Darwin NT to Broome WA

Wednesday 10^th July 2013 to Saturday 26^th October 2013

Darwin to Broome

It has been almost 4 months since I posted my last blog, so I hope you’re hungry for a little information about what we have been doing. We stayed in Darwin until Monday 30^th September, which meant we were there almost 4 months having arrived on 10^th June. As per my previous blog we first stayed at Hidden Valley to go to the V8s and then we moved out to Lee Point Village Resort where Greg secured some work. It was really handy as his pay covered our site rent and our cost of living, plus he was finished by lunchtime every day, which meant we still had plenty of the day to do other things. The climate in Darwin was beautiful, particularly up until about the middle of September, when the humidity started to kick in.

 We were lucky to catch up with Emma and Rob and their three kids Taneika, Lily and Jake. We met this family when we were in Menindee back in February. In Darwin, we met them at the beautiful Mindil Sunset Market and spent a few hours with them to catch up on what we all had been doing. They headed west and then across the Nullarbor and are now setting up home in Airlie Beach.  

When we were on the Eyre Peninsula in March, you may recall that we met the Rollason family; Sue, Mick and James. At that time we spent four weeks with them before they headed west and we headed up the centre. Because we were in Darwin for so long they caught up with us and we spent another six weeks with them which was absolutely fabulous.

Greg and I had the most wonderful experience in Darwin on the Outback Floatplane Adventure. The tour ticks all the boxes in an all encompassing adventure that we’ll never forget. We were picked up from the Caravan Park at 11am and taken to the airport, where we boarded a float plane to take us out to the Finniss River near the base of Litchfield National Park. The plane landed on a billabong where we boarded a boat and were welcomed by the crew with morning tea. We then boarded an airboat which took us through swamp lands and marshes where we saw plenty of wildlife including saltwater crocodiles. After that ride had finished we got into a jeep and were taken through the bush for a little while where we met the helicopter. A short helicopter ride, which was extremely exhilarating, took us back over the swamps and the river and big termite mounds. From the air we saw numerous crocodiles and some wild pigs. The helicopter landed back on the boat where we were treated to a beautiful lunch as we cruised down the river, sighting yet some more crocodiles. When that was over we boarded the float plane again to fly back to Darwin, where we got magnificent views over the harbour and Darwin City. We were then taken back to our Caravan Park very satisfied with our six hour adventure. I would highly recommend the tour to everyone.

With Sue, Mick and James, we took the ferry from Cullen Bay Marina over to Mandorah to have lunch at the lovely Mandorah Pub, which was one of the last times it was to be open. This lovely pub closed a week later due to a bit of disrepair and not enough money being invested into it. Such a shame as it had been a wonderful attraction, not only for tourists, but for the locals as well. We visited the Aviation Museum which was really interesting and certainly worth the visit. We went to the beautiful Mindil Sunset Market a number of times, Sue and I did some retail therapy and had a pedicure at the Casuarina Shopping Complex, we had plenty of happy hours as you could imagine and the pool provided us with heat relief on most days. Greg, with a lot of expert help from Mick, repainted the tray of the cruiser and it looks really great now. So goodbye Darwin, hope to see you again sometime.

View of Darwin from Floatplane

Landing on the Billabong

Part of the swamp from the airboat

Crocodile from the airboat

The crew of Outback Floatplane Adventures

Us and the Pilot Emma

On the ferry to Mandorah

The Mandorah Pub

View from the Mandorah Pub

B52 at the Aviation Museum

Sunset and Mindil Beach

Emdee didgeridoo player

Mindil Beach

The cruiser all spruced up

 

From Darwin and still in the company of Sue, Mick and James, we went to Berry Springs and stayed at the Tumbling Waters Holiday Park for four nights. This was a really nice spot, with a pool which is always welcome in this heat. Nearby is the Berry Springs Nature Park which is in a beautiful natural setting, with numerous spring water pools and a waterfall which was a lovely way to cool down. The Territory Wildlife Park is not far away and we spent the day here. The Aquarium and the Aviary were the highlights for me. We also went to Litchfield National Park for the day. Although Greg and I had previously been there, it is so beautiful I didn’t mind going again. This time though we were able to drive in on the 4WD track to see the Blythe Homestead. When Greg and I were here earlier in the year this track had not reopened after the previous Wet season.

