Entry - most of the trip

---

On our way home already. This blog has not worked as well for us as in previous travels due to lack of internet access in outback Australia. Currently, we are travelling from Cloncurry to Longreach having started this morning in Mt Isa. We stayed in a lovely little motel called Outback Motel Mt Isa. It was great to have a shower and decent sleep. The previous night we camped out under the stars, which was fantastic however it was cold and none of us slept as well as in a comfy warm bed indoors, except for Tim maybe.

Mt Isa is a great town. It felt, to us, like a big city, the last town of decent size was Halls Creek in WA. We arrived quite late but quickly checked into our motel and headed to the Mt Isa cinemas, unknown to the girls, to see Harry Potter 6. They were really surprised and loved the movie. We missed out on dinner but we were all too tired to worry about it.

Just to go back and talk about some of the highlights of our trip, since the last blog upload.

After the wedding in Darwin and catching up with Marg and Simon Dorman, (friends from Maleny) we headed to Kakadu. Dee and Kieran (the bride and groom) highly recommended the Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile tour, which was great. The croc (salties) swim out to the boat as we cruise down river, and jump up to ear the lamb chops hanging on a pole overboard. We got some great photos. We headed to Ubir rock where we had been advised to go and see the sunset. We arrived, in typical Breeze style with minutes to spare. A 15 minute walk from the car park and as we ran to the rock, a ranger told us we had no chance of making it up the rock in time. We pushed on regardless and made it to the top of the rock in time and got some lovely shots. There were so many people up there. On the way down the mosquito’s got really bad very quickly and we were happy to be in the car again.

After a short drive we got to Jabiru and searched to get some accommodation. At this late stage, I did not feel like setting up the tent but the only accommodation that was left in town was expensive. We found a cabin for $200 per night and talked Tim into it. It was a relief not to have to set up the tent. I got some washing on and we had steak sandwiches for dinner.

Extract from Rachel’s Journal
'We ran up a mountain to watch the sunset. We then drove looking for a motel. Eventually we found a cabin and had something to ear. ‘The Pursuit of Happiness' was on the TV, so we watched that and went to bed.'

The next day we explored Kakadu. It is such a beautiful national park. We saw the rock paintings at Nourlangie rock and then onto Jim Jim Falls. Jim Jim falls were a huge drive and then I got us bogged in the sand. We had to get towed out by an older couple that had all the gear but had never used any of it. We gave up on Jim Jim Falls after that, we got our money back for the boat and headed to Barramundi Gorge which was a great walk. All the way there were signs warning us about the crocs and not to go near the waters edge. Then the strange thing was when we finally got to the end of the gorge, it seemed it was ok to swim. We did swim and it was lovely. I did some drawing and Rachel played in the sand. Sarah and Tim went swimming.

We spend the night at Pine Creek and headed to Kununurra to stay with Tim’s school friend Deane and his family the following day. We had a lovely time there. It was great to stay put for a few days, and not have to put up and pull down the tent constantly. We stayed in their shed with our own private shower and toilet and even our won kitchen. It was lovely, kangaroos came through in the night and we were able to see the stars from our beds.

Whilst in Kulnura, we saw some pink diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine at a local jeweller. Sarah and Rachel were really interested and are considering buying a diamond as an investment. We also went to Kelly’s knob lookout and saw the green agricultural fields, which are irrigated by the Ord Irrigation Scheme.

We took Imogen and Charlotte (Deane and Helens girls) out to dinner at the Kununurra Country Club, Deane was also meant to come however he had to go and help his mate Rick and Liz out of a bog in a river. We had loosely arranged to meet up with our neighbours Col and Val, which surprisingly ended up working out. Col and Val were travelling with a bus group through the Kimberley. They joined us for a few drinks over dinner. It is amazing to think we crossed paths on the other side of the country.

Deane and Helen took us on an afternoon cruise on Lake Kununurra, which is basically in their back yard. Lake Kununurra is approximately 60km stretch of water between the Ord River and Lake Argyle. It is incredibly scenic, with high cliffs and bushland stretches. We took drinks, nibbles and swimmers for the kids, which they made use of at ‘Jump rock’ where Imogen and Charlotte, jumped into the water from a height of approximately, 6 metres. Our girls, being first timers did the jump too but from a lower ledge. We watched the sun set and then on the way home did some spotlighting. Slightly different to the game of spotlighting we are used to on camping expeditions as this one focused on crocodile spotting. Dean was an expert and we saw 5 crocodiles, turtles, and catfish. It was very exciting.

