Fitzroy Crossing to Karratha

Fitzroy Crossing:

Went for a drive and found the famous Fitzroy River Crossing which in the wet season floods and separates the old and new township…there is an alternative road now…but we did drive across it, not a lot of water around at this time of the year as this is the Dry season until the Wet starts around Nov/Dec and lasts for about 4 months.

Famous Fitzroy River Crossing

We found another caravan park plus ‘Hotel’ and an aboriginal art gallery…while Brenda & I looked in at the gallery the men headed off to inspect the ‘hotel’ when Brenda & I were finished at the Art gallery we went looking for the men and found them in this outdoor area with steel fencing around it and a security guard on the door! So guess where the men were! In the fenced off area with all the locals who just happened to be Aboriginals and having a drink and a chat. 

Historic Aboriginal Pub.

Brenda & I  were allowed in and joined in with the drink and chat, we were the only ‘whites’there with over 100 locals. We had a good chat with one man who is a school teacher and his daughter you could say it was quite an experience

 

Geikie Gorge:

Beautiful Geikie Gorge

Just for a change we did another gorge!! Seriously we went on a boat trip on the river up to Geikie Gorge, it was interesting to see the canyon walls which were part of an old sea reef and we saw some fresh water crocs.

Broome:

It is hard to get booked into caravan parks here and as it happens David & Brenda have friends who live here and they invited us to ‘Park’ our Vans on their nature strip (it is fairly big) It was very kind of them to allow us to camp there and let us plug into their electricity! we enjoyed our stay with them

Lisa & Paul have lived here for 3 years and now have baby Judd (9 months) Lisa’s Mum & Dad are here on holiday from Bairnsdale so it was nice for David & Brenda to catch up with them too (lovely people)

Free Camping on the Nature Strip

They took us to Cable Beach to watch the sunset and have fish and chips for tea a beautiful sunset and the best Barra n chips ever!! 

Cable Beach with Barra & Chips to follow.

   On Saturday night we all went off to the Motor Speedway which we all enjoyed apart from the amount of Red dust we were covered in including Jim’s car!!!

David has a nasty mozzie bite and Lisa who is a nurse sent him off to the hospital to have it checked. He had to attend the hospital for 2 days to have antibiotics.

80 Mile Beach:

 

80 Mile Beach.

We have been told on good authority that it is worth while staying at this caravan park here at 80 Mile Beach, but it means travelling down a dirt and corrugated road for 9 klms it was shake rattle and roll!

It was worth the effort for the scenery was something else. Beach as far as the eye good see in both directions. The tide was out when we arrived about ½ a Klm so it was the next morning before we saw the sea. We have been told that it is a great fishing spot.

Caravan Park at 80 Mile Beach

Port Hedland

There isn’t a lot to say about this place apart from it being a shipping port for Iron Ore which comes by Rail & Road from the mines at Newman.  The township is divided into South Hedland and Port Hedland. South is now where the housing and shopping area is located.  The lengths of the trains are unbelievable about 3 + Klms long with 6 locomotives up front doing a mighty job!  the Trucks are, 1 Prime mover and 4 trailers long which is called a Road train.

On our way to Karratha the landscape changed from the flat red soil we have been used to, to a green landscape and a Mountain Range which was green instead of our usual Red that we had become used to also some wild flowers which West Australia is famous for at this time of the year.

Karratha is a bigger town  than we thought and there is a lot of building going on,  we read in the local paper  how much it is to rent houses here…anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per week!!! People who work for the Mines (Iron Ore) here are paid big money and due to the remoteness and cost of supplies means that houses are expensive to buy here $850,000 to $1.5 million…extortionate prices.

Kununura in the Kimberly

Kununura

We were warned that it could be hard to get into a caravan park here so when we got to the Lakeview Caravan Park we still had to wait in the queue for a site. 2 hours later we were all set up in a powered site, which means we also have access to the Internet, we have been out of range of mobile reception for a few days. 

 

We were led to believe that this was a ‘food bowl’ growing area, as it is supplied with water from Lake Argyle, but not so. Some fruit such as Melon and others are grown, but mostly Sandalwood.  It is a nice little town.

 The plan was to stop at the Bungle Bungles but when we got there no sites were available and it would be a further two hours drive in, on a very rough road and then back to the camp site, so the decision was to give it a miss. 

The temperature was 36deg. Had we got there around 8am we would probably have done it, but it was the middle of the day, so too late to drive in and out again in the same day!

We have been told it is a magnificent place to see.  Oh well, maybe next time!!

