Week 6 - Gipp River Rd - Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge

Feel the wind and dust passing?

Bread making at camp

The set up for two nights - computer charging in car.

Girls in water hole at Mt Hart

The perfect camp oven bread!

Mount Hart Wilderness Lodge – two night stay

Started the day by passing a few road trains – very dusty – it is the beef road!

We had a great trip to Mt Hart with the road having minimal corrugations. Gavin loved this road – a few water crossings.

In the morning we all went on a walk to Mt Matthew gorge with the Barker River flowing through it. Back at the camp ground there was an excellent swimming hole with a canoe for free use. The kids had a fantastic time and spent hours out there.

Next morning, I tried my had at making camp oven bread. Turned out to be the perfect loaf with a little help from Roni’s camp oven and Gavin’s multimeter with thermocouple temperature probe! Very technical! Hot coals courtesy of departing campers.

The Lodge had a good camping ground with new facilities built by the eccentric owners Kim and Taffy. She is a good 30 yrs younger than Taffy. The bar and restaurant were amazing with a Danish Chef in residence (on holidays for a couple of months travelling Aus). We had a three course dinner on the second night, with buffet mains and desserts (9 of these including home-made ice-cream). The kids were in heaven. Sarah wasn’t keen on the Dingos that Kim and Taffy raised from pups after they were orphaned.

Week 6 - The Gibb River Road - North Kimberly Region Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge – one night stay

We had a smooth trip today travelling from Derby to Windjana Gorge, mostly tar road!!!! The main difficulty was the heat and dust – hovering just below 40˚C.

We were very surprised to find a very remote W.A style cafe – serving snacks and ice-creams. Some would turn up their noses but we knew how remote we were! $15 for 5 paddle pops!

The gorge walk was lovely in the slightly cooler afternoon and the light seems to take on a magical quality. The girls have never seen so many wild freshwater crocodiles! They were all a bit aggressive as it was mating season. No chance of swimming but Sarah decided to take a dust bath because she had too much sand in her shoes. Bit of a tantrum here.

Facilities here are great with hot showers and flushing toilets!

Week 6 - The Beginning of the Gibb River Road - Derby 17th Aug

Imagine being abducted from your family and not knowing why you have been chained around the neck and then attached to the floor with handcuffs!

Tuesday 17^th August

Today we drove to Derby which was the start of our Gibb River Road experience. Derby is close to the coast with a very large pier that has to cope with the biggest tide changes in Australia.

We visited the old prison museum which was a very sad place. Also, we visited the Prison Boab tree. I have learnt a lot about Aboriginal history that I have never before heard of in my history lessons at school. The people up here were often abducted from their families to work as slaves for white pearl hunters. How this affected their families is hard to imagine in such a harsh country.

Gavin went for a walk across the mud flats near Derby Port. Stuck in the mud!!!

Week 5 - Broome DAY 9 16th August

Sorry I haven’t posted anything recently but we have been out of range for internet access for quite some time. The following is what I have written on route since Broome.

Monday 16^th – Yeah it’s my 40^th birthday!!! I feel I have joined a club. Dare I say it feels good to be 40! When I was 10 yrs old I tried really hard to imagine myself as an adult. I think I prayed hard that things would turn out alright and now I believe that I am where I always wanted to be. Self- confident, happy with people that I love around me.

Today we went to lunch at a small restaurant on Broome Pier. The weather was perfect, 31 degrees and clear blue sky. In the afternoon we did a spot of shopping, walked to the beach for coffee, swam in the pool again and hired a Satellite Phone for the trip along the Gibb River Road. In the afternoon we went to the pool and then eventually got ready to go out for dinner at the Sunset Bar on Cable Beach. When we got there G ordered me a cocktail – Pearl Pleasure. How fitting! Gorgeous dinner which even the kids ate. The perfect 40^th Birthday. V.

Week 5 - Broome - DAY 8 - Sunday 15th August

Today we moved out of the Palm Grove Caravan park into Sea Shells, where we had a bungalow booked for 2 nights - very flash and we have our own bathroom. Also nice to have a proper bed and kitchen. It is around 31degrees today and the first thing we did after check in was swim in the extremely large pool. We are only around the corner from where we were staying so we keep bumping into people that we have met at the caravan park. Very relaxing day by the pool and going to the beach again!

My Birthday tomorrow!!!! V.

Week 5 - Broome - DAY 7 - Saturday 14th August

Today we went on a Turtle Bay Sea Kayak trip. This was G's favourite thing to do as you can imagine. We saw Kingfishers and flying sting rays too. The tides here in Broome are huge. When we finished our trip the tide had risen to a high of 9m. We could paddle through under Broome pier and touch the bottom with our paddles. Amazing paddling through rocks which were on the beach when we had morning tea and paddling over mangrove trees submerged fully underwater.

V.

Week 5 - Broome - DAY 6 - Friday 13th August

On Friday we visited Ganthemue Point and walked around on the rock platform at low tide. We saw many dinosaur footprints. Palaeontologists’ dream. We had a BBQ on the beach to watch the sunset and the boats. Tide was out so we drove onto the beach along with everyone else.

Next, we visited the Malcolm Douglas Wildlife park at Sarah’s request. We had a terrific time and saw a lot of aggressive crocodiles. They also had a large water hole of alligators, dingoes, many birds including cassowary, owls, and parrots. The highlight for G was the Barking Owls that barked back when L said woof, woof to them. They look at you with those big brown eyes.