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Katherine, timber creek, Gregory’s National Park, Kununurra, Turkey Creek, Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Port Smith (S of Broome).

(We have been to Derby and Broome previously so we avoided the crowded caravan parks and tried Port Smith as an alternative.) The drive from Katherine to Kununurra is lovely, this was the second time we have done it and was just as great this time. Just outside Katherine they are building a huge bridge for the Alice to Darwin rail line which is in the process of being built, that will be a fabulous trip (if you can afford it) once the railway is in service. About 80 km. From Victoria River Downs there was a very nice overnight camping area, plenty of tables and seats, plenty of shade, a creek running by, and a basic toilet. It would be interesting to see how people parked their vans at night as there was not much room to manoeuvre. You would need to take your own water and everything else of course, camping fees applied (there was an honesty box) but it would be a good, cheap overnight camp site. Stopped at VRD (Victoria River Downs) roadhouse for a drink and a bite to eat, had a look at the mighty Victoria River and onwards for a few kilometres when we spot a sign to the ‘Old River Crossing’, so down the track we go. Parked next to a motor home and walked down to the river, there isn’t much to see, but it does give you some appreciation of how travellers and explorers used to fare back in the ‘olden’ days. We were parked next to a motor home, outside there was a lady painting the landscape and from inside came the sound of someone playing the trumpet. The lady told us every day they stop somewhere for a couple of hours so that she can paint and he can practice his trumpet and they were having a wonderful time. Next stop Timber Creek, we saw where we would have come out on to the road if we had taken the Buchanan Highway which becomes the Duncan Highway (love the use of the word highway when you are referring to a corrugated, dirt road sometimes track, through the bush) and this would have definitely taken a lot of kilometres off our drive and whilst I’m sure would have been lovely to look at not as comfortable as the bitumen. Maybe next time. Timber Creek services several aboriginal communities in the locality and is a stopping off point for people wanting to do trips on the Victoria River and surrounding areas, including the Gregory National Park, and is a watering stop for all the coaches and travellers that pass through. We had a quick look around, a drink and a bite to eat then onwards. Next little side trip was to the ‘Gregory tree’ where the explorer Gregory had his base camp in 1854 (I know the date because it’s carved on the tree and I have a photograph). He chose a beautiful place for his camp, just up from the river and there are quite a few reminders of those days at that place. The drive off the road was quite corrugated and it stopped about 300 metres short of the river and camp site with room to turn a trailer and caravan. The walk to the river was easy and the whole area is well kept and signposted. On arrival in Kununurra we were very glad we had booked ahead, everywhere was full. The Ivanhoe caravan park is supposedly one of the best caravan parks in Australia, it has a five star rating and is absolutely beautiful, or at least it would be if not so crowded. It doesn’t have the capacity for large number of unpowered sites that Katherine did, but all the other problems with showers and toilets etc. applied again here. The Kununurra sports ground was even open for overflow camping as the parks were all full. Going through the quarantine checkpoint was interesting, we had no fruit and vegetables to declare but the man still wanted to see our fridge, so we opened the door and he had to crawl in and look at it, plus he unloaded the Engels just to make sure there was nothing lurking under the drinks etc. Whilst in Kununurra we visited a few of the old haunts, Ivanhoe crossing had just been re-opened if anyone was game to drive across, it was still running a banker, there is no way I would have wanted to drive across (I had enough problems last time we were there when it wasn’t running anywhere nearly as quick). We saw a lovely little short-necked turtle crawling up the wall there. Had a very nice dinner (as always) at the Country Club, did some fruit and vegetable shopping and generally just relaxed before we set off on the homeward stretch. (Pity the dairy has closed down it used to make the best smoothies in WA this honour now goes to the banana plantations in Carnarvon). As I haven’t travelled on the bitumen from Kununurra to Broome we decide to take the Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing route across the state instead of the Gibb River road which we did last time. The scenery when you turn on to the Great Northern Highway (this one really is a highway) as you go towards Turkey Creek (Warmun) is fabulous, there are a few areas where you could pull over and camp on the creek sides and as is always the case in the Kimberley (or so it seems to us) every bend brings a completely different vista, each as good as the one before or better. Stopped at Turkey Creek for a drink and to enquire about a helicopter flight over the Bungle Bungles. Unfortunately there were no vacant spots until 2 pm. And we didn’t need to hang around Turkey Creek for a few hours so we left that one for another trip.

