Brisbane Trip Day 35 - 38: Bimbi Park -> Home

The wind was strong on the first night - I was surprised that it didn't scare me, I usually am uncomfortable with wind. It was loud though and at times I was awake listening to it and hoping that everyone's tents were safe. (All the homeschoolers were fine - one hire vehicle that some backpackers were staying in ended up with a large branch on it, but no one was injured).

The heavy wind continued for all of the next day, then eased overnight which was a relief to everyone - it had most of the adults feeling a bit jittery and exhausted, although it didn't slow the kids down.

I was pretty tired after our 5 weeks away and was happy to sit at our tent up the back of the camping area and chat to whoever wanted to come to see me. I spent much of the first couple of days talking with our friend who was camped with us, and with others who came up to see us. It was great to sit and relax and not have to think too much.

The kids were very happy off with their friends. Caitlin and the rest of the teens wandered around the camp, played games, went for walks, sat in the lounge area of the camp kitchen, took lots of photos of themselves and each other, played on the swing, and forged stronger friendships. Liam and his friends chatted a lot about fantasy games and stories, played tag games, explored the camp grounds, and occasionally played on their DSs. Amelie played mainly with a couple of girls camped near us, they played with pokemon, did roadworks on the path in front of the other girls' tent, played mini golf and ran around a lot.

Various people had fires at night which were great to sit around and chat (for the adults) and the kids came back and forth with marshmallows. The boys played games with torches of an evening. Amelie was quite tired each night and ready to go to bed reasonably early.

On the 3rd day our campsite friend packed up and headed home - his son (Liam's friend) stayed in his tent next to us for the rest of the camp. One of Caitlin's friend's dads also went home, and the friend moved into our tent. Another of Caitlin's friends had his swag next to our tent (his dad had stayed the first night), so we had quite a tribe of extras with us.

Each of the kids and their friends spent time hanging out at our campsite, as well as at other campsites and in the kitchen. At one point all the teens and most of Liam's friends were at our tent, and someone started massaging someone's shoulders, which quickly turned into a massage chain - I had a great massage from Caitlin's friend.

On the 3rd evening I walked up to the top of the nearby hill, it was great to see the view from there and watch the sun head towards the horizon. There were glimpses of the ocean, and views of the forest in all directions. I was also able to get enough mobile reception to catch up on messages that had been sent while I'd been at camp - although this brought me back to the real world a bit and reminded me that our trip was nearly over which felt a little less relaxing than camp.

The next day I went for a longer walk by myself to the lighthouse. The walk itself was along a wide path, mainly through open fields, and occasionally through the forest. It was a sunny afternoon and quite a pleasant walk, although longer than I'd expected. I stopped to look at a tiny graveyard my friend had told me about, with the graves of adults and children from lighthouse families who had died while stationed there. The view of the ocean from near the lighthouse was quite beautiful. On the way back I ran into Caitlin and her friends doing the same walk as me. When they came back they spent time up on the top of the hill watching the sunset and taking gorgeous photos.

I spent several hours each afternoon sitting at my tent chatting to friends and drinking cups of tea. The weather was sunny and warm and it was a very pleasant way to spend the time.

On the last night the wind picked up a bit again and it started raining. I got up and sorted out the potential for leaks. Packing up in the morning was tricky with the wind and rain coming on and off. The kids hung out with their friends and I chipped away and the packing up, and we were ready to go around the middle of the day. I was taking home two of the other kids so we had to pack the car and the trailer differently, it was pretty crowded but we got everything and everyone in. Throughout the morning we said goodbye to people as they headed off and we said bye to the last few families before we went as well.

We drove home via the Great Ocean Road which was beautiful, although very slow because of the frequent roadworks. Coming through the countryside before Geelong someone indicated to me that there was something wrong with my trailer - I stopped and checked and one of the straps across the back had come loose and was dragging on the ground. I tied it back together with cable ties and secured the carpet and trailer again.

We had a fairly easy trip around Melbourne, and we stopped at Bundoora to drop Caitlin's friend off with family. The rest of us kept going and arrived home in the evening. Very exciting to see Tony again after so long, and to see the dogs and cat.

