Category: Planning

From: Kununurra 

To: El Questro, Gibb River Road

Distance: 102 (pah…I barely got warmed up stays the Cruiser)

It was tough to tear ourselves away from Kimberleyland Caravan Park in Kunnanaurra, would definitely recommend it if you’re planning a trip this way. This morning Catherine spotted a Rainbow Bee Eater hopping around on the water lilies on the lake at the front of our campsite.

I meanwhile had an early date in town with a mechanic. A stone had got lodged in our brakes and was making it prescience felt with squealing. So after the princely sum of $59’s all was sorted – wow I doubt miss Sydney prices. 

A pie and sausage roll brekky with a vanilla slice for later (OMG it was good) certainly set us for the drive down the first easy bit of the Gibb River Road (henceforth to be called the Gibb) Tarmac all the way to the turn off for our our next campsite at the famous El Questro resort. Still a working cattle station, its the most “up market” tourist facility on the Gibb with restaurants hot and cold running people (bless the tour buses), scenic helicopter flights and all the trappings of civilised glamping. 

We have a very nice pitch between several grey nomads vans, our neighbours advertising on the front of their van the fact that they are doing a ten year tour in it! Looking forward to picking their brains over the next few days. 

To get orientated on this massive property we went off on the bikes for a recon. There’s lots of four wheel drive tracks to explore and we did just that.

We are camped about 50 metres from the Pentecost river, Catherine captured some gorgeous reflections. 

Then it was back to the van for cocktails…Aperol spritzer…I know… we really rough it. 

Well you need a little something to cut through the dust! Counting Crows on the sound system, a Catherine spectacular curry coming later, and all is good with the world. Sigh of contentment…

From: Purnululu National Park

To: Kununurra, NE Kimberley 

Distance: 231 km

Time: 4.5 hours

Author: Mrs A

We set off shortly before 7.30am, as has become our habit, all packed up and cup of tea made for the road. We drove the corrugations more confidently on the exit than we had on the journey in, slowing at the wild buffalo which decided to amble across the road in front of us as we travelled…all in a day’s work!

We arrived back in Kununurra to hitch up the van and move to a site at around 12pm, and set about doing our washing – about 4 loads! Fortunately the combined warm days and gentle breeze means everything dries in about 30 minutes, so it was not too much of a chore. 

We then jumped in the car to buy fresh fruit and vegetables ready for the next couple of weeks on the road. Tomorrow we commence our journey on the Gibb River Road – first stop El Questro for four nights. We stocked up at Coles and the local bottle shop, and returned to camp. 

As we drove back into camp we noticed an awful noise on the car – oh no! As seems to be the case in these parts, people emerged from everywhere to offer help and advice, quickly identifying that we had a stone caught inside our wheel. We were unable to remove it on site, so will need to go to a tyre shop tomorrow and get it taken out there, before it damages our new brakes. Such a pain, but good it happened here and not somewhere remote. Mr A has already identified a shop and intends to be there at 7am when they open to seek help!

We had a lovely evening chatting to our neighbours over a bottle of wine, writing down tips for our upcoming journey and ideas of other spots to visit across Western Australia. Friendly people and again, a fabulous location. 

On to pastures new tomorrow, and our last bit of internet access for a while too!

Day 12: Day 1 in Purnululu National Park – Saturday 10th of June

Total driven: 231km

Total hiked: About 2km

Author: Mr A

After putting the van into storage in Cunanurra, we stocked up on a few extra provisions for three days camping. Our next destination allowed only single axle camper trailers and vans and ours is a tandem axle. We were headed into the famous World Heritage area in the Bungle Bungle Range, containing incredible rock formations in the Purnululu National Park. The most famous are the beehive like structures that you are probably familiar with, but there’s so much more to see there. 

After around 170km drive down the Great Northern Highway (sounds grand but its actually a two lane road with the odd single track over bridges!), we turned off onto the dirt. It was 56kms of bone jarring corrugations until we checked in at the Visitor Centre. What must overseas visitors think when they are coming to such a famous tourist destination and they are confronted with this drive! One French couple I overhead talking to the National Park’s reception were incredulous, saying “We had no idea it wasn’t a proper road, everyone else had those big trucks”. Not sure what they drove in with but I bet their hire car company won’t be pleased with the result! Our car is definitely looking the part now covered in red dust.

