Finally - the last of WA

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Derby —May River-Windjana Gorge


Finally left Derby and headed down the first part of the Gibb River Rd towards Windjana Gorge. Prior to Windjana we stopped in at May River—the site of the first pastoral station. Good sized river and good swimming—despite the crocodile warning signs! Unfortunately the area is very popular and evidence of human beings (black and white) with complete disregard for the environment abounds ie: bottles/cans/rubbish and remains of campfires everywhere)…. And people wonder why areas get closed off!?! Despite this it was a good lunch stop and swim stop with a few rope swings to keep us entertained. A couple of aboriginal boys ( Raymond and Neville) came up to where we were and displayed their acrobatic/athletic abilities by doing backflips off the rope swing and out of the trees and into the river.
Carried onto Windjana down what is currently a well maintained road (given the start of the dry season this is not surprising) until the Windjana turn off. Last time we went down this road was in August 2003 and I remember the road being about 4 lanes wide. At this time prior to the main tourist onslaught the road was still a 2 wheel track as the grasses were doing their best to reclaim mans attempts at access. They will no doubt be fighting a losing battle in the months to come as the hordes descend on the place.

Windjana Gorge camp had only just opened up and again looked a fair bit different to what we saw last time we were here. Far more water in the gorge also which meant the crocs were also harder to spot as they had a lot more area to play and hide. They were still there though just not as abundant in the one spot as we had seen previously. Night time croc spotting was not as impressive unfortunately. Last time when we went the river lit up with reflective red eyes staring back at you—this time we were hard pushed to see but a few. Admittedly our torches were not of the high powered variety which surely would have helped but the there was definitely not as many in this particular spot at this time of year. As the river stops flowing and the pool recedes to around the main central gorge area the crocs concentration per unit volume of water remaining obviously escalates rapidly towards the end of the season. Still during our daytime treck we found a good spot - on the bend of the creek towards the eastern end of the gorge and our obligatory swim was in order. Amanda declined to participate—riding shotgun on the bank!

Windjana Gorge-Tunnel Creek - Windjana Gorge

We used Windjana Gorge as a base and drove to Tunnel Creek. Tunnel Creek had a little more water in it than last time and the kids enjoyed going thru the cave and the waters underground. Found a fair few fish and quite a few small cherubin cruising the waters looking for a feed. Unfortunately they were all a bit small to get a feed ourselves! Already there were quite a few people so June/July would get quite busy with the tunnel probably lit up such that you probably wouldn’t need a torch!

Came across a spring underground and had to fill our belly with good water—although we did have to move a rather large huntsman spider with enormous legs who obviously had staked out his piece of ground for hunting insects. We were trusting he wasn’t going to live up to his name…..

Had our obligatory swim in rather refreshing and invigorating water at the end of the tunnel on the western side of the gorge and then embarked on our return trip thru the gorge with a view to spotting some of the species of bats that inhabit the cave. On our way in we had seen a few bats in silhouette against the tunnel mouth fly around Rhiannon. We had heard them calling and echo locating so knew there had to be a few to be found. About halfway along and near to the collapsed section of tunnel there were several groups of them getting a kip prior to their nocturnal activities where, no doubt, they fly en masse into the night sky looking for their feed of insects before ensconcing themselves in the cool of the tunnel during the heat of the day .

Back to Windjana for the night to watch the full moon rise above the Napier range.

Windjana Gorge—Geike Gorge—Fitzroy Crossing (via Tunnel Creek)

Predominantly a travelling day to get from point A to point B—with Geike Gorge thrown in for good measure.
The road out along the Leopold Downs Road was reasonably scenic with many creek crossings to be done along the way. As we got south of Tunnel Creek we met up with the graders doing the road maintenance following the wet. Two graders in tandem were barreling along enabling them to do just a pass out and a pass back and the road was done. One bloke had his black kelpie running along next to the grader following his master—quintessential Australian iconic image...albeit the ute was replaced by a 16G Caterpillar grader.

