KUNUNURRA to KARRATHA ...A Big Trip!!!!!

Farewell Kununurra

 We set off early & as usual!
We are keen to get this show on the road!!

We were discussing along the way,
 weather or not we should stop in and see the famous
Bungle Bungles??

We have seen so many rock formations over this past 17 months,
and also, this means a diversion off the main hwy, which entails about
50 klm of dirt track.....
No!
Change that
 Mark just corrected me ...50 klm of 
RUGGED TRACK!
 That is before you even get there!
Then it is a whole lot more driving & walking around the area!

Anyway
the verdict was a definite
No!

Hopefully we will not regret this decision???

We travelled about another 100 odd klms
where we made a fuel stop
 @
 Halls Creek.

While Mark filled up

 I looked through our bible (Camps 5 picture book)

deciding on a spot to call home for the night, there are many free camps to choose from!
The one we chose had their tick of approval!

We turned off the main road
at 

Mary Pools!

!!!! Wow !!!!

 This Looks Good

We drove about a klm, then came to this river,  
with lots of sand, although she was one of the lucky ones
as it still had water in it!

A nice sight to see!

Funny the minute you add water 
into the mix, it becomes a

Tranquil Paradise, every one wants to be near!!

                                                        Us included!!!!

This is a fantastic little spot on

The Mary River!

Further down south

she flows into

The Margaret River!

As we crossed the causeway

The Marys Pool

welcoming party was out & about!

Wow this  place is busy and it is only 3pm

We were lucky to get one of the last little spots directly on the river!

Ahhhhh!

The beauty of free camping!
No fuss!!!!!

Nothing much gets pulled out, no unhitching, no fiddling!

Always the simple back to basics come out though!!

Hahaha.....

And these usually include..........

Chairs, Table, Beers
 &
Nibblies!!!!

Too Good!

The
Most beautiful looking healthy

Cows & their Calves
were happily grazing on the grass right in front of us!

They are funny!!!

Only stopping their munching
to have a bit of a sticky beak!!!

 Two Cute!!!

Click on the pic, & click again to see it better!)
Click the back arrow left of screen to return to where you left off

That is the same for all our pictures!

Well......

After a peaceful nights sleep
&

 waking only once @ 3am to put our doona on!

Wow!

The temps have dropped dramatically!!
We have not felt this cold since way back in Alice
in the
beginning of May!

A Pleasant Change
We Say!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goodbye
Beautiful Marys Pool!

Today our focus is
Broome!

We cant wait to get back to the beaches & enjoy the simple stuff
like a driving along the beach, throwing in a line
or just
enjoying that unreal feeling of the sand beneath your toes!!

Not long into our trip & up ahead we could see a lot of cars and trucks on the road.
As we got closer, it became clear
it was an accident!

Laying dead just before the crash was a big Kangaroo!

There was a caravan in front of us & a camper van
up turned laying behind it!

On the side of the road a woman, being comforted!!

 What a mess!!!

A man approached us asking if we had a Sat phone...

Unfortunately No!

This is the first accident we have seen since starting our travels!!

Oh My Goodness!
How quickly & unexpectedly these things happen!
It made us stop and realise
How lucky we are....
For now anyway!!!!

