How to get to the Bungle Bungles

 Not many of us have been to the Bungle Bungles. There is a reason for that ... it's bloody hard to get there.

It's in the middle of the other nowhere, Uluru being the original middle of nowhere. Did you know it wasn't discovered by white man until the early 1980's? That's just mind boggling, it's not like it's a little place that if you blink you will miss it, the place is massive .... huge even but there you have it. 

We knew nothing about the place except pictures we have seen. I was married with my first child before it was discovered so it wasn't covered in Geography classes. But we are adventurers, we want to see what so many of us haven't.  In case you dont know the Bungles is a low mountain range that used to be an inland sea, when the water receded it left beautiful ringed formations that just take your breath away. 

The most amazing thing is even with it's isolation it has an awesome information centre. Air conditioned and everything. 

There is only one road in and out, 53 klms to the info centre where you need to register. 53 klms. Just 53 klms off the main highway. Fifty. Three. Kilometres. 

TWO HOURS later we arrived. That's 26.5 klms per hour. The speed limit was 90 kph, what a joke. It's a narrow dirt and sandy track with hairpin bends, dip and rises, water crossings, low hanging trees, trees on the track and boulders on the track. For example you get to the top of a rise then a sharp descend hairpin bend with a water crossing at the bottom which is hidden by trees until you are in it. It was the funniest track we have ever been on. 

We stayed 2 nights at the Bungles, our first full day was spent at Echidna Chasm. What a magical place. We had it all to ourselves. 200ft straight walls on both sides of the walking track that became narrower and narrower then opening up to a natural amphitheatre.  

We absolutely loved it... and we saw something that I thought I would never see. A Bower Bird nest. 

A beautiful ground structure decorated in the birds colour of choice to entice a female. The hours it must take to build and maintain. Our guy chose white so the bower was decorated with bottle tops, tissues, white stones, toilet paper and other assorted bits and pieces.  This sight did really make our day. 

The following day we set off to see Cathedral Gorge, a 4 klm walk. It started off as a beautiful lazy walk, views were spectacular.  The going was a little rough, loose stones, gravel and soft dry sand.  You know what it's like walking through soft sand, it's very tiring however we were enjoying the walk so much it wasn't really bothering us until the snake. 

I was in the lead walking thru a narrow path when I looked down to see a snake laying across the full width of the path about 6 inches from me. I was in mid step and just about to step on him when both snake and I froze. I let out a squeak, the snake raised it's head about a foot from the ground, stared me down then jumped sideways in the opposite direction. 

Didn't know snakes could jump sideways but I'm sure glad they can. I yelled "snake!" Martin pulled me behind him, people scattered, the snake disappeared and we all continued our journey like nothing had happened, except me. I was pretending I was fine but I was FREAKING OUT silently. I couldn't stop shaking and sweating, I knew I had to pass that same spot on our way out and that had me shaking even more. 

We made it to Catherdal Gorge and I'm sure it is a wonderful sight but I had lost interest. I took a couple of photos but I didn't want to be there, Martin could see my anxiety level was through the roof so we headed back to the car.

Now I think it was the shock of a near death experience (in my head it was) but with about 1.5 klms to go I was exhausted. Exhaustion like I have never known. Panting, shoulders slumped, head down, shuffling, headache and dizzy. My nose was dripping like a tap and I didn't care. My head was so hot I thought it would explode so I took my hat off, a really great thing to do in blazing heat. I was beyond thinking reasonably. The Captain is like "look at this! ", "take a photo of that" and all I could mutter was "no".  I couldn't muster the energy, what energy I had left was spent putting one foot infront of the other. Martin ended up having to constantly double back to encourage me to walk.

With 500 mts to go we had drank all our water and I had lost the will to live. Just let me lay on this hot sandy ground and let me sleep. We could see our car yet I doubted I would make it. While I was busy losing the will to live Martin was losing the will to save me, he could see the car too and with all his doubling back he had walked twice as far as me. 

Just when I was about to give up completely and Mart was looking a little worse for wear a young couple came up from behind us, power walking with smiles on their faces  "good morning" with all the cheeriness of 6 yr old girls at a birthday party. 

Now add embarrassment to my symptoms.

We made it back, obviously,  and after drinking several lts of water we were driving again.

We got the hell out of the Bungles.

Very slowly....

***** We have no idea what type of snake it was, may have been poisonous,  probably wasn't.  A kid around 10 yrs old said it was a Death Adder, others said a harmless Green Tree Snake. Back in Kununurra that night, eating dinner at the local pub I was a approached by a gentleman asking if I was the snake lady. It seems news travels faster than we do.

The Kimberlys

 Is there anything nicer than being a passenger in car travelling for hours and hours and hours? Off the top of my head I can think of a 1000 things nicer like relaxing in a pool, eating spare ribs, playing with the grandkids, a massage, even hanging out the washing is preferable.

 Not all at the same time of course though I am getting an image of it right now. 

Sadly though if you want to travel and see the country and you want to do it with your house strapped to the back of the car then you must sit in said car for a very long time. 