Halls Creek now what can I say about this place? It is an old mining town with the basic necessities and a caravan park which also had a swimming pool!! Now that was a plus as it was a very hot day.

So once the Caravans were set-up we enjoyed a cool-off in the pool. 

 I spoke to a couple with three children who were parked next to us, they had two toddlers and a baby 3-4 months old and she told me they had to be back in Perth by Sunday, now this was on the Wednesday…so they had 4 days to travel approx 2500 klms!! She said they would do it!!!!

Lake Argyle first stop in Western Australia

Katherine to Lake Argyle:

Left Katherine early on Friday morning heading for Lake Argyle, had to stop overnight en-route at an off road free campsite not the best of places as it was very hot. but it was free and fortunately we can keep our fridges running for 1 possibly 2 nights on battery power. then left early next morning for our drive to the township of Argyle.

Free Roadside Campsite at Saddle Creek

Travelled through some lovely countryside on the road to the Western Australian Border and Quarantine Station where your cars and caravans are inspected for any fruit and vegetables and also honey, we were OK with the fruit and veg, but they took Ina’s honey.

We then entered Western Australia and had a time change of 1.5 hours, so we are now 2 hours behind Melbourne.

Got to Lake Argyle early due to the time change, arrived at 8.00am and had to get into a queue to wait for a caravan site.  By 10.00am we were allocated a lovely grass site which we booked for 2 nights. The views over Lake Argyle were absolutely stunning, the lake just seemed that big, it also had a lovely pool and so we went for a swim to cool off as it was around 32 degrees. It is an infinity pool set out to  look like it was merging with the lake.

The Infinity Pool at Lake Argyle

 

Ina, David & Brenda in the Infinity Pool.. Lake Argyle

We booked ourselves on a Sunset Cruise, leaving at 2.15pm and returning after dark at around 6.00pm. The scenery and the size of the dam was incredible. 75 Klms long by 40 Klms wide and around 143 metres deep, the capacity of Lake Argyle is 15 times that of Sydney Harbour and in a big wet season the Ord River flow could fill Sydney Harbour in 5 hours.

 

4 Grey Nomads on a day out (under supervision)

We had a great time on the cruise, stopping for the lovely Sun Set and a swim in what they call an inland sea, as they can get 4 metre high waves when the wind is blowing strongly. The lake has a large population of fresh water crocodiles and we were assured they only inhabit the shoreline for their food and do not swim out to the deep water, so David and I decided it was safe and dived in for a swim.

 

2 Amegios being carried off into the Sun Set on their noodles.

All very nice with the water temperature at 24 degrees and the boat Captain serving drinks to you in the water and on board, it was all very civilized and no one was taken by crocodiles.

One Beautiful Sun Set on Lake Argyle

The Sunset was absolutely stunning, a good time was had by all and a perfect finish to our stay at Lake Argyle.

Darwin & Lytchfield National Park

Ferry Ride over to Mandorah

Ocean to Ocean Melbourne to Darwin the bottom of Australia to the top of Australia, just on 6000 klms.
We arrived in Darwin which was very difficult to get booked into due to School Holidays, so we had to book one week ahead staying for 5 nights, staying at a nice caravan park but we have all been attacked by mossies or midgies, (little blighters). Brenda has been affected the worst  with some turning into blisters, poor thing.
Darwin hasn't a very big city centre as such, but is spread out into the suburbs and industrial areas.

Beer Can Regatta at Mindi Beach Darwin

We visited the Militery museum which is all about the bombing of Darwin during WW11 which had been badly damaged by Japanese planes dropping bombs on it. There were American and Australian ships in the harbour at the time that sustained very heavy damage.
We also visited the old Fanny Bay goal it is now a museum, nothing much to see, so then it was onto Fishermans Wharf, also in the same area was a Big Wave pool which was being well used by lots of children.
Another day we took a Ferry from Cullen Bay over to a place called Mandorah where there was a Hotel with beautiful gardens and outdoor sitting area which looked over the beach to the sea...  Cullun Bay has a marina and looks an up market place to live.  

Awaiting the tide to come in... so the Darwin Regatta Race can commence. The beach was crowded with spectators and lots of 'Boats' all shapes and sizes.

Jim & David swimming in thermal pool

Berry Springs is 40 klms from Darwin where there are 3 thermal pools a waterfall cascades down into the first one...David & Jim enjoyed it.

