Over the border...

Well, our last day in WA was spent with a quick look at Lake Argyle before we said goodbye to WA for a while! We decided not to paddle the lower section of Ord River, as I read that local Rangers had shot a 3m salt water crocodile only a week before because it was ‘uncooperative’, and confirmed sightings of two others! I also read an article quoting DEC’s Wildlife Expert Peter Mawson, saying that people only think there are no salties in the Ord, and its only a matter of time before an attack happens!! No thankyou!

We also didn’t bother paddling on Lake Argle, as we were both itching to cross the border! We still stopped in and now have an appreciation of the size and beauty of the lake, but from there it was on to the border! Yay!

Almost immediately over the border, we turned off into the Keep River National Park to spend a couple of nights. It’s a small but very beautiful park with multiple walking trails, lookouts and limestone structures similar to the Bungles. We walked to a few small Aboriginal sites including some rock art, a midden (place where meal remains are disposed of) and a stone shelter used to lure and catch eagles for tucker. The main art site sounded spectacular with 2,500 pictures and petroglyphs, unfortunately it was closed after being extensively damaged by an arsonist 2 years ago. When we asked about it, the Ranger said that the local elders are spending time with their younger community members traditionally restoring the site with the aim to reopen it in the future.

On our first night, we were quietly kicking back in camp, when Stuart glanced up to exclaim “oh look the moon look’s a bit funny – oh – it’s an eclipse!” It was a beautiful clear warm night, so we pulled out the chairs and relaxed watching the partial lunar eclipse. I enjoyed the close up view through the binoculars while Stuart took some beautiful slow shutter photography.

Our second night was spent with the “Around Australia Mancala Challenge”. We’ve started playing sets of 5 games, with the current score even at 1 all!

Before heading into the Gregory National Park, which is full of 4WD tracks, tonight we are staying in a very small town called Timber Creek. There’s a free band on at the pub tonight, so were getting scrubbed up ready for a big night out!?! Anyone for a bit of country?! Yee ha.

Viewing photos and leaving comments

Just a quick note, as I have had a few emails from people with similar queries and it’s easier to answer everyone via the blog!

• If you have subscribed, the email you get only includes single embedded photos but not our ‘slideshows’. To view the slideshows, you must click on the link in the email that takes you to the actual webpage.

• Also, the email will not give you the option to leave a comment or to view other people’s comments. You need to click the link to go to the webpage, and at the bottom of each update there is a ‘COMMENT’ link. Click on this and you will see any other peoples comments and have the option to leave yours

Hope this helps!

Mish

Kununurra and Purnululu National Park

Four days in Kununurra had Stuart fixing or modifying just about everything!!! The main repair was the water tank, which is now sealed and has a proper vent/overflow pipe installed. By the time we get home, I reckon the car and camper will be very different from when they left!

Our second night was spent with a celebratory dinner at the beautiful Pump House Restaurant on Lake Kununurra, to toast our completion of the Gibb River Road! The restaurant is in the disused pumping station on the lake, with a very funky feel similar to Little Creatures in Fremantle. The food was amazing including an entree of whiskey cured smoked Barramundi, followed with grilled barra and sautéed scallops as mains! We later found out that the restaurant has been nominated for a Gold Plate Award! And if this wasn’t great enough, looking over the balcony from our table, the water was lit up and teeming with huge catfish as well as a freshwater croc lazily floating amongst them.

Then next evening we headed out to Ivanhoe Crossing to check out potential fishing spots. After having a look around, Stuart decided he had to drive over the crossing, even though there was quite a strong current running over it! (Admittedly, he watched a couple of other ute’s cross it first!). He had a pretty big grin after it!

The other tourist delight we made a beeline for was the ‘Hoochery’ which is WA’s only legal rum distillery. We tasted just about every Rum they produced, including the Ord River Rum, the Premium Ord River Rum, Single Barrel Rum, Royale Liqueur (chocolate) and Aguardiente (aniseed), followed by an impromptu decision that we had better stay for lunch!