It's not too bad really...... really it's not too bad, it's not bad at all, I'm repeating myself in the hope I will be convinced. That happens a lot when you have so much time to kill. Daydreaming, repeating, mind wandering........ Now where was i?

I have learnt to spend my time productively.  I think. Over the course of the years I have solved world issues, cured cancer, resolved the divide between indigenous and white Australia, taught myself how to cut hair and how to farm sheep. I have started up businesses and created a peaceful totalitarian society in which I rule. I have designed the perfect house and the perfect caravan. I've done it all. Yet the second I step out of the car and stand upright every thought I had disappears. I am THAT happy to have knees that can straighten.

So here we are off to the Kimberly's again. Our last trip was so enjoyable  we needed to experience it all over again. We stopped at the usual places along the way, Port Augusta(where, apparently, not even the locals want to be) Cobber Pedy (where we don't want to be) Marla(where they make a decent steak sandwich), the Alice (where you get to see grass but NOT decent souvenir shops) Devil's Marbles (where you have to book weeks ahead and we didn't) Tennet Creek (where the caravan park has barbed wire fencing) and Katherine (where it's just hot ALL the time).

We had the opportunity to spend some time in Katherine where we stayed at Knotts Crossing Resort. 2 lovely pools, restaurant, and each camp sites has it's own ensuite. It was lovely with plenty of shade and we do recommend it. The township is hmmm...... different. Supermarket is great. Maccas doesn't open until after 12pm and the bottle shop (and pubs) don't open until 2pm. To enter you have to show I.D. to a cop then answer a few simple questions like "where will you be consuming the alcohol? " If you could have seen the policewoman's face when I answered "on the road". She was dumbstruck. Martin was dumbstruck. I was oblivious and wondering why i had left a cop wordless, "close your mouth love there'sa lot of flies around here".  Martin woke from his stupor in time to explain that we were travelling and would only be drinking once we stopped driving for the day. What? Isn't that what I said but in a more condensed and time saving manner? 

See the thing about Katherine is the weather drains you. We had an hour to kill before the bottle shop opened so we wandered around town which took about 10 minutes, it's not big, then sat and watched the world go by. There were many indigenous people in town and I thought how sad these people seemed. They walked hunched over, never spoke to even the people they are with and walked slowly and without purpose. I discovered after being in town for an hour we too had our life force sucked out we were hunched, quiet and shuffling without purpose. It's the heat. It's oppressive. It's relentless. It's is soul sucking. It's hot. 

Don't get me wrong, Katherine is worth the visit, there is a lot to see. Just be prepared and bring along your fully air-conditioned t shirt, shorts and thongs.

From Katherine to Kununurra in WA we bushed camped. Our new Pigibak camper was so good. Easy to set up and easy to pack. The canopy that Mart decked out was perfect. Everything in its place and easy to access. You can't ask for more.

 

Oh, by the way, if you know of anyone who wants to buy a Piggibak camper let me know. I'll explain later.

We hung around Kununurra for a few days, got a bit of washing done, bought food supplies and went sightseeing. It was decided by the captain that when we leave we will take the shortcut to Wyndam. Firstly, why? We have been to Wyndam and learnt then that there is NOTHING in Wyndam. It does have an awesome lookout but otherwise zilch. Have you ever been to Wyndam? Really, the lookout is wonderful but it's a long way off the track for just a lookout. Apologies to the lovely people of Wyndam, it's a perfectly lovely town if I want to exaggerate.  

Anyhow to go the back way you need to cross the Ord River at Ivanhoe Crossing. That was fun. I got Martin to drive over and back so I could take pictures of him splashing in the water, then I took pictures for a lovely couple who wanted to make a splash as well. What we failed to notice was that everyone drove over then back, no one kept going on to Wyndam. Honestly, if I did notice I would have thought nothing of it because you know ....Wyndham?  

The road was rough, the trail was long ..... tyre eating rocks abound,  i swear you could see their razor sharp teeth as they tried to throw themselves at the tyres. And yep, they abounded into one of our rear tyres and ate with the gusto of 6 starving Italian sons at their Mamma's dinner table. "Mangia  Mangia" ! Holey Moley the destruction was awesome! 

Before we left home for this trip Martin commented about the tyres. They still had a decent amount of tread and he wasn't sure if they should be changed or not. We decided to risk it and if we have to buy new ones while away, well we would just have to buy new ones. What we didn't consider was how much more expensive they would be especially as we decided to change all 4. 

Lesson learnt.

So it was back to Kununurra and another night spent in a caravan park. No complaints from me. I really do love to bush camp, the silence and the whole one with nature stuff but a hot shower and proper toilet really can make a girl smile. We still went to Wyndam though we drove via the main road and I still don't know why. We didn't stop to look at anything, we didn't go to the lookout, we drove into town then turned around and left. Fun.