Continued out to Geike Gorge and were going to be a bit early for the afternoon boat trip. We decided we’d do the walk—sometimes you just need to tire the kids out a tad. This took several hours along one side of the expanded gorge/river bed. This was OK except that the dreaded Gallons Curse (a nasty little prickle bush that manages to hang onto anything and everything and almost defeats most attempts to get it off) was in abundance. We soon came to realise that the publicity shots you see of Geike Gorge were manufactured to make it look like you were going thru a steep sided gorge—this is not the case. The Fitzroy has cut a wide swathe thru this limestone with only one side accessible via the boat trip—the other side is several hundred metres away over sandy riverbed before the other side of the gorge cuts in. Nice enough to see but I would have been disappointed to have sprung for the boat trip I think. The kids were impressed with the signage showing the flood levels - in 2002 it was above the information booths roof!

Stayed at the Fitzroy River lodge that night—a little microcosm of tidy, clean decency in an otherwise - well you can fill in the gap….


Fitzroy Crossing—Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater

Once we had turned onto the Tanami track of the Gt Northern Hwy we passed a few people who had just came out and within the next few kms passed several more. It seemed we had already seen more traffic on the ubiquitous Tanami Track than on the Gt Northern Hwy! The “Track” started off superbly and 15kms in then began to deteriorate into a far more rougher track. When we passed Ruby plains station we heard on the two way one bloke say that they had seen more vehicles that day than they saw for the whole of the last week!

The Track is easy to navigate as all you need to do is follow the sacrificial offerings….given that this is culturally significant land the local indigenous people conform wholeheartedly with their animist beliefs by leaving many gifts to their spirit masters. Obviously the Dreamtime spirits have a penchant for green, cylindrical aluminium objects as the abundant offerings in the form of VB cans and cartons littered—oops I mean were evidence of their immersion into their rich culture and their care and respect for OUR country.

We arrived in the late arvo and set up camp quickly in view of the Crater. No flies / no mozzies campfire ready to go and beer in hand—magic! Sunset was a ripper so we had both the actual sunset and the magnificent changing colours of the crater edge to enchant us. Although there were several other people there everyone was quiet, no one was discourteous enough to crank up their generator and it was quiet—dead quiet.

Luckily we haven’t seen the movie yet!!!

Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater—Halls Creek— Purnululu (Bungle Bungles)

From the plain level the crater looks no different from any other range/hill/jump up. The kids couldn’t quit see what all the fuss was about although they showed a good deal of interest in seeing the crater. After reading the interpretive boards at the base we climbed up to the rim to be met with what you would expect to see for a meteorite crater—that is a large round rim with a depressed central section. Once the kids got up to the rim we got the “phwoargh / wow / look at that “ type comments. It was still reasonably early in the morning and the sun didn’t just yet have the intensity to it as it would later in the day and combined with a nice cool breeze coming off the crater it was nice just to sit on the rim of the crater and take it all in. Trying to envisage a mass of meteorite greater than 50,000 tonnes travelling at 15kms/sec tends to overload the brain circuitry

After taking our fill at the rim we descended down the rocky slope into the central area. From the rim we could see what looked like a bit of water off to the side so we thought there could be a few animals around. The central crater is about 20m or so below the existing plain level and about 50m or so below the top of the rim. The crater has slowly been filled over the last 300,000 years with the soft fin sand of the surrounding sandstone / quartzite rocks.

From the rim we could see what looked like a bit of water off to the side so we thought there could be a few animals around. The water hole was surrounded by earth which was very salt encrusted but the water itself didn’t seem to taste overly bad….yet. Another few weeks and it might be a different story. Trekked back up the top, cooled off in the refreshing cool wind at the top of the rim and then back into the car for the rough ride back to the main drag and the thriving metropolis of my old stomping ground from 1988/89 - Halls Creek.

From Halls Creek we continued onto Purnululu or Bungle Bungles. The trip into the Bungles is a ripper—certainly if you like that sort of thing—or perhaps a complete pain in the rear if you don’t. At this time of year there are still many creek crossings to “forde” (15 in fact) although there are only 2 of any real significance. Fletchers creek still covered 3/4 of the way up the wheels with a boulder strewn track so that afforded a few anxious moments towing the trailer through that creek. The remainder of the track winds its way through some beautiful country with some absolutely magnificent vistas to be had at various points along the way. Just need to be careful that some fool tour operator with a huge 4wd truck doesn’t come barrelling past at a great rate of knots and wipe you out.

