Kununurra to Broome then Quondong Point

Wednesday 26 June - Keep River NP to Kununurra

Hidden Valley, Mirima National Park, Kununurra

We crossed the Northern Territory/Western Australia border, handed over our fruit & vegetable peel rubbish and wound our watches back 1.5 hours to drove the relatively short distance to Kununurra - the "Eastern Gateway to the Kimberley".   Driving through the western gate we stayed at the Ivanhoe caravan park located in town which is a big, busy yet spacious & green enough park.  After visiting the tourist information centre, we drove to Hidden Valley, Mirima National Park and took the relatively short yet very scenic walk up and over rocky dome-like outcrops.  We then visited Kelly's Knob lookout and saw more of the expansive plains and the irrigated areas from the Ord River project in the background of Kununurra and over the township.

Hidden Valley, Mirima National Park

Kelly's Knob Lookout, Kununurra

Thursday 27 June - Day 2 Kununurra

Ivanhoe River Crossing

We spent the day pottering in the local area which included shopping for bits and pieces then visiting the Ivanhoe River Crossing, which was closed due to a half a metre of water flowing over it.  Numerous teenagers were trying to walk over the crossing while a large freshie lay sunning itself on a rock half way across.  Saltwater crocodiles are also common here so we left before Julie was called on to use her doctoring skills and me my fainting skills.  

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a local cafe near Ivanhoe Crossing before we took a drive over and below the Diversion Dam that holds back the massive Lake Argyle.  The day was capped off with a fine shopping experience at the local Coles supermarket.  

The weather remains quite hot with overnight temperatures dipping to 23 degrees at 6am before rising to the mid-thirties during the day.  It's hot enough for everyone in the caravan park to find a cool shady spot or the air-conditioning of their vans from early afternoon before committing  to the regular afternoon happy hour from about 4pm.

Friday 28 June - Day 3 Kununurra

Lake Argyle is Australia's largest freshwater lake of 2,000 square kilometres.   The Dam has created extensive and very fertile farmlands in the middle of the northern nowhere.  We decided not to do one of the many boat trips on the Lake but to take the scenic drive ourselves to the Ord River Dam and Lake Argyle which was very impressive.

Lake Argyle

 If we travel this way again I would do a boat trip as Lake Argyle is far from a boring expanse of water but is dotted with numerous islands creating a very pretty backdrop.

Saturday 29 June - Kununurra to Wyndham

Heading north for the short drive to Wyndham (100 klm), we arrived at the Wyndham Caravan Park which is grassy, treed and comes complete with a resident donkey wandering freely between caravans and with the biggest Boab tree "in captivity".  Wyndham is the most northerly town in Western Australia and was once a thriving port although those days are long gone with the unofficial capital of the north moving from Wyndham to Kununurra when the Ord Dam was completed.

The old port area of the town has a brand new award winning fishing jetty for the two local fishermen to use. There's not much else here other than a rather good cafe - the Rusty Tin Shed - where we had a nice lunch.  The new part of the town also has a good cafe and a giant crocodile and giant indigenous sculptures.  

Warriu Dream-time bronze statues 

The main attraction is the Five Rivers (Bastion) Lookout which we visited twice - once to find it and the second time for the mandatory sunset photo opportunity.  This provides a birds-eye view over Cambridge Gulf including the surrounding Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and Ord Rivers and expansive mud flats and sandstone escarpments.  The area has featured in movies such as "Australia".  So as the sun set rapidly in the west just like most places we have been to, we photographed then travelled the windy and steep road home.

Sunday 30 June - Day 2 Wyndham

I spent a while doing handyman work on the caravan's white goods - the fridge has just started to struggle with the heat and the washing machine no longer empties.  Two hours later when I finished my tinkering, the washing machine no longer empties and the fridge is struggling with the heat.  Climbing into the car we took a rough dirt road drive along the meandering 22 klm rocky King River Road which led across salt flats and alongside the King River to the Moochalabra Dam (drinking water supply for Wyndham), an Aboriginal Rock Art site and The Prison (Boab) Tree.  

