Around and about Broome 29th July 2009

BROOME- 140 kms N of Port Smith and 221 kms SW of Derby.Town Population 13717. However about 100000 tourists visit each year.

William Dampier being the first European to visit the shore in 1688 and named Roebuck Bay after his ship. It took another 200 years before before Broome was gazetted as a town and named after Governor of Western Australia at the time.

Of Course Broome is known for its pearls ever since they were first discovered in the mid 1800’s when the mother of pearl was used for buttons, knife handles, inlays etc etc. It wasn’t until 1952, when it was thought that the industry would die as a result of plastics and polyester being used, that the first cultured pearl farm began at Kuri Bay north of Broome. There are now many pearl farms near Broome and the industry is booming with countless shops and outlets making these unique gems into beautiful jewellery.

This morning we drove into Broome and had a look around Chinatown in the daylight. From what we can remember it has been really upgraded, with wider pavements, centre road angle parking and plants.

Had my haircut again by a young pommy guy who is travelling around Australia and has stopped off in Broome to earn some extra cash. Had a cup of coffee and was entertained by a great guitar and vocals by a local, looked at the bead shop etc etc.

It was then a drive to the port and a walk out on the jetty which is restricted at the end as it is a working port.

However we walked along it and chatted to all the hopeful people with their rods and lines looking for their evening meal. We haven’t ever seen anybody catch any fish of any reasonable size since we have been on our trip. They have been saying that it is very bad this year for fishing right across the top from Cairns to Broome. That hasn’t stopped them going out in their boats or standing for hours hoping that they might get lucky though. We have found the answer by stopping off at the nearby fish wholesaler to buy a couple of pieces of Red Emperor for our dinner. Probably not as much fun as catching it yourself but much easier and a lot quicker.

We then drove off to Gantheaume Point to see the Dinosaur Footprints which are more than 130 million years old and Anastasia’s Pool an almost perfectly rounded pool which was hand built by a former lighthouse keeper for his arthritic wife Anastasia. We were out of luck with the foot prints as they can only be seen at very low tides; however they have very thoughtfully made a concrete replica of some of the prints up on the rocks where they can be easily seen. (We have actually seen the real prints when we went out on a hovercraft when we were on our coach trip some years ago)

Back to the Jayco to have our lunch and then a trip to the famous Cable Beach Club

where Lord McAlpine spent up to $500 million putting Broome on the map and making it a tourist destination., which we couldn’t help agreeing with as it is a great place.

We ventured out onto Cable Beach which stretches for 22 km to see the camels and the rides being set up. With three lots of 16 camels going most of the time it is truly a favourite tourist attraction. Beatrice having had this experience on our previous trip we were just spectators.

This is a magnificent beach with pristine sand and gets its name from the communications cable that links Broome with Indonesia and the Indian Ocean is a a clear turquoise. It comes as no surprise as to why it has been named as as one of the top five beaches in the world.

He didn’t like me taking his photo!

The gathering of the crowds at Cable Beach for the sunset over the ocean were assembling as many set up their tables chairs and drinks to watch this daily event! We must admit it was good especially as it silhouetted the pearl luggers that were out on the sunset cruises.

Home and our fish dinner and a bottle of the local white wine chilled just right!

FITZROY CROSSING to BROOME 28th July

We were not the first to leave but we all headed out in our various directions, our saviours from yesterday left without us being able to thank them again. We drove into the town and were amazed at the development that had occurred since in the last 18 years (?) as we filled up with fuel at the Shell Coles express using one of our 4cent coupons. Can’t remember any of this along with the new housing developments. (Lynn, wasn’t this the place we called tinsel town and were told about humbugging)

The roads were being worked on along many sections.

A great deal of burning off was also being carried out with small flames still licking along the roadside and plenty of smoke about.

Another 646 kms to go with a side trip up to

Derby for lunch and refuelling before continuing on to Broome. How this has changed! All new roads, roundabouts, housing estates and buildings. No more dirt roads here unless you head off onto the outlying areas.                                   Derby has Tides up to 11 metres.

