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Kimberley 2023
  • Kat and Silvie
Nis – May 2023

Kimberley 2023

Kat and Silvie tarafından 28 günlük bir macera Okumaya devam et
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  • Gezinin başlangıcı
    30 Nisan 2023
    Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Bornholm to Jibberding

    30 Nisan 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After a long time we are back on the road and finally getting to see the Kimberley region. We left home a little later than planned but walking our beautiful boy Alfi took priority.
    He promised he will be waiting for us but in the meantime he will have holidays with Milly and Milo 🐶 and will be in the best hands. The girls are having fun in the ‘big smoke’ and we have received first reports of Hoogzila showing her super amputation skills…. Extreme dog toy body modifications…
    We have done about 640 km and ended up in Jibberding Nature Reserve rest area. We are the only people here… and can hear the occasional road trains passing by. The sunset was lovely and the temperature was very reasonable which we are happy about… no thermals tonight 😂
    The road was rather uneventful, we have made our way through rolling country side with farmers being busy burning their paddocks. Had a quick stops in Williams and in York. Kat has driven most of today and I was slacking off 😇. It will be my turn tomorrow.
    A slight hiccup on arrival to Jibberding… it appears that our camper batteries have seen better days and either can now only have small voltage unable to fully operate the new fridge or are not being recharged during the drive via Anderson plug. We also could not undo one of the leggies supporting the camper floor… 🤔
    So a few things to fix in the morning and on the way.
    After a fabulous dinner (Kat’s meat rissoles, salad and beer) we are already in bed.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Jibberding to Karalundi

    1 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Had a pretty good sleep last night but got a little spooked by some sounds and the feeling of being alone in middle of nowhere. Thankfully that feeling lasted only until about 9pm when we went to Lala land. We were pretty pleased that it was not a cold night so no thermals were required.
    Got up before sunrise and made ourselves breakfast and coffee expecting a cruisy, uneventful day on the road.
    We decided we will change in the drivers seat every two hours and we headed toward Mt Magnet. During the drive we were planning where could we possible change the trailer batteries without impacting on our very tight schedule and decided that Port Hedland may be a go. After two and half hours we reached our destination and stopped at the petrol station to refuel and change the driver. As I was passing the trailer I checked the connections to the car and to our sadness discovered that the cable with the Anderson plug disconnected/got broken (who knows) and we must have dragged it for a while. We also checked the fridge that unfortunately did not handle the no power issue greatly and was warming up our beers and defrosting our beef rissoles instead of cooling them down.
    The petrol station staff gave us a business card of a local mechanic/do it all guy and he confirmed that he can have a look in half an hour. So we headed to his yard for a lunch break hoping all will be alright.
    The wait exceeded the 30min but beggars can’t be choosers so we were patiently waiting and replanning our day.
    Finally we were asked to move to a different position and during that move we have noticed some old batteries behind the back of the yard so we ask if they by any chance had 2 batteries that would fit the camper. To our surprise they did! Yey happy days.
    The battery change over can only be described as pain in the backside as they are only accessible from inside of the camper and are nicely hidden under the bed. So we had to open the camper, get in, Kat would hold the bed up and the mechanic and myself started unscrewing the metal bits hiding the batteries, all of that in about 35 degrees. Lovely….
    All has been changed, Anderson plug is like new and more secured and fridge is finally going well enjoying the power supply.
    Unfortunately, we spent about three hours there and put ourselves behind the schedule and instead of arriving in Kumarina for a night we took a refuge at the Karalundi Aboriginal Educational Community camp ground run by 7th Adventist Church. Looks like we will have a peaceful night listening to humming generator powering this little settlement. We are planing to leave early tomorrow just in case they also do conversion therapy here and mainly to catch up on some lost kilometres.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    32

    Karalundi to South Hedland

    2 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    After a great night sleep we broke all personal records and were on the road 5 minutes earlier than planned!! Unbelievable effort! We got up at 5.45 and treated ourselves to shower and were heading towards Kumarina just 5 minutes before 7am.
    The trip was rather uneventful- thank goodness as I’m not sure we were ready for more surprises and action. We have noted that it took about 1500km before we hit the countryside that we really love. Grassy fields, red rocky hills with white bark trees…. Ahhh… love it. The temperature has risen with every kilometre which we welcome as the morning was slightly cold - 11 degrees. Today’s drive delivered a dingo (skinny one with ribs poking out - shame we did not have any dog food to spare 😇), about 5 massive wedge tail eagles breakfasting on a cow carcass just on the side of the road and heaps of road train trucks past Newman. Other than that the road was quiet. After driving all day yesterday, we were swapping today every 2.5 hours which was great as we are both getting a little tired, despite the long night sleep we got.
    We passed the Tropic of Capricorn and sadly there were no stubbie holders in the Capricorn servo to purchase to remember this memorable event 🤣
    We made it to South Hedland after 17.00 and got a spot at Black Rock Tourist Park - $50/night… luxury stay next to a busy road. It is also interesting to follow the fuel prices, we filed first time past Kojonup for $1.78/litre and the last time so far $2.25/Litre in Newman.
    Today’s toll is 812 km, with total 1992.1km which is a little different than this application shows.
    Anyhoo, we have settled at the caravan park site number 14, had a nice dinner - salad and grilled chicken breast prepared by chef Katrinzo, drinking aperol spritz with ice cubes because the new fridge/freezer can make them easily and are getting ready for the opening night of canasta. It is 30 degrees - cannot complain. Life is good 😊! Although I lost / forgot it at the last stop our mosquito repellent device 😭    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    11

    South Hedland to Willare Road House

    3 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    We always thought that New York is the city that never sleeps. Turns out that it is also South Hedland and every person out of the ~16 000 inhabitants owns a car that passes back and forth past the Blackrock Caravan Park…. What a night…. Thankfully we were quite tired so managed to get some sleep. Woke up at 4am and got up just before 6am. Before 7am we were already on the road, stopping at Ampol to refuel the car and ourselves with some coffee.
    The road was long and quite stunning at the beginning with vast grassy fields and red rock formations, the scenery changed after about two hours into shrubby endless land with stock randomly crossing the road , We saw on rather large reptile - some kind of leggy lizard. The temperature hovered around 35 degrees. We passed the Pardoo Road House that was closed due to the recent damage from the cyclone two weeks ago. All the road signs in the area were lying flat on the ground, all bend.
    At the Sandfire Road House station we reached a new high in diesel cost… $2,39/litre.
    The traffic was close to non existent today, so pretty cruisy day.
    We got quite excited when we finally reached the country side with heaps of boab trees. They are so lovely 😊, we also saw heaps of flooded fields and damage caused to the main road that is being fixed.
    As per our plan, we arrived to Willare Road House. We have caught up with the lost time in Mt Magnet which we are very happy about.
    Today’s toll: 709km, total 2701km 👏🏻🤘🏻👍🏻    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Willare to Turkey Creek (Warmun)

