Spirit Of The Outback -Top End - Red Centre - Kimberley

It was with great regret that we bade farewell to our newly found mates. We would not see Greg and Glenn again. They still didn’t know what to do about their trailer. Greg wanted to fix it provisionally and drive to Broome to have it repaired there. He thought that if they had to wait for spare parts, they could at least hang out at Cable Beach. Trevor, Torsten, and Glenn tried to convince him to drive to Kununurra, which is only half as far away as Broome, and where you can get a decent repair. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers. We’d see Trevor and Yvi in a couple of days at the Kona Lakeside Cara Park in Kununurra. While they wanted to go there directly, we took a ‘detour’ via the Gibb River Road.

Just before taking off, Torsten noticed that the Tanami Road had also taken its toll on our vehicle. The water pipe of the freshwater tank had come loose. It was only a matter of minutes to fix it with a hose clamp and Greg’s help. The electric water pump had, however, died a sudden and mysterious death.

We kept trying the water pump – it turned, but didn’t deliver anything. A few days later, we discovered the culprit: a rock was stuck and had ‘flattened’ the flexible plastic pipe. After removing the rock, we had full use of our freshwater reservoir again. Not a bad thing in the outback!

We finally did hit the road, leaving behind a still indecisive Greg and Glenn. Unfortunately, we couldn’t help them.

We arrived in Fitzroy Crossing about 30 minutes before the only supermarket in town closed –it was Sunday – to stock up for the Gibb.

About 50 km west of Fitzroy Crossing the Fairfield Leopold Road turns off the highway. Road conditions were very good; it had apparently been graded a short while ago. We had our first five wet creek crossings that day, all of them very easy. The road was open to all traffic. When we came to a fork in the road, we took the wrong turn by mistake, but realized that only a short way down the road, taking a few pictures before heading back.

The car park at Tunnel Creek was crowded, so we decided to skip that experience and headed straight on to Windjana. We stopped at the ruins of Lillimooloora Station, which is closely connected with Jandamarra, the Aboriginal who hid in Tunnel Creek.

We arrived early in the bush camp at Windjana Gorge and hung out until 3 p.m. It was too hot to move. A black-and white bird (yet to be identified), whom we named ‘Screech’ (guess why) was bold enough to land on our table, chairs, and our heads. On one occasion, he landed on Claudia’s head and stayed there for about 5 minutes, pulling on her hair. He also appreciated the water we offered him in our (clean!) ashtray.

In the afternoon, we walked into Windjana Gorge. The gorge charmed us once again with its rugged beauty, a few freshies, corellas, and other birds. We walked further down than last year, although not all the way to where it opens up to the plains beyond. Last year we saw dozens of freshies, but this year only five or six. We had, however, taken the walk around lunchtime back then and the gorge was sunlit, whereas it was in the shade on this day.

The sunset on the outer walls of the gorge seemed like a perfect end to a perfect day.

After sunset, however, two blokes collected firewood, which is strictly forbidden. Not only that, they plundered the bush next to our site, breaking living branches off trees and bushes. We were inside our car doing the dishes. Torsten went outside to see what the racket was all about, and when they saw him, the two hightailed it out of there. They most certainly knew what they were doing! As if that were not enough, those drongos had startled small animals in the bush. In the wake of this imbecilic action, crickets and grasshoppers jumped all over our site in sheer panic; a very upset owl flew across our table and we had to duck to avoid a head-on collision; for a long time we could hear small animals squeaking and rustling in the undergrowth.

For the first time this year, the sun drove us out of our cosy sleeping bags – the thermometer showed 24°C at 7 a.m.! We took a cold shower – not because of the heat, but because there is no warm water at Windjana.

The two families, who had not exactly made friends with the other campers (ourselves included) last night by arriving late and setting up their tents with lots of noise managed to leave with the same level of noise at 6 a.m. this morning.

After a very relaxed brekkie in the sun, we finally got off at 8h30. The Gibb’s condition was more or less the same as last year, pretty good with a few corrugations.

The turnoff to Lennard River Gorge proved to be a test for the driver (i.e. Torsten). The track is 8 km long. We stopped at the first car park – they recommend to walk from there – and discussed with a group of four Aussies and Brits whether to drive a little further or not. We finally decided to give it a go together, up to the second car park. That stretch of the track was very rough, with boulders and ruts.

