Into the Kimberly - conservation, birds and our first flat tyre

In the relative cool of the morning we all packed into the hire vehicle and headed for Bell Gorge. A short walk led to a peaceful waterhole in which we had a chilly but very refreshing dip. It was our first of many swims in the many chilly waterholes of the Kimberly - such a great antidote to the dust and heat of travelling the Gibb. We don't really know how we'll ever cope without waterhole swimming when we are back in Melbourne - but I suppose we will... After a relaxing day, we were back at the campsite by late afternoon. Nina taught Zara some chords on the ukulele and the two of them strummed and sang.

The following day, we headed into Barnett River Roadhouse to fill our car up with much needed petrol. On the way to the roadhouse we had our first flat tyre for the year! The puncture was pretty enormous but despite some challenges re trying to remember how to use the massive 4WD jack, it was fixed up quickly and we were on our way again. It was a relief to refuel despite the high prices. The roadhouse had a small selection of fresh food and plenty of groceries at insane prices. The place was packed with locals from a nearby community who are forced to pay such prices for their basic goods - except when someone is able to get to Derby or Broome for a big shop-up. Must be a very expensive way to live and when we asked one lady about it she rolled her eyes resignedly and told us they didn't have much choice. I guess it is the way for most outback communities who have to ship or fly or truck goods in.

After knocking back a few ginger beers, we headed back the same way and took the turn off to Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary. This massive area of land (320,668 ha!) is owned and managed by the Australian Wilderness Conservancy who have de-stocked much of the property in an effort to regenerate the land. They are also doing lots of research and have projects on the go to support biodiversity and controlled burning projects to protect the land from devastating late-season fires. We thought that what they were doing was pretty cool (although chatting to staff on the cattle stations we visited later in our Kimberly trip, we soon realised that the folk at Mornington were not all that popular amongst the other landowners in the area...) and it was a lovely place to camp. The birdlife was incredible - Nina was out at the crack of dawn each morning with her binoculars and birdwatching iPhone ap, hiding in nooks and crannies in an effort to spot the elusive Gouldian Finch.

We ended up staying at Mornington for 4 nights, spending our days driving through the property and exploring a couple of lovely gorges and waterholes - walking and swimming at Sir John Gorge, swimming and canoeing at Dimond Gorge and swinging off a rope into the cool waters of Bluebush Waterhole. One evening one of the researchers gave a slideshow and interesting talk about the work being undertaken at Mornington and the aims of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Zara was so inspired by the talk that she immediately started collecting donation forms with the intention of donating great chunks of her pocket money to the cause. She was pretty disappointed when we told her she wasn't allowed to sign herself to a monthly direct debit... Still we admired her intentions.

For anyone interested in Kimberly birdlife, the birds spotted by Nina at Mornington included:

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Red-backed Kingfisher

White-gaped Honeyeater

Mistletoebird

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater

Torresian Crow

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo

Pheasant Coucal

Rufous Whistler

Northern Fantail

Double-barred Finch

Purple-crowned Fairy-wren

Bar-shouldered Dove

Restless Flycatcher

White-throated Honeyeater

Peaceful Dove

Willie Wagtail

Brown Honeyeater

Buff-sided Robin

Green-backed Gerygone

Magpie-lark

Crimson Finch

Striated Pardalote

Great Bowerbird

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Brown Goshawk

White-throated Gerygone

Masked Woodswallow

Black Kite

Little Friarbird

Grey-crowned Babbler

Long-tailed Finch

Varied Lorikeet

White-faced Heron

Intermediate Egret

Star Finch

Australasian Darter

Little Pied Cormorant

Striated Pardalote

Red-winged Parrot

Brown Quail

Long-tailed Finch

Black-faced Woodswallow

White-throated Gerygone

Black-breasted Buzzard

The Trikojus Clan hits Broome, finally into the Kimberly, and quarry men with guns

On the following evening the Trikojus clan arrived in a whirlwind of presents, hugs and general excitement. Sash was so excited to see them that he forgot that he had been expecting their entire book collection and was very content with his new firework PJs and puzzles. Zara quickly squeezed her sleeping mat into beloved Aunty Nina's one-person tent and announced her intention to move in permanently. The next day was spent catching up, making endless plans and shopping lists for our Kimberly adventure and keeping cool in the freezing caravan pool. The others picked up their hire car and we visited the Broome supermarket and bought so much stuff that it was surprising that anything was left on the shelves (or in our bank accounts). Not only did we have to buy enough to feed all 7 of us on for our 2 week trip, but also enough provisions for Kate, Bill, Zara and Sash to survive for up to a month in the Kimberly after Jane, Sasha and Nina had returned to Melbourne. That's a lot of long-life milk, tins of tomatoes, tuna and even instant mashed potato...

