Kununurra to Broome (via Gibb River Rd)

On our first day in Kununurra (Monday 18 June) we mainly caught up with jobs, rested, painted, planned our Gibb River Road assault (infamous dirt road through the Kimberleys), drove to lookouts and checked out the dam wall and agricultural areas.

On Tuesday we took a back road (Parry Creek Rd) to look at lower parts of the Ord River, including a good look at Parry Lagoons (which is part of a Ramsar wetland). Marlgu Billabong had a bird hide and we had never seen so many water birds in the one place – we all loved it. 

Marlgu Billabong at Parry Lagoons

A bird

Unfortunately a fire was in the process of burning across the floodplain, but we weren’t sure how far it spread after we left. We then went 10 km up the road to the port town of Wyndham and when we saw the huge estuary we felt like we had now crossed Australia from south to north. Wyndham has the most amazing and breathtaking lookout on a hill behind the town where you can see 5 large rivers from one place, including the Pentecost, Durak and Ord rivers, all meeting and draining out to sea.

The Big Croc at Wyndham

We then headed south and onto the Gibb River Road to camp at El Questro Wilderness Park for a couple of nights.

Start of the Gibb River Rd

On our first morning we headed out early (before the crowds) to Zebedee Springs to swim in warm thermal springs. 

Zebedee Springs

Later, Jim drove down a track to do the El Questro Gorge walk, and really got the Prado wet by driving through water nearly up to the top of the wheels – luckily the door seals didn’t leak (the bottom of the doors were well under water). 

Jim tried not to worry too much as the Prado went deeper and deeper. (Lucky it's the dry season!)

El Questro Gorge

El Questro Gorge

That afternoon we drove out as close as we could get to the El Questro fancy accommodation ($1.5K per night) but couldn’t see much. 

Chamberlain Gorge at El Questro

 We then took another slightly scary 4WD track up a steep and narrow hill top (Saddleback) to watch the sunset.

Saddleback Ridge

On Thursday we did the Emma Gorge walk. The walk itself was nothing really exciting, but the swimming hole at the top was magic! The water was freezing cold, but we climbed up some rocks to another small but warm thermal spring rock pool overlooking the waterfall and main swimming hole. It was pretty special. 

Emma Gorge (at El Questro)

 We then drove further west to camp for the night on the Pentecost River at Home Valley Station with absolutely fantastic views of a long and spectacular mountain range across the river – the photos don’t do them justice. It seems everybody camps by the river despite the salt water crocodiles that also live here.

Lunch Stop

Part of fantastic view from our Home Valley campsite

On Friday, we drove about 300 km on the Gibb River Road over some good and not so good road to reach Mt Barnett Road House, where we set up camp for 2 days near Manning Gorge. We did the walk to the gorge the next day where we all had a cold swim. Jim and Ned made it across the pool to sit behind the water fall. That night we had more damper on the campfire, which finished off a great day.

To start the walk to Manning Gorge, we had to swim across this creek

Manning Gorge and falls

Elsie and Monnie at Manning Gorge

When checking out the next day, Jim was asked again if he had a senior’s card. No doubt this is just a standard question in these parts, rather than any reflection of Jim’s looks. There are lots of old people out and about travelling around – even those with walking sticks attempt to rock-hop down gorges. We’re glad we are young enough to rock-hop quickly and safely. Anyway, we hit the road and stopped at Adcock Gorge.

When filling up the car later that day at Imitji Road house, we noticed some diesel dripping from underneath the car. While we were concerned about this (and had the option of waiting hours for a mechanic), we pressed on to Bells Gorge which is supposed to be one of the best in the Kimberleys. Unfortunately, 10 km before the gorge, the drip was worse, so we headed back to the main road (Gibb River Rd) and went as fast as we could to Derby that night, cutting short four additional days of sightseeing we had planned.

Luckily the leak slowed and we made the 200 km to Derby with no major problems – although some rocks yet again destroyed an electrical connection to the camper trailer. 