Arrived in Halls Creek around mid-afternoon, it was a much larger town than I expected. Inspected the monument to Russian Jack, legend has it that he pushed his sick mate, in a wheelbarrow from the Goldfields into Wyndham (300 kms. away) to the nearest doctor for treatment, booked in at the town caravan park (quite pricey at $21.00 a night, especially as the swimming pool wasn’t open). The ablution block was clean and very spacious and we were relatively safe inside the compound, I heard more sirens and noise that night than I ever hear in Perth. After un-hitching we took a trip out to Old Halls Creek, which was unreal. They have a lodge and a small caravan park out there (if we hadn’t un-hitched we probably would have stayed there) there’s a small dam/swimming hole very attractive. The guy who owns it runs the café/shop and we had some of his mum’s recipe home-made icecream, delicious. There is a small graveyard out there with graves of the pioneers of the area and lots of monuments to different people and groups that pioneered the area. Apparently there is still a lot of gold to be found around there, that’s how the lodge owner makes his money, but we didn’t find any even though we stopped by the creek for a while and Clive trotted off with his detector and pan, While we were there two old guys came in to use the telephone as there had been an accident out at their mine and they needed an ambulance, so on our return journey to town we encountered police cars, State Emergency Service vehicle and trailer and ambulances racing out to the mine. This is a lonely place to have an accident of any kind. Visited Caroline pool, secluded little swimming hole, plenty of shade, very pretty, and on to see the ‘China’ wall. This is an outcropping of white quartz that runs down the hillside just like a wall dividing the hill, very unusual and interesting. As we anticipated a bit of noise during the night put the earplugs in, but when I woke soon after midnight it was very quiet so I took them out, big mistake – 4.45 a.m. the golden oldies from the coach tour were up and about, showering, having breakfast and generally getting ready for an early departure, not very quietly, we finally got up in self defence and consequently had an early departure ourselves. We were told that Mary’s Pool, just off the main road, is a very good overnight rest stop, however, the person who told us also said the night they were there, there were 80 to 100 vans camped. Not my idea of bush camping, but an alternative if you’re trying to save a few dollars. Stopped at the Nunga? Cliffs for morning tea, very exposed but there is a toilet and quite a view of the surrounding countryside. Over the mighty Fitzroy River and into Fitzroy Crossing. Did our usual lap of town before booking in at the caravan park and I was amazed, I thought it would be a bit like Halls Creek but no. There is a service station on the highway and one shop/video store etc. etc. on one side of the road off the highway and another general haberdashery type store on the other side, and that’s it! We booked in at the Fitzroy Lodge and caravan park, the lodge looked very up-market for the town we had just visited and the park looked great, we were told just go and pick your site, which was fine, but they obviously didn’t monitor how many powered sites they were ‘selling’ and come 5 o’clock people were roaming the park looking for powered sites and not finding them. We had to point out to two separate lots of people that if someone has left their table and power cords on a site it meant it was taken, not that they had left them behind!! One of the disadvantages of having a motor home and having to take everything with you when you want to go sightseeing. Apart from that it was fine, there were plenty of showers etc. to cater for the numbers, which were swelled this weekend as it was the rodeo. Whilst I say they were fine as we were paying $23.00 a night I feel a bit of money needed to be spent on the facilities. The laundry was very tiny, one full washing line had broken and not been restrung, there were lots of broken tiles in the ladies and the mat outside was threadbare, also the door handle had been replaced by a piece of wire you had to be wary of. All fairly small things but if they were addressed would make the place a lot better. We drove down to the rodeo site but couldn’t get any tickets as they were sold out. The rodeo site is down by the old Fitzroy Crossing Inn, a place we would have like to have a drink in but we were rather intimidated by the huge number of aboriginals around and the fact that everywhere you looked you were knee deep in empty beer cans, lucky person who had the concession for collection of aluminium cans. Instead we drove to the old crossing and crossed the river, down a very steep bank across the causeway and up an equally steep bank on the far side, it needs to be that steep because when that river floods, it is a mighty big flood and that happens annually. We stayed at Fitzroy for two nights as we wanted to do the Geike Gorge trip. Geike Gorge is not far out of town and CALM run inexpensive boat trips on the gorge. The waiting area for these tours is a large gazebo with a roof height of approximately 14ft. during the flood that happened during the wet season this year the gazebo was under water, and you still have to walk down a relatively steep slope to come to the river, this shows how big some of the floods are. We saw one or two crocodiles basking on the banks of the river and the guide was very informative about the formation of the gorge etc. etc. a very pleasant little cruise. We visited the drapery/haberdashery shop today and Clive bought himself a new Akubra hat, thankfully not one of the white plastic monstrosities the locals were all buying for the rodeo. From Fitzroy Crossing we are heading towards Broome, no-one in Broome is taking forward bookings for caravan parks and word is it’s nose to tail queuing up for sites, haven’t quite decided what to do. About 80 km. West of Fitzroy there is a stopping point with fireplaces, tables etc. still a few vans there at 8.45 a.m. called Ellendale, and a few kms. further on the right hand side there was a lake area with a slip road that looked very attractive and also had a couple of vans still there. During the drive I perused the Amazing North book for somewhere other than Broome to stop without going too far and came up with Port Smith, about 120 kms. south of Broome, I telephoned them from Roebuck Roadhouse and luckily they had a site available for the night. On the highway we noticed a ‘caravan’ signpost for Barn Hill, we didn’t know it existed but we were told they were getting upwards of 1,000 vans a night in there!! It’s strange. Whilst on this leg of the journey in, until we reached Geraldton, each park we went to they were filled to the brim, but there didn’t appear to be that many vans on the road.

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