Kununurra to Broome

STOP! That tree has got huge nuts!

Marcus collecting boab seed pods

The boys could not leave Kununurra without climbing a few more boab trees in the search for the perfect boab seed pod.  It was rapidly reaching the forecast 38 degrees as we drove out. We heard another bush fire alert for Turkey Creek with police warning motorists to turn back if it looked bad.

The Kimberley scenery of boabs and rocky hills gradually changed to flatter country outside Halls Creek.

Jeff Johnson, a family friend, lives at Hall Creek so after some confusion (first left after the police station, followed by first right – or was it the other way around?) we stopped outside his home. He had the ceiling fan turned on for our benefit - he said he rarely uses it! Jeff had been busy baking coconut biscuits and we all enjoyed the nicest biscuits we’ve had for a long while. It was easy to see why his cook's reference from Springvale Station was so glowing. Jeff has been a stock camp cook, a station butcher, a drover and a tick staffer, amongst other things. He entertained us for a couple of hours telling us stories and reminiscing about Old Bonalbo. The kids were very amused when some of my horse incidents came up - especially the one when Jeff caught Dainty after a gallop with me somehow sitting on top of the girth after the saddle had slipped. Jeff still thought it was pretty amusing too.

Jeff and some fans of his baking

We sadly said hooroo to Jeff and drove for an hour to reach the Mary River rest stop before dusk. It was easy to choose Mary River – Sandfly Creek, March Fly Creek and Mosquito Creek just did not sound appealing! We drove off the road over a ford and Ella proclaimed it “the most wonderfullest spot” with water, abundant birdlife and most importantly, lots of shady river gums to camp under. The boys collected cockatoo feathers as we walked along the Mary River, but it was soon too dark to see, so we had an early night.

Nice stew last night!

The cockatoos made a very effective alarm at piccaninny daylight the next morning, so we were up early and packed ready to move on. Dave watched the cockatoos with the binoculars for a while before observing "They are just flying from tree to tree and shouting at each other". Marcus and Lachlan crowned themselves with their cockatoo feathers before we hit the road!

This fan could come in handy today!

We drove on and on in the heat through rocky red escarpments and huge areas of termite mounds, before stopping for lunch under what has to be one of the most fantastic boab trees!

The kids were up in the tree before the Blunderbuss had even stopped moving! Of course, some more seed pods were added to our already quite large collection. Marcus has made a Boab maracca, and they are all working on cleaning the pods to ready them for carving.

This tree is thought to be at least 1500 years old!

We arrived in Derby at about 3 p.m. and went for a drive to the jetty. The 11m tides here are amongst the highest in the world and the jetty is built up on enormous piers. The volume of water rushing in and out is staggering. The jetty used to allow the pastoralists to load their cattle for market, but is now used for lead and zinc exports.  Lachie was disappointed that we missed the turn of the tide for fishing, but soon cheered up with the prospect of fish and chips. The sandflies were eating us alive, so we beat a hasty retreat. We enjoyed dinner at the boab tree at 1 Mile Camp, where the drovers traditionally had lunch and a spell in the shade before bunching the cattle up to get them to the jetty and loaded onto the ship. The sunset behind the boab tree was pure Kimberley scenery!

The van park had a white peacock named Percy (despite many suggestions to call him Andrew, according to the owner!) which we were pleased to see before leaving. We went back to have another look at the jetty before driving out to view the Boab Prison Tree,  which was used to hold Aboriginal prisoners before the prison was built in Derby.

Boab Prison Tree Breakout!

The Myall bore (322m deep) was nearby. It feeds the 120m concrete trough built around 1920 to water the mobs of cattle on their way to the jetty. It is apparently the longest trough in the world, although be warned Pap, the kids are scheming to build a longer one. Where would you like it?

This trough is supposed to water
1000 head of cattle

We left Derby with a fresh outbreak of itching, swelling sandfly bites. Just on the outskirts we passed a mangled ute and the cow it had made its aquaintance with. Both were dead. The temperature was soaring as we cruised past Curtin RAAF Base and on to the Broome road. It wasn’t too far to Broome and we drove to Cable Beach for a swim after we had set up camp nearby. It was fantastic to be in the ocean again! Ella and I did some beachcombing and found a crab claw, some pretty shells and about 30 camels! (Which possibly were not lost, but they were certainly unexpected as we rounded a headland.) After a long swim, we went back to camp where a very tired Ella slipped out of the van and hurt her back. When her tears stopped, she opened her hand to find that she had crushed her crab claw, so there was a fresh outburst. Tomorrow may be spent looking for another one!

Stay tuned ...