several days so that we could visit the attractions in this part of the Kimberley.

Large Boab tree Derby

Derby jetty

 

Pheasant Coucal at Campground Derby

 

Winjana Gorge

The second day in Derby was so wet it wasn’t worth thinking about doing any sightseeing, so a very lazy day was had by both Stu & I, reading, crosswords, sudoku etc. The camp was awash. We made the decision that next morning rain or shine we would risk driving out to Winjana Gorge & the Tunnel Creek Cave, 175kms each way, hoping the weather was better inland. As it happened on waking next morning the weather was much improved, so we left at 6.45am and the day got better & better as we drove. Winjana Gorge proved to be nice with a small creek running through what would be a very large river in the wet season & lovely high red & black cliffs.

Freshie at Winjana Gorge

 

Fruit Bats Winjana Gorge

  The massive rocks at the base were like pink rippled marble although they were the same rocks as on the cliffs. Those on the cliffs were very weatherbeaten thus the difference in colours. There were a number of fresh water crocs to be seen lazing near the edge of the creek, so we were able to get good shots of those. The highlight proved to be Tunnel Creek cave, a huge cavern almost 2kms long with water running through it some of which it was necessary to wade through.

Stu Tunnel Creek

  Entirely self guided & free, torches were of course necessary, & as someone who has never really liked being underground, this one I thoroughly enjoyed. No ducking heads, no enclosed spaces, just a big open cavern, certainly dark, but a lovely feeling to it & felt very adventurous. The opening at both ends looked brilliant in the sunshine giving the pools lovely shades & reflections. This cavern would have been used by the Aboriginal hero Jundermurra who fought the white man single handed but was eventually killed. It was made into a movie which I saw on TV not too long ago.

It was a long day, but on the way back to Derby Stu saw a python on the road which he couldn’t avoid, then saw another one about 5 minutes later on the roadside. The second one was about two metres long but not very round. I believe they were Olive Pythons. We also visited the Prison Boab Tree, an extremely old tree with a hollow inside, which was used in the early days to keep aboriginal prisoners in once they were captured & forced to work in the pearling industry.

 

 

 

2ND JUNE 2013 – PORT HEDLAND, MID WESTERN AUSTRALIA

A cold 12deg windy wet morning as we set off for Port Hedland. The scenery is beautiful with gigantic clouds of amazing shapes & the road bordered by spinifex with it’s mounded green base & long, straw coloured seed heads. Further along they become orange coloured from the dust all the road trains are spewing out as they drive past. Pulling into a roadhouse for fuel we are faced with long queues of caravans & roadtrains surrounded by a sea of red mushy mess of mud (tongue twister for today). The water just seems to lay on the surface instead of sinking in which is why it floods so easily. Most of these roadtrains have three trailers behind them, laden with equipment bound for the mines. There are more ‘oversized’ vehicles on the road than we have ever seen before & one was so wide that we had to entirely pull off the road & stop till it went past. Western Australia seems to be 90% mining & 10% tourists.

 

One of the many carring iron ore from the mine

 

Waiting for fuel at Roadhouse

 

Amazingly as we venture further we cross several creekbeds, still totally dry & full of young sapling trees which have obviously grown since the last flood. I guess the whole cycle will be repeated & they will all be washed away again. Such is the changing face of this land. The other gruesome sight is cattle who have been hit & the scavengers have cleaned them entirely out leaving just the hide looking like a ‘bag of bones’.

Rain gave us a breather once we reached Port Hedland which was mostly closed due to it being Sunday & long weekend holiday. However we went to purchase milk & bread at a small store which turned out to be like a Kiwi dairy, operated by a Maori woman. She imports lots of Kiwi goodies like Maketu pies, flounder, whitebait, bluff oysters etc for all the kiwis working in the surrounding mines. She was not impressed with the weather & the temperature of 17deg which was too much like NZ weather & most unusual for this time of year. The normal would be 25deg. Back on the road there are loads of mining vehicles driving toward us again – everything about Port Hedland is mining orientated – it is so ‘in your face’..

