Derby (24/5/12 - 28/5/12)

From Fitzroy Crossing we drove 100 kilometers west along the highway to a waterhole at Ellendale, where the kids collected some boab seeds.  Another 150 kilometres and we arrived at Derby.

On the way to Derby we did a slight detour to Willare, where the Fitzroy River flows.  We had planned to have lunch and see if we could spot some saltwater croc's.  No croc's to be seen unfortunately, so we headed back north and continued on our way to Derby. 

Seven kilometres south of Derby we stopped at the Prison Boab Tree, a massive boab tree believed to be 1500 years old.  It was once used as a stop over point for prisoners being walked into Derby.  Also here was one of the longest water troughs in the southern hemisphere.

We arrived at the Heath's home early afternoon and set up camp.  What a great caravan park - a huge concrete pad, water, power, shade, our own bathroom and as said by Ben "it's free".  Plus heaps of paving and concrete for skateboarding and rip stiking! 

The best part though was catching up with Cherie, Kurt, Nadine and Leonie.  The kids had been waiting all holiday to get to Derby to see Nadine and Leonie...and we finally got there.  They quickly picked up where they had left off and had lots of fun.  It was here that Chloe perfected the rip stik and also where she had a major stack, falling straight onto her elbow on the concrete.  This led to a trip to the Derby Hospital, but thankfully no broken bones.

We all enjoyed mud crabbing in Kurt's boat and more importantly eating the crabs.  Donna's definition of heaven!  There's nothing better than being out on the water (except of course eating crabs!)  We didn't spot any saltwater crocodiles, but are sure they were lurking not far from us in the murky water.

The huge tides in Derby are amazing and even though we almost missed the sunset the first night at the jetty, it was great to have a walk around and soak in the view.

We got to experience some cool weather in Derby in the mornings and evenings - we didn't know it existed!  So out came the jumpers and socks!  Just getting prepared for Albany.  The days though were beautiful and warm.

Chloe and Ben enjoyed our visit to the School of the Air, where we learnt how the teachers conduct lessons with kids in isolated areas over the computer.  Unfortunately we didn't get to sit in on a lesson as they were having technical issues.

We visited the Old Derby Gaol, which consisted of a concrete floor and metal bars.  Prisoners were chained to the floor and often it housed many more people than it was designed to.  It was very primitive and very sad to think prisoners were treated in such a way up until 1975 when it was closed.  Chloe and Ben didn't enjoy being locked in by Simon!

We visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and learnt a bit about how this amazing service operates.

Donna and the kids experienced the Derby markets and Chloe and Ben managed to waste some money! 

Chloe enjoyed two sleepovers with Leonie and Ben was Nadine's little shadow.  Ben was so sad when we left.

We had a fantastic four days - heaps of eating (even if we didn't eat until 10pm one night!) and drinking, lots of catching up and many laughs.  Thanks Cherie, Kurt, Nadine and Leonie for opening your home to us all.  We had a wonderful time and are missing you all already.

Prison Boab Tree

Long water trough

Derby Jetty at sunset

School of the Air

Mud crabbing

Not a bad view

Chloe and Leonie

Skipper Kurt and Deckie Simon

Our way in toward the jetty

Our catch - not bad!

Delicious!

The rip stiking girls - Chloe, Nadine and Leonie

Western Derby - Kurt, Matt, Cherie and Donna

"Let us out!" - Old Derby Gaol

Fitzroy Crossing (22/5/12 - 23/5/12)

From Halls Creek we drove 290 kilometres west to Fitzroy Crossing, with very little between the two towns.  Except constant whinging from Ben!  As we arrived at Fitzroy Crossing, we saw a massive snake cross the road - thank goodness we were inside the car!  We checked into the Fitzroy Lodge Caravan Park - an oasis in the middle of nowhere.  Beautiful lawn sites, restaurants, a bar, pool, tennis court etc.  Divine.

Fitzroy Crossing is located on the Fitzroy River, one of the largest rivers in Australia, with a catchment of 90,000 square kilometres!  Just north of the townsite the tributaries of the Leopold and Margaret/Mary Rivers join the Fitzroy before continuing on to King Sound and the ocean.

The highlight of our time in Fitzroy Crossing was a boat tour of Geikie Gorge, 20 kilometres north east of the town.  Our informative ranger guide was lovely and appointed Chloe and Ben "chief croc spotters" and gave them (& us) the front row seats, which meant we had the best view.

Geikie Gorge is part of an ancient limestone reef that developed around 360 million years ago.  Since the ocean receded, the Fitzroy River has gouged through the rock, forming cliff walls that tower over the water.  The cliffs and sculptured rock formations were varying colours and looked beautiful with the sunlight on them.