Returning back to town we visited the Warriu Dream-time bronze statues which depict an Aboriginal family and native animals complete with graffiti and in a somewhat now run down location.

We both liked Wyndham although  initially it seems there is little here.  A couple of days poking around is very rewarding.  A bonus is that the town has the cheapest fuel in northern Western Australia which wouldn't be too hard to achieve as we are constantly paying above $1.75 and up to $1.99.9 in some places.

Wyndham Van Park - "Fuzzy" the park donkey

Wyndham Van Park - "Fuzzy" the park donkey at our door

Wyndham - the large crocodile

Monday 1 July - Wyndham to the Bungle Bungle Range in the Purnululu National Park

We're back to our bucket list again with the Bungle Bungles being a major item for us.   At the moment it's very busy and very expensive.  Having only booked 3 days ago, we could only get in to an unpowered site at $35 per night prepaid - and that only gets us to the caravan park one kilometre off the highway requiring a further 52 klm drive over very windy, corrugated and rough, rocky roads to the Bungle Bungles themselves.  

The Domes

The afternoon we arrived we set up the van then took a scenic helicopter ride which provides an ideal way to see and appreciate the whole area and put the Bungle Bungle Range into perspective as part of the overall Purnululu NP. There were three of us plus the pilot in a helicopter with no doors providing a wonderful viewing and photographic experience.  For over 30 minutes we flew over the domes, escarpments and gorges of this unique  World Heritage Area landscape.   

Bungle Bungle Van Park - our van in the centre of picture

Tuesday 2 July - Day 2 Bungle Bungles

We set the alarm for 5.00 am and set off at 6.00 am taking an hour and a half to travel the Spring Creek Track which was 53 klms of corrugated and rocky road, blind crests, sharp dips and four creek crossings to get to the Bungle Bungle ranger station and information centre.   Suffice to say, with our early start, we beat most of the traffic and the track was apparently as good as it gets thus our shorter than anticipated drive in.  

Echidna Chasm - Bungle Bungles

We ventured 24 klm to the northern end of the NP along good dirt roads to walk the spectacular Echidna Gorge right to it's narrow end.   We drove to a few lookouts nearby then travelled 50 klm on good dirt road to the southern end of the park to walk to the Cathedral Gorge and Dome Circuit.  

Cathedral Gorge

Cathedral Gorge

Cathedral Gorge is so spectacular and the beehive Domes are intriguing black and yellowish striped rounded rocky outcrops.   We had a quick lunch at the airfield watching the helicopters take off and land. To finish the day off we visited another lookout that overlooked the whole escarpment before we made our way home arriving back at 3.00 pm exhausted and delighted by our day's adventures.    

Kungkalanayl Lookout - Bungle Bungles

Wednesday 3 July - Bungle Bungles to Fitzroy Crossing

Two days ago we were hot overnight - a week or so ago we were sweltering.  Last night we had the doona on top of the blanket and bed spread and were comfortable waking up to 6.2 degrees this morning.   

Leaving the Bungle Bungles today we travelled 400 klm along very good highway to Fitzroy Crossing.   Our plans have had to change a little as we need to arrive in Broome four days earlier than planned in order to take our caravan to the only repair man who can service our washing machine north of Bunbury (just below Perth). He's heading off on holidays this coming weekend for two weeks which would mean we would be without our washing machine for 2-3 months.  To achieve this timing change we have had to sacrifice Tunnel Creek ("Yeah!" says Julie as the thought of walking thigh deep in water 750 metres though a dark cave with bats and freshwater crocs for company could not be made to sound attractive no matter how I described it) and Windjana Gorge (more freshies).

Arriving at Fitzroy Crossing I was amazed by the transformation since I was last here 16 years ago when the place was seriously scary with most of the windows boarded up and a recommendation to stay out of town.  This time around the houses appear new and well maintained and there is a supermarket and a nice feel about the place.   Our experiences were enhanced by the three indigenous women we encountered working in the tourism industry who demonstrated a good understanding of the local history and natural beauty of the area and each of them providing us with great service.

