Fitzroy Crossing

No real rush this morning as we had plenty of time to sit and relax before heading off to Geikie Gorge for a cruise up the Fitzroy River.

Well, sometimes you really do not know what to expect and this cruise proved to be one of those times that no expectation was there to be met. When we arrived for the cruise we met Colin and Marilyn again as well as Mrs Springs(Bev), the secretary from Chels & Josh’s school, and Ted her husband. We knew that they were on the road but this was the first time we had met up with them.

Back to that cruise, it went for about one hour, cost $25 and was well worth the money. Have I mentioned before about the great masses of water that we keep coming across while on this journey, only once or twice, well today is another great example of this. The amount of water we saw was amazing and when the guide explained where the wet season high water level mark was, it was almost too difficult to comprehend the amount of water that must flow

The rock formations were created by the flow of the water, mainly in the wet season. The wet season level was about ten to fifteen meters above the current level and carried a large percentage of Western Australia’s fresh water supply. This is really a big amount of water that flows in the wet season and would be worth having a look at when it was in full flow. The problem is that Fitzroy Crossing is often isolated during this time and is not accessible by road.







The same as many other places, there are a few jobs available in this town, including the Information Centre that was also looking for staff. I do not think that the family would think this a great place to move to.

Time for another freeze in the pool and then relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.

Life is really tough!

Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing

A very uneventful day today with a relatively short drive from Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing with not much to see on the way. This was a stretch without and roadhouses and so we were reliant on roadside toilets to get us through if required. We do not have an onboard ensuite and decided against buying a porta potty a decision we had so far not regretted. The only thing it stopped us doing was roadside stops, but I had not envisaged doing many if any of those along the way.

The first one we stopped at was at Mary Pool, a location that looked like a great roadside stopover point, until we saw the toilets; at least I think that is what they were meant to be. Skinny took one look and said that she was not that desperate. A lovely spot for those who have the facilities onboard.

The second stop was at a cliff road stop, again a great location with a poor excuse for toilets. Well someone had used as the smell coming from them was not very nice at all. A bit of a shame that these facilities are like this.

We then proceeded onto Fitzroy Crossing where we found the caravan park and some found the toilets even quicker. This was a good park in the middle of nowhere that provided all of the facilities we required. Josh was not to keen to stay here as it was Fitzroy crossing and he does not like Fitzroy, now the lions football club

There was one problem we found here though, well it was a problem for some. There was no channel seven or equivalent and so no Olympic Games coverage.

I drove in to town to get the bread for lunch to find out it was Sunday and the shops were shut, luckily I was still able to get some so we did not go without. The town is not very big and so one small supermarket was the only place for supplies. Apart from this it was the service stations on the main highway.

After lunch, the kids and I tried to have a swim in the pool to find out again the central heating word had still not made it here, the pool was very cold and so we lasted only a short time in the water.

I went for walk down the Fitzroy River, although there was very little water running where we were and no I did not see any crocodiles!

The rest of the day was sitting aback and relaxing.

Turkey Creek to Halls Creek

What a morning, we all got up very excited and could not wait for the helicopter ride. Josh was almost running over there when it was time to pay and go for the ride.

Cathy sat in the front, Chels and I sat on the sides with no doors and Josh sat in the middle and soon after we were all buckled up we were up, up and away! Chels and Josh could not control their smiles as the helicopter rose above the ground and headed of towards the Bungles. We had no real idea what was in store.



The pilot asked if this was our first time in a helicopter and when Josh answered yes, he said it was his first time as well! Nothing like a confidence boost as you are flying away!

We got a running commentary from our pilot, Woody, and heard about his stories and the area we were flying over. What amazing scenery we saw as we flew over. It was quite cold and very windy sitting on the sides with no door but the experience was breathtaking. We were able to ask questions of Woody and Josh took the opportunity to quiz him on what he knew.

I will let the pictures show you what we saw, even though they still do not do it justice, as it is very hard to put what we saw and experienced in words.






The helicopter flight lasted forty-five minutes and the time passed very quickly but the experience was well worth it. We still would have liked the opportunity to see and feel the Bungles but this was the next best thing. Something we will all never forget.