Brisbane Trip Day 23: Brisbane -> Armidale

Our friends were leaving for dancing at 6.30am so most of them were up before 6. Caitlin and I were as well, hanging out with them before they left. Amelie woke in time to hug everyone goodbye, and Liam woke enough to say good bye, then fell asleep again. Once they were gone I had breakfast and had a shower, then started putting everything in the car. I woke Liam because I needed him to eat so I could pack the rest of our food. We were pretty well packed by 9, then our host pulled the trailer out of the driveway with his ute (it was going to be too heavy to pull over the steep lip of the driveway with my car) and I hitched up out on the street. We were in the car and had said goodbye to the kittens and the youngest boy, ready to go by 9.30.

Not far into our drive we saw 2 wedge-tailed eagles – an exciting start to our journey. We were all sad to be leaving our friends, although confident that we’ll see them again soon and it will be like we never left. The drive south was all new to me, I’ve never done this inland trip from Brisbane. The mountains we were driving towards were fascinating to look at, so many craggy peaks and interesting shapes. We were very slow going up and over the gap, but managed it ok.

We stopped in Warwick for petrol, and continued on towards Tenterfield. The land here was less lush and green than in Brisbane, although not dry. We saw lots of cactus by the side of the road. Liam and Amelie had a nap. Driving through Tenterfield I still felt ok, then soon after started to feel tired so stopped at a rest stop (near Bluff Rock) and we had a toilet break and a bit of lunch, and I made a cup of tea. I put my window down to get some air in the car when we stopped, and then it didn’t go back up. I managed to get it about halfway and we had to do the rest of the trip like that.

I felt better back in the car and the drive was interesting and mainly easy. I had downloaded a heap of music in the last week so we were listening to that, it was a pretty cool mix. We stopped in Glen Innes for Caitlin to run into McDonalds and get 3 soft serve cones, I made myself another cup of tea. I was feeling excited by now as the terrain felt familiar – I think I may have driven to Glen Innes once, but it was more that it felt like New England  and felt comfortable. One part of the road near Guyra was tricky, it was a long, steep downhill section. I’d had a truck behind me for ages – I’d lose him on uphill stretches then he’d catch up in between. He was right behind me on this section and it scared me – he was supposed to only go 80 down the hill, but I think he wanted to go faster. I was only going 80 because I was quite scared, the trailer was pushing the car and it felt much faster than I would have liked, and the truck was on my tail the whole way. At the bottom there was an overtaking lane and he went past me and I felt much better.

Arriving in Armidale was quite exciting, very keen to have a look around and see the places I remember. There was a hint of autumn in some of the trees and it looked pretty as we drove in. We came in from a slightly different direction than I’d expected, but I soon got my bearings, and was excited to drive past 2 of the streets I lived on while I was here. We easily found the showground and rang the caretaker to check us in. She came over and charged us $15 per night, I was expected to pay $20 so that was a nice bonus. I’d thought it might take us 6 ½ hours, with rest stops and driving slower because of the trailer, and I was right!

 I picked a spot and backed the trailer in, and the kids went off to explore. Once I’d unhitched I made a quick call to Tony before he went to work, went to the toilet myself, and then started to set up.  Caitlin had a shower and the others wandered around and talked to people with dogs. There’s several other people staying here, including some show people who are staying for the autumn festival next week (Armidale show was last weekend). Once they’d explored enough they played on their ipods in the car – it is a lot cooler here than in Brisbane and they were staying out of the breeze. We’re lucky that the last 4 days or so in Brisbane were only mid twenties instead of mid 30s like the first few days – otherwise we’d really really be feeling the cold here! We rummaged around in the car and found jackets and long pants which we hadn’t needed for a while.

Set up was pretty easy and it was nice to be back in the tent again. Once I had the beds up we walked into town – it’s 3 blocks along the same street from here to Coles.  (Before we left I covered the open window with a blanket). The kids found an abandoned Coles trolley and took turns pushing each other in it along the path. Amelie skipped ahead. The sun was setting and it was very pretty.

We bought some food for dinner (ravioli and soup) and breakfast (hot cross buns) and a couple of other supplies and headed back. It was completely dark now and everyone was tired. Back at camp we quickly cooked our dinner and ate it. I put the blankets on the beds and made sure everyone had enough to keep warm, and everyone was in bed by about 9pm (which is only 8pm for our body clocks).

