My last post was, I believe, on Tuesday 30/8/11. On Wednesday I received 2 bits of news - the first was that my glasses had arrived. We were very excited because that meant we could hit the road again on Thursday. The second wasn't as good - Royce's mum was in hospital. We spent a lot of time trying to find out information - without much success. We did get to speak with her briefly and she didn't sound too good. We spent Wednesday night planning flights home (if it proved necessary) and looking at other options to get home quickly if necessary. Thursday morning we decided to go into Karratha itself where the phone signal was better (it kept dropping out when we were at Cleaverville). Still had trouble getting information but did find out she was transferred to the RAH. More phone calls and still none the wiser. It may be her heart or it may be medication related. We decided we would have to hang around in Karratha for a bit longer to see what we could find out. We eventually decided that there didn't appear to be a need for us to be home in the next few days but we felt we should get home as soon as possible so we planned a fast track trip home - no more sight seeing or holiday mode!
We were very disappointed that we would have to cut the trip short but it can't be helped and it is important that we get home and make sure Mum is OK and see what, if anything, may need to be done. She doesn't seem to know herself what is going on, although she has been discharged from hospital now and I believe they have changed her medication. She sounded a lot better when we spoke to her yesterday.
We have travelled for 3-4 hours each day then set up camp for the night, except for yesterday when we didn't like the site we had planned to stay at and didn't arrive at the next one until after 6pm. It was dark, windy and cold and we nearly got lost in a tiny little town called Burracoppin!
At one of the camp sites (Barradale) we were hit by a 'wurlie wurlie'. Luckily we didn't have the awning out but it seems to have done something to our caravan door and it is a bit tricky closing it now. We will have to check it out when we get home.
On another day, when leaving Carnarvon we saw 3 'wurlie wurlies' that were very large, but luckily they were some distance from the road.
At one of the camps we met a young woman heading back to home (Northam) with her dog and two horses. She set up a temporary corral for the horses but they got out sometime through the night. Her dog woke her about 3.30am and when she went outside to check the horses the fences were higgledy piggledy and the horses were gone. She spent quite a bit of time walking around with her torch and trying to see the tracks the horses might have left. Eventually a truck driver pulled up and told her he had seen two horses up the road about 30km away! She finally found them and got them loaded and back to the camp site. One of the horses had a large 'hole' in his front leg and a gash on his head. Hopefully he will be OK and we hope she got home safe and sound with them. Royce helped her pack away the fences before we left and she overtook us on the road some time later.
The wildflowers between Wooramel and Billabong Roadhouses were amazing - whites, yellows, light pinks, dark pinks, mauves, purples and reds!
Yesterday we passed through Canderdin and got a photo of the Ettamogah Pub! (Photo to come later).
We are currently camped at Karalee Rock (137km west of Coolgardie). This is a great place and is noted for 'next time' to spend a few days here.
There are so many things I wanted to see - Karijini National Park, Ningaloo Reef, Monkey Mia, Onslow, and lots more but it wasn't to be on this trip. I am already starting to plan our next trip. Before we had to decide to head home we had been thinking we would do the east coast of Australia next year, but now we think we might come back and finish off Western Australia (fingers crossed - all being well).
No photos again this time - only a weak signal and it takes too long to load them.
This will probably be my last post until we get home.
Trusting everyone is well.
PS I am looking forward to seeing Marshall again - he now has 3 teeth, is rolling around all over the place and not far off crawling!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
ROEBOURNE / KARRATHA / DAMPIER
No photos for this blog because I am using my iPad. Other than in the towns themselves,the signal strength is very weak or non existent, so it is too hard to get an Internet connection on my laptop.
We have been at Cleaverville Beach for most of the time since we arrived on Wednesday 17/8/11 - mainly because we are waiting for my glasses to come back. The lenses were badly scratched and it was getting difficult to see properly so we dropped them off at the OPSM in Karratha and we are hoping they will be back tomorrow or Thursday. Luckily my sunglasses are prescription lenses but it is still difficult to read at night or do things on the computer - especially at night! Craft stuff (other than knitting) is out of the question.
We did leave Cleaverville when our water ran out. We filled up in Karratha then camped at Miaree Pool for a couple of nights, until we found out camping is no longer permitted there. It is right by the Maitland River but we could only catch glimpses of the river itself where we were camped. The bird life there is prolific - so many and so many different sorts - so we were kept amused mornings & evenings watching them.
At Cleaverville we have been going for long walks on the beach, exploring rock pools at low tide (lots & lots of different sorts of crabs,, large numbers of sea slugs, clams, a blue ringed octopus, fish) and collecting rocks & shells.
Royce tried his hand at fishing but lost his lure, and then something kept pinching his bait. We saw what we thought were seals but some people told us later they were probably dugongs.
The area where we are camped has been slashed, but we are surrounded by scrub and long grass so we supposed there would be snakes. This was confirmed when we saw a very long, shiny, black snake slither across the track only a few meters from the caravan.
We did a day trip to Millstream Chichester National Park where we went up to the lookout on Mount Herbert (beautiful view) then went and had a swim at Python Pool (wonderful).
The weather is warming up - generally low 30s and it gets quite hot in the afternoons if there is no breeze. The mozzies and midges are also becoming a bit of a problem. We are getting a bit fed up with hanging around and want to get moving again! I rang OPSM today and they hope the glasses will arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed - we can then hit the road again Thursday.
We have been at Cleaverville Beach for most of the time since we arrived on Wednesday 17/8/11 - mainly because we are waiting for my glasses to come back. The lenses were badly scratched and it was getting difficult to see properly so we dropped them off at the OPSM in Karratha and we are hoping they will be back tomorrow or Thursday. Luckily my sunglasses are prescription lenses but it is still difficult to read at night or do things on the computer - especially at night! Craft stuff (other than knitting) is out of the question.
We did leave Cleaverville when our water ran out. We filled up in Karratha then camped at Miaree Pool for a couple of nights, until we found out camping is no longer permitted there. It is right by the Maitland River but we could only catch glimpses of the river itself where we were camped. The bird life there is prolific - so many and so many different sorts - so we were kept amused mornings & evenings watching them.
At Cleaverville we have been going for long walks on the beach, exploring rock pools at low tide (lots & lots of different sorts of crabs,, large numbers of sea slugs, clams, a blue ringed octopus, fish) and collecting rocks & shells.
Royce tried his hand at fishing but lost his lure, and then something kept pinching his bait. We saw what we thought were seals but some people told us later they were probably dugongs.
The area where we are camped has been slashed, but we are surrounded by scrub and long grass so we supposed there would be snakes. This was confirmed when we saw a very long, shiny, black snake slither across the track only a few meters from the caravan.
We did a day trip to Millstream Chichester National Park where we went up to the lookout on Mount Herbert (beautiful view) then went and had a swim at Python Pool (wonderful).
The weather is warming up - generally low 30s and it gets quite hot in the afternoons if there is no breeze. The mozzies and midges are also becoming a bit of a problem. We are getting a bit fed up with hanging around and want to get moving again! I rang OPSM today and they hope the glasses will arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed - we can then hit the road again Thursday.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
MARBLE BAR TO KARRATHA & DAMPIER - PHOTOS
This will have to do for photos for the time being. My laptop ran out of battery charge while I was at the Roebourne Visitor Centre and before I could get all the photos uploaded. I am now back at Cleaverville Beach and with a bit of careful manouvering I have managed to get a very limited signal so I could finish this off.
Take care everyone.
