What a week it has been - nothing overly exciting but Team Turtle took its time heading back to Kununurra from Broome. Seven days to travel nearly 1,000 klms - maybe we should be renamed Team Tortoise!
We decided that, on the way back, we would do a spot of "free camping" and utilise the many Rest Areas that local councils or the Main Roads Departments have provided for travellers. We are well prepared - a generator to provide 240 volt power (when needed), solar showers and a Porta Potty see to our basic hygiene requirements and three 20 litre water cans to make sure we survived the trek across the edge of the desert.
Just to fill you in on some of these Rest Stops - they are basic, some come with, and some without, dunnies and they are very popular with the budget conscious travelling public. Because of this popularity these spots can get very busy and, if you get there too late (like lunchtime), you don't get a good spot at all. The other small hiccup is that these rest stops are not usually close to a 'major' centre and communications (even in this day and age) are non existent.
First stop after Broome was The Boab Tree Rest Area, named cause it was built around a very large, and old, boab tree.
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| The big, old Boab Tree |
Next interesting spot was a couple hundred klms down the road called Ellendale Lake. Ellendale is a large cattle property and the Lake was formed when the Main Roads people dug it out some years ago when they realigned the main road. The owner of the property started to allow the general travelling public to use this part of his property after his son died trying to get home. He went to sleep at the wheel of his car because there was nowhere safe for him to stop and rest.
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| Ellendale Lake |
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| One of our Neighbours |
Monday morning and we headed into Fitzroy Crossing and then turned left to go to Giekie Gorge - a wonderful part of the Fitzroy River. The cliffs of the Gorge are made of limestone from a very ancient coral reef and then carved out by the river. Once more, some pretty awesome stuff. We indulged ourselves and took and great little tour/cruise made even better by the boat driver. The white marks on the cliffs is where the river reaches during the wet season - sometimes up to sixteen metres above the normal river level.
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| Opposite the Boat Ramp |
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| Looking Upstream |
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| Some more Cliffs |
The orange in the cliffs is where there has been some erosion or there has been a landslide in recent times. The grey is just where the cliffs have weathered over the hundred of millions of years.
We had spent most of the day at the Gorge and took the 3pm cruise so that by the time the cruise was finished it was getting late and we had a fair way to go to reach our planned stopover. We made it to Ngumban Cliffs just after sunset and were lucky enough to get a reasonable parking spot. The Deckie even managed to get up early the next morning to take some sunrise shots.
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| From the Top of Ngumban Cliffs - Looking West |
Back on the road again and we continued to head east/northeast towards Hall's Creek. Didn't stay in Hall's Creek but let the tyre pressure down and drove out to Caroline Pool - about 15 klms out of town on an unsealed road. We stayed at this lovely little spot on our way west and decided then that we would have to return. We were very lucky that we were the only ones there to begin with and managed to secure the best spot next to the creek. Other people came for a look through the day and there was only one other couple that stayed the night. Just to indulge ourselves, we snuck in a second night even though (officially) it was only supposed to be a one night stay. But it was relaxing and so very much enjoyable.
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| Team Turtle relaxing by the Pool |
Meanwhile, cause we had taken so long to cross Western Australia, someone (namely The Captain) had run out of all of their favourite beverages. That's fine you might say - "just go to a grog shop and buy some more". Easier said than done. This part of the country has some very different rules as far as the supply of alcohol goes - hmmm, the only takeaway alcohol in Hall's Creek is 'Light' beer. Yep, he had to lower his standards and buy some just to see him thru until we got to Kununurra! Then again, it was probably The Deckie's fault that this intolerable situation was allowed to occur - oh hum!!
Just up the road from Hall's Creek is, yep, you've guessed it, another National Park with lots of nice rocks. Purnululu National Park (or the Bungle Bungles) has some magnificent rock structures and landforms and was on our "to do" list for this trip. We had been informed by other travellers that the road into the National Park was in a deplorable condition - all unsealed and with over twenty creek crossing and that it takes 2 - 3 hours to travel the 55 klms into the Park. The decision had been made to organise ourselves onto another 4wd tour - once more to save the poor old Turtle from any more damage. Unfortunately, The Captain was suffering from some nasty abrasions on his feet and felt that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the day (which included a 3klm walk) so he let The Deckie go by herself. We found a nice little free camp, called Spring Creek, 500 metres from the entrance to the Park and organised for The Deckie to be picked up from the entrance instead of 50 klms away at Turkey Creek. Picked up at 0700 hrs, morning tea on the road, lunch provided, a great walk thru part of the Park, afternoon tea and then dropped back home at 1900 hrs - wow, what a day and some great rocks as well!!
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| One of the Beehive Domes |
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| The Deckie and the Western Part of the Park |
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| Piccaninny Creek |
Some people may recognise Piccaninny Creek, as it was one of the scenes used in the QANTAS advertisement a couple of years ago. The creek bed is solid sandstone and the hollows in it have been made by a lot of largish pebbles that have been washed down from further upstream over many years.
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| Part of The Cathedral |
A truly awesome day - the only drawback being that The Captain couldn't enjoy it first hand.
A second night was spent at Spring Creek before we headed towards Kununurra yesterday (Saturday). All was going well until we were about 45 klms west of Kununurra, at the intersection of the Great Northern Highway and Victoria Highway. Tuf Cat's trailer had a small mishap and broke another leg! Fortunately, there was an easy place to park whilst The Captain performed some life saving surgery and we were on our way again.
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| Performing Surgery |
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| A Proud Captain/Doctor |
And that brings us to Kununurra, where we spent the rest of Saturday washing and cleaning some of the dust out of The Turtle. But it was worth it! A couple of days here and maybe some of them will be spent on the water - which will be very nice indeed.
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