Kalumburu Road to Home Valley, Kimberly, WA

The Long and Winding Road

 Thursday 24th July

After an efficient and stress-free pack up we left King Edward River at 7.30am and headed back to the GRR a mere 250km to our next stop! Crossing the river was pretty simple but it proved to be an arduous hot journey, without aircon or conversation as no-one could be heard above the noise of the vibrations!

King Edward River Crossing - I'm driving!

 

The Gibb became steadily more winding and challenging, testament to the dangers were all the rolled cars abandoned on the side of the road. The conditions increasingly tested the car; the jockey wheel struck a rock jamming itself into the trailer and our water tank lost a drain plug and dumped all our water. So after 5 hours of driving we pulled over for a cup of tea and discovered an empty water tank!!

 

Pushing on for another couple of hours brought the welcome sight of Home Valley Station and their amazing oasis included a swimming pool, restaurant and bar, showers, washing machines and flushing toilets!! Oh how you learn to appreciate the little things! As we were setting up camp we discovered the final casualty of the day, the trailer electrics had given up the ghost!!

A little bit of indulgence!

 

 

Willy Willy

 

We stopped just prior to Home Valley at an amazing lookout point and experienced our first Willy Willy or Dust Devil! It scared the life out of Jacob who jumped into the car to escape it, but I had the camera poised for another photo and managed to snap it as it spun passed the car.

 

Freaky Willy Willy

 

The BoM defines the phenomenon as: 'local hot spots can develop on the ground, drawing in cooler air from around them and causing spiraling of the air.' So now you know!!

Mitchell Falls, Kimberly, WA

Long Drives in Challenging Terrain

Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd July

Happy Birthday Jacob!

An early pack up saw us on the road by 7am and an unceremonious start to Jacob’s 14^th birthday! We turned off the GRR after about 60km and onto the Kalumburu Road, promising Jacob that we would stop for a famous Kimberly burger at Drysdale station as a birthday treat. The road was rough but not as bad as we had imagined but Drysdale was a welcome sight! They opened the kitchen especially for us and we had burgers all round by 10.30am, and they definitely deserve there reputation as the best in the Kimberly! Fed and watered we pressed onto the Mitchell Plateau a further 100km  on increasingly corrugated and rocky roads. Before pulling into the King Edward River campgrounds we negotiated our biggest river crossing yet and gave the car a welcome wash!

 

The King Edward River camp was great, fantastic swimming in the river and our own personal waterfall! It certainly rates as our favourite spot yet.

 

Following the rapids downstream

Wonderful swimming holes all to ourselves!

 

 

Walk In Fly Out!

The following day we set off to see the famous Mitchell Falls, the highest waterfall in WA and part of the classic Kimberly vista. The drive out was notoriously rough and it was a hair-raising 2 hour drive over severe corrugations, washouts and pot holes. The 3km walk in to the falls was beautiful and lush. The Mitchell Plateau is a testament to the powerful and rugged forces of nature that have ravaged the area and created such stunning ravines and waterfalls. We enjoyed swimming in the croc free upper pools and took an awesome helicopter transfer back.

Mitchell falls

Flying out over the Mitchel Plateau

Our personal rapids to play in!

Collateral Damage!

 

The journey took its toll on the car, first the radio antennae broke followed by the air conditioning which made for a hot and tedious return trip. However, spotting the skull and horns of a cow cheered everyone up and it was duly collected along with wood for the campfire that night! Happy days!!

 

The new member of Speedykniebe!

 

Manning Gorge, Kimberly, WA

Best Laid Plans get Canned!

Spreadsheet…What Speadsheet?

 

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July

Manning Gorge

Much to Simon’s disgust I was adamant that we should have 3 nights at Manning gorge and so it was agreed (albeit reluctantly) and the spreadsheet schedule was temporarily abandoned! We set off to hike the 5km round trip to the gorge, it was rocky and steep in parts with very little shade so it was a wonderful sight when the waterfall and swimming hole appeared. The swimming and waterfall were great, Simon and the boys found rock ledges to jump from and I found a good spot for sunbaking. The campsite is situated around the Manning River and we took a dip on the way home before heading back to camp. That night the boys made the fire and we cooked our first ever damper with cinnamon and raisins for pudding -yum!

The leap of faith!