We have also met another young couple travelling around Australia with a similar setup to ourselves (4WD, camper and kayaks)! Nicko and Em are from Victoria although they have been in working in Darwin for the last year. We spent a great night sharing travel stories over a few beers, exchanging numerous places to visit and kayak on our respective travels.

Purnululu National Park (The Bungle Bungles)

It was a long and bumpy road into the Bungles. The last 50km from the highway into the park was full of short, steep, windy hills, reminding me of a cartoon Dr Suess landscape! The surrounding scenery, however, was nothing short of amazing. We drove in at late afternoon, and were staggered at the intense red colours of sunset the whole way in. It was absolutely beautiful, along with our little campsite at the Walardi campground.

The next morning we set the alarm for 5am and drove out to the ‘domes’ to watch the sunrise. The sunrise was just as spectacular as sunset the evening before. A quick hot chocolate and cake for breakfast in the carpark and we were off exploring the domes, lookouts and Cathedral Gorge. We even found some Aboriginal stencils of hands and boomerangs.

I have been totally blown away by the Bungle Bungles. I have wanted to see it for years and it was better than I ever imagined!

The afternoon was spent exploring Echidna Chasm which was also amazing, being so different from the domes. Echidna Chasm has steep pebbled walls, and progressively narrows down to shoulder width the further you walk in. Its so easy to see why Purnululu is World Heritage Listed! Driving back to camp, we stopped off in one of the lookouts and sat back with a cold beer and watched the sunset and changing colours on the massif.

Driving back into camp, we bumped into Nicko and Em again, so Stuart invited them over for a lamb roast he was planning to cook up that night. Another great night was had kicking back, and both Stuart and I found it really refreshing to meet people so like-minded and easy to talk to. We’re hoping to catch up with them later on in the year when we get down to Victoria.

We're now just back in Kununurra preparing to leave the state and head into the Territory! Hope everyone's well given the cold weather your all having down in the south!

Gibb River Road

We've driven the Gibb River Road and made it!

As we left Fitzroy Crossing we engaged 4WD and said goodbye to the bitumen for a while! Our first stop was the underground cave system at Tunnel Creek. We had to wade through sections of cold water about waist deep. (Thanks Mum and Bruce - the LED Lenser torches were great to explore the cave with, we ended up with hangers-on as their torches weren’t up to the job!). The cave was really beautiful, including one section with hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling!

WINDJANA GORGE

We ended up staying at Windjana Gorge for two nights, the first night just kicking back with a cold beer watching the brilliant sunset colours change on the rock face. The next day we did the 7km gorge walk. Inside the gorge the vegetation is really lush in comparison to the surrounding savannah. We saw lots of freshwater crocodiles on the river banks and just floating in the water, as well as trees full of fruit bats, beautiful Jabiru Storks, Angler fish, fossils and some Aboriginal rock paintings of hands and figures.

Our camp cooking skills are improving and we have been experimenting with our new kitchen. But you’ll have to wait as we are going to include this in another blog at a later date!

Stuart spent a busy afternoon installing an air vent in the roof of the ute cab to pressurise the canopy and reduce the red dust being sucked in around the tailgate. It was a nerve-wrecking job as it involved cutting a hole in the relatively expensive canopy with a drill and hack saw! After days of thinking about it, then measuring up multiple times, Stuart plunged in and fitted the air vent, and did a really neat job! Well done Stuart!

...however...

We packed up the next morning and headed off to Silent Grove, chatting in the car about how much difference we hoped the new air vent might make. It wasn’t until we had driven about 100km of dusty, dirt road that we stopped to take a scenic picture and to Stuart’s horror, discovered he had left the back window of the canopy open after dumping the rubbish!!! No - an air vent will not matter squat if you leave the BLOODY BACK WINDOW OPEN! Needless to say, the entire cab and everything in it was covered in red dust! We spent the first hour at Silent Grove taking every piece of food and equipment out of the cab and cleaning it!! This was much to the amusement of our neighbour - a ‘Mick Dundee’ look-alike, who suggested that we “...give it a miss and get on the piss!”

