14 - 20 September 2010

14 September 2010

We headed back down to the jetty and I worked while Ross went to find out what the action was at the jetty, but there was none. There were some guys who had been there all night and between the lot of them they had caught one fish. Ross took Boris for a swim (a very careful swim mind you considering there may be crocs) and then read while I worked. We aren't going to hang around as there are no fish to be caught it seems. We will go to Berry Springs for a swim on the way out and head down to Oolloo Crossing to see what that's like.

It was HOT – it got up to 40+° in the late afternoon so we kept driving – there’s not much point in stopping when the weather is like that. We didn't end up going to Ooloo Crossing as there is no mobile reception there.

We arrived at Katherine at about 8ish and went straight to the springs for a refreshing dip and we weren’t the only ones there – lots of other people had the same idea! After our swim we went looking for a campsite to stay for the night and we ended up opposite the Big 4 caravan park in a little car parking area for a nice park.

We have been tossing up whether to go to Alice Springs now or later and we decided to leave it till later so we are going to head across to Broome. The next decision was whether to go the Gibb River Road or the Great Northern Highway. We had a look at the map and with our circumstances we unfortunately have to follow the road that has the most mobile reception so we decided to make a dash along the Great Northern Road as there is absolutely no reception along the Gibb River Road and we really felt that to do that road you need to be able to take your time and enjoy it. There is reception at Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing so we are going to aim to do it in a few steps of big drives between those two towns and then on to Broome. We also want to try to get out of the heat. We have definitely acclimatised over the past couple of weeks but still find it too hot to find the energy to want to do anything during the day.

15 September 2010

We noticed this morning the sign for the park where we stayed overnight saying that dogs weren’t allowed – oops! Oh well – ignorance is bliss!

We went back to Katherine Hot Springs and I did my work while Ross went into town to do a few things. We worked out today that Boris actually isnt allowed in the Hot Springs as we thought – we had looked for signs about dogs but hadn’t found any but we talked to a local this morning who told us that they definitely weren’t allowed and we went looking and eventually found the sign – another oops! There was even a ranger on the prowl today – lucky had hadn’t been around the other two times we had Boris in there swimming!

We went for one last swim (without Boris much to his disgust) and then headed off towards Kununurra. It was HOT. By about 4 in the afternoon it was hovering around 40 again – phew!! We drove through Gregory National Park which had absolutely fascinating mountains with exposed rock seams through them. The countryside around here is just brilliant – something different around each corner. We stopped in the Gregory National Park to have a look at the Old Victoria Crossing and went for a quick dip – including Boris but don’t tell the Rangers!! Poor boy was nearly passing out with the heat!

We pushed on after dark and eventually arrived at Saddle Creek rest area where we thought we would have trouble sleeping because of the heat but a bit of a storm blew up and cooled everything down, including Ross who hadn’t bothered to put the fly on over the bed and he was getting dripped on half the night!!

16 September 2010

We got up early and headed across the border. The border guards weren’t nearly as scary as everyone had told us and didn’t pull our car apart looking for things we shouldn’t be bringing across. We checked a couple of things with them that we weren’t sure about and they had a cursory look around and in the car and van and that was it.

We headed into Kununurra and I worked again while Ross did a few things and then we headed off the back way to Wyndham over Ivanhoe Crossing – that was pretty scary and up Parrys Creek Road. Ivanhoe crossing is a bridge with reasonably deep water flowing over it that you have to cross. The scary thing is that there are concrete bollards to guide you across it which are the only thing stopping you from going over the edge and half of them were missing! But we made it in one piece and headed up Parrys Creek Road where every wallaby in the district decided to come out and play chicken with our car!! What’s the deal with that!!?? We managed to drive right by Middle Springs and Black Rock Falls and miss the turnoffs and be too far up the road to turn back and have a look – duh!! WE stopped and had a look at Mambi Island camping area which was quite a nice spot right on the river which would be a good place for fishing but you couldn’t swim there of course because of crocs and there was no mobile reception so we pushed on to Marlgu Billabong for a look which was just beautiful with lots of birds but no Jabiru’s!!

We finally got back onto the main road and stopped for the night at a little rest stop not too far out of Wyndham. Again the wind came up and cooled things down nicely so we all managed to get a good night’s sleep again.

17 September 2010

We drove into Wyndham so I could do my work and Ross had a bit of a wander around town and chatted to some of the friendly local Aboriginals who told him we definitely needed to go up to the lookout so once I was finished off we went to have a look to find a FANTASTIC lookout way above the town with a magnificent panoramic view of five different major rivers flowing into the ocean – what a sight!! The lookout area itself was also great with a big covered area and free BBQs. The only bad thing about it was the toilet – man – I cant tell you how many horrible toilets I’ve seen on this trip – gross!! I literally had to break my way through to the toilet seat through all the golden orb spiders and then sat cringing on the seat in case any of them decided to take revenge on me for destroying their homes!!

After that we drove back into Wyndham to have a look at the big statues that the Aboriginals had made that were Dreamtime Spirit statues and quite well done – very interesting.

We then wanted to go and have a look at the prison boab tree which was on a side road that we had to go past. On the way through were some Aboriginal paintings on some rocks that we stopped to have a look at too. Just before the tree there was a little billabong where we saw our first Jabiru for the trip!!

