LeeandSandy

We arrived in Cairns about 10 days after leaving WA. As we had seen most places on the way over we decided to high tail it to Cloncurry from where we headed North to Normanton and Karumba in the Gulf. Normanton is a lovely old town with some lovely old buildings that have all been restored beautifully. This is also home of the famous Gulflander train which runs from Corydon and then returns to Normanton. The lovely old railway station has been beautifully restored. After looking around we moved on to Karumba which is in the Gulf of Carpentaria and a real fishermen’s’ haven. We were told by one of the old guys who has been going to the caravan park there for 35 years that you were undressed unless you had a boat and a ... read more

We had been told by almost everyone we must go to Cape Leveque which is 300 kms north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula. It is made up of a series of small Aboriginal communities and outstations. We stayed at two different campsites, one at Munget and the other at Kooljaman campgrounds. Phil and Robyn came with us as Ross and Alice had already been before. Munget was amazing. A beautiful beach with red sand going right into the water. We strolled along the deserted beach collecting shells. Our feet were stained with the ochre from the sand, I can see why the Aboriginal people use this for their paintings. The glow at sunset was amazing everything appeared to be red, just stunning. As we slept in the back of our car we woke up to ... read more

Our trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls left us all feeling very relaxed and not really ready for any more camping and dirt roads however we still had one more gorge to see and that was Winjana. After sunset drinks on the jetty at Derby where we saw the sun set over the ocean for the first time on this trip we were ready to head off the next day. Winjana Gorge is only a 2 ½ hour trip from Derby and a really lovely spot. We stayed two nights and did a couple of walks along the creek bed where we saw as many as 30 crocodiles sunning themselves on the sand banks. This is where our Pedirka Circus group split up for a few days, with Ross, Alice, Robyn and Phil staying one more night ... read more

Heading off to our next adventure Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles) only took us a day’s drive from Kununurra. We left the vans at a free camp site and drove for 2 ½ hours (53kms) on more dirt road into the park. The last time we were through this way the Bungle Bungles weren’t even on the tourist track. They were only discovered in 1987. By 2003 the 239,723ha national park and 79,602 ha conservation reserve were declared a World Heritage Area. To see this place is to believe it. Words fail to describe the remarkable geology and striking beauty of the place. We walked up Echidna Chasm through the spectacular long narrow chasm with the striking colours from the sun beaming into the chasm. It was difficult to stop taking photos and the chasm was ... read more

Because we were waiting for Kevan and Marion to catch up with us in Kununurra, we took it slowly driving from Katherine to Lake Argyle. Had some lovely free camp sites along the way. We went through Victoria River which has to be one of the most spectacular landscapes we have seen this trip. Wanted to do the escarpment walk however it was closed. We stopped at Keep River National Park which is right on the border of WA and NT. We were told this was a well kept secret and indeed it is. Went for beautiful bush walk a very pretty place. Then on to the big State, Western Australia and Lake Argyle. This inland sea was created in 1971, by damming the Ord River. The lake can hold an area of more than 2000 ... read more