MARBLE BAR TO KARRATHA & DAMPIER
We left Marble Bar Monday morning and decided to camp at Doolena Gorge.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
You have to drive through the Coongan Gorge (narrow, up and down and lots of curves - road trains are restricted to 40kph and other vehicles to 60khp) then turn off and drive approx 1.5km on a very narrow, pretty rough dirt track. We set up camp by a couple of beautiful trees. At that time we were the only campers although by late afternoon there were 4 other caravans there. The water in the gorge doesn’t appear to be flowing and although our reading material says it is a good swimming spot – and the water was probably deep enough – it was a bit dirty because of cows visiting it so I decided against a swim. I did mention to Royce – before the other campers arrived – that we should strip off and go for a swim! He wanted to know if we got naked and went for a swim would it still be called ‘skinny’ dipping???? There were quite a few egrets and some other slightly larger wading bird, whistling kites (their nest was across the river), and a lot of other smaller birds, including Spinifex pigeon which is quite a pretty bird. Several cows came down to the river and stayed for most of the day.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We had to reverse out when we left and it was a bit tricky because we had to reverse the caravan into some pretty soft sand and almost got bogged!It was very windy Tuesday morning so had to roll up the awning quite quickly and keep fingers crossed the wind didn’t catch it. Luckily it all turned out all right – other than Royce lowering it onto my head while I was trying to get underneath it to hold the rope!
We encountered a wide load on the road back to Port Hedland and had to pull right off the road. It was a very large mining truck on the back of another truck and it took up the whole width of the road. Luckily we had room to pull right off the road. A bit further on, or a bit earlier (through Coongan Gorge) it would have been pretty tricky! We saw our first Sturt Desert Peas – quite a few small pockets of them on the Marble Bar – Port Hedland Road.
Not far out of Port Hedland you encounter a group of termite mounds which someone has ‘decorated’ with miners helmets.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We drove into South Hedland, picked up a few provisions then headed to the Yule River (Herbert Parker Rest Area). The turn off wasn’t well sign posted and we had gone past it before we realised, so had to do a u-turn and drive back. It is a smallish area and by late afternoon we had 3 motor homes, another caravan, and some tenters! We ended up having a fairly long, rowdy happy hour with 10 of us (including 2 people in a bus who camped up top).
Wednesday we headed off to Cleaverville Beach. We continued to see pockets of the Sturt Desert Pea and lots of other wildflowers all coming into bloom. We stopped briefly at the Whim Creek Hotel and said hello to Harry (one of the major mitchells there). We drove across the Sherlock River which seemed to have a lot of water in it – about the only one we have seen with water in it for some time.
To get to Cleaverville Beach you drive through Roebourne and 13km on there is a turn off onto a 13km long gravel road. It was a bit rough in patches but overall not too bad. We drove around for ages trying to find a camp site that wasn’t really crowded. All the really good ones (right on the beach front) were taken and very crowded. We eventually found a reasonably good spot but we do have to climb over a sand hill to get to the beach. We are away from everyone else though and that is good. We went for a walk on the beach (boy is that sand hill steep!) and collected some nice stones. Almost no shells but lots of interesting stones and rocks.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
Thursday morning was very windy with quite a few very strong gusts but the awning held up OK (thank goodness). We packed a lunch and drove out to Point Samson which was a bit disappointing. To be fair we probably didn’t see it at its best – it was very, very windy and not at all inviting to walk along the beach or be outside. The water looked pretty dirty and not really good for swimming. We drove back to Wickham and up to Tank Hill Lookout where we ate our sandwiches and watched an extraordinarily long train come it – it had to be at least 3km long, if not more.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We then headed out to Cossack and spent a couple of hours following the heritage trail. It was a fascinating place and there are lots of signs along the heritage trail to tell you all about the history of the town. We went to the old cemetery which is a pretty sad place but someone certainly looks after it. We encountered a lizard which desperately dug into the sand to try to hide from us.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
On Friday we drove to Karratha and on to the North West Shelf Venture Visitor Centre (between Karratha and Dampier). The whole process of finding, drilling, and converting the gas from gaseous form to liquid form was amazing! So much capital, infrastructure, and employment tied up in this. The gas is converted to liquid form for transporting – one ship full of liquid natural gas would require 600 ships if transported in gaseous form! A short trip down to Withnell Bay and we found a lot of Sturt Desert Peas and a couple of wallabies (mum & joey)
PHOTO TO COME LATER
From there we went out to Hearsons Cove. The entire beach is shells and in some places they must be several feet thick!
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We explored nearby Deep Gorge where there are over 1M aboriginal petroglyphs.
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We almost stepped on this little fellow walking back to the car
PHOTO TO COME LATER
We drove out to Dampier, which is quite a nice town, even though it is a working port. There were 3 very large ore ships in – one just leaving, one being loaded, one waiting to be loaded. Out further was another ship waiting to come in.
Back to Karratha where we had to get the car serviced (added cost we didn’t really need!). They told us afterwards that our tyres will need replacing very soon so it looks like we will have to book in and get that done soon. My glasses are very scratched and it was becoming very difficult to see through them so we found an OPSM in Karratha who will organise new lenses as an urgent job. Unfortunately I have had to leave my glasses there so for the time being I have to wear my sunglasses all the time. They are prescription lenses so that does help but it is a bit strange wearing sunglasses at night! OPSM have promised to have the new lenses ready for me by next Friday so we have decided to either stay a couple more days here at Cleaverville then go to Millstream Chichester National Park for a few days then back into Karratha and hopefully pick up my glasses and get new tyres on the car, or we will simply stay put at Cleaverville Beach until next Friday.
We have limited phone and internet service here at Cleaverville Beach so we have driven into Roebourne to post this blog. I am sitting in the carpark doing this! I am having trouble getting the photos onto the blog so have posted this Post and will try separately to do the photos - fingers crossed!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
MARBLE BAR
We stayed at the Des Streckfuss Rest Area last night. It is set back from the road quite a bit but there were so many road trains (in and out of the mines) that it was a bit noisy at times. Because we were staying only one night we just camped at the 'top' but there were a few reasonable spots in further by the river (what is left of it - still some water but not flowing). There are a lot of birds and quite a few cows as well!
We ate a picnic lunch then drove out to an area where you can fossick for jasper (there is a $10,000 fine if you remove any from the Bar). We picked up a few rocks but don't really know if they are jasper or not - I just liked them!). From there we drove out to the old gold mine but it is all closed up so we went up to Flying Fox Lookout. The view from there was nice and there actually is a flying fox which crosses the river. It has been made inactive and is not used but obviously was once upon a time.
View from the lookout
At the top of the lookout.
We drove to Marble Bar this morning and checked into the caravan park. We would have preferred to do a bit more free camping but there isn't really anywhere in town you can just leave the caravan and do the tourist stuff. The Visitor Information Centre isn't open on weekends either so you have to go to the caravan park to get the town map etc. It is a bit annoying for us to have to go into caravan parks so frequently but we hope to be able to stay away from them for a while after this (fingers crossed). Once we set up the caravan we drove out to Marble Bar. This is actually jasper, not marble, and when you wet the rock the colours are just beautiful.
I went for a swim in the pool near the Bar, but was the only one! It was a bit cold but was very refreshing. There were hundreds and hundreds of small fish in the pool but they left me alone so that was fine.
We ate a picnic lunch then drove out to an area where you can fossick for jasper (there is a $10,000 fine if you remove any from the Bar). We picked up a few rocks but don't really know if they are jasper or not - I just liked them!). From there we drove out to the old gold mine but it is all closed up so we went up to Flying Fox Lookout. The view from there was nice and there actually is a flying fox which crosses the river. It has been made inactive and is not used but obviously was once upon a time.
View from the lookout
At the top of the lookout.
We then drove out to have a look at the solar farm. It is a large 'farm' of solar panels which was established in March 2010 and at the time it was either the first of its kind world wide or the largest of its kind world wide - I cannot remember which. There are over 1100 solar panels which track the sun and they supply between 60% and 90% of Marble Bar's daytime electricity use.
We then went to the pioneer cemetary which is a bit of a sad place. There are a very large number of unmarked graves and quite a lot of graves of babies or small children. It is very overgrown and looks like it needs a lot of tlc!
Bye for now.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
BROOME TO PORT HEDLAND
As promised – a photo from our visit to Gantheaume Point in Broome.
