Broome to Port Hedland

Although we were all keen to stay longer in Broome, time was marching on and there was a huge state ahead of us! We drove off along the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, feeling refreshed after our Broome hiatus. It wasn’t long before the vicious wind was back punching into the front of the vehicle, causing me to drive whilst leaning on an angle. I could barely hear the accordion, mandolin, guitar and harmonica playing in the back over the rushing windsong. Driving through red savannah scrub became fairly monotonous, the scenery unrelieved all day by the gorgeous coastline which we knew was tantalisingly close over the plains. The road was certainly not designed with tourism in mind!

Searching for sand dollars at 80 Mile Beach

80 Mile Beach was the only camping spot within cooee, although the road looked none too inviting, so we turned off and drove extremely slowly over what seemed 80 miles of rough, red corrugations. We parked the van and went straight to the beach, where we were all excitedly collecting sand dollars (or mermaid’s money, depending upon where you are from) until dark.

Seagulls hover as they fly into a very strong wind

The beach was far too inviting to leave, so we packed up next morning and wandered along the beach, collecting another tonne of shells and things of interest. Lachie found a sinker and a triple hook rig which he happily stowed in the fishing bag. We bounced slowly back over the red road to the highway, where I took the wheel so Dave could sit in the back and rehearse some new songs with the kids. Lachie sat up front to keep me company but ended up keeping Harry Potter company instead. He is nearing the end of  book 7 and can’t keep his nose out of it. The crosswinds were vicious again and the drive to Port Hedland very stressful, with both the road trains and us drifting around in the wind. All passing and overtaking manoeuvres were teeth clenching moments. We finally arrived in Port Hedland where the scale of the salt industry and iron ore port operations were simply amazing. After finding a van park, we went further into town to have a very late lunch and book a tour at BHP. Our picnic spot overlooking the tidal flats was possibly the windiest spot in Australia. The shelter roof was humming and the seagulls hung in the air facing the wind. After amusing ourselves feeding seagulls on the wing, we counted 10 enormous ships lined up on the horizon awaiting their load of ore in port. We were disgusted to discover that the BHP tour was not running, due to WHS concerns about their bus. Damn. 

The port area lit up like a huge city skyline at dusk and was actually quite lovely. Few things in Port Hedland could be described as lovely! It is undoubtedly a city of heavy industry and is coated with iron ore dust.

Stay tuned ...

Marcus's birthday in Broome

A very happy 12 year old!

Our last day in Broome, September 25th, was Marcus's birthday. He was up early opening all Ella's little parcels, which included a lovely shell as a hard hat for his belly button! He was already more than half way through the Gimlet and Biggles books we bought him in Darwin. After a quick breakfast we headed down to the beach for birthday camel rides.

Rodney and his cargo

Marcus couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he and Dave got on to Rodney, followed by Ella and I on Zara and Jackson and Lachie on Horris. What a lurch! The camels have a curious gait as they move both legs on one side and then the other. We all had a curious gait when we got off after our camel walk along the beach! We intended to have a swim, but after the boys and I were stung by the red jellies, we joined Dave and Ella back on the beach.

Zara tries to convince us that camels get birthday carrots!

Celebrations continued with morning tea in town, where we stocked up with birthday dinner provisions. Dave, Marcus and Lachlan caught up on some World Cup highlights while Ella and Jackson did a stirling job cleaning the Blunderbuss and the caravan.

Cyclone force winds and showers in Broome

The birthday feast was complete with cake and candles (I found them!) and an older couple across the road came over to wish Marcus Happy Birthday with some chocolate bars for all the kids. We rounded off a lovely day with Cards by Candlelight (or lantern, more accurately) and some hotly contested games of Fish, Euchre and 500.

Stay tuned ...

I am having trouble posting this and I frustratedly quote the computer "An error occurred! Of course".
Ella asks "What's an American turd?"

Beautiful Beaches in Broome

There were hundreds of these red jellyfish

Our first day in Broome was a designated – and much needed – rest day. We did not drive anywhere at all. The kids cheered at that news! The day was spent peacefully reading and doing our own thing. Ella spent ages making presents for Marcus for his impending birthday, including drawing and colouring wombat (his favourite animal) wrapping paper. We ventured over to beautiful Cable Beach to go swimming. Red sand hills meet dazzling white beaches, lapped by the sparkling turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean - but the billions of bloody red jellyfish stung and we exited rapidly from the water! They miss that little addendum on the tourist brochures! However, the sunset was glorious over Cable Beach.

