The Kimberleys - The Gibb River Road - Part One

We left Derby a little later than expected, but sometimes it takes a little longer than you think to get everything ready! We made our last phone calls for the next few weeks (out here there is no reception) and hit the Gibb River Road. The Gibb River Road, otherwise known as ‘The Gibb’, stretches from Derby to Kununurra with some 700 km of dirt, a mixture of rock, corrugations, sand and creek crossings (and probably a lot more other things). This road is the main route through the revered and iconic Australian Kimberleys and  as a result is considered a Four Wheel Driver’s ‘Must Do!’.  That being said we’ve decided to tackle it, as well as Kalumburu  Road and the track to Mitchell Falls (said to be one of the roughest tracks one can go on), because there’s no way we could miss this spot!

We were surprised to find that the first 100 kms of The Gibb were tar, and for once we welcomed this luxury. However soon after we found said corrugations and put the tires down to cope with the condition of the road. Along the way we saw cattle, some strange birds (we spotted a Curlew but luckily it didn’t cry) and a lot of Boab trees. Before we knew it we were at our first stop, Lennard River Rest Area, and just in time too as dusk was fast approaching. We pulled up near the peaceful and potentially croc-filled Lennard River. As the sun was almost setting we cooked tea and settled in for the night at this ripper of a stop.

The next morning it was up and at’em as it was Michael’s birthday! We celebrated in style with birthday toast, and the candles came out for most meals throughout the day. With a $20 win on the scratchie (note to self, redeem before crossing to N.T.), some yummy lollies, a “gift voucher” for a croc boat tour and a wicked card Michael was super happy. Settling back into the normal routine, we started off on a bumpy but well paced ride to Windjana Gorge. We set our sights on a shady area under the gums to set up camp, with a view of the spectacular rock walls of the gorge. Armed with a backpack and a lot of water we set off on what we thought would be a small walk to the gorge (we did get to the gorge very quickly, but then committed to a 5+ km walk through the gorge). This walk was great, with freshwater crocs sighted just a few minutes through the gorge in the remaining pools of the Lennard River. Most of these little guys were chilling out on both sides of the bank, with some floating on top of the water (and who knows how many were beneath the surface…). It was a bizarre feeling to see these creatures without a fence in between us, but was great to finally see them in their natural environment. The rest of the walk had more of a “we did it” sort of appeal to it, however the bushland, gums, boabs, pools of river and wildlife did keep it interesting enough for us to continue to the end.

Birthday Toast!

On the way back we saw a rock wallaby cautiously approach and drink from the river, but it looked like he managed to get away unscathed, the crocs seem mighty relaxed in the “cold” weather up here. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun, celebrating Michael’s birthday, played cards, chatted to some neighbours and enjoyed the supplied solar showers – thanks National Parks.

Looks like he's smiling!!

Day two at Windjana Gorge we decided to challenge ourselves to another 5km walk through the gorge and surrounding savannah plains. Again we marvelled at the crocs and various other fauna and flora through the gorge, including a crane that spooked all the crocs when it landed in the water – obviously not croc feeding time again. Once again, this took us through to lunchtime, after which we did some odd jobs, played Scrabble (Michael just won this time, and no cheating either – not his birthday anymore) and once again enjoyed warm showers. The campsite filled up a lot more compared to the night before, with a lot of campervans and some caravans doing laps to work out where to go, and some making it seem far more like a caravan park than a remote national park. However, with more people it meant more happy hours and people to talk to, including catching up with a family we met all the way back in Esperance!

Windjana Gorge.

One of the sand banks...anyone keen for a swim?

We left Windjana, briefly stopped in at some old ruins of a cattle station then bumped all the way to Tunnel Creek. We had heard that one of the water crossings on the walk was quite deep, so armed with boardies and good torches it was time to explore. We followed the 2km walk through the relatively dry creek bed of Tunnel Creek. It was obvious that at the height of the wet season this tunnel can easily be well underwater from the torrential rains. At this stage in the year, however, the creek is little more than a collection of pools with a couple of sections we needed to cross over, reaching halfway up our thighs. Water could also still be seen trickling through the roof from the rocks above, forming a small waterfall and numerous stalactites. The torches came in handy, with the length of the tunnel resulting in a couple of very dark patches before we reached where the cave roof had collapsed.

