Fitzroy Crossing and beyond

We had a weird nights sleep last night, as the picturesque water tank we camped under had over flowed, and rained down aaaall night. It was like camping right next to a waterfall. Tranquil, but makes for more trips to the toilet than normal in the night. Then, Centine decided to sleep until 6:30 - threw us right off!

A cooked breakfast in one of the fanciest outback cafes we have seen, before we packed everything down, filled every water tank we could, and headed for the outback.

A relatively short drive later, we stopped at Ellendale rest area - the station with the mine Wiebe first worked at when working in WA. Lots of small friendly birds around. In fact, birds were in abundance all day, including narrowly missing an enormous eagle taking off across the road.

Stopped at Fitzroy Crossing for lunch and fuel, noting the starkly different vibe either side of the bridge - on the west was the badlands, filled with beaten up cars and infrastructure (the fuel pumps are armoured here), and lots of graffiti. The east, and specifically ’the lodge’ is closer to an African expat camp in feel - a working pub overlooking the bridge rebuilding, beer on tap (Fitzroy Crossing is otherwise a ‘dry’ town, with no alcohol sale permitted at all), and lots of green grass. Turns out, it really is greener on the other side.

Further onward to arrive at Mimbi caves campsite. Zero reception of any kind here, so this update will be ‘late’.

Someone has also started standing on her own…

We will go have a look at the caves themselves tomorrow, but for now we will call it a night, bracing ourselves for a 9 year old in the morning…!Read more