On Friday 5/8/11 we drove to the Goldwire Rest Area which is about 120km SW of Roebuck Plains Roadhouse. It is a good size area set back from the road. There are quite a few trees but not much shade, although we managed to score a reasonably level patch of dirt with a small scrub area on both sides. On Saturday when we ventured outside about mid morning we noticed some very strange looking ants swarming all over one side of the caravan. They were a gold/yellow colour and the tail end curled up a bit like a scorpion.
We used the small broom to brush them off and put talcum powder down around the caravan legs, tires and awning rope but the powder didn’t seem to deter them too much. We would brush them off and they would climb right back on again. We didn’t want to use the insect spray unless we really had to so Royce became the ‘ant monitor’ for the rest of the afternoon and they eventually disappeared. We couldn’t see a trail to or from the caravan and they didn’t show up again for the rest of our stay!
The WA Variety Club Bash cars called into the rest area on Sunday and managed to disturb the peace for an hour or so!
They had started from Port Hedland and were driving to Kunnunurra via the Gibb River Road. None of their vehicles were to be younger than 1980 and none were 4WD so the Gibb experience would be very interesting!
One patch of scrub by our caravan was home to quite a few birds and we spent a lot of time watching little honey eater type birds flitting around and there was another group of very hyperactive birds (about the size of a small magpie) busy nest building. There seemed to be about 8 of them in this group and they all seemed to share in the work. They were fascinating. We were also visited by a beautiful green parrot
And we saw several parrots which were mainly green but had black and red/orange on their wings. They were just beautiful. Unfortunately it was hard to get a good photo and it doesn’t do them justice.
A chap in a ute called in on Monday and started chatting. He is managing a nearby station (Munro?) and was heading out to check a couple of bores. After talking for a while he asked Royce if he wanted to go with him and Royce didn’t hesitate. He had shoes and socks and a hat on faster than I have ever seen him move! As soon as they drove off I started having some uneasy feelings – what if this chap was a bit of a psycho! I decided to give them 3 hours but if they weren’t back by then I was going to call the police. I had written down the registration number. As it turned out I had just worked myself up into a frenzy over nothing – they were back about 2.5 hours later after checking two bores. Paul was a nice guy and just seemed to want some company. He stayed and chatted again for about another half hour and then headed off (it seemed quite reluctantly). When they were out and about they saw two very large flocks (50-60 each) of brolgas! Unfortunately Royce didn’t have the camera with him. The toilet at the rest area is starting to fill up too much (it relies on a rake system to enable it all to compost and the rake is broken) and the rubbish bins are all overflowing and people are leaving bags of rubbish on the ground around the bins. I managed to get a very small signal on my phone so rang Main Roads who promised to get their contractor out.
On Tuesday 9/8/11 we drove to the Stanley Rest Area (about 80km further on) and set up for the night. This is a very large rest area, set back from the road, with quite a few smallish trees (not a lot of shade) and two very gross toilets. We had been told the area was very dusty (no more so than any other places we have been, and in fact better than some) and other people had said the flies were really bad (again no more so than any other places we have been, and better than some of them). On the way here we noticed the burnt out shell of a 5th wheeler in one of the parking bays on the side of the road. There wasn’t much left of it and I doubt whether anything would have been salvageable! We hope the people were insured. Some other South Australians pulled in near us just after lunch and ended up staying and chatting the whole afternoon. We had our Census forms delivered to us that night.
On Wednesday 10/8/11 we left Stanley. Between Stanley and Sandfire Roadhouse we saw a wallaby on the side of the road, one blue tongue lizard trying to cross the road, several small lizards sunning themselves on the side of the road, a very large flock of some sort of birds (200-300) and 4 camels! This was all in a 80-85km stretch! We stopped at the Sandfire Roadhouse and dropped off our census forms, bought a 20L fuel container then headed on to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park. You have to travel on 10km of dirt road but most of the time it wasn’t too bad. There were a few patches of small corrugations and a couple of more heavily corrugated spots but we arrived all in one piece. At the end of the road you crest a hill and the view of the ocean and the beach is just magnificent! We booked in to for two nights and as soon as we set up we walked over the sand dune and down to the beach. What a truly breathtaking beach. The tide was on the way out so we just went for a bit of a walk and collected a few shells. This beach is renowned for its fishing and shells and apparently many shells are deposited on the beach after high tide and you can just go and collect them to your hearts content. We saw hundreds of tiny hermit crabs and a few sea snails. I managed to find a few good shells on that walk. That night Royce tried his hand at fishing and managed to lose his new lure. A beautiful sunset as well!
We did some more shell collecting on Thursday, cleaned the awning (underside and top) and otherwise had a bit of a lazy day. It is quite amazing – there is a dune between the caravan park and the beach so the sea isn’t visible but at night, when the tide is coming in, the noise of the sea is very loud. It sounds like there are massive waves but when we went for a walk about 11pm on Wednesday night there are only very small waves. We assume, though, that there must be a lot of water coming in on high tide but because it is a shallow area the waves are quite small.
We left Eighty Mile Beach on Friday morning. We were going to head to Cape Keraudren but we had been told the sand flies were really bad there at the moment so we decided to go to De Grey River. We stopped at Pardoo Roadhouse and bought a milkshake (one between us – at $6.50 we couldn’t afford two!). We arrived at De Grey Rest Area shortly before 12 noon. There are new toilets and a black water dump point which is also new. These are on the flat, cleared area just off the road. There is a track that leads down to the river and we had been told by a large number of people that we should head down there and that it is beautiful – so off we went. The track is a bit rough in patches and we had to go slowly, but it isn’t too bad. What a disappointment! The river is pretty much dried up – other than a few water holes and if there are good spots here, they are all taken! We ended up finding a spot back from the river, in among the bush and normally that wouldn’t bother us but this has shoulder high grass and weeds and prickles everywhere so it wasn’t even comfortable to sit outside at all. There was a nice breeze for most of the afternoon.
Perhaps we are here at the wrong time and in the wrong place and it might have been a lot better if there was more water and less people! All along the river bank the place is pretty packed out.
We decided to stay at De Grey one night only and are now in Port Hedland for a few hours, where we will replenish food stocks then head out to Marble Bar for a while.
On Friday 5/8/11 we drove to the Goldwire Rest Area which is about 120km SW of Roebuck Plains Roadhouse. It is a good size area set back from the road. There are quite a few trees but not much shade, although we managed to score a reasonably level patch of dirt with a small scrub area on both sides. On Saturday when we ventured outside about mid morning we noticed some very strange looking ants swarming all over one side of the caravan. They were a gold/yellow colour and the tail end curled up a bit like a scorpion.
We used the small broom to brush them off and put talcum powder down around the caravan legs, tires and awning rope but the powder didn’t seem to deter them too much. We would brush them off and they would climb right back on again. We didn’t want to use the insect spray unless we really had to so Royce became the ‘ant monitor’ for the rest of the afternoon and they eventually disappeared. We couldn’t see a trail to or from the caravan and they didn’t show up again for the rest of our stay!
The WA Variety Club Bash cars called into the rest area on Sunday and managed to disturb the peace for an hour or so!
They had started from Port Hedland and were driving to Kunnunurra via the Gibb River Road. None of their vehicles were to be younger than 1980 and none were 4WD so the Gibb experience would be very interesting!
One patch of scrub by our caravan was home to quite a few birds and we spent a lot of time watching little honey eater type birds flitting around and there was another group of very hyperactive birds (about the size of a small magpie) busy nest building. There seemed to be about 8 of them in this group and they all seemed to share in the work. They were fascinating. We were also visited by a beautiful green parrot
And we saw several parrots which were mainly green but had black and red/orange on their wings. They were just beautiful. Unfortunately it was hard to get a good photo and it doesn’t do them justice.