We stopped off at the visitor’s bureau to find a place to stay as we knew it was going to be hard. On checking the information board outside most places were already full with no powered sites available. However we queued up only to be told they don’t make phone calls to find spaces and that you just have to go round to them yourself to find out. Not -what we had been told in Derby by the visitor’s information there so she took pity on us and made a phone call and we were all set! We ended up at the town caravan park, Roebuck Bay with a guarantee of 5 days when we would have to vacate. We set up and went into Chinatown for something to eat as we were thought we would treat ourselves to a meal out after such a long day.

KUNUNURRA to FITZROY CROSSING 27th July

Well it was time to leave Kununurra and start the final leg across the top to Broome a total of 1060 km that’s without any side trips. We would have to have a stop at Fitzroy Crossing.

We packed up quite early and were on the road by 8am. Kununurra a population of about 6000 nowadays was originally based on the cattle industry with vast stations one of them being the one million acre Durack homestead and property which is now deep under Lake Argyle when it was flooded in 1971 to form a storage reservoir and is the largest manmade lake in Australia. As we headed out we saw some great rock formations (the Durack Ranges) and kilometres of flat terrain with scattered bush

Boabs in all shapes and sizes and here many of the rivers with some water in them which unusual as most are completely dried up by now until the start of the wet in November. We skirted around the Argyle Diamond mine where entry was forbidden unless authorised (100% owned by Santos and the largest diamond mine in the world) and kept on and on. The roads are being extensively worked on with $230 million being spent building a new highway which resulted in numerous diversions for us along red dirt roads as they are being graded and relayed before the bitumen. The water crossings are being eliminated by the building of new bridges across the floodway’s and rivers that develop during the wet which normally make many sections of this highway impassable for many weeks. So there were many places we had to stop at control points and then only travel at 40 kph which slowed us down. We had a break at Warmun 196 kms south of Kununurra for fuel; here Slingair has a plane based for Bungle Bungle scenic flights. Carrying on for the next leg to Halls Creek it just went on and on running alongside vast cattle stations of thousands of acres such as Springvale, Alice Downs to name a couple. We stopped at Halls Creek to fill up with fuel and have our lunch and pressed on having missed the annual Rodeo which had been on the previous weekend. We passed the turn off for the Tanami track and pressed on to Fitzroy Crossing. Having previously visited these places we just wanted to keep going. Cruising along at 90 kph on roads that had been mostly been upgraded was endless. We couldn’t recall Fitzroy crossing when we arrived, however we stopped at the Fitzroy River Lodge Resort, a very upmarket place,  we just parked in the overflow part of the caravan park as they were booked out. By night fall many other travellers had also joined us. Here what I had been dreading happened; as we were opening up the trailer  the car just locked itself, with my keys inside and also our spare set. Unable to open the car we thought what next, when a couple sitting outside the trailer having a cup of tea came over and said no problem! And with that he went to his trailer and produced an old coil of rusty wire and a screw driver and with me holding the top part of the door open he pushed the wire through and opened the door just like that!  We couldn’t thank him enough and thought how lucky we had been. He even took our spare key and securely attached it hidden under the car so if I was caught out again I would be OK. He had experienced the same problem and had done the same for himself. We invited them over for drinks but as it was his wife’s birthday they were off to the lodge for a special birthday dinner treat. We went to bed tired but happy that our car problem had been resolved so easily,thanks to Dean and Jackie.

TIMBER CREEK to KUNUNURRA 25th July 2009

We checked out of Timber creek after quite a noisy night. Normally in a caravan park it’s like a morgue after 9.30pm or even earlier so it was quite unusual for us to hear a lot of people laughing, shouting and walking around the place at 1 am.

The drive with the Pinkerton Ranges to our north gave us some great vistas as we approached the Queensland border and the quarantine checkpoint.

Here we had to stop and have our details taken down and the car and trailer opened so it could be checked for any fruit,honey,seeds and plant material which can’t be taken into WA. After we were given the once over we were able to continue on our way in The Kimberley and Pilbara Region of Australia’s Greta North West. www.australiasnorthwest.com

Our next stop was Lake Argyle and the Ord Dam. This is a hydro power plant and also is one of the greatest expanses of fresh water which is also used for recreational purposes. Crocodiles have been known to enter this river system, however they our quickly removed and relocated elsewhere or sent to the crocodile farms. We drove around and had our picnic lunch in the very well watered, green and shady park reserve that had been set aside for tourists.

