Beauty at the tip

Although we reached the west coast ages ago (in travel time), we got stationary for awhile as we are waiting for our flight out of Broome to the States. Between Barred Creek and Broome, we were killing time.

Back in Broome for a water fill up and proper shower, we ended up camping directly across from our mate, Rob, last seen in Noosa. After a couple fishing days, pub nights and the Staircase to the Moon event, Rob was heading south and we still had a couple weeks so further north we came.

What a brilliant decision! The Dampier Peninsula is stunning with the red cliffs meeting the blue waters - a bit like Quangdong Point but even more spectacular! We spent 3 nights at Kooljaman Camp at Cape Leveque then further along to near Bardi (One Arm Point) at a camp called, Gumbarnum. It's all aboriginal land here run by the Bardi people.

Matt has been filling his spare time with fishing and pulled a black tip reef shark, Queenie, and Blue bone all from just off the beach but it was the Queenie we got to keep. One of the campers suggested we cut it up for numus - soaked in vinegar, lime and black pepper. It's a bit like cerviche and delicious! He's back at it again so we'll see what's on the menu next. I keep complaining that we have stocks of good meat that needs to be eaten before we leave but one can't really complain about fresh fish!

The whales are the other amazing sight in these parts - every look out to sea gives you at least a catch of a blow hole if not the full jump and splash. And all of this can be seen from my bed in the camper! There's sunrise from one side of the point then sunset from the other - all walking distance.

The camp here feels like a Caribbean island with the clear waters and sand bars. I do still have one eye out for crocs. This area is supposed to have some friendly lemon sharks but still not sure I want to see them while I'm having a dip.

A couple nights here and we may leave to start our trek back to Broome but there's no rush, we have a week...

Reached the blue azure

When the day's activities start and end by watching the sun rise and set, with a mix of firewood collection, meals, and a swim in between, life's pretty good indeed! We reached the end of the Gibb in Derby on 8 August and refueled at the pub before a stock up night in Broome where we then headed north up the coast to Quandong Point, aka by me, "beauty by the sea". Yes, we have reached the west coast and its beautiful blue waters! The azure colour against the straw fields and red dirt - AMAZING!

Bliss was interupted by nature's tragedy when one of the nearby campers drove up to ask if we had buckets and wanted to help out a beached whale. We swung into action throwing dirty laundry and collected wash water out of our two buckets to race down the beach's end to help out. Unfortunately we were too late and the hour that the beautiful giant had lasted on the shore was too much.

We had just been watching in amazement the pod of humpbacks breeching off the shore and this particular one steered, for whatever reason, too close to the shore. It was incredibly sad to see when I had hoped to be part of a grand rescue, but nature has its ways. We went back today to see what was left and it had rolled slighty but was still there less the chunks bitten out of it. Even as we stood on the shore, a shark came 1 metre from the beach trying to get a bite! Then we noticed a few more circling and having their turn. They were tiger sharks and big ones. One must have got in the way as it was also beached with both sides taken out of it - survival of the fittest and this dead shark was 2.5 metres!

I think we are getting what we have coined, "Treach Syndrome", when we sit too long in one place in deep relaxation. It ultimately makes us spring back in motion. The term came about after our stay in Treachery Beach near Seal Rocks. So it looks we'll head back to Broome for a water refill and maybe stay for Race Day if I can find a suitable hat and frock packed away (although not sure Matt brought a suit) then up to Cape Leveque. We have another couple weeks around this area till we fly back to the States for my birthday with the fam.

FOOD! What are we eating these days? Curry in our camp oven on the fire is a fav (last night was broccoli & chicken green curry) and for lunch, we whipped up two pizzas - ham & pineapple as well as salami, feta, & capsicum. We also used the lazy day to bake a banana bread from the frozen bananas we've had since QLD. YUM!

Friends along the way-  travelling is such a great way to meet wonderful people from all walks of life! For those that I've met since Darwin, unfortunately my phone cacked it so please contact me on Facebook - Tara Toohill.

Gibb's a highway, Munja's a track

All this I have been stressing over the famous Gibb River Road, but it's practically a highway now. To compensate for the lack of adventure on the Gibb, we found a few extra tracks to try - Karunjie and Munja! The former just a walk in the park compared to the latter but both extremely enjoyable (I can say that only now that I'm safely off both).

Karunjie starts from just outside of Wyndham and is an old stock route that runs between the Cockburn Ranges and the Pentecost River. The last update gave the details on that beautiful track and days along the river. This entry is dedicated to the Munja Track and the highlights of the Gibb River Road. The Munja runs from outside Mt Elizabeth Station to the Walcott Inlet and got some recent fame when a 4wd show came to film some footage along its varied course. Without my usual research on the track (due to lack of internet reception) and the fact that it was an in & out track, I fought Matt on taking it but to no use, he was fixated.

When they say "rough" track, they mean it! But we had bush camps by river sides all to ourselves and the pure beauty of the Kimberleys we had been missing. Matt has loaded a few videos on Facebook and you'll

notice I walked many of those extreme bits including the return on Magpie's Jump Up. We even managed to bust (temporarily) another of our camper legs on one of the steep river crossings but the group behind us, had to winch their mate's vehicle out. Finding a waterfall all to ourselves with some amazing Aboriginal artwork and I quickly forgot about the stress of the track. I did do a deep creek crossing and jump out of my own to better understand Albert's capabilities - he was built to do this kind of travel.

After four days exploring the Munja, we were back on the busy Gibb but still managed a couple solo bush camps along the way before staying at both the Silent Grove and Windjana National Parks in the King Leopold Conservation Park. Bell Gorge from Silent Grove NP was an awe inspiring gorge with a beautiful swimming hole after a hike down the boulder rock ledge. The cliffs were typical Kimberley with strata layers of

block red rock. Then Windjana was such a different gorge cliff with black drip castle type rock formations made from when the area was an old reef system. Add in the hundreds of fresh water crocs that are trapped for the season, and you DON'T have a waterhole to swim in.

In all, the Gibb experience did give us what we were looking

for in this area - beauty that will not soon be forgotten and is already missed now that we a back on the straight road to Broome.