Arrived at Purnululu ranger station with a pall of smoke surrounding the area as a burning off program was in full swing—don’t know whether they could see the irony in saying “No campfires” when they were actively burning around all the existing campsite!.

After setting up we headed off for a swim (a 30km round trip) as the ranger told us about a waterhole in a creek that was still good enough to swim in. There was one right near the road that most people swam in but there was another that was not common knowledge further upstream that was larger and more pristine - sounded like the one for us. As we were a little later setting off our swim was shorter than we would have liked as we basically ran out of daylight! Still a good way to end up the day as we had travelled a large distance, mainly on rough corrugated roads, so a wash to get off the grime was a well worthwhile. On the way back to camp several owls swooped near the car and we stopped on the track as a large 1.8—2m black headed python crossed the road in front of us. Got out and had a look—but not too close as I’m no Steve Irwin and a snake is a snake is a snake so unless you can be 100%!i(MISSING)ts non venomous better off to leave well enough alone. Kids thought it was a good thing all the same.

Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) - Piccaninny Creek / Cathedral Gorge

Having been to Purnululu late in the season twice before I was keen to see Cathedral Gorge at this time - assuming there would be a heap more water in it. The beehive sandstone structures are still impressive no matter how many times you see them and it was enjoyable seeing them again - especially with the kids showing interest.

We were lucky to have Cathedral Gorge to ourselves for a good half hour and to just sit there soaking up the atmosphere was a wondrous thing. The pool at the base of the falls currently covers the majority of the floor. After soaking up the atmosphere for a while the opportunity to skim rocks across the surface was too great to resist so that kept us entertained for several minutes! Unfortunately the humble old digital camera just can not do this area justice and panoramic montages get too far out of scale so you need to buy the postcard!. Great spot.

Had another swim at the same spot on the way home—this time in the heat of the day- and we shared it with a water monitor who was resting up underneath one of the rock ledges out of the sun. Again a nice way to cool down—an advantage at this time of year which is not able to occur later in the season as all the water dries up. Schoolwork (ahhh yes the dreaded schoolwork / journal) for the remainder of the afternoon, a visit to the visitor centre and then a view of the Bungles on the way home with the sun setting - bathing the range in that brilliance of colour that only the late afternoon sun can give it.

Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) - Echidna Chasm—Mini Palms Gorge—Spring Creek

Packed up camp and with trailer in tow we headed to the north of the park to view the infamous Min Palms Gorge and Echidna Chasm. The last section of track involves driving thru the creek bed for a way and I wondered whether I shouldn’t have left the trailer behind. We made it thru without any dramas though and set off for Mini Palms with the sun bearing down with an intensity that made you walk a bit faster to get into the gorge. As you need to walk up the rocky creek for a reasonable distance the first part of the walk gets you hot and flustered—perhaps this helps appreciate the gorge even more when you get there. As soon as you get into the gorge you enter a completely different environment as the temperature drops a good 10-150C with a cool breeze running thru the gorge. You are immersed in an area which is cool, shaded and surrounded by palms and large boulders of conglomerate which have spalled off the sides of the gorge over the years. Passing thru some gaps between boulders might get some folks a bit jumpy but the walk is generally of an easy nature and the harder bits have now been made easier by CALM installing steps at the locations that required a bit more scrambling/climbing previously.

Rhiannon had a blister on her foot so Amanda stayed behind with her (Amanda has been here before also on our previous Kimberley trip) whilst I took off up the steeper section with the young fella. The end of the gorge has a platform installed that looks a further 150m or so to the end of the gorge. The last section would be very difficult to access so you are required to appreciate it from afar. Another couple were there when we got there but left not long after so we were lucky enough to have it to ourselves for a while.