Some views of the tunnel.

We absolutely loved the walk, the coolness (compared to the heat outside) of the caves and the surprise aboriginal art we found at the end of the walk. We returned to the car park for a quick lunch and were rewarded by some fellow travellers with some watermelon - nb when you’re in the middle of nowhere watermelon is like ambrosia. The rest of the afternoon was spent travelling south on corrugated roads avoiding suicidal/stupid cows. This ended up being one of the worst roads we experienced, with loads of corrugations, rocks and corners meaning constant attention was required, and ended up ripping up the rear tyres a bit. Ten kms before we hit the bitumen we stopped off for the night at the now abandoned RAAF Boab Quarry and managed to find a spot overlooking what was once the old quarry and is now home to picturesque and pristine waters, quite a sight for the middle of nowhere. 

RAAF Boab Quarry - this picture doesn't do it justice.

We got up early the next morning, did some stretches and had a final marvel at the water before heading for town – Fitzroy Crossing. With plenty to do we arrived early and found ourselves waiting for the info centre to open (always the first stop). The main attraction for us here was Geikie Gorge, a stunning section of the Fitzroy River. After walking for about 15 minutes along the banks we realised we weren’t going to see that much, and knowing we were about to do a boat cruise we decided to turn back and have some morning tea. The $30 boat trip through the gorge, operated by National Parks, was great, we saw a few freshies, tons of birds and a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes within the rock formations. The guide had a wealth of information about the history and annual wet seasons (which can flood most of town) of the region.Back on land once more, we explored the park a little more then went to check out the sights of Fitzroy Crossing, which led us to the old river crossing, the Crossing Inn (a very old pub), IGA… and that’s about it really.

One of the many rock faces of Geikie Gorge.

We ended up staying in Fitzroy Crossing for the next few days as Michael needed some reception. So we stayed at a van park – not our first choice but there were no freebies or bush camps around! The Fitzroy Lodge and Caravan Park turned out to be quite hospitable with a you-beute pool, actual green grass and a camp kitchen to store all of the bargain bin stuff we’d scored from IGA. Woohoo. We spent most of our time soaking up the atmosphere (or potentially dust) of the area. We washed The Hulk – not exactly sure why considering that we were about to do a thousand odd kms of dirt – and got a few more odd jobs done and then stumbled upon a quaint gallery in town, Dr Sawfish’s Hot Glass Studio. Here Dr Sawfish had a range of funky glass works on display and also had a window into his workshop where we watched him create a giant hermit crab from glass. I found/bought an awesome boab pendant and that is our one souvenir from Fitzroy Crossing.

Eventually our time in Fitzroy Crossing had come to an end, so we excitedly headed back to the Gibb for more fun and adventures.

Lesson of the week: Whoever said “never smile at a crocodile” obviously never met these fellas.

The West Kimberleys - Broome, The Dampier Peninsula and Derby.

We spent the week there much like we had previously. We opted for another spot with ocean views and easy access to two beaches.  The wind had picked up for the week  and the tides were a lot lower so the water wasn’t as crystal clear, which led to less swims and less luck with fishing, however we managed to catch a ridiculous amount of undersized bream (at one stage two at once) but we threw them back to catch another day. One of the fellows reckons he saw a croc on one of the beaches, which was a little off putting, but we chose to believe he saw a rockodile (rocks that look like crocs, often spotted when you’re hyper vigilant about potentially being eaten). We also did some odd jobs around the camper, including fixing the headlight rattle – the fuse under the bonnet was loose again, after being fixed in Yulara… We also spent some time re-sorting and preparing for the Gibb, but mainly sat around, wandered and just enjoyed the outdoors. All in all a wonderful week.

I made bread on the fire for the first time - it was delicious!

the view from our camp site.

double hookup!