SILENT GROVE

Three nights at Silent Grove saw us explore Lennard Gorge, swimming at Bell Gorge and climb to the top of Mt Chalmers (behind the campsite). This was a hard climb up with a beautiful view of the entire surrounding King Leopold Range. The walk started in a gully creek line with remnant rainforest and led up rock faces to a sparse landscape at the top. Stuart’s enthusiasm didn’t wane at the top, and was still suggesting we explore a few more gully’s on the way down! This didn’t happen however, as I was tired, had sore feet, blisters, and slipped and bruised both buttocks on some pointy rocks, however Stuart also ended up suffering his share of discomfort, as he had been severely attacked by something, possible pepper ticks and was absolutely covered in bites! More than I can count – poor bugger... especially since I didn’t have any!

Kicking back in camp after our trek, we were very surprised to see the ‘Desert Rat’ turn up at the campsite. The ‘Desert Rat’ is a modified Jeep Wrangler owned by one of Stuart’s mates (and staff) Scott Hunter. He purchased it last year and has spent a large sum building his ultimate dream machine. We had a good night with Scott and Kristy and were grateful for Scott’s cold beers (as we had run out the night before! Our buy next time Scott!).

MORNINGTON WILDERNESS SANCTUARY

Following Silent Grove we headed to Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary for two nights. This is about 90km off the Gibb River Road. It is a very beautiful place with an abundance of wildlife and some great information handouts that we enjoyed reading out at different points as we drove along the tracks to the gorges. We watched the sunset from St John Gorge and paddled our kayaks down the impressive Dimond Gorge (this was the proposed site for a dam on the Fitzroy River!). As most people hire canoes that are permanently stationed at Dimond Gorge, we had to carry our kayaks 200m to a point upstream of the hire canoes. This also meant that we encountered a small rapid which I thought was great fun! In the evenings we enjoyed drinks at the bush bar and dinner at the outdoor restaurant.

GALVINS GORGE AND MANNING GORGE

Back onto the Gibb River Road we found two of the most beautiful gorges yet - Galvins Gorge and Manning Gorge. Neither of them were originally on our list to see, but were stunning places! An interesting little quirk at Manning Gorge (despite being top of our feral campsite list), was that they provided styrofoam boxes to put all your belongings in to swim across the river. The river crossing is part of the trail to the gorge! It was great fun!

Once again back on the Gibb River Road, we had some decisions to make.... We were running out of supplies, Michelle’s feet were giving in from all the walking, and by all reports - the eastern section of the Gibb River Road was really rough from the late rains and the road to Mitchell River was quite a bit worse! To top it off the Mt Barnett Roadhouse had run out of diesel (awaiting the fuel delivery)! So we parked up, broke out the maps and calculator and begrudgingly decided to skip the Mitchell Plateau and Drysdale Station, and headed straight to El Questro, where we could refuel and soak in the warm Zebedee Springs! (Michelle’s feet liked the sound of that!)

Just over the Hann River crossing, we came across a Britz camper parked on an awkward angle just past the crossing. We stopped to see if they were alright, to find that the old guy driving had broken down the night before. He was actually a ‘relocation driver’ for Britz and was on his way to Drysdale Station to swap the vehicle for another one that had a busted alternator. We were astounded to find that no one had stopped to help him, just driving by with a wave!!! He had no water left, no food and no communication. So we gave him some food and water, and let him use the sat phone to make some arrangements, for which he was very grateful.

EL QUESTRO WILDERNESS PARK (the Disneyland of the Kimberley... he he)

We arrived at El Questro after a long drive, including crossing the Pentacost River. Very wide, very beautiful, saltwater croc territory, but it was only a foot or so deep and nothing to worry about in the end!

We rocked into El Questro through some very stunning Kimberley country, and arrived at the ‘Township’, an expanse of green lawn, manicured gardens, white painted fences, stone buildings, horses, pigs, helicopters and cattle wandering everywhere. We set up on the grass amongst the wandering cows and had to have a giggle at how the place resembled a ranch theme park – featuring a ute driving around painting like a cow, and a guy mustering the cows through the campsites with a stockwhip!

