Diary notes while doing the Big One
To view the photos of this leg of our trip, click here
Day Twenty Seven, Tuesday 20th July 2004: Leaving Darwin at 8.48am,we were heading south into a head wind being thankful that we only had a short distance to travel for the day. It was 9.55am when we pulled into the Batchelor Resort Caravillage. This travelling for such a short period each day could become contagious.
After setting up on our site we took a drive into the streets of Batchelor. As we drove around checking out the town, it soon became obvious to us why they had won a Tidy Town award in the past. The area was very clean and well maintained. It was very interesting to watch the bird feeding at 6.00pm at the Caravan Park with most of the birds arriving up to an hour or more before it was feeding time.
Happy birthday Paul Williams.
Day Twenty Eight, Wednesday 21st July 2004: With sunshine and little wind, we headed into Litchfield National Park. Our first port of call was the big Magnetic Termite Mounds followed by Florence Falls. After viewing the Falls from the top lookout, we walked back towards the car park before going clockwise down to the base of the Falls not knowing about the stairs leading down to the base of the Falls from the top lookout. We took the 129 stairs upwards on the way back and paid the price for taking the hard way round.
From here we headed to Tolmer Falls which didn't have a lot of water flowing over it making it less spectacular to look at from the last time that we were here. We arrived at Wangi Falls in time to eat our packed picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the sun was shining into our cameras as we photographed the Falls which was a bit disappointing even though the Falls we very nice to view. There were a lot of swimmers swimming here in the designated swimming area. We were amused to see the no swimming signs downstream due to crocodiles, as the water went under the main road.
On our return to Batchelor, we stopped at Florence Falls to get a better photo now that the sun had gone over a little bit more. From here we stopped at Bluey Rockhole which was a very nice spot with lots of swimmers. After five hours in the Litchfield National Park we arrive back at Batchelor where we fuel up ready for our departure in the morning.
Day Twenty Nine, Thursday 22nd July 2004: It was 8.17am and we were on the road heading for Douglas Daly. As it turned out we followed a caravan all the way to Douglas Daly who had left from the Batchelor Resort Caravillage as we had. Soon after arriving and being set up on our site at the Douglas Daly Tourist Park, our overnight neighbour from Batchelor pulled in at the back of us. We went for a walk before lunch to have a look along the Douglas River where we would have liked to have seen more water. The Thermal Pool was on the small side although the Rapids and Spa looked a bit of a challenge for those who wanted to sit in them.
After lunch we ventured out to the Douglas Hot Springs Park to check out the hot springs. This is a different are to what we looked at prior to lunch. We had one easy water crossing to tackle on the way to the Springs. Once again we were disappointed by the lack of water and water temperature of the Springs. It was back to the caravan after a short paddle in the Spring. While walking along the banks of the Douglas River back at the Caravan Park a snake went across in front of me which soon increased the heart rate ten fold.
Day Thirty, Friday 23rd July 2004: Our intension today was to travel to Katherine and do our grocery shopping before heading westward. We were on the road by 8.38am and arrived at Katherine by11.10am after a gas stop at Hayes Creek. Once set up and lunch consumed, it was off to Woolworths to do our shopping before returning to the caravan. The Patrol got a quick wash and then it was all relaxation for the remainder of the day.
Day Thirty One, Saturday 24th July 2004: After a some what later start than normal, we left our Caravan Park at Katherine at 9.28am to start heading for Victoria Crossing for the night. The auto gas at Victoria Crossing was worth 91.9 cents per litre making it the dearest so far for the trip. To our advantage there was something wrong with his gas pump and after 30 litres of gold gas, we decided to call it quits and push on to Timber Creek. After gassing up at Timber Creek with as much gas as the pump would allow without filling the tank as it should have, we moved on towards a Parking Bay 118kms East from Timber Creek where we thought we would spend the night. When we arrived at the Parking Bay, there was a scrub fire burning towards it so we then decided to continue on to Kununarra.
