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We were awake early so after our normal read in bed before getting up we decided to get up and make an early start on the day. We were on the road by 9.00am. We had a 3 hour and 47 minutes trip ahead of us, we usually don’t go much over 2 and a half hours but there isn’t anything in between Kununurra and Halls Creek so we didn’t have any choice. Our main concern was filling up with fuel on the way because we knew we couldn’t go that distance without topping up. We had googled fuel stops on the way and there were two, one at Doon Doon and then another at Warnum, so we planned to call into both to make sure we didn’t run out. This didn’t quite work out as planned, we called into Doon Doon and topped up but Warnum was one of the unmanned sites which we don’t really like using, we had enough to make the remainder of the trip to Halls Creek so we continued on our way. We wanted to stay hitched up at Halls Creek and there were a couple of things I wanted to look at while we were there so we decided to do this before checking in. The first one was the China Wall which is a vertical 6-metre-high wall of quartz that is about 15 kms long, it is quite startling to see especially as the backdrop of hills are all the beautiful red hills of the Kimberley. Next, we visited the cemetery to take a photo of a grave for a friend but unfortunately, we couldn’t find the grave and we were limited with how far we could walk over the cemetery as there was a large funeral happening at the time. We needed fuel for the next day so we thought we would get that now so that we are ready to take off in the morning. Last time we were at this service station to get fuel, about four years ago, it was quite a daunting situation and we both felt threatened by some of the locals stalking around our car, needless to say we decided not to stay in Halls Creek and did the extra drive onto Fitzroy Crossing, this time we have decided to stay as we don’t want to do the extra drive. We had read all the reviews on this park and it runs a close second to Elliott as being somewhere to avoid. A couple of the reviews said their vans were damaged by locals throwing rocks from the fence line but then some of the reviews said they had a quiet night in the park. When you book in you are told not to park too close to the fence so I gather there is some truth in the reviews. There are about 15 of us in the park and we are all parked in the middle section and all side by side, hopefully we can avoid any problems. You are also told to make sure you don’t leave anything lying around outside and that you lock the van and not to leave your car keys lying around. We will be glad to move on in the morning.
It wasn't as long a trip today as yesterday but we didn't have any fuel stops in between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing so we were a bit nervous about fuel consumption, we drove at a steady 95KPH and arrived with 90 kms still left in the tank, we usually find in the situation where there is an extra long drive between stops there is a fuel stop half way to top up at, this drive was in the range of an average tank so there is probably not the need for a stop on the way. There were many beautiful rock formations on this drive and I love how the landscape is constantly changing. At one stage we were following another Olympic van I will enquire tonight on the site if it is someone in the Olympic group. We saw quite a few eagles on the other side of the road and when the kites flew off when the car approached the eagles just sat there staring, however, I could not get a really good photo of any of them and the only shot I managed to get was an eagle in full flight which I would have been more than happy with but I had to snap quickly before he flew away and I didn't get a chance to focus properly, maybe we will see more tomorrow. We arrived at the caravan park we stayed at last time we were here and went to book in before driving into town for fuel, we had booked a drive through site so that we didn't have to unhitch for the night, this costs $10 extra but is worth every penny to us. So far this has been the most expensive stop on our trip at $60PN. Once again when we registered we were warned not to leave anything of value outside the van and to make sure our car and van were locked up for the night. They also have the issue of people entering vans to get the car keys and then stealing the cars, I figure if we are hitched up then they are not going to take the car because they would be stuck with two old people and nobody wants that.
Well what a night we had in Fitzroy Crossing, we parked our van in a drive through site and it didn't take us long to set up. We didn't bother getting the Weber out and decided to use the oven and stove top for dinner. We sat outside until the sun went down and then went inside for dinner. When we went in we took in the table and chairs and packed them in the door entry area out of our way, we made sure the car was locked up and we moved the car keys away from the door. We had dinner and we were both in bed by 10.30pm. Around 11.30pm I was woken up with screaming somewhere in the park, it sounded like two, maybe three girls and then there was a male yelling at them, it went on for about 5 minutes and then we heard two or three cars screeching down the highway. We expected to see police tape around the entrance to the park when we left in the morning. It unsettled me so I went out to make sure the car was locked and then went back to bed but it took a while to drop off. it was a shame because when we first set up I was feeling quite confident about being here. It was nice to be on the road in the morning heading towards Derby and our four night stay. The main reason we went to Derby was to take a tour to Horizontal Falls but unfortunately they are booked out and the first booking we can get is on the 9 August from Broome but we don't really want to be here that long so I think we might skip this tour this time and try to do it at another time. We had visited the Information Centre to find out about Horizontal Falls and I am sorry to comment that we didn't feel that confident with the information or the help we received, the first time ever in and Information Centre. I will follow it up myself tomorrow to see if we can put our names down on a waiting list. There is not a lot to do in Derby and we have four nights here so now I am feeling like we are wasting a bit of time but we sat down and worked out plans for tomorrow and the next day so it might not be all bad. While se were sitting here this afternoon we had this beautiful visitor to camp, I love the wildlife happily wandering around through the parks.