Brisbane Trip Day 10: Byron Bay

We awoke to sunshine for the first time since leaving Newcastle. I hung up all our wet towels and clothes and opened up all the windows in the tent to try to dry everything out. It was a warm morning and with so much moisture around it was extremely humid. We had a relaxed morning around the tent and at around 11 we headed in to Bryon Bay. We stopped at Woolworths to get ice for the eskies, and some grapes and morning tea.

We drove up to the lighthouse and on the way saw an inviting looking beach, and then magnificent views down the coast to the south. Once again there was a lot of traffic, and we noticed cars parking a long way from the beach - I was worried it might be difficult to find a place to park. The road at the top of the headland near the lighthouse was jammed with traffic and it seemed unlikely that we would find anywhere to park there, so we headed back down. We were planning to go for a swim first then walk back to the lighthouse, although it would have been a long walk, then I saw a parking space in the 2nd carpark down from the headland. We parked and paid for 2 hours, and walked back up to the lighthouse.

It was probably a 10 or 15 minute walk and the view was spectacular. Blue ocean crashing onto a long beach far below us to the right, with the water being more aqua as it came close to shore. The headland is quite high and so we could see a long way, to headlands far to the south. It was a hot walk as there was no shade - snacking on the grapes helped to keep us a bit cooler. At the lighthouse we could also see to the north and the west - interesting shaped mountains, a rock island in the middle of the bay, beaches around the edge of the bay and more blue blue ocean. I ushered the kids down the path that goes out to the tip of the headland. There were cool views from the path down the rocks to the water far below. We reached the most easterly point of mainland Australia (which is why I wanted to come to Byron) and the kids were mildly impressed that everyone else on the mainland was to the west of them. We were about to head back when we saw dolphins in the water - a pod for 4 or 5 heading north, then a single dolphin, then another small pod. Amelie saw them and was thrilled - last time we saw dolphins from a lookout, she'd already headed back to the car and she missed them. We watched them swim and leap and once they'd passed we started to walk back.

The kids walked faster than me as I was taking photos of the rocks, and I noticed a dark shape swimming at the base of the cliff. I stopped to watch it for a while, and eventually a green turtle came up for air and I was able to see it really clearly. The dolphin pods also headed back south passed the headland, and another, much larger pod came up from south to meet them. This time there were several mothers with calves. I signalled to the kids (already back at the lighthouse) to come back - the turtle had moved out of sight by now, but we stayed at one of the lookouts for ages watching the large dolphin pod - between 40 and 60 dolphins. They divided into a couple of groups and were doing some tail slapping and other behaviours that suggested they'd found fish and were feeding. It was amazing to see so many dolphins together and watch them play and fish.

Back at the lighthouse we admired the view for a brief time, and I'd promised the kids a cold drink at the cafe after our hot walk (and before the walk back to the car). We went to the toilet first - they were down the hill a bit in a beautiful cool rainforesty setting, but the toilets themselves stank and the kids felt they were worse than drop toilets. Everything at the cafe was (not surprisingly) expensive, so we decided on a gourmet milkshake to share - we chose choc mint and it was delicious. While we sat on the steps of the cafe and drank it, we were accompanied by a large water dragon who seemed to really like the kids, he kept moving away then coming back and sitting right near us.

The walk back down the hill was beautiful although hot. At the car we used some of the ice we'd bought this morning to cool down a bit, then drove down towards the beach. We found a parking spot on the side of the road near Clarke's Beach, and walked down to the beach. We swam near some rocks to our left, and the water was a beautiful temperature. The water level became too deep for Amelie to stand in, although the waves were not big, so I carried her further out and we all stood on a large sand bar (not far from shore) and played in the waves and watched the kite surfers. Caitlin and I were both startled by a large black shape moving through the water - it was the shadow of one of the kites! It was a little rougher out here - not dangerous at all but a bit beyond Amelie's confidence level - she's not really swum in the surf before. We went back closer to shore, off the sand bar, and she found a place where she could stand some of the time and we swam for ages in gentle and enjoyable waves.

We had a picnic lunch on the beach and then went back in for more swimming. Amelie was much more confident by now and we all had a great time. Liam and I (and then Caitlin) played the game where we tried to see who could stand for the longest without the waves moving our feet - it was much harder doing it out in the surf than on the shoreline. There was a bit of a current so we kept moving back up away from the rocks - a good way for the kids to see how ocean currents can impact on a swim. This one wasn't strong and all the kids could work against it, but it was noticeable.

