Broome

After arriving in Broome we booked ourselves into Cable Beach Caravan Park. It’s by far the biggest caravan park we've ever seen but the setting was pretty okay and because it’s low season the place was very, very quiet.

We spent the first day just swimming in the big lagoon style pool, relaxing, reading books, etc. Around sunset we drove to beautiful Cable Beach where you can drive your 4wd on the beach and we had a beer while watching the sunset.  Best holiday feeling if you ask me!

Such a shame swimming in the ocean is not recommended here because of stingers and crocs. It’s most definitely one of the prettiest beaches I've seen.

The next two days were spent similar with a few trips around town to see some of Broome's touristic highlights. The most beautiful places being Gantheaume Point where the red outback sand meets the turquoise blue ocean, and the jetty (where Sander spotted a big turtle). 

One evening we had a delicious kebab at a great Egyptian restaurant and afterwards we went to the well-known Broome Outdoor Cinema, built in 1913. It's actually the world oldest still thriving outdoor cinema! Although the movie was awful (Gone Girl) the setting was magical. Small airplanes came flying over that low, it looked like they were going to hit the screen!

So indeed we did a lot of relaxing the last few days but I have to mention Sander actually worked for half an hour too!!! Helping the guys on the building site next door carry a few large gypp rock sheets. He made some decent earnings; a six pack of beer… lol!

Gibb River Road to Broome

I think this morning we broke our own personal record. We were on the road before 5.30 am, after a much needed improvised shower with a water bottle.

Back we went the 50 km to the river and from here the rougher road started towards Windjana Gorge National Park. Upon arrival we found out there was a really big campground with flush (!) toilets. If we had known that we would have gone here last night. 

It was still reasonable cool, as in sweat wasn’t dripping of our backs yet, so we decided to do a walk first and have breakfast after that.

Via a crack in the rocks you arrive in the riverbed of the Gorge. And although the Gorge was really nice, the main reason we wanted to come here was to see the fresh water crocodiles sunbathing next to the still remaining water. Well, there were plenty of them to see and although they are much smaller than the salt water crocodiles they still can grow up to 3 meters and therefore were impressive to watch in real life.

From Windjana we drove to Tunnel Creek National Park. Going way back in history these parts of Australia used to be under sea level and the rock formation at Tunnel Creek is and ancient reef.

There is a 750 meter self-guided walk into a cave and water shoes and torch were recommended as the signs said. At some parts of the walk you needed to wade through cold water ‘pools’ where again freshwater crocodiles were present. As they are normally harmless to humans they do get defensive if feeling threatened so precaution was in place. 

Hmm… not sure what to expect any more we climbed into the cave which at first was okay and beautiful. But after getting to the darker part and seeing the first ‘pool’ Monique had seen enough. Even Sander admitted it looked a bit daunting. Probably it would have been okay if more tourists were around but with just the two of us Monique didn’t feel comfortable. So we hung around for a bit soaking in the coolness and quietness of the cave, disturbing a bat or two, before heading back to the car.

Via the same route we drove the 180 km back to Derby, got fuel and drove on to Broome. Back to civilization at last!

Ngumban Cliff to Gibb River Road

We were up at sunrise and were at the town of Fitzroy Crossing before 8 am. We had to wait until the Visitors Centre opened just half an hour later. It was then that we found out that a few national parks in The Kimberly’s were still open unlike they told us in Kununurra! 

The good thing was that those parks were reasonable close to where we were. The Geikie Gorge was only 10 minute drive from town.  

After seeing a fair amount of gorges in Australia we weren’t too impressed with this one. We walked around for a bit but it was already too hot for that.

From Geikie we drove to Derby. Every time we'd turn the air con on some ants would sky rocket from the air vents and land on our lap or in our face (they are hard to get rid of once they've invaded your car).

