August 2009

  • August 1st
    Day 27
    Drove to Banyan Tree Caravan Park in Litchfield National Park. Visited Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole for swims.
  • August 2nd
    Day 28
    Daniel sick (high fever). Visited Wangi Falls for a swim. Beautiful waterfall, busy and civilised with concrete steps into water. Daniel managed a short swim.
  • August 3rd
    Day 29
    Daniel feeling much better. Drove back to Katherine and stayed in same park as before. Sally watched 'Australia' movie at the park.
  • August 4th
    Day 30
    Long drive to Kununurra (491 km). Picked up an extra 1 1/2 hours due to time zone shift.
  • August 5th
    Day 31
    Drove on Gibb River Road to El Questro station. First stop Zebedee hot springs (very relaxing). 4WD up to saddleback ridge look out - very steep switch back - need to engage 4 LO. Awesome view of station. Nissan 'down hill assist' got us down very safely. Walked into El Questro gorge and had a swim. No time to walk into Emma Gorge (next time)
  • August 6th
    Day 32
    GRR claims another victim. Power steering died. Ended up being a loose hose clamp on power steering fluid. Fixed under Nissan warranty. Rest day. Went to 'The Great Moscow Circus' we all loved it. Kids vveerryy excited.
  • August 7th
    Day 33
    Went to Mirramar National Park to see same rock formation as 'Bungle Bungles'. Drove to Ord River Dam and Lake Argyle. Wandered through replica of original Argyle homestead. (Durack Family original owners). Visited Zebra rock gallery.
  • August 8th
    Day 34
    Drove to Mary Pool. Free camping area. Over 50 vans and campers. Ate around camp fire.
  • August 9th
    Day 35
    Short drive to Fitzroy Crossing. Guided boat cruise on Gieke Gorge. Limestone gorge around Fitzroy River. Out for roast buffet for Bekie's birthday dinner.
  • August 10th
    Day 36
    Bekie's Birthday. Had a special lunch with a cake cooked by Bekie and mummy. Rest day.
  • August 11th
    Day 37
    Drove to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. Spotted heaps of Fresh water crocs at Windjana Gorge. Needed torches to walk through 700 meter tunnel at tunnel creek. Included water wading in the dark.
  • August 12th
    Day 38
    Drove to Broome. Staying at vacation Village Caravan Park. Full van setup. Sunset on Cable beach followed by fish and chips.
  • August 13th to 20th
    Days 39 to 46
    Spent the days in Broome swimming at Cable Beach (you can drive on the beach and can be at least 100 metres from next car/person). Swimming in pool also. Trev went for 2 rides and 4 or 5 runs. Could easily get used to this. Went fishing with the kids and caught 3 small yellow fin (threw them back), also caught and ate 2 Gar fish (Thanks Grant for preparation tips). Helped Rescue Jimoen and his bogged car at cable beach. Got free entry to his show. Watched Bombers end St Kilda's unbeaten run at Divers Bistro.
  • August 21st and 22nd
    Days 47 and 48
    Drove to Cape Leveque. Stayed overnight in a park cabin. Spent afternoon on beach snorkelling, swimming and beach combing. Saw dolphins off the 'swimming' beach. Next morning went on a whale watching tour watched some whales playing and breaching.
  • August 23rd
    Day 49
    Last day in Broome. Went to Gantheaume Point to see Dinosaur prints that are only visible at extremely low tides. Also viewed Anastasias pool on the cliff top. Spent 2 1/2 hours on cable beach between the flags and had a great time. Back to park for pool swim and pack up in preparation for big drive tomorrow to Port Hedland. (Don't mention the footy this week). We have already completed almost 10,500 km.
  • August 24th
    Day 50
    Left early for Port Hedland over 600km from Broome. Arrived at our intended park abouot 4pm only to find it full. We were advised of the details of another park, and we can only describe it as a free camp with power. We had a quick look around and decided we would only stay tonight and head to karratha tomorrow.
  • August 25th
    Day 51
    3 hour drive to Karratha and onto our 'booked' site right near the amenities and playground. This is a lovely clean park and we have discovered there is more to do here than we first thought, so will stay here longer than initially intended, probably next monday. We spent a short time in the pool before heading to the visitor centre which we have discovered is now closed as it is after 4:00 pm. Picked up a brochure to study before a quick grocery shop and back to camp for dinner. We will hit the visitor centre in the morning before heading to Hearson's cove for some snorkelling.
  • August 26th
    Day 52
    Trevwent to Vistors Centre on his own first up. Found out about some stuff to do over the next few days. Drove to Hearsons Cove (saw a croc sign so didn't swim, but have since found out there is no real danger) and then on to Deep Gorge to look at some aboriginal pectographs. Next we drove into Dampier looking for other beaches to swim at, but were not sucessful. Back to the park for a swim.
  • August 27th
    Day 53
    Spent the day on a sail boat travelling through the Dampier Archipelego. Sailed out to an island where we hopped off for a snorkel over some coral. Spectacular scenery. Got to sample a fresh Oyster straight from the rocks. Relaxed on the return journey with a bot of sun baking and sleeping.
  • August 28th
    Day 54
    Today we visited the Millstream-Chechester national park (250 km return drive). Looked over the old homestead and other parts of this beautiful place. Walked around a self guided walk that explained how life used to be and took in the natural spring which still flows today. On the way back drove to Python Pool for a swim in the peaceful and beatiful water at the bottom of the gorge.
  • August 29th
    Day 55
    Long drive today to Giralia Station. This was previously a working station. Met up with a family we met at Karratha and spent some time around a camp fire cooking marshmallows. Very quiet and peacfeful night.
  • August 30th
    Day 56
    Short drive to Exmouth, so took a while to get going. We are staying at Lighthouse caravan park which is 20km from Exmouth towards Cape Range national park. We drove back into Exmouth to check out the town (small) and the visitor centre.
  • August 31st
    Day 57
    A lovely Day! Drove to Turquoise Bay and spent most of the day on the stunning beach enjoying the sun and snorkelling. There is an abundance of brightly coloured fish here amongst the coral. We saw starfish and Trev saw 2 turtles. We will definitely come back here tomorrow.