We have a great campsite, not too busy in here, very quiet and lots of bird life. 

A short walk took us up to a sunset viewing spot and we watched the incredible display of light on the rock walls.

We (term used loosely) had pre-made a dinner of bolognaise, so that was just warmed up in the BBQ (our Weber cooks like an oven) and some spaghetti cooked up and we were in business – with a nice drop of red of course. 

It’s an early night for all the campers (including us) as the best sights are just after dawn (5.45am) when the sun strikes the rock and turn the sandstone a bright.

Day 13: Day 2 in Purnululu National Park

Total driven: About 40km

Total hiked: About 12km

Author: Mrs A

After a very comfortable night’s sleep in the tent, we awoke at sunrise and Mr A cooked up sausages, egg and mushroom wraps for breakfast, setting us up for a day of hiking. 

We drove to our first location, Homestead Valley, and were off walking by 7.40am, heading up a stunning valley, full of birds and overlooked on all sides by orange walls, vibrant in the sun. 

The walk weaved through palm trees and spinnifex, across dry pebbly creeks and up to a lookout point. The valley is apparently named after some Aboriginal artwork found here, depicting a local 1800s homestead. Cattle were run in these parts from about 1880 until the 1940s, by which time they had created devastating damage to the local fauna and degraded the river banks. The parks are working hard to remove feral animals still roaming here – including cattle and donkeys. Apparently there is a substantial population of feral cats here which they are still trying to tackle. We enjoyed the view at the end before heading back to the car and onto our next location.

Next was Echidna Chasm. We set off on our walk around 10am, aiming to reach the narrow crack around 11am, when the sun reaches the walls, bringing bright light into the narrow crack in the range. Again, many birds lined the track as we walked up, extremely hard to capture on camera as they ducked and weaved their way around the palm trees and undergrowth, hunting for insects. Upon reaching the gorge we were greeted by a narrow crack in the cliffs, a pebbly base to walk along and dark corridors, lit way above by blue skies and glowing orange rock. 

The geology around here is high in iron, giving the gorgeous rust colours, and takes the form of fossilised sediments from an ancient river bed. Many of the pebbles we walked upon were from this river bed, rolled many millions of years ago. The rocks in this fossilised river bed are even older, and are derived from an ancient, long since eroded, mountain range. It definitely feels spiritual, and a little eerie walking through a narrow path, sediments full of pebbles towering high on either side of us, looking as though they were still made of silt and likely to crumble and bury us alive. Mr A did not appreciate me sharing this thought!

As 11am arrived, we awaited the spectacle, and waited…and waited…perhaps 11am was a little early – it was more like 11:40am that the sun hit, by which time Mr A was giving me the impatient look of someone who was ready to get back out in the sunshine! I got some incredible photos though, and the change in light and atmosphere was well worth the wait.

After hiking up to a final lookout, we returned to the car and back to camp. 

About 9 years ago, we bought a gadget for our Land Cruiser which allows us to pump water through the hot engine, and have a lovely shower. To date we have never been able to enjoy this – the water either scalding hot, or not hot at all. Today, we finally managed to get it right and had a fabulous shower each and changed for the afternoon. Very civilised, and LONG awaited!

It is now beer o’clock. We accidentally didn’t bring enough booze (yes, I know, unheard of!) and therefore have a ration of 1 beer each tonight and maximum 1/2 a bottle of wine between the two of us. Last night we had no beers, and one glass of wine each! Shockingly sober for a camping trip, especially when the sun sets at 4.45pm and we have so much evening ahead! I’m sure we will be early to bed again though, the temperature drops to around 7 degrees at night, and we are not allowed fires.

Best get off to prepare dinner – chicken tikka (home made out of the freezer) this evening, and another early start tomorrow as we head to the opposite end of the national park for our hikes and viewpoints.

Day 14: Day 3 in Purnululu National Park

Total driven: About 55km

Total hiked: 13.5km

Author: Mr A

“This will make our top 10 best walks“…I said to Mrs A as we walked into the most incredible scenery amongst the rock dome formations that this southernmost area of the park is world famous for. 

