Half-lap Day 64: Fitzroy Crossing -> Broome

I am still waking up around 5am most days, which is about 6.30 Northern Territory time, and about an hour and a half before sunrise. I felt like I was the first person awake in the whole caravan park when I went over to the camp kitchen to charge the computer and have a cup of tea. There was no kettle in the kitchen, so I found the cleanest frypan (3 frypans were the only items in the kitchen) and boiled some water – it wasn’t too bad but the 2^nd half of my cuppa did have a bit of a meaty taste…

Our soup sharing neighbour offered me hot water when I got back to camp – he’d boiled more than he needed, so there was enough for a fresh cup of tea, and some for my porridge, and for washing up water. We had a good chat about different ways of travelling and each of our plans for the next part of our trips.

I started packing up and the others emerged from the tent as they woke. We did a pretty quick packup, and the kids played with our neighbours again. They made a banana smoothie and shared it with our kids. Caitlin spent most of the morning talking to a lady they’d met the day before, with a King Charles Spaniel puppy (very cute). In between packing, and then while I was finishing off, I chatted to the mum of the family next door, she gave us lots of tips for things down the west coast, and we discussed the logistics of travelling with kids. Once we were all packed up we kept talking while the kids were happily playing, and probably left almost an hour after we were ready. The kids didn’t want to leave, they really liked these boys.

We stopped in town to get petrol and essential groceries (finally getting some eggs for LiAM) and marveled again at how little water was in the Fitzroy river in town, compared to in the gorge. Then we headed out for the long drive west to Broome – about 400km. The scenery today was the most monotonous we’ve seen for a long time. Mainly flat land, with short dark trees and not a lot of undergrowth. Sometimes the trees were different, there were some black, feathery looking trees with no leaves, not sure what they were. There were lots of boabs, some were really huge, just amazing to look at. Some had green leaves and/or yellow leaves, others were bare. One thing that quite surprised us was that the landscape and vegetation didn’t change much, even as we approached the coast. Within a couple of kilometres of the shoreline, there was no indication that we were in a coastal area.

We crossed several rivers, most of them dry, some with waterholes, occasionally one with a lot of water. Crossing a one-lane bridge over a large waterhole, we saw several freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves in the water. LiAM didn’t see them so we did a U-turn and went back over the bridge, where there was a spot we could pull off the road and get out of the car. We stood up on the top of the bank and watched the crocodiles in the water for a while. We didn’t see any on the banks (and we didn’t go down closer to the low banks, we just stayed up high) but saw 7 or 8 floating in the water. It was our first completely wild sighting of freshies and it was rather exciting. The sun was searing hot and not everyone had grabbed a hat as we got out of the car so it was quite uncomfortable.

3 freshwater crocodiles in a large waterhole

Back in the car we continued westwards. I’d been ringing caravan parks whenever we had signal and we’d decided to stay close to town (it would be cheaper to stay about 35km out of Broome, but we thought we’d enjoy it more if we were nearer all the activities this time, even if it costs us a bit more). We’d been warned that we might not get accommodation because it was school holidays and many grey nomads come to Broome for 1-3 months at this time of year – but we found a few parks who had room for us. We picked one on the outskirts of the town – the slightly cheaper, closer to town one that had a site available also had lots of reviews saying that there was a lot of theft, so we decided to go for more security.

We arrived and set up our tent, and saw cows wandering past on the other side of the fence, and a wallaby a few sites down. We had something to eat then Tony took the kids to the pool, which is pretty spectacular. I had a rest by myself, I was feeling quite overstimulated and just needed some down time. Can happen sometimes when we’ve been in the car for a long time, all my senses get a bit on edge.

It was exciting to be in Broome though, it feels like a halfway point – like it’s the top north-west point we’ll reach before heading back to the South East. It’s not exactly half-way, in terms of either time or distance, but it feels like a midpoint. It was also such a relief to easily find accommodation after all the warnings we’d had. We were all too tired to head into town to check it out tonight, looking forward to actually seeing the town and the beach tomorrow. Weird too to think we are back on the coast, and with beaches we can swim at!

We had a combination of leftovers, instant pasta, soup and eggs for tea. Afterwards Caitlin and LiAM played Euchre, and continued playing as we read Inheritance, then Caitlin got into her tent and we read a bit more before going to sleep.

Half-lap Day 52: Edith Falls -> Timber Creek

It was a little different sleeping with the windows closed again, and it did cool down quite a lot over night. We actually felt cold when we woke up in the morning (just as I’d packed our warm clothes away) but we were fine still in our summer clothes.

We had breakfast and enjoyed being in nature on a sunny morning, there wasn’t any shade where we were but we weren’t hanging around so it didn’t get too hot before we left. We’d hung washing up the night before and the air was dry enough for it to be dry not long after the sun rose. Everyone managed OK without a toilet – using the bushes and trees and shadows that were available for privacy was fine.