 

Gibb River Road. We discovered it was a been there, done that moment. We were so excitied to finally get here, loved it so much last time but now all we could think about is dust and dirt for over 600 klms. Don't get me wrong, the road was kinda fun, the sights are still amazing but we didn't experience the magic that we did the first time. Infact, by quater way through we were over the dust, the bumps and the corrugations. Maybe we are just getting older. We camped in some awesome places but basically we plowed on through and headed for Derby.

Derby is a nice town,  I think I may have covered it in an earlier blog. We stayed in a caravan park and our neighbour was an interesting fella. His possessions consisted of a swag and a small wagon with water and a few clothes.  He hung around people in the hope they would feed him. His dole money covered the cost of the site and his booze. The 1st morning he announced to us that he was going to walk the Gibb River Road. He had it all planned down to how strangers will gladly feed and water him so they had bragging rights. "We gave a steak and a couple of beers to the man who walked the Gibb!" Nethermind that many walkers had proceeded him, walking the Gibb is probably the equivalent to swimming 10 laps of a pool. Not easy to do but so many have done it. We wished him luck because he was going to need it and hoped we weren't the ones to find a bearded, beer bellied corpse in thongs on the side of the road

He didn't go by the way, luckily the caravan park offered him a job. I was so relieved. 

 The town of Derby is suffering through a bout of youth violence. Our first night while sitting quietly around camp police approached us to warn about the violence but not to worry, they will be patrolling throughout the night. And they did. Every 15 minutes like clockwork a police car with lights flashing drove down each road of the park lighting up our tent, it was like having our own private and silent disco.  Occasionally we heard yelling and car doors slamming which was a bit disturbing, I was waiting for the gun shots, and it was around this time when I realised  how vulnerable and exposed we are. In a caravan the bad guy has to get through a locked door giving you warning of your impending doom, in a tent he just swings his 3 ft machete and will hit his mark. Just aim for one end, you're guaranteed to get the feet or the head. We wouldn't even know it's coming. 

I laid awake for a long time waiting to have my head chopped off. I've been told that's called catastrophzing, I call it an over productive mind besides I finally decided that the guy in the swag next to us was an easier target thus giving us the warning we need. I went to sleep then.

We didn't stay a second night.

We got the hell out of Derby.

I forgot to mention that Bluey and family came along with us on the trip. Oh the fun that was had.

So here we are again.

Can you believe that it's been 11 years since my first post.  There's a whole big gap where I never wrote anything. You see, I got a new laptop and I couldn't remember my log in or password and after a few tries I gave up. 

While chatting to Neice L this week I suddenly remembered everything and here we are, 11 years older, probably 3 computers later and less wise than I was 11 years ago. 

As my Mum would say "there's no sin getting old, it's just bloody inconvenient "

Hi all, its been a while.

The Captain and I haven't been idle, for one thing we have 5 grand kids now. Yeah, I know, lucky. Still not allowed to take them on our adventures though. I don't know what the problem is, if they lost one they have spares. Am I right? Unfortunately this argument seems to fall on deaf ears, it would figure that they like them all.

We also have been travelling here and there around Australia. Oh, and we have changed canopies a few times too. And tents. We did a trip up to the Tip and I was not keen on sleeping at ground level because, you know, crocs, snakes, lizards in a bad mood, mice, rats, ants and spiders. So we purchased a roof top tent which is an amazing invention,  so easy to set up, climb the stairs and your comfy bed awaits.

There are a few problems with them though, for one thing never and I really mean never ever make camp on a beautiful cliff face over looking the Coral Sea. You may think it romantic with gentle swaying palms and balmy nights but yeah, nah, it's more like blustering wind and freezing nights. You will not sleep, you will spend the night with the tent wall slapping you in your face and the car rocking while listening to the whole setup moaning and groaning. Fun. 

The second problem with a rooftop tent is packing it up, it's not hard to do really, the problem is reaching it. I can see it would be a lot easier if it was mounted on a car but on top of the canopy it just can't be reached. Martin brought a step ladder, but only one, so he had to pack up alone. Tuck in here, climb down, move the ladder 2 foot, climb up and tuck some more, around and around until everything is perfect. Aside from dirtying clothes it exhausted him and took at least an hour to pack up. There has to be a better way.

The top end was an amazing trip, we fell in love with some places and we are glad we went but we came home and sold the canopy and the roof top tent. 

Next we purchased the dreaded Big Big Box. (Affectionately named by our grandkids) a more appropriate name would be The Box of Horrors.

 It looked exactly like a Trayon Camper but was a cheap Chinese knock off. Nothing lined up properly, it was heavy and hard to open, it was heavier and harder to close. Electrics had to be modified, leaking joints resealed, plumbing needed replumbing and a nightmare to move around in. Only one person at a time could comfortably be in there, oh and the bed. I slept for five weeks with a metal bar that could be felt thru the mattress, running the length of the bed digging into my ribs and hip. There was just no room to lay anywhere else.   

We took it up to the N.T.  We stayed in a lot of Caravan Park cabins. The N.T was an amazing trip, we fell in love with it all over again and we are so happy we went but we came home and sold the Big Big Box.

