Kunanurra

It was a stunning drive from Turkey Creek to Kunanurra through some of the prettiest scenery we have seen in the Kimberly along the highway. It was a little bit spoiled knowing we had no brakes or tail lights on the van (we couldn't find Chook or anyone at the community to find him either!) but we took it a bit slower and got here just fine. Lucky the Nivara is such a solid vehicle and the van isn't over full of unnecessary stuff!

Kunnanurra is a beautiful little town 45ks from the WA/NT border. It was only established in 1960, so has a nice modern, clean feel to it.

Our Site from the Lake

I phoned ahead to try and book a site at Kona Lakeside Caravan Park, but like many parks up here, they don't take them. The assistant manager Jan I spoke to suggested though if we arrived around 9.30 am we should get a site. We did and were lucky to get one fronting Lake Kunanurra. It's a magic spot and on our first night we had drinks and nibblies down by the water with Karen and Jim who we met on the Horizontal Waterfall cruise.

Our 6am wakeup call the last two mornings has been a sea plane taking off about 50 metres from the van on the lake. It looks beautiful as it crosses the very still lake with its morning reflections. Better the planes than the noisy neighbours who woke us at 4.22 am in Turkey Creek!

We initially booked here for a week, but will have to extend that as we couldn't get the car in for a service until the 7th day of our stay. I don't think it will be a hardship though as there seems to be so much to see and do. This morning we are going to take our boat out on the lake for a private tour. The park has a boat ramp which meakes it all very easy. We had to take the boat off to fix the roller that fell of on the road after the first river crossing to the Bungles!

After the very sad little towns we came through to get here, it seems like an oasis and I guess it is with all the crops being grown through irrigation from the Ord River. There are 7 caravan parks in a town of 6000 and the place is full of tourists at the moment, but it has a different feel to Broome. I went to the only chemist yesterday to get a prescription filled and the wait was 1 1/2 hours-I've never had to wait that long.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban arrived by private plane yesterday to start filming here and Hugh Jackman also arrived (but by domestic service, flying economy!) so the place is really buzzing over that. He might be here in the park, but I bet Nic isn't! Rumour has it she is staying out on Riverfarm Road in a house owned by someone who owns a diamond store in town!

Pandanas on the Lake


This morning we put the boat in the water and took a tour of Kunanurra lake. It was a beautiful morning and we saw lots of birds and crocs on our 22k or so trip. So much cheaper than the commercial tours too.
Reflections of Elephant Rock

Bungle Bungle

Saturday morning we got up around 6ish, took the boat off and headed out to the Bungle Bungles at 7. It's only 100ks, but took us 2 1/2 hours to get there. It's a sealed road for half the way, then it's unsealed through Mabel Station and into the National Park. The road is only open to high clearance 4WDs and after a day out there I can believe it!

The first (and worst) of 11 river/creek crossings is about 10ks in and a lot of people actually turn back there. I'm glad to say we made it through because the park has to be seen to be believed. I put it right up there with Ularu, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and our sea plane landing at the horizontal falls for spectacular.

We spent 7 hours in the park and travelled about another 100 bone shaking ks to do 3 really wonderful and quite different walks. While the Bungle Bungles are probably best known for the "beehive" formations, we really enjoyed Echidna Chasm-a very high and ever narrowing chasm between the beautiful red rocks. Chathederal Gorge was beautiful too-a lovely walk through the gorge ending in a huge cathederal.

I was exhausted when we reached Echidna Chasm and refused to go the whole way-I sat on a rock and waited for Russ to go take a look then we'd head home. I had to put up with about half a dozen people telling me I should go to the end as it was spectacular.

Finally Russ arrived out and said we couldn't go home until I went in and saw it. I did and it was beautiful.

It's a very high chasm that gradually narrows to the end-in places where it twists and turns, you can't see the sky so feel like you are in a long narrow cave.

Anyhow, my not going in in the first place meant we were a bit late leaving the park and had to do the last and scariest water crossing in the dark-not very pleasant! Then we had to negotiate all the cattle and kangaroos on the highway back to Turkey Creek.

Warmun (Turkey Creek)

China Wall


We survived Halls Creek and are now in Warmun (formerly Turkey Creek) Roadhouse CP for a couple of nights. It's a tiny park and we are wedged in like sardines, but we need to stay here so we can go back 50ks to the turn off to Bungle Bungle NP in the morning-then it's 53ks in to the info centre.

Yesterday we took a lovely drive out of Halls Creek to China Walls, Old Town and Caroline's Pool. It is great to start and see the sort of scenery that leaves you thinking the Kimberly may actually be as beautiful as the Pilbara. We had come through 1000 ks of "Savanna" which mostly consisted of dead flat land covered with just over head-height shrubs. My sister called it "tedious" and I have to agree. Now we are in much more interesting country.
Caroline"s Pool


I left Halls Creek feeling very sorry for the locals. Although there are over 3000 of them, it isn't particularly well serviced. Most places it's size around here have a large (and cheaper) supermarket, chemist, hardware, sports store, etc, but the place is dismal. It does however have a pub and another liquor store and they seemed like pretty good places to stand outside and hurl abuse at each other!

On the way here, the electic plug that connects the van to the car and powers the brakes, lights and fridge fell out and the plug came off. Right now Russ is trying to get hold of "Chook" who lives at the community nearby and is something of a mechanic!

Geike Gorge

After 3 days spent relaxing at the Fitzroy River Resort, we are now in Halls Creek. Against the advice of a lot of other travellers, we've decided on a two night stay here as we hate to push on too fast.

Halls Creek has had a lot of attention lately after a series of child abuse cases in the Aboriginal Communities and even now there is a big police presence in the tiny town. I met a woman travelling on her own though and she said she spent for days here and felt very safe.

Fitzroy Crossing was another tiny and predominately aboriginal town. Our resort was a few ks out and very nice-the pool was especially good on the 36 and 37c days we spent there. The resort and the other pub-the Old Crossing Inn-are both aboriginal owned and there is a lot of pressure (by local women) at the moment for them to stop selling take-away liquor for 12 months in the hope of sobering the blokes up. It seems to be an on going problem trying to get any money out of them for food and essentials!