The prison tree is an enormous boab tree, bigger than any others we had seen – it was very impressive!! There was a little hole cut into it where they must have got the prisoners to go through and once they were in there they would be very easy to keep an eye on and it was also nice and cool inside though I can’t imagine they would have been able to fit too many people in there at once – it’s a big tree but there was still only so much room inside.

After that we headed for Grotto Creek for a swim as it was still in the high 30s. When we got there it was only a fairly small swimming hole but it was wet and cool and we all had a nice refreshing swim before heading off to “The Grotto” which was only just on the other side of the bridge from where we just had a swim. The Grotto is a fantastic waterfall gorge that is really deep and steep and even though there were no waterfalls running when we were there, you could just imagine how it would be in the wet season. There were stairs carved into the side of the gorge that looked very narrow and steep but we just had to go and have a look so we went down the stairs into the gorge – very harrowing and pretty darn scary but worth the trip – there are no rails or anything to stop you falling over and it would be a long trip down if you went over. The water at the bottom of the gorge didn’t look all that appealing so Boris was the only one who went for a swim down there but it was very pretty and lovely and cool down there.

We decided not to go back to Kununurra. We originally were going to go back for a look around but there wasn’t a lot we wanted to look at there aside from the numerous galleries that sold the zebra rocks but we decided against it. We pushed on until we hit a campsite near Halls Creek called Leycesters Rest which is a huge rest stop that was dedicated to a young boy who died near there in a car crash. It was actually almost cool when we arrived – looks like we have finally gotten out of the worst of the heat.

18 September 2010

Nearly had to put a jumper on this morning – only 21°! I couldn’t sleep so got up at daybreak and went for a walk to have a look around and found an old bridge and did a bit of exploring before heading back to camp to wake Ross up and pack up camp to head into Halls Creek. The countryside has changed again and is much greener now though there aren’t the fascinating mountain ranges with the exposed rock seams running through them like there have been for the last few days. There also aren’t nearly as many boabs as there have been over the last few days – they are fascinating trees and there have been thousands of them over the last few days but they have definitely petered out now.

We arrived at Halls Creek and decided to have a look around there area so we headed out on the road towards Old Halls Creek.  On the way out there is the China Wall which is a natural white stone wall which looks just like a miniature "Great Wall of China".  The wall itself was very interesting and the gully it is in was extremely pretty and we spent a fair amount of time walking around exploring.  We then headed out to Caroline Pool which is a swimming hole in among rocks on a river bed - the rest of the river is dried up at the moment and it was also a very beautiful area and we decided we wanted to stay there the night but there was no mobile reception - typical!!  Nonetheless, we went out and had a look at Old Halls Creek and wanted to go out to Sawtooth Gorge but the road out there is closed at the moment so we couldnt go so we went back up the road a bit to where I could get reception and did my work and then headed back to Caroline Pool for the night - it was just too pretty a spot not to camp there!!  We had our first fire in ages and cooked damper on a stick and had a great night - very relaxing!  Unfortunately the wind came up and it got very blowy and COLD!!  Would you believe it got down to 16°!?  We had to put jumpers on! 

19 September 2010

We took our time packing up this morning and Ross found that the 4wd had a flat tyre so we went into town looling for somewhere that would repair it - the Toyota place repaired it for $50!!  (usually around $20).  Oh well, what can you do.  I did some work while the tyre was being repaired and then off we went towards Fitzroy Crossing.

WE stopped at the Mary River campsite on the way through - what a lovely place - we would have loved to have stayed there but as usual - no reception - that's really getting annoying!!  We pushed on and arrived at Fitzroy Crossing and turned off before the town past the old Pioneer Cemetary and pas the Inn and past there was a dirt track leading off so we went to have a look - it was a rough 4wd track that was a bit hairy but not very long and we ended up next to a creek in a lovely little spot out of the worst of the dratted wind!  WE decided to camp there for the night and then head off in the morning after I did my work. 

20 September 2010

Got up this morning and there was no work on so I have decided to work this afternoon instead.  We will head into Fitzroy Crossing and have a look around and then on to Tunnel Creek and then on to Derby.

Tunnel Creek was fantastic!!  Its like a huge cave about 1 km long with water flowing through it - it's everything you could want - comes complete with wading through hip-deep water in total darkness, bats, crocs, stalagmites, stalagtites and a great little swimming hole at the end - had a ball!!  The biggest problem wsa the road - it was awful!!  Corrugations enough to rattle your false teeth out! 

WE didnt end up going to Windjana Gorge because of Boris so we kept on along the horrible road and ended up just this side of Derby and found an information bay that we intended to stay at and go into Derby tomorrow but when Ross went for a walk he discovered a no camping sign so we had no choice but to move on. It looks like Derby is one of those towns that has nowhere you can free camp so we might have to keep moving because its getting late in the day.

We decided to have a look at the attractions that Derby did offer including the Prisoner Boab tree, the big water trough and Frosty's Pool which were all together so it only took a very short time to see it all!!  There are other things to see like their jetty as they have huge tides here and you can catch all sorts of fish as well as mud crabs but because we couldn't camp we decided to move on.  We met some friendly locals out near the boab tree who said that we could camp on the right hand side going south out of town - there are a bunch of tracks leading off into the scrub where we could have camped but we decided to move on and headed for Willare Rest Stop which shows as day only in the Camps 5 book but is actually an overnight stop.