Sad farewells, another gorgeous gorge and chocolate marshmallow damper

After such a lovely time in the Kimberly it was time to say goodbye to Sasha, Jane and Nina. They were heading back to Broome via James Price Point (to check out and support the protest - but unfortunately thwarted by a road block) and the Broome Bird Observatory (to camp next to serious twitchers and birdos and spot even more fabulous birds). The separation of food and belongings took an incredibly long time but eventually everyone was packed up, many hugs were had, and we all hit the road.

It was strange being back to just the four of us. It was oddly quiet and the kids talked longingly about when they would see their grandparents back in Melbourne. We squatted next to the side of the road and ate our standard order lunch of tuna and biscuits and cucumber and then pushed on to a lovely campsite at Manning Gorge. The campsite was right on a lovely swimming hole and an hour or so walk from an amazing gorge with waterfalls and rock holes and all sorts of wonderful things. We headed to the gorge the following morning with fishing-starved Bill dragging his rod all the way. The walk began with a deep water crossing which required putting backpacks and hiking boots into plastic boxes and then swimming them across. Zara, who is a regular little fish these days, swam easily across, but little Sash was very reluctant to jump into the cool waters and be dragged to the other side. Eventually we all managed it and we were all dripping wet, keeping us cool on the hot walk ahead. The walk was pretty scrambly and hilly but well worth it. Not only did we have a great time swimming, jumping into the icy water and sliding on our bottoms down little trickly waterfalls - but Bill caught a black bream which he carried bobbing up and down on his rod all the way home for dinner. On a roll, Bill outdid himself in the kids' eyes by concocting the most delicious and indulgent dessert known to campers. First he made damper laced with drinking chocolate, into which he inserted pieces of swiss chocolate and marshmellow before folding the dough over to make a sort of calzone-style piece of deliciousness that was cooked in the camp oven and then devoured by four hungry beasts...

We liked Manning Gorge so much we decided to stay another day - relaxing and swimming in the waterhole. The kids met yet another friendly family with four similar aged kids and spent happy hours playing hide and seek, collecting treasure and climbing trees. The family joined us around the campfire that night and told us tales about traveling Australia in their converted bus. Bill continued his baking frenzy by making damper rolls for lunch - a tradition which really kept our lunches afloat during our time in the Kimberly - right up until we had nothing left to put on them!

water crossing on the way to Manning Gorge