Geike Gorge

We were exhausted after the archipeligo cruise so it was nice just to kick back and do next to nothing although we did enjoy an 8am (to miss the heat) boat trip and the short walk at Geike Gorge. Our neighbours Arthur and Thelma Burton from Heyfield were very pleasant as were a really nice couple Lee and Phillip from Adelaide. Our site was large and shady and we were able to wash the van!

Geike Gorge

Credit Card Fraud and $5.25 Lettuces!

We arrived at Fitroy Crossing Resort last night and I was a bit put out when my Mastercard wouldn't work. I rang them this morning and was asked if I'd bought air tickets to Singapore recently? No! So the card has been cancelled, I have to sign before a JP and then I'm no longer responsible. It was a bit of a bummer yesterday but a huge shock this morning.

The resort is really nice-lovely big shaded sites, a lovely pool and cheap drinks in the bar at Happy Hour. Washing of cars and vans is encouraged on your site, so this morning we spent a couple of wet and enjoyable hours turning our red and dusty van back into a beautiful white one again. Our neighbours are really friendly. They are from Adelaide and Heyfield in Victoria. The couple from Heyfield had to be towed into town last night and will have to stay here until parts arrive and work is done on their van. It's hard to know just how long all that will take.

Last night as Russell went up to the toilets, he ran into a woman (Wendy) we have met in Malloy, Denham, Broome and now here. Like us they are heading to Kununurra next.

After the van was washed we went into town to the little supermarket. I wanted a lettuce, but couldn't bring myself to pay $5.25 for a tiny iceberg lettuce which had seen better days. I wanted a zucchini, but a smallish one was $3.50 and the asparagus was $28 per kg. It was packed in trays around 400g for $13ish. I am really pleased that our freezer and can cupboard are pretty full.

This afternoon I'm off to the pool and tomorrow we are going out to Geike Gorge first thing in the morning for a river cruise.

Horizontal Waterfalls, Talbot Bay and Buchaneer Archipeligo

Starsand


We are just home after 4 days/3 nights out at the amazing Buchaneer Archipeligo. I was a bit concerned at the cost of it, but have come away thinking it was well worth the money.

Mudflats and Tidal Creeks

On Wednesday morning, we were collected early by taxi and taken to the tiny airport of Derby where our seaplane was waiting. I love the fact we had no tickets, no boarding passes, and the pilot had no shoes! He gave us a great low (between 500 and 1000 feet) flight out to our yacht over the extensive mudflats, creeks and the Kimbolten Ranges. It was a perfect morning for flying, the scenery was stunning and our 9am landing on Talbot Bay spectacular (had enough superlatives yet?). It was one of the rare times he was able to bank and take us right over the lakes and then between the chasms that form the horizontal waterfalls before putting down in the bay at a pontoon beside the yacht. It certainly made my heart pound as it was more exciting than any amusement park ride I’ve been on, but I loved it.

The yacht is a million dollar job with a crew of three-on our trip, a new host (Brenton) had just started as help for the existing (and very hard working) one Leone. The owner of the boat was away and we had a fill in skipper Justin. He was lots of fun. As the falls were flat and no other tours were coming out, we also had the jet boat operator Ian along for his first trip around the archipelago. All very nice, hard working, fun people who live on the yacht for one month on, one week off in the most remote circumstances you can imagine. There were 10 passengers.

It’s a nice yacht, but not well set up for charter work. Sleeping arrangements were not great and only one toilet and shower for 14 people a bit of a trial. Still, we came for an experience, not a toilet or great bed and the experience was amazing. We were to share the tiniest 4 berth cabin with another couple, but opted to take our bedding up and sleep on deck under the stars for the three nights-the best decision we made for the trip. I think our sleeping arrangements were the envy of all in the end.

Sunset on Starsand

The scenery was amazing-the archipelago is said to contain more than 1000 islands. The varying colours of the rocks and water at different times of the day was fantastic and the sunsets can only be seen to be believed. Our first day was spent cruising about 5 hours, stopping for lunch in a pretty bay. We moored around 3.30ish and set about getting to know each other.

The Waterfall at Crocodile Creek

The following morning we cruised a little further, then moored in Crocodile Creek and went by tender to a fresh water waterfall and swimming hole a couple of miles up stream. We spent a few hours there swimming, barbecuing some sausages and a very good sized fish one of the men caught. It was a great way to wile away a few hours. It was onto the boat and on to another mooring at Silver Gull Creek for the night.

"Hermits" Phil and Marion and Chris

After breakfast, we headed up the creek to visit Phil and Marion who have squatted up there for 13 years since dropping out of the rat race. They are one of the very few people who live out in the area apart from an aboriginal community, a former station now used by the army and a few mines on various islands. They get their supplies dropped at one of the nearby mining islands and then collect them. In the dry season, they have many boats calling in and are usually called up to see if they need anything. They trade home grown veg for stuff the boaties bring in to them. It was a bit scary to be met by Phil wearing his undies-apparently he lives in them and was even married in a new pair when they married 3 years ago! Marion makes jewellery from local pearls and corals, stones etc and I think she makes a good living from that. The block has a warm spring which they run into an old tank and we were able to have a great splash and relax in that.

Swimming in Phil and Marion's Springfed Tank

While they call themselves hermits, it’s hard to see it when they have all the people calling in over the dry and I think they are pretty savvy business people making a pretty tidy living in a location that suits them. Phil hasn’t been into town (Derby) for 9 months! We had to make two trips out to them in the tender and I was in the last group to return. Phil and Marion walked up to a cliff to wave us off, and then mooned us!!!

After our visit with them, we returned to the yacht and made our way back to Talbot Bay where we’d originally landed. We arrived there around 6ish and it was wonderful to sail at sunset! Not so much fun trying to find our buoy in the dark though. We enjoyed a nice dinner of kebabs, prawn sticks fresh caught fish and salads. The new crew member kept us entertained for a long while trying to take underwater photos of a large sleeper shark that circled the boat for a couple of hours. He strapped his underwater camera to an oar and set the timer. Russ threw fish to the shark and he tried to get shots. He got the jet boat prop, the yacht's hull and finally, one fin of the shark. Still it was all very fun to wonder what photo he’d get next or whether the shark would eat his expensive camera!