Next morning we went to have a look around Broome, following a stop at the information centre for a map. We visited the Japanese Cemetery where 919 pearl divers are interred, most of whom died from the bends. There were memorials to the hundreds of others lost at sea during storms and cyclones. We were relying on Jackson and Marcus to interpret the Japanese script on the headstones for us, but all they managed to recognise was a number 10 and pu (pronounced poo, and obviously the reason they remembered)!

Lachie's Dream Job!

Lachlan was keen to explore the jetty ("Can we go fishing now?" ... "How about later?") so we wandered out along the long and very high jetty. Ella was terrified as the walkway was open grid and we were up about 8 metres from the water.

Ella is not keen on the jetty!

We are considering these for the next
round of school shoes!

Next stop was The Pearl Luggers where we were given a comprehensive history of pearl diving in an air-conditioned museum. Both were enjoyed! Fascinating details of the divers' lives were illustrated with authentic articles including complete diving suits - woollen underwear, pee bottle (the suit took an age to put on, so bathroom breaks were performed inside the contraption!), rubberised suit, weighted boots, bell helmet and weights. Fully kitted up, the divers were carrying 150-200 kgs. The kids were excited to be able to try on most of the gear - they couldn't even walk in the boots!

We said don't come back without pearl!

I was excited to be chosen to model the $7500 pearl necklace for our group. Jackson kindly pointed out later that I was the only woman there under 75! Our guide also showed us a large pearl worth $100 000, which the kids weren't game to swallow (despite our urging!) as Jock told us what happened to the pearl divers who swallowed pearls. Suffice to say it would have been a long wait on the beach!

Two Pearlers!

On Saturday morning, we still had not had any reply from our busking enquiries, so we decided to walk along the beach instead. It was a lively 6 km walk out to the Gantheaume Point as on the beach we saw sea snakes, crabs and hundreds of red jellyfish. We had crab and snail races while Dave went back to get the van to drive around to see the lighthouse.

"Puhleese can we go fishing?" asked Lachie for the thousandth time. He had changed into camo shorts and a blue shirt so the fish couldn't see him! We went fishing to the deepwater port and its fantastic jetty. It was all very exciting as huge trevally and grouper were swimming in on the tide and creating havoc breaking fishing lines as we arrived. One guy told us that there was a grouper the size of his girlfriend's Rav-4 down there! Another reckoned that one caught there last year filled up the back of a ute and had its tail on the road. Tall tales and true! We soon had our new handreels wet and Ella and Marcus started fishing together. Dave observed that we were really just feeding the fish prawns as our bait kept disappearing with monotonous regularity. Suddenly it was action stations - Ella was calling for help and the boys all keenly helped her haul a huge fish up from the waters far below. As her fish was pulled out of the water, a metre long tuna rushed in to take a bite from it! She had caught a snub-nosed dart, which was the size of a dinner plate. One of the local fishermen was very impressed and told Ella that people drive for hundreds of miles to catch a fish like that. We didn't tell him that we've driven 14 000 kilometres!

Ella was quaking in terror on this jetty yesterday!

Ella had to call in some grunt to get the fish 7 m from the
water to the jetty!

So with dinner organised, we headed back to camp to cook it. We can assure you that snub-nosed darts are delicious!

Stay tuned ...

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 ...

WA Border to Kununurra

Can we go fishing now?

We were in the Kimberley! Absolutely stunning scenery on the way in to Lake Argyle. Courtesy of the Western Time Zone, we arrived very early at the campground overlooking the lake. Lachie's first mission was to buy himself a fishing rod (which he spotted at reception as we checked in) with his busking money! We set up camp and checked out the absolutely stunning wet edge pool.

Possibly Australia's most scenic pool!

Ella said she wouldn't want to drop her favourite teddy over there!

The temperature was climbing at an alarming rate so we drove around and over the dam wall to a shady picnic area for lunch and a play in the sprinklers. Dave and the boys played some music and we all caught up on some postcards while we waited for it to cool down. The wait was in vain, so we drove around to Spillway Creek to check out the fishing prospects. Ella was not keen on fishing so the boys went off to try their luck – and Lachie’s new rod – while we went to the pool again. While there, we saw a school group from Darwin paddle in to the bay below. Ella was bemused. "So, did they paddle in their kayaks all the way from Darwin?" 