The remaining 1 km from the second to the third car park – which was deserted – should qualify as extremely difficult.

Lennard Gorge is picturesquely nestled into the rough Kimberley plateau. At this time of the year, it still features four small waterfalls. Well worth the effort of walking the last kilometre in the heat!

We took a break at Mount Barnett Roadhouse. In Fitzroy Crossing we had already learned in the Tourist Information Centre that Manning Gorge (on Mount Barnett Station) was still closed due to the heavy damage from the last wet season. At the roadhouse, they told us that it would not re-open before mid/end of July. Jack’s Waterhole was far worse off, though, it will remain closed until next year. Sadly, two very beautiful bush camps were thus not available during our stay on the Gibb.

On the way to the roadhouse, we had missed the turnoff to Galvan’s Gorge; coming from Windjana, it’s about 16 km before reaching the roadhouse. We were not the only ones, as somebody had snitched the signpost.

Since there are no camping facilities at Mount Barnett roadhouse itself (the bush camp is about 7 km away), we had the choice of staying at Mount Barnett River Gorge bush camp – no facilities whatsoever – or Mount Elizabeth Station, about 70 km east of Mount Barnett.

We decided to go to Mount Elizabeth. The bush camp was idyllic, with one hot shower each for ladies and gents, and flushing toilets. We chose a site out of the way of the other campers. Wallabies grazed about 50 meters away and cockatoos and lorikeets flew overhead. After dark, we sat at our campfire, listening to the repeated songs of dingoes.

On the road we had to cross eight water-bearing creeks and rivers, none of them difficult.

After taking some pics of playing wallabies after breakfast, we merrily set out at 7 a.m. We had twelve wet creek crossings, the most impressive again being the Pentecost River. It was much narrower and and more shallow than last year, though. The Gibb’s condition was as in 2001, many corrugations and bulldust plus a few damages from the wet season here and there.

Before we had completed our day’s chores, the Gibb threw in a not so pleasant surprise. 186 km down the road we heard a wheezing sound, our Landcruiser pulled to one side. We had finally met the modern day outback explorers’ fate: a sharp-edged rock had slit open our right-hand rear tyre over a length of 5 cm. Torsten had the pleasure to change the tyre in the midday heat (tips on changing a tyre). To top off this experience, one of the studs sheared off. A friendly and helpful Queenslander said we wouldn’t have any problems to reach Kununurra. The spare tyre was fitted with the remaining 5 studs and off we were to a further round of shaking and rattling.

The Queenslander was right, but we were still glad when we arrived in Kununurra after a further 200 km, in particular as the spare tyre with its worn-down pattern didn’t look too trustworthy either.

Still on the Gibb, we overtook the nice Queensland couple, which had to drive slowly as two studs of their roof rack had broken off! The bloke remarked dryly: “We’ll see you in the queue at Beaurepaires (workshop) in Kununurra!”

A few bushfires were still simmering on El Questro; we met a road train that engulfed us in a cloud of light grey dust for a change.

The repairs were quick and simple: we called Kea, went to Beaurepaires to get a new tyre, to Top End Motors next door to get a new stud (when they took off the wheel, 3 more studs sheared off, hence they replaced the whole lot), both will settle their account directly with Kea, no worries!

As Torsten’s ears were clogged, we stopped by the District Hospital, where they gave him a nurse’s appointment for the following day. Treatment is 94 AU$ flat rate, as we’re not Australian residents. For check-in formalities, Torsten was asked where he was from. Upon his reply the receptionist said: “Belgium? Is that a town in Germany or so?” Fair enough, Belgian chocolate has obviously not yet melted its way into the outback and size-wise Belgium’s not larger than the north-eastern part of the Kimberley.

Her next statement was “So you’ve never been here.” She was more than surprised when Torsten replied “Yes I have, three years ago, with a broken rib.” They still had his file.

As we didn’t get a lunchtime snack due to the flat tyre, we treated ourselves to big, juicy steaks for dinner.