    4 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Another goal achieved, another 10 hour night of good sleep 😂. We were up at the crack of dawn feeling pretty refreshed. The place was ‘buzzing’ already with the truck drivers starting their trucks and First Nation People heading for breakfast to the cafe that opened at 6am already.
    I believe I totally forgot to put into yesterday’s diary entry, the most exciting news! Our first Chocconutz nut butter delivery to a Perth based store - Brighton Road Food Market in Scarborough - was completed by our friend Sally M. Fingers crossed this is a first one of many to come.
    Today, we were on the road well and truly before 7am, settling into our new morning routine well. Powered by coffee and smoothie from the local cafe. Interestingly, even the smallest road houses have good coffee machines installed and so far we did not have a bad brew! Quite impressive.
    The drive was quite spectacular today. It is difficult to describe the beauty of the ever changing scenery. It is visually stunning but somehow touches the soul at the same time. It was changing today from fields filled with Boab trees, huge ant nests, grassy lands, rocky hills, into never ending shrubs. All green with cows and today even horses. Kat saw a very black snake on the road and narrowly missed a big bird of pray who was feasting on the road and was too heavy to lift high quickly. I swear it’s legs just touched our windscreen as Kat was trying to safely stop.
    On the way we stopped at the Fitzgerald River and stocked up on some mosquito spray and citronella candles (so we can have romantic candle light dinners 😆 ).
    The river crossing was perfect, the water was still flowing, there was no wait to cross the crossing either, pretty smooth operation.
    We made another stop at Halls Creek, just a quick refuel ($2.34/litre) and headed to Turkey Creek. The road between Halls Creek and Turkey Creek is really breathtaking. The Purnululu National Park on the right side was covered in smoke as there is a prescribed burn, on the left side we were surrounded by King Leopold Range, Durack Range - simply stunning, unforgettable, beautiful.
    There was still some water when we were passing the creeks and even a little water over the road in one of the dips.
    We arrived to Turkey Creek just before 16.30, set our camper, dined on Aldi’s spinach and ricotta ravioli, and now sitting back and listening to dogs barking from the Aboriginal community settlement that is located just over the road. There is only one more camper in the park that is so far the cheapest powered site we paid for ($15/night). We don’t have to rush tomorrow as we are almost at our final destination so will head to the Warmun Community Art Centre first.
    We also had some unforeseen news today, our house/Alfi sitter has do do some emergency baby sitting in Sydney and is no longer available to do two weeks. Thankfully, our friends came to rescue and will take Alfi under their caring wings. Thank you so much S&B. Donkey’s and Alpaca’s will also be fed so all is good, crisis is averted and we can continue our holidays with no worries.
    Today’s toll: 693km, total: 3395km

    Also, forgot to mentioned that we saw some helicopter stock mustering… 🚁 🐮 🚁    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1

    Warmun to Lake Argyle

    5 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We had a little slower morning and left for our final destination at around 7.30. Kununurra is only about 180km from the Warmun so we took it easy and enjoyed the beautiful and scenic drive.
    Kununurra surprised as a little as we were expecting it to be a much smaller town. We decided to have a cooked breakfast and stopped by at the Mango Cafe, sitting outside enjoying the warm weather. Not even 5 minute in and there is a car passing by with the Moir clan! How lovely to see them all.
    We chatted for a bit and than headed our own ways just to bump into each other a few more times at different spots - hmmm maybe the town is not that big after all…
    I was very pleased to find the mosquito device that I have left behind in Karalundi. After yesterday’s vicious mosquito attack we should be covered from now on.
    We arrived to Lake Argyle after 1pm and were very happy not having to wait to check in until 3pm as per the initial instructions. Our site is comfy with some trees around providing a shade. It is not completely levelled so we may have some blood head rush tonight hehehe.
    Following the race induction meeting, Rod, Kat and I loaded our Kayak on Lars’s boat, gave him all the food and drinks for tomorrow and should be all set.
    The evening finished with a very tasty lasagna made by Sally and transported to Lake Argyle frozen in Rod’s luggage and fresh salad.
    We got some briefing from the M team so hopefully all will be good tomorrow. We will meet at 6.10 am. Let the fun begin…    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Lake Argyle Swim

    6 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    After rather weary night , the day started early at 4.45 with shower, quick coffee and light breakfast.
    We met with Moirsketers at 6.10 am and headed downhill to the water to meet with Lars, our skipper, also Kununurra Dentist, on his boat Blue Mantra. We loaded our kayak and other gear on his boat yesterday evening so all was ready to go.
    The M team seemed ready for action as we headed to the 20km start line. Gosh that was far!!!!! It took well over an hour to get there. We lathered ourselves in sunscreen and I ‘jumped’ into the kayak with the help of others to head to the start line. Eliza was the first one to go. The plan was to swap swimmers every 10minutes and paddlers every 45min to 1 hour.
    The first 10 minutes went very fast and the swimmers were dispersing which help me greatly as I could see Eliza quite clearly. After her 10min, Samuel jumped in, then Sally followed by Charlie. They rocked it all the way, and made all this looking easy but I can only imagine how much effort must this must have been.
    Rod was on the clock and Lars was giving us pretty good instruction where to head as at times it was impossible to see the buoys.
    Kat and I manage to stay dry during the kayak swaps which was a bonus. It did get quite hot as the sun was hitting us hard from the 5km mark.
    The atmosphere on the Blue Mantra was great, with music pumping and smiles all around.
    All swimmers jumped in for the finish line and swam the last few meters together while the boat stay behind and the paddler headed to the right side from the blue finish arch.
    The finish line was very timely as just a few minutes before M team made it a crocodile also swam through…. The M team did it! Time was around 5.36 but will be confirmed.
    What a fantastic effort. The experience was just amazing, the water was warm, atmosphere great and the scenery breathtaking. Don’t think Kat and I will be taking a Lake Argyle cruise hehehe.
    After crossing the finish line we headed up the hill to get the car keys and made our way back down to the loading ramp. The cue was endless. I think we spent at least 45 min waiting for our turn. The road down to water was also a little rough and required 4x4 engagement to make it out of there.
    We met the M team at theirs and headed for the photoshoot at the infinity pool, followed by the dinner where some of the M team members were fading away rapidly. Had a little boogie, made new friends with team 99 who also did the 20km and headed to our camper.
    What a fantastic day, we are very happy we could be part of this event and spend time with a friend who had this swim as part of her 60 birthday pre-celebration.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    23111

    Lake Argyle

    7 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    It was long and loud night….
    As proper party animals we were in bed by 9ish, listening to live music followed by a DJ that was pumping until about 11pm. After the official party ended the masses wandered to their tents to continue… our neighbours were young and energetic and managed to party until about 2am… bless….
    The wind picked up significantly during the night with things flying around, including our towels.
    I was up about 5.30 and wandered to the infinity pool for the sunrise. There were a few other enthusiasts otherwise the place was deserted and quiet with spectacular views and amazing colours. I ventured back to ‘ours’ and had a relaxing breakfast. People started packing and heading back home.
    All Trails app suggested a few walks around so we took the easiest one - Ord river Gorge Lookout walk, an easily 1.5km trail with great views.
    After the walk we visited the M team to say goodbye before they headed back home. We were given heaps of food and beer so we can skip one shopping ;-), managed to do a M team Photoshoot and enjoyed the nice shady veranda at theirs for the last time.
    We had a pretty relaxed day, spend time in the infinity pool, did some clothes washing and ventured to explore the Lake Argyle history. We ventured on the other side of the Lake Argyle dam wall to a nice picnic park and admired all the water pouring through two tubes 4 meter in diameter to Lake Kununurra. 42000 litre per second per tube. By the way, supposedly Lake Argyle has enough water to fill 21 Sydney Harbours!!!
    I was hoping to get on the helicopter flight today but left the booking until too late and the pilot was in the air when I came to book my adventure. Fingers crossed they will have a flight availability for tomorrow’s sunset. Kat is not going, what a shame (fingers crossed she changes her mind until tomorrow hehehe).
    It will be an early night tonight as we want to head out tomorrow early to explore.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    12

