Fitzroy Crossing WA 20/08/12 to 22/08/12

Next stop was Fitzroy Crossing, which is 400 km down the road. The main attraction here was to visit Tunnel Creek which, as the name suggests, is an underground creek. Many people have been talking about it as we travel through this region and it has been described as one of the 'must do's" of the Kimberleys. After setting up camp we headed into town to the tourist info centre. It is here that we got the news that the road to Tunnel Creek was closed for the next few days as they build a bridge. With our booking already being in place for Broome we are unable to change things and, therefore, have to miss out seeing Tunnel Creek.

The first afternoon we looked at a few things around town. One of the first places we visited was the Crossing Inn which is one of the oldest hotels in WA. We were told at the tourist info site that we could go out there for a nice cold drink. When we got there there were no cars in the car park and not much sign of life. Some staff who were working in the gardens out front told us we could go through out the back for a drink. When we finally found the bar we discovered that it was full of the local brothers, all enjoying a pretty heavy session. We looked a little out of place, especially with the boys in tow, so we didn't stop. We also checked out the old river crossing which would only now be any good right at the bottom of the dry season. You can see that if any rain comes the crossing would quickly go underwater.

Speaking of going underwater, it was noted that all the buildings in our caravan park were either on built up ground or up on stilts. In the wet season the caravan park would close and the camp grounds disappear under the flooded Fitzroy River. There were some pictures around that showed how much water comes through the area at the height of the wet season; and it is quite substantial.We stood on the bridge over the main highway which is around 30 metres above the water level now. We were told that in the 2011 floods the water was right up to the road level. The park was fairly big with a motel, pool, tennis court, restaurant and bar all attached. We had a couple of cold drinks in the bar that afternoon.

Next day we headed out early to Geike Gorge to do the 8.00am tour of the gorge. We wanted to be on the early tour as the boat had no cover and it is very hot out here (probably around mid 30's today). The early morning tour was most popular and we had over 60 people on the boat. The gorge was very picturesque with 100 metre cliffs on each side at some points. The gorge is over 350 million years old and was at one time an underwater reef. Once again we saw fresh water crocs everywhere. After the cruise we went on a walk that took us along the gorge wall. Really getting hot now and we were glad to make it back to the carpark. There we sat under a shady tree for a while before heading back to the caravan park.

The rest of that day we spent around the van - boys mucked around on scooters and skateboards and made some friends to play with. They did, however, get up to some mischief as later they told us that they got in trouble for holding onto the back of caravan that were moving around the park while on their skateboards. Later in the day back to the bar again for some drinks and ended up staying for the barra and chip dinner.

In summary, Fitzroy Crossing is a small town, very hot, basic facilities (including only one pub) and many aboriginals.

Barra and chips in styrofoam containers - regardless of whether your eating in or taking away. Very classy.

The wide open areas of the Kimberley region

Apparently not as good as the barra and chips

Cruise on Gieke Gorge

Crocs. Not that exciting anymore. They are as common as flies in  Alice Springs.

Rock formation known as Nixon's Head.

Tourist shelter at the gorge

Flood level markers. These are looking up at the roof of the tourist shelter. It's probably 3- 4 metres up to these markers

Off on a nice warm walk

Fitzroy Crossing bridge that spans the highway. This is the one the water was lapping over in the 2011 wet season

Bungle Bungles WA (by Nate) - 18/08/12 to 20/08/12

We have just spent two of the most eventful days in The Bungle Bungles.  It all started when we went off for a walk from our caravan park, which was a quite decent park just off the main highway.  The walk was to a very stagnant creek. As we started to walk back home guess what was blocking our path .... a great big, fat bull with huge horns, who was snorting and staring at us.  He might have been pawing the ground too and there were flames coming from his nostrils. I was thinking I would soon have to take off my red shirt and start yelling "toro, toro".  But we decided to walk around him to avoid the hassle.  After all, I’ve never had any training to be a matador.  So here we were walking through knee deep scrub, constantly looking over our shoulder for a charging bull. We finally found the path and hit it running as the bull was starting to make noises.  

Our second incident of our stay was when we headed off early the next morning to drive into the Bungle Bungles, which is 52k’s over a corrugated, rocky, dirt road. We only made it 10k’s in before we started hearing a scraping, screeching noise from the back wheel.  We travelled on a bit further to only make the noise worse so there was nothing else for it but to turn around and head back.  We had two Chinese men from the caravan park named Pete and Joe (good Chinese names) help us jack up the car and pull of the wheel to investigate the problem. It turns out it was a little stone the size of my thumb nail that was caught between the brake disc and the disc gard.

That problem solved we headed back in.  We crossed eight creek crossing with the deepest being  0.4 metres. It was a bumpy, hilly and  a very rough drive.  We arrived at our first stop Cathedral Gorge, two hours later. We walked though the Bungle Bungle to get to the Cathedral George.  They looked like gigantic bee hives all joined together.   It was quite a hot walk to the start of the gorge then it was a pleasant temperature as we walked though the two towering cliff faces.  You wouldn't believe it, down the end of the gorge there was a live band.  They were playing in a natural ampithearter so no need for the fancy microphones and speakers. Their music was pretty good, quite relaxing while lying down looking up through the top of the gorge into the blue sky .

