Photos Kununurra to Fitzroy Crossing

Large Perentie on Way to Fitzroy Crossing


Geikie Gorge



Willy Willy on way to Halls Creek



A stand of small boabs surrounding a large Boab on way to Halls Creek



Large Rock on way to Halls Creek



Rainbow BeeEater



Ruby and Moses in El Questro Gorge on El Questro Station



Brankos Lookout above Pentecost River



El Questro Gorge on El Questro Station



A view from a river crossing on El Questro Station




Moses with his first Barramundi caught in the Pentecost River at Branko's Hole



The Prado takes on the large rocks on the road at Explosion Gorge, El Questro Station



Explosion Gorge, El Questro Station (large croc known to be in these waters, no fishing!)



Brolgas on El Questro Station



Banjo on top of Branko's Lookout looking down to Pentecost River, El Questro Station



Yellow Tree Snake in leaves of Pandanna, El Questro Station



Ruby swimming El Questro Station waterhole



Blue-Winged Kookaburras, camp ground, El Questro Station



Mini "Bungle Bungles", just outside Kununurra (Mirima, NP)

Fitzroy Crossing and the Kimberleys

Hello All,

We are all starting to get into the swing of the holiday. The setting up and pulling down of the Jayco is becoming smoother and taking less time which means we have more time to do other things.

We stayed at Kununurra for a few days, went to a market which was small but interesting, went to the "mini" Bungle Bungles, too late to remember the name of it Mirima or something similar, as well as going to the crossing of he Ord River, watching people "surf" on the back of cars holding the bumper bar as the car drove across the crossing, went to the dam wall, very impressive, and spent the day up at Wyndham going to the croc farm and the lookout where 5 rivers flow into the Gulf. We stopped at a place called Parry's Lagoon, Pete, you would have loved it, had a little bird watching hutch and the birdlife was pretty fantastic in and around the lagoon.

The next trip was to go to Lake Argyle and we had our first fishing experience for the trip. Each of the kids at least caught a fish, even if they were catfish. It was stinking hot and we only lasted about 45 minutes, then back into Kununurra for a small shopping trip and then off to El Questro Station.

It is generally agreed this has been the nicest places we have been to. The campsite was nice and the gorges around the Station, or "wilderness Park" were spectacular, photos to follow at a later date. The animal and birdlife was once again quite prolific, with encounters with a few snakes, large goannas and fortunately no crocs.
We also had our second fishing trip here and again, all the kids caught fish, the highlight being Moses' first ever Barramundi (although he swears he has caught them before!). Unfortunately it was only 45 cms and we couldn't keep it, which caused a few tears, but he accepted it pretty well.

We noticed that we had lost one of the plugs connected to the Jayco and so rather than head down the Gibb River Rd further which we thought was now preferable, we decided it was more prudent to head back to Kununurra for some spares.
We headed down the bitumen towards Halls Creek and after a delightful 3 night stay at El Questro, HC just didn't stack up.
We left HC this morning fairly early and drove on to where we are now, Fitzroy Crossing. We spent the afternoon at Geikie Gorge, which was nice but not what we were expecting.
Tomorrow we are off to Windjana Gorge for a couple of nights before heading into civilisation and Broome on Monday.
The days in the car have been spent listening to Harry Potter audio books, and we have started spelling and maths games for the kids.
The photos and videos continue to pile up so I'll only include some of the memorable photos in the next post.

Greetings from Kununurra, WA. Today was Banjo's birthday and we had a great wildlife experience by visiting the Crocodile Farm at Wyndham and then Parry's Lagoon about 20 kms south of Wyndham. A lot of photos taken of crocodiles and a few videos. the birdlife at Parry's Lagoon was spectacular, our first Brolga for instance. We have also had a few close encounters with large Goannas, haven't had a chance to find out what sort yet. I hope to have a section for our twitching efforts soon.
It is very warm here as it was in Katherine/Nitmiluk but we are all drinking lots of water and generally coping. The nights are awful to start with but cool down below 30 degrees by midnight, then drop another 5 - 10 degrees in the early hours.
I'll post up some photos and videos when I finish this.

Off to Lake Argyle and the El Questro Station in the next few days, then head across to Broome via the bitumen (not the Gibb River Road as we had originally intended).