Horizontal Waterfall (at Lowest Tides)

This morning we were up at 6am (as usual), had our breakfast and packed up. Then finally it was our turn to have a ride through the horizontal falls with Ian. The falls were pretty flat, but it was still fun to go out in the jet boat and particularly pretty in the early morning. Our plane arrived at 7.30am and we headed back into Derby exhausted but very happy we’ve done the tour! The pilot gave us a great trip home starting with a figure 8 over the falls and Talbot Bay, then a flight at 4500 feet back with a good commentary on all we were seeing. The higher flight gave us a good perspective of the area we had crossed so low over the other day.

Horizontal Falls from the Air

Three of the four other couples on the boat were really good fun. We especially enjoyed two of the couples company. I would have like to throw one woman to the sharks or crocs, but there was enough others to avoid her most of the time. We have laughed, joked and got to know each other very well in the confined conditions on the yacht and all got off wishing it had been a couple of days longer

Derby

Boab Tree, Derby

We arrived here 'round lunch time on Friday. By the time we'd set up, we figured we'd spoken to more people in this tiny park than we spoke to in just under two weeks in Broome. It's proven to be a great choice of parks-small, friendly, and well run by the couple who just bought it.

We have a can recycle bin right by our van and spoke to a man as he dropped a couple of cans in it. It turns out he grew up in Warragul (his parents owned the Orient Hotel for many years) and he and I knew a lot of people in common. He is also really good friends with my last boss at the Vic Hotel in Warrnambool Graeme Welsh, so we gave him a ring to tell him we'd met! The two of them worked together in Consumer Affairs in Melbourne for 18 years.

Windjana Gorge

Saturday we took a tour out along the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. We were collected at 8am and arrived back at 7.30pm, so it was a big day out. Tunnell Creek is 184ks from town and 120 of that was along unsealed corrugated road in one of those trucks they convert into a bus. I was lucky to travel up front with the driver in a well sprung seat so got the best view and the comfiest ride! It was a fantastic tour-both places are incredibly interesting and very pretty. The gorge is just that-a gorge, but the colours in the rock are beautiful and we spotted lots and lots of fresh water crocs along the creek banks.

Only A Freshy, but Wasn't I Brave?

Tunnel Creek is a 750 metre long tube through the ancient reef It has limestone formations on the roof where flood water doesn't reach and scour them away in the wet. We loved the fact it's a bit of a climb over huge rocks of jasper into the cave, then it's unlit throughout. We had to carry torches and wade through the creek so it was lots of fun and really beautiful, but really unspoilt. The bus company provided morning and afternoon tea and a pretty good lunch and lots of drinking water, juice tea and coffee so it was a good day out. 4 couples from this park went along, so we've met plenty of the 20 couples staying here.

Tunnel Creek

Yesterday we had a lazy day sitting chatting to Brendan and Karen in the morning, then taking a stroll around the jetty to check out the huge tides in the afternoon. We finished the day with a drive out to the prison boab tree and a wander around the old town common. Last night we barbequed our dinner and sat out eating with a few people. Honestly it is so much friendlier than our park in Broome was!

Derby Jetty

Today we are off out for a look at May Creek then after lunch we are going to go looking for mud crabs.

Derby

We left Broome this morning and travelled the 220ks to Derby. It was one of the first times leaving a park that not one of our neighbours came and said goodbye! We just didn't meet anyone in the park. As Russ was returning the gate thingy and ensuite key, the woman behind the desk asked where we were from and where we were going, how long had we been travelling (today is the start of our 18th month!) and as he said, she knew more about us than anyone else in the park.

The trip to Derby was OK, we started to see lots of boab trees which are pretty amazing, and the one lane bridges we'd been warned about. Also passed lots of wide loads today which was fun on the built up roads we travelled a lot of the way on. Lots of burning off along the way too-at one stage it was fairly ferocious and right by the road.

We booked into a little park this time-only 20 caravan sites and 12 units. The owners are friendly and our neighbours either side have already been over for a chat! Lunch and then a drive round town proved it's not a very exciting place but it'll be a nice change from Broome. It was amazing to take a drive down to see the wharf and boat ramp-the water is coffee coloured and the current looks so strong. Derby has one of the biggest tides in Australia and the world. Tonight it will be 10.2 metres! There should be plenty of crabs in the creeks (if we can avoid the crocs!).

I just booked us a tour out to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek which we'll go on tomorrow or Monday (depending on seats available) then on Wednesday we leave the van here and fly out to go sailing for 3 days on the archipeligo.

Last Night in Broome

Tomorrow we're off to Derby. I won't be too sad to leave Broome-two weeks was too long. It's very touristy and pretty expensive and we have spent our tourist dollars on the cruise we'll be taking out of Derby so it's been a quiet time.

Tuesday night we gave the pizza man at Beth and James' CP a second chance. I'm glad we did, because we had the best night sitting eating wonderful pizzas by the pool! We all voted the Blue Pumpkin (roasted pumpkin, blue cheese bacon pine nuts, rocket) the best!


Yesterday we did our shopping to move on with and then last night we went down to Cable beach to watch another Broome sunset. It was 31c yesterday and a beautiful evening.


Today we had our farewell lunch with james and Beth in town and a wander around Chinatown.

Fishing with Jeff

Yesterday a workmate of Blair's took us out fishing. Jeff has lived in Broome for the past 12 years and flies in and out of Sunrise Dam above Kalgoorlie (via Perth)week on, week off. He and his wife have two small children and she works two days a week. The youngest was in day care as normal and as he normally looks after the older one around kinda times on two of his days off, he had to get her looked after while we fished.

We'd never met so arranged to met at the port boat ramp-he'd be driving a green twin cab/blue boat, us in our dirty silver twin cab! What a nice guy he turned out to be and what a good day out we had. It was a bit rough on the way out (15 miles), but settled to a nice few hours on the water. We didn't catch too many fish (I caught two and Russ one) and we had a few hook-ups of mackerel trolling on the way home, but didn't manage to land any. Didn't loose any of Jeff's expensive lures though so it wasn't too bad.

It was very exciting for us to spot a whale just cruising along and to pass within about 30 metres of it. I saw lots of turtles, sea snakes and jelly fish too-more reasons never to swim in the ocean again I reckon.

I think Jeff would have liked to go fishing again today (Tuesday) but it would have meant finding more baby sitters. Maybe we can catch up again when we are up this way in a couple more years!

