11 July 2019

Time to transition from travel mode to holiday mode for 3 days. Pender Bay is the perfect place to chill out and do not much. Except for laundry, which took up a chunk of the morning. Baker Bill outdid himself with a loaf of cheese amd bacon bread, warm out of the oven (weber) for lunch. In the afternoon we walked along the beach, we swam, we walked and we swam some more. Then it was showers, arvo beer and chips and the most delicious roast pork cooked by Dad in the camp oven in the fire. The crackle was perfect!

10 July 2019

We found some dinosaur footprints this morning. After brekkie, we walked down onto the rocks and with the help of a fellow camper, found some prints, and also some really clear imprints in the rocks of a fern like plant. According to the camper, people from a university had been out the day prior looking at them, and confirmed they were dinosaur prints. Pretty cool.

We headed for Pender Bay this morning, 100 or so km further north. They are paving the road all the way to Cape Leveque, with an estimated completion of the end of 2020. So there was ALOT of roadworks happening. They had the traffic separate though, so we weren’t held up at all and the road was in good condition with minimal corrugations. We stopped in at the aboriginal community of Beagle Bay to have a look at the beautiful church. Inside is decorated with all sorts of shells, and the alter is covered in them. Very unique. The side road to Pender Bay was a sandy track, in good condition, however quite narrow. All part of the journey. The campsite at Pender Bay is amazing. A clifftop site with magnificent views over the bay. The afternoon was spent doing some laundry, swimming, walking along the beach and enjoying being in such a gorgeous part of the world.

9 July 2019

Bacon and eggs for brekkie followed by another run through the horizontal falls. Then it was back on the float plane for a longer scenic flight back to Derby. We flew over some barramundi farms, and arrived just after 8 am. We picked up our cars and then headed to Broome where we grabbed supplies before heading up the Dampier Peninsula for 6 nights. We didn’t see much of Broome at all, however we’ll be back there soon so will leave the exploration until next week. We spent the night at the very popular free camping area of Quandong Point about 150 km north of Broome. The views were beautiful, however the flies pesky. It took us a while to find a campsite away from all the people that were poked in and around everywhere. Some look like they had been there for weeks, or even months.

8 July 2019

Up and away from Windjana. None of us slept very well so happy to be on the road before 9 am. We headed for Derby – today was our last day on the Gibb River Road. Once in Derby we grabbed some supplies from the supermarket and then headed out to check out the boab prison tree. There are a few particularly large boab trees throughout the Kimberlies that have naturally hollowed out and were thought to have been used as make shift prisons for the Aboriginals that were arrested in the mid to late 1800s when white people decided to populate the area. Constables and their assistants were paid for each aboriginal that they arrested. A truly horrendous time in Australia’s history.

We then headed out to the wharf where we found the best potato cake of the trip! Cooked fresh, not to oily and crispy batter. 4/5. There was also great information boards out there explaining the tides – Derby has the largest tides in Australia with a maximum of 11.7 m (I think) variation recorded – and the history of exporting cattle from the wharf.

We were being picked up at 2 pm for our flight out to Talbot Bay for a night on a houseboat, and to experience the horizontal waterfalls. We headed for the caravan park and put the cars in storage, had a clean up and then we were picked up and taken out to the Derby airport. We flew on a 12 seater float plane. The flight was about half an hour and was excellent. The landscape was so interesting around Derby with tidal flats, rivers and mangroves, and then so beautiful towards Talbot Bay with blue green seas and hundreds of islands. The float plane landed in Talbot Bay which I got a real kick out of. Landing on water. Very cool. We were shown our rooms for the night, and then straight into a 1200 hp boat for the horizontal waterfalls.

The waterfalls come about because of the massive tides here. There is only a 7.5 m gap between two large bodies of water, so when the tide is going out, the second bay is emptying faster than the first bay can, resulting in the waterfalls. It really just looked like some fast rapids on a river, however it was great shooting through the narrow opening in the high powered boat. The driver of the boat sat it in the current, and the boat was travelling at 10 knots to stay stationary. From there we went back to the houseboat to watch them feeding some sharks. Bill and I jumped into the cage for a swim however the visibility was too poor to see much through our mask. Back in the high powered boat for a cruise up Cyclone Creek. The creek gets its name for the shelter it provides to vessels no matter the weather conditions. The sandstone formations in the area were stunning. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Dinner was a delicious cheese and dip platter, grilled barramundi and salad and brownies and berries for dessert. We all made absolute pigs of ourselves.

The 7.5 m gap that make the ‘horizontal falls’

7 July 2019

Second last day on the Gibb River Road. We packed up camp and made tracks for Windjana Gorge just over 100 km’s away. After arriving we set up camp, had an early lunch, and the drove to Tunnel Creek. Donning water shoes and head torches, we walked and waded through the approx 750 m river cave system. It was really excellent. The rocks were beautiful and it was very cool walking through the pitch dark caves.