From Berry Springs we went back to Katherine as this is the only way across to the West. We stayed for four nights to catch up on washing, shopping etc before we headed West. Young James celebrated his 8^th Birthday here and we had a lovely day with him, pancakes for breakfast and hotdogs for dinner and in between a beautiful birthday cake made by Sue. We again went for a swim in the Katherine Hot Springs as it is too nice to resist. We were also lucky enough to be in Katherine when the Solar Cars came through on their journey from Darwin to Adelaide. It was a great spectacle and a real delight to see the different designs of cars; the designers and builders really put a lot of work into them.  Alas the time came to say goodbye again to the Rollason family. They are heading east to Queensland. Goodbye our friends, we will meet again.

Berry Springs

Greg and I at Berry Springs

Blythe Homestead at Litchfield NP

Territory Wildlife Park

Solar Car Katherine

Solar Car Katherine

 

Our next stop was an overnighter at Timber Creek and the following day we drove to Kununurra, finally over the border into Western Australia. This was a bit of a milestone for me as WA was until that point the only state I had never visited. At Kununurra we stayed for a week at the Discovery Holiday Park. This is a lovely park and they really make an effort to welcome their visitors. Every Saturday night they have a sausage sizzle and every Monday night a Barra feast. The charges are minimal and all the money goes to charity. They also have entertainment on Saturday nights. Apparently they offer more activities during the dry season when there are more tourists around. Unfortunately this type of reduced activity is what we have found since we left Darwin. Because of the approaching wet a lot of tourist spots close down. The heat is quite unbearable and things like waterfalls, swimming holes and are dried up and not worth looking at.

While we were in Kununurra we went for a sunset cruise on Lake Argyle. Lake Argyle about 70 kilometres east of Kununurra, is the largest manmade lake in the southern hemisphere and the volume of water it holds is 26 times greater than Sydney Harbour. It is huge and very beautiful and also home to a plethora of wildlife including 36,000 freshwater crocodiles. This cruise was absolutely fantastic; the tour guide Greg has an amazing knowledge of the history of the area. We saw a number of crocodiles, plenty of birds, lots of fish and a few rock wallabies. Because it was such a hot day Greg stopped early in the cruise for us to have a swim and then again at sunset. The sunset swim was a highlight because we had a glass of champagne in the water and Greg put the dip and bikkies on an esky lid so that we could eat and drink in the water. The sunset was amazing and with a backdrop of rugged red cliffs it was very memorable.

We also took a drive out to Wyndham, this town, 100 kilometres, north of Kununurra is a most unfortunate town. It is very ugly and only has a few redeeming features, one of them being the Five Rivers lookout. This gives you a birds- eye view over the Cambridge Gulf and the Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and Ord Rivers. From there we drove out to the Prison Boab Tree, Moochalabra Dam and the Aboriginal Rock Art site. Our last stop at Wyndham was the Grotto which is a natural amphitheatre and deep waterfall fed swimming hole. After traversing the 140 stone steps down to the pool, it was disappointing as there was no water falling and the swimming hole was stagnating. Nonetheless we had a swim because it was so hot and ate a picnic lunch in the shade of the cliff walls. I could imagine how pretty it would be when the water is flowing.

There are a number of tourist destinations and tours that can be accessed from Kununurra, including El Questro, The Bungle Bungles, a few gorges among others, but due to the lateness of the season, the heat and the lack of water, some were closed, others, well it was just too hot to visit, particularly the long walks, but they are all on our bucket list for next time we visit the Kimberleys.

