Half-lap Day 68: Broome

I was up early again and went down to the camp kitchen to have a cuppa and work on the blog. The computer worked well for a while then the keys stopped working again, so I did a few other things that require less typing, then headed back to the tent to start packing up. We figured we’d just head out of Broome a little way, or maybe to the overflow caravan parks, for a couple of days, then still be around when our friends arrived. They were able to book in at Broome Caravan Park where we currently were, so I went to see if we’d be able to come back here on Sunday as well. They had a look and were able to move us on to a powered site straight away, so we could stay here for the next couple of days then 3 days with our friends. This meant we packed quite differently, just dumped a lot of stuff in the car or on top of the trailer, and then drove up to our new site.

It took a good part of the morning to get organised, and it was quite warm working in the sun. Once we had the trailer in position and a few things off the top of it, we took a break and went for a swim to cool off. It was really lovely in the pool and after a while we felt refreshed enough to come back and finish setting up.

We relaxed around the tent and had some lunch, then I was trying to get something out of the trailer and LiAM’s scooter got knocked out. It landed sideways across my toes and was incredibly painful, the worst injury I’ve had so far on this trip. Caitlin and Tony did some first aid for me and helped me sit with my foot up, I had some more food and a drink and rested for a while and eventually felt slightly better.

I had planned to go back to the beach this afternoon and maybe do a bit of shopping. No one else wanted to come and I was going to go by myself. The others were getting ready to go to the pool, then LiAM and Caitlin decided they would prefer to swim at the beach again, so they came with me while Tony and Millie stayed and went to the pool.

We got to the beach an hour or 2 after high tide, so the waves were still decent, and there was a stretch of wet sand to cross before we got into the water. We swam for a while, playing the same game as yesterday, taking it in turns to say what we’d do as each wave came in. LiAM was even more confident today. The water temperature was beautiful as always. We got out and played in the sand for a while, and then explored the rock pools again, before going in for another swim. We probably only stayed an hour then got changed and went to the shops.

We bought a Christmas present for someone from a pop up stall at the shopping centre, then some cheap Skylanders from EB Games and from Target, as well as a few snacks from Target. We got some groceries from Woolworths then headed back to the caravan park where Tony was waiting for the fridge to get back so that he could cook dinner. Millie was very pleased to see us too, we’d been away longer than she’d expected.

Tony cooked spaghetti Bolognese and we sat around the tent playing games before and after eating. LiAM and Millie played with all their Skylanders and Caitlin played on her iPad mini. My toes were aching a lot after walking around all afternoon, so I went to bed before everyone else. I read my own book for a while and fell asleep before the others came in, so Tony read them a story from the internet before they went to bed as well.

Half-lap Day 62: Ord River -> Fitzroy Crossing

Caitlin had an extremely restless night and was up a couple of times, then LiAM woke up feeling really cold so I got up and redistributed blankets and closed the windows. It was cool to see the milky way on the other side of the sky as it had been when we went to bed, it really showed how much the earth rotates throughout the night.

Millie was up early and snuggled up outside in a blanket. It was 17 degrees which feels so cold to us! I was chilly but ok in my summer pyjamas. We had breakfast and started to get ready to move on. Millie and I went for a walk to the toilets and then down to the river, meeting some dogs on the way (one of them licked her all over her face). Caitlin had a bit of a sleep in, and woke feeling not a lot better than when she’d gone to bed. She had a banana for breakfast then curled up in a chair until I packed the chairs, then she curled up in her seat in the car. We saw several more cows wandering around the campsite, including some younger ones.

We were all packed and ready to leave by just after 9.30. Heading along the highway we had more varied terrain throughout the day. More rocky hills, escarpments on either side (at the same time or separately), and at times, wide, flat plains with no hills at all. Some areas had no grass, just sparse trees, others had lots of greenish grass and only the occasional tree. We saw new trees too, some tall, thin, feathery ones, and shorter trees with lots of branches – it looked like there’d been fire through here not too long ago, as a lot of those trees had no leaves, or if they did, the leaves were fluffy looking, and all over the branches, like new post-fire growth. The termite mounds were different here too, more like large boulders than tall structures.

We stopped in Halls Creek for petrol (getting straight to the petrol pump, once we’d navigated past the very long line for the diesel pump). I was glad we hadn’t attempted to stay in town, it didn’t look like a place I wanted to linger, although the visitors centre and a couple of the buildings around there looked quite lovely.