A chap in a ute called in on Monday and started chatting. He is managing a nearby station (Munro?) and was heading out to check a couple of bores. After talking for a while he asked Royce if he wanted to go with him and Royce didn’t hesitate. He had shoes and socks and a hat on faster than I have ever seen him move! As soon as they drove off I started having some uneasy feelings – what if this chap was a bit of a psycho! I decided to give them 3 hours but if they weren’t back by then I was going to call the police. I had written down the registration number. As it turned out I had just worked myself up into a frenzy over nothing – they were back about 2.5 hours later after checking two bores. Paul was a nice guy and just seemed to want some company. He stayed and chatted again for about another half hour and then headed off (it seemed quite reluctantly). When they were out and about they saw two very large flocks (50-60 each) of brolgas! Unfortunately Royce didn’t have the camera with him. The toilet at the rest area is starting to fill up too much (it relies on a rake system to enable it all to compost and the rake is broken) and the rubbish bins are all overflowing and people are leaving bags of rubbish on the ground around the bins. I managed to get a very small signal on my phone so rang Main Roads who promised to get their contractor out.
On Tuesday 9/8/11 we drove to the Stanley Rest Area (about 80km further on) and set up for the night. This is a very large rest area, set back from the road, with quite a few smallish trees (not a lot of shade) and two very gross toilets. We had been told the area was very dusty (no more so than any other places we have been, and in fact better than some) and other people had said the flies were really bad (again no more so than any other places we have been, and better than some of them). On the way here we noticed the burnt out shell of a 5th wheeler in one of the parking bays on the side of the road. There wasn’t much left of it and I doubt whether anything would have been salvageable! We hope the people were insured. Some other South Australians pulled in near us just after lunch and ended up staying and chatting the whole afternoon. We had our Census forms delivered to us that night.
On Wednesday 10/8/11 we left Stanley. Between Stanley and Sandfire Roadhouse we saw a wallaby on the side of the road, one blue tongue lizard trying to cross the road, several small lizards sunning themselves on the side of the road, a very large flock of some sort of birds (200-300) and 4 camels! This was all in a 80-85km stretch! We stopped at the Sandfire Roadhouse and dropped off our census forms, bought a 20L fuel container then headed on to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park. You have to travel on 10km of dirt road but most of the time it wasn’t too bad. There were a few patches of small corrugations and a couple of more heavily corrugated spots but we arrived all in one piece. At the end of the road you crest a hill and the view of the ocean and the beach is just magnificent! We booked in to for two nights and as soon as we set up we walked over the sand dune and down to the beach. What a truly breathtaking beach. The tide was on the way out so we just went for a bit of a walk and collected a few shells. This beach is renowned for its fishing and shells and apparently many shells are deposited on the beach after high tide and you can just go and collect them to your hearts content. We saw hundreds of tiny hermit crabs and a few sea snails. I managed to find a few good shells on that walk. That night Royce tried his hand at fishing and managed to lose his new lure. A beautiful sunset as well!
We did some more shell collecting on Thursday, cleaned the awning (underside and top) and otherwise had a bit of a lazy day. It is quite amazing – there is a dune between the caravan park and the beach so the sea isn’t visible but at night, when the tide is coming in, the noise of the sea is very loud. It sounds like there are massive waves but when we went for a walk about 11pm on Wednesday night there are only very small waves. We assume, though, that there must be a lot of water coming in on high tide but because it is a shallow area the waves are quite small.
We left Eighty Mile Beach on Friday morning. We were going to head to Cape Keraudren but we had been told the sand flies were really bad there at the moment so we decided to go to De Grey River. We stopped at Pardoo Roadhouse and bought a milkshake (one between us – at $6.50 we couldn’t afford two!). We arrived at De Grey Rest Area shortly before 12 noon. There are new toilets and a black water dump point which is also new. These are on the flat, cleared area just off the road. There is a track that leads down to the river and we had been told by a large number of people that we should head down there and that it is beautiful – so off we went. The track is a bit rough in patches and we had to go slowly, but it isn’t too bad. What a disappointment! The river is pretty much dried up – other than a few water holes and if there are good spots here, they are all taken! We ended up finding a spot back from the river, in among the bush and normally that wouldn’t bother us but this has shoulder high grass and weeds and prickles everywhere so it wasn’t even comfortable to sit outside at all. There was a nice breeze for most of the afternoon.
Perhaps we are here at the wrong time and in the wrong place and it might have been a lot better if there was more water and less people! All along the river bank the place is pretty packed out.
We decided to stay at De Grey one night only and are now in Port Hedland for a few hours, where we will replenish food stocks then head out to Marble Bar for a while.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
DERBY TO BROOME
We arrived in Derby last Thursday (28th), staying at the Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park and paying $38 per night for a remote, dusty site! We bought a ground mat to put down outside the caravan to try to reduce the amount of dust and dirt, and we had only just managed to get our feet clean and wanted to keep it that way for a while. There is a Woolworths with a reasonable range of products and a butcher with some really good meat so we were able to stock up. There is also a chemist – hooray! I managed to get my prescriptions filled and back on track with medications again. We had hoped to wash the car and hose down the caravan awning but the caravan park doesn’t allow washing of cars or vans, and there is no car wash in Derby. We treated ourselves to a night out on the town – tea at The Catch on the wharf. The meal was reasonable and not too expensive and it was a nice setting to watch the sunset.
On Friday we headed out to Windjana Gorge via the Gibb River Road. For about ¾ of the 120km on the Gibb it is bitumen (albeit single lane only) and the rest gravel. Most of the gravel stretches weren’t too bad but there were a couple of very heavily corrugated patches and one fairly steep creek (dry) crossing. After about 120km you turn off onto the Leopold Downs Road and travel on that for about 20km. That is all gravel and a bit rough. We were told not to take the caravan unless it was an off road van and I can see why. Windjana Gorge is just as we remembered it from our last trip to Broome when we did a tour. It is a beautiful place and plenty of fresh water crocs.
We walked along the gorge for about an hour but it was pretty hot so we headed back to the car and had lunch then headed back to Derby. Went out to the Prison Boab Tree for another look.
We ‘babysat’ a dog on Saturday – we had previously met up with Ros who is travelling with her dog Lucy. Ros is probably in her 70s and we have bumped into her a couple of times. She was booked in to do a tour of Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek so we offered to mind Lucy for her. Lucy was no bother at all until we took her for a walk and she made a bee-line for her home! She knew where the van was parked and was determined to get there and then she wouldn’t leave! I had to pick her up and carry her back to our caravan. She was so excited when Ros finally returned about 6.30pm. We went to mud crab races for about an hour in the afternoon. We didn’t ‘buy’ a crab but just watched a few races. The Mary Island Fishing Club was holding a fund raiser to build a ‘cyclone-proof’ club rooms. It was quite funny when one or more of the crabs escaped from the ring and headed into the crowd!
Sunday morning we left Derby and headed off to Langey Crossing. This wasn’t in our Camps Australia 5 book but I had found another WA free camps book while we were in the post office at Derby and it was listed in there so we decided to see what it was like. You have to travel approx 9km on dirt road with one pretty rough corrugated patch, but overall the road wasn’t too bad. When we got to the river we discovered that the bathroom cupboard must have opened and then closed again but in the process everything in the cupboard has spilled out! Had a bit of cleaning up to do but not as bad as it might have been!
It was all worth it though. Langey Crossing is a beautiful spot – this is a photo taken by me sitting in my chair under the caravan awning!
We have seen a multitude of birds – egrets, whistling kites, black cockatoos, corellas, terns (we think) and two jabirus.
Royce tried his hand at fishing without too much luck. He managed to catch 2 rocks and lose a lure. The water was pretty shallow unless you could cast quite a long way out to a deeper channel in the middle of the river. He almost caught a bird – the ones we think are terns (or something similar) were flying around his head and swooping down, obviously hoping to either take his bait or whatever he managed to catch.
At night, we would sit outside and watch the most fabulous night sky and listen to the splashing type sounds on the banks of the river. When we shone a torch down to the river the splashings were very loud (like something trying to get away from the light) and we saw crocs eyes shining back at us! All very exciting.
On the Monday morning we were visited by some cows coming down to the river for a drink. Several of them stopped back from the caravan and looked quite perplexed. Some of them looked a bit angry. Perhaps we were blocking their normal path? They eventually found another path and headed down to the river to have a drink. Another lot came back later in the day.
