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 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 59: Kununurra

Caitlin and I were up early as we needed to be at the horse place by 7am. The others were up when we left and happily waved us off. Caitlin was extremely excited (and pleased that her jodhpurs still fit her – she’s grown so much since we left home that there was a chance they’d be way too small). We drove out to the Yeehaa ranch, and the owner met us at the gate. He was very friendly and welcoming, and I felt quite comfortable letting Caitlin go on a trail ride with him. He introduced us to his 2 workers, young men who’d been through the training program he runs, helping boys get an agricultural certificate. It felt like a fantastic place.

Caitlin rode an appaloosa called Dollar. They ride Western style here, which she hadn’t done before, but she adapted quite easily. The boys took her out on the trail, and I chatted to the owner then sat under a huge boab tree and read my book until she came back. She loved the ride, they trotted a lot, and rode to the river and along the base of a big rock called Elephant Rock (although she didn’t see the elephant side). When they got back they had a bit of time left and tried to get the horses to canter in the arena – her horse was more interested in coming over to look at me instead… She dismounted and while the boys put the horses in the stalls we chatted to them about the training program and riding and rodeos etc. It was a really lovely morning and Caitlin had a great time.

On the way back we called in at Coles to get a few more supplies, and then to the op shop to get a jumpsuit Caitlin had seen the day before. Back to camp where we had a bit more breakfast and then Tony and the kids went for a swim, while I got ready for our day out. After they came back we had a bit of lunch and then headed out of town.

Our first stop was the Zebra Rock Gallery – with zebras being one of Millie’s favourite animals it was too cool to pass up. The zebra rock is only found in this area of the world, each rock has unique markings, stripes or blotches, and look so incredible. When we got there we met 2 dogs in the yard, and the owner introduced us to them. We wandered through the gallery and looked at all the different types of rocks, some shaped like animals, some just pieces of rocks. We made our gold coin donations and took a piece of bread each down to the jetty where we were able to feed the fish – catfish again, so many that they formed a kind of carpet on the top of the water. As we walked down to the water one of the dogs (a kelpie like dog) came with us, and headed straight into the water, he kept swimming through the group of fish and scattering them everywhere, it was hilarious. There were archer fish there and if we waited long enough without throwing any bread in, the catfish would move away a bit and the archer fish would come in and shoot their streams of water at us – we all got squirted and then happily gave them our bread. The girls used their bread up fairly quickly, LiAM was very frugal with it and spent a lot of time patiently waiting for the archer fish to come in, he really enjoyed it. There was a great view along the river of Elephant Rock – it really did look like an elephant.

Back up on the lawn near the gallery, LiAM and I played totem tennis. Caitlin bought a mango smoothie (it was $8!!) and we all shared it (the gallery is on a mango farm). Millie browsed the rocks trying to decide which one to buy. One of the dogs came and sat between Caitlin’s legs, he really seemed to love her. Millie eventually decided, and the owner gave each of the kids a small piece of zebra rock for free. We went out the back and talked to the corellas and cockatoos in cages there, and met a couple from Silvan (not far from our place). We played some more totem tennis, had a play in the playground, browsed the gallery again and eventually tore ourselves away – such a great place to hang out.

We drove from there up to Wyndham, past a lot more cool hills and escarpments. The land around the hills is very dry, lots of boab trees, kapok flowers and some gums, all quite spread out, with straggly grass in between. We drove across a huge flood plain – a very wide flat area that had a creek or two through the middle of it, that would flood completely in the wet. As we approached Wyndham we started to see large areas of mud flats – dry, flat, white areas leading to a bit of green foliage on the edge of the rivers. In the wet I suppose all those mud flats would be under water.

The buildings in Wyndham looked very old and fairly rundown. There was an old hospital that looked like it was falling apart, later we saw a newer hospital building. There were several rehabilitation centres and a sobering up hostel. Lots of the houses had bars on the windows, or were boarded up. We drove through town, reading a few of the historical signs, then continued on towards the wharf. There were some old trains on display, and lots of discarded machinery around. We could see a wide expanse of water to our left, which would be the gulf that leads up to the Timor Sea. We reached the wharf area and saw a large conveyor belt leading out to the ships, and some large ships anchored in the water. There were mud flats on either side of the road and it felt like no place we’d ever seen before. We drove back to the foreshore once the wharf road became unsealed (it felt pretty desolate out there, the least bustling port we’ve seen). There was a community jetty which we walked out on, and were amazed at the speed of the water flowing underneath. The tide must have been going out and the water was swirling past the jetty at a fairly alarming rate. Anything that got dropped in there would be out of reach very quickly. The water was slightly choppy and there was no clue as to how deep it was. There were mangroves along the edge of the river and we could see where the waterline had come down a little recently. The end of the jetty was a pontoon that could float on the water no matter what its level. There were a few people fishing out there, and we hung out for a while, watching the water and imagining what might be in there.

On the way back to the car the kids found a large dead fish, LiAM examined it quite closely. We drove back through town and up to the Five Rivers Lookout. The view was phenomenal. We could see the 5 rivers (Ord, Forrest, King, and two others) which empty into the gulf here, all winding through the flood plains between the escarpment and Wyndham. Each of the rivers was flanked by a large expanse of mud flats, especially the Ord. It was cool to think that yesterday we were swimming in the lake that feeds the Ord, and we’d fed fish in it early today. To the north there were more mountain ranges on either side of the gulf. There were a lot of people up at the lookout, and everyone was blown away by the view, which was made extra beautiful as the sun set. One guy I was talking to said it was the best thing he’d seen so far, in part because it was unique. Tony and I had said the same thing, that this place was like nothing we’d ever seen before.

We prowled up and down the walkway of the lookout, watching the sun set from different angles. Once the sun was down we got out our stove and boiled some water for cup-a-soup and cup-a-noodles. A couple of other families stayed up at the lookout and had dinner as well. The sky continued to get a darker orange before finally fading to black, it was gorgeous, and the rivers kept changing colours as well. We could see fires burning out on the flood plains of the Ord river, which became brighter as the night got darker. We had a lovely picnic dinner and eventually packed up and headed back down the hill.

We stopped once on the way home for a toilet stop and marveled at the stars – we were a long way from any sort of light source so the stars were extremely bright. We got back to the tent around 8pm and quickly got ready for bed, everyone was exhausted after 2 huge days. We read Inheritance for a while, and closed all the tent windows, it was quite cool (17 degrees), then went to sleep fairly quickly.