While it’s not ideal setting up camp in the dark, driving through this country as the sun is setting is pretty special.

Queen Victoria's Head (Napier Ranges)

Napier Ranges (about 140 km east of Derby)

 On Monday Jim set about trying to resolve the car and trailer problems while Claire helped the kids catch up on school work. To cut a long story short, the Prado had a broken fuel pipe into the tank, such that when Jim tried to top up the fuel tank in Derby, with Ned under the car to see if he could see a “small” leak, all the fuel going into the car’s inlet pipe gushed straight onto the ground, narrowly avoiding giving Ned a diesel hair wash. (It had been a while since he had a wash anyway.) The new part would take 4-5 days to get here from the east coast. Yes, despite all the Prados in the mines over here, three independent searches confirmed that there were no spares in WA. In doing the  rounds of the garages at Derby, Ned also experienced an intense immersion program in bush mechanic speak where every second word starts with "f".

Derby was a great place with helpful, friendly people and a few things to see as well. It was the first town in the Kimberleys and has Australia's largest tides. We learned of the terrible treatment of aborigines in the old Derby Jail and visited the fantastic Mowanjum Art and Cultural centre.

Derby Wharf. The last seagull we saw was at Lake Eyre!

Sunset at derby Wharf

Bronte wants a piece of the action in "striking the pose"

Boab Prison Tree outside Derby (est 1500 years old) - they go hollow naturally

Southern hemisphere's longest trough (at some stage) - 120 m long

Given we only had enough fuel remaining in the tank for about 400 km that had to last 5 days, we headed off to Broome on Tuesday to kill time there (and organised for the part to also be sent there). We found a great campsite with some views of the Town Beach from out outdoor lounge area (i.e. back of tent). Town Beach is on the east side of Broome whereas Cable Beach is on the west side.

Alice Springs to Kununurra

We spent 3 nights in Alice Springs and lashed out to stay at the Big4 caravan park where there was a jumping pillow and night time activities such as star gazing (through a telescope, where Ned saw the rings of Saturn) and talks on the local plants and animals. We also saw the old Telegraph Station and all did a half hour didgeridoo lesson. Most of our time in Alice was just ‘housekeeping’ stuff such as shopping, washing and sorting out car/trailer electrical things.

learning to play

 Jim really wanted to take the Tanami Road from Alice up to the Kimberleys, but we had reports of the road being pretty bad (two thirds bad corrugations - ie nearly 700 km). Unfortunately the police, tourist info or main roads didn’t want to give us any info about the road conditions, which was pretty disappointing, so we had to make a judgement based on info from the few fellow travellers we met. Anyway, we headed up the bitumen, to take the long way around to the Kimberleys via Katherine (an extra 1000 km).

On our first night from Alice we made it to Wycliffe Well which is apparently the UFO capital of Australia – lots of reported sightings. We read lots of stories that night in the shop/bar about all the sightings, and although we didn’t really believe many of the stories, Jim admits to being a bit nervous when doing a mid-night pee in pitch black darkness. (You see, the aliens can actually erase your memory of their abduction, before returning you to Earth!)

Some of the locals at Wycliffe Well

 The next morning we had a good look around the Devil’s Marbles before travelling on to Daly Waters for a pleasant night at the pub with a cheap camp site, 2 bowls of chips and free (good) entertainment.

Daly Waters Pub

 The next day we swam at Mataranka Springs (very refreshing of course) and then drove most of the afternoon (via Katherine) to stay at Sullivans Campground in Gregory National Park 200 km west of Katherine. Claire (being an old NT person) could hear crocodiles in the nearby creek that night.

Ned at the Devil's Marbles

Devil's Marbles

Elsie at Elsey National Park (Mataranka Springs)

Mataranka Springs

 The next morning we quickly hit real Kimberley-type country with cliffs, grasslands and the very big Victoria River. We had quite a few stops checking out the river, lookouts and other interesting things.

