Days 16 & 17 - Still in Broome

Spent Monday quietly.

Today we went to the museum where Mary is a volunteer and spent the morning looking at the exhibits. Very interesting. This is Mary being official and some of the exhibits.

The new parts were supposed to arrive today so far they haven't!!!!

Day 15 - Sightseeing and the Staircase to the Moon.

Did some sightseeing. Saw Gantheaume Point, the port, Town Beach, and Chinatown.

The colours of the red dirt and the green sea are just spectacular. Then we went to the staircase to the Moon just near Town Beach. They have a night market there. Mary and I had baked jacket potatoes and the boys had german sausage hotdogs. Yum. We went up to the Pioneer Cemetery where we were going to watch the moon rise. There were hundreds of people. While we were waiting we sat on a gravestone.

After a while the moon came up over the mudflats. Spectacular. This photo doesn't do it justice. The moon was huge and the stairway was so big.

Days 13 & 14 - Cable Beach

Jeff took Glen to the Fiat dealer to see about the front wheel noise and they said it is the universal joints plus the turbo tube has split which is making the other noise we can hear. They have ordered the parts and they should arrive on Tuesday. (Apparently Broome time is worse than Maggie Island time and no one believes this will happen!) so we are here till at least Wednesday. Could be worse, the weather has settled and is very pleasant.

Went down to the beach to see the sunset last night. Not the most spectacular but good anyhow. Going to see the Stairway to the Moon tomorrow night.

Day 12 Cable Beach

Went with Mary to the Biggest Morning Tea with the Seniors. Not quite the calibre of Maggie Island's extravaganza but we did meet the Premier of WA - Colin Barnett. (Should have taken a picture). Jeff has decided he is still not happy with the noise from the front wheels and thinks it's the universal joints that are playing up. (Will this ever stop????) Had a look at the swimming pool in the Park. Wow! Never seen one quite like this in a van park before.

Day 11 Just past Fitzroy Crossing to Broome

Had more rain overnight but set off in sunshine. It meant we couldn't see some of the things we were planning to see and so we will get to Broome today. Travelled to Derby, along the way saw the Prison Boab Tree.

Then onto Derby where we had fish and chips for lunch at the wharf watching the tide run out very fast.

Then to Broome and Cable Beach Caravan Park where we are parked next to our friends Mary and Bob. Lovely park, we are booked in until next Monday. 

Day 10 - Spring Creek to just past Fitzroy Crossing.

Left muddy Spring Creek and travelled down to Hall's Creek through more spectacular mountains and valleys. It is so grand and almost overpowering. This one looks like a crocodile.

Just after Hall's Creek is a very popular free camp called Mary Pool (WA 636). We had decided to have lunch there but the camp is over a ford in the river which looked like this when we got there.

A helicopter had flown in in the morning to tell the people camping there to get out because the river was flooding but some people were still over there when we arrived. We had lunch at the next free camp instead. Visited Fitzroy Crossing and headed out to Ellendale Rest Area (WA 631). Arrived at the same time as a very large amount of rain so no sunset photo like I planned.

Day 9 - Kununurra to Spring Creek

Still humid as anything but no rain to break it. Travelled to Wyndham via 'The Grotto' a little gully with a waterhole.

Moved onto Wyndham. looked at the port and the aboriginal statues that have become horribly neglected and graffitied.

We also saw the 'World's biggest Boab in Captivity'.

Then we went up to the Five Rivers Lookout. This is my panorama photo of the view. Very spectacular.

Motored back down the highway to the Hall's Creek turnoff where we had lunch(WA 651) . Then onto Spring Creek (WA 643) for the night.Lovely spot. Just had dinner and were hit by a massive storm. Thunder, lightning, wind, rain, the lot. Went on for about an hour. At least cooled things down for the night. Very annoyed that we can't go to the Bungle Bungles because only 4WDs can go but the road was closed anyway.

Day 8 - Rest Day in Kununurra

Drove around the town , looked from the lookout and tried not to melt. So humid. Fairly uneventful. Watched the last 'Call the Midwife', what a beautiful show.
Views from the lookout.

