Broome to Lake Argyle - “Hell's Crack”, a lot of driving, creepy encounters and restoring our faith in humanity (or at least Western Australia)

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We got a late start so we spent the night at Willare Bridge Roadhouse, which, as roadhouses go, was pretty cozy. Their facilities were nice enough, it had a bit of a station feel, it only cost 22 bucks and the next morning we both got free coffee! Not bad at all 😊 We decided to drive as far as possible in order to save as many nights as possible for potentially open national parks (though we could only find out if they were open when we got to the closest town for updated information), so we went over 500 km to Halls Creek, where it was unexpectedly equal parts cold and depressing.

And that night we learned the hard way what a little lack of information can do.

We were getting ready to go to sleep, and had been lying in bed watching some series on our computer, and got out to go to the bathroom. When we got back about a minute later, the passenger door was open. We were a bit alarmed but figured it could have blown open with the wind. I climbed into the back and was just about to slide into the bed when I saw someone else's thongs inside the car. I screamed and jumped out of the car. After fussing and flashing the light around, we realised someone had been in the car but was no longer there, and we couldn't see anything missing. We were still shooken up, so we moved over next to a few of the other cars, and told them what had happened. They all told us they had been warned about the area and told to lock their cars... which we sadly hadn't. We then realized, after calming down, that our cells phones were missing. On the whole, though, we felt pretty lucky, since our computer and camera and wallets were still there. And we were OK. The night guard walked by and urged us to call the police, who showed up pretty quickly (any town that small with cops on duty all through the night should definitely ring some bells) and told us not to worry, it was probably just kids looking for beer (since there are alcohol control laws in town and no sale of full-strength alcohol) and phones. We were bummed, since it was us who had left our car open and we knew there was no way we could claim the insurance, and wished we would have known or been told better, but were glad about it not having been worse.

We slept (a little) and got out of there quickly the next day, and drove all the way to Wyndham (since the Bungle Bungles were also still closed to all vehicles due to the heavy rains, and we couldn't afford the helicopter flight in), to see the Five Rivers Lookout and hopefully visit the croc farm. Well, Wyndham was indeed very sad and overrun with drunk people lying about as well, and the croc farm was of course still closed because of “the wet”, so we went up to the lookout and were just about to drive further when we got a call from the Halls Creek Police saying they had found my phone (not Øyvind's, we guess since it was so much newer and fancier they were going to try harder to unlock it). Since we had never expected to see the phones again, we had erased them online that very morning, and promptly driven 300 km away. To drive back and up again would cost us almost as much as a new phone, but then they said they could send it up to a nearby town, Kununurra, if we were willing to stay in the area until Monday. They were so incredibly nice about it, we decided to do so.

But we decided to avoid the town and drive to Lake Argyle instead (which we otherwise would not have done since it's a 150 km detour) and spend the weekend there. Well, it was well worth it. The caravan park there has an amazing infinity pool overlooking the lake and the jagged red cliffs plunging into it, and we just relaxed, swam, went for a drive to find the best lookout, watched the sunset and sunrise and enjoyed once again being somewhere where we could relax about locking the car all the time. Everyone was super friendly, and just there to have a good time. It was just what we needed.

- mistake number one: leaving the car unlocked and going to the bathroom together

- mistake number two: drinking EMU EXPORT beer. apparently it's what "they" drink

- mistake number three: sadly, being too trusting (and travelling too fast to pick up enough pointers about not being in safe-safe land anymore...)

- not a mistake: realizing that, after all our travels, our dangerous eating outings, our jungle walks, our motorbiking on the worst roads with the worst traffic, our walking around in dodgy areas, and all our off-the-beaten-track-exploring, if losing one phone to the travelling gods was the worst thing that was going to happen, then we could live with that....

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Photos

Sunset on the road
As we were on our way to our first stay outside Broome, the sun was setting with some great colours

Beautiful camping dessert!
There is nothing like indulging in sugar free/reduced sweetness when you have been on the road for several hours

Donkey check in
All of a sudden, this old donkey came walking as Sadie was making us dinner

Its still a pretty long way
to almost anywhere from here..

The Grotto
another beautiful feature of the WA nature

Lake Argyle
The lake itself has a pretty sad history when it comes to the deal, or lack thereof, made between the Australian government and the indigenous people who used to live in the valley, but it does look beautiful to any tourist coming along today

Eternity pool
Again, we must admit that a pool was much nicer then a swim in any open waters with even a tiny chance of a croc

Roadhouse camping
We must say that there is quite a big difference between roadhouse camping, this was one of the better looking camping sites

Looking down from the top
It is a pretty long way down from the top of the Grotto

Find Sadie
this probably gives a better impression of the size here - if you can find Sadie in the picture

Hello San Fran
We found this on one of the look outs around the lake, and as there is family in San Francisco, we thought it was in its place to show them this

Merky waters
the locals said it was safe to swim here, but as it was impossible to see anything here, we decided not to

The river from Lake Argyle
today its a resting/picnic area just below the dam of Lake Argyle

Comments

[Isabelle]

Dette så rett og slett fantastisk ut! Håper alt går bra med dere på den lange reisen :)

[Sadieandoyvind]

Takk og takk
VI har det absolutt bra her ute, men vi merker at vi har vært borte en stund, og at vi har vært noen måneder i Australia, hvor ting er vesentlig dyrere enn i sør øst asia ;-) Dere får starte å varme opp Norge så vi får en nogenlunde myk overgang når vi lander en gang i mai S&Ø

[Adventures of Philnsonja]

Fantastic photos again
Your photos are stunning and I am glad you are naming the places that you go to. I am writing them down for our future trips. Well done guys! Cheers Sonja and Phil

[Sadieandoyvind]

Glad to help
We're happy that you are enjoying our blog, and of course it is good to name the places we go and what we think of them. Just remember that the places we go and what we think of them always will be our impression at that exact time, so the places we love can be different to others at another time, just like the places we like less, can be superb to others. No matter what, we are glad to inspire and happy that you can enjoy what we are enjoying

[mom]

you guys
are the best. øyvind, your shots are delicious and sadie i love your words. The Travel Gods. they are definitely with you. never doubt it.