We saw 27 crocodiles (as reported by Chloe) and a number of birds, including the tiny fairy birds that were building their nests on the cliff faces, which resembled hornet nests. Geikie Gorge is home to freshwater crocodiles, barramundi and many fish species.  It is also home to sharks, sawfish and stingrays, that have over the years adapted to fresh water.

This area is home to the Bunuba aboriginal people.  As has been the case with a number of other national parks in Australia, Geikie Gorge is in the process of reverting to its traditional aboriginal name of Darngku Gorge.

Geikie Gorge was spectacular and we all loved the trip.

On our way back to town, we stopped at the Old Causeway Crossing, that was the only way across the Fitzroy River until the new bridge was built in the 1970's. There was up to 20 centimetres of water flowing across the causeway and could have been easily crossed in a car (as decided by Simon), although we did not do this as it was closed.  Instead we walked through the water from one end to the other.  Beautiful, clear fresh water.  Cool on our feet and lovely to drink.

Very close to the old crossing was the original townsite, although there is very few remains now.   Next stop, the historic Crossing Inn.  The Crossing Inn was established in 1897 as a shanty inn and trade store for passing stockmen, prospectors and drovers.  Whilst it has been rebuilt many times, it has survived rising floodwaters and is the oldest Kimberley hotel on it's original site.  The Crossing Inn was a lot neater and welcoming than when we were last here in 1998.  Plus there were no empty Emu Export beer cans to be seen!  It now also has an art gallery containing local aboriginal artwork, as well as some paintings by local high school students on the outside of the pub, which we all enjoyed looking at.

A quick stock up of supplies at the brand new IGA ended our morning.  We spent a quiet afternoon back at camp.  We head off tomorrow for Derby, to catch up with our friends Kurt, Cherie, Nadine and Leonie.  We can't wait!

Until Derby.......

The beautiful Geikie Gorge

Fairy bird nests

The Old Causeway Crossing

Historic Crossing Inn

Wolfe Creek Crater (21/5/12)

On our second day in Halls Creek, we were up and on the road by 7.15, headed to Wolfe Creek Crater.  We drove 17 kilometres south along the highway to the turnoff, then 130 kilometres south along the bumpy 4wd Tanami Road.  After a fair few bumps, rocks, corrugations and dust we arrived, with the worst part of the road being in the national park.

Wolfe Creek Crater is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert.  It is the second largest meteorite crater in the world.  It is 850 meters wide and almost circular.  The floor is 60 meters below the rim.  A short, steep walk took us to the rim, providing a great view.  We then walked down a couple of hundred meters of steep, loose rocks into the crater and had a walk around.  There was a lot of vegetation, especially in the centre.  A steep climb brought us to the top again. 

Was great to see (although we probably won't go back there again) - another thing ticked off the bucket list!

Halls Creek (20/5/12 - 22/5/12)

We left the Bungle Bungles Caravan Park with big smiles on our faces - a great time was had by all.

A 110 kilometre drive south brought us to Halls Creek.  We booked into the Halls Creek Caravan Park for two nights.  Our memory of Halls Creek was not too flash, but we were keen to visit Wolfe Creek Crater, so really needed to stay.  We realised after a little time here that it wasn't as bad as we remembered.

On our first afternoon we took a short drive from Halls Creek to Moola Bulla Station, where our sister in law Sally lived as a young child.  We have heard lots about Moola Bulla so were keen to see it for ourselves, well the front gate anyway!

A 15 kilometre drive east of Halls Creek took us to Old Halls Creek.  We spent a while having a walk around the original town and the cemetery.  There were remains of the post office, some street signs and a few other buildings.  Back toward Halls Creek was China Wall, a white quartz formation said to resemble the Great Wall of China, albeit a lot smaller.  We had a look from the car as we were too lazy to walk to it.

On our second day, we took a day trip to Wolfe Creek Crater (see separate post).  Once back in Halls Creek, we visited the cemetery, racetrack and rodeo arena, the yards of which were built by Sally's Dad.

Goodbye Bungle Bungles

Moola Bulla Station

Old Halls Creek

Rodeo Arena

Bungle Bungles (18/5/12 - 20/5/12)

Up bright and early (surprise, surprise!) and on the road by 6.45am.  A 230 kilometre drive south west on the highway takes us to the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park, located on Mabel Downs Station, which borders the Purnululu National Park, home of the the Bungle Bungles.  We unhook the van, plug into power and leave it behind.  Then our adventure begins!