That evening we had a lovely time gallivanting and watching the sun set on Cable Beach and then munching down fish and chips back at the caravan park. Next day we packed up and, after a few false starts finally headed into the Kimberly. We drove in the direction of Fitzroy Crossing then turned north towards the Gibb River Road, stopping to camp at an old quarry that Nina knew from a previous visit to the area. We were slightly disconcerted to discover a group of workmen near the entrance to the campground and even more disconcerted when a bloke holding an enormous gun in one hand and a beer in the other gave us friendly directions to the camping spot... Made for slighly nervous camping but fortunately the night was peaceful with no sounds of gunshots or partying. It was Little Sasha's turn to share Nina's tent and they rose with the sun the next morning to clamber around the rocks above the campsite. Unfortunately Big Sash discovered during the night that he had been attacked by sandflies in Broome - his arms were covered with itchy welts which continued to torment him throughout the trip.

We stopped at Tunnel Creek in order to explore the underground creek. It was pretty cool wading through the sometimes-deep pools wondering whether we were brushing up against fresh water crocs, and checking out the bats in the roof of the caves. The history of the place is interesting - the famous aboriginal outlaw Jandamarra hid there for 3 years until the troopers caught up with him and shot and decapitated him at the mouth of Tunnel Creek in 1897. It was amazing to think of him living in the darkness for so long.

We travelled on to Windjana Gorge, enjoying the vistas of boab trees, red rocks and spindly gums as we drove. We were surprised to find the Windjana campground had flushing toilets and hot showers - we had been expecting to rough it in the Kimberly and yet the campgrounds had more luxurious facilities than we had seen outside a caravan park for a very long time. The next morning we headed into the gorge where we climbed a rocky path through caves and along ledges until we found groups of freshwater crocodiles basking in the sun on the banks of the water. We were able to get within metres of the crocs which was pretty amazing.

After returning to the campsite, we packed up in the hot sun and then hit the road. Soon enough we turned onto the actual Gibb River Road - famed for its bumps and ability to break even the toughest Landcruiser. After checking out a few campsites, we finally decided on a little spot next to a stream lined with pandanus. There was no one else there which was lovely as the kids could make noise and we could enjoy a short break from the crowds of Kimberly tourists. Nina and Jane braved the 'croccy looking' stream for a cooling swim and Bill and Nina set rods in the hope of catching some dinner. Nina, a knowledgeable birdo, was excited to spot a rare purple-crowned fairy wren.

Apart from some stress about having enough petrol and poor Big Sasha's itching arms, it had been an inspiring start to our time in the Kimberly - lovely landscape, shady campsites and the general excitement of spending some time with family after such a long time on the road.

 

 

Endless washing, fishcakes, markets, camels and a staircase to the moon

We had long been looking forward to arriving in Broome. Some people rave about the place whereas others say it's too busy and touristy. But to us it seemed that we had finally arrived in the part of the country we were most keen to visit. And of course, we were also pretty excited at the impending arrival of Jane, Sasha and Nina. Little Sash, who has spent many happy days at Eltham with his grandparents reading him endless numbers of books, had somehow become convinced that Jane and Sasha were going to bring with them their entire impressive children's book collection and he chatted on about various books they were going to read to him when they arrived.

In the meantime, we took the car in for a service and washed pretty much everything we owned - linen, sleeping bags, clothes towels etc which involved endless treks between the trailer, the laundry and the washing line. The women in the laundry chatted to Kate and looked incredulously at Bill (a male invading their space...). In the evening we watched Ice Age 4 at the Broome outdoor picture theatre - Kate and Bill thought it was a dreadful movie but the kids loved it and the picture theatre was pretty special. It was exciting when planes coming into land at Broome Airport roared over our heads as we watched the movie - we ducked stupidly every time a plane zoomed over.

Broome was busy and in our usual style we hadn't booked a spot in the caravan park - and so we ended up in a dusty end of the Broome Caravan park with little scenery and the construction of a toilet block close by. Fortunately our neighbours were a friendly family who had just come through the Kimberly and had a lot of excellent tips and advice - they even wrote us a bunch of useful notes to take with us.

We were right on time to enjoy one of Broome's biggest attractions - the staircase to the moon. The staircase is a natural and rare phenomenon when the moon reflects in the mudflats of Roebuck bay and makes an image of a stairway. It is a special thing - but probably not special enough to justify the 5-person deep rows of tourists all along the beach jostling and arguing and setting up tripods. Kate and Sash managed to crawl beneath walls of legs and find a decent viewing spot underneath a tripod. But along with the moon comes a lovely little market - the moon market- set up along the beach and selling fish cakes, smoothies, crafts and souvenirs. We were happy to meet up with our friends Bruce and Katherine and their kids Josh, Emily, Ollie and Abby (from Cape Range and then Karijini) and wander the markets with them. Zara chose a hair ornament from a stall and was thrilled when the lady plaited her hair and then attached the little swinging kangaroo and beads at the end of the plait.