We stopped for lunch at Ngumbie Cliffs rest area, which was recommended to us by our neighbours last night. This rest area was perched on the top of some rocky cliffs, with views in every direction – back the way we came across the top of this escarpment, or across the plains at the bottom of the cliffs. They weren’t very high, but quite pretty, and there was valley just below the rest area with ghost gums and lots of greenery, we could see where the water would flow in the wet before it spread out across the plain.

We ate some lunch and had a bit of a play, and were there for about an hour and a half. We could have stayed the night – lots of people were already setting up – but there was no shade at all (unless we camped right up against the day use picnic tables) and there were still a few hours of daylight left, so we moved on. I would have liked to free camp again, but Caitlin was very keen to stay somewhere with a shower. Millie also wanted a shower, and a pool too if possible. We reached Fitzroy Crossing just after 3.30, so figured we might as well stay in a caravan park here (the next free camp, with toilets (and no shower) was another 80km or so down the road and that would be taking us too close to sunset). Two of the 3 parks in town had terrible reviews, and didn’t have pools, so we decided to stay at the fancier caravan park. It cost more than I wanted to pay for a one night stop in a small town ($49 – although we also get a 5% discount at the local IGA) but it was worth it to make sure Caitlin was comfortable and for me to be less worried about being robbed. (The other 2 parks had lots of reports of burglaries, and they were both over $40 a night anyway).

We checked in and set up in the large unpowered camping area, in the shade, and hopefully with shade in the morning as well. (The map we got here helpfully showed where sunrise and sunset would be). We wandered over to the pool – Tony took the kids first and I met them there a bit later, and found Caitlin sitting on a step in the deep end, shivering uncontrollably. I helped her get out and we wrapped her in towels, then I had a quick swim to cool down and played with Millie for a few minutes, then took the girls back over to have a nice warm shower. LiAM got out as well, and managed to get his clothes and have his shower before I’d finished organizing towels and clothes for the 3 of us girls. The showers were fantastic, and helped Caitlin warm up a little.

Tony was watching the Collingwood v Carlton game on his phone (Collingwood won, hooray!), and I started to get dinner ready. We had leftovers, and instant mashed potato, and bacon (and Millie had cereal as well). Caitlin had barely eaten all day, or much the day before either, and I made her a plate of food and suggested she try to eat what she could – suddenly she realised she was starving and ate quite a bit of her dinner. She’d stopped shivering by now and started to feel quite a bit better. Her thumb is still hurting but the swelling and bruising is continuing to go down.

LiAM didn’t feel well after dinner and had another shower to help himself feel better. He came back and went straight to bed. The girls hurried in to bed as well, after patting and talking to some nearby dogs, and we were able to read a few chapters of Inheritance while everyone was still awake, then we all crashed.

Half-lap Day 61: Kununurra -> Ord River

Even though I’d sorted a lot of our stuff the day before, pack up seemed to take ages this morning. We didn’t rush it, and there was still a lot to organise, but we were close to done by about 10.30. The kids spent the morning playing with all their friends, most of whom were also packing up and leaving today. They played hide-and-seek for ages,  and did a bit of painting, until the others were ready to go. Then the 5 year old boy came over to our tent and they boys played on the iPad and the girls watched or played their own games.

Caitlin’s thumb was still swollen and bruised and had given her a lot of pain overnight, so she hadn’t slept well. I figured out a way to make a splint from some of the bamboo skewers we’d bought to do painting with, and I was able to strap it more securely. I’d just finished doing her thumb and went to put a tub in the car. I caught my finger between the edge of the tub lid and the wall of car as I dropped it into place. I thought ‘ooh, that hurt!’ and then noticed blood splashed across the back of the seat, and I was suddenly very worried about how bad it might be. A quick glance at my finger showed a long line that looked like a cut and a lot of blood. I called Tony over to help and he got some wound care stuff ready. When I was finally brave enough to look at my finger it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought – I’d just taken the skin off from near the tip of the finger to the first knuckle, so it was long but not deep at all. We bandaged it up and I was able to get on with packing.

The kids had wanted to have one more swim in the great pool before we left, so once we were nearly packed I took them over to the pool. It was hot by now and the pool felt fantastic. Tony joined us just as we were getting out, and Millie went back in with him, while I finished off getting everything in the car in the right spot (eg we have our chargers in the back, attached to the battery pack, when we are camping, and in the front, using the front cigarette lighter, when we are travelling.) When Millie got out of the pool she wanted a shower, and took a while to find one that had the right kind of water pressure – seeing as we’ll probably be free camping the next couple of nights we figured it was a good idea to let her have a decent shower while she could. Tony made some sandwiches for everyone and then we left the caravan park.