For the record, no-one was sick although Cathy did say that there were three times that she felt close to it. The pilot had told us to look at the horizon and this fixed the problem for her.

When we returned, Colin and Marilyn had arrived and so it was a quick pack up and move so that they could get their van in and depart for their drive into the Bungles.

Of course just after they left I found that we had a flat battery and so had to get someone from the service station to help us get started. I sorted this out at Halls Creek, where a new battery was placed in the car to prevent any further problems of this sort.

Halls Creek was an interesting town with an Aboriginal problem, we had been advised that Saturday night was party night and the locals fell asleep in the streets where they stopped. Luckily for us there was a game of footy in the afternoon and the footy oval was a fair distance from the caravan park. As this was the scene of the party for the night, we only had the dull thud of the music in the background until about 4:00am and it started again just after 6:00am.

It could have been much worse, the night before the party was across the road from the caravan park and the noise was very loud and went all night. Thankfully we missed that!

Kununurra to Turkey Creek

Waking up early was not too much of a problem as Josh’s body clock had still not adjusted and he was still operating on Northern Territory time. I was up and out the van not long after 6:45am and on my way to get the window fixed and then before I knew it was on my way back to pick up the family and the van.

It was in the car and on our way, towards Turkey Creek, the base from which we are to head into the Bungles. We were still undecided about driving in as we have heard many different reports about the condition of the road and whether it is too bumpy or not, we really cannot afford to be stuck here for a week.

As we could not pre book this park, we wanted to get there as early as possible to get a powered site as at this stage we were staying two nights. There was a small swimming pool and not much else to pass the afternoon away.

Skinny went for a helicopter ride over the Bungles, you can catch up with her about the details later. It had no door on the side and so there was a chance that she might fall out, I could be so lucky. The bad news is that she came back!

Our decision was made not by us, but by the people in the site beside us. When I spoke to them they informed me that they had been stuck at Turkey Creek for over a week and their car, which was at Halls Creek, was still not fixed and they were waiting on a part from Perth. Turkey Creek is a service station with a small caravan park on the side, not the place to get stuck.

We decided on doing the tour instead, but of course it was full and they could not accommodate five people. We decided that for the additional cost we would also give ourselves a treat and fly over the Bungles in the helicopter tomorrow. A new experience as apart from myself, no-one else had been in a helicopter and what a place to do it. We booked for 9:00am tomorrow.

Everyone was excited about the prospect of flying tomorrow and this appeared to alleviate the disappointment of not driving in. I am sure they will all cope.

I had booked in for two nights but was able to change the second night to Colin & Marilyn so they were guaranteed of a power site and we did not loose our money.

I went for a walk along the highway and looked at the local aboriginal community from the distance. It appeared quite large, with a school and other services available. You are not permitted into the communites, although I would really have like to go in and have a real look at what was available. They even had a community store, but again I could not get in to see it.

Back for dinner and a quiet night, well it is Turkey Creek!

Kununurra Day 2

The kids did some school work this morning, Skinny went to the shops and Cathy did some house or should I say caravan work! What did I do? Well nothing important that I can remember, must have been a little more relaxing.

After lunch we headed of to Lake Argyle, what a spectacular place this turned out to be. It has been mentioned before about the way you can travel through the countryside and then see a large mass of water, this was no exception. This is a very large mass of water that provides hydro power and irrigation to the area and although I cannot remember the amount of water contained, it is huge.





Cathy went as far as saying that this was some of the most, if not the most picturesque scenery that she had seen anywhere. The lake looked fantastic with the colour and the rocky surrounding making for breathtaking scenery. We saw the dam wall, that also signified the start of the Ord River and had afternoon tea here before heading back to town.

One car on the way back to the highway and it flicked up a stone and it hit the windscreen, not happy Jan! Although it looked like a good hit and chip, the damage was isolated and did not spread far at all. I was not sure of the chip could be fixed or if it was a new windscreen required, of course they would not have one in Kununurra and so were we going to get stuck here? Could we drive on? These and more questions ran through my head on the way back to town.