After a while we headed through the water to the east, then walked on the sand for a while because the current got hard to fight against for that distance. We went to Captain Cook lookout and climbed up the stairs - it gave us a good view of the bay and some of the cliffs leading out to the headland - and of the rain that was coming in from the north. There was also another water dragon up there - this one was more wary and stood really still, hoping we wouldn't notice him. Back down the stairs we explored the rocks for a while, and Liam found an old damaged plastic crate that he brought back off the rocks and we walked up and put it in the bin. The water was quite shallow here so we sat and played in the shallow waves, then swam all the way back to where we had started. The afternoon had become quite cloudy, but the rain headed out to sea and we didn't get any more.

We had a bit more of a play in the waves then got out and packed up, rinsed off at the shower at the top of the stairs, and Caitlin got some stretching tips from a guy using the exercise circuit there. On the way back to camp we stopped at Aldi to top up on a few things, and Woolworths to get a hot chicken and items that we couldn't get at Aldi. We had chicken sandwiches for dinner and a very quiet evening after a long, fun day. I was a bit sunburnt - I'd worn a dress with straps instead of sleeves, which is very rare for me if I'm going to be in the sun, and even though I'd put sunscreen on I was burnt on my walk up to the lighthouse and back. There'd been a bit of wind throughout the day so  most of our stuff was dry although some of it was on the ground. I tidied up a bit and we went to bed as soon as we could.

An interesting thing we'd noticed about Byron Bay is that almost everyone seemed to be either kids under 8, people in their twenties, or people over 60. There weren't many people around outside of those demographics, so at times we felt a bit out of place. It also seemed that men in their 20s were not allowed to wear shirts, and it was fine to wear swimmers (and nothing else) pretty much anywhere in town. The roads were in terrible condition and there was a lot of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, I really didn't enjoy driving there at all.

Half-lap Day 96: Cliff Head North -> Perth

I had been a bit worried about staying so close to the coast (especially at a place called Cliff Head) after some of the windy nights we’ve had recently, I thought we might get blown away. There was hardly a breeze all night though, so we were safe and comfortable and I was so glad we’d taken the risk. LiAM had a bit of trouble with his asthma in the night, ventolin fixed him up though and then he slept well.

I was up early and went outside to a very dewy (there was water on everything) and very cold morning. I sat overlooking the water and did some blogging and drank my tea, until my burning toes reminded me that I probably should have put shoes and socks on, instead of sitting in my thongs. The sun rising over the hills behind us and slowly lighting up the beach and ocean was pretty cool. The oil rig shone gold in the morning sunlight, and occasionally I saw splashes on the horizon from whales breaching.

The others gradually woke up and joined me out in the cold. It was a lovely place to sit and take our time over breakfast. Once the sun was up it became much warmer and even more pleasant. We started packing up and it seemed to  take ages – we put extra blankets and our sleeping bags in the car and the trailer, rather than on top of the bed where they usually go, because we’ll be staying with Tony’s cousin in Perth and not opening the tent out. Doing things in a different order slowed us down a bit, and we also wanted to wait until the dew dried out before we packed up the tent, which took a surprisingly long time to happen. By the time we were ready to go it was after 11am.

Oil rig

We drove further south through more farmland, seeing lots of old stone farmhouses and sheds and more beautiful scenery. We called in to Jurien Bay to look at the Harbour and see if we could see any seals or sea lions. We walked down to one of the beaches and stood on the shore for a little while, the waves were crashing in and it was interesting how different the sea looked here, compared to 100km or so up the coast, it was much rougher here. 

Our next stop was Nambung National Park, to see the Pinnacles. At the gate the lady said that we could unhitch the trailer and drive and/or walk around the Pinnacles, or we could leave the trailer on and park and just do the walking track. We decided not to unhitch, and just do the walk (it was only 1.2km). The van next to where we parked looked like our friends from Murchison Station. We had a quick snack then walked up to the toilets and the Information Display, and found our friends there. We chatted to them for a while and then headed off on the walk.