We continued on to Kununurra with boab trees everywhere in all their shapes and sizes.

We wanted to check into the Hidden Valley Caravan park which we had heard was a good spot. However they were full up, so we headed off to the Big 4 Ivanhoe Village Resort where we managed to get a non-powered site for a couple of nights. Located right next to the camp kitchen and under a tree it all turned out to be pretty good. It had been a very warm day with the temp touching 35deg however it cooled down in the evening and after a few cold beers and a beautiful meal sitting outside the trailer along with our citronella candles and red wine it was all good.

We had to adjust our clocks back by another hour and a half so at 9.30pm we were tired as it was 11pm for us. We would have to adjust to the car lag.

DAY TRIP TO WYNDHAM Sunday 26th July

After a good night’s sleep we woke up at the crack of dawn, well 5.45 am along with the other campers who were moving on and had already started to pack up. No us! So we had a leisurely breakfast and planned our day.

We decided to drive out to Wyndham about an hour’s drive on the Great Northern Hwy to Australia’s most northerly town, 3216 km NNE of Perth. It was gazetted in 1886 and has had a diverse history of the cattle industry and mining. Today it is a small frontier town of the Kimberley region that mainly relies on adventure seeking travellers who can take 4WD drives into the most remote and scenic parts of this vast region.

This was the area that they filmed a great deal of the film “Australia” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which was set in the Kimberley's

We had to be content to drive past the start of the Gibb River Road(4WD ONLY) past the salt plains and the road off to the boab prison tree, which we have visited some years ago, and on into Wyndham. Here we walked the town, which now mostly consists of derelict buildings with information boards in the front giving the history of its better days. As the Government in the late 1960’s decided to make Kununurra the main centre for the north it has brought the town to its knees. However cattle are still loaded here, being brought in by the road trains and minerals are also shipped out from the port.

We visited the local museum with all its past glory days on show with ageing and faded newspaper cuttings and the usual old hospital medical instruments, telephone exchange board and photos of past residents and how they survived and made a living.

As we started to walk back to the car we stopped and chatted to four local aboriginals, James who spoke beautiful English who introduced his brother and brother in law Clinton and Gregory to us after apologises for not having done so when we first started talking. He asked us our names and he told us about his community and how they still speak their own language and how proud they are of their race and of Australia. They are teaching the children about their history and the language and passing on the stories that have been told for many years. We saw they were carving boab pods with intricate detail of crocodiles and kangaroos and their own special markings. We were offered one for $80 which quickly went down to $40 however we didn’t think we could safely transport it for another 3 months so we declined the offer.

We headed out and stopped off to see the largest boab tree in captivity that is reported to be about 2000 years old.

Back on the road again we continued on until we reached the Grotto turn off and drove down for a couple of kms until we reached the hundred and forty steps we had to go down to reach the bottom. Climbing down vertical cliffs carry your lunch bag in 38 degs sounds a bit mad but we made it and it was a lot cooler down there. Unfortunately the water was covered in a film from the vegetation and with numerous goannas around and the water about 300ft deep we gave it a miss and ate our lunch before having to make the climb back up to the top.

With all this exercise and the heat exhaustion it was time to go back to camp for a rest and a cold beer, after all it was a Sunday, a day of rest and the temp had been up to 38 degs!and we had been out walking in it!!!! CRAZY!

Tomorrow we head off for Broome but will have to see how far we can make in one day, taking into account the roads and where we can spend the nights as we don’t travel in the dark.

KAKADU to TIMBER CREEK 24th July 2009

Today we covered 570 kms which for us was a long drive. We woke up at 6am and started to pack up before we had our breakfast and showers. Thankfully it had been a relatively cool night at 22 deg and we slept quite well.

It was another beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, though we knew it was going to be another warm one with the temp expected to be in the mid 30’s.

We left Jabiru in Kakadu at about 8.15am and set off for Pine Creek about 200 kms away heading in a SW direction. If you can imagine driving for two and half hours without stopping or even touching the brake pedal or accelerator.

I just put it on cruise control and steered which wasn’t very demanding as the road was relatively straight.

The scenery was quite much of the same, though they had been doing a lot of back burning and we could see the black clouds of smoke in the distance and evidence on the roadside of still smouldering bush along with the distinct smell of the burnt bush. It was a sight as it just looked like all the leaves having fallen to the ground which gave the appearance of a brown carpet . The only thing you just had to forget about the clear blue sky, the bright sunlight and of course the 34 deg temperature.