We had a nice suprise yesterday as we were getting ready to go out fishing-Mike Shaw (who we met in Port Smith) knocked on our door and suggested we catch up in the next few daays before we all move on. Mike and Mary are a couple my age. She's a nurse and he is a turner and fitter and now their two boys are grown, they are travelling. They left QLD 4 years ago and have been travelling and working when they need too. They are over in the Roebuck Bay CP, so we will probably pop over and see them today.

More of Broome

Roebuck Bay Near Crab Creek


Thursday we had our antenna connection to the van fixed by a local repair man. He did a good job, and after a new TV, Antenna and connection it should all go just fine for at least a while! Someone we met suggested we really don’t need TV, but like I explained to them, this isn’t a 4 week beach holiday. We need to keep in touch with the world sometimes!

After lunch we went down and spent a couple of hours in the local museum. It focuses mainly on pearling, the bombing of Broome in WW2 and Aboriginal inhabitants. It was quite informative but on the costly side for small local museums.

Another Sunset!

At 5 o’clock we packed our chairs, a nice bottle of champagne and a few nibblies and went out to G Point to watch the sunset. It’s a bit of a Broome tradition on Cable beach, but our end of the beach was less crowded with 4WDs, camels and people. It’s the same beach we are about to go and launch the boat off right now and I love it. I’ve never walked or driven on more solid sand. Anyhow, it was a very pretty sunset over the water and rocks of the point and as usual, I took too many photos!

On Friday we had another go at Fishing off Gantheume Point and once again caught nothing. I love fishing until I've had a couple of days like that-there isn't even little fish to be caught-it's just fished our round here I reckon.

James and Beth at Broome Races

On Saturday we caught a bus at 11.55 and went to the races. The moment we arrived, we grabbed a table and chairs under a big tree, beside the bar, toilets and mounting yard. James and Beth arrived shortly after and we settled in for a very pleasant afternoon. It wasn't particularly busy according to Beth and James, but it was good fun. No one one much money (but very little was lost either). Country meetings are hard to pick at the best of times. As we were waiting for the bus, a woman said to Russ that she recognised him from Denham (they were camped beside the fish cleaning tables). Once she said that, I knew they had been camped across the road from us in Malloy too. Small world.

Today we put the boat in at the port boat ramp and tried our luck fishing for a third time. Once again no fish! It was very hot out there so we gave up after a couple of hours, came home and had lunch. After lunch we took a drive out to the very beautiful Crab Creek about 30ks out of town. You can launch boats off the beach out there, so we are going to have one more try on Tuesday. It's a bit more remote, so hopefully not as over fished as the other two spots we've tried so far.
Roebuck Bay Near Crab Creek


Tomorrow though I'm very excited as we are going out with one of Blair's workmates Jeff. We are meeting him at 9 am and will head out about 20 miles to try our luck-let's hope this trip is sucessful. He's going to show us some good spots to take our tinny and give us some crabbing tips too.

Broome

Remains of the Petrified Forest Barred Creek

Monday was spent shopping for bits and pieces we are always seeming to need. It's amazing how fast things wear out in the salt air we live in and with being constantly used.

We had to buy a new TV antenna as the other had a little piece fall off quite a while ago and is probably suffering from that salt air. We also had to buy ourselves another two new chairs-left home with 3, bought two more and now these. They get run over, break and just wear out! Fishing gear is always being broken or lost on the rocks and reefs so more of that too.

Tuesday we launched the boat off the beach and headed out for a few hours fishing. The tide was pretty strong and fish very limited where we were prepared to go. I would say Broome is all but fished out unless you have a big boat and can get miles out. We've been offered just that with a work mate of Blair's who'll fly in Saturday. I'm hoping he feels like it as it would be great.

Tuesday night we went over to James' and Beth's Park for pizza. They have a pizza man visit every Tuesday with his wood fired oven and all. We arrived 5.30, sat and had dip and drinks until 6pm then went and ordered only to be told he'd run out of dough! 6pm!! Sooo we rang a Chinese restaurant only to hear on the message they were shut Tuesdays (in the Dry Season!), then rang the Old Zoo Cafe (yes we could have a table at 9PM) then Eagle Boys could deliver in 1 1/2 hours. Finally ordered Eagle Boys and picked it up 15 minutes later. The town is mad with tourists.

Quandong Point


Yesterday (Wednesday) Russ and James had planned to go out fishing, but the tides and wind were really wrong for it. Russ and I packed up a picnic and headed out to Quandong point then back to Barred Creek and Willie Creek. Quandong is a beautiful and quite isolated camping spot, Barred Creek a mangrove swamp with the remains of a petrified forest overlooking the sea and Willie creek at low tide is amazing. A creek runs through sand dunes out to the ocean, but you can see where the tide was going to rise and all would be under water.

Willie Creek at Low Tide

Last night it was a bit chilly (down to a cool 19c) when we were getting dinner ready. I can't tell you how much we enjoyed a roast chicken on a coolish night ;-)

Broome-the Halfway Point?

Winter in Broome on Cable Beach


According to my Brother-in-law Pete, they considered Broome to be about halfway. If that's the case, we'll be about 18 months more!

Broome is a fairly sizable place with about 15,000 residents in the shire in the wet season. The population swells to about 45,000 in the dry. The wonderful winter weather makes it a popular tourist destination. It's a very important place to the local aboriginal groups and in the 1880s pearling began, so it's full of interesting history.

We arrived here on Saturday and are staying in a large and crowded park in a back alley surrounded by permenants. It's a bit of a shock after the quiet of Port Smith. I started to feel like I wasn't going to enjoy it, but decided it was only for two weeks and I better like it! Saturday afternoon after setting up, we headed to Woolworths and did our shopping-it was as busy as the night before Christmas, but the shopping is now done. It was nice to run into Mike and Meg-a couple of New Zealanders we had met in Exmouth. They seem to be having a wonderful holiday too.

Sunday we headed to the local market only to find it's much bigger on Saturday! Then we went out to Cable Beach and on to Gantheaume Point where we discovered a lovely lookout back over Cable beach and a boat launching area over the very firm sand (which will make a nice change after PS and the fine silt there!)

