Half-lap Day 55: Keep River National Park -> Kununurra

Today is probably the halfway point of our trip, if we get home on the Friday before Tony gets back to work...

Caitlin wanted to get up and watch the sunrise from the top of the rock in the campground, so I made sure she was up in time and then I walked a little way in to the rocky area to watch the sunrise myself. I sat on Millie’s camel rock and enjoyed the peacefulness and the changing light. Again there were clouds but not as many as yesterday and there was some beautiful light on the cliff face. Caitlin enjoyed her spot too but said there was a tree in the way so the photos weren’t as good as she’d hoped.

Hanging around for the sunrise and to see if the sun got above the clouds meant that we didn’t really start breakfast until about 8.30. We ate and then started packing up. The kids played with their friends until they were ready to leave. They did some more painting and rock climbing and other games. After they left Caitlin spent a bit of time talking to the couple from the ranger station, and gave them some of the boab nuts she’d painted. Once I’d packed the car and trailer I went through our seats to make sure there was no fruit left anywhere – there’s very strict quarantine going into Western Australia along this road, because we’re going straight into an agricultural area that is free of disease and pests. I also went through Millie and LiAM’s collections of things that they’ve found and got rid of all the plants – the quarantine officials can search the car and trailer so it wasn’t worth trying to take anything through. I was doubtful that we’d be able to take the painted boab leaves and nuts, so we took lots of photos of them, and then put them in a bowl to ask at quarantine, and the kids knew that we might have to get rid of them.

We headed back out along the dirt road, filled up our water containers again, then back on the highway. I had been told there was a rubbish bin not far from the park entrance, but couldn’t find it, which meant we got to the quarantine station with all our stuff still with us. They wouldn’t take any general rubbish, but did take the bag that had our leftover fruit and peelings in it. We had to throw out the painted boab nuts and leaves too, which was quite disappointing even though we thought we were prepared for that. They searched through the stuff at my feet and our food tub in the trailer, and then we were cleared to go into Western Australia.

I had been feeling sad about leaving the Northern Territory, I love it there so much. Having those extra 2 days in Keep River National Park was a nice little bonus and I was ready to move on to WA.

I really want to see Lake Argyle and we tossed up whether we should go there first or go to Kunnanurra and come back later – we decided to head for town and get supplies and fuel and figure out what we want to do next and we can come back to the Lake when we are ready. We arrived in Kunnanura and rang a few caravan parks – the prices seemed quite high (up to $59 for an unpowered site) then rang one that was only charging $40. The reviews online were again mixed, people complaining about backpackers and permanent residents and dodgy amenities, other people saying it was the most lovely place they’d stayed and the amenities were great. So we figured that most people’s negative reviews haven’t really panned out in our experience, and we went to the Hidden Valley Tourist Park. We got a partly shady spot right in front of the National Park, with an entrance to a Park walk just down from us. It was hot, but we were able to set up in time to still have shade on us and got the awning up just in time so that we didn’t ever have to sit in the sun.

We went to the pool for a swim – a beautiful pool and the kids swam for ages. Tony and I had a quick dip then started figuring out what we want to do while we were here – wading our way through a pile of brochures and trying to look things up on the internet. We went back to the tent for lunch, and booked a morning cruise on Lake Argyle for Tuesday morning. Not as good apparently as the sunset cruise, but quite a bit cheaper and it will give us most of what we want to get from visiting the lake. It’s so easy to be tempted to spend more – given our limited budget though we’re happy to be able to do a greater range of things, by picking the less popular options when they seem good enough.

The kids spent the afternoon hanging around the tent, playing on the ipad or reading. Caitlin set up her tent and we chatted to our neighbours. Millie moved her chair over to join them while she had a drink. I talked to my brother on the phone for a while – getting some tips for our time on the WA coast, and hearing all about his new baby son. The girls and I went back to the pool for another swim, and LiAM and Tony went into town to get milk and supplies for dinner. The timezone change was weird – we’d gone back an hour and a half, so the afternoon seemed really long. When the sun set we were more than ready for dinner, but it was only 5pm. We ate not long after that anyway, as our body clocks weren’t going to wait until later just because the time on our phones had changed.

