Port Hedland

Now this place probably isn't worth a blog, I don't even have any photos of it but I think it's worth a quick mention because of its weirdness.
We stayed there purely for a stop over between Eighty mile beach and Tom Price.We arrived at the caravan park to a board declaring they were full, lucky I'd pre-booked and strange as Port Hedland is no tourist mecca.As we soon discovered, this was probably due to the fact that they don't have many caravan sites available for tourists due to the fact that there are a lot of mine workers living in the caravan park permanently.
 Port Hedland is predominantly a mining town, the only real tourist thing to do in town is to take a tour of the mine.
We then were very surprised at the price of real estate. Whilst looking through a local paper, the average price of your average (very) brick suburban house was well over a million dollars- we couldn't believe it. That probably also explained the caravans parked in numerous front gardens because real estate was so expensive people had to live wherever they could find a spare bit of land. We also noticed the price of a very average unit to rent, $2300 per week!!!Let me tell you this was no Toorak!
Some other strange things we noticed were the security grills on all of the house windows at the front, the bins full of beer bottles and last but not least the breathalyser on the wall of the laundry in the caravan park??????Do you have to be under the limit to wash or perhaps the mine workers who dominated the place need to be sure they were under the limit to go to work???Hmmm Port Hedland- don't rush there.

Cable Beach (because I needed a photo)!

Eighty Mile Beach

After a bit of art shopping and the best mango smoothie we've ever come across we ended up leaving Broome quite late. As a result we arrived late, but in time for the sunset, at eighty mile beach. Wow, it was beautiful, just over the dune miles of white sandy beach covered in millions of beautiful shells. It was great to watch the colours change as the sun set .

We were back in the morning for some shell fossicking, the kids have planned a stall at the local market selling shell necklaces and anklets! As for me a mobile for Blairgowrie would be great.

Staircase to the Moon

We were lucky enough to be in Broome for this spectacular, natural phenomenon. Lucky because we'd changed our original itinerary so we could do the Gibb River Road and by putting everything back a week it meant we were in Broome at the right time to see the Staircase. I'd tried to see it last year when we were in Broome but we left a couple of days before it was happening, I'd tried to change flights so we could stay and see it but there were none available. Anyway so we were in luck this time.

The Staircase to the Moon only happens once a month for three days on a full moon at low tide. It happens when the full moon reflects on the mudflats and gives the illusion that there is a staircase connecting the moon to the earth.

So we made our way down to Town Beach along with hundreds of others who'd come out to see this amazing spectacle. We found a good viewing point , standing room only and waited for the moon to rise. It was beautiful and just as awesome as I'd hoped, just as spectacular as the postcards and the hype had led us to believe- definiely woth the effort in getting there.

Unfortunately my camera doesn't do it justice, but you'll get the idea....

After the main attraction was over we had a wander around the night markets which they put on to co-incide with the "Staircase". Had a great home-made ice-cream and made our way home to bed very contented as the end came to another fantastic day.

The Horizontal Waterfalls

So we're having a little holiday from our holiday in Cable Beach Resort for four nights. We just couldn't resist as we were going to Broome and we stayed at Cable beach last year and loved it. The van is parked out the back in the car park, it does look a little unusual.

Anyway on our first day in Broome we had booked to go on a tour of the Horizontal Waterfalls in the Timor Sea.we were picked up and taken to the airport where we boarded a sea plane, imagine the excitement of Harry, going in a plane that was going to land on water!!

We had a flight for about one and a half hours over the coast of Broome and up toward the Buccaneer Archipelago, very beautiful flying over those aqua seas with islands dotted around. We then landed in the Timor sea and got off the plane and onto a pontoon in the middle of the sea, to which a huge, houseboat was moored.

As we walked along the pontoon which didn't have any railing we noticed numerous sharks swimming around, this made me a little nervous as Harry in his excited state was running around quite recklessly.It it would have taken was one little trip over the uneven surface and you'd be in with the sharks!

After a cuppa we came downstairs from the houseboat for the shark feeding session, where Timmy a young guy with bandaged fingers hand fed the sharks fish.We could elect to swim in cages alongside the sharks or view them from above as they were fed.They were hungry and frantic.

We then had a delicious lunch of grilled barramundi and salad, in which Harry had three pieces of fish and would have eaten more if we didn't have to get on the boat for our trip through the Horizontal Falls. We boarded the boat which was a little unusual because you sort of straddle this rounded seat. we then went for a little cruise through Cyclone Creek , a little side trip which was also very picturesque. We then went to the Horizontal Falls, which are created by the fast changes in the tide which cause a huge displacement of water through a narrow rock space which cause a rush of water, like a waterfall except its horizontal.