Gantheaume Point

Feeling much happier, we came home and made up the trailer, took the boat off the car and are ready to go fishing and siteseeing today. Then last night we took the bus to town for the Grand sm of $4.30 combined and met our friends James and Beth at the boutique brewery Matsos (overlooking Roebuck Bay) for a very good curry night. It was great to catch up with them and nice to think we will have lots of opportunities to see them again in the next two weeks. Tuesday we are going to their park as they have a pizza man visit everyweek dragging his portable wood fired oven behind him to the park. Saturday we are all off to Broome races and Sunday I think we are going to the Crab Races and $12 roast with them.

Town Beach and Boat Ramp at Low Tide(be careful of the resident croc!)


This morning, we bit the bullet and booked a three day cruise around the Buchaneer Archipeligo. We leave Derby and travel by seaplane via Cape Leveque out to a 65 metre yacht moored in the archipeligo near the Horizontal Waterfall. The trip is restricted to 10 people and at the moment, 6 of us have booked. We had been toying with the idea of a week in Bali from Darwin, but we might never get back to Boome whereas Bali should still be there! The tour was double the cost of the half day one and has all meals included with drinks at reasonable prices.

Last Day in Beautiful Port Smith

The Road Out of Port Smith

Today is our last day in Port Smith-I’m going to be very sad to leave and move on to Broome. I’m wondering how we’ll enjoy it after the peace and quiet and friendliness of this park.

We had some people pull in behind us (Perry and Julie) and have had a really good time with them. They are from Penrith near Sydney and although they are going North like us, they’ll be moving on today, doing it a bit faster and often free camping so the chances of catching up are a bit unlikely.

They have a boat, but only put it in the water once. The fishing disappointed them, so they put it back on the car and planned to move on. It’s funny because that day Russ caught a couple of decent sized Golden trevally (one on his bait hand line) and I caught the biggest fish I’ve ever landed on my bream line! While we were out fishing, a couple of quite large dolphins passed us and one went right under the boat-beautiful to see in the clear water of the lagoon. Russ had only said the day before that there mustn’t be dolphins around here-it was almost like they were saying “yes there are”!

Anyhow, Perry and Julie were told about a nice spot 12 ks out of the park where they would be guaranteed to catch fish from the shore. They drove about 70ks trying to find the place (into the community at one stage) but eventually did. Perry was very happy to catch himself a metre long cod!

Perry's "Secret" Spot

Yesterday they took us out there (by the short route!) and we all managed to catch a few fish (no metre long cod this time though) but we returned all but a queen fish Julie caught. There is only so much fish we can eat! It was a beautiful place and we spent a really enjoyable day watching the tide go in and out changing the mangrove flats into to a lagoon. As usual, we saw plenty of turtles (and the remains of a fire where the aboriginals had cooked one), we saw brolgas, a pair of very beautiful (but poisonous) lion fish just floating in a pool below us, a blue spotted ray, reef shark and any number of big fish too well fed to bite just swimming by! We managed to bog both cars in the sand at different times which added to the excitement!

Bogged to the Axles!

Last night the park put on Thursday dinner. We had fish and chips (not fish again!). I was very impressed that they managed to cook beautiful fish and chips for about 170 people in about 1 ½ hours. All this was done with 3 small deep fryers and a couple of large saucepans in the camp kitchen. The park owner and workers supplied a lot of the fish, but many of us donated fish too. The three big Golden Trevally we caught went to the dinner. An Aboriginal singer (Gentleman Jim Reno) played for us last night and while I didn’t enjoy his endless Elvis songs, he was pretty good. An interesting group of Aboriginal ladies came in from an out post past the other communities. They have been abused and decided to make a life on their own. They are fencing to keep out wild cattle and growing their own vegetables. One of them took her children to Perth for a year to see what it’s like then brought them back as none of them enjoyed it and found it too cold. One of the best parts of the night was when a guy got up with his African drum and played alongside GJR and his didgeridoo. It really was amazing.

So, on to Broome tomorrow. I really hope we leave all the sandflies behind as we are both being eaten alive fast!

Port Smith

5 nights have passed very fast at Port Smith. We have both loved it here as much as anywhere we’ve been so far! I’m not saying this would be the place everyone HAS to visit, but if you don’t mind the 20k drives in and out again on the dirt, don’t need shops, a pool or many facilities, this is a great place. We are amazed that people will drive in; stay hitched up and drive out in the morning without ever getting the feel for the place. Much easier to overnight at one of the roadhouses on the highway.

It’s not a big park-there are 95 powered van sites and we reckon they have only been just over half full all the time we’ve been here. The sites are large and shady, but on red dirt. The boat launching area is 600 metres down a red dirt track passed the bird park. The caravan park and bird park are a little island in the middle of 3 aboriginal communities and there is nothing else here.

Port Smith is actually a large tidal lagoon, but was used in the early days in bad weather to keep the pearl luggers from 80 mile beach safe, so they called it a “port” At low tide it is amazing to see the small channels amongst the sand, amongst the mangroves. As the tide rushes in through the entrance, the sand and channels disappear creating a beautiful lagoon for a few hours until the tide leaves again. Fishing is best done a couple of hours before and after high tide- if you leave it too long, you risk not being able to retrieve your boat!

Fishing at Port Smith


One of the nice things about the park is the mix of people. It’s mostly out-of-staters and mostly people travelling on their own. We have found parks where the people “have been coming here for 30 years” with their same group of friends to be not so outgoing. Right now we have Victorians over the road and are surrounded by NSW and Queensland couples this side. Russ reckons it must be a park rule that you have to speak to everyone at least once during your stay. I think it’s because everyone is here to fish and are so interested in what everyone else has caught. It’s really nice that the park managers, staff and everyone else is happy to tell you where and how they caught whatever they got too.

Launching the Boat Through the Mangroves

The park is full of tinnies as you would struggle to launch anything bigger and if you don’t have a boat, the park operates a “ferry service”. Every two days, they take groups of people by inflatable dingy to one of the islands. 4 hours later they go down and collect them. All of this is done for $2 per person which is then donated to the RFD.

We have been catching enough fish for a feed although Russ is doing better than me so far. It’s fun to see different types of fish and we’ve had a lot of fun catching fairly decent sized Gold Trevally and Russ caught a couple of Queen Fish yesterday. They both tasted good in a curry last night and the trevally smokes really well. Gold Trevally is considered a better eating fish than most of the other trevally species which we think make very good bait Mike and Mary across the way from us caught themselves two enormous flathead yesterday! They were fishing about 100 metres from us when they got them! Another couple Chris and Nicole were about 50 metres the other way when their son caught a small shark. It’s amazing the variety of fish in such a small area.