 

Galvans Gorge

Galvans gorge was an easy walk and well worth the visit as it was a beautiful place, lush and tropical with refreshing swimming and a simple waterfall. Our morning was spent wallowing in the water, looking at the Aboriginal rock art and observing a black snake as it idled past.

 

After a long  soak in the Manning river (with a freshwater croc as company) we headed back to pack up camp and prepare to leave early the next morning heading off to King Edward River in the Mitchell Plateau, one of the remotest legs of our trip.

A lone boab tree overlooks the gorge

Windjana Gorge, Kimberly, WA

Gibb River Road

 Thursday 17th and Friday 18th July

Windjana Gorge

So we hit the Gibb River Road and headed out from Derby to Windjana Gorge. This National Park is formed from ancient reef dating from the Devonian period and is spectacular. We camped in the shadow of giant cliffs and walked down to explore the fossils, rock holes and see fresh water crocs sunning themselves on the banks.

'Tell me if it moves!'

'Can I wrestle it Dad?'

 Tunnel Creek

The following morning we drove to Tunnel Creek in the heart of the Devonian Reef Park and explored the deep cave formation by torchlight running beneath the reef. Light slanted in the cave through jagged teeth like rocks and stalactites dribbled from cavities that time left unfilled. We did some school work; a lesson bringing language to life using similes, metaphors and personification to describe the environment – school has never been so good! The cave is an important part of Aboriginal culture and we met the local custodians of the land. The ladies asked us what it was like and told us that it is a sacred ‘men only’ place that they are forbidden to visit!

Exploring Tunnel Creek

Moving On..

Packing up camp after Tunnel Creek was getting easier and we were on the road by midday with the intention of seeing Bell Gorge and camping at Mornington Wilderness Camp. However with a gremlin in the electrics of the car causing random locking/unlocking, failure to start and stereo weirdness we decided not to leave the beaten track  but get to a road house and reassess. After lots of travellers looked and discussed the problem we decided to head up to the only mechanic on the Gibb ‘Over the Range’ between Adcock and Galvans Gorge (and way past our turning to Mornington) to touch base with his expertise. By the time we pulled in and spoke to Nev the problem hadn’t re-occcured so we were trying to fix something that wasn’t broken! After cleaning the battery terminals and doing a few checks we went drove another 30kms to Manning Gorge. Now we were 3 days ahead of schedule and had some decisions to make...do we go back to Bell or change plans entirely? That was a discussion for the next morning!

Beautiful Broome, North WA

Exploring Broome

Wednesday 16th July

Carry on up the Creek!

 

With a strong breeze we decided to take the tinny out into Dampier Creek instead of the ocean. The creek was a deep sparkling turquoise blue beckoning us to swim but it’s a strictly look but don’t touch experience. It was daunting to step into the water after seeing the crocs the day before but to launch we had to hold the boat in knee deep water, Logan was on croc watch! With the sun overhead we motored through the creek trawling a lure for barra, but only caught snags!

 

Mangrove Maze

 

Deep in the watery mangrove maze we spotted what looked like pontoon, so headed towards it only to find it was a croc trap! Needless to say you only saw our wake as we powered away as quickly as possible, but it was a chilling reminder that these ancient reptiles are everywhere!

 

Camels at Sunset

We spent a peaceful hour enjoying the Red Sun Camel Safari on Cable Beach at sunset. Our camel was called Connor and was the youngest but tallest male in the camel train and the boys rode Cocoa, a 20 year old female. As the camel stood up it was like being on a rollercoaster as it wobbled and tipped all over the place. Once they started walking it was a gentle ride, the sun slipped into the ocean and peach light bathed the wet sand. The experience was very serene and a wonderful close to our time in Broome.

 

Flying high!!

 

 

 

Tuesday 15th July

 

Horizontal Falls

A 4am start was well worth it for a morning out at the Horizontal falls. We caught a 12 seater sea plane and landed on the water beside the falls. They had a floating pontoon and we had breakfast overlooking 'Jurassic Park'! The boat ride through the falls was fun, but the fiercer of the two gaps was too dangerous with a wall of water pouring through so we didn't get to ride through that one! The kids got to feed the sharks from a cage in the water and this was a real highlight for them. The flight back took in the Buccaneer Archipelago off to the west of Cape Leveque and I loved the amazing views. All in all a memorable morning with something for everyone.