So our latest and greatest is a brand new aluminium canopy with a Piggibak. Say what? It's a new thing on the market and only one place makes and sells them. It enables you to have a rooftop tent but the tent is mounted on the back of the canopy and folds down and out, so your tent is only roughly 3 ft off the ground making it easier to get into and way easier to pack up. Marvellous.

Then Mart set about designing and creating the interior. It's got everything we need and storage is the best ever. We both love it and want to keep it. You can stop smirking, it's true, we want to keep it. 

Anyway that's enough talk on our equipment. Let's get to the next page because I want to tell you about our trip to the Kimberlys.  Yep, yep, we went there again

On the way to Frazer .. Wagga

So here I am, 6 years since my last post. I hope you weren't waiting with baited breath.
The thing is life got in the way and then I forgot to post!  

So now, we are 6 years older and we now have 3 grandchildren but our thirst for travel has not waned. 
We have traveled some, holiday in Perth, another holiday in Port Douglas, camping on the Murray and last year we traveled to Fraser Island with Mart's sister and brother-in-law. If you ever want to go on a holiday with other people, go with Mart's sister and brother-in-law. You will return home saying "I've never laughed so much and I've never eaten so much"

On day 1 we stopped at the tourist information centre in Wagga Wagga to find a Mazda dealer. We had lost our fuel cap. Where did we lose the fuel cap? On the road to Wagga Wagga....

So.... Mart's chatting to the information lady, Sister and I are glancing at souvenirs and brother-in-law is sitting back on a chair relaxing. ....
So the story I am about to tell you is totally true. I have not embellished, there is no need to. This is exactly how we saw it..... 

While looking at a particularity cute toy koala I spot brother-in-law jump up off his chair and start dancing. Actually I thought he was taking part in a corroboree. Arms a-waving, stamping of feet and singing a fun little tune that sounded a bit like "oh, oh, oh, oh ,oh"

We are all watching now, like everyone in the centre was watching and then .................... a mouse runs out of the bottom of brother-in-law's pants. We are all shocked and take several cautionary steps back and watch while the mouse runs across the room towards the doors that conveniently slide open and the mouse runs to freedom. 

Then the laughter started.

This poor mouse ran up the inside of brother-in-laws trackypants, across his crotch and then down the other leg! I'm not sure if it is incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.

That mouse story providing much entertainment over the next 3 weeks. 

Have you ever been to Fraser Island? It's a must see. The largest sand island in the world but it's not all deserty like you might think. That's what I thought anyway. Mostly it's dense rain forest, fitting as it rained most days we were there. No made roads except in the little township and at the resort, the rest of the roads are sandy tracks. Sandy, muddy tracks. So much fun.

Sister (navigator) and brother-in-law (driver) of their car were new to the whole 4 wheel drive adventure and they had a ball. Hours of beach driving, tiny, rough tracks and muddy puddles. 

One of our camp sites on Fraser

Beach driving

Our cars. Yes, we have a new canopy. It's really good because it keeps the dust out (anyone who followed our Kimberly adventure knows how we struggled with the bull dust) But sadly, we can't sleep in the canopy, I miss that bed

Lake McKenzie on one of the 2 days it was sunny (the other was the day we left) This lake is fascinating with white sand and crystal clear water. You wouldn't go to Fraser Island without going to see Lake Mckenzie.

This big guy and about 20 of his brothers/sisters/mates spent at few days with us when we camped at the top end of Fraser. About 4ft long I guess and they would wander around camp, poke their heads in the tents if they weren't zipped up or just sunbake.

Now this guy was rude. We found him crossing a major road on the island and fearing for his safety Mart took hold of him and carried across the road. In the way of thanks Mr Turtle peed on Mart. Thanks, like I want to be in a car for hours smelling turtle pee... geeez

There are a lot of dingos on Fraser Island or so we are told. The purest breed of dingo as they have not bred with domestic dogs. We did see them, firstly when we landed on the island a welcoming committee of 3 greeted us just as we got bogged for the first time. Then one jumped at the car as we passed it and finally this one while beach driving. 

Fitzroy Crossing

It's Monday afternoon, we are in Broome with two new tyres and a fancy-dance wheel alignment, stocked up on fuel, food and clothes and our destination is Fitzroy Crossing 400 klms away and times a-wasting.

 Some pictures of the waters in Broome. Very pretty

 What is called Staircase to the moon. It only occurs once of month. This was taken from our hotel room

We won't make our destination today, sunset is at 5.30 and there is no fun in driving around here at night. Too many roos on the road. We have an hour to get as far as we can and then we can continue on early tomorrow.

We got as far as the Boab Rest Area about 154 klms from Fitzroy Crossing. Have I told you about the rest areas around here? Back in Victoria where you can reach any part of the state in one day, rest areas are usually a small area, maybe large enough for 5 to 6 cars with a toilet and one or two picnic tables.