The national park covers an area of 239,723 hectares.  The Bungle Bungle Range covers 45,000 hectares of the park.  The national park was originally part of Mabel Downs Station.  In the early 1980's some land was taken off the lease to create the national park and opened as a national park in 1983.  The national park was world heritage listed in 2003 for two main reasons - the area's natural beauty and it's outstanding geological value.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes, 50 kilometres of gravel, dust, hills, rock, corrugation, sand and seventeen creek/river crossings we arrived at the Purnululu National Park Visitor Centre.  The drive in was so much better than we expected.  A further 7 kilometres and we arrived at our campground for the night, Kurrajong campground.  Again we were surprised at how nice it was - heaps of freshly mowed grass sites and the nicest "drop" toilets we have seen (there has been a few!).  We set up our mozzie tent, which was our accommodation for the night.  The kids were SO SO excited to be sleeping in a tent with only fly screen between us and outside and to try out their new sleeping bags!  They had been looking forward to this all holiday.

Once set up we set off toward the first of our walks, Echidna Chasm, in the northern end of the park, 13 kilometres and two river crossings away.  Echidna Chasm is a narrow passage where millions of years of erosion have washed a valley in the sandstone formations which gets narrower and narrower the further you walk in.  The sandstone walls contained lots of rounded stones.  It was a very unique formation and just beautiful with the sun shining on the red rock.  A one kilometre walk took us through the chasm to the end.  Whilst the walk was relatively flat, the track was loose smooth rocks, making it quite a difficult walk.  On the walk back we detoured to a lookout with a view of the Osmand Range.

We watched the sunset from Kungkalanay Lookout, 4 kilometres from the campground. The colours  were just divine, even though we got there a little bit late.

Given it was dark before six and quite chilly (we were not used to the cold!), we all had an early night, with the kids asleep just after six!!  What a view from bed - a beautiful clear sky with thousands of stars.  Just divine!  The next best thing was the kids slept in, despite it being light not long after five.

After brekky and pack up we drove 34 kilometres and crossed three creek crossings to Piccaninny Creek carpark, in the southern end of the park.  From here we did The Dome walk, an easy one kilometre loop walk, taking us past banded domes towering above us.  The domes being what you would imagine the Bungle Bungles to look like. The kids were fascinated by some termite mounds built on top of the mounds - a very long way up.  The sun on the rock provided a stunning sight.  At the end there was a small stagnant waterhole that the kids enjoyed throwing rocks into with some other kids.

A further one and a half kilometre walk took us to Cathederal Gorge.  WOW!  We thought the Dome walk was good, well it had nothing on this!  The walk took us past hundreds of striped domes, through dry river beds, past some small waterholes and into a spectacular amphitheater with a small waterhole.  The rock formations, sunlight and reflection off the water was incredible.  Such a peaceful spot. 

Heading back toward the carpark, we took a detour along the start of the Piccaninny Gorge walk to a  lookout.  We are so glad we did - what a view.  More beautiful beehive banded domes.  The extra 1.6 kilometre walk was well worth it.  The walk along the gorge was gorgeous - we were walking on solid, smooth rock.  Plus it had lots of holes along it which the kids enjoyed hiding in.  We decided not to do the entire Piccaninny Gorge walk as it was a difficult 10 kilometres.  Chloe and Ben's legs had already had enough!

Once back to the car we started our drive back to the caravan park.  For some reason the 50 kilometre track seemed rougher on the way back.  We stopped on the bank of the last and widest river crossing not far from the caravan park.  The kids had a play in the water, we ate lunch and soaked up the view.  Two brolgas even decided to make an appearance!

We ended the afternoon with a helicopter flight from the caravan park, over Mabel Downs Station and over the Bungle Bungles.  The Bungle Bungles looked just as magnificent from the air as they did from the ground and what a view.  The flight itself was an experience, especially as the doors were off.  It was a new experience for Donna, Chloe and Ben, having never been in a helicopter before.  We all loved it and Simon finally got his 40th birthday present from Donna and the kids (& they got to tag along!).  A free home cooked outback dinner at the caravan park ended the day very nicely.

A perfect end to two amazing days.  What an experience we have had - a truly magical part of Australia.  A definite highlight.

The Bungle Bungles are a photographer's paradise.  Simon was in heaven.  In fact it was the first time the memory card was filled up in one day!

On our way...

Echidna Chasm walk

Echidna Chasm

Our accommodation for the night

Northern end of Bungle Bungles on sunset

Kungkalanay Lookout - sunset

The Dome walk

Cathedral Gorge walk

Cathedral Gorge - the end

Lookout - Piccaninny Gorge

Piccaninny Gorge walk

A little rest on the way back

...and a bit of playing

Just before our chopper flight

The Bungle Bungles from the air

The caravan park from the air

Our van