On arrival in Kununurra, we went straight to the windscreen shop to be told that it was a bad chip but could be fixed first thing in the morning before we headed off. I could be there at 7:00am and it would take about half an hour. With a sigh of relief we headed back to the caravan park to do a little packing before heading out for tea.

We again caught up with Colin and Marilyn tonight for a BBQ tea together, amazing that you have to come all of this way to meet people you know. Well at least they do live in Perth now and we do not see them that often.

After an enjoyable evening, it was back to our park and bed.

Kununurra Day 1

Josh was up very early, well it was one and a half hours later to his body but we still had a slow morning before getting everyone motivated and in the car to head for Wyndham, Western Australia’s most northern town.

We are now travelling on the edge of the Kimberley’s, a place I want to spend some time in the future. It is really a place that requires a four wheel drive, preferably someone else’s, and a tent or off road camper trailer to really get the best view. We did get a bit of a taste of the area in what we could see, only making me more determined to return.

Along the way we pulled in at “The Grotto” where we had to walk down 140 steps to the bottom where there was a waterhole that was also the site of a waterfall in the wet season. After sitting and enjoying the scenery for a while, it was time for the climb out and time to be on our way.





On arriving it Wyndham, we quickly realised that there was very little to this town and our choice of a chip sandwich for lunch was most probably not going to be a good one.

We drove to the top of the Bastion Range to lookout over the Cambridge Gulf, a place where five rivers drained. This provided a great view of the surrounding area, although a little hazy because of the many burn offs that were happening around the countryside. It was then back into town, if you can call it that.



There was nowhere to buy those chips and so we ended up at a bakery that was quickly running out of pies, and had every cake that contained cream for sale. Was not what we expected or wanted for lunch but was not to bad as an alternative.

Went into a general store and started talking to the owner, who said that Wyndham was again a growing area and a place where there was plenty of money being made. The problem was that little or no investment was being made by the owners and so things were looking run down. Left with little enthusiasm to return to this place but not disappointed we had been there.

On the way back, we turned onto the start of the famous Gibb River Road and travelled along the first five to ten kilometres of it. It is very corrugated and rough but still one of the roads that I want to travel from end to end one day. I can only dream of it now. After this short experience, the main road appeared to be very smooth.

Before we arrived in Kununurra, we took a turn off to what was advertised as a swimming hole but turned out to be a waste of time. We go to the first spring which was little more than a big puddle on the side of the road, the next one even worse and so we headed back for the comfort of the caravan park swimming pool.

Katherine to Kununurra

Left early this morning expecting a long day in the car as we headed towards Western Australia.

It is amazing the way the landscape changes as you travel along the road. It appears that there is nothing around and then, before you know it, there are mountains all around you. I know that it has been said before but we live in a very large country with many different landscapes to be explored.

We passed through the Gregory National Park, which looked like a place worth a few days visit next time. The rock formations were absolutely amazing and displayed many colours as the sun moved over them and we travelled through. We pulled in for a break at Victoria River Roadhouse and saw a sign that should have said under new ownership, but the word ownership was covered with wife and so read: “Under new wife” I found it quite amusing anyway.



We travelled onto to Timber Creek, again a place that looked like it was worth a visit in the future as we were still following the Victoria River in this area. Bought a loaf of bread here, frozen of course as all bread is in these places that we hoped would thaw by the time we were ready to stop for lunch.

We pulled in at a roadside rest stop where two coupled had settled in for a couple of days to eat all of their vegetables before they entered Western Australia, they would lose them at the border. Well we had to wait little while for our sandwiches as Cathy threw the bread around the van to try and separate the slices. I think that she thought by bouncing it on the bench, it would go into slices, but it did not work.

Through more ranges and then we arrived at the border where we had to declare any fruit, vegetables and honey. We had eaten everything before we arrived and so did not have anything to hand over. It is worth noting that they do an inspection of the car and van to check and see that you have nothing hidden away. We also gained one and half hours here, which was good a the time but also meant that it now got lighter and darker earlier, not so good.



I am afraid to say that the angry customer got what he wanted, well we got a site that we were happy with after initially being shown our designated site and expressing our disgust. We were then shown another site, little better than the first and then miraculously they found a very good site that was available for the length of our stay. We were very happy with this alternative and would have been even happier if they had given us this position in the first place.