I’d seen lots of pictures of the Pinnacles, and there was lots of information and pictures of them in the display we’d just looked at, but seeing them for real took my breath away. We walked around a bend and there was a large sandy hill with tall, thin rocks spread all over it – we all stopped walking and just stared for a moment, it was an incredible sight. Some of the Pinnacles were like stalagmites, some were wider and shorter, some were just little mounds. The walking trail wound it’s way through between the formations, and there was so much to see in every direction. We came to a lookout in the middle of the walk, and stood there for a while looking at the Pinnacles in all directions. One really cool thing was that from the lookout, and any hills in the area, we could see the ocean in the distance to the west.  It was a great view – desert, with these amazing formations, then bush, then the blue of the ocean.

As the walk continued, the Pinnacles kept varying, slightly different colours, or a lot that were a similar shape to each other but different from those in other areas. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the shados of the rocks were lengthening which was pretty cool too.  I was so glad we’d had the time to stop and see them, so different to anything else we’ve seen on the trip.

Back at the car we had some sandwiches and then kept driving. The landscape kept changing, at one point we drove past areas which were filled with the trees that look like Grug (from the books). I’d never seen so many of these trees in one location. As we got close to Perth we were driving through bush again, and it felt like the type of bush we get at home, we could have been in Victoria.

We arrived at Tony’s cousin’s house, in the northern suburbs of Perth (near the beach) around 5.30. They have a 10 year old son and all 4 kids seemed to hit it off straight away. They’d arranged for us to use the main bathroom and a couple of bedrooms, so we really had our own space, it was very generous of them. The kids went out the back to meet the dog – called Buckley just like our dog! We had a delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner – weird to be sitting at a table in a house to eat a meal. Great conversation and a very relaxed environment. After dinner we watched the Collingwood game on TV while the kids played in the playroom.

The kids were sleeping in their cousin’s room (he was in with his parents) and I went in and read a couple of chapters of Inheritance to them, then went to bed in the study. Very very weird to be sleeping in a real bed, in a house! Tony sat up and chatted with his cousin for a while, its been a while since they saw each other and it was great to catch up.

Half-lap Day 94: Kalbarri

I woke before sunrise and sat outside with the computer, gradually watching it get lighter. I’ve been having trouble with the keyboard again, since the first day at Shark Bay, so typing anything can take a while sometimes – I know how to temporarily fix it now, but it can start playing up again at irregular intervals and it is a little frustrating. Having the beautiful bush and river around me though helped me feel quite calm and peaceful even when the computer wasn’t working easily.

Millie came out and went to pat the goats. I mentioned that we were allowed to go in the goat pen, as long as an adult was with any kids – she was keen to go straight away, I suggested she have breakfast first, and wait for the other kids. She decided she wanted French Toast, cooked up in the camp kitchen – the idea of sitting on a couch, or around a large table, with real (non-folding up) chairs, really appealed to her. Tony took the food he’d need up to the kitchen – it is really well equipped (like staying at a backpacker hostel) so he didn’t need to take any cooking utensils. He made French Toast with bacon, and the other kids wandered up there too as they woke up. I sorted out our washing and had a good chat to the guy in the tent across the road from us – again getting a few tips about places to see, and sharing our love of these remoter, less populated campsites.

Breakfast was delicious, and the kids enjoyed playing in the communal area. They got out a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle from the cupboard and started working on that. We considered just hanging around at the station all day – we haven’t had a rest day for nearly 2 weeks and it is more tiring when we are really active every day. There was one thing at least that I wanted to see in the National Park so we decided to still do that, but not stay long in the Park, so we could come back and have a quiet afternoon. The kids had agreed to meet up with the kids from the station this afternoon as well, so they were keen to be back before 4pm.

I took the kids in to see the goats – there was a small goat kid lying in the sleeping area, and when we looked closer we realised that it had died. The kids were very sad, and we went to look at the rest of the goats a bit more somberly than when we’d first entered. The other goat kids were sleeping, some of the mother goats came over to us for a pat. After a while some of the kids woke up as well and everyone had a great time playing together.