    4th day on Lake Argyle

    8 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    It looked like we will take off last night, the wind gusts were incredible and we were just waiting for the camper to collapse on us.
    Got woken up by the rising sun so decided to head to the infinity pool to do some nut butter photo shoot, only to discover that we were too early (that’s a first) and the pool was still closed. The photo shoot progressed regardless with some improvisation…
    Instead of the pool dip, we grabbed our yoga mats and exercised under the boab tree which was very nice.
    After breakfast we headed a few kilometres down the road to the Durack’s homestead to get some facts about this rather interesting Lake Argyle. The homestead was 80% made from the original homestead built by the Durack family and was actually flooded in the lake. Every single stone was removed and transported to Kununurra where it was stored before relocated closer to Lake Argyle and rebuilt. Patrick Durack, Irish man, bought the land in late 1800 and decided to move his stock from Queensland over to the Kimberley. They planed the move will take about six months but in the end it took 2.5 years. They lost most of the stock on the way and although he was a rich man in Queensland, due to some poor decisions made by his brother, he lost everything and had to start from scratch again. Lucky he put the land in Kimberley in his son’s name so he did not lose this too. Anyhow, they were a rather big family and in the end they sold the land to the government. Gosh what a hard life they had, working their guts out in terrible conditions.
    The homestead also had a video playing about the actual built of the Lake Argyle dam wall. How very interesting. We just cannot imagine how it could flood so quickly that people had to move in a hurry and animals had to be rescued (operation Noah). Lake Argyle is classified as open sea and we have been told the waves can be 2-3 m high and winds can be incredibly strong.
    After the homestead we headed to Kununurra to meet up with our friends Kim and Chris. They rescued us during our last road trip to Karijini when they appeared from nowhere and helped us to sort out our punctured tyre situation. They are from Melbourne and have stayed with us on the farm about a month ago when they took an extra detour on their travel to come and see us. They have flown into Kununurra from Broome today and will hop on a week long cruise going around the top end of Northern Western Australia. We picked them up from their hotel and headed for the lunch at the Hootchery, the oldest continuously operating legal still in Western Australia. The time with them was great and I feel very lucky we bumped into them and remained friends. Hopefully we will see them again sometime.
    We arrived back to the camp ground to find it deserted! Yey people are gone! I used the opportunity to fly the drone quickly as I knew the helicopter flights were not in the air as the pilot took a day off today…
    We now just sit outside, drink some beer to deter any MVE infected mosquitoes and watch the sky full of stars. It is a first night when its dark enough for the stars to make their full appearance. The cards are on the table, waiting for the score to be turned…hehehehe….    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1
    1

    Lake Argyle to Kununurra

    9 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Another very windy night and morning…. Gosh we were so lucky with the weather for the swim. By the way the results are in and the Moirskateers Team ended up in an amazing 6th position in the 20km quad swim (out of 27 teams) with the final time of 5 hours, 33 min, 20 seconds. Overall, in 65th position from a total of 122 teams.

    We packed up at Lake Argyle and headed to Kununurra, having a short stop at the Hootchery again to buy something something for someone 🤫. We have arrived to the KimberleyLand caravan park just before lunch time. We left the trailer there and headed to Wyndham, the most northerly located town in Western Australia. The drive there took a good hours and was another display of a beautiful scenery. Wyndham was interesting, quite run down but had some good history. Established in 1884 when gold was discovered in Halls Creek. The original town is now called Wyndham Port Town with only a handful of people there (although there was rather large police station…), the town moved more inland to Wyndham 3 mile. They moved the town as the daily tides risen and fell by 8.3 meters and because of that the original town was not able to be expanded. Wyndham is one of the hottest places in Western Australia with the average daily maximum temperature reaching 36 degrees. Luckily for us, it was balmy 28 degrees today - almost jumper time…hahaha.
    We visited the small museum in the original Wyndham that had quite interesting stuff there. They even had a ‘Czechoslovakian’ gun made in Brno on display. Heaps of old photos and some old cigaret commercials with totally unacceptable slogan’s if judged by today’s standards. We also saw Kim and Chris’s boat parked in the harbour waiting for the passengers to arrive.
    On the way from the original Wyndham we stopped by in a cool caravan park to have a look at the biggest boab tree… it was big indeed!
    Oh and I almost forgot to mention the unforgettable lunch at the local bakery… Kat had a barramundi pie and I tried the crocodile pie….it was… different, unusual… ok…. Not to be repeated any time soon,
    Before leaving the ‘newer Wyndham’ we drove up to the 5 river look out. Pretty steep drive up the hill with fantastic views across the land. Pretty spectacular and would be interesting to see that when it is flooded.
    We then headed back to Kununurra but felt tempted by the Parry Lagoon Park so we turned off on dirt road and travelled to Marlgu Billabong. It was a 6km one way dirt road in the middle of nowhere. The first lookout was at the Old Telegraph Line and we were quite stunned by the view. Heaps of boabs and wetland in front of us. We saw another car in the distance and decided to continue on the dirt road until it finished. We arrived at the billabong and it was absolutely beautiful. So many different birds were flying around, the wetland had a variety of lotus flowers, it was so peaceful with sun going down throwing a orange light on the dried grasses and water. It very much reminded us of Kakadu National Park. We met two local ladies there who confirmed that to their knowledge there are 5 salt water crocodiles living there. Did not see any so we think there were fibbing….hahaha….
    Kat drove us back home and again we very much enjoyed the sunset light reflecting on the red rocky boulders. We arrived to Kununurra in dark, assembled our ‘chamber’ and made ourselves a dinner including frozen garlic bread made on a pan…. That was a first and it kinda worked.
    We are based next to the lake so mosquitoes are going crazy here, we have lathered ourselves in anti mosquito stuff head to toe, have citronella candles going like there is no tomorrow and also have the mosquito repellent on….. fingers crossed we will survive with no bites. We were also told by the caravan staff there they have 3 fresh weather crocodiles here, one supposedly lives next to our spot… and has no teeth so they call him gummy - poor thing. Hopefully we can see him tomorrow. May prepare some purée snack for him 😉    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1

    Kununurra and surrounds

    10 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    An early morning for me while Kat was snoring away. A beautiful sunrise over the Lake Kununurra. I poked Kat awake around 6ish as I could not lie in the bed anymore. Made us some breakfast - scrambled eggs, coffee and we headed to Mirima National Park which is located only a few kilometres out of town. We walked all the available walks in these mini bungle bungles and enjoyed the views and some Aboriginal art. Yet again, we were amazed by the true blue Australians conquering level 5 walks in thongs… the temperature today was very pleasant hovering around 28 degrees with breeze. We were done with the walks before lunch time when Kat gave me a homework to find an ice cream shop. Luckily for me, Dr Google suggested the only ice cream shop in town that definitely exceeded expectation of my ice cream head Kat. The choice was impressive, they were selling Simmos Ice Cream and had about 20 to choose from. Kat was in the heaven.
    We also went to the local Aboriginal Art centre and got us a small carved boab nut.
    After the refreshing break we went to see some Zebra stone products on someone’s property 5km out of town. They had some cool stuff and we splashed out on some Astronomite jewellery. In the near by farm they were selling some papaya so we got ourselves one and I’m looking forward trying this fruit tomorrow.
    We checked out another zebra stone shop in town and it was equally impressive. What a unique stone!
    In the afternoon, we drove 25km out of town to check out Galgiba - Molly Spring - it was 6km from the main road accessed by dirt road. It was really pretty, like a little oasis with running waterfall and little but quite deep lagoon. The water was nice and warm and we could not see any 🐊…. We were the only people there, it was very peaceful.
    Following the Molly Spring we headed via another off road tract to Valentine’s spring that was also very pretty and had a sign to be aware of 🐊 🐊 🐊 , so we threaded lightly around and thankfully did not see any.
    We then headed back ‘home’ and checked out Gummy who is just on the side of the lake. Poor thing, people feed him with bread! That cannot be good for him…
    We took a few beers and some very ‘healthy’ snacks to go with it to a bench where we just sat and overlooked the lake while the sun was going down putting on a beautiful light display.
    We had a really nice day, more relaxed, taking it easy…. Just what the doctor ordered. Tomorrow we will be relocating to El Questro.
    Oh and we just was the International Space Station passing by….    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    22