After dinner we finished setting up the beds and chatted for a while, then into bed to read Brisingr until Caitlin fell asleep. It was still warm, warmer than the last few nights have been, so will be interesting to see what the temperature is like here overall.

Half-lap Day 54: Keep River National Park

It was a pleasant temperature overnight – we kept the windows open although did need a blanket. We were all up early as we wanted to do the walk again at sunrise. Yesterday another family had arrived in a motorhome and came around to everyone saying that they’d be cooking pancakes in the morning and we could order some if we wanted to.  We’d thought about buying some pancakes for the kids, but the timing didn’t work out with a sunrise walk (they were cooking from 7 til 8, and sunrise is at about 7.30) so we gave the pancakes a miss (we can cook some ourselves when we get to a town and can buy some eggs).

The sky was a very promising red colour as we set off on the walk, but there were a lot of clouds low to the horizon so we only got sporadic splashes of sunlight on the rocks as we walked. It was still beautiful, and so cool to see the rocks become clearer as the light increased. I walked ahead with the older 2 this time and Millie and Tony followed. I took so many photos though that I was often pretty slow. When we reached the highest part of the walk we could see across to the escarpment and it took our breath away – a long cliff of the beehive type rocks, quite incredible. We hadn’t see it last night because the sun was behind the escarpment and the cliffs were in shadow. We sat up there for a while and soaked up the view.

Yesterday on the walk Tony’s phone had changed to Western Australian time, so we figured he must have got a little bit of signal on the high ground. He really wanted to put his footy tips in before the weekend, so he climbed up a bit higher to see if he could get signal this morning. He occasionally got 1 bar of signal but not enough to do anything useful. And when he came back down his phone was back on Northern Territory time…

Back to camp to have breakfast, and Tony set up a tarp on our awning poles so that we had some shade. Our tent hadn’t got as much morning shade as we’d hoped, and the awning wouldn’t help given the angle of the sun, so having a free standing shade shelter worked better, we could move the chairs and tables as the shade shifted. We decided to stay here for a 2^nd night, it was such a beautiful and peaceful place (and only $7.70 a night) and everyone was happy to just hang out for the day.

We had a very relaxed morning and played cards until we were hungry for lunch. I read several chapters of Brisingr while the kids listened and played on the iPad. The kids spent a lot of the afternoon playing with the kids from the pancake-cooking family. They were 7 and 5 and really loved playing with Caitlin and LiAM in particular. They climbed the rocks, painted boab nuts and leaves, crushed the boab nut powder and tried to roast the seeds, played role playing games, played with LiAM’s water pistol, and all had a really lovely time. Tony went for another walk, with my phone this time, to see if he could get phone signal, again with no luck. Caitlin rode her bike around the campsite road. LiAM and Millie looked at the ants and birds and plants and explored our immediate area in detail. I spent a lot of time reading and doing puzzles. Tony and I spent some time starting to figure out where we are going from here and what places we want to see. It was another very hot day and it was nice not to have to be anywhere or do anything much.

As the sun got lower in the sky Tony lit the fire again. Caitlin and Millie and I went to the end of the campground to watch the bright red sunset on the cliffs. We had rissoles and pasta for tea, very nice sitting around the campfire. It wasn’t cold enough to need a fire for warmth, but had cooled down enough so that it wasn’t uncomfortable in front of the fire. After tea the kids roasted some marshmallows, then we headed for bed (Caitlin in the tent again) and read more Brisingr.

Half-lap Day 53: Timber Creek -> Keep River National Park

LiAM and I were up well before sunrise (although the sky was getting light) and decided to go back to the bridge to see if we could see any crocodiles – a guy had told us yesterday that he’d seen one near the bridge that morning. It was quite cool and LiAM put his jacket on. We drove down and walked out across the bridge. There was a mist rolling across the water and it looked quite spooky at times. We wandered all the way across the bridge – LiAM had wanted to do that yesterday and we hadn’t gone that far. We saw birds (little wrens and other small birds, and kites and crows) and some fish in the water, and a few logs and sticks and buoys that initially we thought might be a croc. At the far side of the bridge we peered through the gates into the restricted military area, and appreciated the sign that said ‘Do not touch anything you find. It may explode and kill you’. LiAM read all the signs on the gate about live fire and lasers being used etc.