We got ready to go out and headed for the National Park. We stopped at the entry station to get a new tag for our National Parks pass – ours appears to have blown out the door at Cape Range. (We had the receipt with the details on it from when we paid for the pass, so we didn’t have to pay again, just get a new tag.) This is our fourth National Park since buying the pass, so now we’ve saved money by buying it rather than paying day entry each time). Driving in was quiet pretty, there were wildflowers everywhere, purple, red, yellow and white. The road was sealed for about half the way, then dirt – it was a little corrugated in parts, and sandy occasionally, but the car handled it fine. We did unplug our fridge cord in case it was the bouncing around of the corrugations that blew the fuse last time (at Karajini).

Our first stop was Nature’s Window, which was the one thing I really really wanted to see in this area. As we approached the carpark we were amazed at the view – wide, deep gorges with sloping cliffsides leading down to the bottom. The rock layers were horizontal and obvious and the gorge sides looked like large cakes. The scale of the gorges was quite overwhelming. The walk down to the window was quite easy – and very pretty. We were up close to the wildflowers now, with the gorges and river in the background. At this point the Murchison River does a massive loop, as well as doing a hairpin turn on either end of the loop – so walking out to the lookout, we had a U-bend in the river on either side of us, and we were walking on a narrow isthmus (high up on top of the cliff, which dropped down to the river on either side. Except around the area of Nature’s Window the cliff top wasn’t so narrow that it was scary. Beyond the window the high land widened out again and filled the whole circle of land within the loop.

View of the gorge as we approached it

We reached Nature’s Window and clambered around to get a good view – it is a natural hole in the rocks, large enough to stand in, and it frames the view of the river quite nicely. I was excited to see it and to take photos through it – I always love framing my shots with something like a tree branch or a rock, so having a ready-made frame on all 4 sides of the shot was quite cool. The kids loved it there too, looking at the river and the cliff faces and the birds and the flowers. We saw 6 emus down on the grass next to the river, and several bushes that also looked like emus – again, the natural features of an area often imitate the shape of the local animals (or perhaps the other way around). There was a walk that went right around the loop, 9km and at least 5 hours – we’d decided not to do it but once I was there I really wished we had the time and the energy to attempt it, it would have been amazing.

At Nature's Window

The layers in the rocks were quite obvious up close as well as from a distance – like some of the other places we’ve walked (Karajini, Kings Canyon) the vertical layers wear away so the layers themselves make natural steps. The layers here were very thin, only a couple of centimetres high, so the steps were quite shallow. We hung around at the lookout for ages, then wandered back along the path. The kids and Tony raced back, and I took my time, enjoying the wildflowers and the view from different perspectives.

We had lunch at the picnic area back at the carpark, then everyone was happy to go back to camp. Driving into the station we could see the river winding through the land towards the coast (we were only 13km from the ocean here), large sloping cliffs that were whiter as they got closer to the sea. There was also a large green grassy area that looked like a natural ampitheatre in among the high river banks – it was a long way away and we weren’t sure if it was grass or crops or what, but we loved looking at it.

Back at camp Tony took the kids in to see the goats again, while I got a few things organised. One of  the kids kept ‘hugging’ Caitlin, and then tried to eat her hair. The little ones are so cute, its great watching them play. Tony went in to town to get some food for dinner and to organise our accommodation in Perth. The kids and I had a bit of a play with the totem tennis and Caitlin practiced walking on the rolling barrel, as well as showing Millie how to do it – she was pretty good!  Caitlin told one of the station managers about the little dead goat, and the lady took Caitlin and LiAM in with her so they could show here where it was, then she organised for someone to remove it. The station children arrived home and I left the 5 kids all playing together with the totem tennis and the barrel, everyone looked very happy. I had a bit of time at the tent by myself which was nice and relaxing.

Tony decided to take advantage of having an oven in the camp kitchen, and made sausage rolls. LiAM and I went to the kitchen with him,  I played cards and he worked some more on the 1000 piece puzzle. A couple of horses walked past the window – they walked all the way down past our tent and LiAM and I ran around trying to find Caitlin so she could see them. She was playing with the girl from the station, who started to call the horses so they’d come back up – Caitlin did get to see them when they wandered back past. She and Millie played with the girl for a while longer on the ipad and with the tennis pole. Once she went inside they joined us in the kitchen and helped LiAM with the puzzle and Tony with cooking tea.

