Leaving Darwin was always going to be sad. We had such a fantastic time with Bec, Greg and kids and it was very hard to leave. We gathered up the contents of our life, which were spread from one side of the house to the other and headed West.
Our first stop was at Victoria River Roadhouse. It was $12.50 per adult for a powered site on a patch of dirt with not a tree to be seen. Although the immediate surroundings were quite barren, the amenities were clean and well maintained. The girls were excited to discover a few friendly travelling pooches and spent the afternoon following them around the campsite.
We headed to Kununurra early the following day, and ate our way through apples, oranges, strawberries, carrots and various other ‘soon to be quarantined’ food before we reached the WA border checkpoint. Kununurra is an aboriginal name meaning ‘the meeting of big waters’.
We were staying at Kimberleyland Caravan Park, which we had heard good things about. Once again, this park rated highly with the kids because of the pool and playground….not to mention the resident freshie called Rodney. Rodney is a regular visitor to the water’s edge after dark. It is also a great time for croc spotting, because if you shine your torch across the water you can see lots of other shiny eyes looking at you.
That first afternoon was a chill out day spent by the pool, which is where we met the McMath family. We had previously made contact online after a suggestion from mutual friends (thanks Max and Diane), when Cate and I became friends on Facebook. They figured that since we were doing a similar trip around Australia we were bound to run into each other somewhere on the road.
That night, over a few drinks, we realised that our next couple of months we would be travelling the same roads so the planning began. There was so much to see around the East Kimberley. We spent a day in Wyndham, starting with a picnic at the Five Rivers Lookout in the Bastion Ranges. It gives a 360 degree view of the King, Ord, Durack, Forrest and Pentecost rivers, which meet to flow into the Cambridge Gulf. This unique spot is home to some of the largest salt water crocodiles in the world. We also visited the Wyndham Port and recreational fishing jetty which was specially constructed to cater for fishing on high and low tides. Wyndham is situated on the Cambridge Gulf and is a port and service centre for the East Kimberley region. It is the oldest and northernmost town of the Kimberley region.
If you like dark rum, then a visit to the Hoochery for a tasting is a must. It is family owned and operated, and is the oldest legal distillery in WA. I can recommend the Ord River Rum, which is made from local sugar cane!!
Of course, no visit to Kununurra is complete without taking a cruise on Lake Argyle. The sunset cruise with cheese platter and drinks was our choice, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! Lake Argyle is spectacular and the staff were well versed in the local knowledge. Although I piked it after spotting the freshies lazing on the banks, Dave, Jas and Eliza all jumped off the boat to swim and float around in the refreshing lake.
Regardless of your choice of lake tour, you can’t go to Lake Argyle without a visit to the infinity pool at Lake Argyle Resort. It is an amazing sight in the middle of the most stunning scenery. Be prepared to be stung anywhere from $5 to $20 pp (depending on who you ask and what time you get there) for the privilege of using their pool unless you are staying at the resort. Unless you want to do a sneaky mad dash into the pool just for the photo opportunity!!
Part of our time in Kununurra was spend researching our trip along the Gibb River Road. We decided that we would do the eastern end of the GRR, and then travel down the highway to the Bungle Bungle National Park, then head west to do the west end of the GRR.
Shopping for two weeks of remote travelling is challenging to say the least. Thankfully most butchers can cryovac meat on request, which reduces the need for large amounts of freezer space that we just don’t have. Our choice of fruit and vegetables has adapted to life on the road too. Squishy food is definitely off the shopping list! One pot and camp oven meals take priority to encourage simplicity and avoid too many dishes. The Sodastream is our new favourite bench warmer, being very handy for all sorts of mixers, including tonic for the all-important G&T’s.
We have tried to stick to the rule that if it doesn’t have at least two uses, then we don’t take it. So far, so good. Also, anything that hasn’t been used for a month is gone. We have already posted one huge bag back home, and lookout Jo because we will have another one in a couple of weeks!!
Anyway, on to the Gibb River Road, and our first camp being Home Valley Station. Home Valley Station is 66kms down the GRR, and 112kms from Kununurra. It is surrounded by the majestic Cockburn Ranges and is 1.4 million hectares in size. It was an easy drive in, with what looked like a fresh grading of the road. Home Valley Station is well set up, with powered and unpowered sites, swimming pool and licenced restaurant. The kids loved watching the horses being broken in and worked in the yards. While there we visited Bindoola Falls. This only runs during the wet season and was full of stagnant water.
