Windjana Gorge

We got up early to head further west, not really knowing where our next stop would be. We stopped briefly at Hall's Creek, and called in at the bakery that someone had reccommended to us. I had a delicious pastry, but Randall, who is very hard to please when it comes to pies and pasties, was disappointed with his pastie. We kept on going towards Fitzroy Crossing, a place I had often heard about. The Fitroy River was very pretty, but the town was only small, and not all that appealing for staying the night, so we filled up with diesel and decided to stay at Windjana Gorge, north of the main highway. It was a gravel road for 90 kilometres, but the sign said "open to all vehicles", so we taped up the fridge and the side windows and headed in.
The first part was pretty awful with dreadful corrugations, so we went carefully along, but the road improved and it was not so bad, and we made it safely to Windjana Gorge with everything in tact.
We set up camp and settled in for the evening.

The campsite setting is quite nice and the rocks towering over us were very impressive.

The next morning we took a walk into the gorge to check it out. We were amazed to see heaps of freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves by the water's edge. This was our first experience of seeing crocodiles up close without being on a cruise. We were both very impressed.

The gorge was lovely and even had some fossils to look at, so we were very glad we had come.

In the afternoon we drove back along the road, gritting our teeth, to look at Tunnel Creek, as we had passed it on our way in, but it was too late to stop.
Tunnel Creek is a creek that runs along inside the Leopold Ranges. We came armed with torches and our bathers as apparently you have to wade through a fair bit to get to the other end. As we headed into the darkness, Randall was a bit apprehensive, as he is uncomfortable being underground, and he decided he'd seen enough and we headed back outside. Outside a tour group of 'older' people were coming in, and Randall decided he would not be beaten by some oldies, so we turned around and went back in.
It was a bit creepy and eery seeing torchlites of people heading towards us, but I'm glad that we did it.

We were glad to get through to the other end, but the water was not all that inviting - a bit slimy so we didn't go for a swim.

We both were glad that we went through Tunnel Creek, but we were glad to come out at the other end into daylight!!
Even though we were a bit gorged out, Randall had read about a place called Bell Gorge, which was about 130kms from our campsite at Windjana. We had the option of towing the van there, or just making it a day trip. In the end we made it a day trip and we were pleased we did as there were a few river crossings the van might not have coped well in! We stopped to get fuel at a roadhouse, and nearly died at the price, but had to get it anyway!

We then drove into Bell Gorge, which had a lovely swimming hole. We hadn't been able to have a swim since El Questro, so it was wonderful to swim in the fresh water again. Bell Gorge is very pretty and as usual there were quite a lot of people there.

We had a lovely time there, then stopped off for a late lunch at a nice picnic spot. We were very glad we made the effort to see the gorge, and Randall was happy that he could say he drove along the Gibb River Road. It was much better than expected, but we were glad that we didn't take the van with us. It was nice to arrive back 'home' after a big day and just relax and enjoy the peacefulness of it all.

The Bungle Bungles

We collected the van from Kununurra, made a few phone calls, then headed off to go see the Bungle Bungles. You are not allowed to take caravans in, so we stayed the night at a lovely free campsite at a place called Spring Creek, ready to head off early in the morning, leaving the caravan behind.

We got in and checked in at the visitors centre before heading off to have lunch then look at Cathedral Gorge. The scenery is amazing here - the rock formations are quite unusual.

Cathedral Gorge was great. A huge amphitheatre like space and very awe inspiring. All these gorges we go into are very quiet and still and have a very special feeling to them.

After doing a short walk around the domes, where Randall the rock art cynic found an example of how its really done,

we headed off to the Kurranjong campsite to setup for the evening. We had a nice spot and had a lovely evening. It was funny not having the caravan with us with all its conveniences.

The next morning we decided to look in on the mini palms gorge and Echidna chasm, then hightail it out of the Bungle Bungles. The mini palms gorge was a good walk in, along a rocky riverbed - never easy to walk on I can tell you!
Randall thought he had lost weight, but he had to take his waterpack off to squeeze through here:

Of course, I got through without having to take mine off :)

When we got to the end of the walk, we looked down on the floor of the gorge and it really was quite spectacular.