The light was changing constantly as the sun started to rise, and it was so beautiful and peaceful. Great reflections in the water. We were about to head back over to the other shore when I saw a log down towards the boat ramp – but it was moving against the current. I looked through my long lens and while I couldn’t make out the shape yet, it was definitely something swimming. It was headed towards the bridge so it wasn’t long before I could see its scales and basic crocodilian shape – very very exciting. It slowly swam up the river, nearly under the cover of the trees on the edge, and through my lens I could see it swishing it’s tail from time to time. It was so silent, just gliding through the water. It turned towards the centre of the river and then submerged. We were talking about how exciting it had been to see it when it came up again near the middle of the river, parallel to the bridge. In the early morning light the spikes on its back and it’s bumpy head, which was all that was out of the water, looked like a black skeleton floating past. Added to the mist and the distant sound of trucks on the highway, it all felt quite eerie.

He submerged again and we assumed that was the last we’d see of him. We crossed to the eastern side of the bridge to get a good view of the sunrise on the river, and the crocodile came up again, on that side. We could see his wider snout and the definite dark colour of his hide and felt confident that this one was a saltwater crocodile. We were able to stand directly behind him as he swam up the river and could see the clear lines of his back spikes – he was incredible to watch. He swam for a while longer then turned towards shore, but didn’t get out. He turned again and headed across to the other side of the river then started to come back towards the bridge.

A man on a motorbike arrived at the bridge as well as someone on a bike. LiAM started to go over and tell them that there was a crocodile when he realised that it was Caitlin on the bike. She’d ridden up from the campsite and was happy to be there in time to see the crocodile. LiAM told the motorcyclist as well. The croc submerged before he got back to the bridge so we went back to camp.

It was warm enough now for LiAM to take his jacket off. We had breakfast and the kids wandered around camp chatting to people, patting the dogs and watching the birds, while Tony and I started to pack up. The kids found a lady who was selling her paintings on greeting cards. They talked to her for ages and bought a card each. She came over to meet us too and had lots of tips about places to go and things to do on our travels.

When we pulled the peg out of the ground water flowed out of the hole and down the hill. I spent ages trying to find a contact number for the ranger, and eventually rang and left a message. I would have preferred to talk to someone directly but no one ever answered the phone.

It was hot while we were packing up and we decided that it would probably be better to set up in a place that has morning shade, rather than afternoon shade, if we need to choose. We were on our way by about 10.30, and continued west along the Victoria Highway.

We’d been given a tip back in Mataranka that the Keep River National Park, right before the WA border, was pretty special. There were rock formations there which were similar (though much smaller) to the Bungle Bungles, so we thought it would be nice to see them as we won’t get to the Bungle Bungles. Our Camps book said that the road in was rough dirt, so we had almost decided not to go, then we checked on wikicamps and the reviews said that the road had been recently graded and was fine for 2WDs.

We drove into the park and stopped at the ranger station. They had a fantastic display there of all the types of things you could see in the park, and a map of the walks. I was thinking we’d need to do the longer walk, at the furthest campground, to see the beehive rock formations, so we thought we’d camp at the closest campground and drive further the next day. Talking to a couple in the ranger centre they said that the walk at the 1^st campground was beautiful and had lots of those types of rocks, so we figured we might not need to go all the way to the end.

We headed off on the dirt road, which was occasionally corrugated but not too bad. We filled up our water containers at a drinking water station, and stopped a bit further on to collect firewood, then continued on to the campground. There was one sandy creekbed which worried us slightly, but we got through easily. We picked a spot (again, a narrow spot that we needed to back in to) that we thought might have morning sun (there was one better spot, but the car that had gone past us when we were collecting firewood, had set up there).

We unhooked the trailer and put it in place, and got out our chairs, then went and sat in a shady grove of trees to cool down, it was very very hot in the sun. The view was amazing – a large formation of red rocks rising up just near the campground, with lots of smaller beehive rocks in the foreground. There was a large rock right in the middle of the campground too, which the kids used for shade while they played some games and then they climbed it a little way and sat up near the top.

