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.

Sitting along the Pentecost River

 A calm morning on the Pentecost River between Wyndham and the Gibb River Road and the stress of waiting for the camper leg is long drifted with the changing

tide. We did finally get the leg in Kununurra and Matt went to work fixing the leg and putting the motor back on. He also did some fancy wood work on the base of the camper to keep it from sliding on the tray on some of our more adventurous tracks. He's quite the handy man indeed and I've been more than impressed with my man!

Well on our way now, we did stock up with fresh fruit and veg at the Saturday markets in Kununurra, meat from the butcher, essentials from the supermarket, and fuel from the petrol station, of course. We took the Parry Creek Road as a pass way off bitumen through to Wyndham and stayed overnight along the way at the Mambi Island Boat Ramp. Such a secluded spot was beautiful except for the one other camper that switched his generator on just in time for a peaceful sunset.

Wyndham is a sleepy port town on the top end with a wide open beautiful view from the Five Rivers Lookout where you have the intersection of the Ord, King, Forest, Durack, and Pentecost Rivers. What a view from on top of the world it seems! But we were on to our next track - Karunjie Track - which was clearly posted at the beginning that it was "not a gazetted road" so you're on your own! After passing the Boab Prison Tree which was actually used as a holding cell back in the 1800's,

we arrived at Diggers Rest Station where I decided we both needed a shower so we'd stay at the homestead. What a brilliant night chatting around the campfire with a group that was leaving the following day for a 7 day trail ride. The wife of the rancher was American and we figured out our mums went to university together at UNC Chapel Hill!

Clean and ready for the dust again, we hit the track moving through a variety of conditions, we drove through the salt flats, over dry ridges on the edge of the Cockburn Range, and through deep troughs of sand before arriving at our first camp on the Pentecost River. We had a mud map of the perfect fishing spot but every side track seemed like the right one and we decided to

try a spot for chance. The Pentecost is tidal and so we arrived at mud flats on the bank with only a small trickle that a few hours later rose 8 feet

within an hour. It was fascinating to watch the birds, fish, cows, and crocs all sort out their needs with the tide. Pelicans would coast the tide with their mouth open just to scoop up the fish. Crocs would take advantage of the tide to get in and out of the river before it was too late.

Moving on to our next camp, we found "the spot" from the mud map near the Killing Tree with a smaller stream feeding in and water all day (meaning fishing all day). Matt was in heaven and I was happy to sit and read the day away. Catfish did seem to be the only thing going for awhile and Matt created his own catch pond to hold them with our favourite, Jaws, who would stride through the pond with his top fin gliding out of the water. Although the elusive barramundi still escapes catch for now, we did feast on delicious jewfish cooked on the fire.

Sunsets are amazing with a full moon rising and bush fires in the distance that make the Cockburn Range glow in orange and red. Moving on today to Home Valley Station - another shower is in order and maybe some laundry. I also heard on the Kimberley Station that a gig is happening so we're keen for some live music (it has been 4 years since we met at Splendour and I know a few of you are at the festival now).

Tattoo, poles & moving on

A few updates are required at this point to keep you in the loop.

• Kakadu Tattoo - how is it and will I live? Yes, it does seem like I'll be ok but the local doctors needed a lesson on understanding your surroundings even if you're only here for a rotation. I did most of the research on my
  
  own to determine what I had and how long it would take to heal. So another visit to the doc and another round of cortisone pills with a stronger cortisone cream and I'm on my way. It is a chemical burn so a longer healing time than just a rash. The indigenous kids get themselves in trouble by using this sap from the caustic tree to give themselves tattoos but it takes a couple days to come up so if they reapply, then they can need skin grafts to repair the damage. Luckily mine was only one application! 
• Camper pole- still waiting! Turns out it never left Perth for some reason so I pitched a fit and maybe threw in some good old fashion female hysterics (thanks Mum) and we have it redirected to Kununurra so at least we can get moving on our way. 
• Albert's periodic physical- like every good health care routine, prevention is
  
  the best cure, so Albert the Grinch had his tyres rotated in Katherine and got a full service in Kununurra. He even got his squeaky tray tightened for another round of corrugation. There was also a charity car wash in town so he got a full wash. I don't think those kids knew what hit them when we drove in! 