We left the Kakadu Nat Park and the Kakadu highway and drove into Pine Creek to have a break and fill up with fuel again. We weren’t going to risk running out as sometimes there are no services (fuel) for up to 250 kms, though they do warn you when this is going to happen. However we are now carrying an emergency extra 20 litres on the trailer, just in case!

It was then off to Katherine and back on to the Stuart Hwy for another 91 kms before heading west on the Victoria Hwy to Timber Creek where we planned to stop for the night.

Driving through the Victoria area and the Gregory National Park was a complete change of scenery with fantastic ranges and hills with great rocky outcrops pushing up into the sky.

More cattle around with various station gates leading off from the highway. The roads are much improved with all them now having been made into two way and no longer single tracks of bitumen. This makes it much safer to drive and the road trains, (which here are up to 55 metres long having about 4 trailers); pose less of a problem when you encounter them. We did overtake our one and only road train the other day as for some reason it was only travelling along at about 80 kph.

A typical road train at 53 Mtrs long

You have to ensure you have plenty of straight road ahead as you need at least a couple of kms to get pass them. It was quite scary to say the least and seemed to take a long time to overtake it.

We had another break and something to eat before arriving at Timber Creek at 4.30pm. We checked in and set up the trailer and then headed off to the river creek that ran through the rear of the camp ground to see the crocodiles being fed. These are fresh water water crocs and we saw at least 5 that came up to be fed jumping up and snapping at meat being dangled on a line from the bridge . Though they were only about 2.5 mtrs they still give you the shivers when you realise how lethal they can be.

We remarked to each other that we hadn’t seen the people next door from the camper van and after it became dark we became a bit concerned. It wasn’t until eight o’clock before we heard them

and we went out to say hello and say we had been wondering about them. They told us their story of how they had been about 40 kms up the Victoria River on a crocodile viewing trip when the boat, an aluminium type with a canopy that takes about 12 began to take on water. Needless to say they didn’t have any problem getting everyone to bale as fast as they could until they were either rescued or made it back to shore. Well they made it and the tour operator had to get one of the passengers to drive the 12 seater bus back to the caravan park as he had to try and salvage his boat. To finish off the passenger who was driving then got lost as they had a problem finding their way back in the dark. Despite this they though it had all been a great adventure and something to tell their grandchildren.

A Boab tree, one of many throughout the area.

We enjoyed a quiet evening after along with another great meal and a few drinks.

JABIRU in KAKADU 23rd July

Jabiru Thursday 23rd July

We decided to stay another night so we could go out to Ubirr pronounced (Oo-beerr) in the Jabiru region and walked the 1km circular track taking us past several fascinating Aboriginal rock

This is the Rainbow Serpent which was a major creator being.She created passages through rocks and formed waterholes in the Kakadu landscape. She spilt rock faces and created ranges of hills helping form the habitat for all beings

art sites. We listened to the park rangers giving their talks about the art and the stories they tell.

Then we had a good climb to the top of a rocky outlook that gave us fantastic views over the Nadab floodplain.

After a couple of hours we decided as it was a very warm day with the temp over 30 degs, we should head back to the caravan park and have our lunch and a swim in the pool to cool down.

We then set off to Nourlangie about 40 kms away. Here there was more rock art to be seen, some saying it was the best in Australia. There are about 5000 rock art sites in the area of Kakadu which is about 20000 sq kms, many of which we are not permitted to see.

We walked the 1.5 km circuit that took us past an ancient Aboriginal shelter and more outstanding art sites, taking advantage of the ranger’s explanation of the stories behind them and how the Aboriginals lived here over the last 40000 years. We climbed up again; in the now 34 deg heat though we were in shade, to a lookout with gave us views across the Kakadu escarpment.

See the website Kakadu.com.au and check it out.

We walked through along the paths to one of the best billabongs for this time of the year. There was plenty of birdlife but alas we didn’t see any crocodiles. We would have to go up the yellow river to see those.

It was back to the caravan park, and you guessed a swim in the beautiful crocodile free swimming lagoon and a few cold beers. Tomorrow we continue our trip heading west.