We eventually landed back in Broome, however decided to not return to our previous park, and forked out an extra $7 to stay at a much nicer van park – Broome Vacation Village, which came complete with a pool, allocated sites, real bathrooms and lots of grass. The first afternoon our car was booked in for a service so we dropped it off then spent a lazy afternoon by the pool. I was jealous of Michael’s haircut, so called the French hairdresser and eventually had some of my untamed locks lobbed off. Much needed! We had the Hulk back before sunset and set up in a rather lovely site and just relaxed. The next morning we had to get the Hulk to the suspension shop pretty early so we said goodbye to the lovely van park and hello to legging it once more. We were dropped off in town, so spent time wandering the streets looking at shops then sitting in a park and researching some of our trip. Whilst in the park I somehow managed to get stung by a bee, which led to a ridiculously swollen ankle and a bit of pain. OUCH!! Anyway we did some more shopping, after all we wouldn’t be seeing a super market for a month once we hit the Gibb. We picked the car up again, forked out some cash, but the result seemed well worth it in town, with a firmer ride and slightly more clearance, we will see how it goes on the dirt soon… We then had one last dip at Cable Beach (how could you not?) then continued on our way – just within the time we had set ourselves to be out of town.

Last drive on Cable Beach.

We made it as far as Nillibubbica Rest Area, where we gave in and spent the night. After a couple of hours of being settled, in a car pulled up next to the same shelter that we had chosen. After taking a peek out the window to see its rig, or lack thereof, we thought nothing of it and went to bed. In the morning Michael hopped out of the camper and was on his way to carry out usual morning duties when he heard “Robbie?” being called to him. Turns out the car from the night before was actually Michael’s old neighbours, Bruce and Margaret, who were out and about visiting relatives. Fate had somehow landed us at the same shelter at the same night, so we spent the morning catching up over breakfast, absolutely astounded that we had run into each other! Eventually it was time to get moving as we were meeting another Alice friend in Derby, so we said our goodbyes, wished each other safe travels and headed east.

Michael, Me, Margaret and Bruce - What a coincidence! 

We stumbled across the Fitzroy River and decided to drive a bit closer to have a look, we didn’t find any crocs, but loved the view and could understand why this water is not ok to swim in.

The Boab Prison Tree.

Eventually we found Derby, but not before stopping off at the Boab Prison Tree. A thousand or so year old Boab Tree that was once used to chain Aboriginal prisoners to before they could be transported elsewhere. We read about the spine chilling history of the area, including blackbirding – stealing indigenous people to make slaves in trades such as pearling – and looked at many historical sites. Derby itself is a rather small town and soon after entering it we were at the end. We went to the jetty that was once home to huge trades and looked at the water, which was low at the moment, but would reach a massive tide of 11.17 that afternoon. Derby has the highest tidal movement in Australia and the second highest in the world, sometimes going from .7 to 11.8 in a day. We checked out the old gaol, again another scary piece of history then decided it was time for nicer times and met up with Eseta. We spent the afternoon catching up, meeting Eseta’s various housemates and having a couple of wines. We then walked roughly two minutes into town to fetch dinner and sat out in the warm night air enjoying kebabs and fish and chips.

Eseta and I chilling on the porch.

We spent the night lavishly inside with a soft queen bed and a roof over our head then enjoyed wonderful warm showers in the morning. We had said goodbye to Eseta the night before as she had to leave for work at 5am and this thought was too much for us! We spent the morning preparing for what lay ahead – The Kimberleys, which means 3 plus weeks of no reception, dirt and corrugated roads, absolutely stunning sights to see( we hope), and a lack of civilisation (except grey nomads we’re guessing). So for now it is goodbye and we’ll see you on the other side!

Lesson of the week: It’s a small world after all – 20,000 km from home, hundreds of campsites, shelters and locations, and you can still bump into close friends. 

The Dampier Peninsula

Just on sunset we pulled up at Barred Creek along the Dampier Peninsula. It was a lovely spot beneath a twisted Gum with the river nearby. It was slightly disconcerting that it was low tide, so we weren’t quite sure how high the river would go and if it would eventually allow crocs to come over the bank, but we decided we’d be ok and set up and had dinner whilst providing a banquet for the local mozzies.