In Western Australia (and South Australia) rest areas are huge and usually always crowded with at least 30 cars and caravans, 99% of which are grey nomads (retirees who sell up and spend several years travelling the country in big arsed, state of the art vans) The down side for us is we never get a good position in the areas because we normally pulled in around dusk. The grey nomads have been there since 1pm ...... and they don't leave until 10am the next morning. Yep, that leaves a whole 3 hours per day travelling to the next rest stop and catching any sights along the way. The upside of spending the night with the over 70's is they are all snuggled up in their vans by 6pm so it's peaceful. 
 Boab Rest area was no different, actually it was probably more crowded than the other stops we had spent the night. The one thing I really don't like about the rest areas are the toilets. You would think I'd be happy not having to dig a hole but you would be wrong. The toilets here are the ones where they build a little hill, dig a hole right down the middle, put a tin shed on top with a thunderbox covering the hole. Yuk.....

It's about now I could say they scare the shit out of me but no ..... they scare me so much nothing comes out :) Anything could be down that hole, I don't know what sort of creature would want to live in such a hole and I don't really want to know, do you? My imagination runs overtime when it comes to these dunnies. Whatever lives down there is slimey, slithers, bites, sucks blood and has huge hands. No siree ..... I'll dig my own hole thank you.

  We pulled in around 7pm, didn't even bother to eat dinner, just climbed into bed and fell straight to sleep and woke 10 minutes later at 5am.  (it felt like 10 minutes)

Fitzroy Crossing is a nice place. It is primarily an Aboriginal settlement and is larger than most due to the tourist trade. It is situated on the sealed road taken from Northern Territory to Broome and sits on the banks of the Fitzroy River  (hence the name) Once upon a time not so long ago there was no bridge and crossing the river was a seasonal thing but not anymore.

We stayed in town for 2 hours and never left the information centre. The staff were lovely ladies who were up for a chat. One in particular, Jolene, was Aboriginal and she spent over an hour talking about her life and beliefs. She was so open we sat fascinated and could have stayed longer.

The original Fitzroy Crossing


The original crossing is still intact so we checked it out as well as visiting Mr Sawfish, a glass blower. Really beautiful work and a man who also likes a chat. 

We left Fitzroy Crossing an hour later and around $400 poorer. We were heading for an Aboriginal guided tour of Geiki Gorge and totally excited at the prospect of learning more of the Aboriginal culture.

Have you ever experience anything so bad that it's actually really good? Geiki Gorge itself is amazing. Nature at it's finest with majestic orange and white cliffs and calm crystal blue water, it was our guide who failed us in every way possible. Firstly, we doubted he was Aboriginal at all, he certainly didn't have the look or the voice but hey, who are we to question his heritage? (we discovered later, courtesy of Mart's sister, that he was married to an Aboriginal woman and he was as anglo-saxon as I am)

His attitude was wonderfully unique, a tourist guide who was obnoxious, rude and downright nasty. There were 6 of us in the group and within minutes we were all looking at each other with bewildered faces and wondering which of us will be voted to be the one who drives a knife through this guy's heart. We were all comfortable with the silent knowledge that whoever did the deed he would have the protection of the rest of the group.  

He gave us a 15 minute lecture about Aboriginal marriages, before we walked down to the water to board the boat. He also pointed out that he had told the people at the information centre that he had the flu and he was not in the mood to take a tour out but they never listen to him ........ great, only 1 hour, 45 minutes to go.
Because he had a cold or flu or ebola or whatever he spent the whole trip there and back making that horrible noise men make when they want to spit ..... and then spitting into the river. Lovely. This is where the whole 'its so bad, it's good' kicked in. After about the 10th spit I started to giggle. Martin started to chuckle. The others in the group started to snicker and before we knew it we were actually enjoying ourselves. When he made snide remarks there would be secret looks amoungst ourselves and secret smiles.
We weren't allowed to ask questions, He would snap "I'll get to that!" or "well, if you wait a minute" and each time Mart would respond cheerily "I'm sorry!"...... 

More secret giggles.

Our guide took us to his private camp area for "real" bush tucker. Lipton tea boiled in a rusty billy and stale Arnotts biscuits. Witchety grubs sounded more appetizing.  I didn't partake. Infact I had tuned this guy out 15 minutes ago and I couldn't tell you what he said or did for the rest of the tour. I just enjoyed the view. The Kimberly's never stops surprising you. When you think you have seen the most beautiful landscape ever, like never ever in the history of the world has there been a more wondrous sight, you turn a corner and BAM you find something even more beautiful.

Geiki Gorge is one of these places.

We made it back to the set off point without throwing the guide overboard and set off to our next destination. Tunnel Creek.
The road was one of the worst we had traveled so far. But we had two new tyres and a gold encrusted air compressor so we just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Tunnel Creek is hmmmmmmm..... not for the faint hearted like me. Had I known what was in store I would have stayed in my car, so I'm glad I didn't know what was in store because it was fun. Scary, but fun.

The walk is through a cave, so it's dark, like total blackness. It's also filled with water. Can you see me walking through a black cave in thigh deep water? Yeah, no, me either. But I did it. Freshwater Crocs are known to be found in the cave but I was so freaked out by the whole blackness I didn't have enough freaked out left to worry about crocs. 