Sunrise at our free camp

We headed off before 10 and drove the short distance (about 30km) to Katherine. The kids really wanted to see if any of the puppies were still at North Bank caravan park so we called in there – we parked out the front and walked in, and didn’t see anyone we knew. It was weird to be back, it felt quite familiar although did remind me a little of how frustrated we felt at the time. We saw Bundy and Pumbaa and the kittens, and the kids had a pat and a play with each of them. None of the other puppies were still there. Satisfied to have seen them again, the kids said goodbye and we drove into town. The kids and I went to Target to look for snorkels (no luck, though we did get a Skylanders figure for only $2), to the Visitors Centre to use the toilets and buy some Top End postcards and a tea-towel, and to Woolworths to get milk and other supplies for the next few days. Tony went to Home Hardware to get our empty gas bottle refilled (it had run out during breakfast this morning),to get petrol and to buy meat for the next few days.

Driving around Katherine also felt familiar and like we were almost locals. It was very exciting to head out on the Victoria Highway, on a road that none of us have ever been on, and to start the next stage (far more unknown) of our holiday. 

This road felt very long and isolated (surprisingly so, having come up the Stuart Highway. I guess this one is not quite as well used, not as many people come this way, and it’s heading to even more remote areas than the Stuart does). We saw lots more cows (Brahmins) and lots of kites. The ground was mainly sparse woodland – not much undergrowth, and the trees spread fairly thinly. After a while we saw our first boab tree of the trip – quite an impressive tree.

We pulled into the Victoria River Roadhouse to get petrol. I got a brief glimpse of the river as we crossed the bridge before the roadhouse, and the kids and I walked through the campground to see if we could get closer to get a better view of the river. There was a path leading down between tall cane grass, which rustled a lot as little animals moved around in there. It was quite spooky, not knowing how far away the river was and knowing that crocodiles lived in the river. Every rustle made us (well, some of us, LiAM seemed quite calm) jump a bit. We reached a sandy area high up on the river bank and could see the water and the bridge through the trees. That was good enough for us and we looked for a while then headed back. The kids also met a couple with a fluffy dog and talked to them for a while before we went on our little walk. It was hot in the sun, not so bad in the shade. We had a cool drink then kept driving west.

The drive from here was along huge craggy escarpments for a while, as we drove through part of Gregory National Park. The rocks were red and high above the road and so amazing to look at. We passed out of that section of the park and the road passed through sparse woodland again. There were many long straight stretches in this bit – it was a lot windier through the national park area. As we approached Timber Creek the escarpments returned. For a while we drove alongside the Victoria River – it was incredibly wide, the largest river we’ve seen so far. Looking at the map we could see we really weren’t that far from the mouth and the Timor Sea (about 100km).

Gregory National Park

Just before we reached our campsite (Big Horse Creek Campground in Gregory National Park) there was a bridge across the river which was signposted as a lookout, so we drove in to have a look. The bridge crossed the (still very wide) river and led to a Defense Force restricted zone. There was on vehicle access allowed on the bridge but pedestrians were able to walk out and look at the river – which we did. It was pretty cool looking along this long, wide river, with very green foliage all the way down to the edge. We looked for crocodiles but didn’t see any.

Victoria River

It was only 500m down the highway then to the campground. We drove around a couple of times and the only spots left were narrow bays in the middle, we looked at each of them for shade potential and flatness and eventually selected one. Tony backed the trailer in perfectly, right against one edge, and we were almost able to pull the tent out without it hitting the bollards on the other side. We were able to work around it though – with the kids’ beds down that end, we don’t use the bottom end of the tent so the little dent in the wall didn’t really matter.

The kids explored the campground while we set up, then LiAM, Caitlin and I went for a walk (bike ride in Caitlin’s case) down to the river. There was a boat ramp at the campground and we stood on it watching the water and the birds and noting how high the water level was so we could see if it was tidal. Caitlin rode back and met some people with a dog and chatted to them. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting and doing puzzles and playing games, and had another walk down to the river to see a ground bird’s nest surrounded by shells and sparkly things. The kids talked to more of the other campers and met lots of people and dogs.

In the late afternoon we drove back to the east a little way to where we’d seen a sign saying Escarpment Lookout. We turned off onto the road indicated and it quickly climbed the escarpment and came to an area marked ‘Sunset Views’. We parked and got out – the sun was setting over the river and the escarpment and it looked amazing. We watched for a while then had a look at a memorial that was up there, commemorating and telling the story of the horse brigades that patrolled this area of Northern Australia in the 2^nd World War. It was fascinating, a piece of Australian history I knew nothing about. Another couple arrived and were looking at the monument too – and the lady said that her dad was one of those soldiers. She was so excited and moved to find all this information about it and to know that more people would learn about these men. From there we drove further along the escarpment and ended up at a lookout over the town of Timber Creek, with a different view of the river. It was quite peaceful up there. We had to drive past some parts of the bush that were being burned off, amazing how much less fierce these fires are than the ones at home.

Back to camp where had hotdogs for dinner (I had soup) and the kids played on the iPad for a while. It was another pleasant evening, temperature-wise, and the forecast was for a coolish night so we did close the windows again. We were slightly concerned about where we’d put our tent – there was dampness around one of the pegs, which was pegged in outside the bollards, so wondered if we’d hit a pipe or something.