As for travels, we stayed a couple nights in Kununurra with errands and then went for a couple nights to Lake Argyll where the water is big and blue! The lake was made when the Ord River was dammed to create a body of water 8x the size of Sydney Harbour.

Thanks go to Sever at Kimberley Motors who looked after Albert and let us use his address to deliver our elusive camper pole.

Next up? Bring on the Gibbie! Time to find out what all the fuss is about with the Gibb River Road. We've got a month to get to Broome where we'll take a holiday from our holiday with a trip back to the States for my birthday to visit the fam!

Alien beehives in multi-color

The amazing Bungles!! I should just stop there because like a photo, words will not be able to properly express the awe of this place but I'll try anyway.

Alien forms of beehives with banded red and black stripes on domes surrounding a dry river bed that looks like a thousand meandering snakes cut into rock. Does that help? Ha!

The Bungle Bungles are properly called Purnululu National Park and I've been wanting to visit these since I started exploring adventures for this trip. The iconic shapes are like nothing I've ever seen and obviously earned their World Heritage ranking for good reason. Flights over the area are meant to be a special way to see the domes but having done the hikes, I can't imagine a better way to appreciate their immensity as we're encompassed in their depths and surrounded by the alien forms.

We stayed two nights on the North end from Kurrajong Camp and then two nights at the Southern camp of Waladi. This was a good way to do (not that it was on purpose) as the northern end with beautiful gorges and cliffs, lets you appreciate the scene before moving on to the more iconic dome shapes. Echidna Gorge hike is a must especially timed for the sun to hit centre gorge at noon. Then Mini Palms hike lets you rumble over boulders to reach the inner sanctuary.

The must hikes from the South side are Picaninny Creek lookout, Cathedral Gorge, and the Dome Loop. We did wake early one morning to do the longer 12k hike to Whip Snake Gorge as well which lets you get deeper into the dry river bed and a gorge to yourself.

Oh and the sunsets here? Unreal! The light brings the cliffs alive and the lookouts give you 360 degree views of this sacred land.

Along this trip, it seems Matt and I have become Twitchers in some right as we are overwhelmed by bird watching. Our second camp at Waladi was abundant in winged visitors. We had a daily visit by a beautiful blue winged kookaburra, an overnight stay by a tawny frogmouth to wake to two of them, as well as cockatoos, bush quail, honeyeaters, and robins! We did get to see the double barred finch deep in Whip Snake Gorge - a bird only found in this area.

Then leaving the park, we ran into our lovely friends, Sally and Keith! We joke that stalking must be occurring as since Finch Hatton Qld, must have crossed paths at least 6 times! We always have a good swap of stories and then move on till the next meeting.

Luxury in Halls Creek

The least likely place I would have chosen to live it up in a hotel but alas we've been at Kimberley Hotel in Halls Creek for five

days now. There were only two choices and we couldn't get in the Best Western so a deluxe queen we have in the town's historic hotel. I can tell you we have been taking full advantage of access to a tv, our own toilet and shower.

Emma, thanks to you and Cameron, if we couldn't find our fill on tv then we enjoyed a few selections from your hard drive.

The hotel stay had two reasons:

1. My lovely Kakadu Tattoo needed medical assistance as well as some proper cleaning - on the mend now but will likely have a great scar to tell the tale.
2. The camper had an accident that left it a 3-legged one.

Yes, the track in Gregory gave a beating to the camper on one of the steep creek crossings and then add an over extended lift to level the camper back and we had a stuck pole with the camper raised off the ground.

Matt quickly went to work as the sun was setting and we could neither drive it or sleep in it as was. Plus we were a full days drive away from civilisation and a whole lot more 4wd track before we reached the dirt highway.

The new pole was meant to be here in Halls Creek within the week but seems like we have another one to go (never use Couriers Please!). So we are going to head on to the Bungle Bungles with a 3-legged camper and return to Halls Creek after with hopes the pole will be here by then. Matt will do his magic again and reinstall the pole and motor.

It's all part of the adventure!