Darwin

Friday 21 June 2013 - Wednesday 10 July 2013

While in Darwin we caught up with Craig’s Canberra buddy Tim and his family.  They had us over to dinner one night and while the adults caught up all the kids had a great time playing footy, basketball, nerf gun wars and sitting ducks.  We also caught up for a lunch at the Nightcliff markets,  had a ten pin bowling challenge and went to feed some of the local fish.

 

 

Adam's victory dance

 

 

 

 



Grandma and Grandad took Angie out for a day shopping and for lunch on the waterfront.   We spent an evening at Cullen bay playing footy and the Frisbee and got fish and chips for dinner. 

The boys enjoyed spending some pocket money at Mindil beach markets where they all bought a sand dollar necklace that had been hand painted by a local artist. Adam also made his own slushie where he had a little of every flavour that they had on offer. 

As the market were closing we made our way down to Mindil beach to complete our evening with a lovely sunset.

  

 

Nathan and Steph phoned us to let us know that they had won tickets to the Darwin Beer Festival.  As mum and dad were here to look after the kids we were able to go along and have a great day out.

 

There were breweries and wineries from all over Australia.  We started at booth number one and sampled beer and wine until we got to the last booth.  I can't quite remember how many booths there were all up. 

 

We also shared a couple of beers with Chris from Masterchef.

There was a free water park that we took the boys to a couple of times.  It had three huge water slides, a kids water park and a lovely swimming lagoon, which made for a great day out.

Darwin needed to find out a way to use up all those beer cans that they go through up North, so they came up with the "Beer can regatta".  There were many different crafts constructed from beer cans and the kids took part in kids activities including the tug of war.

We also visited the crocosaurus cove and watched some crazy people partake in the "Cage of Death".
The boys also got to hold a baby croc and a huge python.

The Cage of Death

As we had not booked into a van park before we got to Darwin and it was peak season we had to stay in three different van parks.  While we were staying at Hidden Valley we met "Marty the weather man" who was selling his series of books about life on the road.  Craig brought all 4 of them and has enjoyed some good reading.

We stayed in Darwin a week longer than we were going to due to car issues so it was here that we said goodbye to mum and dad and they made their way back down North.

 

Lake Argyle

Tuesday 18th June 2013 - Thursday 20th June 2013

After stopping in Kununarra to stock up we drove roughly 50kms to Lake Argyle.  We had been told by many a traveller that the infinity pool there was amazing but we didn't realise how amazing it was until we saw it.  The pool's backdrop included the lake and the mountains surrounding it.  The water was refreshingly cold so we enjoyed some lovely swims.

 

 

As I was walking to the pool I heard familiar voices calling my name - it was Nathan and Steph who had also coincidently arrived that day. We enjoyed a night at their camp site sitting under the stars, catching up on travelling stories and having many laughs.

We set sail on an amazing sunset cruise where we learnt that Lake Argyle is Australia’s largest expanse of freshwater covering an area of more than 900 square kilometres.  When full it holds 50 times as much water as Sydney Harbour.  We saw lots of wildlife and encountered an amazing sunset.

 

 

The skipper stopped the boat in the middle of Lake Argyle and announced that the kids were able to jump off the top of the boat into the water.  The boys and all the other kids on board had a ball jumping from the top of the boat into the lake. The adults also jumped into the water and floated on the noodles while enjoying a refreshing drink.

 

 

 

 

After the cruise we spent the evening dining at the pub listening to Lake Argyle's local musician Steve Case.  Kai got up on the stage and danced the night away with some other kids. Grandma bought him Steve's CD which we now sing along to when we are on the road.



 

El Questro



 

 Friday 14th June 2013 - Monday 17th of June 2013

 

As mum and dad had travelled this far from the South Coast we convinced them that they should come and experience part of the true Kimberley by getting off road and visiting El Questro.  We had heard from other travellers that the track into El Questro was suitable for two wheel drives so they agreed to make the trip.

 

The first part of the Gibb River was sealed until we arrived to the turnoff of El Questro station. From there we drove along the dirt track towards the entrance of the park.  All was well until we passed the grader and the corrugations became quite brutal. 