We were pretty keen to do a scenic flight to the Bungle Bungles and after some enquiries we found it was the same price to charter a whole plane than four sears on a scenic flight. We did this and Dean was also able to come with us plus we had a longer flight taking us over Wyndham and its 5 rivers, El Questro station, the Argyle Diamond mine and of course the very beautiful Bungle bungles. We also saw the location of the film ‘Australia’ and the homestead hill location. Our pilot, Katherine from Shoal Air, was fantastic. The bungle bungles were amazing from the air. We saw Cathedral Gorge, Picanni Gorge (where helicopters were flying below us) and the famous beehive shapes. The diverse colours and shapes in the ranges were amazing. We were back in Kulnura by about 9am so we still had the day ahead of us.

We went for a drive to El Questro Station. It was very pretty and looked like a great place to stay. We also walked into Emma Gorge, which was gorgeous. Everyone got annoyed with me because every 5 seconds I wanted to stop and take a photo. When we got the swimming hole at the end of the gorge, the water was freezing however Sarah and Rachel soon discovered a very small rock pool at the right side of the gorge which was fed by a small warm spring fed waterfall. The girls had a lovely time up there. We had sandwiches and headed back to Kununurra.

Unfortunately the time came to leave, and we packed up and headed for the Bungle Bungles. Tim wanted to check out Wyndham on the way, which was great, especially the lookout however it did put us back and we did not make it the bungle bungles that night and overnighted at an aboriginal community campground at Doon Doon. It was really well run (by a Dutch lady) and the cleanest campground we encountered the whole trip.

The next day we headed to the Bungle Bungles and the 2 hour drive into the park. The road was pretty bad but slowly and surely we got there. We did the walk into Echidna Chasm, which was beautiful. A 30 minute walk into the chasm, which got narrower and narrower until you could touch both sides. The chasm was made up of conglomerate rock which over the years eroded away and has made the ravine. There were a few overhanging rocks edged between the two sides which freaked the girls out walking underneath them.

We camped by a dry riverbed. It was really lovely; we had a private little campsite. We had a lovely dinner of chicken, mash and salad cooked on our little gas stove. Sarah and Tim played chess while Rachel and I had an early night. It was pretty cold and we trialled Tim and the two girls all sleeping on two camp beds which did not really work. I was glad to have had a bed to myself but I was cold.

Extract from Rachel’s Journal - 18 July 2009
“Today we drove to the famous Bungle Bungles. We had already seen them from the air but today and tomorrow we are going to see them from the ground. It took around 2 hours to get there because of the terrible dirt roads. I spent this whole time reading ‘Breaking Dawn”. Soon we started to see the domes.
On our flight the pilot told us the rock is actually white, but the black on the rock is bacteria and the red was iron.
We went for a walk in between two steep rock cliffs. with fallen rocks in between. It was really scary walking beneath them. Then we set up camp in the Bungles and went to sleep.

The next day, we hiked to Cathedral Gorge and the beehive shapes. It was not too far, approximately 2 hours return and we had lunch there. Rachel dropped her water bottle lid into some still water at the end of the gorge. Whilst Tim was helping her get it out, he dropped his sunglasses into the water. Rachel had to wade into the freezing water. It was really funny, but I guess you had to be there. Yes, both water bottle lid and sunglasses were recovered.

After the treacherous road out of the Bungles, we headed west to Halls Creek. We arrived around 5.30pm. We had a drive around town, which didn’t take very long to see what I remembered. Mostly things were the same and I knew my way around but some shops had closed and others had opened. Virginia’s shop was closed and now the Alcohol Centre, the school was still in the same place as was the hospital, pub, caravan park and police station. A visitor information centre has been built in the park and the deck chair cinema was closed down, apparently years ago.

As it was getting late, we headed for the motel and organised a room for the night. The motel looked really good and the rooms were really lovely. It was very very clean, new beds, it was 5 star. We met Kerrin and Justin who currently own the motel and have been doing it up. They were really keen to meet us and see the photos we bought from the motel 27 years ago. They have been there for 3 years now. We had a lovely buffet meal at the restaurant in the motel and met some other people staying there who remembered my parents . Kerrin and Justin allowed us to explore the grounds and take photos and even showed us through their residence, which is where we lived as a family all those years ago. There were a lot of changes at the motel. Several blocks of dongers are now in the back of the motel, where years ago, Giovanni and I played and drove around in the four-wheel drive. The restaurant has been completely renovated and a lovely outdoor eating area has been built. Overall the motel looked really good.

The next day we went to find Virginia. We easily found Malcolm and Bonny. They live in what is called the Garden area. It was great to see them and Vincent was also there. We met his wife Jess, and some of his 12 kids. We also met 2 of Virginia’s 3 children and the youngest, Melanie came with us to show us where her mum worked. Melanie, 8 years old, was gorgeous and a nonstop chatterbox. After meeting Chris, her nurse boyfriend and having a coffee at her work, we arranged to stay with them and to have dinner there that night.