The rain caught up with us again by the time we found our overnighter which was situated beside a large river (yes, with water in it). There must have been about 50 vans parked & it was fairly muddy. By the next morning with all night rain, it was even worse & a couple of motorhomes got stuck. Some people decided they were going to stay put but we decided it may get better as we headed further north so took our leave. We had to rethink our options as many of the dirt roads we intended to travel on were closed. There were vans coming out of them which seemed to have had a very bad paint job as they were now red instead of white. With a shortage of water in these parts I don’t know how they would get them cleaned up again. We did see one poor couple in a roadside area trying to clean theirs with little success. The GPS at this stage is showing a totally straight line in the middle of nothing. About the only thing we see is a couple of very large birds in the middle of the road which I identify as Bustards (correct spelling), and some Brahmen cattle with their humpbacks & enormous saggy folds of flesh hanging under their chins. Do hope mine doesn’t reach that stage!!! The wind is now against us as well so we are chewing up fuel like a sponge soaks up water. Funnily enough the fuel is easier to get than good water. On reaching our next overnighter we had a good respite from the rain & had time to wander around watching birds & making phone calls to book a caravan park in Broome while we had a signal. Unfortunately it rained heavily again during the night so left for Broome at 7.30am, in two hours of heavy rain. The peak season starts here from June 1st & Broome is very expensive, $42-$52+ per site per night, so we changed our plans & decided to just spend the day there. It’s a bad start to their season, especially those little places off the main route on closed roads.

29th MAY 2013 – PILBARA, NORTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Breaking camp from Cape Range National Park it was straight back to Exmouth where Stu spent time looking for a place with tyres for the Landcruiser. With luck we found some & just as well as two of the four were well down & getting to the stage of being illegal. While he delivered the car I spent time filling the water tanks with the free water at the Visitor Centre then we did some grocery shopping . All achieved by the time the car was ready & because it was then lunchtime we ate & finally left at 2pm, very late for us leaving one place for another. It was a long flat drive which became quite boring by the time we reached our chosen overnighter which was beside a VERY dry riverbed. There were quite a few cattle wandering around near us enticed by some pools of water left by recent rain. On the road at our usual time next morning we had a large flock of Corella cockatoos fly right at the car & unfortunately at least one was hit. It was a lovely drive with pretty mountain ridges which looked quite purplish in the distance, some with tabletops quite typical of the Pilbara region. It seems there are either cloudless blue skies or amazing cloud formations & on this day it is the latter. There doesn’t seem to be any wildlife apart from birds or straying cattle now & again. The landscape is so vast & just seems to go on & on forever. There is also a distinct lack of traffic unless they are all behind us. One thing which surprises us is seeing hoons ‘drifting’ patterns on the road in a couple of places. Seems incomprehensible so far in the outback. We reach the small mining community of Paraburdoo which is very busy with trucks & utes everywhere, all covered with red dust & their neon yellow stripes & flags on top of the vehicles identifying them. This is the airport from which all the mine workers from here & Tom Price town fly home on their days off & holidays & there are 46 flights a week go out by Qantas alone. Stu was not pleased to have to follow a convoy of mine vehicles for 10kms as we left. Tonight we have to pay for a caravan park at Tom Price & were dismayed to be told it was $28 unpowered & $42 powered! You can guess which we took. Because we do so many kms the batteries stay well charged for our needs & of course we have our solar panel as well. Only for the fact that Stu has booked a mine tour at 9am next day, we would have continued onto the Karajini National Park. This was a Rio Tinto mine, one of many in the area. It was much quieter than he expected after having visited the one in Westport where his daughter works. The ore is removed & crushed, then loaded onto trains over 2kms long, the value of the load being worth 3 million dollars per train & there are 3 trains per day which to go to the port of Dampier headed for China. Tom Price was only built in 1963, named after an American who was instrumental in convincing the mining companies that it was worth mining here. He also played a major role in lobbying the State & Federal Governments to allow mining to proceed & for the ore to be exported. In 1962 he returned to the States at age 71 & sadly died of a heart attack only two hours after being advised of the very rich ore deposits discovered on the mountain here. It is a small town & totally mining orientated as you can imagine, but I thought for a young family with no children or starting a family it was a great way to get a start in life. It has all the amenities possible like swimming pool, parks & playgrounds, cinema, recreation centre, gokarts, nice schools, golf club, hospital, doctor, dentist, etc. The houses mostly are quite nice brick homes, with some really lovely ones with gorgeous green lawns & gardens which apparently belong to the doctors, dentists & mine bosses I daresay. The population is 5000. And to get away from it all they have the Karajini National Park only 80kms away & that is we headed too.