The day had started early we were on the road by the 6.30 to catch the early morning light. An hour’s drive round the tracks in the park took us to the area where we had planned some walks. We booted up (the spinifex is fearsomely sharp) and set off into this surreal landscape. 

The banded sandstone formations towered over us, and again we had that feeling of being dominated by this ancient landscape. 

We explored all of the day walks and were rewarded with magnificent views round every corner. 

We had skipped breakfast to get away early so a lunchtime feast back at the car was anticipated and then realised!

Back at camp we each had a long shower thanks to the bore water tap provided and our shower system that runs off the engine and heats the water just right. C even managed to wash her hair. 

This is our last night here and its been a wonderful experience, but I am looking forward to getting out of the dust and into our luxury mobile apartment (van!) – soft I know 🙂 

From: Lake Argyle, NE Kimberley

To: Kununurra, NE Kimberley 

Distance: 70 km

Time: 40 minutes

Author: Mrs A

We had a leisurely start to the day before packing up and heading off, travelling a short distance to the nearby town of Kununurra. We set up our apartment on the shores of the lake, admiring our incredible view.

We then jumped on our bikes and cycled a couple of kilometres into town – we had to purchase some fresh fruit and vegetables to replace those we abandoned at the border, and buy a Western Australian national parks pass – Mr A was delighted to find he got $30 off for being a senior, making it just $70 – bargain!

We returned to camp and another lovely Mark, one of the campsite managers,  came over and helped us to switch our filter on the van – we now have full running water – enough for lovely hot showers and a couple of clothes washes in our 2kg machine! Hopefully he can help fix the new one when that arrives next week…

We decided to take our Packrafts out on the lake to check they were not indeed leaking. It was a stunning afternoon on the water, and we proved they were air tight and it was probably user error causing the issues yesterday. Such a relief. We enjoyed a fantastic sunset, followed by a spectacular full moon rising – just perfect!

This evening we ate at a local restaurant – fantastic quality food and wine in an old Pumphouse – originally built on the banks of the Ord River to help irrigate the local area for tropical crops. Crops nowadays are mostly cotton and chia seed, which is sent predominantly to China (a Chinese owned farm). The other main business here is diamond mining. Look up the Pink Argyle Diamonds – very rare and very special…

This is a great location and one we wish we could spend more in. We head off tomorrow to the Bungle Bungle range (Purnalulu National Park) for three nights, before returning back here mid next week.

Author: Mr A

Location: Lake Argyle

We woke up early again (sunrise at 5.45am) and decided this was a day to kick off with pancakes – lay down a foundation for the activities we had planned. Loaded up the mountain bikes and headed off for a short drive and then parked up and headed off following the spillway from the lake through stunning country. Wildflowers everywhere – boab trees, kites. This ride had everything.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the car and drove back to camp ready for the next adventure – pack rafting Lake Argyle. Yup that’s the one with 40,000 crocks in it – but freshwater types so no trouble to be expected. However, when my raft started leaking air and became upaddleable I did wonder if the crocks had read the manual that they leave humans alone. We made it back the boat ramp and headed back to camp for a well earned glass of wine or two. Another great day, this weather of late 20’s in the day and cool at night suits us fine! 

Tomorrow we leave lake Argyle and head off to Cununurra. 

From: Vince Connolly Limestone Creek (just outside Katherine, NT)

To: Lake Argyle resort, North East Kimberley 

Distance: 453 km

Time: 5.5 hours (including breaks, lunch and border control)

Author: Mr A

​
Today we made the final big push to the Kimberley. Gradually the landscape changed from the flat as a tack landscape of the last few days to the rugged country cut through with deep gorges that epitomises the north east Kimberley. Our excitement built as we crossed the border from the Northern Territory into Western Australia, giving up our fruit and veggies at the checkpoint. So explain the logic of this – we were supposed to give up our jar of honey  – unopened – and and we could buy the same brand over the border… less Australia.

So after another time zone change (our second in two days) we arrive at our camp for the next three nights on the edge of the Kimberley on what is officially classed as an inland sea, but called Lake Argyle. Massive just doesn’t even describe the size of it. We’ve been told it takes more than 4 hours for a motorised boat to reach the other side. More facts to follow tomorrow as we have booked a tour. We cycled up to a local lookout to admire the lake – even from afar it looks impressive.