Half way through the tunnel the roof has broken away in places and allows light through. Just stunning. 

And when we emerged at the other end we were stunned at how large the cave is. 
Another must see in the Kimberlys. Just remember to bring a good strong torch.

Derby Day

Early morning at Windjana brought with it decision time. 3 punctures yesterday and a close inspection of the tyres revealed that the front two were scrubbed to canvas on the inside part of the tyre. We had serious alignment problems, the remaining parts of the two tyres were almost like brand new.

So we had 3 choices. We could continue on to Fitzroy Crossing over 104 klms on a sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy, always bone shattering track where there is a tyre repair guy or we could travel 20 klms on that same sandy, rocky, bone shattering track in the other direction and then 124 klms on sealed road to Derby, a town which we were told has a Tyre Power outlet. OR we could do the whole 20 klm thing and then go on for another 310 klms to Broome where we knew there would be a couple of tyre retailers.
This was something the ship's captain had to decide. He knew better than any of the crew members (me) what risks were involved.
He picked Derby.

Gibb river road heading to Derby. Very flat and very empty.

It was Saturday morning and we limped into port right on 9am, hit the tourist info centre for tyre outlet locations (there were 2), bought up big on the whole souvenir thing, hey, I needed retail therapy ........ and around 10 am we pulled into Derby Tyre Power. They were open but not to sell tyres obviously because the guy didn't want our business. "Come back on Monday"
Oh Brother ............
But not too worry, there was also a Bridgestone Outlet.
The place was locked up tight as a drum.  
We dropped in to the 4x4 store next door and purchased a you-beaut, dinky di, kick arse air compressor for over $300. I know, I know, you're rolling your eyes too right? Am I kidding? No I'm not kidding.
For $300 I wanted to know what else it could blow up. A children's jumping castle? A hot air balloon? The Lindberg Blimp? Come on people, we just spent over $300 for this thing, I want to blow something up. Sydney Harbour Bridge? The Queen Mary? The great barrier reef?
I almost couldn't wait to get back on the road again so I could go into one of those trancey things I go into when we are driving for hours and hours ......... and hours.......... just so I could think of things to blow up.

Anyhows........
Mart asked the gold lined, jewelled speckled air compressor seller guy when Bridgestone opens. "Should be open now, he always opens on Saturdays." They both went outside to take a look. "Well, whadya know. He ain't open today. Gotta be a first."
..............ok...........
 We are stuck in Derby, we can't go back out on The Gibb River because of the state of the tyres and we have to wait until Monday to get new ones and then we don't even know what brand of tyres are sold here.

So we went to the jetty and had lunch.

Barramundi, chips and salad and a bottle of wine. Brown Brother's Moscato. Not as delicious as Brown Brother's Orange Muscat and Flora but a very good drop none the less. We had bought 2 bottles of it at the local grog shop along with a bottle of scotch and Irish Creme. I think Mart was planning to drown his sorrows. We also wanted to buy a bottle of port but the grog shop was not allowed to sell port. Yeah I can see how that helps the aboriginal drinking problem. And we had to have it bagged up because you are not allowed to display alcohol on the streets of Derby. Because, you know, if you can't see it you won't do it. Right?

So here we are, eating great food, sipping great wine looking out at a great view of the ocean, well at least it would be a great view if the tide wasn't out. Derby has something like 10 meter tides so when the tide is out, it's way out. It's like over there in Paupa New Guinea out. Then Mart utters something that reminds me why I married him. "Let's just book in a motel, have a decent shower and a good night's sleep"
Thank you Mart.
Thank you tyres........... thank you Tyre Power ............ thank you Bridgestone.
And thank you Brown Brothers

We checked into the closest hotel which also happened to be the newest and the finest hotel in Derby. The Spinefex. Great room, great bed, fantastic shower. The shower was so fantastic is washed off my great tan.  

We even went out to dinner. There we decided that tomorrow we would drive to Broome. Perhaps they would have a larger range of tyres to choose from. Mart was keen to get the same brand of tyre he already had and we didn't think Derby would stock them. Beside we did all there was to do in Derby. Yeah, Derby is that exciting.

You may notice there are no photos of Derby. I did take them and I have spent quite a bit of time going through them to decide which ones were worth looking at. The results of this search is evident. None of them were worth looking at except this picture of 3 black kites which wasn't really taken in derby, it was taken in Windjana and I forgot to post it.

By 8.30 we were sailing out, travelled 30klms and remembered that the grog was still in the fridge at the hotel. (normally I would call it booze but when in Rome and everyone calls it grog in these parts) so we turned back to Derby. There is only one road in and one road out so we were getting to know it quite well. People waved to us, they thought we were locals, we were touched.

So once again we headed out of town, first stop the famous Prison Boab Tree. I suspecting that it is famous because it's the only thing in Derby to see and they need something famous.