    El Questro, site #20 Willy Wagtail

    11 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    We got up early this morning as we decided last night to be on top of Kelly’s knob for the sunrise. The walk to the top and the view was very nice - a great way to start the day.
    We packed up our camper and headed back to Kununurra town to explore another aboriginal art gallery - Waringarri Aboriginal Art located under Kelly’s knob. They had some cool art, including some paintings with Wandjinas.
    That was a very nice stop, just what we needed before we made our way into Coles to replenish our food supplies to last us for El Questro as well as Bungle Bungles. It was so freaking cold in Coles so we were happy to get out back in the sun. Got ourselves a coffee and chips for lunch and as a desert we went back to the ice cream shop. Kat was very happy again… the portions were massive, even the kiddy scoop was enormous. To my disbelief, Kat has declared that even though she loves ice cream, the scoop she got was difficult to finish…. But she did….hehehehe….
    At 12pm the bottle shop opened, the drive through cue was impressive…. We walked in, got ourselves some beverages and headed towards El Questro. It took less than an hour to turn into Gibbs River Road and another maybe 40 minutes to arrive to our final destination. The road was very damaged and at times we had to drive through deep water - thankfully we had a car ahead of us who was our Guinea pig so we at least knew how deep the water was before we crossed. Unfortunately, on the way we could see that a number of the gorges are closed and the access roads washed out. On arrival to El Questro we, especially Kat, were welcomed by the wondering donkey. Kat gave her an ear scratch and the donkey even brayed to her! We were later informed not to touch her or go near to her as she is known to bite and run into people….. Kat - The donkey whisperer….
    We parked at our site which is very private and about 5 km from the main camp. We are close to the river, can hear it but cannot see it. We have a sign here about the crocodiles and not to swim in the river - that will not be a problem hehehe…
    After dinner we headed back to the main camp to book ourselves in for a river cruise on Sunday that should take us to Chamberlain Gorge that is otherwise unaccessible.
    Tomorrow we will head to Emma Gorge, - an all day trip.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Emma Gorge

    12 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    An early morning following another sleepathon…. Good 10 hours!!!! Gosh how will we even function back in ‘normality’ without our extensive beauty sleeps!!!
    Finally slept like a log, it was nice a quiet and the bed is also levelled so we are not rolling anywhere. I was even cold during the night, I guess there is some coldness/dampness coming from the near by river.
    Today’s program was a trip to Emma Gorge. We left the main camp through the dreaded water crossing - managed to stall the car twice while crossing the water!
    It took about 45 min to get to the Emma Gorge Resort where the walk started from. The carpark was rather deserted - it guess it was too early….
    There were only two couples ahead of us. The walk started rather eventfully. In the first 500 metres I almost step on a snake 🐍, black, skinny and long thing that I did not even see next to my left foot. That was lucky phew, my closest encounter so far… this only to be followed by a rolled ankle, twisted knee and not so soft landing on the rocks…. Anyhoo, after that all was going smoothly 😉
    The walk was very ‘wobbly’ and took a lot of coordination and mountain goat skills, it took us forever, and we were just imaging Sally Ma. or Rusty going through it in no time 🐐 🐐…
    We reached the Emma Gorge while the second couple was just leaving. Believe it or not, we had it to ourselves! I braved it in the water and ‘freezing’ does not describe the feeling I had when I submerged…. Even my internal fat did not manage to block the coldness… it was beyond refreshing and perfect for my injured ankle and knee, I headed towards right side as supposedly there was meant to be some warm water coming in… sadly, I did not find it…..🤪 I have braved it to the water twice and then we just sat around and enjoyed the peaceful and beautiful scenery. In about an hour a small group of elderly man arrived so we left and headed down to Turquoise Pool - which was beautiful and somehow seemed a bit more inviting than Emma Gorge. The sun was shining through the clear water so I hopped in again - this was a completely different experience. The water was not very warm but at least I could feel my limbs…the fish were swimming everywhere around and I managed to hype up the experience so much that even Kat got it!
    We have enjoyed the pool for a good hour before people started arriving. We left when a small but very loud group of First Nation youngsters arrived. They started feeding the fish with their beef jerky and where just shouting and being ridiculous - yes, our tolerance level for non-sense is really low… 😇😇😇
    On the way back to the carpark we encountered heaps of groups, some even with speakers playing music… no comment….
    We had a refreshing ice coffee at the local establishment - absolute bargain - $9 for both!!! May have to go back…hehehe… kidding.
    We arrived back to El Questro, passed the water crossing with no hiccups this time and attended our domestic duties - clothes washing… the use of pretty new washing machines is free of charge. Kat opted for a shower while I parked it in the pub, enjoying a cold Matso’s Ginger Beer, writing this diary entry and observing helicopters landing and taking off. The main camp is the only place we have signal so as we are heading back to our ‘home’ now, good bye until next time    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    11Someone ate our papaya 😱

    ELQ Day 3 - Zebedee Springs

    13 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We had a little exciting afternoon yesterday as we discovered that our site was so shady that it did not let any sun through to charge our camper battery… there was no way we would wing it for another 3 days. So we drove back to the station to ask if they have any other more sunnier site available. Luckily for us they had two sites, so off we went to check them out, the first one was just open space with no shade what so ever and the second one was just perfect with he right ration of shade and sun. So we drove back to the station again to let them know we picked site #17 Brolga.
    Unfortunately it was already after 5pm so there was no way we could have made the move in day light as the sunset here is at 5.03 pm and last light at 5.32 pm.
    We decided to have dinner instead, play canasta and get up early to do the move.
    Kat has again, completely trashed me in cards…. I cannot catch up with her score…. Fingers crossed for tonight. We went to bed reasonably early and after reading we drifted to lalaland.
    Got up at 5.45 am ready to for the move. Packed up everything and drove to site #17 where all the drama unfolded. One would think it will be a smooth operation but reality proved different. I could not reverse the trailer to a good position and quickly lost my cool and when it was in kinda a good spot, not too close to the grass, not too close to the tree etc. we unhooked it, only to witness the front trailer jockey wheel slightly collapsing lowering the front significantly 😱 my worse nightmare was unfolding in front of my eyes…. Thankfully, we had the hydraulic jack that we quickly put under and lifted the trailer up again, hooked it to the car so I could breath again. I think I need to take more of the vitamin Bs these days….
    Kat got behind the wheel and put the camper in a good spot. The trailer jockey wheel seems a little wonky or we are now just paranoid that it will give it away, so it is supported by the hydraulic jack as well as the red stabiliser stand we have. It would be great to have a supportive leg on the trailer……..
    After this rather time consuming exercise, we were too late to start the Amelia Gorge walk so we changed the plans for today and decided to head to the thermal pools at Zebedee Springs instead. But before we left our station, Kat whipped up an amazing breakfast - scrambled eggs with vegetables in a wrap. Yummy 🤤
    Kat was the driver for today and did the Pentecost River crossing like an absolute pro.
    The walk to the Zebedee Springs was short, there were quite a bit of people there but we managed to find a private pool where we pruned our bodies in the water of about 28 degrees Celsius. That was a rather pleasant experience after the chilly Emma Gorge….
    On arrival to the main camp, Kat organised our boat river cruise to happen today rather than yesterday. So at 3pm we will be heading to Chamberlain Gorge and tomorrow we will do the Amelia Gorge day trip. So all worked out well in the end. We are just enjoying a cold ginger beer, waiting for our delicates to wash so we are somewhat presentable while using the local wi-fi.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    11

