Boys nearly barf off the bitumen to the Bungles

With Fitzroy Crossing covered we continued eastward toward Halls Creek and beyond to the Bungle Bungles or Purnululu National Park, as it is now known. We knew of a few free camp spots along the way and we found a very pleasant stop at Mary’s Pools, the best free camp we’ve come across yet.  Located on a small river with big established trees to find shade under and really clean, we picked a nice patch to spend the night.  The kids got busy with some work and it wasn’t long till they met two young girls from the Central Coast, also traveling around Oz with their parents. 

Through to Hall’s Creek in the morning and a stern talk to Oscar about his out of control behaviour was entered into - we’ve lost count how many of these we’ve had!  

We had a couple of choices for stays outside the Bungles, a couple of free camps just off the main highway, or a caravan park inside the cattle station just to the west of the national park. Given we had heard and read about some bad experiences with theft at the free camps, we elected to go for the caravan park.  We elected to take an unpowered site and once we were shown to the area where we could choose our spot we busied ourselves with collection firewood from the surrounding bush to have a fire.  After dinner the kids roasted some marshmallows on the fire and Trace and I cracked a bottle of Muscat we’d been nursing since Margaret River which with some dark chocolate was sipped down slowly with dark chocolate by the warm glow of the fire and under an outback sky blanketed by stars.  We sent the kids to bed early to enjoy a little quiet time by ourselves only it didn’t really work out that way - it never really seems to. 

After an early breakkie and with high expectations we started the windy and dusty road to the Bungles.  We wanted to get in early in order to do a few of the walks, one in the southern region of the park and a couple in the north.  As it turns out the road was very corrugated early on, very up and down and fairly windy, so much so that both Jem and Oscar became car sick necessitating plastic bags to be deployed (thankfully no vomiting), Jem shifting to the front middle seat and several stops along the way for fresh air (note our lack of rear number plate).

It was well worth it however, with a beautifully scenic drive and some equally beautiful walks through the beehive-like structures and deeply cut gorges created by landscape erosion over millions of years.  Heaps of photo opportunities...here are a few samples.

It was a full day of driving and walking and after the trip back which was made more difficult by the setting sun and the lingering dust from vehicle hovering above the difficult road, we were all glad to get back to the caravan and put our feet up.  No fancy meals tonight, just 2-minute noodles and whatever else could be scraped together.  Once again, our fire was the perfect place to rest our weary bones after the day’s walking and our bone jarring road trip. 

Driving back onto bitumen was a welcome relief the following day as we headed north-east toward Kununurra, in the east Kimberley. 

Up your Geikie Gorge

After our second night at Windjana, we had a long drive planned - back to Derby to hitch up the van and then continue on to Fitzroy Crossing on the Great Northern Highway.  The main purpose of our visit was to a boat trip on Geikie Gorge, a short drive out of town.  I took us to the wrong caravan park and we ended up next to a very rowdy hotel which apparently has some historical significance.  Regardless at 3pm it was going off and we were hoping that the noise wouldn’t go too late into the night.  Definitely not the place to take the family for a bistro dinner. 

On checking into the park we noted that we had lost our rear rego plate and so headed into town to report it missing, amongst other things.  A rookie constable told us not to worry about it, no police in northern WA would get too excited about a NSW family driving about minus a rear number plate. We found an interesting little glass blowing gallery as well as an Aboringinal art gallery which had some beautiful pieces but some very haughty staff, which we felt would have been more in keeping with Mosman or Double Bay than Fitzroy Crossing - a shame as there were a few works that we really liked.  Rubes had taken a bit of interest in some of the art we had been seeing around the place and was a keen follower into all the galleries we had visited - if only the boys has the same interest. 

We had been told the boat tour up Geikie Gorge run by National Parks was worth the trip and also reasonably priced.  Being the end of the dry, the water seemed to be still, but it is part of the mighty Fitzroy River which, in the wet, carries a mind boggling volume of water through the Kimberley and eventually out to sea.  Part of the ancient Devonian reef system we had seen at both Windjana and Tunnel Creek, Geike is a picturesque place.  Our guide provided us with facts about the Gorge and the Fitzroy which made me think how fantastic it would be to travel by kayak or canoe and camp along the banks of this spectacular waterway.  Perhaps another time...

Adventure eastward on the Gibb River Road

Some of the road out to Windjana Gorge was not suitable for our van and our plan was to leave it in Derby and tent it for a few days. We had some preparations to make for this short expedition to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, so we headed back to the caravan park to get organised. 

The following morning, July 22nd, was an early start.  After collecting our refilled gas bottle and Josh’s misplaced credit card from the local servo we were on the Gibb River Rd to Windjana Gorge.  Actually the road wasn’t too bad, the first 70 km were paved and the next 50 or so were intermittently gravel then paved.  And the gravel was reasonably well graded.  Once we’d turned off to Windjana the road became dustier and slightly less smooth.  