I'm glad we looked at it, not because it's estimated to be over 1500 years old though that is impressive, and not because it's was the fattest tree I've ever seen though that did hold interest. I'm glad we looked at it because we got to see something from our ugly history. All the advertising for this tree neglects to mention that the prisoners held here were Aboriginal, most of which had never commited any crime. 
  Signs claim this is a sacred site for the Aboriginal. Martin's statement read more true I think "If I was Aboriginal, I'd want to blow the thing up."

I started running for the compressor.

You know, we are sickened and saddened by the past treatment of the black people in America and apartheid in South Africa and yet we don't ever look at what happened to the black people of Australia. We don't cover it in History lessons, in fact I bet most people don't know or even want to know what the white man did to them.

The quality of the photo is not great , sorry

It so sad.

But this isn't the forum to uncover our shady past so like most other Aussies I'll bury my head in the sand and continue. (for now)

So we are on the road again and for some unknown reason Mart decides he want to get off a sealed road and venture down a dirt track. Really? He's not had enough of dirt? The corrugations? He's not concerned that we are living on borrowed time with the tyres? Seems not. He wanted to take a look at the Fitzroy River and crossing it on a two laned sealed road was not the way to do it.
We travelled maybe 20 klms down this track

Then turned around and came back without ever finding the river. The map said it was there, the GPS said it was there though I'm not sure how reliable the GPS was because as far as it was concerned the road we were on didn't exist.
It just wasn't there. Had they moved it? Can you do that?
Oh well, onto Broome.

Surprise, surprise! It's the Fitzroy River and we did find it ........... on the highway

We made it to Broome by 11am, headed for their Tourist Info Centre and whaky-do whaddya know, we had another puncture.
That's No4.
At least we have that huge fan-dangled compressor that I had now decided could probably blow up Uluru.

While it is true I was still in need of retail therapy I kept the souvenir shopping to a minimum at the centre and I grabbed info on tyre outlets while Martin blew up the tyre. I was waiting for the explosion but it never happened. Hmm, ripped off again.

Broome is a surprising place, the biggest surprise being that it's there. It really is isolated. It's this big, busy town with lots to see and do, all geared for the tourist and it sits dap in the middle of nothing..
It has shopping complexes. I liked it.  

We did the touristy thing, checked out Cable Beach, walked the jetty, took in the sights, thought about washing some clothes and decided to buy more instead, ate. 
Broome's a nice town.

So we settled in to a plush hotel, watched the sunset over Cable Beach while sipping Tequila Sunrises and called it a night.

Tomorrow was Monday, we could have two new tyres fitted as well as a wheel alignment and head out once again and if all went to plan we would acomplish this all by 9am. 
 After two days of clean bodies and clean sheets we were itching to get dirty again.

View from our hotel room

Big Travel Day

We had spent the night camped along the Pentecost River not far from the river crossing. There are no bridges on the Gibb River Road but we are here in the dry season so the rivers aren't too deep.

It was peaceful and pretty and while we couldn't actually view the sunset I'm sure it was a beauty. Around these parts the sun was setting by 5.30pm but it was the hour before sunset that had us enthralled. When the sun is low in the sky everything around us took on a perfect orange colour. We took many photos of this over the next few weeks but none of them really captured the beauty.

We watched as a young couple pulled their car over near us and the man went down to the water for a swim. We wondered if he was German. Crocs seem to have a preference to them. Truly, I am not making fun of Germans, but it is common knowledge that more German tourists have been attacked by crocs in Aus than any other nationality.
 
The thing is the Kimberlys are home to thousands of Johnson's Crocodile, usually called Freshwater Crocodiles or Freshies. They are smaller than their mean cousins the Saltwater Crocodile (Salties) and also far more pleasant in nature.
Everyone seems to be a little too blase around here when it comes to crocodiles.

If you ask the locals you always get the exact same reply.
"No salties round here, plenty of Freshies, they won't hurt ya as long as ya keep out of their way. Sometimes we do find a stray salty here and there. Couple'a tourists came across one the other day down there by the crossing, haven't seen him since though. Probably taken off. You can tell the difference anyhow"  

 Tell the difference? I don't want to put myself in the position where I have to 'tell the difference'.
Ever.
And keep out of their way? How do you keep out of the way of a crocodile?
You don't go near the bloody water, that's how.
Do you see what I'm saying?

So we watched this guy swim and not get attacked, he obviously knew how to keep out of their way, or he wasn't German, or he could tell the difference,
We took in the wonder of the world turning orange, heated up tinned beef stew for dinner and went to bed around 7pm vowing to never eat tinned beef stew ever again.

We had got into the habit of going to bed very early and watching a movie on the computer. The whole car setup was almost perfect. We were still getting some dust in the bed area but we solved that by purchasing a cheap set of sheets and covering the bed with them. The bed itself was comfortable. So comfortable we looked forward to climbing in there and hunkering down for the night. Mart was amused that I hunkered, he didn't hunker, he just went to bed.

We woke in the morning to discover another perfect day. Do they have any other sort of weather here? We had a bit of travelling to do today, around 250 klms which doesn't sound too much but this is the Gibb River Road and the going can be slow. We were aiming for My Barnett Roadhouse which is roughly the half way point , there is not a whole lot to see on the way unless you are staying at one of the many homestead camping areas. They have gorges on these properties but you need to be a guest to access them.
If only we had more time.