No fish were caught, but Lach did lighten his reel by about 30 metres with a huge snag on his first cast! The day seemed never ending and by the time the kids were in bed we decided to do the same. Unfortunately one of the lovely shady trees we were camped under attracted bats, and the other we had to nickname "The Percussion Tree" after an interrupted night!

Sooty Grunter and Sandy Lachlan!

Jackson, Dave and Lachie went fishing early next morning while Marcus and Ella tried to have a much needed sleep in. The heat is adding an extra dimension to the behaviour management, and we have had far too many nights of interrupted sleep. I caught up on some domestic duties until the fishermen returned having been beaten by the heat and a moth plague. Lachie caught a 31/2 pound sooty grunter and a huge 5 pound catfish, which he released. Catfish have been renamed Silver Cobbler here to create a market, which seems to have been successful. The rest of the day was spent in and out of the pool, trying to keep cool. We also visited the nearby Durack Homestead, which was rescued from the rising waters when Lake Argyle started filling and is now a museum. We bought a copy of Mary Durack’s book Kings in Grass Castles which we are keen to read.

Playing a tune on the Durack's piano

The lovely Durack Homestead

Achieving a record pack up (7:04 am!) the next morning was due to the time zone change more than good management, but we are always happy to take a record!

We arrived at the Hidden Valley Van Park in Kununurra at 8 a.m. and were set up under the mango trees by 8:30! Deciding to visit the nearby Mirima National Park before it got too hot, we started climbing to the lookout over the rock formations that are very similar to the Bungle Bungles. It was too hot before we'd taken 20 steps, but the striated rocks were incredible so we carried on.

Which way back?

We were all very pleased to visit an air-conditioned shopping centre to get groceries before more sightseeing. The kids wanted to stay in the airconditioned shop and become Coles employees for the day!

Yes, that does say "STRAY ANIMALS FOR THE NEXT
670 KM"!

Our neighbour at Lake Argyle swore black and blue that we could drive in the Blunderbuss to Emma Gorge on the notorious Gibb River Road, so we decided to attempt the first section. We realised pretty quickly as we bounced over the corrugations that we would be black and blue and that although the van might make it in there it would fall to bits and we would never get out! So we turned around after 2 kms and drove back to the Kununurra Diversion Dam, where, in peculiar Outback tradition, one signpost said “Swim Beach” and the next sign said “Warning. Crocodiles have been sighted in this area”. A few locals were paddling to ankle depth but as no-one was really swimming we decided to forgo the water and eat lunch under the sparse shade of a bare boab tree. The shade must have cooled the ambient temperature by about a degree, but no more! We heard on the radio as we returned to camp that the temperature was 37 degrees and the next day would be 38!

Stay tuned ...

Travelling on - Darwin to the WA border

On Wednesday we were up early to do a huge pack up. We had stuff everywhere as we had been racing around and spending very little time in camp. We got sorted by about 9 a.m. and left the caravan to drive in to the ABC studios to pick up the CD of our interview. A few replays later, we decided that it really had gone pretty well! We stopped to wash the red Kakadu dust off the van and then hitched up the caravan to depart Darwin. We have absolutely enjoyed our time here, but will certainly be glad to leave the bloody sandflies behind. All of us look like we have the chickenpox and we have been scratching like crazy. We also will not miss the RAAF base next door as the planes make the ground rumble upon takeoff!

It was a quiet drive to Adelaide River – everyone was exhausted. We refuelled (the car and its occupants) and visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery to pay our respects to the interred. It was a beautifully maintained spot and was deeply moving walking past all the graves of the young men killed on the same day in any one of the 62 Japanese air raids on Darwin. The kids were taken aback that there were so many "unknown sailor/airman" headstones.

Had a long, hot delay at roadworks on the Stuart Highway. Ella made us all laugh, asking “How come there are so many single cars with no caravan? What do they do?”  She must think everyone is travelling around Australia. Sometimes, when we count the caravans, so do we! The kids were starting to unravel, and fearing spontaneous Haystack combustion we pulled in to Edith falls. Fortunately the camp ground was quite empty, so we parked in our site and made a beeline to the plunge pool at the falls. Aaaah! For an hour, our sandfly bites did not itch!

We missed Ella’s requested birthday dinner due to our late night in Kakadu so enjoyed a birthday celebration under the stars at Edith Falls instead. We were all asleep not long after.