In Derby we visited the Prison Tree. This is a massive hollow Boab Tree (also called Bottle tree because of its shape) which in the early days was used by white settlers as a prison for kidnapped Aboriginals who were forced to become slaves and work on nearby pearl farms. Next we drove to the jetty in Derby where we found out that this place has one of the highest low and high tide variations in Australia. Can you imagine what 11 meters would mean in Northern Europe?

Not sure what to do from here, we went to the Information Centre and before we knew it we found ourselves on our way to Windjana National Park. It was a bit of a detour but at least the park was still open! Most of the track was sealed with only the last 80 km dirt road.

We had set our mind on a free camp spot near the river which meant that the next morning we had only about 30 km of driving left to get to the first National Park. We set up camp and whilst having dinner suddenly the wind picked up and out of nowhere a little fire on the other side of the river started, blowing little sparks everywhere. Not feeling completely safe we decided to go back from where we came from and about 50 km down the track we parked next to the road and stayed there for the night. Although there wasn’t much traffic (there were a few farms and mines in this area) for safety reasons we didn’t sleep with the back door open like we normally do. 

As a result we were swimming in our own sweat during the night. I can’t remember ever being that warm. Somehow we managed to get a few hours of sleep though.

Wyndham to Ngumban Cliff Rest Area

Monique woke up itching and felt like something was crawling on her and being bitten. Soon we found out the car was invaded by tiny little ants. That wasn’t a great start of the day!

We sprayed the car as much as we could trying to kill the little buggers. They had not gotten to our food yet except for our bread, which was covered in ants.

Meanwhile the marsh flies were still obsessed with Monique so you can imagine we couldn’t get out of this place fast enough.

Yesterday we had found out at the info center that all of the National Parks in The Kimberly’s had already closed for the season (wet season is starting soon). That was an enormous bummer as we both had been looking forward to explore this part of Australia. The only park normally still open, as the man at the center sad, was The Bungle Bungles NP, but believe it or not, they closed until further notice because of a big bush fire.

We felt gutted after driving all these kilometers trying to get here fast, before the wet starts, only to find out we were too late already.

So there for today was spent driving again. Heaps of distance to cover to get to the next part of our journey. And there is actually nothing to see on the way. I think it’s hard to understand if you have never experienced it yourself. You just drive through this dry landscape with no touristic sights or what so ever to see. Every 200 to 300 km you might find a roadhouse, rest area or an occasional tiny aboriginal community, which isn’t more than a few neglected houses surrounded by rubbish and most of its citizens sitting together under the shade of a tree. Sometimes you’ll find a tiny little outback town with an information centre, public toilets and a general store. That’s about the highlight of the day… lol!

When we had enough of driving we decided to camp at a rest area just a bit away from the highway and a bit later we were joined by some German backpackers. At least the view and the sunset made up for the otherwise disappointing day.

    

Lake Argyle to Wyndham

It was sad to leave the beautiful camping at Lake Argyle this morning but adventure awaited. After one more dip in the pool we took off to Kununurra.

Our first impression of this little town was a bit disappointing. At the Visitor Information Centre they pointed out a few highlights of the town and its surroundings. We visited Mirima National park. This little Park lies in the ‘backyard’ of the town and we did a 15 minute return walk around the nice rock formations. Going for a longer walk would be suicide with these temperatures (40c +). We got a nice impression though. 

From there we drove to Lake Kununurra. Beautiful, especially for fishing and water skiing the sign at the boat ramp said. Hmmm, for a fact we knew a large salt water croc was caught a few days earlier. No way I’d be water skiing in that lake!

To Monique’s relief Ivanhoe crossing just outside of town was closed for traffic but it was nice to have a look at anyway.

From here we drove to Wyndham, about 100 km North West. We already knew there was not much to see in town but we wanted to see the Five River Lookout. Although the view wasn’t very clear because of a little storm passing us, it was still an impressive sight.

We camped at Wyndham Caravan Park which was kind of deserted except for a few permanents and a donkey and her little one. Oh, and not to mention the marsh flies who kept stinging Monique!