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| The Grotto |
Click on photos for larger image
Tuesday 12.7.2011: 22 degrees - 30 degrees - warm and sunny. Woke early packed up and walked around the caravan park, it was a bit dilapidated especially the amenities, we saw a beautiful old boab tree 2,000 years old. Left Wyndham about 8.30am drove about half an hour down the road and went in to see the Grotto, there were 140 steps straight down, we had to put our hand on the rock at the side to make sure we didn’t fall as there were no safety rails. Down the bottom of the steps was a lovely peaceful waterhole 300’ deep with lovely jaggered red rocks everywhere, we watched a duck and a family of whistling kites catching cat fish, it was a lot easier going back up the steps out of the waterhole.
We drove on down the road to Turkey Creek and it was so hot and we were ready to stop, so we decided to stay the night.
Wednesday 13.7.2011: 22 degrees - 33 degrees, sunny. The excitement for the day was when Lloyd went to the amenities block to have his shower and as he came out he heard galloping and looked up to find ten or twelve horses galloping towards him, they went around the amenities block and raced off into the mulga, its beautiful to see the animals so free to roam, there are not many fences in the Kimberleys the Stations are too big to fence.
We drove down the road towards the Bungle Bungles about 50 kilometers and called in to the entrance to the Bungle Bungles which is now a toll road, charging $20 per vehicle as the property has to grade, maintain and consistently assist tourists in trouble, it was dirt road and we were hesitant to take the bus in, just in case there were creek crossings, but the guy on the gate collecting a toll for the use of the road, he assured us there were no creek crossings for the kilometer into the new park. We were impressed by what we saw, I liked their style of roughing it, the office was a brown and beige tent with gauze windows and an air conditioner, there was a very big beige shade roof over the dining area with blue metal all over the floor (no vacuuming or sweeping) and green director chairs around lots of white round tables. At the back were more tents which seemed to be the kitchen area, but we didn’t get to see how that was set up. In the foreground was a large pit with big logs burning and on one side was a BBQ and the other a pit for camp oven cooking, this was all surrounded with a makeshift type fence, like they use is the TV series Surviver, at the entrance were two very large lifelike crocodiles. We booked in to do their Bungle Bungle tour the next day and the cost of two nights accommodation, the tour for two, toll and dinner for one night was $605, we thought this worthwhile.
Thursday 14.7.2011: 17 degrees - 33 degrees - sunny. The next morning we were ready at 7 am to catch the four wheel drive troupe, 17 of us had a great day being vibrated along corrugated roads, bumped over river beds and jolted through dry creek beds. All up we drove 196km, went through 38 creek & river crossings & a million corrugations. We learnt a lot from the tour guide who told us 5 weeks ago there was no campground only a paddock, they bulldozed the roads and erected the tents even safari tents with a queen size bed, a chair and a nice long stool to put your belongings on, the floor was also blue metal, no need for stays on the tent corners. This is all built on Mabel Downs, which is a cattle property, and the conditions for allowing the campground is, it must be completely demountable. The amenities are on wheels and are fiberglass individual shower/toilets, four on each set of wheels. He was telling us about the loss of money the cattle men had suffered because of the federal government stopping the sale of live cattle to Indonesia, because of a reporter for Four Corners accusing the Indonesians of being inhumane in their killing of live cattle, this in turn has caused many properties to go into receivership, helecopter pilots, ringers, transport drivers, boats and their crews etc. have all lost income, because of a knee jerk reaction by the Prime Minister, then after a month of disasters affecting the people in the outback, she recinded the decision, but it seems to be too late, Indonesia has now banned live cattle coming from Australia. The cattlemen are not happy and are going broke quickly.
Back to the Bungle Bungles, they are an awesome sight, rocks are 230 million years old, there are domes which look like red and black beehives and unusual red and black formations everywhere, we had morning tea then walked along Piccaninny Creek Lookout, and we walked along Cathedral Gorge, the driver put an ipod on playing pan pipe music and the accoustics are great the music was amplified throughout the gorge. We had lunch then back on the troupe to be vibrated, bounced and jolted along to Echidna Chasm where we rock hopped to the end of the Chasm it is amazingly red, like it is on fire. There were well over 30 river crossings and I don’t know how many dry creek crossings we went through, but the driver got us back in time to see the sunset, then back to the campground by 6.15pm in time to clean up for dinner, which consisted of soup, yummy stew and damper, after a heavy day of walking, it was most appreciated, we sat with a lovely couple we met from Kangaroo Island, she is the minister there, and a very nice couple who were camped beside us from England. I have had enough four wheel driving, I don’t need to do any more tours over rough roads.