Because our outdoor lamp attracted too many insects, we turned it off and used our camper’s interior lighting to not sit in the dark. While we were sitting there, a small owl was hunting about two meters away from us, at the edge of the circle of light. We couldn’t see what it found in the grass, but it touched down repeatedly. On one occasion, it just sat there and calmly observed us for a couple of minutes. Amazing!!! It kept calling each night J.

Kona Lakeside Cara Park is situated on the banks of Lake Kununurra. A very nice, quiet, and clean campsite. We were lucky enough to get a site at the water. Luckily, there are only freshies in the lake! The rate for two persons is 21 AU$ per night.

We haven’t found Trevor and Yvi yet, but as we came in after dark, we’ll try again tomorrow.

This morning, Claudia extended our stay at Kona Lakeside by one night. Torsten was waiting outside in the car, and what a pleasant surprise for her when she came out of the office and saw him standing at Trevor’s and Yvi’s car! Their site is at the far end of the campground. We’ll have a chat and a beer there in the evening.

We collected our tyre, Torsten had his ears syringed, and we shopped a little.

The evening with Trevor and Yvi was (as usual) very entertaining, and we were ‘home’ at midnight.

We had initially planned to cross the Ord River via the bitumen causeway at Ivanhoe Crossing, but it was closed due to the high water level and strong current. We turned back and drove out to the Hoochery (distillery), where we met – Trevor and Yvi! We bought a bottle of Ord Rum (see also 2001 travel yarn) and one of Liqueur (cane spirit + chocolate + coffee) to take home.

Tonight we’ll gather at our site. We have booked yet another night.

After breakfast, we stocked up on food first and then tried Ivanhoe Crossing again. It was still closed. In spite of the well displayed and clear warning not to cross the causeway on foot or bike, not to swim and to fish from the safety of the river bank because of the presence of estuarine crocodiles (salties), one guy was fishing from the middle of the causeway (knee-deep water) and two children were playing in the shallows. It might be us, maybe we’re too timid, after all Western European city dwellers don’t usually come across crocodiles back home, but then again….

As it was very hot, we decided to go back to the campground around lunchtime and hang out in the shade. At 3 p.m., Trevor, Yvi, and we went back to town to watch the Mardi Gras Parade. Ten or twelve floats (including the fire brigade, the police and the emergency services) paraded down one of the main roads, handing out candies, lollies, melon slices, fridge magnets, milk shakes, and T-shirts. Not exactly the size of the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras or the Carnival in Rio, not a breathtaking, yet very likeable show. Worth seeing!

When the parade was over, everybody gathered at the town oval (the showgrounds) with its rides, live music and food stalls. Part of the parade was also members of the polocrosse club, two of which rode their horses straight into the oval’s bar! Unfortunately, we don’t have pictures to prove it, but many eye witnesses! J

When we were leaving the showgrounds around 6 p.m., i.e. in the dark, we noticed a huge bushfire – so we thought. Actually, they burnt sugar cane.

After dinner a nice group gathered on our site: Trevor and Yvi, our ‘neighbours’ Christa and Wolfgang (Bavarian/Austrian couple of permanent residents from QLD) and for a short while Rob and Meg (immigrants of Dutch/Japanese origin).

Our first farewells went to Christa and Wolfgang, who were heading to Warmun (Turkey Creek) to take a guided tour to the Bungles from there.

After that, we went over to Trevor and Yvi, to say goodbye. We were very sad that a wonderful time was ending L. Since we had met them in Rabbit Flat, Australia was more beautiful than ever. The days that we had with our new buddies were too few and too short.

Trevor greased our rear door’s hinges with Aerogard spray (good tip!), and we had a last chat. They would leave Kununurra the following day and head for Broome via the Gibb River Road, then down the Western Australian coast to Perth.

They’ve invited us to their home in Bendigo/VIC, ‘hope we’ll be able to make it’!! Perhaps Torsten could go fishing with Trevor… to get a good fish on the Barbie at last… how about a barra? J (We know that you don’t find barramundi in southern Australia… should Trevor ever read this, he’ll know what we mean!)

In Katherine we checked into the campsite at Springvale Homestead. For the first time in days we were all by ourselves after dinner. It wasn’t the same anymore. We’ve lost that holiday feeling. This already felt like going home.