    El Questro Day 4 - Amalia Gorge

    14 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Well well well…. I am afraid the boat cruise was a bit of false advertising! It should be called party boat/booze float…. OMG my recollection of yesterday’s afternoon is somewhat limited. We boarded the boat at 3pm and so did other retirees. Off we went down the Chamberlain Gorge that is 150km. We only did probably 300 m 🙈… the nature was stunning, but could not see any animals including any crocodiles instead after cruising the 300m for about 25min we stopped and were handed some pellets that strongly resembled pellets we feed our alpacas with… the instructions were clear - stick your finger out and the small fish will collect water in their mouth and spit it to the finger - target. For that we were supposed to reward them. There was also a second activity going on which I totally engaged in… the bottles of sparkling wine were opened and the refreshing drink was offered… I think I must have been quite thirsty after all day so in the ‘activity time’ I manage to have maybe three glasses 😇… the cruise became much more interesting. I even saw a bird and when showing it to Kat I completely forgot about the spitting fish and foolishly I have pointed with my finger over the water towards the bird…. I got a full on spit into my open eye…. Perfect aim…. Left me blind and speechless for a second…
    Anyhow we have completed the cruise and Kat drove me home where I whipped up risotto for dinner and sandwiches for today’s walk.
    To our disappointment the solar panels were not charging the batteries so we were not using any lights or anything except of the fridge. But we are still loving our new campsite !👍🏻The batteries were not charged for last 5 days except for the short drive from Kununurra to El Questro.
    We played canasta last night - 3 games as usual and in some luck I managed to turn the score. Kat did not seem to digest this and requested a 4th game and she whipped my ass again… oh well there is always tomorrow 😉
    I finally set up my camera for some night photography so did a little bit of shooting only to discover that Kat’s phone takes better night photos with minimal effort… hmm 🤔

    We got up really early today to discover that the batteries are not capable to run the fridge anymore. Thankfully we have some frozen bottles of water in so if we don’t keep opening it it will last for tomorrow. I will also try to charge it a little with the car when we get back.
    We were at the Amalia Gorge walk just after 7am, we were the first ones. The track was not great - pretty much a walk on the bottom of the river bed that had no water. The trail was only stones, sand paths were minimal. We had to do some - in our eyes - challenging rock climbs. In one section they had chains but the other sections were just unsupported and we had to engaged all limbs and bums…
    Although the track was not that foot friendly, the scenery was amazing. White paperbark trees, palms, running clear water and pools, red rock, sun and light breeze… just wowsie!
    Amalia Gorge was impressive, the waterfall was quite high. The water was freezing cold and we only braved it in up to the knees.
    While we were there we munched on our breakfast and also lunch to help with the nervous breakdown experience of climbing the rocks and the vision of doing it again on the way back.
    We left Amalia Gorge and headed for a swim at the pool just below - Ochre Pool. The descent was challenging and at some point onlookers even gave a Kat an applause when she did make it.
    We were amazed to bumped to a mother and daughter duo who were shoeless and had a baby `~5 months old….that they carried just freely on their hip. When we saw them crossing the part with the chain and the kid literally hanging in the air we had to look away… Cannot even imagine how they walked bare feet on the rocks that were stinky hot! Crazy.
    We made it back to the base where we are refreshing with another cold ginger beer, using the wifi and downloading info how to connect solar panels to the batterie to see if the dude in the workshop did it correctly.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1

    El Questro to Kununurra and Turkey Creek

    15 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Had a really nice afternoon yesterday after the walk. We just sat in shade and read our books and relaxed. We were also contemplating the morning plan consisting of illegal charging of the camper in the main camp…
    I finally managed to Kat’s dislike to change the Canasta score. It will not last long as Kat is pretty determined to change that soon again!!
    We got up early to execute our plan, packed up the camper which was a bit harder than usual as the canvas was pretty damp. We parked it at the main camp in one of the empty powered sites and hooked our camper trailer to power to see what happens. We were charging the camper trailer for more than an hour and to our disappointment the battery did not charge at all. So we decided to execute plan B - call all repair services or auto electricians in Kununurra. Unfortunately, they were all booked out weeks ahead and some just simply advised that they only service locals and not tourists.
    The El Questro staff advised to contact the Auto Pro service which we did and I spoke with a guy who sounded like he could help us out although I must admit he sounded a bit different. Anyway, beggars cannot be choosers so we headed back to Kununurra.
    Well, that was a bit of waste of time although we went back to the ice cream shop because ice cream solves everything 😂.
    The guy in the shop confirmed that there is power output from the solar panels, power output from our car but supposedly the batteries are so depleted that the little voltage coming from either the solar or car will not make a sufficient charge. He also said that the voltage thingie mounted in the camper trailer is maybe faulty but he was not sure… in the end we don’t think he was sure of anything so we decided to pack up the camper trailer and continue with the trip. We took the battery in the car and since I have also packed the battery charger for this trip, we decided to charge the battery over night at the caravan site in Turkey Creek. We also got a back up cool box and ice so we survive our 4 days in the Bungle Bungles without any power.
    We stocked up on more bread and water and headed to Turkey Creek also known as Warmun.
    We are lucky, there is only another caravan and that is all. We parked on the site where we have access to a power pole that we completely hogged. We plugged in our fridge/freezer that we have put on the lowest temperature possible so it lasts a bit longer when we leave tomorrow. We also plugged in the buttery that is getting bulk charge and hopefully will be ok for tomorrow’s re-installation to the camper trailer and we also hogged a third power pole that we use to charge our personal items e.g. watch and phones 😂😇
    We had a nice diner and will be heading to bed soon as we both feel a little tired today.
    We got some great news today - the road to Bungle Bungle has just been graded so fingers crossed the drive will not be as painful as we thought.
    Alfi also got a house sitters changeover today and we are sure he will miss Kathleen heaps.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1211