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| Bungles mud map |
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| Picaninni Gorge |
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| The Domes |
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| Cathedral Gorge |
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| Echidna Chasm |
Friday 15.7.2011: 19 degrees - 30 degrees - sunny. We said goodbye to our English friends as they were heading for Kununurra and we drove on down the road to Halls Creek, where there were aboriginal people everywhere, at least they looked happy, but we did notice barbed wire on all the buildings and we could not buy diesel at one service station but we found another one where the owner was pumping the fuel in the cars, so we can only assume there has been some trouble somewhere. We drove on to Mary’s Pool which is a lovely spot over a causeway on the Mary river with lots of water running through. We arrived about 1 pm and there must have been at least 30 or 40 vans of all description there and they just kept coming, everyone enjoys a free camp site.
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| Mary Pool camp site |
Saturday 16.7.2011: 17 degrees - 33 degrees, sunny. Left Mary’s Pool about 8.30 am and turned left onto the Great Northern Highway, we traveled through flat country with small trees and scrubs, had morning tea at a picturesque spot called Ngumban Cliff Lookout, there were small wildflowers around the ground and a red grevillia, the same as on the eastern side of the Bungle Bungles. Had morning tea with a few others even a cyclist from Melbourne who has eight weeks long service and is cycling around Australia, he must have strong legs, he skypes his wife and children each night. Drove on to Fitzroy Crossing with only very large cattle stations on either side of the road, arrived about 11.45 am and queued up behind four or five caravans being towed by four wheel drive vehicles and thank goodness Fitzroy Lodge Resort had a powered site left as we needed to charge lots of things.
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| Warning sign |
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| Stray animal |
Had lunch, washed our red dusty clothing, then went to find the town centre which was very small if we had blinked we would have missed it, decided to stay another night and go to Geikie Gorge tomorrow morning for a cruise. Thank goodness there are no dirt roads or big walks to do.
Sunday 17.7.2011: 18 degrees - 33 degrees, sunny. Drove to Geike Gorge to catch the 9.30am cruise along the river, saw lots of small fresh water crocodiles, wallabys, kites, sea eagles, herons, brolgas and fairy swallows, the girl who took us on the cruise boat was very good, enthusiastic about all the different animals and the cruise was very gently and peaceful, which meant we could get quite close to the different animals and they didn’t take off in fear. After the cruise Lloyd tried his hand at fishing but it was so hot he gave it about an hour then came back as the barra were not biting.
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| Geike Gorge |
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| Gorge resident |
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| Guide |
Monday 18.7.2011: 18 degrees - mid 30’s - cloudy. Drove 259 kilometers to Derby which is on the north west coast of Australia. The town is bigger than Fitzroy Crossing and has a lot of aboriginal people living here, the shops are very spread out, there is a hospital, tafe, school ambulance, fire brigade and even a Centrelink Office. There is a big wharf with a covered conveyor belt to take the iron ore out to boats for export, also there are holding yards for the cattle to be shipped. The wharf is a big semicircular wharf with a road along the top, we saw it at almost high tide, and there must have been 20 or more vehicles stopped all around the circular wharf with fishing lines off both sides of the bridge, we didn’t see anyone pull any fish in.
Tuesday 19.7.2011: 24 degrees - mid 30’s. sunny and cloudy. I am tired of being a tourist, walking in red dust, looking at rocks and reading millions of signs, so today we are resting, washing and cleaning the red dust off the floor of the Coaster. We were so very hot, we decided to have a swim in the above ground pool in the camping ground, I couldn’t believe how cold it was, my body temperature must have been extremely high, the pool certainly made us both feel a lot better. Met a nice couple Cathy and Jack from Bankstown, turns out she grew up in Terrey Hills and is the daughter of Margaret Dickinson, she went to Terrey Hills school with Judy Seddon, small world, we had happy hour with them and their friends and cooked a BBQ together for dinner.
Wednesday 20.7.2011: 22 degrees - mid 30’s - sunny. Had a slow start then went to check out the low tide as we read the tide differs 11.1 meters between low and high tide, it was almost low tide and you could hear the water rushing out, the area inside the circular wharf was all mud as the sea tide had completely gone out.
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| Derby Wharf near high tide |
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| Derby Wharf at low tide 9.1 meter change today |
We have booked a sea plane flight to the horizontal waterfalls from Broome but could not get in until the 28th July (with a 5.50 am start), so we rang the Broome Caravan Park and could only book a site for 27th and 28th July, but we will go to Broome tomorrow and see if there is any room in the overflow areas.
The day is again so very hot, we shopped in the air conditioned store then went back to our site and relaxed with the airconditioning on so we could cope with the heat.
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