The Horizontal Falls

 

Buccaneer Archipelago

Flight route
 



Beautiful Broome, North WA

Fish for Dinner?

 

Monday 14th July

After a morning of organising camp and with Simon’s catchphrase ringing in our ears ‘everything must have a home’ we set off with the boat on the roof to sample some of Broome’s fishing. Launching from Gantheaume Point (or car park beach) was easy, and with the lures out it wasn’t long before something was tempted. Although Simon had his heart set on a Spanish Mackerel I had my doubts about whether 4 people in a 3.8m tinny could really all stay afloat with a thrashing beast like that!

 

Jacob caught a decent sized Queen fish, which Simon reeled and attempted to kill. Going against all of my advice he dipped the fish back in the ocean to clean it and it made a miraculous recovery and swam away! This gives a whole new meaning to catch and release! I spent the 3 hours on the boat watching for eyes in the ocean, every bubble was a croc surfacing, and Logan looked just as uncomfortable as I did. Needless to say we didn’t have fish for dinner, but sat around the communal fire pit and caught up with some of the grey nomads at camp.

The one that would get away!

The Road Trip Begins; leaving home comforts!

 

We're On the Road to Nowhere

 

 

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July

 

After an early start and 101 last minute things to do we set off from home at 5.30am aiming to reach Newman ! The kms seemed to crawl by as we didn’t go above 100kmph but it was steady progress. The last 2 hours of driving were the most  tedious as Simon kept saying ‘We’ll drive till 7pm' then as we got to 7pm he'd suddenly say 'Lets just push on through till 8pm!' We finally pulled over and tucked ourselves away on a dirt track at 8.30, fed everyone, made a fire and snugged down for a cold night. We were approx 50km from Newman!


Playing HeadBandz...what am I?

Sleeping in till 6am was a luxury we couldn’t really afford the next morning, but we thought we’d do a speedy pack-up and be off within half an hour…little did we anticipate the impossible puzzle that would present in re-packing the trailer! We pulled away nearly 2 hours later and steam coming from Simon’s ears!!

 

Five films, 8 hours of talking books and several games of headbands later we arrived at Broome and pulled into the Gateway Caravan Park! Camp was set-up in a record time of 10 minutes and everyone was fed and abed within the hour!

 

Sandfire Road House...only 4 hours to go!

Last stop for fuel before Broome

 

 

 

3 Days & the Adventure Begins!!

9th July 2014

Update Since March...

March seems like a distant memory now and we are really on the final count down. Its been a marathon to prepare and D day is so close now! We have an off road camper trailer, it's a Wandering Star locally made in WA. We have fridges, recovery gear, 2 way radios, snorkals, suspensions lifts, extra spots, extra batteries, extra power points and an extraordinarily empty bank account! We're as prepared as anyone whose never travelled for this long could be!



Decisions decisions...what to pack!




The kitchen cupboard: everything I can fit and the kitchen sink!



Everything but the kitchen sink..?

...er no, the kitchen sink is coming aswell! The very long receipt on the fridge is all that remains of a joyous 3 hours spent at the local supermarket stocking up on dry, tinned and long life products. All around Woolworths custonmers heard  hushed whispers of  'No way am I drinking long life milk'  followed by  'Ok get one then' and finally 'I'll just get six to be on the safe side'!! Yes Simon, don't forget the old adage ' happy wife = happy life' and this time it hinged on longlife milk!




Our new mantra - we are not packing to the roof

Careful consideration of the most important details!

Goodbye Sweet X Box

Today is day 3 of the school holidays and the boys are relishing lazy mornings and x-box induced stupors in the afternoons. Well they'd better make the most of it as it aint gonna last! 4am Saturday they will be saying a sad farewell to the x-box and in its place they will be making damper, playing cards, geocaching, listening to audio books and writing a travel journal! I can't wait to liberate my kids from the world of electronic media, but I don't know how enthusiastic they feel about the prospect!

Where to from here?

We travel to Newman on Saturday for a cold first night in the camper, temperatures are predicted to be 2 degrees C so the onesies will be out in force! Another long day of driving to follow before we reach Broome on Sunday evening. We will be in Broome for about four days before heading onwards into the Kimberly and beyond.