Karratha, Sandfire Roadhouse and on to Port Smith

Sunday morning in Karratha was one of the only windless days we were to have, so we bolted our breakfast down and headed out to Dampier with the boat. Last year we couldn’t get out once in a week, so we really wanted to put the boat in the water and have a look around as I suspect we may never stay any length of time in the place again!

I think we launched off the wrong boat ramp (we used the private one at the yacht club) but no one shot at us, so it was OK! We got in about 4 hours fishing-it was slow for the first 3, then on the change of tide we caught 3 types of cod we’d never seen before, a stripy sea perch, bream, yellow fin bream, and bald chin gropers so it was pretty interesting. Our freezer is full, so we kissed them and put them all back!

It was so nice to drive back into the park after fishing and see my BIL Peter walking to the office. After a shower we spent a nice afternoon catching up, then cooked a yummy dinner of tuna we caught in Denham and had been saving for them. Glenda and Pete are travelling in the opposite direction to us, so have come down through the Kimberly and Broome. It was good to hear their recommendations of parks to stay in and interesting places to see!

Monday, we all changed bed linen and did our washing, then headed out to Dampier and the Burrup Peninsula. Burrup Peninsula is famous for Aboriginal rock art. Last year I read 40,000 paintings had been catalogued, now I hear it’s 5000000! Whatever, it’s very interesting. We took a wander through a little valley along a creek and found heaps. The iron rich rocks lay in huge piles looking like leftovers from the mining process and the art can be found like early graffiti on many of the rock faces. We could see turtles, boats, kangaroos, fish, people etc. After a walk around them and a drive to the lookout over Dampier, we headed down to the pub for lunch. It was windy, but still pleasant to sit out (by ourselves) in the beer garden overlooking the harbour. Back in Karratha, we went up to another lookout then did a bit of shopping before heading home. We had dinner at Glenda and Pete’s that night.

Glenda, Pete and Russ at Burrup Penisula


Tuesday we took Glenda and Pete’s car and went out through Roeburn to Cossack. Cossack is a ghost town with a few buildings, the cemetery and a tiny museum remaining. It’s got plenty of signs recalling its history though and is a nice walk around. On then to Point Samson where we had lunch at one of the two cafes in town. Afterwards, we took a walk down to the beach and a drive to the boat harbour. It’s such a pretty place. Pete had a van tyre repaired for a slow leak and had to pick it up on the way home. Glenda, Russ and I left him at home fixing that and headed back into town to do some shopping for dinner and the move on to 80 mile beach and Port Smith. Karratha was established about 40 years ago for the mining industry and has a pretty large and good shopping centre. We especially needed to stock up as the next two stops we planned to make are in quite remote locations.

Wednesday, we headed North (planning to stay 4 nights at 80 mile beach) and Glenda and Pete were off to stay at Exmouth for a couple of days.

The Road out of Karratha


About a month ago, I called 80 mile beach CP to be told they don’t take bookings, but they had plenty of sites and all would be fine!! We drove just under 500ks, then turned off the highway and down a dirt road-not a whole lot of fun with our strictly onroad van! We arrived to find that they only had un powered sites left and would put us on one of those, then we would be able to move onto a powered site when it became vacant (probably in the morning). We can’t do that, we need power, so we walked out, went back up the dirt road and headed another 40ks to Sandfire roadhouse for the night. The 80mile beach CP had a sign at the start of the dirt explaining pricing of various accommodation, facilities, no dogs etc. I think it would be a courtesy to send someone out to the sign to put up a notice when all powered sites are gone. Grrrrr. I have been told they don’t take bookings due to too many no shows, but I would have happily paid in full. Who looses out then if we don’t show up?!

Sandfire roadhouse was a scary looking place-the actual roadhouse burned down 13 weeks ago and they were using transportable offices. We camped out the back behind all that and had a really nice quiet night-even though we counted 26 geese, at least 60 peacocks of various sizes, a huge Brahman bull, two horses and a friendly chook! The ablutions block had seen better times and was in need of a clean, but I can live with that for a night. We were booked in at Port Smith 3 nights later, so gave them a call about arriving early-which we did yesterday.

A Spacious, Shady Site at Port Smith


What a pretty place this is at the end of 20ks of red dirt road. The van made it in fine with only one cupboard open and a few things upended in the fridge when we arrived! We’d made it in time for the dinner they put on every Thursday, so no need to cook tea that night.

A camper trailer followed us in along the dirt and we said hello to the couple down on the beach later on. I saw them again at the dinner and they sat and joined us. Russ had gone back to get our chairs when they asked what he did for a living. It turns out Mark is one of his former Chemical Users Course attendees that he (Russ) did for TAFE. Mark and Leah are from Hamilton on 4-6 weeks holiday to do the Gibb River Road. This is the second time we’ve met someone who did the course-the first time was on day one of this trip in Mt Gambier (that seems a long time ago).

Dinner was well attended by easily 100 people. The park put on chicken and veg soup followed by a sausage sizzle. They had raffles and games and a local band that played almost non-stop for 3 hours. The local band was called the Shoveller Family Band and came from the Aboriginal community about 40ks away. It consisted of dad, son (maybe 25), son (almost 14) and nephew (almost 13). The 7 year old sister Peta sat with us and got up and sang about 4 songs, the other sister Lalaine just watched and chatted a little as they didn’t bring her piano. Dad is a music teacher at the community’s High School and father of 7 children. He wrote a lot of the songs they sang and they sang a lot! The teenage boys break danced; they played pipes for didgeridoos and all in all put on a wonderful show. It’s nice to see kids with such high self esteem. Mum wasn’t there as she had taken her mother into Perth for an operation. Perth is 2000ks away now, so quite a drive!

Today we went out fishing on the lagoon. It’s quite amazing to see everything under water as we saw it last night when the tide was out. We are in the areas of large tides now and it was about 6 metres higher than we saw yesterday. Tomorrow it will be 7 metres difference and by Tuesday it will be 8 metres. The tides go out very fast and there is only a fairly narrow window of opportunity to retrieve your boat. If you leave it too late, you just leave the boat and get it as the tide starts to come back in. We had put the car into 4WD and let a lot of air out of the tyres to get the boat out of the water.