The next morning the tide was high and the river was flowing, but thankfully there were no crocs in sight! Eager to discover the coastline we hopped in the Hulk and continued down a 4x4 track. We ambled through some trees and bushes, through sand, soil and rock and eventually came out on a rugged cliff top overlooking some pristine water! Absolutely stunning.  We soaked in the sights for a while then decided it was time to continue on and find our campsite at Quondong Beach.

View from a cliff top.

It wasn't long before we were in the water!

Turns out Quondong was breathtakingly beautiful. We found a spot beneath a large shady tree and it wasn’t long before we were swimming.  Now that we were in potential croc territory swimming became a little different – you never go into the deep, you always keep your eyes open and everyone seems to swim together (safety in numbers or something like that) – but even the slight anxiety that comes with your first swim in such waters could not stop us from enjoying the moment. Earlier in the week I had also given in to buying an underwater camera, so we spent the afternoon swimming, fishing, exploring the rock pools and taking many happy snaps. We spent the next day enjoying the sights and the water again. We watched humpback whales dance in nearby waves, so close we could see their tales splashing in the water and occasionally one would leap into the air only to come crashing back into the water. This place was truly magical.

A whale playing nearby.

Our Tree at Quondong.

Michael and I love the sun!

About 2 weeks ago Michael went on Gumtree and stumbled upon an advertisement for another Rollavan, and that they were trying to sell it in Broome! Eager for the Hulk to make a new friend, we sent an email asking if they wanted to catch up (knowing it wasn’t what they were looking for, but hey, why not try and these things are rare). With a similar mindset to us they were keen to catch up, the only hard thing was organising a meeting, with both of us in and out of reception and no solid plans. In the end chance worked out for us and they stumbled upon the Hulk at camp and wandered down to the beach where we had just finished swimming. We had a wonderful long chat, compared rigs and stories and had a great time. With plans to keep heading north, they continued on their way, however we were glad that the Hulk made a new friend – Bob.

The Hulk and Bob.

The next day it was time for us to head north on the peninsula as we had booked into Middle Lagoon for a couple of nights, the closest camping spot we could get to the tip that suited our time frame (who said you need to preplan months in advance, as long as you are flexible). The road north was rough and come to think of it was probably one of the worst we’d been on. It was dusty, sandy, rocky, full of odd angles and packed with other cars that made navigating obstacles difficult at the best of times, but when you want to go to these far out and remote places you have to be willing to rough it! After what seemed like forever we finally found tar again – I think if they didn’t put tar in eventually everyone would be too scared to tackle the road – we had a welcome break at Beagle Bay where we inspected the Sacred Heart Church, a historic church that on the outside is lovely to look at, but on the inside was marvellous as the pictures within, the alters and pretty much every artefact within the church was made of mother of pearl shell or heavily incorporated the shiny coloured shell in the designs. It was beautiful and I can only imagine how long it took to construct!

Sacred Heart Church.

Then it was time to head on to Middle Lagoon, which meant another 40 minutes of rough sand driving, luckily the Hulk was up to the challenge and before too long we were camped under another shady tree with beach views and lovely neighbours to chat to. Again we were soon in the water, however stayed very much in the shallows due to all the croc warning signs and signs talking about recently sighting a crocodile in the nearby creek. That night we had a wonderful campfire and enjoyed staring at the stars with no city lights around to ruin the view. The next day we thought we’d try our luck at fishing, we didn’t take the bucket down because we didn’t think we’d catch anything, however we ended up with two flatheads in as many minutes. They were slightly undersized (well we also didn’t have a ruler so had to guess) and we had nowhere to put them so threw them back. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sun and also taking the winch apart after earlier discovering that it was no longer working. Turns out the motor had gotten some water into it and was corroded beyond repair. We spent some time chatting to the neighbours, who rewarded us with some Golden Trevally that they had caught earlier and I swapped them a recently baked damper scone for a fresh lemon. We were soon excited for dinner! I cooked fresh fish for the first time that night, and it was delicious.

