Deadly Waters, One Up For The Pommies! ‘4WD only’ Pah Nuts to that were English don’t you know, !Mordor!, Triple Bungle, Top End, The Famous Botanist.

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Deadly Waters, One Up For The Pommies! ‘4WD only’ Pah Nuts to that were English don’t you know, !Mordor!, Triple Bungle, Top End, The Famous Botanist.

Howdy,

Last we saw the intrepid Duo it was in the tropical holiday resort of Broome, loving wet T-Shirts, baring the heat, hopeing to Kite and thinking about fish.

Our plan was to Kite the famous Cable Beach, but as we all know the weather has a habit of disrupting plans, with Soueasters being the Go we make do with a trip to Town Beach on the other side of the Broome peninsula (you cant kite an offshore wind unless you have a death wish or passport, some dollars and desire to kite to India.). Upon arriving at the beach we see a large and deeply terrifying sign, we both stare hard at it for a few moments while our machismo fought with our common sense, the clincher in the end was the yellow triangle towards the bottom featuring a swimmer tangled up in jelly tentacles. The variety of Stinger here is the Box Jellyfish, a large Jelly with very long tentacles and responsible for the greatest number of deaths by stinger. But worse than the Box is the dreaded Irukanji, these little fucks are the size of your thumb nail with finger length tentacles and are actually really rare, but if you happen to get stung by one that’s pretty much it. The Irukanji sting is reported to be intensely painful for about 5 minutes while the toxin enters your skin, then the pain dies because it’s a Neurotoxin and its killing your nerves, so most people think that they got stung by a safe jelly like a blue bottle. That is until the Toxin makes it way into their spinal column and then to the Medulla Oblongata where it causes the victim to drop dead. Bummer. We saw a few people swimming in the ocean at Broome, mostly not warring stinger suits (flaming macho ozzy blokes), but with my luck and a fluky wind we finally decided not to chance it.

Kiteing off we decided its time to do what everybody does in Broome, charter a boat and go catch our supper! There we six of us on the boat, a dull couple from Melborne, a huge gruff beardy Ozzy from Perth and his Shila, and of course the Barnett brothers. After an impressive 6:30 start we head out about 10ks, rods in one hand, cold beer in the other (it had to be done), this is the essayist fishing I’ve ever know, and I’m not a fisherman. Bait Fishing, each rod has two hooks and a sinker, we bait the hooks with smelly squid and drop the lot of the edge of the boat. Then it’s a simple case of holding the rod, sipping beer and waiting for a bite when you strike, trying to catch the hook in some poor unsuspecting fishies mouth.
Our captain Sean instructed me on the fine points of bait fishing in about 20 seconds, and upon my fist cast I felt a tug on the rod, so I struck, with might, expecting a 3 foot Spanish mackerel on the end. ‘Jesus Chris’ Sean shouted ‘You’ll pull its bloody face off’, I wind in a rather startled looking 8 inch Stripy Emperor and hide my embarrassment as Sean chucks it quickly back. That was pretty much the norm for the day, bait the hooks, reel out, strike, reel in, hope its big enough to keep. We went through so much bate there must have been millions of fish below us, some are just too smart to take the hook so they nibble the bate off and then you end up with what Sean calls a ‘Doubble Dunce’ where you wind up to find that both hooks are empty, ‘you aren’t gonna catch anything with just a hook mate’ thanks for the tip Sean.
Having said this I am proud to announce that the Barnet boys realy did show up the Ozzys aboard the boat, after a slow start and a lot of 6 inch stripys I manages to hook what Captain decided was catch of the day, a Coral Trout. Ok it wasn’t the biggest fish caught (which was Jimmys Golden Trevellion), or the most impressive (again Jimmy with a small Reef Shark!), but we were fishing for the Pot and short of Salmon, Coral Trout is the tastiest fish you can get in these parts. Towards the end of the day and a few beers to the wind we got a bit cocky as the pommies reeled in fish after fish, we ended up giving half our catch away to the others as we simply could not eat or store it. By the time Jimmy got a huge strike and a long battle with a 2ft shark we were feeling a bit embarrassed, beginners luck or British Style?! You decide.

After a pleasant and relaxing time in Broome we head East for the first time along the famous 4 Wheel Drive track, the Gibb River Road. Total closed in the wet season (Oct - Apr) the newly opened track was no match for Betty despite the bumps, water hazards, stones and insane wildlife. Our decision to try the road sprang from an attempt to reach and scale the mountain of our ancestors, Mt Barnett! Though much to our disappointment even Betty could not make the second part of the road where you have to ford the very fast flowing and muddy Gibb River, so we missed the big Barnett but found something even more impressive.