We had some lunch and spent the hottest part of the afternoon sitting and reading, chatting, doing puzzles and so on. After a couple of hours we set up the tent, then the lady we’d met at the ranger station came over and said there was something interesting at her campsite that the kids might like. They had an old termite nest next to their van, and the meat ants were destroying it, going in and out of the nest and bringing out eggs and termites. We could see how big it used to be (spread between 3 trees and as tall as me), now it was just a mound, only 30cm or so high. It was fascinating. We talked to the couple about their trip and ours, and about this area, and the boab trees (we’d seen lots today) and how the indigenous people had eaten the nuts and the seeds.

The sun was getting lower in the sky so we all got ready to go for a walk. Millie was reluctant at first so I said she could take photos with my camera, and once we got started I suggested she look for rocks that looked like animals – she found a camel, a turtle, and a gorilla almost immediately and was happy for the rest of the way. It was a 2km walk through the rocks, and it was magnificent. Amazing rock formations every way we looked, a range of plant life, lots of little valleys, and the big red cliffs, with holes and jutting out bits and interesting features, towering above us. Tony walked ahead with LiAM and Caitlin while Millie and I went a bit slower. There was so much to look at that no one complained about doing a walk or felt that it was long at all. There were places that echoed and the trail led gradually upwards so we were soon looking back across the woodlands of the national park. We were on the highest part of the trail when the sun dropped over the escarpment on the horizon, which looked pretty special. The walk led back down to ground level then through the brush back to camp, with rocks all around us as we went. It was very very cool.

It looks like there's a crocodile climbing the escarpment

Back at camp Tony started to get the fire ready to cook tea. There was a ranger talk scheduled for this evening – we’ve been seeing them advertised at every NT National Park we’ve been to, either talks or guided walks, but have always missed them by a day or so. So we were excited to be here for this one. Tony was just about to light the fire when the ranger arrived – he wanted to use the fire to heat the billy so that everyone could have a cuppa during or after the talk. We were happy to move our stuff out of the way and figured we’d eat after the talk.

The ranger showed us a slideshow and talked about all the different features of the Keep River National Park, and what the rangers’ role is at the park. It was really interesting and he spoke well. The kids asked lots of questions (as did other people – there were probably 30 people there) and he answered them in a lot of detail. After the talk the kids had a hot milo, and chatted to the ranger a bit. He’d been working as part of the crocodile removal team in Darwin until recently, so it was fascinating to talk to him about how they removed crocodiles from Darwin Harbour.

We finally headed back to our tent and had toasted corned beef sandwiches for tea. Caitlin had set up the green tent next to our big tent and moved Millie’s bed in to there for the night. There was lots more room in our tent with only 2 beds (Millie slept on Caitlin’s). Being right next to us she could still hear so I was ready to read Brisingr, then realised that LiAM had fallen asleep while he waited for me to come to bed, so we didn’t do any reading tonight.

Half-lap Day 29: Devils Marbles -> Elliott

It got a bit windy overnight, and with the windows open it felt different, and none of us slept very well. It meant that we were easily all up before sunrise which was great because we really wanted to see the sun come up over the rocks. There was a rainbow to the west, and some nasty looking storm clouds (heading south) – the rainbow was there for hours and added to the magnificence of the changing colours on the rocks as the sun rose.

We packed up but didn’t rush – it’s quicker after a 1 night stop because we don’t get so much stuff out. I had trouble with the zip on the main door of the tent – Tony managed to get it to a point where it can be closed all the way, but we can only use one of the zips, not two. As we were packing Caitlin’s iPad mini slid out of the car and the screen cracked. When Tony went to put his bike on the trailer he discovered he had a flat tyre. When Millie sat down to have her breakfast I noticed a spider on her seat – a redback! I was feeling a bit jangly after all of that but the rest of the pack up went ok, the kids played with their stuffed animals in the tent and had a great morning. It was pretty cool packing up with these huge boulders looming right above us. Oh and it only cost $7.70 for the night – a great place to camp. We had a long chat to our neighbours as we finished getting ready, a very friendly couple with a gorgeous little maltese terrier who the kids adored.