Day 7 - Lake Argyle to Katherine

Gosh the sun comes up early in WA, 4am and up it comes. Decided to go for a swim in the infinity pool at the resort, so had breakfast and wandered up. They are having a wedding here this afternoon, spectacular setting. The water was chilly but OK once you were in. Lovely infinity spa pool as well. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

After luxuriating in the pool we got going, stopping at the Durak Homestead for a look at the history of the area. Short trip to Kununurra and are settled into Hidden Valley Tourist Park for a rest weekend. Washing done, footy on, kicking back till Monday when we will have to get a crack in the windscreen drilled. (It never ends).

Day 6 - Problems with the Batteries.

Jeff has checked the house batteries and one seems to have died so we have decided to go back to Katherine to get a new one. (60 Kms) The nice man at Repco checked the batteries and said it wasn't the one Jeff thought but the other one that was no good. Ah we'll we still needed a new one. All done in under an hour and we are on the road again, beetling back across the Victoria Highway towards WA. Spectacular  rock formations along through Victoria Creek. We found out yesterday about the quarantine regs at the border and are gorging ourselves on fruit and vegetables as we go along. The border man was very nice and told us that we could peel the onion and keep it. (We were going to throw it out.). Altogether not a bad result but the avocados I had to eat may put me off them for a while.
Just after the border we turned off to go to Lake Argyle. Had a look around and booked in for the night. We decided to go on the sunset cruise and boy was it worth it. Just amazing scenery and information supplied by our trusty skipper. Some highlights below.

Townsville to Katherine

Day 1 Townsville to Campaspe River Rest Area. - 11/6/13
Did some shopping at Vincent Village, stocked up on sausages from Sheehans so Jeff could have a fix as we travelled. We are going to use the Engel as a freezer so we can stock up and keep costs down. Lunched at Charters Towers and motored on to the Campaspe River Rest Area (Q 288). Stayed here before but it has got a lot noisier with the extra trains going along one side of the site and the extra road trains along the other Not the best night's sleep.

Day 2 Campaspe River Rest Area to Cloncurry. - 12/6/13
Found out why there are so many cattle trucks on the road. They are moving 6 million head of cattle from central Queensland out to the coastal areas because there is no feed. Travelled through Hughendon, Richmond and Julia Creek and stopped at Cloncurry Caravan Park so Jeff could watch Storm on TV. They didn't show it! Ah well we all have to make some sacrifices on the trip. (Some day we will get satellite TV on Glen.) Happy Mother's Day.

Day 3 Cloncurry to Soudan Bore NT. - 13/6/13
Travelled to Mt Isa, did some shopping and then onto Camooweal for lunch. Crossed the border and the road deteriorated (usually better on this side). Got to Soudan Bore Rest Area (NT 2) had a good night's sleep.

Day 4  Soudan Bore NT to Newcastle Waters Rest Area NT. - 14/6/13
Had breakfast at Barkly Homestead, as we were travelling along the highway one of the many  reminders about havng a rest - Pull Over If Sleepy - had the "Over" covered over! Jeff said that would keep you awake. Wish I had of had taken a picture of it. We had a little chuckle. Lunch at 3 Ways. Luckily we got to Newcastle Waters (NT 95) early because it was full by the night. Met some people from Victoria who were going in the opposite direction so we compared notes.

Day 5 Newcastle Waters to Vince Connoly Crossing NT. - 15/6/13
Left early and pushed our way up to Daly Waters for breakfast.  Got to Katherine to shop and then travelled along the Victoria Highway to the Vince Connoly Crossing Rest Area (NT 192). Lovely spot, Jeff marvelled at the odourless and flyless drop toilets and wondered how they they achieved this. He is worried about the house batteries and thinks one may be dead. The freezer seems to be drawing a lot of battery power when we are stationary. (A thing we didn't think about when we decided to use the Engel as a freezer.) More about this in the next entry.

Our New Adventure

Here we are at the start of our new adventure. Our second attempt to circumnavigate Oz. Trusty Glen the motor home is in town getting new CV joints and the brakes done. We are at home waiting for her to be ready. I don't think it will be today. Hopefully tomorrow morning. Meanwhile we are showing our house sitters the ropes and introducing them to lots of people so they won't be lonely.