We then headed off to look at Echidna Chasm, which we had seen in pictures and thought it was a must see, and it was!

After that we hopped in the car and headed off back to the highway - 1 1/2 hours to drive 52 kilometres - back 'home' as we now referred to our caravan.

We really enjoyed The Bungle Bungles and felt it was well worth the trip in, and we enjoyed staying in our roof top tent as well.

El Questro via Wyndham

We left our caravan in storage at Kununurra for a few days so we could head in along the Gibb River Road. We went up to Wyndham first to check it out. It is the home of the big Croc and that's about it, except for the amazing lookout above it.

As we were leaving, we passed the racetrack and it was the Hall's Creek Cup. We would have gone in but they were charging $18 and we only wanted to see one race, anyway we watched from the sidelines,

and then headed off to El Questro Wilderness Park along the Gibb River Road.This is a privately owned park and you have to pay a park entry fee of $17.50 each. We first called in to have a look at Emma Gorge. They closed the track at 3pm as it gets dark a bit after 5, and they didn't want any one left on the track by dusk. We walked in just on 3 and easily did the walk and had a lovely swim.

We headed into the station where camping was available and set up camp using the roof top tent for the first time. It was very comfortable and roomy and I slept really well, except when Randall got up twice and shook the tent each time he climbed down the ladder!!
The camp is in the middle of a cattle station, so when we got up the next day we were greeted with a herd of cattle wandering past us!

We decided to look at a couple more things in the park then head back for another night at the station. We called in at Zebedee Springs, some lovely hot springs, but there were heaps of people there so it did not have much ambience!
Our next stop was El Questro Gorge, which was the prettiest walk to a gorge that we had done.
We were both disappointed that we couldn't complete this walk, as I got stumped and couldn't climb up a big rock to get to the next section. The waterhole here was really nice though and we had a nice refreshing swim. Apparently the next part was for the extremely fit and adventurous, and though I like to think I am fit, I just couldn't get myself up and over that boulder!! Randall did it, but with a bit of difficulty.

Our second night was really lovely as we had a private campsite at no extra cost. (I might say, they charged us $17 a head, and no power!) The campsite was lovely and we really enjoyed our evening there sitting by the fire and soaking up the ambience.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to Kununurra to get our van and head off on our next adventure to see the Bungle Bungles.

Heading West

After finally getting a replacement tent, we packed up on Friday to head towards Katherine to collect the mail we had arranged to be delivered there. Lucky Randall had talked to his mum about what mail was to be expected – the fellow at the post office gave Randall one package, and there were two to collect! After a bit of shopping, we headed back to Edith Falls, a bit north of Katherine. It was very hot there, and lots of flies, but the campground was ok. We couldn’t sleep much there as it was so hot, and we decided to check out the swimming holes in the morning and head off. The water was beautiful to swim in, even at 9.30 in the morning!

After another brief stop in Katherine at a satellite dish place, we headed off towards the west. Our first stop was at a place called Sullivan’s campground, in Gregory National Park. I was still feeling unwell , and it was really hot during the day and night! You can cope at night if you can use the air conditioner, but of course, these bush camps don’t offer the luxury of electricity! Randall rigged up a 9volt fan for us which was nice and cooling thank goodness. It rained on us there – the first bit of rain since we left home nine weeks previously!

We left that campsite and headed along the road to find our next stop. We stopped at Victoria River to get fuel, and we had to wait for a big rig to fill up. We were amazed to see the litres go up in the 900’s to fill it up, and well over $1,000 to pay! Randall had read about a campsite just outside a place called Timber Creek, so that was our last stop for the day. It was called Big Horse Creek campground, and it was very nice. We decided to stay 2 days and do the cruise up the Victoria River - $85 per person. Well, this cruise certainly did not have the polish of the cruise in Kakadu. The fellow arrived with his lovely assistant, Tameka in tow, carrying a couple of eskis, as the cruise said ‘cool drinks and savouries provided’. We were allowed to bring our own drinks if we wanted as well. There was no microphone on board, so instead Geoff put the boat in idle and would wander up the front to talk, and not very often at that!. We did see some crocodiles up close and personal, and his way of showing us some sea eagles and whistling kites was to stick a little piece of meat on a corner of a piece of bread and throw it out of the boat so the birds would dive down and get the meat. He then emptied a bag of meat bits onto the side of the river bank, and showed how the kites and eagles shared the food – apparently very unusual!