We took Melanie with us to Old Halls Creek, and Palm Springs for the remainder of the afternoon. She was a perfect little tour guide, showing us some bush tucker, mainly gum and a bush onion, which we didn’t see because she had eaten it before we had a chance to see it. Old Halls Creek was great. The old post office still stands although you are not able to get into it as it is fenced off and roofed to protect it from the elements. We went scouring over the ground looking through lots of old bits and pieces everywhere. Tins, bottles, drums, and other miscellaneous junk and there was plenty of it. Rachel collected heaps but she left most of it there as Melanie told us an aboriginal story about ‘the old people’ who ‘come out at you’ if you take their stuff. She told us lots of stories ‘nanna Bonny’ told her. Bonny used to take me and Giovanni out with heaps of other kids and also tell us lots of stories when we were kids. Melanie also showed where we could find ‘mobs of gold’ but unfortunately we did not find any, although I am convinced if we had more time we would have found some.

We had sandwiches at Palm Springs and headed back to town to buy some dessert and nibbles for dinner. We had a great night with Virginia and Chris. They are lovely and so were the kids - Ryan 15, Justin 11 and Melanie. Sarah and Rachel played with their cats and their puppy Sam.

We slept in their outdoor area and besides dogs barking and a bit of a domestic outside we had a great night sleep. We left relatively early the next day, as Virginia and Chris both had to go to work. They both work at Yuri Yangi (YY) medical centre. We went to Wolfe Creek Crater that day. I had never been there before and Tim has wanted to go there for the last 40 years. It was quite impressive. We all walked up to the rim, I stayed there to draw whilst Tim and the girls headed down into the crater and up the other side. We had some lunch and on the way back to Halls Creek, we stopped to help some aboriginals whose car had broken down. They had a leak in the petrol tank. Tim worked with them for a while but in the end we left them as Tim thought they would soon be on there way again. We did a bit of shopping in Halls Creek and intended to head to Marella Gorge but as usual we had been unrealistic with the timing of our plans and stayed at the Old Halls Creek Lodge. We did visit the very beautiful China Wall, which is a white quartz intrusion. We took some great photos there.

We had a good time at the Old Halls Creek Lodge and met a few prospectors. They showed us home movies of their prospecting and also nuggets and ingots of gold. It was really interesting. The next day we headed off to Marella Gorge, where I had camped with my parents as a kid. We found a great campsite and had a bit of an explore around the place. I had lots of old photos and Tim was running around comparing them to what we were seeing. He found the same spots and we are looking forward to showing my parents the new photos. We also saw freshwater crocodiles basking in the sun. That was a real bonus, it was great to see them but they are very timid and shy and disappeared if we made any noise. It also made the girls and me a bit nervous about sleeping outside near the waters edge. We did do this though, and Tim laughed at our table and chair croc barrier around our camp beds.

We did erect the tent, just in case the mosquito’s got bad, but sleeping under the stars was wonderful. Tim identified all the stars and explained all the constellations. I woke several times during the night, and watched Jupiter move across the sky.

The next day we drove along the Duncan Highway, (dirt) Buntine Highway (dirt) and finally the Buchanen Highway (mostly sealed) to the Northern Territory. After going through Top Springs, we did a confluence, our first one. Tim found a track leading us almost directly to the confluence and we only had to walk approximately 2 kms. Because the sun was rapidly setting we walked quite fast. The photos were taken under low light and we are hoping they are good enough to upload to the confluence site. We had to walk back, very slowly, in the dark. This was quite tricky and slow and we followed Tim and the GPS breadcrumb trial. When we got close to the car, Tim asked me to zap (central locking) the car and we saw nothing. More walking and finally when I zapped the car door and there it was - the car flashing us. It felt really good to be back at the car. We spent the night at the Dunmara roadhouse arriving at about 10.30pm.

The next day, we took the Barkly Stock Route and headed east toward Qld. Tim wanted to do two more confluences along this route. Both were successful and we camped out again under the stars near the second confluence. It was lovely except for the grasshoppers, which were attracted to our camp light. We pretty much went straight to bed after dinner and watched more stars and constellations and the milky way. Tim didn’t have a camp bed and slept on his air mattress on the ground. Us girls were very relieved to have our camp beds after seeing a huge centrepede. Tim wasn’t fazed. We didn’t erect the tent this time.

Off to Qld shortly after sunrise and the girls both had a bit of a go at driving the car. They both did really well. Sarah was super confident and did really well. Rachel was not so keen but also did really well. We crossed the border later that day and got some much need petrol in Camooweal. Tim was pretty keen to be heading home at this point so we continued on and spent the night in Mt Isa.

---

Photos

Crocodile swimming?
I don't think so