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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| View from our hotel room |