Beautiful Wanga Falls & swimming hole

 Litchfield National Park is our next stop we have 2 nights here. The caravan park is called Litchfield Safari Park!  It does have quite a lot of Safari style 'tent' accommodation...and they were full the nights we were there...Brenda & I asked the cleaning girls to let us have a look inside one...not bad has it's own ensuite Q size bed etc just like a Motel room.Today we went to Wanga Falls and enjoyed a swim in the big pool at the bottom of the waterfalls, they are  spectacular and being a hot day it was great to 'cool' off. 

On our final day here we went to 'more' waterfalls and Cascades The view from the platform over looking the Florence Falls is really something then from there we climbed down 135 steps to the bottom and had to clamber over rocks to get to the pool area...but it was worth it and last but not least the Tonkin Falls again really beautiful to see.

Jaberu - Kakadu

Aboriginal Guide telling us about his tribal laws etc. 

Day 2 in Jaberu Ubirr (oobirr)


On our way to Ubirr we stopped off at Bowali
visiter centre which is quite big and has lots of information on Aborigine Culture etc

When we got to Ubirr we were lucky to tag onto a group who had 2 guides explaining different sights within  this area. Markis told his story from his Aborgininal background what he learned from his Grandfather. He also explained to us his culture and their Laws which never change compared toWhite-man
law (he  is always changing them).





This is Markis Grandfather  the family have lived in this area for long time. When he died Grandfather didn't want to be buried because his spirit would be buried with him so he was laid to rest in a cave high up in the mountain.

This is very special to see this, it had the Ranger going for his camera

Hope you can see this Jaberu Bird sitting on the edge of this rock-face he stayed in this position for 20 mins.
We did more climbing today (just for a change) but it was worth it for the 360deg views we saw from the top. Looking down over theWet lands and wondering how many Crocs were in there and over to weird shapes and sizes of Stone formations.

One of many photo's we have of Aboriginal Rock Art

This is one of the many Rock paintings to be seen in this area Markis explained their meaning and when he was finished his talk he asked if there was any questions... a young boy said he thought it was like a Wipe-board to him (the old and the new) Markis said yes but we are not allowed to wipe ours it is our history.

He also mentioned you fella's in tall building make lots of laws, then you change them.
We have our laws and never change them, if you ignore them you in big trouble, could end up with spear through your leg.

Crocodile was spotted by us just of the far bank

This is the river crossing over the border into Arnhem Land and you need a permit before you can travel there

David & I stood in the Aligator River then  we went up to the lookout where we took this photo and there was a crocadile swimming just 30 metres from where we were standing.

Not very smart as we could have been his dinner.

Kakadu National Park

Pine Creek was an overnight stop on the way to Kakadu.

Hope you can read the history of the mine?

Looks nice but not too healthy

Pine Creek was a Gold Mining Township in it's day, 
so we took a trip out to see where the open cut mine was...it is now full of water and
looks like a beautiful lake, but they tell me there are still a lot of chemicals left in it when it was flooded by the Minning Company.



We are now in Kakadu National Park and staying at Cooinda Resort we are in the Caravan park but we are allowed to use the swimming pools (there are two) and very nice with lots of Palm Trees around.

Groc swimming beside the boat

Old Man Crog 5 metres long sunning himself on river bank

Booked a trip on the Yellow river wetlands cruise, most enjoyable, we were lucky that there was only 9 passengers so we were able to move around the boat when our Guide/driver pointed out where there was big and small Crocodiles lying sleeping in the sun on the banks of the river...we also had a 5 mtr one swimming along side the boat for quite awhile. Our guide is an aborigine and she told us her grandfather had hunted and killed crocs for food from this river
We also saw some lovely Birds including a Sea Eagle and other native birds to this area.

A Beautiful Sea Eagle

A little Kingfisher

Day 2

Visited a place called Nourlangie where we went for a walk and it took us up a very steep-rocky outcrop which looked like a pebble beach in places!!

The Stone Country in Cooinda

Looking for Crocodiles near the Billabomg

 

The view from the top was worth the effort, we looked  out over to the ranges and a huge Billabong down in the wetlands, now if we hadn't done the climb we would not have seen that beautiful view!!
If that wasn't enough on the road back to the caravan park we saw a sign for Mirral Lookout so we decided WHY NOT. It was 1 km in but turned out to be 1 km UP...yes another BIG HILL not only was it steep but the track (sorry goat track) was hard going, we did make it to the top to find we also had to climb stairs to get to the look-out platform to find the view was overgrown with Trees!!! and guess what! we had to scramble 1 km back down again! On return to Cooinda we enjoyed a cool off in the swimming pool.