We spent the first day just doing nothing (apart from the mountain of washing we had!) Kicking back in the evenings with some cold Little Creatures beer was pretty relaxing too! We spent the next day soaking up Zebedee Springs and exploring up El Questro Gorge. We bumped into the ‘Desert Rat’ again, finishing off the day with a bit of fishing with Scott on the Pentecost River (no barramundi, only a couple of catfish) and some more drinks at the bar in the evening. Whilst packing up to leave the next morning, and much to our amusement, we found out that a grazing cow had trod on Scott sleeping in his swag during the night!

(On a side note – Scott and Kristy tried to get up to the Mitchell River and confirmed the roads were really, really rough, so we’re happy with our decision to skip it! They didn’t actually make in the end, as the road was closed due to a truck rollover!)

We’re now in Kununurra for a couple of days of relaxation, before heading on down to the Bungles. Stuart needs to clean out and modify the water tank on the camper, as during one of the deeper river crossings a whole heap of dirt washed into the tank via the overflow – we now have muddy water! I’m heading into town to check out pink diamonds and art galleries!

Mish & Stu

Paddling Darngku (Geikie Gorge National Park)

We arrived at Darngku just in time for the 3:00 pm boat cruise. Without going into too much detail, it’s an impressive gorge!

We saw a few freshwater crocodiles, basking on the banks, and when we got back, Stuart had a chat with a few of the rangers he knows. When they found out we had kayaks with us, they encouraged us to do an overnight paddle up the river! We didn’t think too hard about it overnight, and rocked up the next morning ready to go!

Over the next two days, we paddled about 17km up the gorge, camping on a sandbank up in the gorge. Definitely the best way to experience the gorge, it’s animals, birds and landscape! We had a visit by a very curious perenti at lunch, who wasn’t really worried about us at all! Stuart eventually scared him off before he pinched my lunch!

We think the pictures speak for themselves...

 

Now we are just fuelling up before we head out onto the Gibb River Road, so the next post won’t be for a week or two, depending on how long we decide to spend out there!

Derby

Whilst in Derby we took to opportunity to visit the Boab Prison Tree, which was an impressive tree. As we walked back out to our car, we thought it was kind of wrong that the Department of Corrective Services Prisoner Transport Van was parked in front of it, especially given the significance of the site!


We also visited the Mowanjan Arts Centre. It featured paintings, etchings, boab nut carvings and belts made from woven hair (Michelle’s friend Claire’s hair to be exact!). We purchased two paintings by local Aboriginal women that depict the local spirit figures the gyorn gyorn and the Wandjina.

Our evenings were spent watching the sunset on the Derby Jetty, which you can drive out onto, and from the expansive mudflats. On the way out of town, Stuart stocked up on supplies for the Gibb River Road while Michelle had a haircut from Megan at Kimberley Kuts. (Which happened to be right next door to a funky bra shop called ‘Derby or Bust’. Ha ha.

From Derby we set off for Fitzroy Crossing.

Times are a chang’in

(these aren't actually Stuart's, they were just on the line in the Derby caravan park!)

Although not far into our trip, and loving the simple life, we are noticing the flow on affects from our much reduced funds and remote locations...

Our boutique beers selection now comprises of VB, EB, a selection of Emu’s, XXXX or Toohey’s New. We thought we hit gold when we found a case of Pure Blonde in cans in Broome! (although we were developing a taste for Tooheys for a moment there!).

Our top quality Scarfo’s meat and Stuart’s homemade sausages have become the $5 special bbq variety.

And as we packed our well worn comfortable camping clothes, we have already patched trousers, mended a broken zipper and stitched up a ripped dress seam!

Yep, we have exchanged our city life luxuries for the country variety of rising each morning with the sun, fresh air, beautiful scenery and no schedule!

I think we will blend in with the locals in no time.....  (and lovin' it!)