 

We lost sight of mum and dad, who were driving behind us, so we pulled over to wait for them.  After about half and hour we thought they must have turned around so we drove back along the track until we spotted them. They were driving extremely slow along the side of the road, trying to lessen the impact of the corrugations on their car and caravan. I am sure they were cursing us under their breath and for a brief time were regretting the decision to go off road.  There were also 3 creek crossings that made mum very nervous - but they got across with no dramas and we made it to the station gates.

 

 

 

As we were checking in we bumped into Michelle, Cameron, Ryan and Liam who coincidentally  arrived at El Questro at the same time as us. Adam was very excited that he was going to be able to hang around his mate once again and we all found a nice shady spot by the river to set up camp. 
Once camp was established, we headed up to the bar for happy hour to calm grandma and grandad's nerves after the interesting drive in.

The next day we took an early morning walk with Ryan and his family along El Questro Gorge.  It was lovely - we ended up at a refreshing and crystal clear pool where the kids were brave enough to take a dip in the cold water.

On the second afternoon we took a cruise on the Chamberlain River.  Along the way our guide availed us of the history of El Questro and we learnt about the wildlife surrounding the Gorge.   At the end of the Gorge the kids were able to feed the Archer fish who catch their prey by shooting it with a squirt of water.  The kids held out a piece of bread for the fish and the fish spat the water back at them.

We spent one morning rejuvenating at the Zebedee Thermal Springs. Craig, Cameron, Michelle and I found a nice relaxing spa pool at the top of the rocks and we declared it kid free. The kids enjoyed hanging out in the bottom pools with Grandma and Grandad.

The kids found a rope swing and had fun jumping into the part of the river you could swim in. 

Dad decided to have a swim in the part of the river that you couldn't swim in and was joined by a crocodile.  He could not get out of the water fast enough and was very much out of breath when he raced back to camp.

The resident cowboy had a whip for sale so we bought one for the family.  Lachlan picked it up and started cracking it like a professional.  He was impressing everyone with his whip cracking skills and was certainly looking the part with his cowboy hat and boots.

Craig and I sat up at the camp fire one night sharing stories with many other travellers and enjoying the local entertainment. We were the last of the guests to leave the camp fire along with the El Questro staff members who were enjoying after work drinks.

The day before we left, Craig, Dad and I booked ourselves into a half hour helicopter flight so that we could take in El Questro from the air.  We were all set to go until the pilot announced that the helicopter was having trouble starting.  After a short delay the engineers fixed the problem (which was a flat battery) and the pilot convinced us that the helicopter wasn't going to fall out of the sky.  We were on our way!

It took us all about 10 minutes to relax into the flight but after that we sat back and enjoyed the view and the commentary about this spectacular million acre property.

 
El Questro Homestead

 

 

Kununurra _ Saying goodbye to the Rippons

Tuesday 11 June 2013 - Wednesday 12 June 2013

The drive between Home Valley and El questro was incredibly rocky and rugged and we also had to cross the mighty Pentecost River.  When we made it to the end of the Gibb River Road we drove to Wyndham to meet the Rippons at the Five Rivers lookout.  From this lookout  you can view the Ord, Forrest, King, Durack and Pentecost Rivers that merge with the Cambridge Gulf.

 

The Five Rivers lookout

We spent our last night with the Rippons at Parry's Creek farm tourist resort where we enjoyed an evening swim and pizza from the restaurant.  The boys had fun cane toad hunting and managed to catch 21 cane toads. The next morning Craig went with some of the Rippons to the Billabong down the road to view all the early morning bird life that frequented the area.

The next day we drove to Kununurra in convoy with the Rippons and we checked into the Ivanhoe van park, where mum and dad were waiting for us.  The Rippons came over to the van park for lunch and a swim before it was time to say goodbye.  This goodbye came a little earlier than we expected and it was very sad to leave them once again.  Now, for the rest of the trip we were on our own.

 

 

'Saying Goodbye'

 

Derby and Gibb River Road

Friday 7 June 2013 - Tuesday 11 June 2013

As Nick and Belinda were leaving Broome at the same time we decided to do a car swap with the kids.  Sophie came with us and Lachlan went with the Pinks.  We swapped the kids back at the roadhouse after which we went our separate ways. The Pinks took the turnoff to Fitzroy Crossing and we kept driving towards the Gibb River Road.

On our way we passed through Derby which has the highest tides in Australia, with the peak differential between low and high tide reaching 11.8 meters.  We tried to get to the wharf in time to see the run in tide but unfortunately just missed it.  However while we were there, we couldn't resisted a feed of Barra and Chips for lunch.