It was wonderful to pull up knowing I didn’t have to climb into the driving seat at sunrise. So we are now all set up,  washing done and a dinner of lake-caught-fish at the camp cafe. Fortunately for me, despite ordering a dairy free dinner for the delicate Mrs A, they got that wrong. The waitress was about to take it away and re-cook minus the dairy, when I suggested I could “look after it”. She looked puzzled…then looked into my hungry eyes and clicked…it was delicious and after I finished the two dinners Catherine was astonished, her response; “Impressive”. I feel about satiated…

The waitress asked Catherine if she would like to have a free something else…I requested a side order of chips which was immediately dismissed out of hand. Ah well…worth trying. Given we have a bottle of not ‘too’ bad $28 2013 Merlot (Due South, from Denmark, a wine making area in WA) it may well be a couple of free take-home beers. Just realised we actually ordered Shiraz. The guy taking our orders did ‘really well’!

There’s a resident singer/songwriter. His third song is “Old farts and caravan parks”  – yup we are definitely in grey nomad central here. A lovely atmosphere – everyone so friendly and has a story to tell and advice to share. And share…and share…and share…The adventure has truly begun! 

And finally. Three things learned from podcasts today:

• Border Collies can understand about 1,000 human words (the average dog can learn 200)
• And on the topic of dogs, they can only see three colours in the rainbow (bonus points for those who can name those colours!)
• And (really finally!), we are learning more about Quantum computing and physics and can almost describe a cubit and what it will be able to do for humankind….almost….

From: Cunnamulla, Qld

To: Cooper Creek, about 11km east of Windorah, Qld

Distance travelled: 532 km

Time taken: 7 hours 

Sunrise in Cunnamulla, Qld

After a perfect night’s sleep (peace, darkness and an incredible view of the Milky Way) we awoke to another stunning blue sky day. We enjoyed hot showers and topped up with fresh water in preparation for a few nights off the grid on our continued journey. It was about 0 degrees centigrade first thing (making for a quick dash back to the luxury apartment…I mean van…after the shower) warming to a fresh 19 degrees during the day.

 A slightly blurry Milky Way 

From Cunnamulla we headed west along the excitingly named Bulloo Development Road and then north up the Quilpie Thargomindah Road. The landscape became decidedly red and scrubby, with the roadkill (mainly roos and emus…but disturbingly the occasional cow, pig or sheep) on the single track road frequent and needing to be avoided. 

This land is the domain of the road train, and as soon as you see one of these giants roaring towards you, you immediately pull off on to the gravel at the side of the road. Road trains, for those who are unaware, are ‘long vehicle’ delivery lorries on steroids – often three massive trucks long, pulled by a single giant engine. There is no arguing with a road train – they have right of way and do not stop for anything. The good thing for us, is that the rule seems to be that anyone smaller than you will pull off to give way – single Utes or 4WDs would pull off completely for us, where other caravans would half pull off, as would we, meaning we have half the car on the Tarmac. The unspoken rules of the outback, it seems.

Lunch today was at the side of the road, seated at our table admiring the raw outback beauty. At first glance you might see it as scrubland, but when you realise how little rain it gets out here, you begin to recognise the strength of the place, the lack of contours on the land only serving to allow us to admire the curvature of the earth. We are both truly beginning to feel more connected to Australia on this trip, and it is only our 5th day.

We pulled into Cooper Creek, a free camp beside the water and road, at around 4.30pm. With around 10 caravans and campers already set up here, it was the busiest traffic we had seen all day (no, not missing Military Road in Sydney at all!). It seems to be a crossroads for travellers with many of those we chatted to heading south, and others on their way north like us, but none mentioning the Kimberley. Based on the feedback from other people we had expected to see more ‘Grey Nomads’ heading our way, but so far we’ve met none. Perhaps once we hit Mount Isa on Saturday (I must admit I had to look up the day – we already have no idea what day of the week it is – ha ha!).

We’re hoping for a peaceful night – given we are about 50 metres from the road and the road trains still seem to be operating at 8pm, there is some doubt….but fingers are crossed. We are heading towards (and ultimately past) Longreach tomorrow, the birthplace of Qantas Airlines. More new ground to cover and adventures to be had!