The sausage rolls were delicious – Tony hasn’t made them for ages and he’s so good at it. While we were eating, the lady from the family who had just set up next to us came into the kitchen. We’d seen them out at Nature’s Window today, they looked like a relaxed and fun family, with 2 little boys. We chatted to her for a while and discovered they lived not far from us (Park Orchards) and she knew some people in Healesville – she listed them and we know some of them as well.  Tony offered to bring down any leftover sausage rolls to them, and she said we were welcome to join them at their campfire. Tony had cooked apple pie for dessert – we ate it with ice cream and it was magnificent. We did a bit more of the jigsaw puzzle, then cleaned up in the kitchen and Millie and I went to have a shower. Caitlin joined us after a while and we also ran into our neighbour again. We walked back down to the campsite with her and she invited us to their campfire again, we offered to bring marshmallows.

We had a very pleasant evening chatting to our new friends. We have a fair bit in common (similar interests and lifestyles and beliefs) so had lots to talk about apart from comparing trip details. As we talked we discovered even more people who we know in common – the guy used to play cricket with some of the guys from Tony’s baseball club. Their littlest boy was asleep, and their 5 year old stayed up chatted and played with our kids. The kids all roasted marshmallows, then LiAM talked to him a lot about Star Wars and they played with his toy light saber. Caitlin played with them and talked to the adults, Millie played with them then snuggled up on Tony’s lap once she got tired. Our friends shared a bottle of scotch with us, it was really lovely sitting and drinking and chatting and laughing around the fire, even when it sprinkled rain occasionally. It was a much warmer evening than the night before and sitting outside felt really comfortable. We could see the goats in their pen and they were often awake and walking around, even the kids – we weren’t sure if that was usual nighttime behaviour for goats or if they were up because we were up. Eventually everyone was very tired and we decided to call it a night – back at our tent we discovered it was 12.30! Definitely our latest night on the trip so far! No reading tonight, Millie was already asleep and everyone else bundled into bed pretty quickly and went straight to sleep.

Half-lap Day 63 - Fitzroy Crossing

All back in our own beds we slept a lot better, although Caitlin still didn’t feel great in the morning. She was improved on the day before though, and her thumb was feeling slightly better too. Our plan had been to stay the one night and then keep moving towards Broome, possibly checking out Geikie Gorge on the way – but the kids really liked this caravan park, and they were all quite tired (travel days wear us all out more than very active exploring days) so we decided to stay a second night. Another factor was that the Fitzroy Rodeo was on this weekend ‘the most exciting weekend in Fitzroy’ and some of us were quite keen to check it out.

We’d managed to put the tent in the perfect spot so that our table and chairs were in morning shade until after 11. We had a very relaxing and fun morning at the tent, we had breakfast then the kids played with the boy from the tent near us – they played cricket and with some circus equipment he had. Tony and I chatted a bit to his Mum. After they left for to go and explore, Tony, Caitlin, LiAM and I played Euchre, which the kids loved and I didn’t find stressful for the first time ever I think. Millie had just bought a new game on the iPad so she played that or played with her stuffed toys around us.

Once the sun was on us we were ready for a swim. I took the kids over and Tony started organising things for us to go out. The water was cool but refreshing – when Caitlin got in she started shivering again and needed to sit in the sun for a while. She was able to ease back in and swim for a short while, then headed off for a shower. LiAM and Millie and I played tag for a while then got out ourselves. Back at the tent we finished getting ready and set off for Geikie Gorge.

We’d read that this was the most accessible gorge of the Kimberleys. The road out was unsealed for part of the way but easy to drive on. Along to our left we started to see amazing dark grey rocks, like they were in vertical layers but seemingly one piece. They were different to anything we’d seen so far. We had a picnic lunch in the information gazebo at the gorge, and the kids chatted to the ranger about crocodiles and other animals. He gave them a book on identifying Western Australian birds, which helped us identify the nest we’d seen at Big Horse Creek (a bower bird) and some other birds we’d seen around. There was lots of information in the gazebo – a big board listing all the types of fish in the area (interesting to see how some of them differ a bit from their Northern Territory versions), boards showing the history and geography of the area, and markers showing the flood levels of the Fitzroy river in various years. On 2 occasions the flood water had been 2m above the roof of the gazebo! (It was nearly 3m high itself).