Geikie Gorge

Thursday 4 July - Day 2 Fitzroy Crossing - Geikie Gorge in the Geikie National Park

Geikie Gorge Freshie

What a perfect day it was today with the beautiful weather making the boat trip through Geikie Gorge on the Fitzroy River complete. We had sightings of many sunbathing freshwater crocodiles scattered along the shores and rock outcrops.  The east (Darngku) and west walls of this 30 metre high gorge are an interesting mix of colourful cliffs and sculptured rock formations which are all part of an ancient limestone reef system - the Devonian Reef - created some 360 million years go.

Friday 5 July - Fitzroy Crossing to Broome

We had a big day planned today - drive to Broome, remove washing machine and leave with repairer, collect mail and check into van park.  Leaving at 6.30am to start our drive, we headed west travelling the 400+ klm to Broome with nothing specific to report other than the road was excellent and the scenery ever changing.  The huge boab trees became fewer and fewer and skinnier and skinnier.  Evidence of the recent heavy rains also started to become evident with lots of roadworks happening for 30 klm into Broome.   

All our plans worked out as planned with the washing machine fixed, mail collected (replacement camera) and set up in the van park.  Arriving in Broome is quite a milestone as we have now crossed Australia from east to west although we are not yet at its widest point.   

Cable Beach sunset, Broome

Broome is full!  Caravan sites are at a premium and everything has the tourist "discount" added to it - another 25% on the normal price.  That said, the weather is just perfect with cloudless skies, a light easterly breeze and cool nights.  Cable Beach is beautiful and we take a walk along it each morning. It is obvious why it is rated as as one of the top 5 in the world.

We are staying at the Tarangau Caravan Park in their Emergency Site until a normal site becomes available in two days.  As it turned out we grew accustomed to our Emergency Site and stayed the whole time there.  Morning and afternoon the Cable Beach Camels walked right past us.  If we didn't hear them we soon became aware of them as we were downwind.

Saturday 6 July - Day 2 Broome

A beautiful beach walk in the morning was followed by a return visit to watch the sun set dramatically over the water in the west over the flat aqua ocean.  A big day!

Sunday 7 July - Day 3 Broome

After our morning beach walk, we visited the port area of Broome and the dinosaur coastline with Anastasia's Pool and rocky outcrops.   Another big day!

Anastasia's Pool

Cable Beach sunset

Monday 8 July - Day 4 Broome

After our morning beach walk, we went out for fish and chips at the Port then into the town centre to do the supermarket shuffle.   Broome historically is noted for its pearls and the pearling industry - and will struggle on for a while longer as we only looked and didn't buy.  

Tuesday 9 July - Broome to Quondong Point

Reading about Quondong Point and recalling that Dad camped there years ago, we decided to chance our luck by driving the 49 klm north of Broome, about half of which was on a corrugated and sometimes sandy dirt track, which the car and caravan handled well.   We arrived at a free camp at Quondong Point and what a beauty it is 10 metres above the beach with spectacular ocean views, a bit of shade, no neighbours and it's totally free which is  very pleasant change from the peak season priced caravan parks we've stayed in recently.   Unbelievably, we have phone and intermittent internet connectivity - could it get any better? 

Quondong Point - view from campsite - tide in

Rock Art

In this relatively isolated area, imagine our surprise when we saw dozens of people on the beach walking towards us.   Out came the binoculars and we worked out that there was a television crew filming indigenous people possibly showing bush tucker options around the ocean.   At least that explained some of the people.   The others just kept walking past on some type of safari.

View from camp - tide going out

Tide nearly fully out - late afternoon Quondong Point

Huge thrashing in the ocean about 100 metres offshore from where are camped caught our eye early afternoon.  A pod of whales were upset about something thrashing about for a while before moving further out to sea.  For the rest of the day numerous pods of whales frolicked just offshore with spectacular tail and flipper splashes combined with huge full breaches.

Our campsite

Happy Hour - just the two of us 

The tides up here have a differential of over 8 metres, so what was a small beach when we arrived turned into a broad rocky beach late afternoon at low tide.  The sunset was just beautiful made all the more special by the fact that there were only several other campers within cooee to see it with us.

