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.

The entrance through the escarpment into the gorge

Part of the gorge

One of the many 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