Back to camp for afternoon tea, and then into Windjana Gorge. The water levels are really low this year, so we were walking along the sandy river bed rather than the trail up on the bank. There were so many freshwater crocodiles, we didn’t have to look hard at all to spot them. It must be pretty tough on them to survive in the small ponds left in the gorge.

We’re not fans of tonight’s campsite. It is so busy! We’ve become accustomed to only have a few people around us, so all the people, and kids, and loud music was a bit of a shock.

30 June 2019

Another exercise session this morning during which Bill showed Mum how to do some squats and other exercises using the TRX. So useful bringing a PT along with you on holidays. After working up a bit of a sweat, Bill and I went for a swim, and then we packed up and hit the road. We stopped in at Miners Pool on Drysdale River Station for lunch and then continued on to our camp for the night on the banks of the dry Hann River. It was a very pretty spot and we were the only ones there.

6 July 2019

Pack up day, with Bells Gorge in our sights. Only about 130 km, so not much driving for the day. We called in to the Imintji community store for some fuel and milk and then headed on to our campsite for the night at March Fly Glen. Another nice shaded free camp, with only 2 other groups coming in. After lunch, Bill and I drove in to Bells Gorge. It was as busy as a town swimming pool on a hot day! About a 1 km walk in to it, and it was a great spot. The waterfalls were still flowing and the rocks were super slippery to get in and out. It provided some amusement watching people trying to negotiate them. After a swim and some lazing around on the warm rocks, we headed back to camp for afternoon tea.

The people camped near us came over to sit around the fire that evening, as it was pretty chilly. They’d just moved up to Darwin from Stawell, and the woman was from Ararat and knew some people from Lake Bolac. You can’t go anywhere!

4 July 2019

Started the day with a nasty leg workout. Ouch. So many lunges….

I reserved a couple of canoes yesterday, and today we packed a picnic lunch, drove to Dimond Gorge and canoed about 1.5 km or so until the shallow rocks meant we couldn’t go any further. We came across a couple who didn’t realise they had to collect the paddles from reception, but hadn’t let that stop them! They were paddling with their hands, and through shifting their body weight backwards and forwards. They were actually doing not too bad. I think Mum was a bit worried about canoeing in to the wind on the way back until she saw them and realised that if they could do it, we’d probably be okay with the help of our paddles. We pulled up for lunch and then headed back after awhile. It was really beautiful and very much enjoyed by all. Bill showed his competitive streak insisting that we be the first ones back at the finish (“we can’t be beaten by people twice our age”).

We all jumped in for a swim at the end, and then back to camp where Baker Bill showed off his skills again with another loaf of bread cooked in the Weber.

2 July 2019

We did the beep test this morning. On holidays in the middle of nowhere and we still did the bloody beep test.

It was a slow day today as we weren’t moving camp and the days activity was a trip to Adcock Gorge. Dad, Bill and I headed off late morning. It was less than 10 km drive to get there. Even with the unusually low water levels, it was still lovely. We spotted a couple of remnants of freshwater crocodile corpses. I’d say they’ve fallen victim to the cane toads that are in this area now. Bill and I went for a swim and then we headed back to camp for lunch. We put Baker Bill to work in the afternoon, baking bread and damper that we had with billy tea for afternoon smoko. He got all fancy and braided it. It came out a treat.

The campsite got super busy in the arvo with 16 campers/vans pulling in to overnight. It was a really good free camp spot so I can understand the popularity.

29 June 2018

Early start today – up at 530 am and on the road towards Mitchell Falls just after 6 am. The road was the worst so far, and the worst corrugations I’ve ever experienced. It took an hour and 50 mins to drive the 75 km’s. To take advantage of the slightly cooler weather in the mornings, we decided to walk the 4.3 km in to the falls, and then catch a helicopter out. We booked the helicopter in for 1130 am, allowing us 3 hours to walk in to the Mitchell Falls river and plateau and have a good look around. There were three 4WD tour buses pulled up by the time we arrived. Transferring people in and out of the falls is big business. They had 4 choppers there, although we only saw the two operating. The walk was fairly easy and we made good time. They have had 2 very poor wet seasons in a row up here, and as a result, the Mitchell River was very low and not much water was going over the falls. It was still spectacular though. We explored the plateau and walked out to a good view point for the falls. Mitchell Falls is a 4 tiered waterfall, with a large pool under each set of falls.The chopper ride was awesome. It was mine, and Mum’s first time in a helicopter and I absolutely loved it. Mum not so much. Dad reckons she almost dislocated his shoulder she was holding on to his arm so tight. We did a couple of figure 8’s over the falls and the pilot pointed out other rivers and landmarks. The chopper was open in the back and Dad and Bill got to sit on the outside seats with nothing between them and the blue sky. They both thought it was great. We had lunch pack in the car park and then embarked off for the rough ride back. We stopped off to look at some aboriginal rock art and then back to camp and all four of us jumped in for a swim. Absolutely magic. That afternoon we got a good look at some Brolgas flying low over the camp. Baked spuds cooked in the camp oven for dinner, a game of Triominos and then we were all ready for bed.