We pitched tent under the partial shade of trees.  We had decided not to take our generator with us and so we camped in the generator-free area, which was somewhat quieter. The kids were pretty excited about sleeping in the tent and there was plenty of talk about our previous tent experience way back at Menindee Lakes when we were hailed out and took refuge in a demountable cabin at the lakeside caravan park. One thing was certain, there wouldn’t be a skerrick of wet weather, let alone hale, on this Kimberley outing.  

A short walk into the Gorge in the mid-afternoon heat was in order, perhaps even a swim.  The weather was gradually warming up with our movement northward and eastward.  We had read that Windjana Gorge was one of the best places to view freshwater crocodiles in all of the Australia.  All the kids were scouting early on for a glimpse of their first wild crocs.  

Thoughts of a cool afternoon dip were soon abandoned when after a few hundred metres within the Gorge we encountered our first freshwater crocs.  Deemed essentially harmless to humans unless threatened or cornered, these “freshies” can reach up to a mere 4m in length.  They feed on fish, birds, frogs and, believe it or not, mostly insects.  There have been reported attacks on people, none of which have been fatal.  However, seeing them relaxing on the banks in substantial numbers made us surrender our thoughts of getting our feet wet.  Signs say not to get closer than 5m to the freshies and not to get between them and the water’s edge - no chance of that happening.  We did get plenty of opportunity to observe these prehistoric reptiles and take some of shots.  The gorge itself wasn’t too shabby either. 

Windjana and several other gorges in the region we would eventually visit, including Tunnel Creek and Gieke Gorge are all part of a Devonian reef system formed several hundred million years ago. The remains of this ancient reef span over 100km across the western Kimberley, a land which long was submerged under a vast ocean and today holds the fossilized remains of sea creatures which once inhabited those waters.

Back at our campsite, Jem made a little friend from a group who had also travelled to the Kimberley from NSW.  The campsite fortunately had running water and solar showers which we weren’t expecting at all.  We had purchased a little solar shower some time back which was simply made up of a black plastic bladder with a shower nozzle and, once filled and water heated by the sun, Jem insisted on an outdoor shower, rather than a visit to the shower block. 

Once the sun was down, the temperature dropped and the tent which we figured didn’t require a fly became pretty cold overnight.  The sky was amazing and after our astronomy tour in Broome, we tried our hand at some star gazing and rudimentary identification - we should have bought that star chart. 

The plan was to travel to Tunnel Creek early the next morning and see if we could gate crash on an Aboriginal cultural tour that the Visitor Centre in Derby had told us was booked out.  We were glad we did, as the tour had less than half a dozen people on it and we were happily welcomed along without the booking fees charged by the VC in Derby. 

Tunnel Creek NP runs through the Napier Range and the main attraction is a 750m long cave which we discovered as part of the tour.  Our guide pointed out rock art, talked about how Aborigines had survived on this land for thousands of years and more recently of some of his peoples recent history with European settlement.  Sharing his knowledge and experience of the Country with us was an experience that even the kids enjoyed.  We were told the story of Jandamarra, a Bunuba tribesman and Aboriginal outlaw who had hidden out in a nearby cave in the 1890s and had a significant impact on early West Kimberley history.  

The tour ended with a few songs written by our guide’s father and handed down to him.  Sitting within a cave under sacred rock art listening to the songs and clap sticks should have been a moving, spiritual experience, however, Jem found something very amusing about the songs and could not contain his laughter.  The rest of us, sitting across from him, used every power within to repress our giggles at his complete lack of any cultural sensitivity and our feeble reproaches only made matters worse. 

Some bird life about our campsite, including the greater bowerbird....

Smash up on the road to Derby

So after nearly two weeks in Broome, Josh returned from the east coast once again to recommence our journey.  Broome had been fun and the kids had met some girls from Sydney who were traveling our way and they hoped that we would meet again somewhere along the road. 

Farewell to Broome, and Derby here we come. The distance between Broome and Derby is not great and our plan was to overnight in Derby, leave the caravan and then head down the Gibb River Road for a few hundred km to Windjana Gorge equipped with our tent and plenty of drinking water.  

Not long after our departure from Broome we were hearing reports of a terrible road accident via our UHF radio.  Two road trains had collided on a single-lane bridge.  Early on, we thought it had occurred just outside of Broome about 9am and we had managed to get beyond it.  However, as the morning got later, we discovered the accident had occurred 80km outside of Derby toward Broome - territory we had not yet covered.  It was clear we would be delayed.  As we approached a huge plume of black smoke was billowing into the sky.  

There were a few choppers flying toward and away from the smoke and we were hoping no one had been injured. It was now nearly midday and we joined a long line of traffic on the south side of the collision.  We wandered forward on foot to take a more thorough inspection.  It appeared that the south-bound road train had misjudged the position of the oncoming semi and entered a single-lane bridge too soon.  On collision they had burst into flames, and most of the live cattle had been burnt quite badly. The choppers had flown in to provide ammunition and firearms to put some of the beasts out of their misery.  The remainder had been released into the surrounding countryside - so there are now some very hungry middle class in the Middle East as a result.  Josh offered medical assistance, but according to a police officer on site the drivers had been moved already and, fortunately, and miraculously, had only sustained minor injuries.