Flat Head!

So we still went swimming - woops!

The next day it was time to visit the tip, Cape Leveque, which meant a bit more sand, some tar, sand again. On the way out there was a weird rattling noise from under the dash, which turned out o be the headlight relay. Not sounding that great, Michael decided to leave the lights off as this stopped the noise and we continued on. The stunning views of the ocean against red cliff tops at Kooljaman were a welcome sight after the long drive. We explored the camp area, decided that Middle Lagoon was probably a nicer spot with easier beach access and water views from camp. However when we did reach the beach it was beautiful, and crocs be dammed we swam in the deep because the water was a wonderful temperature and when else would we get the opportunity to be up here and enjoy it?! We did try our hand at fishing, but the winds on the fishing beach proved too much, to make up for that disappointment we decided to order lunch at the café, yep that’s right even this remote you can still stumble across well cooked food. We enjoyed a wood-fired pizza, sitting on a balcony overlooking the ocean. This wonderful moment was eventually eclipsed by the realisation that we had a long drive ahead and needed to get on the road to avoid driving at night. We said goodbye to the cape and started south, again some wonderful tar and then eventually the rough road. This time there was a few less cars, which made the journey a bit more enjoyable and we knew what to expect so were not as tired come the end of the road.

We had decided to return to Quondong for a night, or so we thought. We arrived just on sunset (luckily, as the headlights were on the fritz) and as the sun slipped away we found ourselves enjoying tea and star gazing yet again. I heard some weird scratching noises coming from the nearby bush, a little worried I grabbed out the mag torch and Michael and I went looking for the offending critter. This turned out to be a hysterical find, turns our hermit crabs love to climb trees and the giant tree covering the camper was full of these little creatures. We watched them for a while then fatigue hit in and it was time to get some much needed shuteye.

Noisy little hermit crabs!

We left Quondong in the morning as we wanted a swim at high tide, which was not until 2.30 (tides have never been that important to us before , but with up to 8 metres of variation, the beach landscape changes a lot) so we needed to be settled in time for a swim and fish! Before heading back to Broome we heard that Prices Point was well worth a look as the striking blues of the ocean and the reds of the cliffs made for a great sight. This belief was well founded and we stopped to marvel at the colours of nature. However the camping here didn’t quite suit, so we decided to head a little further up the track to Coulomb Point.

Our Campsite at Coulomb Point.

The moment we pulled into Coulomb Point we knew this was where we wanted to stay the night, with a great sea scape, a couple of pre-existing fire places and flat open ground – sometimes it’s the simple things. The beach access also appealed to us and was first on the agenda after setting up camp on a cliff top site. Whilst doing this we watched a couple that we had spoken with earlier start fishing off the beach, no sooner had the bait hit the water he was reeling in a good sized Golden Trevally. Spurred on by his success we knew we needed to get down there quick. Before long Michael had half a mullie on a hook thrown into the water, similar luck ensued with a 30-40 cm Trevally on the line in no time. Having not caught a fish that we planned to keep, it was time to chat with our fishing neighbours about what to do next.  We spotted a giant loggerhead turtle cruising along a few meters offshore – what a sight! The next couple of hours saw a couple more undersized fish caught by both fishing parties, but with the bites all but gone it was time to call it lunch time. We were roughly 5 metres from the surf break packing up our gear when we glimpsed something in the shallows, we went for a closer look then decided a more distant approach was necessary as we could see a six foot hammerhead shark right up by the shore in the breakers presumably chasing fish. We watched from the safety of the rocks as two adult sharks and a baby shark repeatedly swam through the breakers almost beaching themselves in the pursuit of lunch. This was an amazing sight, completely unexpected and slightly scary, as only minutes before we were standing where these beasts patrolled. Spine-tingling.  The sharks made cleaning the fish more interesting, as no one wanted to go more than ankle deep in the swell, I was designated look out whilst the boys braved the seas (yes I’m talking ankle deep water, but the sharks seemed quite happy at that depth earlier!). I didn’t spot any sharks, however did see a green sea turtle bobbing along.