The Echidna Chasm walk is still fantastic although very much different from the other walks available. Echidna Chasm can change markedly dependent on the light conditions and the time of day that you walk it. Midday affords the most light to enter the very thin chasm walls and to give you the varying colours of the chasm walls as light bounces off the various faces. Probably best not to be overly claustrophobic in this area although you can always see some form of daylight. The walk winds its way between two massive walls of conglomerate.
At some points along the way there are several boulders of varying sizes that have broken off at some stage and become lodged between the walls—you only hope that they are comfortable where they are and wont dislodge whilst you traverse under them ...or have any others come down whilst you are there!. Again we were lucky enough to have this whole chasm to ourselves and could appreciate it without having to share—or put up with other people talking. Ultimately the chasm comes to an end in an area that opens up to approx 3.5m * 2.5m or so. A few gusts of wind whilst we were there brought a few leaves literally clattering down the walls and, in the closed confines of the chasm, their sound was magnified 10 fold. Gave the kids a scare initially until they realised that the sound was only coming from leaves lightly touching the walls.
We drove away from Echidna Chasm and before the turnoff I heard a screeching noise that didn’t sound natural. Natural it wasn’t as it was coming from our trailer! With the amount of corrugated, dusty roads we had been travelling the brakes were beginning to bind up from dust that had got into the brakes themselves and the activating mechanism. I initially freed this up and we continued on….ultimately the noise began in earnest and we had to park up on the access track and I had to pull the wheel off to investigate further. We had managed to get a stone in between the brake shoes and the lining and this needed to come out. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the drum off at this stage so with a combination of water / lubricant / screwdrivers and cold chisel I managed to dislodge the offending object to enable the wheel to spin freely and we were away again. After again appreciating the 15 creek crossings and the winding nature of the access track—albeit nearly being taken out twice by two huge 4wd buses- we arrived at the Gt Northern Hwy a little later than we had originally intended. The Spring Creek layover area was just south of us and we, along with several other travellers, spent the night there.

Away early for the drive through the remainder of the East Kimberley to Kununurra. With the Gibb River Rd now off our itinerary the route the Gt Northern Hwy takes is a pretty good consolation as it is really a quite scenic and pretty drive to take if you are not going hell for leather to get to somewhere.

On arriving in Kununurra our first stop on the agenda was the hospital to get both Brayden and my infected sores (from mozzie bites/sandflies) checked out at the illustrious Kununurra hospital. After waiting for “a while” we were finally seen by a nurse (who had a son with the name of Brayden as well) and with knowing nods of the head the doctor and nurses “tsk tsk’d” and said common travellers complaint, happening a lot etc etc. Had a swab taken and given antibiotics which seemed to do the trick (Found out later the bacteria registered as golden staph, some other similar type bacteria and another they couldn’t identify! - so it was lucky we did go to the hospital). Just for good measure though they treated us both for Scabies as well!

At any event we had a fairly restful time at Kona Waters Holiday Park over the course of a few days—reading in the hammock strung out on the edge of the lake, journal writing, reviewing some of the gear we had and sending another box of “stuff” back home.

Kununurra - Lake Argyle— WA / NT Border—Keep River

The drive down the access road to Lake Argyle is really quite scenic and type example east kimberley—large
bluffs of various shades and hues of red/orange/brown/cream sandstone towering all around you as the road winds its way around the creeks and undulating countryside. One creek was still flowing over the roadside and as we came upon the spillway it was flowing with a significant volume of water - a sight I hadn’t seen before on previous trips. Again, one of the pros for coming early in the season.

As always Lake Argyle never fails to impress—the grandeur that a comparatively small dam wall has created is marvellous in its simplicity. Although the grandeur and fantastic vista was probably not on the agenda when Charlie Court had the plans drawn up I would hazard a guess. Legend has it that at the time the dam was being built Charlie Court and Joh Bjleke-Peterson had a bet as to who could build the largest dam. As is the case in WA everything is big and ol’ Charlie won hands down. Since it was originally built at 6 gigalitres the dam wall has been extended to make it 11 giga (not sure whether this occurred during Richard Court’s time as Premier but makes up a good story ….the son finishing off what Dad started)

We left Kununurra for Lake Argyle and thence onto the border.

The drive down the access road to Lake Argyle is really quite scenic and type example east kimberley—large bluffs of various shades and hues of red/orange/brown/cream sandstone towering all around you as the road winds its way around the creeks and undulating countryside. One creek was still flowing over the roadside and as we came upon the spillway it was flowing with a significant volume of water - a sight I hadn’t seen before on previous trips. Again, one of the pros for coming early in the season.