Cutting across country from the Gibb River Road to the Gt Northern Highway we see smoke on the horizon, were not too worried, its only the beginning of the dry season (in fact the aboriginals have 6 seasons, we were in the ‘season of mists’ (Sandman flashback anybody)), the grass was green and the ground was still damp. As we drove one towards a column of smoke we spot another feature on the horizon, a sheer wall of black rock 200 meters tall, and disappearing in both directions, Jim slams on the breaks and we hop out for a look, ‘Holy shit’ I say ‘Its Mordor’.
And it was, with smoke from a nearby bush fire, blacking the sun, this foreboding plateau wall is old Devonian Reef and protrudes dramatically from the unbroken flat bush lands. We drive up to the Wall and find a nearby valley where we hike for a bit along the rock face, to get to the valley we have to pass through a large fissure in the rock, I joke as we go through that its Shelobs lair, I had no idea what was coming next.
The track we were following passed around the Plateau, at one point we spotted a stop called Tunnel Creek, and thought to check it out. A sign advised torches, shoes and guts, triumphantly I grabbed my little PAG light for the camera, and we hiked into a deep cave in the wall. The cave was probably 700m long, and much blacker than the ace of spades, it was cut by a river, and gave me another chance to think about not thinking about flash floods. My little light was no match for the great vaulted ceilings and wide river bed, and my walking boots were not big enough for the thigh high water we were wading through, but what and experience. Along with the bats and frogs we spotted many Cray fish and huge Mozzies, thank god there were no giant spiders.

Our next stop is another of Australias numerous World Heritage Sites, the Bungle Bungle range, the famous ‘beehive’ domes of layerd sand stone that make so many post cards and photos. To get to these we have another torturous 4WD track with the usual arrogant ignorance of signposts. I must state at this point that Betty has been a real trooper with these 4WD tracks, she goes from success to success, constantly building our confidence, we were not ragging down these tracks, we really take care and time looking for the best route, depth testing water, building where necessary little rock bridges etc. So it is with care, and confidence, that we head into the Bungle of all Bungles. The track is pretty stony, and while we have to go slow this does not stop us, it’s the wet creeks that cause most concern, I hop out and check the bottom, water depth etc… and then we go for it picking the best route.
We should have know better when after only 2k we come across the biggest water hazard yet, but as we are checking it out another vehicle (a 4WD), comes along and the nice driver waits on the other side to see if we make it across, which we do, just.
After that were sailing, we count 29 creeks in total, some small and sandy, some big and muddy, but Betty take them all in here stride, that is until creek No. 30.
This is a long and deep one, but I find a shallow but sandy area to one side that we decide is the Go and so we Go for it…. I’m filming from the other side as Jim revs through and instantly I see the problem, she is sinking into the sand, dropping speed far to rapidly, until that fateful moment when with the front wheels almost on dry land the rear wheel drive V6 loses traction and starts to dig in. Bugger.
Water pours into the driver side and floods over the back wetting all our stuff and Jims feet, there is a cacophony of profanities, followed by some half hearted pushing and revving. I know I’m butch  but really pushing a ton of Ute out of a sandy creek is just beyond even my monstrous bulk, after that it’s the old stones and sticks routine that is foiled by the fast flowing river. So with dark rain clouds appearing on the horizon we raise our heads to the sky in hope of salvation, which promptly arrives in the form of a park ranger called Dave. Dave Pulls us out, and gives us a proper scolding for ignoring all the signs, though he has to admit he is impressed we mad it so far and we were only 2k from the Bungles.

We lick out wounds and dry Betty out as we have to drive the 40ks back through all we came through, confidence totally shattered and light failing. We limp late in the night, into Kunururrua the next stop on our fateful voyage. From here we take a cheep flight to see the Bungles from the air, and although its not as amazing as walking around here, the scenery is fantastic, check some of the pics.

From here it’s another long and very very dull drive to Katherin and we finally say goodbye to Western Australia, and G’day to the Northern Territory, as we cross the state line the roads deteriorate, and the splatted roos on the verges seem to dominate the journey. Trust me, there is nothing smellier than a 2 week old splatted roo, in this hot and humid environment.

With a nights stop at Edith Falls (see pic) we push on towards Darwin the capital of NT and a really laid back and cool metropolis. That’s cool as in they have a good music scene, hip shops, funky people and lively street markets, the temperature is pushing the late 40’s, and I’m sweating like a Sumo in a Sauna. With no room at any backpackers we have to settle with staying at the Darwin YWCA (Young Womans Christian Association), which is a bit of a surprise, as nether of us are young women and I’m not particularly Christian, but they seem welcoming, and although it has a prison meets nunnery feel to it, they don’t have a curfew and do have a pool so it’s a Go.

If you don’t hear from me in a few weeks then that should be the first place to check, look in the naughty boys cell in the basement.

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Photos

Cable Beach....
They boast that every sunset here is picture perfect. I dont dissagree.

Love This Signage....
Just exactly what are you alowed to do on this beach??? 'WA - A better place to live' RIIIiIiiiiight.

It was bigger than it looks in the pic, Honest...
MMMMmmm Coral Trout, we cooked this one that evening in tinfoil on a barbie with a little pesto and olive oil.

Captain Sean with Jimmys Shark.
Even though its a small one, it had enough teeth to take a finger or two. I dont think Jimm appreciated it being thrust into his face!

Gibb River Road
So Close yet so far...

Approaching Mordor.
See what i mean?

Entering Mordor.
Frooooooooodooooooooo!

Shelobs Lair
Ok time out!

The 30th creek
The final bungle.

Bungle Bungles
Amasing.