It was great fun, as you go very fast and it's quite a bumpy ride , the girls' likened it to a ride at the show. the kids loved it! after our action packed day, we flew home , the return flight being more direct and thus inland. There was burning off being done and the smoke and the fire trail looked quite spectacular from the sky. We were dropped back to our resort, complete with a DVD of our experience, so if any one is interested we can show it to you when we get home!

Once we got home we headed straight back out to Town Beach to see The Staircase to the Moon....but that's a whole other blog!

The Birrells at the Bungle Bungles

We actually explored these magnificent "rocks" last Thursday. We opted to go on a tour to the Bungle Bungles as we'd heard the 50km road in was quite rough, it took about 2 hours and there was also a few things to see so we'd thought it would save time being taken, also meant it made it easier on the planner and you could just sit there and absorb all of the info they told you.
It was great. The truck trip in was very rough, I'm glad I didn't have to worry about flat tyres and Pete could sit back and relax for a change.

We first went to Picanninny creek. On the drive in to the Purnululu National Park you drive through and can see quite a few mountains but its not until you get right in that you can see the striking orange and black striped domes that are typical of the bungles.

Hmmm photos (mine anyway ) don't really do these magnificent structures justice....

We then went to Cathedral gorge which was also beautiful, there was a natural amphitheatre which made music sound unbelievable and yes someone played their ipod..even more impressive though was when a German guy started singing (his national anthem I think) the sound was just like a cathedral.

We then drove to the other end of the Purnululu Range to Echidna Chasm, this was the side attraction of the trip for me but when we got there ans started walking through it was beautiful. I hadn't expected it to be so magnificent, it was surrounded by cooling palms and the chasm provided a natural cooling system which made it great to explore and get out of the 35 degree heat.

After our great, exhausting day and two hour bumpy, rough ride home we were fed vege soup and damper and beef curry for tea. Fell into bed exhausted. Another amazing day in the Kimberley.

Tunnel Creek

So after Derby we had to face reality and get back on the Northern highway and go back to Kununurra to pick up our van which had been having a little holiday without us at the caravan park. On the way we thought we'd visit Tunnel Creek which we'd run out of time on the way through the Gibb so we accessed it from the  Fitzroy Crossing end of King Leopold's Downs Way.

Tunnel Creek is very important in a aboriginal culture as it's where Jandamarra, an aboriginal freedom fighter hid out form the police in the 1800's. He was killed at the entrance by an aboriginal tracker in 1897. We saw a play about Jandamaara last year when we were in Broome so it was nice to be able to put the pieces together about his history and where his life was led.

Tunnel Creek is amazing, it is a 750 metre long tunnel through rock which you can walk through. You need a torch as there are areas of pitch black and you need a decent torch to show you where to go, our torches I'd picked up at the Imintji Road house just about cut it- of course the super duper Dolphin was back in the van- nothing like being prepared!

The entrance consists of a big open space surrounded by boulders, there was some aboriginal art there. You the head off into knee depth water which you cant see through and the tunnel gets progressively darker until you are in pitch black. There are sand bars and rocks along the way also rocks in the water which make it a little treacherous. We had run into a girl at Galvans Gorge who had fallen over in Tunnel Creek and broken her nose.

There were stalactites on the roof and bats nesting in the roof. Half way along there was a section of the roof which had collapsed so we got some light. We didn't come across many other people in the tunnel which was quite good making it very atmospheric but we could have probably done with the extra light!

As we neared the end we had one pool to walk through, we had been warned by a guy we'd met that he'd seen the red tell-tale eyes of a croc in this pool, the only way through to the end though was through this pool, which also happened to be the deepest pool.I was hoping that we wouldn't see anything and could just pretend nothing was in there.As we approached a shone my torch in the pool and sure enough there he was a fresh water crocodile just floating in the water right in our path. the kids weren't very impressed, Maddy was heard to say "I am not going in that water". But we wanted to make it to the end so I made a unanimous decision and marched into the water , turning around to see that no-one was following me.....So I "encouraged" the rest of the family to follow. I must admit it was a little unnerving up to your belly wading through water you cant see through knowing you are sharing it with at least one croc! Anyway, we made it through with all of our limbs in tact and it was quite beautiful at that end.

The worst thing was we couldn't really relax as we had to go back through that same body of water.Anyway, we all survived our brush with a croc and made it to the other end again with only harry falling over( a common occurrence as he's always running ahead while the rest of us are walking cautiously behind).