We were packed up and on the road by 7am (early to bed...... early to rise)

 

 

One of the many river crossing on the Gibb River Road. Because it's late in the dry season none of the crossing were very deep

By 8.30 we were pulled over on the side of the road with our first flat tyre. Not to worry, Mart came prepared with not just one, but two complete puncture repair kits. Just one teensy little problem. The air compressor stopped working. It stopped working so well that it actually deflated the tyre instead of inflating.
Yeah ........ ok ............ what to do.
Well, there's not much you can do.
It's not like you can grab your mobile phone and call RACV, no reception.
You can't start walking to the nearest house and ask for help, that could be miles and miles away.
All you can do is sit and wait until a car comes along at a slow enough speed to be able to see us through the bulldust and then hope they are concerned enough to stop.
I found it surprising that several people did go by without stopping. What ever happened to helping your fellow man?

Did I ever tell you about the time when we were in Kakadu heading up to a place called Jim Jim Falls? That was remote. It was so remote the remoteness was remote. (whatever that means) Well, we chanced upon a family whose car had broken down and the wife was on a satellite phone to the RAVC demanding that they respond to their breakdown call. This is why they paid premium service ! We tried explaining that even if they did respond it would take them 3 days to get here. Mart fixed their car which they didn't seem too happy about, I think they would have preferred to wait 3 days and get their money's worth from the RACV. We ran into them again later in the day on a small boat cruise and they pretended that they didn't know us. I wished that Martin hadn't fixed their car too.
I thought that was a fun story.

Anyhows........... some good people did stop and lend their air compressor and after a 2 hour delay we were on the road again by 10.30am.

Dust kicked up by a passing car. Because there was no wind the bulldust just sat for a long distance. Luckily there weren't too many car that passed.

At 12.45pm Mart uttered something that went a little like this "Oh gosh, oh gee. darn it, we have another silly old puncture. Now aren't we the unlucky ones?"
And sure enough, here we were again, stopped by the side of the road hoping someone would chance by.
A lovely German couple who obviously hadn't been swimming did chance by and lent us their compressor.
Then another couple towing a caravan stopped to see if everything was ok. "we are fine now" Martin explains "However did you know you have a puncture?" The gentleman, Bob, did the whole "oh gosh, oh gee" routine and explained he had just had that tyre fixed.
Well in the end Martin and Bob fixed both tyres, pumped them up and we were on the road once again after another 2 hour delay.
We made it to Barnett Roadhouse only to be told that they had sold their last air compressor but not to worry, we couldn't possibly get another puncture right?

We spent the night at Manning Gorge Camp Area which was our aim however we didn't get to see the actual gorge because we had spent the day goshing and geeing all over the Gibb River Road. It is one of the best gorges we were told but took several hours walking and climbing to get there. Mart was extremely disappointed, I was secretly pleased and whispered a thanks to the tyres.

Our camp site a Manning Gorge. We were there a while before setting up because the hot showers were only available between 4.30 pm and 6pm.
 

We had pork chops for dinner and decided we were definitely right in vowing to never eat tinned beef stew again. And we had a shower.

By the way, did I tell you that Bob, the punctured tyre guy, was a contestant on The Biggest Loser? I don't know how long ago it was but he lost 87 kilos and has not put it back on. He told us it had changed his life and there was no way he could have ever tackled the Gibb River Road with the size he was. Good onya Bob.
I thought that was a nice story.

So a new day dawns and guess what? It's sunny again. Really, wouldn't life be boring if all you had to look forward to were cloudless sunny skies everyday? We were back on the road again by 7.30am.
First stop Galvin's Gorge. Even had a waterfall. And you could swim there though Mart decided not to. Maybe because there was no crowd to cheer him to victory? The walk was lovely and the gorge was pretty. We were pleased as punch.

Galvin's Gorge

 

Imintji Store. The roadhouses along the GRR are mostly situated on cattle stations (ranches). The Imintji Store is situated on Aboriginal Land right in the middle of an Aboriginal community.

We lunched at Iminji Store which is owned by the local Aboriginal Community then headed off to Windjanna which Martin's sister had recommended to us. Oh she was so right to recommend this place. We settled the car in the camping area as this was going to be our home for tonight and headed off towards the gorge.
In all the walks, in all the world, this has to be the best walk I have ever walked. This walk was so great I forgot that I was walking. I'll show you.

The walk to the gorge

First glimpse of Winjana Gorge

One of the residents at the Gorge. There were perhaps 30 in the area

And then to top off the best walk we've ever walked when we turned around to walk back the magical orange hour had begun and made everything so beautiful it was like we were seeing it for the first time.
In case you didn't get my drift ......... this was probably my most favourite place in the Kimberlys.

But all good things have to come to an end and when we returned to our car/camp a guy in the next camp called out to us something that we really didn't want to hear "hey mate, do you know you have a puncture?"
At least there were plenty of people around to lend us a compressor.