We briefly considered doing the boat tour then decided to save our money. We set off on our walk along the gorge. There were more of the dark grey rocks next to us, and we discovered that they used to be part of a coral reef, when this area was a sea. So they were limestone and weathered differently from other rocks. Many of the formations we saw reminded me of things I’d seen in caves, which makes sense because they are usually limestone as well. The other striking feature about this gorge is that the bottom half of the rocks, and of the red cliff on the other side of the river, is white, because the sand carried along in the water during the wet grinds away at the limestone and makes it white.

The white shows the level that the water usually gets too during the wet.

The river flows along the base of that cliff. We were walking on the other side of the river, where there was a large sandy area between the cliffs on our side and the current water level

The first part of the walk was quite difficult as it was all on sand. Millie was tired and I piggy-backed her for a while. Caitlin wasn’t looking well and we considered turning back, but she wanted to keep going so we took it easy. I went ahead with the big kids and Tony and Millie came at a slower pace. There were lots of cool trees to look at and we got occasional glimpses of the river. LiAM was checking out the rocks and plants and got a large number of burrs on his clothes. They were sticking in to him quite painfully. I started to pull them out and had several pierce my skin quite deeply – these were the nastiest prickles I’ve come across, even worse than the ones we used to get in Griffith. These were smaller and softer, but like small porcupines, there was almost no way to grab them without getting spiked, and there was one very long needle like thorn on each one. Eventually we were both free of burrs, by which time Tony and Millie had caught up. We reached the end of the track and had a beautiful view of the river, it was lush and green at this point (although it’s possible that most of the green stuff was weed…).

We had a quick look around at different views of the water and the cliffs, then headed back. LiAM was so keen to check everything out that he got burrs a few more times, not so badly though. Caitlin was getting tired so we were a bit slower on the way back. It was cool to see the rocks and cliffs from a different angle and notice different formations. We also saw a very old boab tree, with lots of leaves still on it, some yellow and some green.

Back at the start of the walk we saw a kangaroo, bigger than any we’ve seen for a while, foraging in the long grass. The kids had an icy pole each from the ranger station, then we set off back into town, having to slow for cows a few times as they wandered across the road in front of us.

We went straight for the rodeo, worried that we’d left it too late and would miss everything. The lady at the gate said that they were nearly finished, just doing the bull riding finals, so we could go in and watch and didn’t need to pay. We wandered over towards the arena and could see kids running around in it so figured we’d missed everything. We went closer so that Caitlin could see the horses in the pens nearby, and heard the announcer still talking – the rodeo itself was still taking place in the next arena, this one was more like a warming up/warming down area, so we excitedly went over there.

The riders for the finals were drawing the names of the horses and bulls that they would ride. We found seats in the stands and soon one of the marshalls came over riding along the fence so that kids could pat his horse. Caitlin was straight over there, and the others followed. He had a tassel off one of the bull riders outfits and asked if anyone wanted it – Caitlin was very thrilled to have a souvenir of the rodeo!

We were there in time to see the saddle bronc finals and the bull riding finals -  2 of the most exciting events. One of the horses in the bronc finals was very hard to catch after he’d thrown his ride and almost ran into the fence right in front of us – very exciting. There were some good rides and some near misses, and the hard-to-catch horse had fallen and rolled over his rider – no serious injuries though (he stood up and ran out of the ring). One guy got stuck on his bull and injured his arm, which was a bit scary to watch. There was a great atmosphere and it was so great to be there for part of something that is so important in this part of Australia. Caitlin looked out for her trail-ride guides as they do rodeo, she thinks she might have spotted one of them from a distance.

Our neighbours from the campground were there so we chatted to them and walked back to our cars together. We looked at the pens of bulls and steers and horses, and had to give way to a 3 trailer road train full of cattle as it left. The kids and I wandered around a bit more to see some of the horses being settled down for the night, including a Shetland. We got very muddy feet getting back to the car.

Back to the campground, where Caitlin and I went to the laundry to wash everyone’s shoes, LiAM and Millie went to our neighbours to play with the boy, and Tony cooked dinner. The man on our other side gave us some cup-a-noodles and soup that he didn’t want anymore. The kids came back and we ate together, then sat outside for ages, LiAM and Millie on my lap while we watched Music.ly videos on Caitlin’s phone, and Tony browsed accommodation options for when we get to Broome. After a while we headed in to bed, feeling very happy that we’d stayed the second day, and read a couple of chapters of Inheritance.