Hammerheads in the Breakers!

With dinner now catered for we could splurge and have snags for lunch. I think we were also postponing our high tide swim, quite disturbed by what we had seen earlier. So much for only being afraid and vigilant of crocs, stingrays and jellyfish now we have to contend with shore loving sharks?!? Love it!

We ended up going a lot further down the beach and ‘swimming’ (dunking ourselves one at a time in knee deep sea water) near some fisher folk, figuring they’d somehow magically save us should something go wrong. Luckily fate was with us and we survived our ‘swim’ and even had one more on the way back to camp.  We had seen several schools of fish passing by in the deep, so decided to try fishing off the rocks, no way were we going back to the breakers. We didn’t catch anything, this time the ocean only felt like taking our bait, but we still had fun.

Happy hour with our travel buddies!

We went back to camp and had cold showers and then enjoyed happy hour with the crew. Before long the fire was blazing and we had the fish wrapped in foil over the coals. We gorged ourselves on the fish, not wanting to waste any, and eventually went inside when we were sick of the mozzies biting.

We were up with the sun and were in Broome before long as we decided we wanted to beef up the suspension on the Hulk – the rough roads of Cape Leveque were a wakeup call.  We found exactly what we needed for the car, but unfortunately this meant waiting a week for the parts to come in. Devastated that we might have to spend the week in paradise again we decided that it was worth it and we’d just bunker down at Quondong again – this place was starting to feel like home. We also booked the Hulk in for a service, because we had already managed to rack up the k’s. We went for another adventure on Cable Beach, utilised the reception by making a lot of phone calls to say hi and then headed back for Quondong just in time for the sunset.

Lesson of the Week: Fish is great, but self-caught, cleaned and cooked fish is even better!

Broome

We drifted into Broome fairly early, given that we had spent the night in a ‘parking area’ where we could hear/feel  the occasional road train go past so there was no need to sit around and soak up the atmosphere (dust). It was a sweet summers winters day, the sun was shining and it was 30 degrees. First stop was as usual the Information Centre – we hadn’t booked any accommodation in Broome and were anxious about getting a spot! Luckily a few parks still had space, so we quickly picked up some brochures and then headed to the cheapest van park we could find – Roebuck Bay Caravan Park. The brochure had looked alright so we thought we were getting a good deal, turns out we were actually placed in the ‘back-packer slums’ with no allocated spots, just an odd little paddock where young‘uns were fighting for a grassy spot instead of the dust. The bathrooms were demountable and the camp kitchen was somewhat of a dirt cabana with a sink and gas burner. So not great, but considering the price and the fact we’d be out and about a lot we decided to settle here for a couple of nights. We popped our mat down to reserve our piece of land and headed out of town to check out some local places of interest.

Our first port of call was The Mango Place, a cute little open air café with live music, a funky feel and you guessed it – Mangoes! We decided on an alcoholic spider – made with apple cider, homemade lemon myrtle liquor and top off with a huge scoop of mango ice-cream – Delicious! Then sat beneath the shady mango trees listening to live music and enjoying the sunshine. Before long it was time to get moving – we didn’t want to miss the feeding of the crocs at the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Park.  

Croc Feeding Time!

The croc place was huge and much to our delight was extremely interesting. Michael and I have decided we have a morbid curiosity about Estuarine Crocodiles, “Salties”, and the park seemed to feed this interest. We started off walking around the park staring at the massive crocodiles and then looking at all the other exhibits. The park housed a number of Australian animals including birds, bats, roos, dingoes and of course crocodiles. Soon it was feeding time, the crowd huddled around the fence as the ocker Aussie worker threw food into a pen of roughly 70 adult male Salties and spouted out all sorts of interesting facts, made all the more interesting with the crocs snapping at the food and each other. We then followed the guide to the alligator pen, where again we watched him throw chickens and fish into the lake where the alligators quite literally snapped it up. We then tottered down to the fresh water crocodile pond and again saw these animals in action. Truly fascinating!

One of the rough crocs at the park..