After we'd removed our soaked shoes and socks we headed off to Fitzroy Crossing for the night. Visited a very cool glass blowing studio , bit of a surprise find for Fitzroy crossing.

The Gibb (Part two)

Galvans Gorge

On the way to Charnley River Station we stopped off at Galvans Gorge. It was a really pretty pool with a substantial waterfall and good jumping rocks for Maddy, especially after she'd seen a young tourist group come through and seen the young men jumping off the top off the waterfall, Emma is also developing a worrying tendency to follow! The gorge also had some aboriginal paintings which is always an added bonus.

Then we continued onto our accommodation for the night, a" Ronderval"- basically a hexagonal room with fly screen walls in the middle of the bush, so you feel you are sleeping in the bush, Pete certainly did when he heard the wallabies all night- I of course slept soundly.

The Ronderval

The charm of Charnley was the hospitality of the manager, mike and his wife Karen. We arrived late, about 5,30pm he came out and greeted us personally and told us dinner would be ready at 6pm. We got settled and went to the main homestead for dinner and mike had cooked up a great Roast beef and we all sat at the long table and chatted, not that we were much fun after the long day. There was another family staying with kids and the little boy took Harry to the creek to see the croc and the girls played spotlight.

The next day we awke to peacocks, lots of them wandering around . after a Mike's  special breakky we headed off to explore the gorges which were pretty disappointing , because its the dry season a lot of the waterfalls have stopped flowing and the swimming holes are drying up, they havent had rain since March. We liked Dilli gorge, which was a huge river flowing into the gorge so we could swim (the average temperature is 35 degrees). We ran into a family we keep bumping into, the kifs had a ball plying, making a stick house high up i the rocks in a cliff and swimming all day. We relaxed i the shade and swam when it got to hot.

The next morning we headed off early as we had decided to back track to a gorge we'd missed on the way in as we had gotten there too late.We were going a little faster than usual on the dodgey rocky roads and just as we pulled into Mt barnett road house to get our permit the dreaded happened, a flat tyre! So in 35 gegree heat , we had to unpack all our gear, the spare tyre is under the car and to get to the winch to lower it you have to lift up the boot floor. So with all our stuff on the side of the Road and me readibg the manual Pete changed the tyre. The sense of camraderie on the gibb is very strong and we were offered help, but it was really just a matter of plodding on. After an hour we were back in business- the only trouble we now no longer had a spare, whilst we were driving down the Gibb graveyard for tyres, it was not uncommon to see 4-5 people a day pulled over changing tyres or with mechanical problems. We also now know why they recommend that you carry two spares, a plug-kit and a pump none of which we had.

After the tyre change we continued on, very apprehensively as we coudn't affors to be stranded with another flat in the middle of nowhere, no phone receptiion. Manning gorge was amazing, a series of huge pools and a huge water fall feeding into them. The walk in was also lots of fun as it begins with a swim to an island, you put your stuff in foam boxes and float them across you then continue to the other side of the pool and you can then start the 1.5 km walk in to the gorge.
the walk was hot and rocky with lots of steep hills so we were dying for a swim at the end of it.

Maddy considering her jump.......

To put it into perspective, she is standing on the rock ledge just above the closest waterfall to the left.

After Manning gorge we continued on to the Bell Gorge Wilderness lodge, a little bit of luxury on or last night on the Gibb, not that that was planned that's the only accomoddaton there was. We stayed in eco tents which were really nice harry really enjoyed playing in the luggage trolley.

In the morning we were up bright and early to set off to Bell Gorge, after we visited the trye man . the only mechanic on the Gibb River road and he sold tyres, ours was wrecked it was like it had been slashed by a sharp rock.the drive into the start of the walk was 29km of nasty road, very rocky with lots of sharp ones- at least we now had a spare. The walk in to Bell Gorge was about 2 km, you had th walk through the river, not too deep, at the top of the falls and then you descended down the side of the cliff face to the pool under the falls to swim. We saw lots of water monitors scampering around the rocks.We also ran into our friends again, which delighted the kids.

We finished the day with a trip to Windjana Gorge. a soaring gorge with sandy banks and a fairly still river through it full of fresh water crocs, this is one gorge they dont recommend you to swim in not that it looks that inviting. We got there about 4pm and didnt see any crocs on the bank, apparently there are usually lots of them sunning themselves on the sandy bank but we did see quite a few cruising down the river.

The walk in to Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge

We then had to continue on to Derby and off the Gibb river road and back onto bitumen and civilisation. We got into Derby at about 7pm, hungry, exhausted and dirty but strangely content after our great adventure on the Gibb!