Kimberley Touring

We had a slower start today and it had been cold over night. Our neighbours had the fire going so we enjoyed breakfast by the fire then packed up. We said farewell and headed for Tunnel Creek. I don't know what I was expecting but I LOVED TUNNEL CREEK. It was so much fun walking though the cave/tunnel in complete darkness with only our torches to light the way. Again we got lucky and had no one infront of us and 2 couples behind us so at times we felt like we were in there alone. Now I wanted to hide behind a rock and jump out and scare someone but James wouldn't let me. The fear of scaring someone and giving them a heart attack got the better of me. I took heaps of photos and loved every part of the walk. We waded through water and walked over rocks, listened to bats and discussed how the rock was so different in the tunnel. 

From here we pushed on into Fitzroy Crossing and found a park to set up in. After lunch we went out to Geike Gorge. We did the long walk and was well disappointed. The rocks were cool to see but the view at the end was blocked by trees and you saw nothing more then you did 1km back up the track.

Oh well we didn't mind the walk in the cool shade. Back to camp to blog and catch up with friends and family. 

Monday morning slow start. Well for us anyway. When we woke at the late hour of oh 7am almost all the other campers were packed and gone or in the process of leaving. What is it with these early risers. I heard someone leaving at 6am!!!!! Jeeze. Anyways we were on the road before 9am and headed for Halls Creek. The scenery was ever changing. We drove against the wind most the way unfortunately but hey you win some you loose some. We saw very little wild life though a few huge hawks were impressive guarding their kill. Thousand and millions of termite mounds and rocks balanced so strangely it made us wonder how and why they hadn't fallen further. We drove through around and over small mountain ranges and saw spinafex for as far as the eye could see. There were large valleys filled with rising and falling hills and flat top mounds that make you ponder. We did the usual arrive set camp routine and a load of washing before going exploring. First stop the visitor center. We grabbed a map and local knowledge and set out. We first saw chinamans wall,

 then out to Caroline's pool which if it had more water would be enticing then to Old Halls Creek to see some really cool remains of the old township, where the buildings were made of mud clay bricks and with the years passing they look like they'd melted a lot. Back at camp and a quiet night chatting with our neighbours. 

Tuesday we headed for the Wolfe creek meteorite. We had 130km of dirt each way to see it. The first and most of the track is the Tanami which was in good condition and relatively easy going, the last part is on private property and though it wasn't as good as the Tanami it was still not too bad. We walked to the top of the crater which though sounds something exciting and challenging it is actually a 400m slope to the ridge. We stood and viewed the crater and descended it again.

 We had morning tea and did some running repairs to the tailgate on Randy as we have a bolt that had come loose and fallen out and were back on the road home in no time at all. We both had a little nap and did plenty of reading in the afternoon before taking a walk into town for a few groceries. 

Wednesday we set out from Halls Creek and made our way to the Bungle Bungles. The bitumen just disappeared before us and as we hit the park we aired down for the trek in. We knew it was 50km from here to the rangers station and then not much further into the campsites and walks. What we didn't know was how slow going the drive would be. We had assumed it would be just like any other dirt road we'd been on. Oh were we in for a shock. It was awful. The speed limit was 50 but we could at best sit on 30-40. It was rocky and rough and tight turns. It's a track not a road. Some how we had missed that bit of vital information buy the time we covered the 50km to the rangers station we had taken just on an hour and a half.  Anyway the ranger lady was nice and the campsites were not anywhere near full so we could just drive and pick a spot. We found a spot under some shade with a fire pit close by and the park supplies fire wood. We had a late lunch and to our surprise just as we were sitting down Sue and John who we'd met at Derby and Bells Gorge turned up. We decided to head off and do the southern walks. To me this end of the park is what I imagined the Bungle bungles would look like. Lots of the the dome shaped mounds and mountains. We did 2 walks and thoroughly enjoyed both.

Back at camp and the sun had just set and it got cold fast. We lit the fire and put lamb shanks in the camp oven for dinner. Sue and John joined us at the fire and we sat chatting to them for the night. 

Thursday we had a quiet relaxed morning and set off to walk about 9am before it got to hot to walk. We headed all the way out to the Echidna Chasm first as it was the longest. After a quick walk up to the lookout we set off up the rocky creek bed for the chasm. We trekked most of the walk on river rocks. The chasm was our favourite walk. At times the walls were so close you could barely walk through them and they were incredibly tall. We had to climb over fallen boulders to make it to the end.

 The end is just the point at which during the wet season the water funnels into the chasm and of course over the millions of years has formed the chasm. From here we retraced our steps back out and then to the other lookouts and short walks before heading to the air strip to enquire about a helicopter flight. The afternoon was booked out so we booked the first flight for tomorrow morning. A quiet afternoon at camp followed by a great fire with good company from John and Sue and John and Allison.  We had a fantastic beef roast and later in the night I cooked a damper for tomorrow's breakfast. We didn't know it at the time but it was infact the best damper to date. Had we realised this we probably would have eaten it warm and fresh right after it was cooked. 

Friday we woke excitedly. After a scrumptious breakfast of damper with jam on it we packed up most of the trailer before heading over to the air strip. We arrived and were on the helicopter within no time. Sam was our pilot and we could tell he loved his job. He said that this flight was arguably one of the best places to fly over. He has had passengers from all over the world who have done some amazing flights and this one they rate amongst the best. We were so excited. Flying in something not much bigger then a Zook and it had no doors on. Well I'm going to let the pictures tell the story from here. It was 30 minutes of AMAZING.

Back at camp we packed down the trailer  and drove the 2 hours to get out of the park. We fuelled up in Turkey creek and had a picnic lunch of Damper cucumber, cheese and tomato sandwiches. We pushed on from here into Kununurra. The scenery was ever changing. We wound our way through and over and around mountain ranges. The Kimberley certainly is a  beautiful place. Brian and Helen had asked the care taker of the show grounds caravan park to save us a spot near them. We arrived a little after 4pm exhausted. We were welcomed in and had a nice spot just one space over from Brian and Helen. It was nice to see them again. We made camp and joined them and another couple Helen and Brian for happy hour followed by a quiet night at camp. 

Saturday we were woken early with noisy neighbours. So after trying to get a bit more sleep we gave up and decided to go find coffee and breakfast at the town markets. We looked around the markets and had a yummy coffee with breakfast. We then walked to the info centre and gathered information and from here walked around town and through some shops. After we'd had enough retail therapy we did some grocery shopping then went back to camp for a quiet afternoon. We caught up with the Hammos and their adventures and talked to Mum. We again enjoyed happy hour with the neighbours and had a nice quiet night.