Blogs from Kimberley, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 3

Kalumburu The trip out of the Mitchell Falls was as expected, long, bumpy and dusty. By the time we reached the main road to Kalumburu we had lost the other pair of shock absorber on the camper trailer, these joined the other parts in our wood box. We had lunch at the turn off and after a brief discussion it was decided that we would continue on as planned, I must admit I was having second thoughts about the next100 kms of more unmade roads. We arrived at Kalumburu late in the day, the road was good and bad but we had no more problems. As it was getting late we decided to camp in the Mission camp park as it had green grass, power if you wanted and a free washing machine (what more could ... read more

Drysdale River to Mitchell Plateau Things are really starting to get interesting. The grader has been working on the road but still very corrugated in places and the dust is awful. It is like red talcum powder and is managing to find its way into the camper, we have been blocking off any possible entry points with Gaffa tape and it still gets in. We had one of our doors pop open (even though it was locked) on the rough road. I was glad to arrive at Drysdale and have a hot shower and catch up on some washing. We have our first cool night here. Drysdale is the last stop for fuel, supplies etc. after here you need to be self sufficient until Kalumburu. Next day we are off early as we have another 100 ... read more

It was a beautiful drive along the Victoria Highway passing through the Gregory National Park. Border quarantine was kind to us and we got through relatively quickly and then onto Lake Argyle. A grassy and shady afternoon van site helped us enjoy a beautiful week. Everyday we spent time at the Infinity pool with a backdrop overlooking Lake Argyle and the surrounding ranges. It was mesmerising. We did a walk to view the river, one to a lookout overlooking the lake and one to the homestead which has been relocated once the dam was established. We had a glorious afternoon and evening on a boat doing a sunset tour with some people swimming out in the middle...but with 35,000 crocs, albeit freshwater, we decided a glass of wine with pate and cheese was more our style! ... read more

We headed west out of Kununurra on a very hot sticky morning in pursuit of somewhere a little less humid, and with the expectation that we would have a few nights of ‘free camping. Halls Creek here we come! The landscape changed frequently from flat lightly wooded plains to vast areas of irrigated sandlewood plantation to stunning, craggy escarpments. Stations changed names and the odd head of cattle hung at the roadside nibbling on the soft young grass. These and groups of horses paid little attention to noisy traffic rushing by. A constant barrage of blue and yellow branded road trains all with four dogs headed in both directions. Those coming towards us were full and the other direction empty. The full ones thundered along at a rapid rate of knots until they came to a ... read more

Day 30 – Sunday 29th July – Windjana Gorge to Derby Despite being awake since 6am, it wasn’t until 8.30 until we left for the hike into Windjana Gorge. We were fortified with bacon and eggs and nutella sandwiches for breakfast. Windjana Gorge is our 8th gorge in less than 8 days but it still managed to be completely different from all the others, and equally spectacular. Windjana is a Devonian Reef and used to be a coral reef under water, 350 million years ago. As you enter the gorge you can imagine the rock face being a mass of corals and can see the small holes in the walls that fish and eels would have hidden in all those millions of years ago. However, the best thing about the gorge is the abundance of crocodiles ... read more