Two jabirus were foraging along the rivers edge (other side of the river) when a third one arrived and it was on for young and old! There was a good old fashioned aerial dog fight until the intruder was sent on his way! They are absolutely beautiful birds in flight and reminded us of pterodactyls!
We were also visited by an agile wallaby which came down to the river for a drink.
We had just decided we would stay for a few more days when a large truck with an excavator arrived. The driver advised they were going to start sand mining a bit further down the river and on Tuesday there would be road trains, trucks, plant etc and they would be there for about 2 months. The area where they will mine is away from our camp site but their base camp is very close and it will be noisy and dusty so we reluctantly decided we would have to leave. This one is definitely on our ‘return again’ list!
Our last night there we again sat outside and enjoyed the most magnificent night sky. We also heard the splashing again and found two sets of eyes looking back at us when we shone the torch onto the river. We saw 3 shooting stars as well.
Tuesday morning we packed up and headed towards Broome. We stopped at the Nillibubbica Rest Area (about half way between Derby and Broome). It is a reasonably large area but very little shade and all red dust! Poor Royce dug a hole and emptied the toilet this morning and we then found a dump point at the Rest Area – it wasn’t recorded in any of our books and is a recent addition! He could have saved himself a bit of sweat! The toilets here are pretty gross so I am not going to use them. One interesting part of this rest area is the skeleton in the tree!
The contrast between Nillibubbica and Langey Crossing is amazing. Langey Crossing was peaceful, little dust, and very few other people. The ones who were there were quite some distance away and you felt like you had the place to yourself. Nillibubbica is hot, dusty and crowded!
We left Nillibubbica this morning and drove to the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse where we are staying tonight. It is only $30 a night and a lot cheaper than any of the others in Broome. We have also been told that the chances of getting a site in a caravan park in Broome is pretty remote. We set up here then headed into Broome for the day. We went down to Cable Beach then on to Gantheaume Point which is just beautiful. I took several photos but haven't had a chance to get them onto the computer yet so they will have to be on the next blog. From there we drove to the Port, got fuel and had a drive around the area. We then went hunting for a car wash (not allowed to wash the car in the caravan park). We found one but it was broken but we then found another at BP Central. It is a high pressure hose and at long last our car is looking a bit cleaner. We went to the Visitor Information Centre and loaded ourselves up with info for the parts further south then onto the shopping centre and did a 'top up' of groceries and other bits and pieces. We got back here late afternoon, packed away the shopping then headed over for showers. That was an interesting game of 'dodge the crickets' - they were everywhere! We went to the roadhouse for tea and we both ordered the mixed grill. We thought it was a bit pricey at $33 but we had been told by others that the meals were good so we bit the bullet and ordered. Well - we could have had one between us! They were enormous - 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 lamb chops, one good size piece of steak, 3 bacon rashers, grilled tomatoes, fried onions and chips! Just couldn't eat it all - and it was well cooked and very tasty.
Until next time - take care
On Friday we headed out to Windjana Gorge via the Gibb River Road. For about ¾ of the 120km on the Gibb it is bitumen (albeit single lane only) and the rest gravel. Most of the gravel stretches weren’t too bad but there were a couple of very heavily corrugated patches and one fairly steep creek (dry) crossing. After about 120km you turn off onto the Leopold Downs Road and travel on that for about 20km. That is all gravel and a bit rough. We were told not to take the caravan unless it was an off road van and I can see why. Windjana Gorge is just as we remembered it from our last trip to Broome when we did a tour. It is a beautiful place and plenty of fresh water crocs.
We walked along the gorge for about an hour but it was pretty hot so we headed back to the car and had lunch then headed back to Derby. Went out to the Prison Boab Tree for another look.
We ‘babysat’ a dog on Saturday – we had previously met up with Ros who is travelling with her dog Lucy. Ros is probably in her 70s and we have bumped into her a couple of times. She was booked in to do a tour of Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek so we offered to mind Lucy for her. Lucy was no bother at all until we took her for a walk and she made a bee-line for her home! She knew where the van was parked and was determined to get there and then she wouldn’t leave! I had to pick her up and carry her back to our caravan. She was so excited when Ros finally returned about 6.30pm. We went to mud crab races for about an hour in the afternoon. We didn’t ‘buy’ a crab but just watched a few races. The Mary Island Fishing Club was holding a fund raiser to build a ‘cyclone-proof’ club rooms. It was quite funny when one or more of the crabs escaped from the ring and headed into the crowd!
Sunday morning we left Derby and headed off to Langey Crossing. This wasn’t in our Camps Australia 5 book but I had found another WA free camps book while we were in the post office at Derby and it was listed in there so we decided to see what it was like. You have to travel approx 9km on dirt road with one pretty rough corrugated patch, but overall the road wasn’t too bad. When we got to the river we discovered that the bathroom cupboard must have opened and then closed again but in the process everything in the cupboard has spilled out! Had a bit of cleaning up to do but not as bad as it might have been!
It was all worth it though. Langey Crossing is a beautiful spot – this is a photo taken by me sitting in my chair under the caravan awning!
We have seen a multitude of birds – egrets, whistling kites, black cockatoos, corellas, terns (we think) and two jabirus.
Royce tried his hand at fishing without too much luck. He managed to catch 2 rocks and lose a lure. The water was pretty shallow unless you could cast quite a long way out to a deeper channel in the middle of the river. He almost caught a bird – the ones we think are terns (or something similar) were flying around his head and swooping down, obviously hoping to either take his bait or whatever he managed to catch.
At night, we would sit outside and watch the most fabulous night sky and listen to the splashing type sounds on the banks of the river. When we shone a torch down to the river the splashings were very loud (like something trying to get away from the light) and we saw crocs eyes shining back at us! All very exciting.
On the Monday morning we were visited by some cows coming down to the river for a drink. Several of them stopped back from the caravan and looked quite perplexed. Some of them looked a bit angry. Perhaps we were blocking their normal path? They eventually found another path and headed down to the river to have a drink. Another lot came back later in the day.
Two jabirus were foraging along the rivers edge (other side of the river) when a third one arrived and it was on for young and old! There was a good old fashioned aerial dog fight until the intruder was sent on his way! They are absolutely beautiful birds in flight and reminded us of pterodactyls!
We were also visited by an agile wallaby which came down to the river for a drink.
We had just decided we would stay for a few more days when a large truck with an excavator arrived. The driver advised they were going to start sand mining a bit further down the river and on Tuesday there would be road trains, trucks, plant etc and they would be there for about 2 months. The area where they will mine is away from our camp site but their base camp is very close and it will be noisy and dusty so we reluctantly decided we would have to leave. This one is definitely on our ‘return again’ list!
Our last night there we again sat outside and enjoyed the most magnificent night sky. We also heard the splashing again and found two sets of eyes looking back at us when we shone the torch onto the river. We saw 3 shooting stars as well.
Tuesday morning we packed up and headed towards Broome. We stopped at the Nillibubbica Rest Area (about half way between Derby and Broome). It is a reasonably large area but very little shade and all red dust! Poor Royce dug a hole and emptied the toilet this morning and we then found a dump point at the Rest Area – it wasn’t recorded in any of our books and is a recent addition! He could have saved himself a bit of sweat! The toilets here are pretty gross so I am not going to use them. One interesting part of this rest area is the skeleton in the tree!
The contrast between Nillibubbica and Langey Crossing is amazing. Langey Crossing was peaceful, little dust, and very few other people. The ones who were there were quite some distance away and you felt like you had the place to yourself. Nillibubbica is hot, dusty and crowded!