    Warmun (Turkey Creek) to Bungle Bungles

    16 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    It was a night full of anticipation - is the battery going to be charged or not?
    I don’t even know how many dreams I had about exploding batteries and at some point I even woke Kat up as I smelled something burning. Thankfully she reminded me of the bush burning that was happening around Warmun as we were arriving.
    Anyway, the battery was charged, we only had to wait for the last phase to complete and it was ready to be re-installed. Kat hooked it up as I am scared that I will get zapped despite being reassured that it is not gonna happen… We packed up and headed to the Warmun Art Centre were we treated ourselves to a small painting to remember this beautiful part of the world.
    The drive to the Bungle Bungles (BBs) was not long but once we left the main road and got onto the road leading to BBs the fun started. We were told yesterday that the road has just been graded, well we cannot even imagine how it has to be like in the middle of the season then. We did the 56km in just under two hours! We stopped counting how many river/water crossings we did, the road was challenging and definitely not boring. The country side just simply spectacular. We crossed a big bull that looked like he would like to have a counter match with our car and also a very skinny doggo that looked a bit sad. I was driving and Kat was holding onto the handle for her life….hahaha… even though we took it pretty slowly we were quite shaken when we arrived to the tourist centre. It opened just a few weeks ago and looks great. Modern, functional and blends in.
    We checked in and went to find out spot, the site we chose is quite large and shaded, very nice. After setting ourselves up and having a bit of a beer break we headed to a nearby spot to to see the sunset. It was magic, the sunlight reflecting on the rocks created spectacular colours. It was so peaceful… until the bus with tourist arrived. The group of older tourists got out of the bus, and started buzzing around the place. Their crew pulled out the chairs and alcohol for the ‘sunset party’ to start. It was quite entertaining. We left them there and went back to our home. Happy to say, battery is still in green - it definitely did not charge while we were driving but maybe it will get some boost from the solar that we hooked up to the camper trailer just in case it decides to work - fingers crossed 🤞🏻
    We had a lovely dinner and managed to drink another bottle of sparkling. We are sitting outside, it is a balmy night with a slight breeze and a beautiful sky full of stars.
    We are surrounded by toads 🐸 some of them are rather big… let’s hope they will leave us alone….
    Just a few facts about BBs. - they are located in the Purnululu National Park that is part of UNESCO World Heritage List since 2003 for exceptional natural beauty and geological importance. The Bungle Bungle Range includes extraordinary array of banded sandstone domes and is divided into the northern and southern parts. The orange banded domes are the most exceptional examples of cone karst formations in the world. The grey banding is a coating of Cyanobacteria, which has grown on moist areas. The orange bands are due to the colour of oxidised iron compounds which have dried up too quickly for the bacteria to grow. The domes are made of sandstone deposited 360 million years ago. Erosion by creeks, rivers and weathering in the past 20 million years has carved the beehive domes shapes and formations. The BBs have more then 140 bird species, 85 reptiles, 32 native mammals, 12 frog species and even fresh water crabs.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1

    Bungle Bungles - Southern Part

    17 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After another good night sleep we got up early to explore the Southern Walks. The drive there was only 12km and the road was pretty good.
    Even before reaching the starting point of the walks we were wowed by the scenery unfolding in front of us. The domes were popping up as well as endless fields of flowering wattle trees with bright yellow flowers.
    To our happiness, we were the first ones to arrived to the carpark - yes we had it all to ourselves! To warm up, we started with the 700m short loop around the Domes - it was breathtaking - better than we have ever imagined. From The Domes we visited Cathedral Gorge, it was getting quite warm and thankfully this gorge offered quite a bit of shade and breeze to cool down. We were surprised with the amount of the toads 🐸 everywhere, some completely dried lying in various positions on their backs looking like they have been poisoned. Some parts were quite stinky as they were decaying- pretty gross so it was the best to lift our heads and admire the beauty of the surrounds rather than looking on the ground. Cathedral Gorge was spectacular and Kat tried the acoustic producing some superb singing. Yes, the acoustics were fantastic, the rest has a room for improvement 😂. We continued walking through the Piccaninny Creek that was mostly dried out with some sections having still heaps of water and fish in. Some section of the creek floor already resembled mini Bungle Bungles in the
    making… lets give it another 360 million years and pop they will be there… we found a shady spot to enjoy coffee and breakfast while also feeding our eyes on the natural show in front of us.
    We proceeded to walk to Whip Snake Gorge and got lost on the way despite quite clear instructions and signage… lets blame the heat for that 😉… the gorge was very nice and did not have that many toads 🐸 there. We heard some interesting sounds there, like someone is trying to pop a balloon…. So I went to investigate… holly guacamole I did not expect what I saw… a crow got himself one of the big toads 🐸, with the beak grabbed it by its leg and turn it over on its back. Then stood up on the frog legs and started to peck into the blown up frog belly… it went on and on until it popped and the crow managed to open the belly, ate a bit of insides and left it there… So at least we know now that none of the toads we saw earlier were poisoned but pecked to death. It is fascinating how nature learns to deal with the intruders and tries to eliminate the invasive introduced species.
    Besides to that disturbing view, the rest was simply magical. Being surrounded by all this beauty! How lucky we are! We may not have a lot of historical buildings/recorded history in Australia but we have much more…
    On the way back we also stopped at the Piccaninny Creek Lookout that yet again provided an amazing view over the differently shaped domes from every angle. It also had some very much needed shade and a good breeze so we sat down to enjoy the beauty and also our lunch. We arrived to the carpark that was rather full and sat down under the shaded area, in no time we were joined by group of tourists that looked exhausted, turned out they just walked 2km… the good thing was that the tour organiser was handing out some cold wet towels to freshen up and they even gave us some! It was fantastic, cooled us from outside while our (still) cold beer did the job from inside 😂. All together we walked about 15km today and loved it.
    I am quite amazed by the double-barred finch birds, they look like miniature owls and are everywhere! We have seen a lot of different birds today including a beautifully coloured kingfisher.
    We got to our home late afternoon, Kat had a shower in our improvised tree shower and I was just reading my book enjoying the ‘noise’ all the birds make. We will make some dinner now and get ready for tomorrow’s adventure.
    Today, was a fantastic day, definitely one of the best on this trip……..we are in love with the Bungles!!!!    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    3

    Bungle Bungles - Nothern Part

    18 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Woke up to the sound of jabbering neighbours just before 5am. Made a take away coffee, jumped in the car and off we went. Directions were clear pass the visitors centre then look for signs. Conversation was flowing despite the early hour and so was the drive until Kat started to question where we are going… opps… turn of to the Northern walks was before the tourist centre and not after…. Well that added about 20km extra than we needed to do…
    Anyway, we backtracked and eventually rocked up to the right place - The Bloodwoods. The plan was to do the Mini Palms Gorge first, then come back to the Bloodwoods and drive to Echidna. Once we figured out that we could actually walk from the Bloodwoods to Echidna without driving we changed the plan and headed to Echidna. The walk was very pretty, we were surrounded by bobbles of spinifex grass, grevilias, eucalyptus trees with white trunks, flowering wattle trees and magnificent red/orange ranges that looked completely differently to the domes from yesterday. The surrounds were reminding us of the similar nature and great times we had a few years back in Katherine.
    It was an easy walk and we stopped at the shaded spot to have a breakfast, just to continue with full bellies to the Echidna Chasm - which was really pretty. The best part was we had it all to ourselves. The sun was supposed to cross around 11.30 and light up the very narrow section of the Chasm. We could see half being lit up all in gold and decided that it will do and as the 11th hour was approaching and we were expecting groups of tourists that could spoil the experience we got, so we started our return.
    And as we did, we passed groups of people all heading there to see the sun phenomenon.
    While we were in the Echidna we also walked to the Osmand Lookout that provided fantastic views. It also informed us that some of the mountain ranges we could see were up to 4 times older than the Bungle Bungle Ranges. Some old as 1.6 billion ears - it is hard to comprehend and imagine…
    After we seen it all at Echidna we headed back via The Escarpment track back towards the Mini Palms Gorge. On the way there we stopped at the same shady spot to replenish some energy with lunch. The trail condition became a little more challenging once we got on the Mini Palms Gorge track. We pretty much walked on the bottom of a dried up creek, on the stones. The track may have not been the nicest walk but the surroundings were spectacular, we loved all the Livistona Palms we were surrounded by. And how cool that they grow so high on the ranges. To someone’s unhappiness, there was some rock hopping/climbing in the last sections. It was hot 🥵 but powered by the lunch and vision that it is the last walk for sometime we reached the end, which in my opinion was more breathtaking than the Echidna Chasm. It was simply wow! Yet again, there was no humans in site so we had it all for ourselves - how very special. To our surprise we didn’t see a single toad on any of the Northern walks.
    After we finished all the walks except the Homestead Valley walk, we stopped by the tourist centre where Kat cooled herself down with an ice cream. As I was waiting for her, I bumped into my old colleague who lives in Denmark and sells apples at the Albany Farmer’s market - the world is small.
    We arrived to our home, I made us some poached eggs for dinner, Kat did some laundry washing, I also managed to lie in my hammock and listen to the birds - lovely afternoon.
    Kat also spotted two barking owls sitting in the tree in our spot. They were asleep and at times cuddling to each other. We heard them early on the morning barking, and it was nice to actually see them.
    These last three days here ware just perfect, we loved pretty much everything about this place and would come back anytime. It somehow feels very special and we feel very grateful for the opportunity to visit this place.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    2

