Lailer, you got me on my knees Lailer

Ahh Western Australia, it feels like its been a long time coming but so good to get here.

SATURDAY, 24th September 2011


We stopped overnight at Kununurra and then checked out the Zebra Rock Gallery which had some cool stuff, but was definitely one of those places you didn't want the kids inside.  Jace was a bit miffed that there was so many fish there and he didn't have his line.

Then we stopped by at the lookout and national park before we headed north up to Wyndham.  The kids enjoyed "looking for bears" on their bear hunts through the caves.

We took the 4wd track north as was recommended and quite enjoyed it.  The scenery changed every few kilometres, and we ended up upon a large billabong which was full of birdlife, I can only imagine what it looks like in the wet.

We travelled up to Five Rivers Lookout for the sunset, and the kids showed us some of their antics. Ella was quite distraught thinking that the red sunset was actually the moon burning.

Disclaimer: If you are going to watch this video then you have to trust me that there are metres (like 4 metres) of flat behind this stone wall, and there was no chance of them rolling off a cliff.  I would not have let them climbed and danced if there was.

SUNDAY, 25th September 2011

 We were joined this morning by the resident donkey, who I think was looking for breaky himself.

 Jace was up to his usual tactics of tackling crocodiles.

 

On the way out of town, we stopped off at the old boab tree that was used to keep aboriginal prisoners overnight.

We weren't altogether pleased when we got to the Kuranjie track to find a road closed sign.  But a local assured us we could make it through, and we did with a little help from the Prado's 4wd (once Jace finally put it into gear).  The mudflats were a sight for themselves.

 

Just as we came to cross the Pentecost River a road train beat us to it, not often you see such a large truck nearly half a metre deep in water.

We've set up at Home Valley Station for a few nights.  Its actually kind of surreal, immaculate lawns, resort style pool and bar, all surrounded by the red dust of a working station in the middle of the outback.

 

MONDAY, 26th September 2011

You know you are in the outback when:
...A frog jumps on you when you are taking a shower
...Your camplight no longer works because it is smothered in bugs
...You can't sleep at night because ants have invaded the tent, trailer, food, water bottles
...You come back so sweaty from showering the kids that you need to take another shower
...The kids can't see out their car windows for all the red dust that has collected on them
...The kids would rather stay in the air-conditioning of the car than step out into 40 degree heat
...The family has drunk 12 litres of water and the day isn't over yet
...The kids are excited to see a short stretch of tarred road
...You encounter 4 cars within 50 kilometres all repairing flat tyres


We day-tripped to El Questro Station and checked out the hot springs and the lookout.

Our return journey was somewhat eventful with a near miss with a stray cow, turned the next corner to see a twister....I guess you never know what is coming around the next corner.

TUESDAY, 27th September 2011

Time to hit the Gibb River Road.  We took the short drive to Babinda Gorge.

A stopover at Ellenbrea Station (just a shy million acre cattle station in the middle of the Gibb River Rd) for a cuppa tea and some homemade scones.  I have to say this was more like the sort of stations I thought we would encounter along this way.  Just a couple managing the station while a bunch of others were out mustering.  Mind you, we could have done without the March flies, they were absolutely rife which didn't make Ash all that pleased as he already seems to be traumatised by the flies.

Our stay tonight is at Manning Gorge, Jace went on a short hike to the waterfalls while I stayed with the kids.  About 3 hours later he returned, right about the point when you are about to question the other campers if they saw him on the trail.

WEDNESDAY, 28th Septmeber 2011

Our next aim was to check out Bell Gorge and then head to stay at Windjana.  This plan was thwarted thought when we pulled into the Bell Gorge carpark after the worst part of corrugations we have seen on this leg, and Jace decided to see how the trailer had fared.  He found the lower mount for the axle had snapped in half, the next weakest point from the last one we had fixed in Darwin.  And also that we had a major leak in the water tank.  I swear by the time this trip is over this trailer is going to be like towing a tank around it will be so tough.  Anyway despite Lailer(the trailer) getting Jace down on his knees (again!) his know-how got us jury-rigged enough to make it to the next township only a short 250km corrrugated drive away.

 

All this meant we didn't quite get to see Bell Gorge since I wasn't taking the kids on the trek down there while Jace fixed the trailer.  And we also by-passed Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.  Both of these were totally fine with us, the 40 degree days are a bit much to take and the kids don't like escaping the air-con and dvd player.  So it was getting back to civilisation as quickly as possible....With a minor detour at Derby.

We did manage to catch a cool sunset by the boab tree at Derby though.

SUNDAY, 2nd October 2011


And finally, coast and civilisation again! Hello Broome.

We enjoyed our first day back in a town by eating out nearly every meal, lapping up the beautiful Cable Beach and swimming in non-croc-infested beaches.

 

Mind you the next day the winds came onshore wich resulted in billions of red jellyfish in the water.  We got away without being stung but some fellow campers (that we've been meeting up with since Mataranka) managed to get stung, and I'm just glad it wasn't one of the kids.

Meanwhile Broome is pretty cool, we'd definitely holiday here again sometime if the opportunity arose.  Well, that is assuming it wasn't just that we liked it so much in comparison to being on red, hot, dusty, remote roads.

We did the tourist thing and took a camel ride on Cable Beach in the afternoon.  It was a bit much for Ash though, he managed to fall asleep in Jace's lap for majority of the ride.  It could have been the momentum, or simply having to listen to Ella ask non-stop camel questions for the entire ride.  and just to give you a hint...
Our camel's name was Felix
Yes he was the biggest camel there that day
The bags under the tails are for catching the camel poo
I don't know why they are so bumpy
Yes camels do have stinky breath
They should brush their teeth
And no you can't swap seats with Ash

TUESDAY, 4th October 2011

Moving on from Broome we headed to Eighty Mile Beach and we all had a great time fossicking on the beach for shells coral starfish and jellyfish.

And I'm still loving all the sunsets over the west coast.

WEDNESDAY, 5th October 2011

As we continued south to Port Hedland we detoured via Cape Keraudren.

THURSDAY, 6th October 2011 

Port Hedland was as much a mining town as we'd expected, and had the prices to go with it.  We got out of there as soon as we could.

We are racking up the k's now, we've moved pretty quick through this top end of WA, but we are looking forward to getting to Exmouth in the next couple of days.  Looking at what its got to offer I think we'll end up staying a while.


Cya xx