As we drove along the main road through the Gregory National Park, we commented on the very pretty landscape and hills with the rich red rocks. We arrived at the Kona Lakeside Tourist Park on the Eastern side of Kununarra at 2.47pm Western Australian time or 4.19pm Northern Territory time where we have booked our site for three nights. Crossing the border into Western Australia has given and hour and a half extras time to play with. The Caravan Park was basically full so we were given the option of a temporary site and going to a lakeside site tomorrow morning, or a site in the back of the park. We took option one and will be moving to our lakeside site tomorrow once others have pulled out.
Day Thirty Two, Sunday 25th July 2004: Our body clocks were still running to Northern Territory time so we were up and out of bed really early wondering what we were going to do with ourselves. Once we had the caravan on the site that we were going to remain on during our stay here, we ventured to the main shopping area of Kununarra to check it out. When we called into the Tourist Information Centre, we were told that the authorities were considering dropping all of the caravans that were left at the entrance road to the Bungle Bungles into a big hole as there presence was becoming a problem for some reason.
From here we went out to the Zebra Rock Gallery which we were told was the only one of it's kind in the world. Sally purchased here Zebra Rock as a souvenir and then we stopped for a look and a couple of photos at the diversion dam wall. I had our first road casualty when we got back to the Caravan Park where I saw the first white post but not the second one. With a bit of polish, if you didn't know about what happened then you wouldn't notice the mark on the Patrol's spare wheel hard cover. With a bbq and a beer for lunch, we relaxed until it was time for our lake cruise.
Diversion Cruises collected us from the Caravan Park at 2.45pm for a 3.00pm sunset cruise on the Ord River which was to last two and a half hours. We managed to see a great sunset as well as a few fresh water crocodiles. Our host Darren was suited to the task which made the cruise most enjoyable as well as memorable. It is still taking a bit of getting used to it getting dark at 5.30pm. After the cruise had finished, we were ferried back to the Caravan Park by bus.
Happy Birthday Malcolm Borgas.
Day Thirty Three, Monday 26th July 2004: I have come up to the conclusion that the post that I reversed into yesterday doesn't like Nissan Patrols as another one ran into it this morning.
After deciding to visit Wyndham from here instead of stopping a night there, we booked the extra night at Kununarra and headed off for Wyndham arriving there mid morning. It wasn't a very nice colour sea with the mud banks making the water brown for miles instead of the normal blue. We had great views of the main township of Wyndham as well as Port Wyndham from the Five Rivers lookout which took us high above the surrounding landscape. On our return to Kununarra, we took the opportunity to travel a few kilometres on the Gibb River Road from the Eastern end just so that we can say that we have been on it.
After eating lunch back at the caravan, we ventured out to the Ivanhoe Crossing. It was amazing to think that this was once the main road to Wyndham many years ago. After a look at the Ord Irrigation area, we stopped at the Top Rockz Gallery which is another Gallery that sculptures Zebra Rock. It is truly amazing what a piece of rock can be turned into if you know how. With a rush of blood, we booked our two and a half hour flights for tomorrow morning to see Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles from the air.
Day Thirty Four, Tuesday 27th July 2004: With the alarm clock buzzing at 4.30am, who said holidays were all fun? Slingair were soon at the entrance of the Caravan park soon after 5.30am to take us to the airport for our Lake Argyle and Bungle Bungle scenic flight. The flight was reasonably smooth although it didn't all agree with Sally. Lake Argyle was our first destination. It is impossible to understand how big Lake Argyle is until you have flow over it. The water surface area is so huge to comprehend from the ground.
From the lake we flew onwards to the Bungle Bungles. Once again the surface area of the Bungle Bungles is much bigger than one can really imagine without seeing it from the air. It was good to get a bird's eye view of some of the gorges that you wouldn't normally see from the ground. Unfortunately the sun glare on the plane's windows has effected our photos of the Bungle Bungles so we haven't got any worthy to post on this site. On our return to Kununarra Airport, we flew over the Lake Argyle Diamond Mine which would be the only possible means of seeing this Mine. For anyone who visits this area and has the opportunity to see it from the air, they will not be disappointed by it.