Happy Birthday Ella

The kids were keen on another swim the next morning, but we made tracks to Katherine to do a few jobs, including buying a Beesting Cake for Ella’s long-running birthday. We visited historic Spingvale Station for birthday cake cutting, where I could not find the candles, so we used our imaginations to create 8 lovely candles for Ella.

Springvale store and homestead

Springvale Station, established in 1879, is one of the two oldest stations in the Northern Territory. We were completely astounded that the stock for the station, comprising 3 000 cattle and 12 000 sheep, were driven up fom Adelaide over 2 years! The mobs travelled about 8km each day. How is that for a road trip!

After leaving the station, we turned onto the Victoria Highway and were again in new territory, heading west. The Victoria River scenery was spectacular, with the cliffs very reminiscent of Katherine Gorge. Dave and I noted with dismay that the roadkill was becoming less wallabies and more large roos.

It was stinking hot and when we got fuel at Timber Creek the kids cooled down and chirped up in the sprinkler outside the servo.

There were huge boab trees just outside town, which excited the boys as Mike and Di showed us a carved boab nut back at Karlu Karlu. We stopped at the Victoria River Lookout to spot some crocs but didn’t see any. Travelling on, the Saddle Creek camp about 100kms from the West Australian border looked good, so we stopped there for the night. Ella and I made a huge vegetable curry (reminding us of SA) with all the veggies we couldn’t take into WA while the boys went on a mission to find boab seed pods. The boys’ pocket knives were itching for action! The sun was disappearing and they hadn’t returned, so Dave and Ella went on a search and rescue mission. They found them high up in a huge boab tree, with a cache of 10 huge seed pods.

An early morning fruit feast

Unfortunately, as we packed up the next morning we realised that we probably couldn’t take them through the border checkpoint, so the boys had some target practice, reassured by the fact that there would be more boabs on the WA side. We reached the border at 9 o’clock and stopped just outside the checkpoint to eat as much fruit as we could! We had thought we would spend some time in the National Park before the border, but it was 4WD access only, so we had surplus fruit. Leaving our pile of fruit, honey and vegetables at  the border, we wound our watches back an hour and a half and carried on into Western Australia.

YMCA? Was supposed to be WA!

Stay tuned ...

Ella's birthday in Kakadu

Ella loves her Bonnie and Clyde machine!

Tuesday was Ella's birthday and we started the day with a very excited 8 year old tangled up in our sleeping bags! Soon we were all up for pressies (necklace from Marcus, a Bonnie & Clyde chasing machine made by Marcus and some of the busking money in a sock from Lachie!) and cocoa pops for birthday brekkie. A day trip to Kakadu was soon underway - we wanted to spend more time there, but had to make up for all the days in Darwin!

Our first stop was at Ubirr, where we walked around the fascinating rock art sites. A short, but steep 250m climb up a rocky escarpment led us to a lookout over the Nadab floodplain. The vista was totally unexpected and really beautiful.

Look!

We drove a little further to Cahill’s crossing, where we had been told we would find crocodiles. There were 4 near the boatramp which Lachie kept a careful eye on as we had lunch. The crossing over East Alligator River into Arnhem Land was near a viewing platform which afforded wonderful views of another 11 crocodiles digesting their breakfast in the sun. Apparently the 7m tide pushes up inland and the crocs are very active catching their food at the weir then. We spent an absorbing hour or so watching the crocs which was fantastic.

Hey! You! I'm still hungry!

Ella had a few tears wishing she could cuddle Bonnie and Clyde on her birthday, so I diverted her into writing them a postcard. That, and an ice block, took her mind to a happier place!

Time was ticking on so we drove back to the Mamukala Floodplain to see the magpie geese return from their day of foraging. These birds migrate from Siberia and Mongolia to spend the summer months here. We had just settled in the hide when a jabiru flew down and landed just a couple of metres away, then commenced fishing. He caught and ate 3 fish while we watched spell-bound. The whole process involved a lot of spearing the fish with his long pointed beak and the fish was dropped a number of times. A whistling kite flew down hopefully, but the jabiru spread out his massive wings and the kite decided to go and get his own food!

We spent a truly wonderful few hours at the bird hide and Ella declared this “Absolutely the most bestest birthday ever” except that she was not spending it with Pap! Pap would have been glad of that as it was 10 o’clock by the time we got back to Darwin and the only good thing about the drive back was the beautiful full moon. Behaviour in the van was not beautiful!

Stay tuned ...