Victoria River

The Gregory Tree (Boab tree) - inscribed by the Explorer Augustus Gregory in 1856, on the Victoria River

We hit Kununurra at about 4 pm and found a great campsite in a caravan park by the shores of Lake Kununurra, not far above the dam wall. It was a nice change not to be camping in dirt and dust, and even nicer to watch the lake and nearby cliffs at sunset from our camp with a cold beer.

Our camp on Lake Kununurra - water views from the back from our "dining room".

Uluru to Alice Springs (the long way)

On Thursday we left Uluru after Jim picked the brains of a diesel mechanic and NRMA repairman (all fellow travellers) about various things we needed help with. So although we didn’t leave until nearly midday, we did make it to Kings Canyon that afternoon to set up camp and had half a pub meal each at the local (only) pub. Wild dingoes were hanging around the campsite and chomped up an empty milk carton (to lick the inside) that evening outside our tent. The next morning we did the 6 km Kings Canyon Circuit walk which was pretty amazing. It consists of old sea beds and sand dunes that are 400 million years old.

Small part of Kings Canyon

Scenery on the Kings Canyon walk

Ancient ocean floor ripples in the rock

The walk took us longer than expected so we didn’t set off until about 2:30 pm for our trip through some aboriginal land (permit required) amongst more amazing scenery (and rough roads) and into the West MacDonnell ranges from the western side. Bronte thought it was logical that there must be a McDonalds restaurant at these ranges, given that that they share the same name (unless you have to spell it). We took a small detour into Gosses Bluff which is a crater formed by a comet impact 140 million years ago. We later found a camp site at 6 pm on a rocky ridge with great views at Redbank Gorge.

Gosses Bluff - from a comet impact 140 million years ago

The next day was an official rest day, in observance of Bronte’s 5^th birthday – and what a great place to rest, with great views and a camp fire all day (to cook birthday cake and a rump roast for dinner – both in the camp oven, and both pretty successful). Bronte (and the rest of us) had a great day with presents and party food sourced from the Yulara IGA!

Bronte's camp oven birthday cake

Bronte's birthday party

We ended up spending 3 nights here (the camp fire was a hit) and checked out some of the nearby gorges.

Ghost Gum in rock cliff

Ormiston Gorge

west of Alice Springs

Mt Sonder (west Macdonnell Ranges)

On Monday 11 June we hit Alice Springs for our first wash in 4 days and for some – you guessed it – McDonalds for dinner. The Finke Desert race had just finished in Alice Springs, so we purposely timed our arrival to miss the crowds.

Coober Pedy to Uluru

NOTE: In case you didn't know, all photos on this blog can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The next morning (Saturday) we headed north on the bitumen and set up at a free-stay just south of the NT border. We had enough power to watch a family movie in the tent that night. On Sunday we crossed the border and headed west past Mt Connor and on to Uluru. 

Mt Connor

Uluru would have to be the highlight so far. Words have trouble describing just how amazing it is.

On Monday we all attempted to climb Uluru. The local aborigines prefer that nobody climbs it, so it wasn’t really the right thing to do. But we have to admit we did enjoy it, and every one made it to the top unaided – even 4 yr old (nearly 5) Bronte (to our surprise).

Bronte faced her fears and showed strong determination (as did all the kids)

Everyone made it to the top

The kids walking along the top of the Uluru

Coming down

On Tuesday we did a ranger guided walk around part of the base. It was really informative and explained a lot of local aboriginal customs and beliefs, while helping us to really appreciate aboriginal culture a lot more. 

On Wednesday we had a lazy day (apart from Jim jogging around the base of Uluru) until mid-afternoon when we walked through part of the Olgas, followed by sunset viewing at the Olgas.

Two aspiring models

Inside the Olgas

Tomorrow we head off to Kings Canyon and the West MacDonald Ranges. We have stocked up on chips, soft drink and lollies for Bronte's birthday on Saturday.