Once back on the ground, we drove out to lake Argyle to view it from ground level. Once again the views are spectacular, but you are unable to see the area of water that we saw from the air. Once back at the caravan, it was lunch and time to clean some of the grime from the caravan awning ready to hit the road again tomorrow.
Day Thirty Five, Wednesday 28th July 2004: Leaving Kununarra at 8.09am, we were in no real rush to get away. The scenery through the Kimberley's was very nice with the red hill formations blending in with the ground cover. When we arrived at Turkey Creek, our gas tank was too hot to allow the gas to fill. It took nearly a half an hour to add three litres of gas. Eventually after thirty litres we called it quits and filled one of our jerry cans and the patrol with petrol and left the servo nearly an hour after we arrived.
When we arrived at Halls Creek, there was no gas available at all as the servo there was waiting for the gas semi to arrive and fill them up. We filled our second jerry can with petrol and pressed on and changing over to run on petrol shortly after leaving Halls Creek, finally arriving at Mary Pool Campground at 3.01pm. We were not surprised to see so many caravans at the campground as we knew that it was a popular place. There were just too many caravans to try to count. We were told that there were over eighty caravans the previous night.
Day Thirty Six, Thursday 29th July 2004: We could hear most of the caravans pulling away from Mary Pool from 6.00am onwards. Soon after that the cattle walked through to go down to the river for a drink. We were finally on the way at 8.10am after emptying one of the jerry cans into the patrol's fuel tank. It is a long time between sunrise and 8.10am so it seems ages from when we get up to when we hit the road. Half way from Mary Pool to Fitzroy Crossing, we emptied the second jerry can of petrol into the Patrol's fuel tank. We arrived at Fitzroy Crossing and went straight to the servo to fill up with gas and petrol before going to the Caravan Park. No gas for atleast an hour so petrol had to do for the time being.
After booking into the Fitzroy River Lodge Caravan park for two nights, we set up before eating an early lunch. From here it was back to the servo to fill up with gas only to find out that another gas user who also stopped at Mary Pool last night hade run out of petrol and had to drain his generator to give him the fuel to get to Fitzroy Crossing. We called into the Information Centre to gain as much knowledge about the area as possible and then made tracks for Geikie Gorge.
Once at Geikie Gorge, we took a look at the Sandbar which holds the water back into Geikie Gorge. At 3.00pm we took a one hour cruise along the Gorge at a very cheap cost of $20.00 per adult. The rock formation and colours were nothing short of spectacular to look at. Anyone who comes this way shouldn't miss this Gorge if they have the time to look at it. On our return to Fitzroy Crossing, we went via the old Fitzroy Crossing road which was a bit of history to look at as well as a lot of the locals sitting in the bottom of the river.
When we arrived back to the Caravan park we spotted Charlie and Marion (Charlie230453) from the MSN Caravanners Forum who we introduced ourselves to.
Day Thirty Seven, Friday 30th July 2004: We had set today aside to have a look at Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge so we headed of at 7.19am towards Tunnel Creek. Our travels took us over 300kms of road, of which 216kms was rough corrugated gravel road. We arrived at Tunnel Creek by 9.04am and could already feel the heat building up as soon as we stepped out of the Patrol. It was a very interesting walk through Tunnel Creek with it being so dark when you switched off the torches. The water was very pleasant to walk in, not as cold as we had thought it was going to be. We met another couple in the tunnel who were from Adelaide and they were happy to share our torch lights with us as their torch wasn't as good as it should have been. Once out the other side we checked out the surrounding waterholes and then made our way back through the tunnel to our vehicles.