The same officer advised us that we should turn back to Broome as the road was unlikely to be reopened until the following morning with the clean up operation and an engineer from Derby coming to inspect the structural integrity of the bridge for heavy traffic.  Instead of returning to Broome we decided to follow the lead of several other caravaners and turn off the road onto a flat paddock which was fast becoming a makeshift camp.  And there it was we spent the night.  

Trace and Rubes decided to make use of the time and bake a butter cake, Jem got busy with some Lego, we lent a frisbee to some French tourist trying to throw a plastic plate around. Rubes and I played some soccer and we donated some cake and water to a woman on her way home to Derby who had no supplies in her car. I had a chat with some Aborigines who came from out of nowhere, who told me that this whole area including our makeshift camp was under several metres of water during the wet season.  It was then not only a popular spot with water skiers, but also frequented by estuarine crocodiles. Hard to imagine. 

By and large an uneventful night, and the road was reopened in the early hours of the morning. We set off fairly early, and with only 80km to cover we arrived in Derby by 10am, plenty of time to have a look around and get our camping gear ready for the Gibb River Road. 

Once in Derby we headed to the information centre for a clearer picture of Derby’s sites and those in the direction we were headed.  The information centre had a small collection of local art pieces and it was the carved boab nuts that caught Trace’s attention. Quite a few were of excellent quality and Rubes and Trace got busy choosing which to acquire. A trip down to the Derby jetty followed by a fairly good lunch of local fish and chips and we set off to look at the Big Boab, a huge hollowed out boab tree that had been used years ago as a lock up.  

The Australian boab is thought to have originated from plant material washed to the shores of north-west WA from Madagascar around 190 million years ago.  These amazing trees are a striking feature of the landscape of northern WA which we had first noticed south of Broome.  Not only a beautiful, unusual tree in its appearance, it is a source of food and medicine and its hollow trunk can store significant volumes of water after rain.  It is fire and drought resistance and some of the large trees are thought to be thousands of years old. 

Beaches and camel bumps in Broome

After a long drive it was nice to pull into the caravan park, find our shady spot and head for the pool. After 6 months of travel around Australia we have a few ideas of what to look for when finding a suitable park . One is proximity to tourist attractions, two is cost and three is recommendations from other travellers.

We had a few days together before Josh was to leave us again for a week. We spent a day at Cable Beach surfing and riding the waves which was great. The airport is right in the centre of town so wherever you are, there is always a plane flying above you and the beach is no exception.

We had heard from a friend that the astronomy tours were also very good so we went one evening for a couple of hours. It was run by quite an eccentric man who was self- taught after many years as a Jackaroo gazing at the stars from his swag. The tour began quite late so we were unsure of how Jem and Ruby would be go throughout the night but we were keen to do it nonetheless. There were many telescopes set up, large and small to look through but none as exciting as the one which you could view the rings of Saturn with. We had such a clear view of the rings you could almost touch them. Slowly but surely they started dropping like flies and Jem and Rubes were asleep. It was a great evening and Oscar particularly enjoyed being able to view the planets, tell where the Southern Cross is and learning about the Milky Way.  

A meal at Matso, the famous Broome Brewery was just what Oscar ordered. The beers were nice but like everything else in Western Australia, quite expensive for what you get. Broome is also known for having the oldest picture gardens in the world, the Sun Cinema. We saw Despicable Me 2 which was great and together with the Qantas planes flying very low above us throughout the movie, lying back in a deckchair was a very relaxing way to watch a movie. 

Broome also lays claim to the largest crystal Buddha in the Southern Hemisphere. We all needed a bit of serenity by the time we got there so it was a welcome relief. Jem took the opportunity to meditate once again.

The kids had also been nagging me to do the touristy camel ride on Cable Beach which of course we did. It was, as expected pretty touristy along with 100 other people on camels from different companies we rode up and down the beach.

 

Cable Beach certainly makes up for the lack of beauty in the town of Broome, with its beautiful white sand, crystal clear water and soft rolling waves. Oscar was keen to hire a paddle board with Josh and ride the waves, whilst the other two were happy to hang ten with their boogie board.  The kids, Josh included, entered a sand castle competition with the theme of marine environments. The simple idea of an octopus became a complex masterpiece that if you know anything about Josh was absolutely exact in its appearance and won them a runner up voucher for a meal at a local restaurant. OJ was of course stoked with that prize! A great day spent together before Josh left us for a week.

 

Luckily we made friends with a lovely family from Mona Vale who had been living in Perth for the last 18 months. They had 3 young girls and Rubes and Oscar quickly befriended them and were off playing for the rest of our time together. In fact, little did we know that we would be together for the next 5 weeks.

 

Trace and Rubes had been eagerly awaiting the Saturday markets so were happy when they finally came around. There was a great vibe happening with Asian food, crafts and music. After a few purchases it was time to head back for a swim and some masterchef sushi cooking.

The rest of our time in Broome was spent at the Caravan park pool, finishing school work, at the movies and playing with their new friends. We were as usual happy to have daddy home and moving onto our next destination, Derby.