Hope you enjoy the videos and photos.

W-F's

Alice Springs to Nitmiluk

Hi All,

We finally set off at 9 am on Sunday morning, and promptly sat and watched the Transport Hall of Fame parade stream out of a side street in front of us and so we sat back and watched for about 20 minutes. We hadn't left Alice Springs and already we were treated to something new (an Alice Springs traffic jam!).
We stoppded off a few times before Tennant Creek, then went to the Dam just north of Tennant. We then set off for Lake Woods, our first night destination, 750 kms north, just outside of Elliot. The birdlife was pretty good there with lots of Kites, Shags, Pelicans to keep us amused and entertained. The local Principal had decided our spot was a good place to launch a canoe or two with 30 or so school kids, so we decided to get out of there as quickly as we could when we heard we were about to be invaded.
Day 2 was spent slowly driving to Mataranka and we found a lovely camp site Julikara and although the signs said no salt-water crocs, we decided that apart from a very quick in and out experience by a very brave Annie, we might wait until the hot springs.
Our campsite was one of only half a dozen tennanted sites so we had lots of room. We started to understand our Jayco a bit better and we had the take down finished in half an hour, the kids getting involved with "jobs".
We left julikara and headed to Elseys Cemetery which is dedicated to the characters in the book "We of the Never Never" Then off to Mataranka Station Hot Springs and all of us managed to get into the water, including Banjo with his fibreglass cast held high. A lovely relaxing swim, then a spot of lunch in the dirt next to the car. There is also a replica of the Homestead from the book here so we could see what matrials were used in the construction of a homestead over 100 years ago.
Next into Katherine for a spot of shopping and an attempt to get Banjo's cast off. The hospital wanted to make him wait for 4 hours so the offer ws declined. We headed out to Nitmiluk, Katherine Gorge, and settled in for a few days. Annie decided she could easily get Banjo's cast off so off it came last night (Tuesday 31st August, 4 weeks to the day since he broke his forearm).
Today we awoke with high expectations of continuing on our merry life with lots of activities but sometimes life doesn't go to plan, and Annie and I decided a rest day was needed. So we had a lazy day swimming in the pool at the camping ground, a gentle walk down to the Katherine River, and basically spent much of the day trying to recuperate some of the energy from packing the house and setting off into the unknown of Jayco camping world.
Tomorrow we are intending to take a 3 hour cruise up the river, with 3 different Gorges and a few different boats. I am hoping for still water to be the order of the day.
We have seen lots of birds, all documented, and we already have some reat moments captured on both still and movie cameras. These will be added separately.
Until the next post ....

New Car Photos

Hi All,

The old Nissan that has served us so well was traded in for the newer Prado.

Lots of room, enough seats for all of us plus a friend each for the kids, and it feels very comfortable and enjoyable to drive.

September 2009 update

It has been a while since the last post. We have successfully negotiated a Beanie Festival, had a great couple of weeks at Wee Jasper with Helen, Harry, Kath, Pete, tom, Hannah and Ellen, as well as visits from Shirley and Bob, and Val who we also visited on the way home. Saw Broken Hill as well as the Dubbo Zoo also on the way home.

Once home it was back into the swing of things. Annie busy with being the Chair of the Board at the TASSA Steiner School), as well as working at hetti Perkins and being the wonderful mum she is, running the kids around, inviting their friends over etc.

Ruby has been busy outside of school with gym, netball and singing.

Moses and Banjo both played Auskick and soccer over Winter.

Richard has been doing a fair bit of travel these last few months to Darwin, Nhulunbuy and surrounds, for work. Soccer coaching has just finished (Banjo's team, Stormbirds Under 7s) and cricket coaching started this week (Fed's Under 9s, both Moses and Banjo play in this).

We are thinking of moving house, but the market in Alice Springs is very tight at the moment so we may have to wait longer than we would like until a more suitable, affordable house becomes available.

Pics of the last few months to follow.

Moses Birthday Party

A late change of plans saw us stay at home instead of going to the Clay Pans. Lovely mid-day party, with a few select friends of Moses. We think this might be the best cake yet, but there's always the next birthday!