We left Nillibubbica this morning and drove to the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse where we are staying tonight. It is only $30 a night and a lot cheaper than any of the others in Broome. We have also been told that the chances of getting a site in a caravan park in Broome is pretty remote. We set up here then headed into Broome for the day. We went down to Cable Beach then on to Gantheaume Point which is just beautiful. I took several photos but haven't had a chance to get them onto the computer yet so they will have to be on the next blog. From there we drove to the Port, got fuel and had a drive around the area. We then went hunting for a car wash (not allowed to wash the car in the caravan park). We found one but it was broken but we then found another at BP Central. It is a high pressure hose and at long last our car is looking a bit cleaner. We went to the Visitor Information Centre and loaded ourselves up with info for the parts further south then onto the shopping centre and did a 'top up' of groceries and other bits and pieces. We got back here late afternoon, packed away the shopping then headed over for showers. That was an interesting game of 'dodge the crickets' - they were everywhere! We went to the roadhouse for tea and we both ordered the mixed grill. We thought it was a bit pricey at $33 but we had been told by others that the meals were good so we bit the bullet and ordered. Well - we could have had one between us! They were enormous - 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 lamb chops, one good size piece of steak, 3 bacon rashers, grilled tomatoes, fried onions and chips! Just couldn't eat it all - and it was well cooked and very tasty.
Until next time - take care
Friday, July 29, 2011
FITZROY CROSSING TO DERBY
We arrived at Fitzroy Crossing last Friday (22nd) and booked into The Lodge for 2 nights. It is quite a nice place with lawns, restaurant (fairly expensive), motel and caravan park. In March this year the whole area was underwater – they had photos in the reception area. Where our caravan was would have been under water, at a guess at least half way up the caravan. We were hoping to wash the car which still has all the Bungle Bungle dirt on it, but no car washing was allowed in the caravan park and there was no car wash in town. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything in town – one IGA supermarket with a very limited range of choices and really lousy looking meat. There is no butcher in town so we thought we may have to go vegetarian for a few days! One of our gas bottles died at Ngumbum Cliff and we were going to fill it but at $48 we have decided to hold off and hope it is cheaper in Derby. No chemist here so still cannot get prescriptions filled.
We went out to the old Fitzroy Crossing,
then on to Gieke Gorge and saw a crocodile on the sandbar across the river.
It is a freshwater croc and apparently salt water crocs are not known to exist in Gieke Gorge. We went for a walk through the limestone rocks which is part of an ancient Devonian reef, then down to the Fitzroy River.
[I was going to put in a picture but we have such a weak internet signal it is taking ages to put photos on, so perhaps next time]. At the car park there is a gazebo where you can book tours on the Gorge. In 2002 the flood waters were estimated to be 2m over the roof of the gazebo and in March 2011 they were estimated to be about ½ metre above the roof. We had lunch at the old Crossing Inn then decided to drive out to Leopold Downs Road to see whether we would be able to get the caravan to the RAAF Boab Quarry. On the way a rock was thrown up from a passing car and it has chipped our windscreen. We saw a very large wurlie wurlie – the largest I have seen before. The road to the Quarry camp site is way too rough for the caravan so we had to rethink our plans.
On Sunday we drove to Ellendale camp site. It is a medium size camp site only about an hour from Fitzroy Crossing. We got there pretty early but it was already half full and it filled very fast from there. It has toilets and a dump point, so that may be why so many people wanted to stop there. It was very dusty and windy but we were treated to a spectacular sunset. There are a number fires in the area and the smoke creates the best sunsets! I also saw a shooting star while we are outside watching the beautiful starry night. That is the first one I have seen so far on this trip.
On Monday we moved on to the Boab Rest Area. Between Ellendale and this place there have been, and are continuing to be, large fires - off the road a way but stretching almost as far as the eye could see. The Boab Rest area is a pretty good size and slap bang in the middle is a very large, old boab tree
The whole area has had gravel put down. There are no toilets but there are plenty of flies (although nowhere near as many as some of the other places we have camped). A lot of people must use the surrounding bush as their toilet, which is understandable, but it is a pity they haven’t learned to dig a hole and bury it! It has been very smokey late in the afternoon on Monday and we have had ash landing on the car and caravan.
This photo is taken from our caravan looking toward the road. We could hear the crackling noise of the fire but couldn’t see the flames. We were keeping an eye on wind direction because there is a large amount of scrub and high, dry, grass where we are set up. The fire would have to jump the road and it didn’t appear to be roaring through – it may well be a controlled burn (what they call a cool fire) so we didn’t think there was too much risk.
Lots of cars in and out of the rest area through the day, including tour buses. A reasonable amount of people stop for the night but there is plenty of room. Royce attempted to wash the car using a bucket of water and a brush. He probably removed the worst of it but it still looks pretty dirty and will need a good wash when we get to Derby.
We are in Derby now but because of very poor signal strength I will fill you all in on Derby in our next blog (when hopefully we have a better internet connection).
Take care everyone.
We went out to the old Fitzroy Crossing,
then on to Gieke Gorge and saw a crocodile on the sandbar across the river.
It is a freshwater croc and apparently salt water crocs are not known to exist in Gieke Gorge. We went for a walk through the limestone rocks which is part of an ancient Devonian reef, then down to the Fitzroy River.
[I was going to put in a picture but we have such a weak internet signal it is taking ages to put photos on, so perhaps next time]. At the car park there is a gazebo where you can book tours on the Gorge. In 2002 the flood waters were estimated to be 2m over the roof of the gazebo and in March 2011 they were estimated to be about ½ metre above the roof. We had lunch at the old Crossing Inn then decided to drive out to Leopold Downs Road to see whether we would be able to get the caravan to the RAAF Boab Quarry. On the way a rock was thrown up from a passing car and it has chipped our windscreen. We saw a very large wurlie wurlie – the largest I have seen before. The road to the Quarry camp site is way too rough for the caravan so we had to rethink our plans.
On Sunday we drove to Ellendale camp site. It is a medium size camp site only about an hour from Fitzroy Crossing. We got there pretty early but it was already half full and it filled very fast from there. It has toilets and a dump point, so that may be why so many people wanted to stop there. It was very dusty and windy but we were treated to a spectacular sunset. There are a number fires in the area and the smoke creates the best sunsets! I also saw a shooting star while we are outside watching the beautiful starry night. That is the first one I have seen so far on this trip.
On Monday we moved on to the Boab Rest Area. Between Ellendale and this place there have been, and are continuing to be, large fires - off the road a way but stretching almost as far as the eye could see. The Boab Rest area is a pretty good size and slap bang in the middle is a very large, old boab tree
The whole area has had gravel put down. There are no toilets but there are plenty of flies (although nowhere near as many as some of the other places we have camped). A lot of people must use the surrounding bush as their toilet, which is understandable, but it is a pity they haven’t learned to dig a hole and bury it! It has been very smokey late in the afternoon on Monday and we have had ash landing on the car and caravan.
This photo is taken from our caravan looking toward the road. We could hear the crackling noise of the fire but couldn’t see the flames. We were keeping an eye on wind direction because there is a large amount of scrub and high, dry, grass where we are set up. The fire would have to jump the road and it didn’t appear to be roaring through – it may well be a controlled burn (what they call a cool fire) so we didn’t think there was too much risk.
Lots of cars in and out of the rest area through the day, including tour buses. A reasonable amount of people stop for the night but there is plenty of room. Royce attempted to wash the car using a bucket of water and a brush. He probably removed the worst of it but it still looks pretty dirty and will need a good wash when we get to Derby.
We are in Derby now but because of very poor signal strength I will fill you all in on Derby in our next blog (when hopefully we have a better internet connection).
Take care everyone.
Friday, July 22, 2011
HALLS CREEK & SOME OTHER SPOTS
I forgot to mention in my last blog about the Bungle Bungles that we were told Cathedral Gorge was used by Qantas to film part of the song I Still Call Australia Home (with the children singing).
We headed to halls Creek last Sunday (17th) and into the only caravan park for one night. There is no chemist in Halls Creek and I have run out of one of my presciptions. I have also run out of nicorettes so trying not to smoke too much is a challenge! We got the washing done and a bit of a clean up of the caravan and then had long hot showers. Even though we wash while out on the road, nothing can beat a good shower! We even appeared to have washed off some of our tan. We went out to have a look at the China Wall and Old Town. It is a dirt road and pretty rough. There are a few other things to look at in and around Halls Creek and we will put them on the 'next time' list. We were entertained at the caravan park that night by an indigenous band which played for 3 hours. They were very good musicians and it was a nice night.
