Aug 31
A bit of a quiet day here today. We went and had a look at the Mirima National Park, but since we’d left it until late in the day, like 9am, it was already too hot in there. There’s just no shade and the wind whips through the hills. Very pretty place, it’s kind of like a mini bungle bungles.
Aug 30
Today started when the alarm went off at 4am. That may well have only been 6am for you Eastern states folk, but let me tell you that it definitely felt like 4am over here.
We were booked on an Alligator Airways flight over the Bungle Bungles with brekky included too. The flight wasn’t until 6 and they pick you up at 5:15 … but 4am seemed like it might just give us enough time to wake the kids and get organised.
Aug 29
We reluctantly left El Questro today. Such an awesome location.
No photos as it just ended up being a busy day.
The drive back out on the Gibb River Road was mostly uneventful apart from a few inconsiderate twits going faster than they should’ve been and churning up all the rocks and dust. Also had a fool overtake us on a blind bend, straight into the path of another camper. All managed to dodge each other, but I hope he’s learnt his lesson.
Took a little while at the end of the Gibb to pump the tyres back up and grab a geocache. Then it was a fairly slow trip into Kununurra as I’d forgotten how to drive on bitumen. The sheer non-bumpiness of it was freaking me out.
Nevertheless, we got to Ivanhoe Caravan Park and setup. It was at this time Kel noticed a gas leak. Yep, our other gas bottle connection had also fractured. Hmmm … what day is it? Monday! … Cool … shops are open. Off to the local plumbing supplies I went to get some new hoses. Nice flexible, braided hoses … like what should have been fitted to the van in the first place. Why they would fit inflexible, copper pipes on an off-road vehicle is just ridiculous.
Other than that, the Gibb River shake up didn’t move too much stuff around. Hannah found a big screw that I can’t find a home for … but the van, really, is holding up pretty well.
Once that was out of the way I set about getting this blog updated! One beer (at least) per page made the job increasingly difficult … Got most of it done yesterday though.
Now we are all up to date! Apart from today, which will be done later over a few beers around the pool!
The kids are looking forward to some catching up with their mates tonight. It’s been ages since they’ve done an email or spoken to anybody.
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Aug 28
Last day at El Questro today. We started out late and didn’t end up doing much.
Kel & I went up to the station to get some washing done … and that was about it.
The day was spent pottering around the van, lazing in the sun, floating down the river, catching up on the diaries. Not much! Until the afternoon, anyway…
Aug 27
Not up quite so early today. I think we managed a sleep-in until about 7am.
An early morning float in the river before breakfast and a bit of a sun soak saw us getting ready to start the days activities about 10am.
Aug 26
Up early this morning to go to Zebedee Springs. These are only open to the riff raff (general public = us) from 7am until 12pm. After that they are reserved for tours and homestead guests.
The springs themselves are fed from an underground source and are at about 25-32 degrees all year round. They were fairly busy but we had no trouble finding a spare spot to lie in and soak up the natural spa.
Aug 25
With nothing to hang around for at the roadhouse, we got going pretty quickly this morning. Too quickly as it turned out. We left behind the doormat. Amazingly this is the first time we’ve left anything behind. Kids might be next…
We’d only been on the road for about an hour when we got to the infamous Gibb River Road. The Tanami was supposed to be the road that shook up the suspension. Gibb River was supposed to be the tyre shredder.
Aug 24
Slightly surprised to have survived the night … up before the sun was I, trying to catch the sunrise. It was freezing cold here this morning … maybe 20 degrees or so. Cold enough to contemplate a windcheater to go with the shorts anyway.
Climbing the crater wall in twilight was pretty cool … and just in time to catch the sunrise. There’s a lot of smoke in the area due to a few bushfires and that made for an exceptionally red, hazy sunrise.
Aug 23
We didn’t have too far to go today, but the headwind and slight incline made the fuel economy shocking. By the time we reached the Tanami track turnoff we’d used 60L of diesel in a touch under 300km. Not good. We decided to continue in to Halls Creek to refuel before tackling the track. It was 18km each way, out of our way, but cheap peace of mind.
Back to the track and I let down the tyre pressures and removed the weight distribution system for the van. Plugged as many holes as we could, jammed as many rattly things into places as tightly as we could .. and hoped for the best.
With a heavy heart, we left Broome. It”s a tough place to say goodbye to for lots of reasons. That we start heading back East from here is but one… Not long after you leave Broome, the Kimberley begins to show herself. Boab trees start to become a common sight along the road as does stray stock. More than a few Brahma cattle crossing the roads or feeding on the grass beside it.
We were supposed to get to Fitzroy Crossing today, but once we actually got there we decided to keep going a bit further. There wasn’t much there to warrant an overnight stay.
We filled up with fuel, checked out the visitor centre, wandered out to Geikie Gorge and had lunch … and well, that was it. Geikie Gorge was going to be a bit of a ripoff for the cruise, so we gave that a miss. There is also a 5km round trip walk that covers the same route … but the flies made that an unpleasant prospect. We braved enough of it to get a few photos, but hastily retreated to the car soon enough.
Fitzroy Crossing Lodge looked very nice, but we weren’t going to use any of the facilities and it was still early in the day. I think I may have converted Kel to a free camping devotee.