On the short drive to the N.P we called in to look at a free overnight area called RIP. Thinking it was a weird name I had told Stu I didn’t know if I would like to stay there as we would either have a very good nights rest or never leave. On arrival we were very surprised to find that it was surrounded by rocks with either written memoriams on the rocks or in some cases professionally made plaques, some with flowers & a few with wreaths placed there this last Anzac Day I would guess. It was quite moving.

Saturday 1st June – can’t believe we have been away so long. Time is flying by indeed & here we are at another destination which we hope will live up to expectations. The usual NP rules, no pets which Stu says cuts out half the nomad population as so many of them have dogs here in Oz. We are given a huge site & as fate would have it only two sites away from our expat kiwi friends who have been here 3 nights & leave next morning.

Dales Gorge

Fortescue Falls

 

Rock face Dales Gorge

 

 

  We take the bull by the horns & hit the first of many walking trails, this one taking us along the rim of the gorge, & next morning we retrace our steps & head down to the bottom of the gorge itself. There are waterfalls (not large at this time) but nevertheless very pretty, & the rock formations are amazing, stacked like layer after layer of red granite. Although the weather is overcast & windy up top, at the bottom it is still & warmer. We are surprised at one of the pools (with proper swimming pool steps,) to find some mining guys on their day off actually swimming. They told us how warm it was which we took with a grain of salt, but it actually was very warm. Unfortunately we didn’t come prepared but I’m sure a lot of the young ones wouldn’t let that stop them. Next day, after much umming & aahing as to whether it would be worth it, we drove 60kms of red dirt road to a group of 4 other gorges. And worth it indeed!

Joffie Falls

  The first call was Joffre Falls which we admired from a lookout high above, a semi-circular ampitheatre which must be totally spectacular during rain. Even so it did have water coming down it. But the second gorge was the most adventurous & most beautiful. We had a very rocky path & several ladders to climb down to start & there were quite a few young people down there. After a short walk we discovered we had to remove our shoes & roll up our trousers as high as possible to walk through a thigh high pool through a fairly narrow opening in the amazing cliffs. One young lady stripped down to her knickers only on the bottom, & another young german girl ended up with very wet jeans too narrow in the leg to roll up far. After sliding down some slippery rocks, she later removed them.

Jan & Stu Hancock Gorge

 

Kermits Pool Hancock Gorge

 

Jan coming out of the Grge

 

   The next part was called the Spider, as it was necessary to place a leg either side on opposing cliff sides & walk along with alternate movements of hands & legs. Of course we were the only silly ‘oldies’ to attempt it, & it got even harder on the next bit edging along little ledges, sometimes on our bottoms. At the end it was just stunning, high cliff faces like polished granite, pools etc. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely & felt so proud we had perservered. Must admit if we hadn’t seen the young ones doing it we wouldn’t have thought it possible. And we even survived to tell the tale! We did visit a couple of other lookouts & thought they would be an anticlimax after our adventure, but the last one was stunning too with four gorges coming together at one point. Again would be spectacular after heavy rain. We both thought it was the highlight of our trip so far.

Oxer lookout (4 gorges converge)