Then it was time to feed the big ones – the crocs that were individually housed due to their size and aggressive nature. Watching these prehistoric creatures defend their territory (the guide would throw a buoy into the croc enclosure to entice him over as the croc would see the bouy as a territorial threat and attempt to destroy it) and feed was both frightening and exhilarating. I can help but hope that we never see them up this close without a wire fence in between! At the end of the tours several baby crocs were handed around and we got the chance to handle them and see them up close and personal. Overall this was a ripper experience and now that we were finally in croc country it was a well needed wake up call to respect these animals.

Maybe I'll get one as a pet? I dont think so!

We left the park nie on sunset and decided to race down to Cable Beach (said to be one of the top 5 beaches in the world) to see the sun sink into the ocean. We were not disappointed by the beach, it was spectacular, with kilometres of white sandy beach and beautiful blue water stretching as far as the eye could see. There was even a 4x4 beach access track so we were able to drive down to the beach and enjoy happy hour with the Hulk as the sky turned all shades of purple, pink and red.

Happy Hour at Cable Beach

The next morning we were up and at the Courthouse Pearl Shop before Michael even knew what had happened. There was a free talk on harvesting and appraising pearls that morning, with the chance to win a pearl! The talk was fascinating and after it was over I knew exactly what to look for in choosing my pearls! You see Broome is well known for its South Seawater Pearls and I simply couldn’t leave without getting my hands on at least one. In the end I settled for a pair of earrings, so two pearls and Michael coughed up the money like a good boy because he likes to see me happy. We spent the rest of the day adventuring around town, enjoying Cable Beach – which after going on a drive up the beach we found out that the 4wd side of the beach was also the clothing optional side of the beach, eeek – and then going to Gantheaume Point where we scrambled down several rocks to see ancient dinosaur footprints that are only visible at low tide. Pretty neat.

Footprints from the past.

The next day it was time once more to stock up and ship out, but not before Michael got a haircut from a travelling French hairdresser next to the camper in the middle of our camping paddock. Looking spiffy, we then went and filled up our gas bottle, turns out the burner wasn’t misbehaving, we were actually out of gas… ooops! Now it works a lot better! We checked out the largest A grade Pearl in the world then we did our usual Coles shop, then were absolutely devastated to find out that because of the grog laws up here we couldn’t get any of our beloved goon/cask wine. Instead we had to be classy and settle for glass bottles – it’s a rough life!

Bonnie's Beautiful Pearls! Mine!

Late that afternoon we drove out of Broome and headed north for the Dampier Peninsula – also sometimes called The West Kimberleys. We were finally in the land of sand and sun and planned to enjoy ourselves as much as possible!

Lesson of the week/few days of Broome: Pearls are expensive – if you want the big, round , lustrous ones – settle for a few craters, no one will notice.

The Pilbara Coast

A brief overnight stop at West Peewah River left us in good stead to explore Port Hedland the next day. Port Hedland is home to the largest commodity port in Australia resulting in huge ships primarily exporting from the Pilbara iron ore industry. We spent the day exploring town, picking up a few more vital supplies, staring at giant ships and exploring an outdoor mining museum rich in local history and mining/transport equipment. The museum had a dozen pieces of equipment, including an old dump truck, crane that was in operation for 70 years and a tank from WWII converted into a bulldozer. A well enjoyed stop over at Port Hedland eventually ended as we made our way out of town with our eyes set on another rest area – woohoo free camp.

Look at this HUGE Ship!

Turns out De Grey River rest area was far closer to a camp spot, with sites extending a few hundred metres along the river, away from the highway. With this beautiful location came a large number of caravanners and campers, but with our small package we were able to get a bit further from the road and closer to the river, avoiding the masses and the chorus of generators.

Our campsite at De Grey River.

Road Train crossing the De Grey River Bridge.

We left fairly early the next morning, knowing for once that our next campsite was nearby. Cape Keraudren came to us highly recommended and for great reason. This u beaut spot was great from the very start, with a friendly ranger to give us some local knowledge (sure we parted with some cash but we felt fine with that). Our camp spot saw us on a meadow overlooking a gorgeous turquoise bay with plenty of room to move. Within seconds we had spotted our first skippy and we knew this place would be teaming with wildlife. Immediately settled and content, we chilled out for a while until low tide came around and we explored some of the rock pools. We found loads of cool looking shells and marine life including crabs, fish, oysters and coral.