The next morning, we really embraced the tourist requirements of Broome by going on a camel ride along cable beach. The beach was lovely in the early morning and the kids loved the bumpy camel ride. Seeing as we were doing the tourist thing, we drove out to the Malcolm Douglas crocodile farm in the afternoon and sidled past the crocodile skin belts and purses on sale to enjoy the croc feeding. We got to hold baby crocs with their little jaws tied shut which was kinda fun although a bit weird. It was definitely exciting to see the crocs jumping out of the water as they got fed but there was little sense of conservation about the place - much more about entertaining the tourist with thrilling crocodile encounters than caring for these incredible reptiles. The guide was a crocodile tough-guy who goaded the crocs into leaping from the water - but he certainly knew a lot about them and gave a pretty interesting commentary. Also, the park had lots of other birds and animals and so it was fun to wander around after the croc feeding.

Dinasaur footprints and alarming croc news

We were on another timetable. We had arranged to meet Bill's parents and sister in Broome in early August for a Kimberly adventure - so it was time to put our foot down and get there. However the journey from Millstream to Broome was too long for us, so we stopped for 2 nights at a place called Cape Kenaudren. It was a funny spot - initially a bit of an uninspiring campsite although with a pleasant enough beach. We were however excited to be able to have a campfire after all the 'no fires' rules in the national parks. The next day Kate felt obliged to use the only internet connection we had found for ages to update this blog (in which we were not even in Perth) however Bill and Zara and Sash went off exploring the beach and discovered a wonderland of rockpools, white sand and what looked suspiciously like dinosaur footprints but were probably just cool shapes in the rocks. Back at camp, Kate chatted to the ranger and asked about salties in the area. He told her that yes, there were plenty including a resident monster. He also told her that salties were all down the coast and that two salties had been shot last year near Exmouth! Yikes. It's a good thing nobody mentioned that before we spent endless hours snorkeling and swimming there...

Hiking through the Pilbara, sturts desert peas and rubbish collection frenzies

Everyone goes to Karajini. Which is understandable because it is superb. But fewer people venture north to Millstream Chichester National Park. But someone had raved about it to us and that is really all it takes to have a place added to our unplanned itinerary. So late one afternoon we trundled into the park, bringing with us a truckload of red dirt from Karajini. In fact we were so red the camp host at Millstream took one look at us and our stuff and kindly advised Kate to wash everything in cold water as warm water will make the dirt set into the material forever... Indeed she was actually correct about this (our clothes still look dirty after they have just come out of the machine...) but Kate was too busy snorting derisively to take in her advice. Bill diplomatically mentioned that it would probably be him that does the washing at which she nodded knowingly and said to Kate 'ahhh you are one of those very career driven women'. Enough said. Anyway she was actually very kind and redeemed herself somewhat later by giving us a government sponsored 'manage your camping rubbish kit' complete with tongs, gloves and garbage bags. which kept the kids occupied for hours! 

As usual we had arrived too late in the day and the small but raved about Crossing Pool campsite was full, so we set up at Milyana campsite near one of the park's attractions - an old homestead turned into a museum. The first night we went to a lovely swimming spot called Deep Reach with the intention of scrubbing off some of the red dirt. We had a bbq and quickly dumped ourselves into the cold water, but we felt a bit suss of salties (although the ranger later reassured us that there's nothing that bites in there) so didn't stay in long. However we came back to Crossing Pool twice more and Zara, Kate and Bill enjoyed the swimming while cold-frog Sash danced around the bbq area in his undies.

Next day, Sash and Kate checked out the homestead and took a walk to Crossing Pool in order to torture ourselves about what might have been. The weather was warm so we ambled along and counted Kites wheeling in the sky. Sash likes to call all large birds of prey Wedgies so he spent happy hours 'Wedgie spotting'. Next day we headed out to the other end of the park where we climbed a mountain and then hiked through some pretty spectacular Pilbara landscape. Bill and Zara came part of the way and then turned back, ostensibly to drive around to the end of the walk and do school whilst waiting for Kate and Sash, but in actual fact Bill discovered a little patch of internet connection on the top of an escarpment which his internet starved soul could not resist. Fortunately they redeemed themselves by playing made up maths games as they hiked and drove. We all came together again at a special place called Python Pool where swimming sadly wasn't allowed but we lunched and enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the place. 

Sash has developed an unexpected passion for wildflowers and insists we take photos of the ones he spots

Sash with the rubbish collecting kit - note the underpants on his head