Our next stop was the 40,000 hectare working cattle station of El Questro. We stayed in an unpowered site (they always have the better position!!) close to the river. It was safe swimming in the Pentecost River and the kids spent every day in the water. Eliza and Lucas did a rangers talk one morning and then went for a horse ride before lunch. They loved it!
There are many beautiful places to visit around El Questro. Every Gorge is very well signposted, which gives you a great indication of how long it will take, how deep the water crossings are and the best time of the day to tackle it. We also found the staff at El Questro very helpful and knowledgeable.
Zebedee Springs are thermal pools within the El Questro station. They are open from 5.30-noon and are well worth the visit. The walk in is easy and it is wise to get there early to avoid the crowds. They close to the public at 12 to provide private access to tour groups.
The walk in to El Questro Gorge is a little bit challenging but also worth the effort. At the mid way point of the gorge is a beautiful clear water hole. This is as far as we went as the second part of the walk is a bit hard going for kids.
Emma Gorge is another beautiful walk and waterhole close to El Questro. It is inside the Emma Gorge Resort property, which is also run by El Questro Wilderness Park. It is a good idea to also do this walk in the morning before it gets too hot. It takes about 45 minutes to complete the walk one way, and is a moderate difficulty walk with a beautiful clear swimming hole at the end. There are also pockets of thermal springs towards the right side of the gorge so it won’t be all cold!
From El Questro we drove to Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles). Our friends Cate and Damon detoured via Kununurra to collect their van, do a food shop (thanks guys!) and meet us at Bungle Bungles. We had decided to do a big day the next day and visit as many of the sights as we could, as it was 52kms just to the visitor’s centre, and the access road in to the Bungle Bungles is a narrow and windy 4wd track. We started with the southern walks first, which took us to Cathedral Gorge and The Domes.
Cathedral Gorge is a large natural amphitheatre that has a stillness that is hard to describe, and the acoustics are amazing. The water pool in the centre does not flow in the dry season, and is full of stagnant water, but if you look up you can see the plants hanging from the gorge walls. It must be amazing in the wet season.
Driving towards The Domes, these giant orange and black striped Domes bulge from the landscape like nothing I have seen before. It is impossible to capture it in a photo without a wide angle lens. The Domes walk is connected to the Cathedral Gorge walk and you will see more of the amazing scenery full of sandstone beehives and the evidence of the wet season waterfalls.
The Northern end of the Bungles Dave and Lize went with Cate and Damon and family on the 2km walk through Echidna Chasm while I stayed in the rest area with Jas who was a bit tired (so was I!!).
It was a long day and we didn’t get to do all of the walks, but it was well worth the effort. We stayed two nights at Bungle Bungles Caravan Park just off the highway, which is a neat enough park with plenty of amenities. Just beware of ticks. We discovered about eight of the little buggers!
From Bungle Bungles we drove to Fitzroy Crossing and stayed at the Fitzroy River Resort and Camping Ground. We had intended on staying at a free camp further west of Fitzroy Crossing but decided to spend a few days here and explore. The park is fabulous and the kids loved having somewhere to ride their bikes. We also decided to do a day trip out to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek from here instead of coming in from the west end of the Gibb River Rd. The 200km return trip was on the very rough and corrugated Fairfield Leopold Downs Rd and although it was hard going, it saved us about four days and 600kms.
Windjana Gorge NP is an easily accessible 3.5km gorge surrounded by the Napier Range and Lennard River. The Napier Range is part of the same ancient barrier reef system (from the Devonian period over 350 million years ago) also seen at Tunnel Creek and Geikie Gorge. The most notable part of our trip to Windjana was the amount of freshwater crocodiles we saw during our walk along the river. It is most certainly one water hole that I won’t be swimming in!!
Tunnel Creek NP is 30km south of Windjana Gorge and is also on the Napier Range. It is made of limestone and also forms part of the ancient reef period. It is a 750 metre tunnel that a creek has worn through the Napier Range. The walk through the tunnel has you climbing over boulders at the entrance, followed by some sandy banks and shallow water pools that you will have to wade through. It was at this point I piked it (again) and waved goodbye to Dave and the girls who took off happily with their head torches on their heads. If you follow the creek through the tunnel you come to a section where the ceiling has caved in and lets in some light. Shine your torch around to see the stalactites hanging from the ceiling and keep an eye out for fish and the odd snake and freshwater crocodile. The kids loved Tunnel Creek, but I can honestly say I can think of a million other things I’d rather do that walk through knee deep water in the dark!!