All that was very interesting, but the lack of legal sized fish was a bit of a disappointment! We caught many cod, but had to throw them all back. It could be to do with the full moon tomorrow night, we’ll have to wait and see and hope it improves. At least we have enough meat, fish and chicken in our freezer to survive!

Tonight Leah and mark are coming over for a drink and chat before dinner, and then Russ and I are having a curry.

Exmouth and Breaking Up at Nanutarra

A Beautiful Spot for Sunset Drinks

It was a slow first few days at Exmouth with me still sick with my cold. It managed to hang around for 2 weeks and made me very teary and miserable by the end of it. I’m happy to say it’s gone and I’m feeling much happier now!

Last Sunday night the park put on their weekly roast. It’s not a flash meal, but it’s cheap and generous. We were lucky to be seated with a NZ couple - Mike and Meg, who were just passing through and Hana and Rick from outside Mandurah. Rick and Hana will stay at the park for another 2 months.

Mike and Meg are from eastern North Island and they came to Aus where they bought a campervan and are travelling around WA sightseeing in between working on organic farms. They also own a B&B in NZ and are very interested in birds and bugs and are loving their time here in WA. They stayed on another night and Mike encouraged me to finally backup all my photos and they borrowed our snorkeling gear to go check out the reef.

The other couple Rick and Hana was interesting too. Rick is a Viet Vet and Hanna a Czech. She and her husband came to Aus in 1991 but he left her two weeks after arriving for his younger girlfriend he had also brought over. Hana is a physiotherapist but couldn’t practice here. She had to work in a factory to survive and read children’s books to learn English. Eventually she decided WA was a cheaper place to buy a house (well it was then) and moved here. 4 years ago she met Rick at a street party and they married 2 years ago. Her ex husband’s younger girlfriend left him for a younger man about 2 years after they arrived in Australia!

Anyhow, meeting these two couples and our nice neighbours behind s worked wonders cheering me up. I’ll be sad to move on now. Carl behind us is a Maffra boy, so we have spent a lot of time talking about Gippsland. When we move out, their daughter and family are taking our site.

Unfortunately, it is cooler and windier than we remember last year and it’s been a bit difficult to get the boat out fishing. We’ve found it pays to wait until about 2ish each day when we see the wind drop and then go. It’s been to cool to think about snorkeling which is a pity and the pool here is freezing. I’m looking forward to moving north to a bit warmer weather! Maybe we’ll leave all the moths behind too. We have been inundated with moths of all shapes and sizes-something I can’t remember from last year either.

We’ve managed to catch a few good feeds of fish. Mostly Charlie Court Cod, but they are my favourite fish, so I’m not unhappy. Most CCC are caught around 30cm, I caught a 37cm one the other day. They have a huge mouth which opens and fills with water when you bring them so he felt like a whale when I landed him in the boat. Last year the park had a CCC comp and he would have been right up there with the biggest. Russ also caught us an octopus on the same day. He brought him in with the landing net, and it was amazing to see him squeeze himself through the little holes in that and stick himself to the bottom of the boat. I think they are amazing creatures. It’s a shame for them they make such good bait.
Rick, Hana and Jesse

Wednesday night, we went over to the beach with Rick and Hanna and dog Jesse and had a glass of wine watching the sun go down over the reef. We spent a lovely couple of hours over there watching the little fishing boats come in and Jesse (who is 10) play in the sand and water like she was a puppy again. It really was a nice time. We sat on the beach by a huge sand dune and were the only ones there-it was beautiful.

Sunset Over Ningaloo Reef

Thursday was windy again, so we packed up at a fairly leisurely pace, then had a farewell drink with Rick and Hana. I almost wish we were staying on a bit longer now we have met a few people.

Yesterday we left Yardie Homestead CP and headed to Karratha. We made it as far as Nanutarra Roadhouse just before 3pm. I hate kangaroos and wandering stock, so we decided that was far enough for the day. We’ve stayed at the roadhouse before and really enjoyed it. Everyone is just staying for the night and always on for a chat-last night was just the same! Lots of friendly neighbors travelling north and south and all happy to talk. We met a nice couple Dale and Maureen who suggested we look them up on any Friday night at Broome RSL. They assure us the meals and drinks are all cheap and it’ll be a good night.

Hopefully better than our night at Nanutarra started out!

I’d packed our wine glasses away in their box in an overhead cupboard, so when Russ went to get them they fell to the floor and broke. Then I sat in one of our much used chairs and it broke, last I moved the TV off the bed where it travels into its normal spot and it fell to the floor and fell to bits! We bought a new one today the minute we got to Karratha and when the sales assistant was carrying it to the checkout, the box broke and the corner off it hit my leg, breaking the skin and giving me a good bruise!

On arrival here and as he was making up the boat trailer, Russ stubbed his toe and ripped back a huge chunk of skin-talk about a sad pair. Now we are here for 4 nights with my sister and BIL arriving tomoorw.

Yardie Homestead CP

Yesterday we travelled from Coral Bay to YHCP 33ks outside Exmouth. It's an old cattle and sheep stationbetween the Cape Range and the Ningaloo Reef. The stockman's quaters are converted to cheap accommodation and the old wool shed is quite near our van. It's got a pool and tennis courts, but it's sandy. Lots of people play bocchi in the sand though which is good to watch. We bought a cheap set after Christmas and might have to take them out and have a try!

Last year we stayed back at the Lighthouse CP-it was closer to town, but we spent a lot of time driving 16ks down and back to the boat ramp at Tantabiddy. Now we are 3ks from it which is much easier.

When we arrived, the guy at the office asked if we had been told about the electricity when we booked in. No, we hadn't! It's available 24hrs a day, but you can't use anything with a heating element, so no toaster, jug, elecric frying pan and hotplate, sandwich toaster and no aircon. We have really had to rethink the way we cook and are finally happy we bought a portable BBQ. Once again like Coral Bay, we have to go get our drinking water from a tank, but the bore water here is much less salty than it was there.