Our second stop was the Echidna Chasm. We don’t know where it got it’s name from as it looked nothing like an Echidna  It was awesome walking though a narrow passage with walls on either sides around 100 mtrs tall. I thought it would never end.  We would reach a cavern only to find another opening that would lead us in further.  Finally after climbing up two ladders and scrambling over large boulders we reached the end.  That had to be my favourite natural formation on this trip so far beside Uluru.  We then took the dirty, dusty, bumpy corrugated road home.   

Driving in the Kimberley's

Boys checking out their 4wd magazine; which they are now right into.

One of the obstacles along the road

Not much room to get around there

Don't worry, its only concrete. Although, sometimes the real ones also look like they are made of concrete.

Going cross country to out run and out smart an aggressive  looking bull

Not this one. The other one was twice as big, with big horns. It was also black. Honest.

First creek crossing of the day.

Back to campground where me, Joe and Pete fix the car problems. Here I am giving them direction  on what needs to be done.

And another creek crossing

And again

Bungle Bungles

Walk to Cathedral Gorge

The free music in Cathedral Gorge

Cathedral Gorge

Echidna Chasm

Looking out through top of Echidna Chasm

And walking through the chasm

It went along like this for quite a while

Here we have reached the end

Again, looking up through the top of the chasm

Cattle on the road home. Still not as big and as fierce as the bull  we  fled from.

And sunset over the campground

Kununurra - WA 13/08/12 to 18/08/12

From Lake Argyle it's a short trip of 70km into Kununurra. Short drive mean't we were in town too early to check into caravan park so we drove into town to do shopping. Appears a lot of caravanners do grocery shopping as they have car parking available for cars with caravans attached. First day we checked out the mini Bungle Bungles out the back of Kununurra. A short walk up the cliffs and you could also overlook the town. From there we headed out of town to one of the zebra rock galleries.

Next morning a check of the car has shown that our problems are still with us. Getting a little frustrated with this and want it sorted. Quick visit to local mechanic has confirmed we still have a coolant leak. After much discussion he has agreed for me to bring it in first thing next morning and he will work on it. No guarantee how long it will take - depends on what is needed to fix it. Our intention was to be in Kununurra for two nights but it looks like we will be here longer. 

After that we spent the day seeing as many as the tourist sites as possible. Went to the Sandlewood factory - they are growing Sandlewood trees in the area utilising the water they are damming from the Ord River. Unfortunately it will take around 15 years for the first crop to be ready to harvest, so its a long project. They are about 10 years along the path. Checked out the Hoochery Distillery, WA's only rum distillery. Had a tasting there but have to say the fighting juice is not to my and Vicki's liking. The distillery itself was fairly interesting. Went out to the Ivanhoe Crossing which is the old road to Wyndam. It is currently late in the dry season and water is still flowing fairly strongly across the crossing. Not sure how it would go in the wet season. Not something I would like to take on. There has been some accidents there in recent times and the crossing has now been closed for the past 12 months. Finally, we went out to another zebra rock gallery. This time we got to see an old timer, Col, actually working on the rock and making some items. He gave us a bit of a run down on how you work the rock. We bought a bag of mixed rock and the boys are now working on these looking to make there own items. You just need a knife (is this a good idea?) and some wet and dry sandpaper.

From there the next few days were spent walking into town to shop or go to the skate park, or walking around to the mechanics for an update. Boys enjoyed it as this is the most time they have had at a skate park since we left home. Just had to wait until after 8.00am when all (well, most) of the local lads drifted off to school.

Finally car was ready and we were right to leave town after 5 nights there. On our last night the local aussie rules grand final was played. This was just up the road from the caravan park and a lot of noise was generated. This was OK and to be expected from a GF. However, the celebration went on strongly until 3.00am with the music in full cry. It then stopped for a little while but started up again and kept going until sun up. It was still happening when we left town 8.00am. Probably best we were getting on the road as there might have been a few emotional locals wandering the streest later. 

Car park in Kununurra. Going to do grocery shopping

Planking in front of a boab tree. Don't think this has ever been done before. Actually, I think he is just feeling the grass as he hasn't seen any for a while.

Walk through mini Bungles Bungles at edge of town.

And view from top looking back over town.

Hoochery Rum Distillery at Kununurra

Enjoying a tasting paddle at the distillery.

Well, maybe "enjoying" is not quite the right word

Farming land around Kununurra. Irrigated from Ord River/Lake Argyle scheme.

Chia crop. Apparently its a health product and very expensive (so Vicki tells me)

The old Ord River Crossing. This was the old road to Wyndam to the north.

Col at the Zebra Rock factory showing us how the zebra rock is made into various items.

Some of Col's finished work.

And now its the boys turn. Fingers are to be counted at start and finish of each session and the tallies must correspond.

Kununurra skate park. Where considerable time was spent while we were without our car.