Bungle Bungles

Unbelievably we get a text meassage from our good firends Darryl and Julie who happen to be just 4 hours ahead of us.  This is amazing as they live in Victoria, but have a charmed life travelling all over Australia when they can get away from the Motel they have in Daylesford. We meet them in Kununnarra and they have booked us a fabulous cabin looking  directly over the river.  It's great to catch up and share our stories and we all agree that the Kimberleys are awesome! But I really wanted to see the Bungle Bungles and as we couldn't risk driving over any rough terrain we decided a flight would be the best way to see it.
Steve calls this his "View and Spew" experience.  The plane was tiny, a six seater, and the 2 hour flight was too much for him.  On the other hand I am blown away by the mighty Ord River Dam...the size of about 30 Sydney harbours, the mountain ranges, Argyle Diamond mine and of course the famous Bungle Bungle mountains.

Broome and beyond

It's Cup Day when we arrive in Broome and I think we get the last bed available in the area.  It is a little B and B/farmstay with very basic accommodation but wonderful ambience. Suddenly we are starting to feel closer to the tropics......aaaahhh hello warm weather!
Dinner on Cable Beach is a must so we unload the trailer and drive onto the sand to wander and watch the sun setting, the last time for us, over the Indian Ocean.....a perfect evening.
Next day we head East for the first time. Again the landscape changes and I am loving the gorgeous boab and bottle trees...one is so massive and hollow from the inside, that after close inspection I imagine I could make quite a comfortable home out of it.
Getting off the beaten track is not an option as we are fully loaded and our tiny 6 by 4 home made trailer would not cope well with endless corrugations and rough track.  So we opt for the great northern highway and pledge to come back another time to experience the Gibb River Road.
Ducking of the highway we decide to have lunch at Geikie Gorge, near Fitzroy Crossing. A superb oasis in this harsh land and I happily dip my toes in the water forgetting for a moment that we are now in croc territory...Whoops!

First days on the road

With barely room to slide a piece of paper either in the truck, in the trailer or on the roof of the Toyota, we leave a cold, wet and windy Dongara and begin our very long journey home.
All day the wet weather follows us north to beautiful Coral Bay where we finally get some respite from the rain.  It is still overcast as we book into our cabin accomoodation and explore this very pretty piece of coastline.
Next day onward  with a quick stop at Wickham because our good friends over east spent many years here....it's not hard to see why they left!
The countryside on this part of the west coast has barely changed after a day and a half of driving, but the subtle changes are there, and it's joyful when we spot some colour on this amazing red dirt.  So red in fact that even the usually clean white corellas have changed colour! Imagine how surprising then, to find a lovely white peacock during one of our stops.
At South Headland we book into a motel owned by Fortesque metals and although the rate per room is expensive, 3 meals are provided so we take the opportunity to load up with enough good tucker to last a few extra meals.We make a decision not to camp on this journey....a comfortable bed and a shower proves to be a blessing after long hours driving.

Farewell to Dongara

How we managed to squeeze all our paraphenalia in the Toyota still remains a mystery! But it was a busy last day at Fig Tree Cottage packing, cleaning and organizing everything we would need on our trip.  I am on my way back to Qld for 2 weeks to see family from Holland and visit the rest of the tribe, while Steve organizes the crew at work prior to our journey around the top.  Tonight we say farewell to all our dear friends from Dongara.  It was a wonderful surprise to see so many people turn up at the pubto bid us adieu....we love you and will not forget you!