We then drove another 32kms to Windjana Gorge arriving at 10.58am. Windjana Gorge has one of the best locations in the world for viewing fresh water crocodiles and today was no exception as there were dozens of crocodiles sunning themselves both in the water on on the sandy banks of the Gorge. After a few photos, it was back in the vehicle and off to Fitzroy Crossing. It was a pleasure to finally get back onto the main highway and enjoy a sealed road. We arrived back at Fitzroy Crossing at 1.52pm.
Day Thirty Eight, Saturday 31st July 2004: With only 260kms to travel today, we left for Derby at 8.08am after filling up with auto gas. We have now taken to refuelling early in the day rather than when we arrive at our destination due to the trouble we are having getting gas into the tank while everything is hot. As usual, the weather was kind to us with no wind as it has been most of our trip so far. Once we turned right to head towards Derby leaving Broome to our left, we had wall to wall wattle blossom flowers for the remaining 42kms to Derby where we arrived at 11.05am. Once booked in to the West Kimberly Lodge Caravan Park for two nights, we had our lunch while it was 35 degrees outside under our awning.
As Derby has one of the highest tidal movements in the southern hemisphere, it was down to the local wharf for the high tide scheduled for 1.44pm. at just over 10.5 metres. After taking some photos and video of the water height, we hope that we can see it all at low tide to compare the different water levels. It is hard to accept the dirty sea water up this way, the sea is blue in South Australia. On our return to the caravan, we stopped of at Woolworth to pick up some meat for tea.
Day Thirty Nine, Sunday 1st August 2004: Other than following the high and low tides here at Derby, today was set aside as a bludge day. We ventured down to the town wharf at 8.00am to wait for the 9.15am low tide which was to be 2.75 metres. Once low tide was reached, you could hear the rush of water over the mud flats as it started to rush back in.
We returned back to the wharf for the 2.35pm high tide which was to be 10.36 metres. This was a rise in water of 7.61 metres which had to be seen to comprehend the amount that the water height changed. Like yesterday, very hot at the Caravan Park but nice by the water.
Happy Birthday Auntie Marion.
Day Forty, Monday 2nd August 2004: After being unable to purchase any auto gas at Derby because the only gas outlet wasn't working for some reason, we left for Broome at 7.50am with the Patrol's petrol tank and one jerry can full of petrol. When we reached Roebuck Roadhouse, for some reason the gas only accepted 30 litres and that was all, but enough to get us into Broome. While at Roebuck we enquired about powered sites at their Caravan Park at the back of the Roadhouse only to be told that they we all booked out.
Pushing on to Broome, we arrived at 10.45am before booking into the Police Citizens Youth Club overflow Caravan Park. This is only used during peak times and isn't a normal park. Once set up we had a general look around Broome to allow us to plan our days here for the next coming week. Cable Beach is certainly an un spoilt beach with it's sand and turquoise Indian Ocean water. To finish the day of we watched the Stairway to the Moon event at the main beach.
Day Forty One, Tuesday 3rd August 2004: Well holiday mode is stating to set in with us getting out of bed sometime after eight o'clock. During the morning we had a look at the Japanese Cemetery. It is amazing to read that there were so many Japanese people who were killed working in the Pearling Industry. One hears of such numbers, but seeing it believing. From here we continued our way out to the Port of Broome and took a stroll out on the wharf where there was a lot of fishing being done. Back to the caravan for lunch.
During the afternoon we took a look at the Chinatown shopping area which was the first main shopping area of Broome. Lots of Pearl jewellery for everyone's budget could be found there. For us the day was warm to hot in the sun, but back at the caravan sitting under the awning in the sea breeze, it almost felt cool. It is nice to look at the blue sea after looking at it at Wyndham and Derby.
Day Forty Two, Wednesday 4th August 2004: After rising from our bed even later than we did the day before, we headed of to explore the coast line between the Port of Broome and Cable Beach. This is a very pretty spot with the sea being bright blue, and the coast line being a mix of sandstone colours with the red dirt. It is really a photographer's paradise along this part of the coast
On our return to the caravan we purchased a 12 volt fluro light which was fitted above the side cupboard during the afternoon. For the remainder of the afternoon, we spent in holiday mode relaxing and planning the next few days. We have booked a tour for 1.00pm tomorrow at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which should be interesting. Sand flies are a real problem here at the moment for us if we don't keep the tropical strength Aerogard sprayed on.