We also stopped at the Boab Prison Tree which was used as a lock up facility in the 1890s for prisoners who were on their way to Derby.

                                                 Boab Prison Tree

 

On departing Derby we commenced our journey along the 600 odd kilometre Gibb River road.  That night we stayed at March Fly Glenn and met a family with two young girls ,Courtney and Cassy. All the kids had fun playing spotlight around the camp site.  The next day we went with them to Bell Gorge and had a swim at the falls.  The walk in was around 40 minutes in the heat so a refreshing swim at the bottom of the gorge was just the ticket.

 

 

 



That afternoon we arrived at the Manning Gorge camp ground and the kid immediately recognised the camper trailer of Thomas and his family who we had originally met at Eighty Mile Beach.  Thomas, Adam and his friends had fun swimming in the lagoon and having a row in the boat that was needed to get across the river.

 

The next morning we packed up early and made our way towards Home Valley Station, stopping on the way at Ellenbrae Stations for a scrumptious Devonshire tea.  We arrived at Home Valley just after lunch.  We had such a good time there when we stayed there 9 years ago and wondered if the same young family were still running the place this time around.  We were amazed to see the difference.  There was now a huge kids playground, a bar and grill and a resort style swimming pool.  There were also numerous activities such as hele fishing, sight seeing tours and horse rides. 

 

It had become way more commercial than it had been 9 years ago where the couple who ran the place back then prepared a home cooked roast for the 10 or so travellers who were staying there.

 





We met two girls from Darwin - and they decided to sign up for helefishing.  We watched their helicopter take off the next morning and they came back later that evening with a 79cm barramundi.  That night they paid a small fee for the chefs to cook the Barra and indulged in a delicious feast.

 

The next morning we went to visit their bush campsite by the river and enjoyed the sunrise over coffee.

 

 

                                                                             Home Valley Bush Camp on the Pentacost River

 

 

We drove up to the Cockburn range lookout one evening to take in the sunset. We marvelled at the brightness of the Moon and Venus which were lined up next to each other in the evening sky.



 

 

 

I took a horse ride that was supposed to be for 2 hours and turned into 4 hours. As there was only a small group riding the stockmen decided to extend the ride and it was a fantastic way to see the Kimberly landscape.  When we arrived back Craig had packed up the camper and we decided to have lunch at the restaurant before departing.

 

 

Leaving Broome and Cape Leveque

Monday 3rd June 2013 - Friday 7th June 2013

On our last night in Broome Craig went solo to the Ice House concert at Cable Beach.  He enjoying sitting under the stars listening to all the Ice House classics.

 
The next day we decided that we'd go to Cape Leveque seeing as we missed it on our last trip.  We took our camper and although the track was quite corrugated we made it to Middle Lagoon with little trouble.  When we got there we went for a bit of frisbee throwing and swimming in the clear waters that backed onto our campsite.  The kids soon got out though as they had been stung by something in the water that they thought may have been jelly fish. 

We met a family from Derby, who camped there every year, and we played a bit of beach cricket with them. 

 

We took a drive up to the top of Cape Leveque and after paying $5 per person we were allowed to explore the beaches of Kooljamon. 

  

 

 

 

On the way back we visited the Whalesong Cafe where we marvelled at the changing colours of the ocean while enjoying coffee and cake from the deck.

 

That night it started to rain slightly and as we had heard it was pouring down in Broome. We decided we should head back from Cape Leveque the next morning in case it rained heavily and the road became impassable. 

   

The trip back was very hairy as the rain set in...before long we were driving through a "river".  There was many a time where I thought we might get bogged although Craig did exceptionally well and we made it to the end of the 130km dirt road.  Here we encountered two other Canberra cars, which had also drove the in the crazy conditions, and we came to the conclusion that us Canberra people must be the only ones silly enough to attempt this drive.

  

We eventually got back to Broome and we heard that the Cape Leveque road had been closed about 30 minutes before we got back. Thank goodness we made it or we would have been stuck at the Cape for about 5 nights. 
 
Craig and Adam went to the Divers tavern that night to sample their famous lamb ribs and watch the State of Origin. They were the only New South Wales supporters in the room and they were very happy as New South Wales won that game.

It  poured all night and the camper got soaked so we spent the next day washing and drying almost everything we owned.

 

  A wet Cable beach van park