We drove to Tennant Creek and got petrol, decided not to do anything else there. We had hoped to go out to see The Pebbles, but it was 6km of dirt road each way and we chose not to risk taking the trailer out there. The drive north was quite similar to the day before, and we were hoping to do another 450km and make it to Daly Waters. Tony noticed the engine temperature rising alarmingly – we stopped, checked the engine and the coolant and everything else seemed ok. We kept going – the temp went up again. We turned the air conditioner off and the temperature went back to normal. We tried it a few time – air con on, the engine temperature rose, when we turned it off, it dropped back down. So we continued driving, with windows down and Harry Potter as loud as we could make it. It wasn’t too bad for a while but as the outside temperature reached 35 degrees it became more uncomfortable in the car.

The next town we reached was Elliott. We thought perhaps we should stay here for the night and continue on in the cooler part of the day the next day. I jumped out of the car to go and check out the caravan park, and could only find one of my Teva sandals. I looked everywhere and the other one didn’t turn up – I must have left it on the ground when I went to get out of the car to help Tony check the engine. I was inconsolable – those shoes were my birthday present for this trip and they were starting to get really comfortable. Caitlin lent me her sandals and she wore her thongs.

Tony went to see about the caravan park but they weren’t there. We had seen that there was a mechanic in town so we drove to see him and the kids and I walked back up to the BP to get ice blocks. The kids got a slushie each and I got a zooper dooper – they did help us cool down a little. The mechanic said he thought that maybe the compressor on the air con wasn’t working, and gave Tony the number of an auto electrician in Katherine. I asked at the BP about camping (wiki camps had listed it as an option) and he said only at the caravan park. We headed back down there as we figured we couldn’t drive any further in this heat without air con. A local indigenous man offered us a painting for $30 – I wasn’t prepared to pay that much at this stage.

The caravan park cost $30 for the night and it was very very basic. There was one other lady camped there in a campervan and no one else. The grass was long and unkempt in places, the fittings were all old and broken in places. We’d been given a key for the ladies toilets but the men’s weren’t locked – that makes it seem like it was a safety issue which made me a little nervous. It didn’t feel like a nice place to stay but we were all too tired and hot and a little stressed to keep going in the car. The girls were feeling so hot they went and had a cold shower in their clothes, which cooled them off a little.

There were a lot of peacocks and peahens around the park which was pretty cool. We got set up and sat around for a while, the kids played their ipads, I hung the washing out, Tony fixed his bike tyre, then another family arrived in their caravan and set up next to us – things felt a bit safer then. They had a 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy and had driven all the way from Mt Isa that day – 880km!! The kids all played together – Millie and the other girl got all their stuffed toys out and played a Frozen game, LiAM and the boy wandered around and looked at peacocks and sticks. One peacock kept attacking its reflection in our neighbour’s car, it was pretty funny. More people arrived as the afternoon progressed and we relaxed a bit.

Tony and Caitlin went for a bike ride around the park, and found the swimming pool – wiki camps had said there was a pool and we hadn’t seen it so thought it was old information. The pool looked very inviting and not old and run down like the rest of the place. We went for a twilight swim which was beautiful. There were bats flying overhead and birds in the trees and a swim made all of us feel much better. Tony left first to go and heat up left overs for dinner – when I went to leave I couldn’t reach around to open the latch to get out of pool enclosure. The manager came out to feed his dogs and I asked him to help us – the dogs came with him and started fighting with each other right in front of the gate where we were standing  - it was quite scary. The guy called them off and we made it out of the pool yard and back to the tent with no further problems.

The town’s little supermarket was the store at the front of the caravan park, so I was able to buy myself some thongs so that I had shoes to wear. I haven’t worn thongs in probably 20 years or more so it’s going to take me a while to get used to them – they are pretty comfortable though.

In our visits to the toilets and showers through the afternoon and evening we saw several frogs (on the soap dish, on the window, on the floor) and geckos on the ceiling. After we ate leftovers and potatoes for tea we headed for bed as we were all exhausted, but it was still in the mid 20s so it took us a while to settle down enough to fall asleep.