In town we stopped for milk and to get some oil and radiator fluid for the car, then on the way out of town we stopped at a banana farm and bought some lovely tree-ripened bananas, and a bag of cucumbers. Then we were finally on our way further west, around 1pm. We ate some of the cucumbers on the way – the juiciest and freshest we’ve ever had!

The scenery was different yet again as we headed along the highway. This time there were huge escarpments and mountains on either side of the road (not always close, but always there. The trees were even more sparse than previously, although there were still a lot of boab trees. We saw lots of very rocky hills and some with smoother, larger rocks on them. The highway was well maintained but only just 2 lanes wide, and there were several one lane bridges that we crossed – had to give way a few times to traffic coming the other way. We crossed lots of dry river beds – some with trees bent almost horizontal, the water flow must be phenomenal in the wet!

One lane bridge

Looks like the water flow is strong in this river during the wet season

We were planning on driving to Halls Creek, but when we started looking at the available free camps in the area, the only ones with toilets, and accessible via sealed road, were 100km before or after Halls Creek. We didn’t want to pay over $30 to stay in a caravan park just for a quick stop, and we’d left later than we’d planned, so we decided to stop at the Leycester Rest Area, 100km from Halls Creek, which we reached around 3.30pm.

We found a spot in the shade, right next to another caravan – they said it was fine for us to set up there. We put the tent up pretty quickly, then sat and had a chat to our neighbours. I took the girls up the hill to the toilets – these ones were hybrids, so composting toilets but with a flap over the hole, and a button to stand on to flush some water through and drop the contents into the hole (a bit like an aeroplane or train toilet). The kids were pleased, these were less disgusting and smelly than a regular drop toilet. On our way back down to the tent we saw a large cow wandering past our car (which explained why the rock I’d kicked out of the way of the tent earlier was so light – it was dried cow dung). There were 4 or 5 cows and bulls hanging around the campsite, just eating grass and ignoring everybody. The ground here was dry (although easy enough to put tent pegs in) and covered in sparse yellow grass, and full of prickles. Even LiAM decided to wear thongs because the thorns were painful.

I took LiAM up to the toilet then he and I walked down to the Ord River. There was a blocked-off causeway across the river bed, and we wandered over it. The river was almost completely dry, just a handful of deep pools of water right up against the causeway wall. We watched the fish in them for a while, and marveled at how wide and varied the river bed was. There were areas with rocks, some with boulders, some just sand. Some of the trees were on raised ground which I imagine would be islands, some were growing straight out of the river bed. It’s amazing to think that this is what the Ord used to look like all along it’s length in the dry season, before Lake Argyle was created.

Caitlin’s thumb had been getting steadily more painful through the day, and by the time dinner was ready she was curled up on her chair, shivering and miserable. She seemed like she was in shock from the pain. I gave her some pain killers and we tried to get her to eat something but nothing appealed – eventually she had a banana. She curled up with me while I ate dinner (pasta, bacon and tomatoes), then I got the beds set up so she could get to sleep. I also had a glass of wine - the first wine we've had for several weeks, it was so lovely! We all walked up to toilets together, and while Caitlin was waiting for us she saw 7 shooting stars! The stars tonight were the clearest and brightest we’ve seen yet, just phenomenal to look out. No moon, and 100km from the nearest town, and a clear, cool night – perfect conditions I guess.

We packed up our stuff in case the cows came wandering through, then negotiated who was going to sleep where – Caitlin was really not well and we figured she’d be better off in the big bed. I ended up sleeping on the little green bed, which was much more comfortable than I’d expected. With my head down the end of the tent, where the wall slopes, I could look straight up through the window and see the stars, which was very cool.

Half-lap Day 60: Kununurra

When we woke up we weren’t sure if we were going to leave today or not. Tony’s wine was potentially going to arrive at the post office today, but it was more likely to arrive tomorrow, which would mean staying another 2 days, or even after the weekend, which was longer than we wanted to remain in Kununurra. We decided to wait and see if any of the tracking information gave use more details later in the day and we’d decide then. So we had a bit of an uncertain morning, I caught up with some more blogging, talked to a young couple for ages who had lots of tips for the West Coast, the kids played on the iPad, Tony had a rest. LiAM came to find me when I was chatting to the couple in the camp kitchen, and asked if we had any eggs for breakfast (we didn’t). My new friends said they had 3 eggs left that they’d be quite happy not to have to try to fit back in their fridge, and gave them to LiAM. He was very pleased. Later in the morning we talked to Australia Post and they still weren’t sure where the package was… We decided to stay one more day and if it hadn’t arrived by the time we left tomorrow then we’d ring and get it transferred to Broome (and do our waiting there).