After a week at Kununurra, we headed west and had a one night stopover at Halls Creek, which is more than enough. We then left for Fitzroy Crossing where we stayed for two nights at the Fitzroy Lodge and caravan park. The pool alone was a good reason to stay the extra night as by this time it was extremely hot. The day we were supposed to go to Geikie gorge was 45 degrees and just way too hot to enjoy the experience, so we stayed at the park where we could keep reasonably cool. We believe we were about four to six weeks too late to enjoy the wonders of the Kimberley and have learnt from this the best time to travel to this part of Australia.

The following day was tipped to be very hot again so we left at 5am to head to Broome on the coast where it was forecast to be a little cooler, down to reasonable 34 degrees. It was a good decision as we beat the heat during the five hour journey and arrived in Broome around 11 am with plenty of time to set up camp before the heat of the day set in. We stayed at the Cable Beach Caravan Park which has the best pool we have seen on our journey so far.  Broome is quite beautiful; a huge tourist destination with the beautiful and well known Cable beach and its breathtaking colours an extremely popular place to be. The climate here is tropical and very warm with the humidity high in some parts of the day. But the sea breeze helps alleviate the heat. For the week we were here the temperature averaged 35 degrees, which was very pleasant.

Lake Argyle from the lookout

Rock Wallaby on Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle dam wall

Croc in Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle from the boat

Enjoying a champers in the lake

and a bit of dip thanks

Sunset on Lake Argyle

Us on the boat at sunset

Prison Boab at Wyndham

View from inside in Prison Boab

The Grotto Wyndham

 

The day we arrived was the full moon and the community hold markets at Town Beach so that visitors can sample their wares before the wondrous Stairway to the Moon show. This is a natural phenomenon when the full moon rises over the mudflats of Roebuck Bay at low tide creating an optical illusion of a staircase reaching up to the moon.  There was a bit of cloud about when we saw it so the illusion wasn’t as great as it could have been, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.

Cable Beach is the place to be at sunset particularly with the camels walking along the beach. Camel rides are a very popular activity along the beach and they are amazing to watch. Broome is renowned for its pearl industry and plenty of shops in town sell the product. We saw how the pearls are harvested and graded which was interesting. The cruise ship, the Dawn Princess arrived in town as part of its around Australia journey while we were here and the local shopkeepers go all out to welcome them, of course with the intention of selling their wares. We drove out to the Port to have a look at the Dawn Princess in port, it is a massive ship and busloads of its passengers were being driven into town.

We took a drive out to Gantheaume Point, where the lighthouse is; this is a spectacular lookout. The beautiful multi coloured rocks form a breathtaking foreground to the amazing turquoise sea. There is a man made pool out there called Anastasia’s pool, which was built by the lighthouse keeper back in the day, so that his wife could get relief from her arthritis. We also wanted to see Broome’s northern beaches on the Dampier Peninsula which are only accessible via a 4WD track. We drove out on Manari Rd to head to Coulomb Point but only got as far as Quondong Point due to a fire. Two other vehicles had turned back and as the smoke was quite thick we decided to do the same. Apart from the obvious danger, the smoke spoiled any views we might have had. We drove back into Broome with the intention of having a swim at Cable Beach, but there had been a crocodile sighting there and with the warning signs up, we decided on a walk along the beach rather than a swim. There was other swimmers in the water, but we didn’t risk it.

We took the cruiser on the beach with our dinner and a few drinks on our last night to enjoy the sunset, the camel rides and just the beautiful atmosphere.  A lot of people come onto the beach at this time of the day and it is quite enjoyable to watch everyone and their activities.

Sunrise at Fitzroy Crossing

Boabs and Termite mounds from the highway

Gantheaume Point Broome

Gantheaume Point Broome

Us on Cable Beach at Sunset

Camels at Sunset on Cable Beach

Sunset through the cruiser window

The pool at the Caravan Park

 

We are now heading south down the coast and stopping at Barn Hill Station Stay and Eighty Mile Beach. My next blog you give you details about that journey. We intend to be in Perth by Christmas so it is possible I won’t post another blog until then.

Cheers till next time.