Sunset out front of our camp - Quondong Point

We'll stay at Quondong Point for two nights.The place is just perfect with whales frolicking out front all day, light off shore breeze, sea birds, beautiful sunsets and mild nights.  We've taken some long walks on the beach, and will read and soak up the beautiful views from our campsite.  The mozzies are here but not in plague proportions - same as the flies.  Overnight 100's of hermit crabs wander the camp cleaning up any crumbs.  By day they are all gone.

So this is the end of this post.  We now return to Broome to fuel up and start heading south towards 80 Mile Beach and Port Hedland.  All is going well with both of us, the car and van.  We love the life and the adventure of travelling Australia.


 Life on the Road Lessons for Caravanners:

The Wave

There are many travellers on the road in all sorts of outfits from caravans to pop-tops, campervans to camper trailers, 5^th wheelers, rooftop tents, 4x4’s, swags,  tenters, Britz to Maui hire cars and vans, buses: large and small, the list goes on and on. 

If you are towing a caravan, soon after leaving the city at the start of your travels you will notice that some cars wave at you. At first you stop on the side of the road fearing something is falling off the caravan.  It will finally dawn on you that the oncoming cars are waving hello.  This feels good, so you wave back … then the problems set in.

As a caravanner you are in a ‘special’ club.  Caravanners only wave to each other.  You don’t wave to camper trailers or, heaven forbid, a bus and absolutely not a Britz or Maui hire car or van.  These ‘non-members’ do try to engage you with a wave but you cannot succumb to these ‘associate only’ members. 

How to wave: a single or double finger lift of your right hand located between 12noon and 1 o’clock on the steering wheel is the minimum.  A full facing palm lift is very friendly and is best used when you are off the beaten track a bit.  When the spouse in the driver’s seat also waves that creates a dilemma as, if your spouse doesn’t wave too, then an argument starts in your car about why she didn’t wave too!  The next 15 minutes in your car will be somewhat tense all because the other car's spouse chose to wave or was it because your spouse didn’t wave, the tenseness returns again.

You cannot wave too profusely for several reasons; there are lots of vans out there and you have to save your strength, RSI is becoming an issue as will arthritis, you still have to set up the van when you arrive at your destination so you need to save your strength, one arm gets bigger than the other and you will look like a professional tennis player and, as we know tennis rackets add weight and weight needs to be minimized and, as happens to us, you think something is falling off your rig so you keep on stopping every time a profuse wave is encountered.

Wave Timing:  this is a real art and a lot harder than you think.  Remember the caravan coming the other way is driven by a Grey Nomad who in all likelihood is visually challenged in some way.  A wave too early is a wave wasted - he just won’t see it.  A wave too late is an insult, I know as it has happened to me many times and it is nearly as bad as your spouse not waving. 

You have to allow for your speed, their speed, road conditions, type of van (same brand and model as yours can receive a thumbs up included in the wave), wind shear and you fitness level.  The ultimate wave timing is when both fingers in both cars raise at the same time.  There is nothing better than the “Yes …nailed that one” feeling as the car and van zoom past you safely.

Duration of the Wave:  the longer the wave the greater the respect that is shown to your oncoming traveller.  This does have a major impact in the timing of the wave.  There is nothing more embarrassing than the commencement of the ‘lowering of the fingers phase’ and you see theirs are still up and arching back even further.  To get around this take the number plate of the vehicle and complete Form LFTE (Lowered Fingers Too Early) found in your caravan registration pack and send to the Transport Department in the State the offence occurred who will then forward your apology on.

Complex Wave:  the complex wave is tiring and is often fraught with disappointment and does not qualify for a Form LFTE in any way.  The Complex Wave occurs when two or more vans are travelling in convoy and is made more complex if a non-authorised wave receiver, something like, say a Camper Van, is also in the convoy.  The closer together the vehicles are the more complex this wave becomes. 

My advice, provided it is safe to do so, is to leave your fingers up for the duration of the convoy using small dips between cars and just accept that you have wasted a wave on non-authorised wave receiver but probably made their holiday as they received acknowledgement of their existence on the road.

There is a lot more to this topic and I have just scratched the surface really.  But for now that should do you all as too much information on this topic will just cause confusion.