The kids were happy to have a rest day after the two massive days we’d just had. They played at the tent for a while more then Tony took them to the pool and I did a big load of washing. I caught up on some more sorting and cleaned the fridge out and the kids came back for a relaxed lunch, then we played some more games at the tent. Millie wrote her postcards that she’d bought in Katherine, and Caitlin made a new friend, a girl who had just arrived at the caravan park. She went for a swim with her friend. LiAM spent a lot of the afternoon doing mazes in his puzzle books. Tony rode his bike in to town to see if his wine had arrived – it had!!! He rode back, then drove back in with LiAM and Millie to pick it up.

We talked for a while to man with a dog who is half kelpie, and chases balls just like Buckley does (ie all day). Caitlin spent most of the afternoon with her new friend, then excitedly discovered that the kids’ friends from a few days ago were back from the Bungle Bungles and staying here again. I’d met a 5 yo boy in the morning, who had gone to the toilet and then couldn’t find his caravan (so I’d helped him get home), and I’d said my kids might play with him later in the day. Caitlin went and found him as well, and the 7 kids all played hide and seek and tiggy and spotlight before and after dinner. We also got our colouring in stuff out and the younger kids happily coloured and drew for a while before getting involved in the more active games.

I sorted a few more things so that packing up will be easier tomorrow. Gradually the kids came back to the tent. Millie was freezing cold (it was about 18 degrees) so put on her thermal pyjamas. Caitlin had exchanged details with her new friend, who will be moving to Melbourne when her trip is finished, so they are hoping to stay in touch and catch up again later in the year. Caitlin had hurt her thumb when playing earlier in the afternoon. She’d strapped it up herself and I hadn’t thought any more of it – when she sat down to get ready for bed though the pain got really bad, I had a look and it was very swollen and bruised. I strapped it a bit more securely and hopefully it will settle down overnight. We went to bed and read Inheritance for a while – I was getting sleepy before the kids so I stopped reading and they played the iPad until they were more tired.

NSW Trip Day 4: Griffith -> Dubbo

Millie and I were up early and went for a walk in the dark around the caravan park. Once everyone was up we got on with packing and cleaning up and were on the road again by 10. We bought some mandarins from a roadside stall, then went and saw the house where Tony and I lived when we were first married, then on to the hospital where Caitlin was born, and took some rainy photos in front of the current construction work going on there. We also checked out the main De Bortoli vineyard where Tone used to work.

On to West Wyalong where we had a very quick play in the park before it started raining heavily. We jumped back in the car and had some sandwiches before continuing on. We reached ‘The Dish’ – the CSIRO radio telescope dish - around 3pm and spent a bit over an hour in the visitors centre and in the grounds. I had never been there (possibly one of the few NEW places I’ll be seeing this trip) and it was impressively large (64m in diameter in fact). The visitors centre had some fun and interesting facts and activities about space and the telescope, and an information scavenger hunt and activity book for the kids. The rain stopped briefly enough for us to get some photos of us in front of the dish too.

Kids in front of The Dish

We drove to Dubbo through a massive lightning storm – very impressive to watch from the flat land we were driving through. The caravan park was a hit with the kids, with a big playground and a jumping pillow. We had Indian Takeaway for tea then I tried to remove the remains of a cats-eye bindi from my foot (I packed the car in bare feet this morning and was very careful on the tiny bit of grass I needed to walk over, but picked this up from a bit of gravel. Ironic that after saying to the kids, a few times, that its more dangerous to be barefoot in Griffith because the bindis are nasty, I was the one who got one! If you've never seen one, look at the pictures in this article)

I was happy with the car trip today – this was our longest driving day (except perhaps for the final 2 days of the trip, depending when we decide to leave Sydney) and it went well. New fancy headphones for each of the kids helped, so they could each play their own devices/listen to their own music if they wanted to, as well as listening to Harry Potter 7 on audio CD and playing games, talking about the scenery, and dividing the trip into 3 sections.