Thursday 16th August



Dale washing the camper

Monday when we packed to leave Kununurra, we didn’t really leave. The guys washed the cruisers & campers, then Phill & Shell fuelled up & discovered their fuel tank was leaking. We drove around Kununurra for an hour to find someone to fix it; eventually one guy would do it but not straight away. To cut a long story short, 3 three days later & 2 different parks; we have been in Kununurra 6 days & 3 different caravan parks must be a record. The job was bigger than the guy first thought, the tank had actually cracked all around the filler neck not just the filler hose.

Filling in our time

The guy is working on Phill & Shell’s cruiser now, so we will be back on the road by this afternoon. Don't know when we will next be able to update the blog.  

Kununurra

View from Kelly's Knob

We Spend 3 days in Kununurra, the first day we found a park & set up, we found a lady in the park who was a hairdresser we all got our ears lowered. Second day we caught up on the washing & grocery shopping to restock our supplies for our trip down the Canning. We rang our parents & girls and updated the blog. We went out to dinner at Kelly’s Bar & Grill which was very nice.

Shell & Phill enjoying Sunset

Our third day we ate out for lunch then went to the Hoochery, where we sampled some of their rum drinks & cheesecake which were very nice so we just had to buy some for us to enjoy on the rest of our trip. We went to Kelly’s Knob to watch sunset a well.

Which one do we choose to taste at the Hoochery

Enjoying a sample at the Hoockery

Saturday 11th August 2012

G’day all, after 15 days we are back in phone/internet range. In the 15 days we travelled 1840 Ks from Broome to Kununurra, we had an amazing experience travelling the Gibb River Road to say the least. We’re very glad we did it now so we could do all the walks into the Gorges, some were very rocky, uphill down dale but well worth the effort. The roads conditions changed all the time, some days we had full on corrugation, other days we had rocks, dulldust, sand or all of them mixed together to keep us on our toes.

The landscape kept changing all the time as often as the road conditions, it was just amazing from all the Gorges, Waterfalls,Trees, Valleys, Lagoons, Rivers, Creeks, Mountains Ranges to Wide Open spaces, here’s that word again amazing, the Kimberley is certainly a beautiful part of Australia. I have taken so many photos; I have added only just a few to the blog and changed how I did the blog this time, instead of a day by day update I have just added the Gorges & a few River.

In Brief

At Drysdale Station the guys had one of their famous Kimberley Burgers and at Ellenbrae Station we all enjoyed their Scones, Jam & Cream.

 I have taken alot of photos of creeks, lagoon, boab trees, sunsets, planes, the guys at different places and doing different things, to many to bore you all with.

Along the Gibb River & Kalumbura Roads we had quite a few water crossings most only just wet the bottom of the tyres except the Gibb, Drysdale & Pentecost Rivers.

Dale crossing the Pentecost River

Home Valley

We camped on the banks of the Pentecost River at Home Valley with views of the Cockburn Ranges. We got to see saltwater Crocodiles & Mud Skippy’s.  The sunset didn’t have the wow factor as there was a smoke haze over the ranges; we had blue hills not the red hills like in the bouchers. We walked into the Bindoola Gorge along the Bindoola Creek. 

King Edward River

From the camp ground at King Edward River we walked 500 metres to a waterfall, the rocks around the falls were amazing colours and there were holes so smooth that have been made by water & small rocks over many years. We did another walk to some local Aboriginal Art & Burial Site.

Mitchell Falls

Dale & Shell in the Chopper

It took us 2 hours 20 minutes to drive the 76 Ks from King Edward River, once we arrived we did the Mudcrab Helicopter flight which took us up stream where the fresh & salt water meet each other, we saw a croc, then we flew over the Mitchell Falls, spectacular, we had really great views of the surrounding area, then we landed at the top of the Falls.

The Mitchell River

We had a swim at the top of the falls in the Mitchell River then we walked back out the 3.8 Ks, about 800 metres from the end is the Little Merten Falls, we all had a swim which was really nice then we finished the walk.  

Dale in Little Merten Falls

Gibb River

Getting into the campsite on the Gibb Phill & Shell had a little problem with the sand, they got to use the Maxtrack. It was Phill’s birthday so we went all out, we cooked some Cheese & Bacon bread, Lamb Shanks & dessert and we had a few liquid refreshments. We also saw some local Aboriginal art & the Gibb River waterfall.

Barnett Gorge

Barnett Gorge was the least impressive of the gorges & very badly sign posted. We met 4 young French travellers Michael, Mary Lou, Jessie & Steppanie that afternoon & we had a great night camped with them.



Micheal, Phill & Jessie

Manning Gorge

To start the trek into the Gorge you have to either swim across a lagoon or pull yourself over in a boat, Dale, Shell & I went by boat Phill swam. Then we walked the 2 Ks in. Once in the gorge we all had a swim which was very nice but cold.

Galvans Gorge

To get to Galvans Gorge you walk along a stream with waterlily in, and at the top of the gorge is a Boab Tree.

Bells Gorge

We walked into Bells Gorge to see a beautiful waterfall flowing over the rocks into a very deep pool.

Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge we walked in along the Lennard River down into the Gorge where there were about 20 freshwater crocodiles sunny themselves, we got to within 3 metres of them.

LennardRiver



One the many Croc in the Gorge

The Gorge

Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek is a tunnel 750 metres long and we waded through fresh water to see stalactites and stalagmites. To see them we had to take our headlights & spotlight as its pitch black most of the way in the tunnel.

Horizontal Falls

Cape Leveque

We were picked from our Caravan Park in Broome taken to the airport where we boarded their seaplane. We flew out over Willie Creek Pearl farm, Cape Leveque then on to Talbot Bay, there are about 1000 little Islands in the Bay; then we flew over the Horizontals Falls.

Talbot bay

We landed near a pontoon/houseboat & boarded their boat which has two 350 ph motors. We travelled through the 1^st fall its 20 metres wide & had a 1 metre drop and the 2^nd fall is 7 metres wide with a 3 metre drop so we  couldn’t travel through it, we were a bit disappointed but them’s the breaks, it all depends on the tide whether you can go through the 2 falls. Back at the houseboat we had Barramundi for lunch. Every day they feed the local Sharks during the feeding Shell got to pat one of the sharks. We then went on a cruise around the bay then boarded the seaplane and flew back to Broome. Phill & I got a bit seeding on the plane flight but a great day was had by all.





The Horizontal Falls

Shell patting the Shark

Broome

Dale at Matso's


We spend 4 days in Broome, the first day we caught up on our washing, computer work & maintenances, we had to replace our Auxiliary battery, that’s our 3^rd thing to go wrong. Second day we went to the Horizontal Falls. The other 2 days we did the tourist things in Broome. Sunset on Cable Beach & we had a beautiful meal of Fish, the Museum, Lunch at Matso’s Brewery, we checked out some pearls & the pearling history, Gantheaune Point, Roebuck Bay and we did a Stargazing /Astronomy Tour.

Sunset at Cable Beach



Ganthaeune Point 

We also caught up with a friend whom we haven’t seen in 30 years Graeme Carthy & his wife Eve. Graeme has an earthmoving business in Broome & he does jobs all over the Pilbara & the Kimberley in WA. We would like to thank Eve for her hospitality while we were in Broome. Graeme was working on a job out near Nookanbah, it’s about 100 Ks southwest of Fitzroy Crossing, we travelled out there too see Graeme on our way to start the Gibb River Road.





Dale & Graeme