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.

A few camps down the road was Ngumban Cliffs Lookout.  As expected, the campsites were on a cliff top.  They were overlooking the road, but there’s not much die-hard traffic out here to keep us awake.  We’d originally parked right on the edge, but Blake’s sighting of ‘a bloody big snake’ just outside the van door had us move a good distance from any low lying foliage quick smart.

Snake hiding in there somewhere.

There were about 8 other campers at the site, but they were all miles away from us.  Perfect opportunity to belt out a few appropriate tunes into the wilderness!!.

Ice House – Great Southern Land.  Much Midnight Oil.  Some John Williamson.  AC/DC of course.  Lots from the blog playlist so you get the picture.  All while looking up at the rooftop of stars.

The stars out here deserve a special mention.  With the nearest minor town about 150km away there is no light at all apart from the stars, until moonrise.  The stars stretch from horizon to horizon in all directions.  The milky way is also visible from horizon to horizon.  Pretty amazing.  Many satellites, many shooting stars … no planes, good music, good bourbon (refilled by a darling wifey), sleeping kids … what more could ya want?

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