Today we went out fishing. It's easy to catch a feed quite close to shore which we did-a nice feed of cod. We hooked half a dozen other fish that seemed like they would be good, but had them bitten off by a shark. He was about 8 or 9 feet and seemed to wait until we had a bigger fish then took the lot. We shifted three times, but he seemed to follow us. Eventually we gave him the slip or he gave up! He would grab the fish, then throw himself in the air sideways like they do, sending up a huge spray of water! Apart from him, we saw so many turtles I couldn't believe it, and a dugong who stayed about 30 metres from the boat sunning himself for about an hour.

A Cold in Coral Bay

As planned, we headed out fishing on Monday morning. Conditions weren't quite as good as promised, s we didn't go as far as we initially planned. I woke with waht I thought was a bit of hay fever, but by the time we came in from fishing, it had turned into a very nasty cold which I am almost over today (Friday). I spent a couple of miserable days just sitting in the van with the aircon on when it all got too much for me and only once managed a swim in the pool. Lucky for me that Russ is such a good cook and looked after me so well, I think I got better much faster. I also think the luxury of not having to drag myself to work sped things up too.

I loved this park the last time we were here, but being sick has made it feel noisy, crowded and sandy-not the same place I remember! It has sort of isolated us a bit from neighbours we might have got to know too. Last year we had the best time with Kath and Ron and then James and Beth (who we'll be meeting in Broome in a month!).

Today, Russ informs me looks like the best fishing day so far, so we are off to try our luck at catching a few spangled emperor. A nice neighbour has given us directions to his "secret spot" so we'll see how that goes.

I've been very saddened to see the new marina being built and a couple of wind generators laying waiting to be erected. This was such an unspoiled and remote place and it seems a tradgedy to change that and turn it into a rich person's playground.

Coral Bay Hooray!

We spent a couple of very quiet days in Carnarvon stocking up on fresh fruit, veg, groceries and a few other things like new undies, pillow and fishing gear. We stayed in the Big4 there and although the park was really quite OK, management was so laid back they were almost comatose. They just didn't seem to care much about anything. The biggest entertainment of our stay was the couple who had started packing to leave just as we arrived and pulled out about 15 minutes before us after our 2 day stay. It took them about 4 hours to tie down a load under a cover on their roof rack and about 20 minutes this morning to hitch the caravan to the car.

Today we drove on to Coral Bay. It's only 220ks and last year it was dry and barren looking. This year they must have had more rain as it was looking very lush today. Although after lots of places, that wouldn't be difficult.

On arrival, the girl at the desk looked very blank when I said we had booked and paid a deposit for a week. In the end, she found us arriving tomorrow for 8 nights (which was right I found on checking my diary!) so now we are here for 9 lovely nights.

Our site is quite large and right beside the pool and resturant and not far from the tiny shopping complex. It's very hot today and there are more flies than I remember from last year, but the notice on the office door says tomorrow at 8am will be good conditions for small boats. So I guess it is fishing in the morning and snorkelling in the afternoon.

Denham to Carnarvon

Russ and I left Denham this morning and headed to Carnarvon. It's just over 300ks and we only have two days here, but it's the best shopping we'll have for 2 1/2 weeks. We arrived here, st up the van, drove up North River Road, back down South River road and got a car load of beautiful fresh veg and herbs. Then we hit Woolworths! This morning, we used our last two teaspoons of coffee bought in Perth for $12 per 500g can. In Denham, that can was $24! Tonight we paid $13 at Woolies Carnarvon for another two!

It was so very sad leaving Denham this morning. We've had 2 weeks and two days there with Brice and some lovely neighbours. I cried when we left as they are all quite elderly and we can only hope they will still be there when we get back in two years-particularly Brice who is really quite sick with bone cancer.

It's been a lovely couple of weeks that have flown by. It's amazing how much happens when you are supposed to be doing nothing. We have done lots of fishing in our tinny and managed to go out 4 times with Brice in his boat. The first two days in it (Brice's boat) were a bit lean fish wise, but the third and last were great. Our second trip out was really just a sightseeing tour-over to see the salt works and the private town of Useless Loop. It's 121ks in from the road to Denham on dirt all the way, or about 25 nautical miles from Denham. It was a lovely day and great to finally see the place. On our third trip last Saturday, 4 of us caught 21 quite large fish, and yesterday (our last) was the best.

Just the 3 of us headed out and the sea was absolutely "boiling" with tuna feeding all over the place. Brice doesn't like tuna, but knows we do, so stopped the boat and we started to trawl with lures. Brice caught a fish, but lost all his gear-a few minutes later a tuna circled the boat with his bright orange lure in its mouth! Then Russ caught a nice one which we got into the boat so we were happy! Russ filleted it and we have 6 feeds (inclding a big one to share with my sister) in the fridge and freezer. We ate one tonight and I reckon it is the best feed of fish I've had so far.

We left then and went on to catch a couple of good black snapper, a big pink snapper, 5 red throated emperor, 2 big Charlie Court cod, and just as Brice said we should head home, Russ caught a huge Morwong. A shark (at least 3 metres) spent a long time circling the boat grabbing fish we caught and released, we saw sea snakes and dophins and all those schools of tuna feeding-it was a wonderful day.

When we got home, Russ and Brice filleted and packed the fish while I went down to the butcher and picked up a ROASTED leg of lamb I'd ordered for our dinner. All I had to do was cook some vegies, make some gravy and we had a wonderful dinner.

The night before last, Brice bought 10 green crabs and I cooked him his first ever chilli crab which he loved. We really have had some wonderful meals together!

When we weren't out fishing with Brice, we would take our boat to Monkey Mia and target Flathead. We've got very good at finding enough nice sized ones (about 50cm) for a good feed. Or we would take the boat to Eagle Bluff where we could catch ourselves a feed of snapper.

Last time we took the boat to Monkey Mia, Russ headed off without the lights and rego attached to the trailer (something he often does!) A cop passed us going the other way, then next minute I saw him in my side mirror with the lights flashing. I told Russ he better pull over then asked if he had his licence "NO"! I said he better act dumb (not real hard to do I think!) anyhow, the nice boy gave him a warning on both counts, talked a lot about fishing and sent us on our way-how lucky was he!!!!

I've decided that Denham is the place I have enjoyed the most on this trip so far and I'm looking forward to coming back in the not too distant future.

Tomorrow, we are off to the farmer's market in town here,then Sunday we will travel to Coral Bay (only about 230ks) where we will spend a week swimming, snorkelling and fishing. Then it's on to Exmouth for more of the same.