After this initial aggravation, we were very happy at this park, The Kona Lakeside, which was situated on the side of the lake and gave us a pleasant view to enjoy for the next couple of days.

What was going to be a long drive had turned out to be quite an enjoyable drive with a range of scenery experienced on the way making it very interesting. The only disappointment was that they did not quarantine the mother-in-law and kids at the border; it was not for a lack of asking!

Darwin to Katherine

We had planned to travel from Darwin to Katherine and so expected it to be a rather boring day in the car watching the road go by. We were up and on the road but not in any real rush as we were not doing any sightseeing on arrival in Katherine as this was our second visit.

It is Darwin Cup today, and so the Territory, well at least the part we are in is all closed down for the race

It was boring until we came across another mass of water in the middle of no-where. On our previous visit to Katherine we had missed Edith Falls and so made a slight detour this time to see what it had to offer.

Well to our surprise, there was a very big car park, picnic area, kiosk and other facilities for the day tripper and the small camping area. The actual waterfalls were nowhere near as big as some of the previous falls that we had seen, but the swimming hole was massive.




It was a very warm day and we were all ready to jump into the water and cool off yet again. As it was a fair swim to the actual waterfall I was the only one to venture this far, everyone else stayed near the side, swam and cooled off.

It never seems to amaze us how such a big expanse of water or a spring can appear out of what seems nowhere and provides water, normally very fresh for the surrounding area. I think that there is nothing better than swimming in some of these waterholes and floating by the cliff faces, looking up and realising just how big it is and how small I am. This swimming has really been a highlight for me, I love the beach, but really do enjoy these places as well.

It was then into the car to complete the short journey to Katherine for the night before we made the right turn and headed for Western Australia!

Darwin Day 6

Sundays are not like they are at home. Here, there is very little open and so it is not a case of just going off to the shops for a few things and wandering around.

While some of the shops are opened, many are closed and so this helps force us to sit back and relax. Not that any of us are shoppers, but there is little reason to go out of the park.

We leave for Katherine tomorrow and so it is also a time to start packing up and getting ready to move on.

A few more swims in the pool, relaxing, the kids watched a movie, another swim, more relaxing and so it goes.

Life is just too tough for us on the road, but I think that with some practise I could get used to it. Anyone wanting to support us in this venture please send money or a pledge to me so that I know that I could finance this lifestyle.

As a side note, there are jobs galore around all of the areas we have been through. Nearly every caravan park is after staff and lots of shops are advertising that staff are required.

Everyone really enjoyed Darwin, but I am not sure that they would all be so happy in the summer!

Darwin Day 5

Up bright and early this morning to head off to Litchfield National Park, a place I had heard so much about and was very keen to visit.

After a drive down the highway, no I did not sit on 130 kilometres an hour even thought I could have, we turned into the park to discover what it had in stall for us.

We started by going into Florence Falls, with a short diversion into Buley Rock Hole to have a look at the rock pools. As soon as we saw it, Josh and I immediately thought that it was time for a swim even though it was quite early but it would have to wait, but not for too long.

We then went to Florence Falls, which had a plunge pool at the bottom and did not look suitable for the kids to swim in. I was very tempted but knew that it was not fair on the others so held back the urge to climb down and jump in.

As it was now morning tea time, we decided to return to Buley Rock hole, have a swim and have something to eat and drink. What can I say, it was fantastic and a pleasure to swim in such fresh water, no it was not too cold either. One of the rock pools was very deep and so after I dived in a few times, Chels and Josh wanted to be in on the action as well. Three of us happy and jumping into the water, what a morning!

After we finally got out of the water, we headed off to Greenant creek with the notion of another swim in another water hole at the top of the Tjaetaba Falls. It was fairly long walk, and by this time quite warm so it was very nice to have the incentive of a swim at the top. When we got there it was picture perfect, a small hole at top of th falls to jump into and get refreshed in. This is the life! Of course the only problem was that we then had to walk back and get hot on the way. Oh well, it was worth it.

After this it was a walk and look at the Tolmer Falls which were as spectacular as the last but did not provide a swimming hole and so Josh and Chels were a little disapointed! The Falls were good anyway.