Look at how blue the bay was!

We eat pretty good food on the road...

Our site offered us plenty of seclusion, with about 10 campers along our stretch of coastline; however this came at a cost of a 5 minute walk to the loos. These walks were always fun as we would see different wildlife along the way, my favourite being the giant but friendly bulls who eventually even visited our campsite. With all the fun we had we decided another day was in order and settled in for the evening knowing we didn’t have to pack up and continue driving north.

Me being a little silly with some of the stuff found on the beach.

The next day saw us exploring the mudflats at low tide on the other side of the cape. Here we saw people hunting for octopus (for bait), however we were content just looking at the crabs, hermit crabs, sea slugs/snails, sea cucumbers, and an octopus. Our walk continued along the beach spying all sorts of things the waves had churned up and left on the shore, ending at the twisted remains (due to a recent cyclone) of the start/end point of the Rabbit Proof Fence (first built in 1907), that spans some 1832 kms through Western Australia from here to Starvation Point in the south (which we visited several weeks back). That afternoon we tried our hand at some fishing, however had no luck, but were in no way disappointed with such paradise around us.

Fishing at dusk - We didn't catch anything, but with this view who cares!

The next day we had to say our goodbyes to the cape and the friendly bulls in the middle of the track, as we made our way north towards Broome. Not in any kind of a hurry, we decided to have a look in at 80 Mile Beach near the caravan park. Turns out this was a great idea, as within seconds we found an easy 4x4 track onto the beach and settled ourselves several kays along the rock hard sand away from the crowds. We enjoyed a spot of lunch, some fishing (again to no avail) and collected a few shells (and looked at a whole lot more). We still had several kms to go to reach our rest area for the evening so we dawdled off the beach to find an ideally placed car wash (ie tap and hose, nothing flash out here).

Us at 80 Mile Beach - look at how white the sand is!

While waiting for some grey nomads to finish cleaning their bus we spotted some backpackers in a troopy having a cold shower under a nearby palm tree. Thinking we would be as opportunistic as possible we threw on the bathers and took the time to scrub the mud off both the car and ourselves – no easy feat. Luckily some old folks driving by reminded us to wash behind our ears – I think they were having a chuckle at “the kids these days” and what they’re willing to do for free. Although this took us a long time it was definitely worth it, and with the sunny winter days around here the camper was almost blinding, and the reflection from the bonnet was a sight unseen in a long time. Finally I could get in the car or camper without getting red dust all over myself.  

Before and after pictures :/

Behind our shiny camper is the wonderful five-star shower we used!

Since we had not factored in our cleaning spree, we rocked up at our overnight stop sort of later than planned, however still with enough time to light up a fire and cook up some lamb chops on the open grate.  Without anything to see or do (it is a rest area after all) we moved on early the next morning, however pulled off the highway well short of our next overnighter due to the allure of a road sign – a resort! Eco Beach Resort was only a few dusty, corrugated kms off the highway but provided stunning beach access, complete with crystal clear water, brilliant white sand and shady huts complete with hammocks to soak up the view. We wasted away the rest of the morning swinging in the hammocks chatting and staring at the water in front of us. On our way to the car to get going and have a quick lunch, we thought we would briefly check out the lunch menu and lo and behold, an hour later our weekly food budget was (well) spent on lunch. Oops but yum.

Feeling rather guilty from our earlier indulgence we decided we needed to stay at a free camp (the Hulk is our resort anyway) that night. The Camps book mentioned a rest area at Roebuck Plains, and after zipping past a small parking area on the side of the road, checking our distances and returning to said clearing, we found our stop for the night. This at least put us in a good position to reach Broome early in the morning and enjoy all of what town can offer on a sunny Sunday in the tropics.

Lesson of the Week: it is possible to enjoy cold showers in the middle of winter, you just need to know where to go (hint, try north).