As always Lake Argyle never fails to impress—the grandeur that a comparatively small dam wall has created is marvellous in its simplicity. Although the grandeur and fantastic vista was probably not on the agenda when Charlie Court had the plans drawn up I would hazard a guess. Legend has it that at the time the dam was being built Charlie Court and Joh Bjleke-Peterson had a bet as to who could build the largest dam. As is the case in WA everything is big and ol’ Charlie won hands down. Since it was originally built at 6 gigalitres the dam wall has been extended to make it 11 gigalitres (not sure whether this occurred during Richard Court’s time as Premier but makes up a good story ….the son finishing off what Dad started)

No photographic/video medium can adequately convey the expanse of water and the beauty created when the Ord River was dammed. Simply magical….but like I said you just have to see it for yourself to appreciate it. Over the dam wall and down to the picnic area below the dam wall— the thought that the dam wall is going to break when you are down there briefly flashes through your mind!!! A good lunch spot. Unlike last time we were here, when they had the three outlets at the base of the dam wall opened up full tilt letting out water down the Ord, immediately after the wet season it appears that they don’t need to do this as there must be enough natural inflow from the remaining catchment area to warrant not doing this. A pity as the sight of little trickle just doesn’t cut it! Rhiannon did however spot a small freshwater crocodile floating in the water so the kids were happy with that.

Back the way we came down the access road, stopping at a few small spots along the way and then back on the Victoria Highway, turn right and into the Territory - mere kms away. Finally we were to get out of WA after near on 2.5 months! (12/05/2007)

WA—the final wash up


So in summary—in our home state the statistics were;

A total of 79 days from 23rd February to the 12 May 2007.
Travelled approx 8250kms.
Used ~ 1640 litres of fuel which cost $2312 at an average cost of $1.41 (highest of $1.65 at Nanutarra Roadhouse / lowest of $1.29 at Carnarvon).
Vehicle economy (or lack thereof) 19.91 l/100km or just over 5km/litre. Its not very fast and not particularly efficient but it is a simple motor that shouldn’t go wrong during the course of the trip (well that’s my logic anyway)
One puncture / shredded tyre (access road into Millstream from Pannawonica). Replacement required.
One kangaroo hit.
Two dead batteries.
One major breakdown of trailer — bike rack requiring to be fixed in Broome after travelling part of the Cape Leveque track.
Brakes binding on trailer — an ongoing problem.
Budget— too much but we’re not counting!!!
Fish - nowhere near as many as we would have liked!!! Certainly haven’t joined the metre club yet! Amanda has the current honours at 52cm (Estuary Cod) followed by Brayden with a 48cm catfish. I’ll rest my meagre laurels on the fact I've speared a few.
Places of interest—many and varied. No favourites - its all good!
People—same story...many and varied. Some interesting characters along the way and good to see many people enjoying our country. (just wish they wouldn’t go to the same bush camps as us at the same time!!!)
Schooling has been a bit of a chore but it is getting easier (I think) and we can also see the benefits.
Great time to date and more to come….

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Photos

Geike Gorge flood levels
Kids were impressed that the 2002 flood level was above the roof of this gazebo. Mighty lot of water flowing down the Fitzroy River

Cathedral Gorge - Purnululu
Sorry...the lil' ol 2.1 megapixel camera just cant do it justice.

Crocs of all types...
we had seen this tree which looked like a croc on our previous trip...someone obviously also saw it in a similar light and addd a few rock teeth.

Kununurra formal dinner?!?
No special occasion but the kids took it upon themselves to be overly helpful and spruced up the dinner table - complete with beer in a glass!?!

Lake Argyle
Like I said in the text - photographic medium just cant do it justice.

WA / NT border
Finally out of our home state. No disrespect intended but nice to be "out of WA"

Route to date
Hopefully you can make it out....

Comments

[Auntie Muriel]

You should write a book
Really enjoy reading your blog.What an experience for Rhiannon and Brayden.They'll learn more than they ever could in a classroom. Love to all Muriel and Bill

[Heather Boyd]

Trip of a Lifetime!
I am so enthralled with your journey and they way you write is fantastic, I am hanging on to every word. As usual your sense of humour comes to the fore and I can even see you saying it. This is a great way for the kids to learn, experiencing real life. Look forward to your next entry. Take care.