We went 40ks up the Victoria River, which is a really big river, stopped to have our savouries – handed around by Tameka in plastic containers, and also a can of cordial if we wanted. Then, having looked at the sunset, we went hell for leather back home, getting blown to bits, arriving in the dark, and headed back to our caravan only a short walk away.

We were both quite disappointed with the cruise, as it was definitely not value for money. I was still feeling unwell too which didn’t help. When we got back to camp my ear blocked and I had an ominous feeling that it was going to be an infection, and I was right. I woke up in the night in agony, with only panadol to ease the pain for an hour or so. In the morning Randall packed up as I couldn’t do anything, and I suggested we go back to Timber Creek as there was a hospital there. As we headed down the road I noticed a sign for a health clinic and we headed in there for some much needed help. We walked in, the doctor took us straight into his surgery, and I got diagnosed with what I suspected – a middle ear infection. In his notes the doctor typed me up as ‘Transient’, did not ask for my medicare card, did not charge us a fee, and did not charge us for the much needed medication!!(No alcohol for 10 days though!) I walked out feeling relieved that I was finally getting help, as anyone who has had an ear infection will tell you, it is the most agonizing unrelenting pain!!!

We then headed towards a camp place in the Keep National Park, just a few kilometers east of the WA border. On the way, we stopped to look at Gregory's Tree- a boab tree with the carved dates of the explorer, Gregory's arrival on the banks of the Victoria River. I was pleased to see that the dates were very visible, unlike Stuart's tree near Daly Waters!

We set up and drove into Kununurra, just inside the WA border, to check it out. My ear ache was finally easing, although I was watching the clock so that every 4 hours I could knock back some more pain relief. It had turned quite cool, and I had a long sleeved top on for the first time in ages! I looked at the weather on my phone and it was only 14 degrees – and we were way way up the top of Australia, I couldn’t believe it. When we got back to camp, I put on a skivvy, jumper, and hat (to protect my ear), and we lit the fire.

Our campsite is quite lovely, and we went for the short walk around the sandstone outcrops the next day, whcih was much warmer I'm glad to say!!

Sadly for us, we started working out our itinerary for heading home. Randall has been doing calculations on the the number of kilometers of various routes. Neither of us want to think about our holiday ending as it has all been such a wonderful experience. We are now at Kununurra, having crossed the border to WA and having to turn the clocks back 1 1/2 hours, which feels quite funny! Crossing the border into WA is like coming into Tasmania at the Spirit - they get you to open the van, and the car, as they don't want you to bring any fresh vegetables in, or honey. Lucky we knew about that and dumped our rubbish at a truck stop just before the border.

We stopped in to look at Lake Argyle on the way to Kununurra. It was the most magic day, and the lake looked magnificent!

We also called into the Argyle Downs homestead, where pioneers of the Kimberly region first settled.

We are now settled at Kununurra for a few days to catch up on washing and getting back in touch with people as we have been out of service for quite a few days.

