A really scary night with the wind pounding the tree above the van, but we managed to make it through the night with the only damage being some loosened guy ropes.
An early start by the kids but the adults took a while to get going. Eventually we did and went to a Hatchery about 20 kms away and Banjo and Annie fed Barramundi by hand, and we all got to see and feel some fantastic creatures of the nearby waters.
The wind finally died down towards the end of the day and we had a nice little fishing session with the red cliffs and sunset as a truly spectacular backdrop. Harry skinned and cleaned and filleted the fish we caught and finally I managed to get in on the fish catching action.
We are hoping for a calm morning so we can do a bit of snorkellng on the nearby reefs.
As I write this I have a fruit bat making a racket above me and a gecko chirping away nearby. Anyone who was thinking about coming here should just do it. The area around the Cape is unusual and spectacular.
Movies and photos to follow.
WF's
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Broome to Cape Leveque
Had 4 nights in Broome, recharging our travel weary bodies! :-) Some fishing, and shopping and finding dinosaur footprints as well as seeing Annie's Mum and Dad, Helen and Harry. Helen's birthday last night we ate out, a rare treat.
Have now arrived at the Cape of Eden! Cape Leveque. 200 kms north of Broome. About 100 kms of dirt, but the road was better than some we have travelled, and the van stayed almost dust free except for the door, so that was good. Stopped off at Beagle Bay to see an amazing church that had lots of mother of pearl in the floor, in the lecturn, in the paintings, and the architecture was almost Spanish in design.
Arrived at Cape Leveque to a very windy reception but we are hoping it will blow itself out by tomorrow. Had a fish in the afternoon with Moses catching his first ever Queenfish. The swimming beach looks like a lagoon at a tropical island, will add photos and videos later. The fishing beach has some fantastic red cliffs, may even paint some of these.
We finally found a hat for Ruby that is to her liking and is wide-brimmed whilst in Broome. Photos to follow.
It is still hard to believe we are here, and we have so many wonderful photos and memories from the first two and a half weeks. It is lovely to be able to share some of the trip with Helen and Harry.
The car and van continue to serve us well.
Even though we are remote here, there would still be close to 75 others around the place, so not quite all alone in the north of WA but it is no surprise as even though the weather is not fantastic, the place is stunning.
More later,
WF's
Have now arrived at the Cape of Eden! Cape Leveque. 200 kms north of Broome. About 100 kms of dirt, but the road was better than some we have travelled, and the van stayed almost dust free except for the door, so that was good. Stopped off at Beagle Bay to see an amazing church that had lots of mother of pearl in the floor, in the lecturn, in the paintings, and the architecture was almost Spanish in design.
Arrived at Cape Leveque to a very windy reception but we are hoping it will blow itself out by tomorrow. Had a fish in the afternoon with Moses catching his first ever Queenfish. The swimming beach looks like a lagoon at a tropical island, will add photos and videos later. The fishing beach has some fantastic red cliffs, may even paint some of these.
We finally found a hat for Ruby that is to her liking and is wide-brimmed whilst in Broome. Photos to follow.
It is still hard to believe we are here, and we have so many wonderful photos and memories from the first two and a half weeks. It is lovely to be able to share some of the trip with Helen and Harry.
The car and van continue to serve us well.
Even though we are remote here, there would still be close to 75 others around the place, so not quite all alone in the north of WA but it is no surprise as even though the weather is not fantastic, the place is stunning.
More later,
WF's
Monday, September 13, 2010
Left Fitzroy Crossing and headed up the dirt road, corrugated, and headed for Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge. The tunnel was pretty amazing with the water carving a tunnel through a limestone hill. We bravely walked through pitch black waters and made it half way to see bats and a giant tree root, then continued to the other side of the hill to a lovely little creek (I assume this is still Tunnel Creek.)
We then headed to Windjana Gorge where we finally could show the kids fresh water crocs in the wild. We also took a photo (not shown yet) or a fossilised fish, about 350 million years old.
Windjana Gorge was pretty warm so we decided as there was no place for us to swim there, that we would strike out for Broome that day rather than stay at the Gorge.
We made it through to Derby without too many adventures, and stopped at the Prison Boab Tree, I think this is supposed to be 1500 years old although I may be about 1350 years out there!.
We then continued to Broome where we met up with Annie's parents, Helen and Harry. We sauntered down to the beach after a fairly lazy day and Harry and I had a fish with no luck, but the sunset was beautiful.
Today I was up early and had a fish with some moderate success. The sunrise was again spectacular over Cable Beach.
The day was another fairly lazy one with a bit of shopping, swimming in the pool at the caravan park, and generally relaxing. Annie, Helen, Harry and the kids did go to some dinosaur footprints site in the morning.
Tomorrow is Helen's birthday so we will send the kids in when they wake for breakfast in bed! :-) Actually, we may hold them back until at least 7 am! It gets light early here, around 5.30 so the boys are generally raring to go by 6:15!
Enjoying ourselves in Broome and Cable Beach!
Oh, nearly forgot, we are camped in "Brolga Cricuit" :-) (just for you Pete!)
Camp setup at Fitzroy Crossing
Fresh Water Crocodile at Windjana Gorge
Boab Tree at the entrance of Tunnel Creek
Half way through Tunnel Creek
Bat flying in a gorge in the middle of Tunnel Creek
Giant tree root in the middle of Tunnel Creek walk
Limestone configurations, Tunnel Creek
At the other end of Tunnel Creek walk is a creek
The boys were catching fish here at the other side of the Tunnel Creek walk
Kids in front of Prison Boab Tree
Sunset, Cable Beach
Sunrise Cable Beach
Greater Egret, The Rocks, Cable Beach
We then headed to Windjana Gorge where we finally could show the kids fresh water crocs in the wild. We also took a photo (not shown yet) or a fossilised fish, about 350 million years old.
Windjana Gorge was pretty warm so we decided as there was no place for us to swim there, that we would strike out for Broome that day rather than stay at the Gorge.
We made it through to Derby without too many adventures, and stopped at the Prison Boab Tree, I think this is supposed to be 1500 years old although I may be about 1350 years out there!.
We then continued to Broome where we met up with Annie's parents, Helen and Harry. We sauntered down to the beach after a fairly lazy day and Harry and I had a fish with no luck, but the sunset was beautiful.
Today I was up early and had a fish with some moderate success. The sunrise was again spectacular over Cable Beach.
The day was another fairly lazy one with a bit of shopping, swimming in the pool at the caravan park, and generally relaxing. Annie, Helen, Harry and the kids did go to some dinosaur footprints site in the morning.
Tomorrow is Helen's birthday so we will send the kids in when they wake for breakfast in bed! :-) Actually, we may hold them back until at least 7 am! It gets light early here, around 5.30 so the boys are generally raring to go by 6:15!
Enjoying ourselves in Broome and Cable Beach!
Oh, nearly forgot, we are camped in "Brolga Cricuit" :-) (just for you Pete!)
Camp setup at Fitzroy Crossing
Fresh Water Crocodile at Windjana Gorge
Boab Tree at the entrance of Tunnel Creek
Half way through Tunnel Creek
Bat flying in a gorge in the middle of Tunnel Creek
Giant tree root in the middle of Tunnel Creek walk
Limestone configurations, Tunnel Creek
At the other end of Tunnel Creek walk is a creek
The boys were catching fish here at the other side of the Tunnel Creek walk
Kids in front of Prison Boab Tree
Sunset, Cable Beach
Sunrise Cable Beach
Greater Egret, The Rocks, Cable Beach
Friday, September 10, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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 ....
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 ....
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