    Bungle Bungles to Larrawa Station

    19 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    What a lovely alarm clock we had this morning! The barking owls were saying loud good morning at 4.30. To our surprise they again landed in the tree above us and were sleeping there, all fluffed up and comfortable.
    We got out of the camp just before 8.30am - both feeling a little bit sad and sentimental that we had to leave this beautiful place and our owl friends - and proceeded to tackle the dreaded road back. It took just under two hours and at times Kat was just hanging onto the handle and I was using the steering wheel as a support to keep myself straight. We were lucky with the last water crossing as some guy decided to walk into the water and was standing there pointing out the rock bed hidden under the water. I think I would drive straight into it if it would not be for him. Phew, that was lucky.
    Once we were out of the park, the phones started beeping - we were back in civilisation. I must admit, neither Kat nor I missed the phone signal.
    Next stop - Halls Creek - a town that experienced the gold fever in late 1800s. We decided to check out the original Halls Creek town from which not much is left. It was located about 13 kilometres from the new Halls Creek. All what is left are a few ruins and a cemetery. It had an interesting story about the reverend John Flynn and his patient Jimmy Darcy and the establishment of the Royal Flying Doctors service idea. In 1928 the Australian inland mission arial medical service was established in Queensland, this service was renamed in 1942 to Royal Flying Doctors.
    After this, we proceeded with a short stop on someone’s farm to see the ‘China Wall’ that is a natural phenomenon and supposedly extends over 6km. We could only see little bit so I decided to fly my drone and unfortunately cannot confirm the 6km info as even with the drone we could not see the wall distance.
    We briefly stopped in Halls Creek to refuel. That was rather interesting stop as the fuel station was partially a Coles shop where locals came to do the shopping. Somehow it felt that the amount of people in there completely exceeded any capacity the shop had. We were happy to get out of there and carry on to the last destination - Larrawa Station. It took another 150km of comfortable driving. The station is great, it is a working cattle station. Most of the staff are gone for a few weeks now mustering stock. We had a brief chat with Tammy who is a cook here (for the staff only) and it was quite interesting to hear the logistics of providing food to 10 mustering staff that are many kilometres away. They have their own meat - beef, pork and lamb and they also try to grow some vegetable that is a little challenging so they have to order vegetable and fruit from Halls Creek. She also said that they have quite a number of females who go to muster, they are all inexperienced but the station owners train them and employ them. What a great experience this must be, hard not doubt. We also had a great chat with campers next door - Scott and Kerry. Older couple from NSW who were very nice. Their son manages the radiology in Albany - world is small. They will stop by next time they are down south and they also invited us to their farm. Kerry used to be a nurse and Scott was a GP, so we had a few things in common.
    We now sit in front of the camper and just witnessed and amazing sunset. The sky above us is open with unobstructed views and the stars are already putting on a show. What a great country!    Okumaya devam et

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  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin

    Larrawa to Broome

    20 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Well today did not pan out as we imagined and from the tranquil environment we found ourselves in hell! … but let’s not jump to the end of the day…
    We had an interesting night as I have noticed while watching the stars that some ‘birds’ are flying in and out the tree on top of our camper. I thought it was bats but Kat re-assured me that it is owls… bullshit! Bloody bats they were - my nightmare coming through, they were circling around like crazy. I went for cover insides the camper but could hear them regardless. They liked the tree as it was flowering and it appeared they ate the flowers or sucked the nectar, I am not sure. All night we could hear things dropping on the roof of our camper and on the morning we found everything covered in yellow flower debris. We got up before 6am and went for the farm river walk. The sunrise was stunning and the walk was very nice too. The farm has over 6000 brahman cows and over 450km of fencing. Would not want to be ‘walking’ that fence line… We then packed up and got on the way to Fitzroy Crossing where we wanted to check out an art centre. The Fitzroy Crossing provision ‘bridge’ had significantly less water flowing than 3 weeks ago. The normal bridge was not finished yet but a lot of work has been completed since we passed it last time.
    To our disappointment the art gallery was closed, so we headed towards Derby where we wanted to visit the Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre. Well we faced another disappointment. Despite all the information confirming the Mowanjum Art centre is open on Saturday it was closed and so was everything in Derby. So we did a turn around, stopped to see the Boab Prison Tree and headed to Broome. The drive was smoothly going, we both drove today so really, no drama at all. We had a brief stopover in Willare where we booked ourselves into the Broome Caravan park. We made it here just after 5pm, were given concrete slab as a site so we changed it, set ourselves and were ready to sit back and relax. Little did we know that this place is next to a speedway club and the races are on tonight. The sound is so loud that we can hardly have a conversation… it is like million bees buzzing here. A bloody nightmare. Our friends Kim and Chris are still in Broome but they are in a different caravan park on Cable Beach so we will move there tomorrow morning. Phew… hope this race will finish soon as our bedtime is at 8pm these days…    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    1231

    Broome

    21 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    The decision to move the campground was made as the sound from last night was horrific and there was also a rather unpleasant smell lingering in the air coming from the toilet block.
    We headed to the town centre for a breakfast at the Green Mango Cafe, then strolled through the streets and visited the local market.
    We went to see the Cable Beach and neither Kat or myself could recognise the place. Re-booked ourselves into the RAC Cable Beach caravan park and proceeded with the move that was smooth until I was supposed to reverse into our spot… bloody tight! So the neighbour took a pity on us and jumped in the car to do the job. He may have stalled the engine a couple of times but he did it! Phew.

    We organised another catch up for tomorrow with Kim and Chris who will be leaving for Halls Creek and us to Anna Plains on Tuesday- so perfect timing.
    We spent time on Cable Beach, I went for a dip and then we watched the sunset. Dinner was planned for Matsos so we headed there, Kat tried all the chilli beers while I kept it uneventful with some lemon beer (very refreshing). It was a first evening since we left Albany that I wore pants and jumper!!!! Not happy! Hehehe…
    As we were sitting there, having a relax time, someone approached me and to my disbelief it was my Czech friend Havir who now lives in Albany but is up north for the army reserve training. What a coincidence! The funniest thing was that he is a big beer drinker but could not have any beer so he was drinking a coke while I for a change could have one. Hilarious 😂    Okumaya devam et

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  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    Someone ditched their office job 😂

    Broome Day 2

    22 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    The morning started with a nice walk on the Cable Beach, the tide was low so the sand bar was pretty wide.
    The initial plan was to see Coconut Well, Wille Creek and check out the town beach. We had to deviate from the plan as decision to visit a ED was made instead as Kat had UTI symptoms since El Questro that were not going away. No GP in this town was available for today or tomorrow so off we went to the public health system. Thee hours later we got the the antibiotics and proceeded with the initial plan. Coconut Well was only about 40km out of town but what a disappointment that was. It looked nothing like the photos to a point when we wondered if we are on the right spot. We had a quick lunch carefully observing our surroundings as there was a big sign on the way that the crocodiles were recently spotted in the area… did not want to be lunch for someone else… 🐊
    We decided to proceed to Willie Creek, we both were there before, but thought it would be nice to check it out again. The gravel road started well but changed into a very uncomfortable drive quickly. It was bad, much worse than going to the Bungle Bungles! So we pulled the pin on this little adventure and turned around.
    Headed into town to see the aboriginal art from salty woman - they print their designs onto materials. Very pretty and very very expensive.
    We met with Kim and Chris for dinner in the local tavern. It was very nice to see them again. They had an awesome time on their cruise and will be heading to Queensland today.
    We have been in touch with Helen from the Anna Plains Station - who allowed us to stay at the farm for two nights only because we are friends with Beth. Normally it is 3 nights minimum… so we will be leaving for there tomorrow mid morning. It is not that far from here. I have also heard back from the car dealer - the car is not ready! Supposedly, some part they ordered was faulty and they had to re-order it… he, of course wants us to pick it up then drive it back to be fixed… in his dreams… So that changes our plans for way back as we can avoid going via Perth.