It was quite overcast Monday morning. We packed up the caravan, got fuel and did some shopping (very limited choices and pretty dear) before heading off. Halls Creek has a good butcher (limited range but very good meat). He has a sign outside his shop which says "We offer Tough, Tasteless, Fatty Meat & Iffy Seafood .... at City Prices plus freight etc etc etc ...." We asked him what we should do if the meat we bought wasn't tough, tasteless and fatty and he suggested we post it back! He was very funny. They have also recently opened a bakery so we indulged there before heading off. It was a nice bakery and we managed to get some fresh baked bread.
We spent Monday night at Mary Pool - a free camp by the Mary River. It is a very large camp and provides toilets (flushing and reasonably clean) and a dump point. It is a 24 hour stop only (although we don't know why that would be). Lots of trees and shade. We were told by some other travellers that Mabel Downs stopped charging the road toll to the Bungle Bungles on Saturday (the day after we went there)! We should try to get a refund.
On Tuesday we headed to Ngumban Cliff Rest Area. This is only about 84km from Mary Pool but you can stay as long as you like. As the name suggests it is up reasonably high and there are no trees. There is one toilet but it is pretty horrific! We were the only ones there when we arrived Tuesday morning but a number of people came in and left during the day, including a couple of tour buses. This is a reasonably good size camp area with plenty of room but despite that we had a couple in a Winnebago pull up right behind our caravan and completely blocked our view! There were plenty of other spots they could have used. They stayed there 2 nights and the third night we had our view back, at least for one night. There were quite a few people ended up coming in late in the afternoons and staying for one night then moving on. The area is very windy during the day with some very strong gusts from time to time. The wind generally eased off late in the afternoon. It was pretty cold at nights there and we even had to use the quilt! We had beautiful sunsets and starry nights and I experimented with the camera and managed to get a couple of reasonable photos but need to work on it a bit more.
We left Ngumban Cliff this morning and drove to Fitzroy Crossing - details on that to come in the next blog.
China Wall - this is a natural 'structure' and is quite fascinating.
We headed to halls Creek last Sunday (17th) and into the only caravan park for one night. There is no chemist in Halls Creek and I have run out of one of my presciptions. I have also run out of nicorettes so trying not to smoke too much is a challenge! We got the washing done and a bit of a clean up of the caravan and then had long hot showers. Even though we wash while out on the road, nothing can beat a good shower! We even appeared to have washed off some of our tan. We went out to have a look at the China Wall and Old Town. It is a dirt road and pretty rough. There are a few other things to look at in and around Halls Creek and we will put them on the 'next time' list. We were entertained at the caravan park that night by an indigenous band which played for 3 hours. They were very good musicians and it was a nice night.
It was quite overcast Monday morning. We packed up the caravan, got fuel and did some shopping (very limited choices and pretty dear) before heading off. Halls Creek has a good butcher (limited range but very good meat). He has a sign outside his shop which says "We offer Tough, Tasteless, Fatty Meat & Iffy Seafood .... at City Prices plus freight etc etc etc ...." We asked him what we should do if the meat we bought wasn't tough, tasteless and fatty and he suggested we post it back! He was very funny. They have also recently opened a bakery so we indulged there before heading off. It was a nice bakery and we managed to get some fresh baked bread.
We spent Monday night at Mary Pool - a free camp by the Mary River. It is a very large camp and provides toilets (flushing and reasonably clean) and a dump point. It is a 24 hour stop only (although we don't know why that would be). Lots of trees and shade. We were told by some other travellers that Mabel Downs stopped charging the road toll to the Bungle Bungles on Saturday (the day after we went there)! We should try to get a refund.
On Tuesday we headed to Ngumban Cliff Rest Area. This is only about 84km from Mary Pool but you can stay as long as you like. As the name suggests it is up reasonably high and there are no trees. There is one toilet but it is pretty horrific! We were the only ones there when we arrived Tuesday morning but a number of people came in and left during the day, including a couple of tour buses. This is a reasonably good size camp area with plenty of room but despite that we had a couple in a Winnebago pull up right behind our caravan and completely blocked our view! There were plenty of other spots they could have used. They stayed there 2 nights and the third night we had our view back, at least for one night. There were quite a few people ended up coming in late in the afternoons and staying for one night then moving on. The area is very windy during the day with some very strong gusts from time to time. The wind generally eased off late in the afternoon. It was pretty cold at nights there and we even had to use the quilt! We had beautiful sunsets and starry nights and I experimented with the camera and managed to get a couple of reasonable photos but need to work on it a bit more.
We left Ngumban Cliff this morning and drove to Fitzroy Crossing - details on that to come in the next blog.
China Wall - this is a natural 'structure' and is quite fascinating.
Sunset at Ngumban Cliff
Sunday, July 17, 2011
SPRING CREEK & BUNGLE BUNGLES
We left Wyndham last Wednesday, headed towards Spring Creek which is a free camp about 100m from the turn off into the Bungle Bungles. We drove through Doon Doon where we stopped for a milkshake and through Warmun (Turkey Creek). We didn’t stop at Warmun but had been told that in the heavy rains pretty much the whole town was wiped out and was in the process of being rebuilt. We did see a sign identifying the town (or at least part of it) as a declared natural disaster area, and new transportables being erected. We encountered quite a few of the mining road trains for about two thirds of the trip.
We found Spring Creek (sort of sneaks up on you) which has two levels of camping – the upper level which is primarily for big rigs but is right by the road and very few trees and almost no shade, but pretty level and a good amount of space – and the lower level closer to Spring Creek, more trees but less level and more occupants. After a bit of checking around we managed to find a spot that is pretty sandy but reasonably level and a pretty good view of the creek.
On Friday we headed out to the Bungle Bungles. Once you leave the highway you have to travel 53km of dirt road and the recommended travel time is between 2 and 3 hours, so that gives you an indication of the roughness of the road! The first approximate 30km of the road is on Mabel Downs and less than a fortnight ago the owner started charging people to use the road – allegedly to cover the costs of repairing and maintaining. The charge is $20 per vehicle and tour vehicles are $50. There are an awful lot of vehicles going to Purnululu National Park each day so they must be making an absolute fortune and we cannot see that any work has been done on the road! There are rocks, pot holes, wash outs, 29 wet creek crossings and about the same dry creek crossings. It twists, winds, climbs up and down and you are only supposed to be allowed entry if you have a 4WD. Absolutely no caravans, but you can take tents and high clearance camper trailers and camp within Purnululu. This was the widest creek crossing but wasn’t the worst.
We arrived at the Visitor Centre, got a map and some information and were told we wouldn’t have time to do everything so we should focus on the Domes and Cathedral Gorge. We took her advice and headed off for another 45 minute drive to Piccaninny Creek car park. This car park is right in the middle of the Bungle Bungles so it is pretty amazing driving in. The camera started clicking the minute we got out of the car and didn’t stop for a few hours! We did the Domes walk (with a bit of a detour off into a chasm) then onto Cathedral Gorge then headed back to the car park. This probably took us, in all, about 2.5 to 3 hours and it was getting pretty hot so we didn’t get to the lookout further on down Piccaninny Creek. We headed back to the car park and had our lunch then worked our way back again. The woman at the Visitor Centre had said that from the Visitor Centre we would need to allow a minimum 2 hours to get out to Echidna Gorge and back so we had to give that a miss.
The trip in and out of the Bungle Bungles was well worth it, even though it was pretty rugged and we were really tired by the end of the day. I think to do the Bungle Bungles properly you would need to camp in the national park for at least 2 nights, minimum.
We found Spring Creek (sort of sneaks up on you) which has two levels of camping – the upper level which is primarily for big rigs but is right by the road and very few trees and almost no shade, but pretty level and a good amount of space – and the lower level closer to Spring Creek, more trees but less level and more occupants. After a bit of checking around we managed to find a spot that is pretty sandy but reasonably level and a pretty good view of the creek.