Day Forty Three, Thursday 5th August 2004: It was 11.45am when we received an SMS message from the Willie Creek Pearl Farm reminding us that we should be on the road for our 1.00pm Willie Creek Pearl Farm Tour. It was a nice drive out to Willie Creek with some corrugation on the road otherwise not too bad.
The tour went into Broome's pearling history as well as how the now cultivated pearl is grown. We were taken on a boat tour and shown the long lines that pearls are set too and also shown the inlet to Willie Creek. Once back on land we we were shown the different types of pearls available as well as the caring for our pearl jewellery. Anyone interested in pearls shouldn't miss this tour. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived back at Broome and well after beer o'clock. As we arrived back at Broome, we received another SMS message from Willie Pearl Farm hoping that we enjoyed our tour. We both thought that this sort of contact was something that didn't have to happen, but put the finishing touches on what was a nice day.
Day Forty Four, Friday 6th August 2004: Today was really holiday mode with nothing planned for the day other than a stroll along the beach at some stage. During the morning we ventured off to a local Laundromat to catch up with the usual washing as there is no laundry at the Police Community Youth Centre overflow park where we are stopping. The overflow park has everything that a caravan park has to offer but the laundry. While out we also emptied the toilet cassette at the BP on Fredrick Street who offers a waste disposal point free of charge.
After lunch we went to Cable Beach to walk along the waters edge where the water was very nice to walk in. If it was 130 degrees in the water bag, we may have gone in for a swim. Every time that we have gone to Cable Beach, there has always been plenty of swimmers there demonstrating how popular the beach is. We walked north passed the rocks where everyone takes their four wheel drives and once we spotted a few white pointers (nudists), we realized that it wasn't the place to be with cameras hanging around one's neck. Back to the caravan park for a bit more of the holiday mode stuff for the rest of the day.
Bruce and Maree who will be meeting us in Perth with their caravan and will be travelling back with us to Adelaide, are on their way to Broken hill this afternoon for daughter Lisa's engagement party. Have a safe trip and we will catch you in Perth.
Day Forty Five, Saturday 7th August 2004: Once mobile, we decided to take a trip out to the Bird Observatory direction to have a look at the coastal area on that side of Broome. As we were driving through Broome on our way to the Observatory, we spotted the Markets near the Police Station and I couldn't get Sally passed them without stopping for a look. The Markets had a bit of everything for sale that would interest most people.
Mid afternoon it was off to Cable Beach to try to capture one of those famous sunsets that Broome is noted for. As we arrived at the beach, the camels were being prepared for their sunset camel rides on the beach. The colour of the camels and their blankets against the backdrop was very pretty to look at. Once the camels had set off along the nudist beach, we returned to the elevated position on the lawns and waited for the sun to set. With all of the people on the lawn, the atmosphere was like a carnival happening. With a bit more cloud in the sky, it would have made a memorable sunset a perfect one.
Day Forty Six, Sunday 8th August 2004: Once mobile, it was off to renew our Big 4 membership before we left Broome so that it was current for our next use. After spending an hour in an Internet Cafe, we topped up on the required groceries and fuel ready for our departure from Broome tomorrow morning after our week here.
The afternoon was spent pottering around the Caravan park doing those little things that require doing to pass the day away. It would be nice to be able to take some of this weather home with us, warmish during the day and cool to sleep at night. Our week here at the PCYC overflow park has been as good as though we were in a fully fledged Caravan Park. Our thanks go to the volunteers who have done a wonderful job here.
Happy eighteenth birthday Sara Sweetman, see you when we get home.
For Diary notes of the entire trip, click here . To view all of our photos from our trip, click here .