    Also forgot to mention… it is getting cold here… at evening it is only 17 degrees!!!! 🥶    Okumaya devam et

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  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    Already adapted to Australian safety shoe wear 🤣1

    Broome to Anna Plains Station

    23 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    We had a nice start to the day with another walk on the Cable Beach. This time we went on the other side - it was nice, even the camels were there for the morning tourists who wanted to have a ride. Certainly the nights are getting colder and this morning it was only 13 degrees when we started our walk.
    After a quick breakfast we packed up our camper and off we went towards Anna Plains. Before leaving town we managed to buy another framed picture of an owl sitting on a boab tree. It is drawn on special paper that is handmade in the remote central desert from from grasses that are harvested by hand - spinifex, kangaroo, mulga woollybutt or kerosene grass. We also grabbed a new gas bottle as for most of the trip we were on the second one so one less thing to do once we are in Albany 😜
    The road to Anna Plains was boring, nothing much to see. I think we are now so spoilt that it will be difficult to please our eyes.. Anyway, about 250km later we arrived to Anna Plains. There was hardly any signage on the road except one small turn off sign. The gate said not to enter without prior booking, so I am glad I have contacted the place yesterday as ‘rocking up’ like for the other stations would not work.
    After about 10ish km on the sandy red road we arrived to the homestead. Mary, a lady in her 70s is in charge. Not only did she remind us a few times of how lucky we are to stay here, she also proceed to tell us where and how our camper should stand and also how we should park our car… I personally thought it was a bit rich… the site is $45 per night, she allocated us a spot between another caravan and the toilet block with no sunshade. I tried to suggest we drive in from the other side so our kitchen faces the nature instead of the road and other campers but that was quickly denied… so I have just informed her that we will be parking the car next to the camper as we will pull our awning out to get some shade. She was not impressed as she is very precious about the lawn…and obviously if the car stands on the lawn it will damage it…
    She has explained that about 6km from here is the beach, she said it is not a swimming beach and there were sightings of rather large shark, jelly fish and who know what else. She made sure to tell us clearly that we are NOT to take any shells 🐚 from the beach… got that…
    There is also a hot water tub somewhere the other way from the beach, about 5km. She explained how to fill the tub.
    There are also other DO NOTs including: proceeding past the pool, taking photos of any stock, driving on any other road except the once going to beach and hot tub, don’t park near leach drains - there were many more but by that point we just switched off 😇
    So we just vegetated this arvo, read the book, drunk beer, had a shower and made dinner.
    The sunset was impressive, the deep orange colour covered the horizon while the moon with Venus came up very brightly. Very nice. The sky will be impressive at night as there is an unobstructed view.
    Well, lets play some canasta as we only have a few evenings left.
    We are missing home and our doggies and are ready to come back. It brightens our days to get pictures of them all from their Albany pawrents who are spoiling them rotten 😊. I hope the dogs will want to come home with us… 🙃    Okumaya devam et

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  • Kat and SilvieKimberley 2023Gezgin
    2Shell icecream1

    Anna Plains Station

    24 Mayıs 2023, Avustralya ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Last night was the first night of our trip when I did not set an alarm. We decided it will be our last day of total relaxation before we hammer it back home -~2300km.
    Kat got up before 5am - it was pitch black and little chilly. I must admit that last night we pulled out winter puff jackets…
    I got up at 7am and started breaky duty. It was a lovely morning, we pre-planed our way home and although we were hoping to get there on SaturdayI don’t think we will make it. Let’s see how we go.
    We just sat around, reading books when Helen briefly arrived to introduce herself. She told us that they have 18000 cows on just under 1 million acres. They only have they Brahmans although they also tried wagyu. The Brahmans tolerate the weather conditions the best. They cows share the paddock with some beautiful wild horses and they also have a few wild donkeys and a camel. It was nice to hear that they just leave the wild horses and donkeys be. She said that her and her husband took the lease on the land in 2007 and before them it was her husband’s parents who run the station. All the cows are for live export to Indonesia… it was funny when we talked about the size of the land as she said that one of her paddocks could accommodate for the size of New York City - gosh it is hard to imagine.
    After she left we headed to the beach. It is only about 6km from here and even though I was a little nervous how I will drive over the sand dunes it was easy. The beach was something I personally have never seen in my life! It was magic! There was no end to it on either side. As per Mary’s instructions we were only allowed to go to our right so we did. Most of the campers were there already fishing from the beach. The water looked stunning, a little sandy at the beginning but then had azure colour, together with the blue sky we thought we are on some island 🏝. We went for a walk, the shells 🐚 were everywhere, all shapes, sizes and colours - some were huge and I had real difficulties not to smuggle them back home 😇. The Eastern European genes 🧬 were tested hahaha… thank goodness I had a west German with me otherwise the Ute would be loaded!
    We even found some shell ice creams! We talked with a few fisherman who confirmed it was mostly salmon they catch but there are also other fish swimming around - she mentioned sharks, mantarays, sea snakes etc. She said this is definitely not a swimming beach with is so surprising as it was so inviting…After the walk we pitched our beach tent and were just lying there, watching the water, reading our books, drinking beer…. Until Kat spotted something in the water quite far away from us. So there came out the binoculars and after some analysis we thought that it was a few pods of dolphins 🐬 jumping and playing around. She then said she saw something else in the water and sure enough just about not even half meter from the beach was a small shark! The fins were sticking out 😱.
    The tide was coming closer and closer so people started to pack up and the lady who we spoke a bit earlier offered us fresh fish. After admitting that we would not know what to do with it they offered to fillet it for us! - bloody good deal!
    We headed back to the camp, hovered around for a little then headlined to the Hot Tub that was about 5km away. There was no one and the water was running out to the bush - it comes from bore that is 120m deep. It was really warm, too warm to be bathing in it on the hot day but even if we would want to try it we could not remove the pipe to fill the old water tank. We also heard quite a bit of shooting nearby and as Helen told us the Traditional owners of the land come here for hunting, so I guess it was them…
    So we returned back to the camp and opted for a cold shower instead 😂. The fisherman lady also stopped by and gave us two fish fillets and some flour - she said it will be better to eat it tomorrow so we are keeping it for tomorrow’s dinner. Yummy….
    Decided to go back to the beach for the sunset. The road was interesting, cows and wallabies were everywhere so had to take it really easy. The beach was nothing like what we have seen this morning. The tide was so low that we could hardly see where the water started. I put the drone in the air and flew it towards the water, it was 1.2km far away! The sunset was very hazy, it seemed like there must have been some fire. The colour was deep orange. The beach was totally deserted, we were the only people in this little paradise.
    Kat just served some delicious dinner, I’m having a glass of red and Kat is ‘enjoying’ her cup of tea that I made her with love ❤️
    We will pack up soon so we can have a smooth take off tomorrow morning.    Okumaya devam et

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