Next stop was Wangi Falls, the most popular swimming spot and largest plunge pool of them all. It was such a great feeling to swim over to the base of the falls and sit under the water crashing down on. It did hurt a little and so could not stay under it for too long. Even Skinny made it over to the falls eventually, slowly making her way over on a surf mat, Josh made it over quickly, while Skinny seemed to be going backwards. Oh well, she enjoyed it anyway.



We decided that the highlight of the day had been Buley rock and so we returned there for another swim on the way back to Darwin. Yes at 5:30pm, we were all still sitting in the rock pool, sitting under small waterfalls, thinking of our freezing friends in Melbourne, but not with much sympathy.

A day to remember today and the first day that I could repeat over and over again, this is not to say that I have not enjoyed everything that has gone on before, but I really enjoyed being able to swim in the waterholes.

Darwin Day 4

Back to the Doctor today for Chelsea, this time just with Mum so the rest of us did not have to wait for them. I had to go to the supermarket, and you guessed it, I was in the queue to pay when the message came that they were out and ready to be picked up!

It turned out that Chels did not have pneumonia, but rather a chest infection that was causing the cough. This did not get us out of the medicine every six hours so we still had to get up through the night. Great!!

As we got in and out fairly quickly, we headed off to the Jumping crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River, everyone was excited about this except for Cathy who was concerned about what might happen.

We pulled up to an old tin shed that doubled for a booking office and I almost had to cancel the cruise because of the following sign!



When it was time to get on board, we headed for a larger boat that was tied to the dock, we then walked through that boat onto a smaller single level boat that was much more appealing to some of us as we thought we would get closer to the action. And we did!

We, except for Cathy, had a good time watching the crocodiles jumping out of the water to feed on the buffalo they were being teased with. We got to see Hannibal the Cannibal, a very large croc jump and then a range of other crocs that followed the boat. The guide often made comments about the security and safety of the boat and all that this did was to compound Cathy’s fears and made the rest of us laugh.




We even fed a ‘white breasted sea eagle’, sorry a ‘white bellied sea eagle to be politically correct’ that came down and took the food with its claws and took it away to eat.

Cathy was very happy to get her feet back on shore, but others of us could have taken even more croc viewing.



After a quick visit to the ‘Windows to the Wetlands’, a display that showed the area and gave a summary of the surroundings, we headed off to Berry Springs for yet another swim.

Josh was very excited as he got to snorkel for the first time and after a little while of getting used to the breathing process, became quite good at it. Initially Chels, who was also snorkelling for the first time, and I swam around the Springs looking at the fish under the water. We followed the current from the actual spring and down through a few deeper water holes. After a little while when Josh got used to it, he joined us and saw under water for the first time.

You could see some quite big fish that looked like you could almost touch them. Even though we tried, we missed every time. Did not stop us trying though! Of course Josh did not want to get out when it was time to go but wanted to keep snorkelling around.

This capped off what was a very enjoyable day before returning back to Darwin and bed.

Darwin Day 3

We had a walk around the city this morning, looking at the shops and getting a feel for the city life in Darwin. Everyone was impressed with the city area and enjoyed the time there. We had a walk through the Mall, the shops and purchased some souvenirs, had morning tea and shopped some more.

It is a little hard to know where everything is in a new city so it took us a little while to find some shops and we really did not know what was on offer. It appeared that everyone liked Darwin and the comment was made that we could spend a few more days here already.

After a hard morning shopping and walking around it was back for lunch and another swim in the pool.

Late in the afternoon it was off to Mindil beach to attend the market, a famous market that is held weekly in Darwin. It consisted mainly of food stalls, with a large range of food types available, a smaller area of jewellery, bags and other things, and a few musicians to provide some entertainment.






I was not quite sure what I was expecting of the market, but I must admit I was a little disappointed as I thought there would be more of a market than food stalls. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.

We purchased some of the food and sat on the beach to watch the sunset with a few thousand other people. It looked like there were some regulars who had brought their chairs, drinks and purchased their food to eat by the beach.



We ended buying a couple of things but not too much. This market really is a crowd magnet and there were people everywhere.