 Cooper Creek at sunset 

And finally…the top 3 things learned from podcasts today:

• Most of the dinosaurs I learned about in my childhood are no longer the same – either they were incorrectly identified (eg Brontosaurus was 2 dinosaurs!) or don’t actually stand up like Godzilla. Perhaps I’m the last to learn this!?
• One of Saturn’s moons potentially harbours alien life! Scientists have already identified snow, glaciers, an atmosphere and salt water…the moon is only 500km across
• 1-3% of any population is born with both male and female organs – that’s a lot of people we don’t hear from!

From: Baan Baa, NSW

To: Cunnamulla, SW QLD

Distance travelled: 645 km

Time taken:  Just under 11hrs…big day

We left at day break….

and drove initially though the Liverpool Plains with the Warrabungles in the distance to the east – this was last time we saw anything elevated for the rest of the day. Pretty flat scrubby country up to the border with QLD. We stopped for lunch in Mungindi which is the only town with the same name in both QLD and NSW…A historic marker showed where an expedition in 1846 had passed through trying to find an overland route to the north coast from Sydney. We just can’t contemplate the toughness of these guys spending months on end trekking through this harsh country. 

We had a minor issue –  we couldn’t open the larder cabinet door! We rang Zone RV and soon had someone on the phone helping us sort – a pin inside the locking mechanism had come unscrewed. Good service…we accept there’s going to be things that go wrong on the van – mostly so far its been operator error – we are learning all the time.  

To pass the time we listened to podcasts – ranging from the history of robotics to “My Dad wrote a porno” (the funniest thing we’ve heard for a long time – thanks Donna and Andy for the recommendation!). 

So much bird life on the road – mostly going after road kill. A wedge tailed eagle being the top of the tree (as it were), but these galahs were tucking into some seed spilled on the road.

At 4.30 pm the light was starting to go and the roos and emus were out in force trying to throw themselves under our wheels. We usually like to get off the road by kamikaze hour, but were still 90 mins away from our planned camp for the night. So we slowed down and kept our eyes peeled. 

We rolled into a caravan park out in the bush the other side of Cunnamulla as the sun set and it wasn’t until we went to check out the shared fire pit and acoustic busker we realised we had been here before a few years ago. A great spot on the Warrego river, which is about 2 metres from our van. Hope it doesn’t start raining! Catherine is cooking up a curry storm, I’m selecting some wine from the ample store (a Leconfield Cab Sav that stands up to the curry beautifully), Eileen Jewel is singing “Sweet baby”  and all is good with the world. 

We loved our camper trailer, but to just pull up after a long day like today with no set up is brilliant. 

After an amazing couple of days in the Hunter with friends celebrating a birthday, we headed of on the first leg of our caravan trip. 

From: the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Hunter Valley

To: Baan Baa  –  which means “swim away” in the local aboriginal language – apparently the area is prone to flooding (I think we are safe – they have been in drought here for 5 years). This is a small settlement north-west of Tamworth, now experiencing the boom of mining investment. Baan Baa’s claim to fame is having the longest railway station platform in NSW at one stage, now servicing a strong farming and mining economy. 
Distance: 340K

Campsite: The grounds of the now renovated Baan Baa school. The owner has become a bit of a celebrity on WikiCamps (our digital camping bible) as she is so welcoming. She has a collection of irons and other antique memorabilia displayed in one of the restored houses. She’s passionate about preserving the heritage of this place. 

Highlights: Hitting the road for the first day of a massive trip was such a buzz. We’ve had such a wonderful time with Scott and Cathy, Donna and Andy and other friends, but to now be heading into the unknown (for us) is awesome. As soon as we left the Hunter the vistas opened upo as we drove into “Big Sky Country”. The light changes and becomes sharper. The traffic thins out. The people get friendlier…the menus get more predicable 🙂 We’ve just walked to the local pub for dinner and its  “steak or chicken Parmie”. We topped up with fresh veggies on the way – we aren’t relying on seeing much green stuff from here on. Tonight the forecast is for the temp to be 0 degrees! Been a long long time since we have experienced that. Diesel heater in the van about to get a workout I think.