Wildlife was pretty active: turtles in the billabong next to our site, wallabies grazed next to our car in the dark, two ducks, the usual numerous and colourful Australian parakeets and parrots. The two ducks took an immediate liking to us because we gave them a slice of bread. A blue winged kookaburra calmly posed for pictures.

We had company for breakfast this morning: the two ducks called in, ate a slice of bread, then marched over to the family ‘next door’, where the little girl fed them. We then fed bowerbirds and other species whose names we do not know. When the two ducks saw this, they waddled over with amazing speed (considering that the little girl had fed them about half a toast!) and vainly tried to look half-starved. That is difficult with a bloated belly!

The blue winged kookie sat in the same tree as the bowerbirds, but didn’t care about the bread. After the feeding frenzy was over, he gracefully swooped to the ground to feed on God knows what (insects?). He sat there for a while, only about two metres away from us. Sulphur-crested cockatoos sat atop the lawn sprinklers and drank. A birds’ heaven.

We turned off Stuart Hwy to the scenic route leading past scenic spots like Douglas Hot Springs and Butterfly Gorge, but didn’t turn off. The barra burgers at the Adelaide Inn were as good as we remembered them. We were sad, however, to learn that water buffalo Charlie (the one from the Crocodile Dundee movies) had died at the age of 30 in April 2000. He’s still there…. stuffed and sitting on the bar.

Our site on Howard Springs Cara Park was next to some palms and bushes. After dark, we could hear, but not see a bird rummaging in the trees. He was obviously feeding, as he showered us with buds. Every now and then, we had the impression that he had almost fallen of a branch. Once we could hear him fighting with another bird. Two days later, we identified our noisy neighbour as some kind of a quite large wild hen.

We spent this day with shopping and relaxing in Bicentennial Park. In the afternoon, we decided to inquire about Dundee Beach at the tourist information. They told us that it was mainly a fishing spot, and recommended that we drive to Gunn Point for the day

Morning temperatures weren’t exactly of the feel good grade: 20°C and a cool wind. It did improve later in the morning.

The dirt road to Gunn Point was in an overall very good condition. The lady at the tourist information had not promised too much: the beach was long (about 14 km), beautiful, and almost deserted. Derek and his dog Happy had arrived a few minutes earlier than we did. Derek wanted to spend the night there in his motor home.

We explored the beach first. Happy joined us, and true to her name, she was very happy to have company. She kept chasing the birds with never-ending enthusiasm.

A bit later Derek invited us to a cup of coffee. He had lit a campfire and was cooking a roast for his dinner. He told us that he had immigrated from the UK in 1974 and had been travelling around Australia ever since, working whenever he needed money. His mate Bruce, who joined us later on, is a true-blue Aussie, but also always on the road.

These acquaintances were yet two more in our list of genuine Australians! We couldn’t possibly recount everything they said, but it was another very interesting experience.

We had booked a self-contained cabin for our last night and completed the day with a cool beer on our terrace.

All that was left to do was to pack our bags. We saw a huge flock of corellas pass overhead shortly before sunset for a last time. It was a weird feeling to have walls around us, and a solid roof overhead after having camped for three weeks. We turned on the TV to get the latest results of the soccer world cup, but turned it off again as the noise bothered us….

We tried to put off having to say goodbye to Australia by visiting the Howard Springs Nature Reserve. It’s very nicely laid out, with a big water basin and small walking trails. You can hand-feed the barramundi, turtles, and other fish in the basin. They don’t like bread, but prefer prawns (who wouldn’t!). We saw many ibises and corellas. Picnic tables and gas barbies on the lawns invite to linger, but we did have to leave after all…. We took our Landcruiser back to Kea and took a taxi to the airport. After a few purchases in the Downtown Duty Free Shop and a last glance at Darwin from the air, we were on our way to Singapore. 

It was always hard to leave Australia, not only because our holidays were over, but also because we love the land down under even more every time! This vacation was a very special one because of the people we met.

We hope Greg and Glenn could solve the problem with their trailer without any further difficulties. It was great knowing these two; we’ll never forget Greg’s live after dark-didj-concert! J

Last but not least, Trevor and Yvi…. as we said earlier, we were very sad when we had to say goodbye. We hope we’ll see them again soon.

 We’ll be back!!

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