Katie Joins Us

Katie was arriving in Darwin in the early hours of Friday, so we booked in to our usual caravan park in Darwin, not realising the show was on right next door! We only got a few hours of sleep, as the show was SO NOISY!!
We picked Katie up at 2.15am! This was a difficult time, in that if we went back to a caravan park and had to set up the tent in the middle of the night, we would disturb a lot of people! Also, we figured we’d want to talk so Randall and I came up with the idea of driving straight to Kakadu, to a resort called Cooinda, where they have the Yellow Water Boat Cruises. We booked us in for the breakfast cruise, and for $10 each more, you could book another cruise, so we booked the sunset cruise, mainly so if we missed the breakfast cruise through planes being late, we wouldn’t miss out. It wasn’t easy for Randall driving along unfamiliar roads, and forever on the watch for wildlife on the roads, but we made it in time for the morning cruise. A quick cup of coffee in the van woke us up enough to enjoy the cruise. It took us along the South Alligator River, where we saw lots of birds and a beautiful sunrise. It was really very peaceful at that hour of the morning and we enjoyed it immensely. We saw some crocodiles cruising along the water – they are amazing creatures, quite fascinating, and we got some good photos. The breakfast afterwards was very enjoyable as well!

After the cruise, we had time to fill in before we could check into the caravan park at Cooinda, so we took Katie to see some aboriginal rock art. We tried to make Katie’s itinerary as interesting and as varied and fun as possible.

When we arrived back at Cooinda, Randall checked in and we had to wait for this bloke who runs the show, to show us where to put the van. We wanted a level and long site, so we could fit the van and the car in and still open the rooftop tent for Katie to sleep in.
It is a most inefficient caravan park, as after you check in you have to wait for the resident nazi with his clipboard to show you to a site. So he sends you off in a direction while he continues directing others, and then he forgot about us, so Randall picked a site to suit our needs – spacious and level, only to be told no, I allocate the sites not you, and proceeded to find us a site that wasn’t level or big enough. Randall started to get a bit short and he allocated us another unsuitable site, with Randall still not happy – insisting he wants a level site. Fellow says no such thing! Randall points to an acre of level ground and says what’s wrong with up there, so the bloke throws his clipboard in the air and says pick your own, which we did! Onlything was the sprinkler was on, throwing water all over the van as we set up, but we dared not ask for them to be turned off!

We relaxed for the rest of the day and enjoyed a swim in the very nice swimming pool. Even though we were very tired we went on the late afternoon cruise as well. Saw a few more crocodiles slinking along in the water. We also saw a jabiru high up in its nest, which was amazing!

We all crashed after the cruise and went to bed early. We all agreed that we had a wonderful sleep as we were so tired!
The next day we packed up and took Katie to Gunlom Falls - a beautiful place I mentioned in my previous post. We gritted our teeth for the 24kms of corrugated gravel road (leaving the van at the start of the road), only to be pleasantly surprised that the grader had been over it and it was reasonably ok!

After spending a lovely morning swimming, we headed off, collected the van at the start of the road, and drove to Litchfield National Park, hoping to get a campspot at Buley Rockholes and spend a few nights there. Luck was on our side, and we got a good campspot. Katie loved the rockholes and spent a lot of time swimming there, as did Randall and I! We walked along to Florence Falls, about 4k return. Randall and I had not gone there during our last visit, and it was lovely. The good thing was, you could swim when you got there, and after the return walk, you could have another swim in the rockholes!! It's so hot here, we are never out of the water! You just walk into the water and get wet - not like at home where it takes a while to go under. One night we went for a swim at about 9pm. It was beautiful - no other people there, and the water was superb!!

After two enjoyable nights here, we headed back to Darwin so Katie could check out the sites of the city. We drove to have a look at the Casino, which was quite nice, and took Katie to the city centre to check out Smith Street Mall, then got ourselves a bbq chicken and some salad stuff and headed back to make tea (and have another swim).
We had to get up early the next morning to drop Katie off at the airport for the 7.15am flight home. Before we could take her, we had to pack up the tent so we tried to be quiet so we didn't disturb our neighbours in the campground.
So it is back to just Randall and me again.We really did enjoy having Katie with us, and sharing some of the special places we have seen with her.
Today our car is having a snorkel put on so we can safely travel across rivers, and tomorrow the rooftop tent is being replaced as there is a bit of a problem with it. As I am typing this up the F111 fighter jets have been going overhead. They are so loud especially when about 4 take off one at a time. We are right near the airbase here, and the airport, so we hear all the planes.