Thursday 5thJuly 2012 We left our campers at Parry Creek Farm and headed off with tents and camping gear towards Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungles, leaving at about 8am. It was a fine, mild blue day. The road to Purnululu after the turnoff from the Great Northern Highway is not good (although Dad says it is better than last year). Quite rocky, with some hills so steep you can’t see over the bonnet to see the downside of the hill, and a number of creek crossings. So that 50km took 2 hours. I was a bit surprised how many bridges on the Great Northern Highway are one lane only, too. Not such a great highway. Some sections have soft shoulders and no marked edges too. However there is some lovely hill scenery on the ... read more

Saturday 30thJune 2012 We parked our camper trailers and caravan in the long term parking area of Drysdale River Station. A lot of travellers leave their towed accommodation here whilst they travel to the Mitchell River National Park. We then continued north along Kalumburu Road for 100km and then took a west road about 87km in to the Mitchell Falls campground. The Kalumburu Road continued in poor condition, and the minor road to the campground was much worse, so whilst we left the station at 8:30am we didn’t arrive at the campground until 1:30pm. Mike did a good job negotiating the rocky roads and creek crossings. We were glad we had decided not to bring the camper trailer. The fan palms (Livingstonia, I think) were dense in places along the drive, particularly near Doongan station. They ... read more

Monday 25thJune 2012 Mike, the kids and I decided to make the long drive to see Geikie Gorge. Mum, Dad, Richard and Marion didn’t want to do it at this time. We set out in the early morning chill, just before 7am, and not far from camp we saw several wallabies and two dingoes, one of which stopped on the road for a photo. We then drove past the Napier Range, with the King Leopold Range further in the distance, along some average gravel road, before reaching the main highway. We went through Fitzroy Crossing and out to Geikie Gorge. We went on the one hour boat tour along the gorge, run by DEC. The staff apologised for the cold weather but it was actually a very pleasant mild day. Geikie Gorge is also part of ... read more

20th June 2012 We had a great Broome day today. We first went to the internet cafe to do some errands, then headed out to the Malcolm Douglas Wildlife Park. Alex and Kyle really enjoyed holding a baby saltwater crocodile, and watching the tour where the guide fed a number of the large male crocs. It is their inactive season (winter) - they must be quite a sight in summer. Some of them are massive. Interesting OH&S aspects of the egg collection work... We also saw birds, cassowaries, wallabies and dingoes. In the afternoon we went on a 30 minute camel ride with Broome Camel Safaris. The operator, Alison Bird, has been working with camels for many years. Alex and Kyle had not realised how tall the camels would seem once on them, but enjoyed their ... read more

16th June 2012 We spent some time this morning visiting the displays and shop at the Comet Gold Mine in Marble Bar. We then went to Doolena Gorge for morning tea. It's a scenic spot between two red cliffs, with pelicans, black swans and other water birds. We had lunch at the DeGrey River crossing. This appears to be a very popular campground, there were a lot of caravans camped there. (The fact that it is free is no doubt a factor). There was quite a bit of water in the river and Alex and Mike had a quick swim. We continued to Cape Keraudren, a coastal reserve about 180 km from Port Hedland. It is very flat and open land with low lying vegetation (very wide horizons here). We are camped at the Boat Ramp ... read more