Back at Fitzroy Crossing we went for an hour boat trip along Geikie Gorge (aboriginal name is Darngku). The tour is run by CALM (Dept. of Conservation and Land Management). Buy your tickets with cash only prior to the tour. It is amazing to see what remains of the 30 metre deep limestone barrier reef from the Devonian period.
Our next destination is the beautiful coastal town of Broome. It had been over 2000kms since we had seen the ocean in Darwin, but almost 5000kms since we had swum in the ocean!!
We hit Broome right in peak season, and just two days before Broome Cup, so we decided to leave for Middle Lagoon straight away. The turnoff to Cape Leveque Rd is just 5kms out of Broome. The first 15km is bitumen before you hit the red dirt, which takes you the rest of the way. This part of the road is mostly three lanes wide, with sections that narrow to one lane with high walls of soft sand. But it’s the big dips that seem to sneak up on you can be treacherous if you are travelling too fast….not to mention the corrugations and bulldust holes!
After a bumpy two hours we pulled up at Nature’s Hideaway at Middle Lagoon. It wasn’t until I had checked in that Dave said “I think we have a slight problem”. Our caravan wheel was sitting at a very weird angle, and after further investigation we discovered that we had a massive crack in the suspension arm and it was barely holding on.
After some deliberation, we carefully pulled the van into position in preparation for our week stay. Dave and Damon secured the van with a couple of jacks and some big stumps, and we all headed off to the beach. The finer details of our predicament could just wait!
Nature’s Hideaway at Middle Lagoon is in a beautiful part of the world. It is a family owned and managed business. There are sufficient powered and unpowered sites, all within close proximity to either one or both of the beaches. There is also five cabins for rent which sit along the ridge overlooking the beach. The wind picks up in the early hours of the morning and drops off by lunch time, but it didn’t restrict our beach time. By the look of all the huge boats and rigs here, it is a popular place to sit out the winter and do nothing but fish and relax.
It may seem like it’s an isolated part of the world, but there is actually mobile phone service (Telstra) and a free sat phone for land line use. They also have one of the best washing machines (yes, there is only one!) I have found in our whole four months away! Take everything with you because the services are limited. There is a general store and take away store in Beagle Bay, which is worth a visit when you visit the Catholic Church. There is a great bakery at Lombadina, and Whale Song Café is just down the Middle Lagoon road a couple of kms. This is a must visit, even if just to sample the delicious coffee, juices and cakes! The beach view isn’t too bad either.
Coordinating our departure from Middle Lagoon took a bit of organising. We had to book in the tow truck to pick up the van so we could head back to Broome and book into our accommodation for the next few weeks. The part had to be machined in Melbourne and trucked up to Broome. Considering WA is called “Wait A While” we hoped this would happen sooner rather than later. The repairer gave us an outside date of Friday 12/9 for the van to be ready. Thankfully our accommodation was subsidised by RACV Roadside and AAMI insurance, otherwise our time in Broome would have sent us broke!
So for the next four weeks we discovered almost everything that Broome had to offer. We were lucky to be there for two staircase to the moon viewings, the Shinju Matsuri Festival (Festival of the Pearl), watched a local footy finals game, went to the deckchair cinema, had some beautiful dinners out (thanks Leanne and Chris for babysitting), and spent great times with new friends.
During our time in Broome we stayed at a fabulous place called Beaches of Broome. It is a budget hotel/backpackers well situated just a short walk from Cable Beach. It has a commercial style kitchen, lovely pool, bar and social atmosphere with lots of great staff and a mix of guests of all nationalities and ages. We loved our stay here, and even felt quite sad the day we left. I’m sure we will be back again one day.
After shopping, packing and saying our goodbyes, we headed to Eighty Mile Beach for a few days of fishing. This park is of epic proportions, with 200 grassy and shady sites all close to the beach. We were pleasantly surprised at how friendly everyone is here. I guess when everyone is pulling in fish every day there’s no reason to be grumpy. Everything revolves around the tides here. The long term residents often stay for three months or more, and drive around on quad bikes, which also doubles as their beach transport.
It is starting to heat up now, with the 39 degree humid days and nights thick with condensation. It is with a mild envy that I listen to the air con units whirring away while we sweat it out. Lize and Jas were excited to meet two kids their age from Woolongong near Sydney. Sam and Ethan’s family are travelling for six months and the kids hit it off and swapped contact details before we left.
All too soon we were back in the car on our way to Karijini National Park, listening to the not so sweet tones of back seat bickering, and looking forward to our next adventure.