We passed the ambulance about 150kms from the scene!

~~~~~~~~~

Back on track!

Last night
 our neighbour told us  

he planned on taking the dirt road to

 Derby via the last section of the

Gibb River Road.

His reason, there is nothing much to see on
along the highway &
 Windjana Gorge is a nice diversion along this route!

So that is what we decided to do also!
(Minus Windjana)

This will be a test for Milli!

She really hasn't done much off road stuff yet!!

Open! Open! Open!

Now that is a good sign!

Red Dirt, Red Dust

Here we come!

 Tyres down

&
Ready Setty Go!

A tad bit rough!
but a

Whole Lotta Fun!!!!

This is very reminiscent of

Cape York, funnily enough, it is exactly one year ago to the day
we did it!!!!

Oh boy it is....
So hot, So dry & So dusty!

Windows up
 as another caravan fly's past in the opposite direction!

 They do not slow down?

Not even poor
 Brutus
could hold on!!!

Now....
Where in the heavens would these two be going
out here in the middle of nowhere

?????

We reached the intersection of
 Gibb River Road & Leopold Road
Turning off to Derby, we travelled about 50Klm's of gravel,
then all of a sudden we hit the bitumen??

Going by the maps it looked like that was the end of gravel.
Mark got out & pumped the tyres back up.
Not long after & look out,
 we are back on the gravel again!

We worked out we probably have about 15 more klms of this gravel road to go!
With no big stones or rocks, just mini orbs.
We decided to risk it!

Well, what a big day we have had!

Considering we left Mary's pool this morning at about 7.30 & it is now 3 o'clock!
We should be in Derby by about 3.30!

Providing we stay on the bitumen that is!!

That we did
&
Derby here we are here!!

What a poser!!!!

Have you ever seen an

Albino Peacock?

We hadn't until now!

She lives in the caravan park we are staying at!!

Very Pretty!!!

Next morn we did a bit of sight seeing around town!

Derby
 I recently read was the first town to be settled in the Kimberley,
with a population of about 5,000 people.

The streets are lined with
Beautiful Boabs
 &
 Derby lies on what is called

 King Sound!

Click on this!

First stop for us was down
to the Jetty!

The tides here are massive getting up to 11 mtrs in height!

Sunrise over Derby Jetty!

Love this Photo!

Hahaha!

This is the boat ramp!

Only to be used at high tide we feel!

From the Jetty we went to the 

Old Derby Gaol

 

This was a very moving, & sad visit.

I 

Could Feel

Their Spirits All Around Us! 

Eeeerie!

From there we drove out to another prison......

The Prison Boab Tree

This tree is 14 metres wide

has a doorway
2mtrs high by 1mtr wide!

Aborigines were chained up & held here, on route to

Derby Gaol!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doom & gloom aside!

We farwelled
 Derby 
for
Broome!

The stench of bats wafted nearly all the way from Derby to Broome

That smell i would know anywhere!

So
 Disgusting & Rank!!!!

As usual we passed many strange sights!

Today's strangest a Britz driver!

Who could not decide which side of the road he wants to be on???

Fair dinkum this bloke is mentally retarded!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Broome...The Pearl Coast!

Salt water, Sea breezes
 &
Beautiful Beaches!
Mmmmm.......
I can feel it in the air!!!!!

Yep
That's a good looking 
Beach!

Even better looking
 @
 Sunset!

World Famous Western Australia's
Cable Beach

We booked in to our park,

unwound & discussed what we would do here for the next week?

We

 Umm ed & Arr ed about doing

The Horizontal Falls Tour

This would of cost us a couple of grand & seeing as our funds are not as

flushed these days, we decided to rough it & head up to

Cape Leveque for a few days of camping!

We were happy with that decision!!!!

Plus

Mark wants to do the Falls at a later date

 cruising over on the

North Star!
www.northstarcruises.com.au

Yep we will need to save for that one!!!!!


Next morning, we set off to see some sights of Broome!

First stop
The Dinosaur Foot Prints
These things were hard to find & not being sign posted,
we relied on every one else & followed them down to the rocks 
at the waters edge.
These can only be seen @ certain times of the day....Low Tide!!!

Come on!!!!

I'm a Coming!!!



Funny how they have remained visible after all these millions of years!!

I think our one was a number 6

A nice drive led us to Entrance Point

Every one comes here to throw a line in, we just watched on today!......
We didn't want to put them to shame!!
Hahaha!

Driving back home

 we passed these little beauty's,

 heading to Cable beach for their daily walk!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well....With the van in storage & the truck all packed

Off we Set for
 Cape Leveque!

The trip up was

BORING!

Not much to look at!
Boring or not, it is still fun & a new adventure!

As we got nearer to our destination we passed a few dirt tracks with signs

reading campgrounds so many Klms down! 

The first we passed

@

Cape Leveque itself, called

Kooljaman Resort!

We kept driving past this, till we came to

Ardiyooloon One Arm Point Community.

Quiet little area & signs greeting us stating that every person needs to stop