The view of Spring Creek from our caravan
Spring Creek - you can just see our caravan on the right
Spring Creek
The creek is only shallow but you can wade in it and there are a few slightly deeper pools where you can sit and refresh. A number of people hop in each day for a ‘swim’ and a clean (but they don’t use soap). We had a bit of a splash around yesterday. The water was cold but it was very refreshing. On Friday we headed out to the Bungle Bungles. Once you leave the highway you have to travel 53km of dirt road and the recommended travel time is between 2 and 3 hours, so that gives you an indication of the roughness of the road! The first approximate 30km of the road is on Mabel Downs and less than a fortnight ago the owner started charging people to use the road – allegedly to cover the costs of repairing and maintaining. The charge is $20 per vehicle and tour vehicles are $50. There are an awful lot of vehicles going to Purnululu National Park each day so they must be making an absolute fortune and we cannot see that any work has been done on the road! There are rocks, pot holes, wash outs, 29 wet creek crossings and about the same dry creek crossings. It twists, winds, climbs up and down and you are only supposed to be allowed entry if you have a 4WD. Absolutely no caravans, but you can take tents and high clearance camper trailers and camp within Purnululu. This was the widest creek crossing but wasn’t the worst.
We arrived at the Visitor Centre, got a map and some information and were told we wouldn’t have time to do everything so we should focus on the Domes and Cathedral Gorge. We took her advice and headed off for another 45 minute drive to Piccaninny Creek car park. This car park is right in the middle of the Bungle Bungles so it is pretty amazing driving in. The camera started clicking the minute we got out of the car and didn’t stop for a few hours! We did the Domes walk (with a bit of a detour off into a chasm) then onto Cathedral Gorge then headed back to the car park. This probably took us, in all, about 2.5 to 3 hours and it was getting pretty hot so we didn’t get to the lookout further on down Piccaninny Creek. We headed back to the car park and had our lunch then worked our way back again. The woman at the Visitor Centre had said that from the Visitor Centre we would need to allow a minimum 2 hours to get out to Echidna Gorge and back so we had to give that a miss.
The trip in and out of the Bungle Bungles was well worth it, even though it was pretty rugged and we were really tired by the end of the day. I think to do the Bungle Bungles properly you would need to camp in the national park for at least 2 nights, minimum.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
MAGGIE CREEK AND WYNDHAM
We left Kununurra and headed towards Wyndham, deciding to stop at Maggie Creek (a free camp) on the way. It is only about 28km from Wyndham. When we arrived we decided it was a lovely spot to stay for a night or two but there was nowhere we could get the caravan properly level. The land slopes every which way. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and digging holes for two of the caravan tires we finally were satisfied. This only took between 1 and 1.5 hours! We decided after all that effort that we would stay for 3 nights. Maggie Creek is starting to dry up so we were camped by a pool (of reasonable size). The view from our caravan was just lovely .....
We were only a few feet away from the pool and we were able to watch an egret fishing in the pool for most of the day.
As it turned out the egret was there every day, so it must have been its home turf. We had a nice cool breeze for most of the day and the only real nuisance was the truck movements. They are mining iron ore somewhere around here and the trucks are carting it to Wyndham Port for loading. The trucks have 4 trailers and they are moving through at approx 1 every 10 minutes. On Sunday morning we got up early (still adjusting to time difference), made our cup of tea and went outside to drink it. It was a beautiful morning and while we were having our cuppa 2 brolgas landed across the creek, 4 egrets came to visit, a black kite was circling, a blue winged kookaburra landed in a tree and a few beautifully coloured parrots flew around and landed in another tree. Simply amazing - all before breakfast!
We were visited later by some red tailed black cockatoos, a flock of corellas, some finches, a little bee eater and some other small birds. We watched a crow having a bath in the creek, which was pretty funny. He really had a fabulous time with his bath. For most of Sunday we had the place to ourselves. On Saturday night there was only one other camper and they left Sunday morning. Sunday night there was another young couple with a baby and they left Monday morning. Monday was overcast and a cool morning. We saw a wedgetail eagle and a lot more birds off and on for most of the day.
We were on our own for most of the day but others started coming in about mid afternoon and by late afternoon there were 3 other caravans and one couple tenting. Royce threw the yabbie net in on Sunday but all we managed to catch were some very small fish which we had to rescue from the net and release.
On Monday we reluctantly packed up and headed into Wyndham. It was an easy drive and when we arrived at the caravan park we noticed a donkey wandering around. We later fed it some carrots, which it loved.
We found out that the donkey used to have a companion - a goat - which used to wander around with him but some 'kids' bashed it and, sadly, it died! That is just so awful.
When we were setting up the caravan we had another visitor .....................
We did some sightseeing around Wyndham, including the Pioneer Cemetary (where, among others, 12 men who died between 1916 and 1918 whilst building the meat works are buried); the Big Croc (20 metres long)
Aboriginal dreamtime statues (bought a carved boab nut from an Aboriginal woman)
Parry Creek
Marlgu Billabong (an amazing place with so much birdlife it is unbelievable - would have loved to put more photos on the blog but just not enough time to sort, resize and upload)
Five Rivers Lookout (where the Ord, King, Pentacost, Durack and Forrest Rivers feed into Cambridge Gulf)
then on to tea at the Wydnham Hotel to celebrate Royce's birthday!
At the back of the caravan park is a very large boab which is estimated to be 2000 years old.
Just a quick stop here at Wyndham and then heading off again tomorrow morning to the Bungle Bungles!
We were only a few feet away from the pool and we were able to watch an egret fishing in the pool for most of the day.
As it turned out the egret was there every day, so it must have been its home turf. We had a nice cool breeze for most of the day and the only real nuisance was the truck movements. They are mining iron ore somewhere around here and the trucks are carting it to Wyndham Port for loading. The trucks have 4 trailers and they are moving through at approx 1 every 10 minutes. On Sunday morning we got up early (still adjusting to time difference), made our cup of tea and went outside to drink it. It was a beautiful morning and while we were having our cuppa 2 brolgas landed across the creek, 4 egrets came to visit, a black kite was circling, a blue winged kookaburra landed in a tree and a few beautifully coloured parrots flew around and landed in another tree. Simply amazing - all before breakfast!
We were visited later by some red tailed black cockatoos, a flock of corellas, some finches, a little bee eater and some other small birds. We watched a crow having a bath in the creek, which was pretty funny. He really had a fabulous time with his bath. For most of Sunday we had the place to ourselves. On Saturday night there was only one other camper and they left Sunday morning. Sunday night there was another young couple with a baby and they left Monday morning. Monday was overcast and a cool morning. We saw a wedgetail eagle and a lot more birds off and on for most of the day.
We were on our own for most of the day but others started coming in about mid afternoon and by late afternoon there were 3 other caravans and one couple tenting. Royce threw the yabbie net in on Sunday but all we managed to catch were some very small fish which we had to rescue from the net and release.
On Monday we reluctantly packed up and headed into Wyndham. It was an easy drive and when we arrived at the caravan park we noticed a donkey wandering around. We later fed it some carrots, which it loved.
We found out that the donkey used to have a companion - a goat - which used to wander around with him but some 'kids' bashed it and, sadly, it died! That is just so awful.
When we were setting up the caravan we had another visitor .....................
We did some sightseeing around Wyndham, including the Pioneer Cemetary (where, among others, 12 men who died between 1916 and 1918 whilst building the meat works are buried); the Big Croc (20 metres long)
Aboriginal dreamtime statues (bought a carved boab nut from an Aboriginal woman)
Parry Creek
Marlgu Billabong (an amazing place with so much birdlife it is unbelievable - would have loved to put more photos on the blog but just not enough time to sort, resize and upload)
Five Rivers Lookout (where the Ord, King, Pentacost, Durack and Forrest Rivers feed into Cambridge Gulf)
then on to tea at the Wydnham Hotel to celebrate Royce's birthday!
At the back of the caravan park is a very large boab which is estimated to be 2000 years old.
Just a quick stop here at Wyndham and then heading off again tomorrow morning to the Bungle Bungles!
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