and get a permit before proceeding through the town.

We stopped @ the general store to enquire about this but it was shut...
The sign on the door read
Closed from 12noon till 2pm....Short staffed!

Next minute along comes a lovely local man,
we introduced ourselves & had a mag with him!

He informed us we could get our permit from down @ the Hatchery!

He said to Mark do us a favour when you go down there see
Greg or Barry
& tell them,
Shaun sent me, here to fish!!!

With that we left & headed to the Hatchery!

The young Lady on the door, welcomed us & said the permit is $10 each,
that includes the tour of the Hatchery.
 We asked how long does the permit last?

One day....

Oh well seeing as the day was half over,

we decided to come back tomorrow & do it!

She then went on to say...She was not allowed to let us go

 with out having a permit!

Make sure you drive straight through town with out stopping, were her last words, with a glint in her eye!!! 

Oh okay!!

Shhhhh.... I said, don't tell anyone!!!!

 We headed straight thru, back to the Resort to book in!

Do you have a booking, says the receptionist

Um... No, did we need one??
Well yes but,,,,

Your lucky, I have one camp site left!

Done we will take it!

This place was nothing like we had envisaged!

Very commercialised!

To me that takes away the beauty & the magic of a place!!

We set up our tent in. what was the hottest part of the day!

Heat was really becoming unbearable to us now,
 especially with no trees or shade in sight!

We were right on the ocean though, so that was a bonus!!

OK

With that done, it's time to explore!!!!!

Back home @ the ranch, we got chatting to our neighbours!

These two men had come up here on a fishing trip, now how good is that for us,

 as they kindly donated some of today's catch to us!

Yummo...THANK YOU!!!!!!

Next morn we high tailed it out of this
over rated

 "Wilderness (as they call themselves) Park"

Time now to rough it &

 Get 

Down & Dirty!!!

Hahaha...And that is just what we did!

Ya gotta love camping!!!

We headed back around to One Arm Point & drove down

one of the dirt roads along the way to this fantastic campground,

which is run by a local family.

Turned out they knew a friend of Marks from Point Plomer

 (Which is a holiday spot on the north coast of NSW
where Marks parents have a cabin)

Such a small small world!

We went down the back right on the water & set up our home!

Oooooh Yeah!
This place

So Beautiful, So Natural!

Haha!
 Zipper city here we are!!!!

Mmm.... Who will catch the first fish????

Keep trying lovey!!!!!

Yes it's Shazza!!

Even if it was undersized & had to go back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The splash from the Barra being fed....Powerful!!!!!!

The Hatchery was well worth the visit!

Very interesting & informative!!

Back home
Beer & wine time
followed by
dinner time & fire time!!!

There is nothing like

Sounds of Silence

 with a hint of a

crackling fire in the background

Simply

HEAVEN!!

Goodnight Lovely Cape Leveque

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way home we passed through a little

Aboriginal Community of Beagle Bay...

The local women helped make the shell decorations which are etched in the walls inside this church!

We went in for a visit & to my amazement it didn't fall down!!!

Back in Broome

we did the big change over!

Everything out of the truck & back into the van!

Bye Bye Broome!

 Tonight we thought we will stay @ Barn Hill Station!

Up the road a bit, mark pulled over to pump the tyres back up.

Hooley Dooley all of a sudden he blurts out......
We are dickheads!

With a puzzled look on my face he continued.....

We forgot to pick up our rim!

We had dropped it off before heading up to Cape Leveque.

This is our second rim in 18 months that has had a crack in it!

 Apparently speedy rims, the company who make them are aware

of this & will replace it for no cost!

Hahaha!

Back to Broome we go!!

Next Morning, thankfully the rim was in!

Karratha here we Come 
via 80 mile Beach for the night  & a look @ Port Headland!!

 Shells Shells & More Shells!!

As we neared Port Headland the dust became visible over the horizon!!

BHP Country!!

Mining Mining Mining!!

This place should be Renamed ...

PORT REDLAND!!!

Every thing is RED!!!!

What has Mr Gregory

found

 down here???

Oh no
Not another Relo????

Back on the road

On a whim about 70 klms down the road,

we turned off & took ourselves into........

Whim Creek Pub for lunch!

This is a different little pub, out in the middle of nowhere really!

Harry the Corella outside is cute & there is the usual

reading material strewn over many of the old walls!!

As for the food......

Well, have a beer instead I say!!!

Karratha

is only bit over a hundred klms away now!

We are thinking we will pick up some work there for a couple of months, although we are a bit un sure about that, as the guys who gave us the fish back up in

 Cape Leveque, were telling us, rents in Karratha caravan parks are about

$300 plus a week & the temps get up to 40 odd!!!

Mmm.......

Oh Well

We will just play it by ear & see what unfolds! 

Till next time

ENJOY!!!!