Just to shift away from travel at the moment we have a gardener and a housekeeper looking after our property while we are away and we also have our son who does regular visits to our house to make sure everything is ok. we received a call on the weekend from Daniel to say there had been bad storms down home and because we live on a sand dune when the wind is high everywhere else it is really high at our place. The wind was so strong that it had blown our outdoor setting off the deck and down towards our garage, slamming into our garage door and knocking it out of it's rails. Daniel and our granddaughter recovered the couch, poor Gracie was almost blown down the street while trying to recover it, there is a bit of damage to the couch and the garage door took quite a beating. Just the news you want while away but we are thankful to have our son looking after the place while we are so far away.
I received a message from a friend in our caravan group to say to give him a call about Horizontal Falls so I did that first thing this morning and he is booked in for a half day tour to the falls and he thinks there are still vacancies for that tour. I researched the site and he was correct so I booked this tour for the 6 August, this lifted our mood a bit as this is one of the trips we had planned from the start of our holiday. Now all we need to do is find accommodation in Broome which won't be easy to do. I left a message with the park where our friend is staying because they have an overflow section which has water and power, we would be more than happy with a site there. I heard back from the park and we will need to be there by 8.30am because that is how quickly the overflow sites go, we will need to leave here at 5.00am to make sure we are there in time. If we don't get in there we have another couple of options and if the worst comes to the worst we will need to free camp until we can get a spot, however, this will make it a bit difficult with our arrangements for the Horizontal Falls tour. I had tried all the other parks in Broome and they are all full, there are a few outside town and also the Pistol Club has limited spots. We didn't really want to stay in Broome that long because there really isn't a lot to do there but we will just have to do that. When everything is organised we take our map of Derby which has a list of points of interest and drive around town sightseeing. Our first stop is the Old Derby Gaol from 1906. This is a very basic gaol that would be better described as two large cages, it would have been pretty horrible been locked up in here and from what we read on the interpretive boards they were mainly used to temporarily house Aboriginal people on their way to permanent gaol's or missionary centres. They were intended to hold 30 people but more often than not help 100, there wasn't any protection from the elements so when the weather was bad they would all crowd in one corner together to try to keep warm, sometimes the people would be held here for months. The cells have quite an horrific history. From here we drove down to the Jetty and had a walk along here, the tide was just coming in and moving quite fast, there were a few people fishing and talking to one they catch a variety of fish here. Coming back from the jetty we stopped off at the Old Woolshed and the Pavilion with the mosaic floor. Back in the car and driving to the Boab Prison Tree which is a huge Boab which has a spiritual significance to the Aboriginal people and also a history where it was used as a stop off point when transporting Aboriginal prisoners. The Boab is 14.7 mts circumferance and is thought to be 1500 years old, there is an opening at the front which looks like a hole in the tree and it is completely hollow inside, there is a fence surrounding the tree because of the Aboriginal significance you cannot walk around the tree and stomp down the soil around the roots. Our next stop is our last stop, the Pioneer Cemetery where we had a good look around, the cemetery is in really bad repair and doesn't look like it has had any maintenance for years.
I have a story for today, not a successful story but you have to work with what you've got. Robb had suggested that we take a drive to Windjana National Park and Tunnel Creek which is down the Gibb River Road. I researched the road and had read that the road up to Windjana was ok and before you came to the worst of the Gibb River Road, we would have had to drive the extra 30+kms to Tunnel Creek but we thought we could cope with that. It was 148kms to Windjana so we headed off with our coffees in hand and the roads on the first part were excellent, there were road works at one point but they we still ok to drive on. We were feeling pretty confident by the time we turned off towards Fitzroy Crossing where we only had 20+kms to go and then we hit the gravel, we probably drove about 1km down this road before having the bejesus shaken out of us and turning around. We were both really keen to visit here but will now put it on the list for next time we are in the area. There wasn't anything else we wanted to do so we drove back to camp stopping off at the Information Centre to see if there is anything we can do tomorrow.
We spent part of our last day in Derby trying to organise accommodation in Broome without much luck but to have any possibilities at all of getting in somewhere, and it will probably only be an overflow site, we need to leave Derby at 5.00am. We are happy to do this to be able to secure a spot because we have booked our Horizontal Falls Tour for next Friday and that leaves from Broome at 5.30am. We also did a bit of shopping and then filled the car with fuel because we are leaving so early in the morning. Robb and I have a bit of an affliction in that if we know we have to get up too early in the morning we don't manage to sleep that night and this night was no exception. By 3.30 we were both over trying to get to sleep so we sat up in bed reading until 4.30am and then we got up and dressed and packed up to move on, we had hitched up the night before so it didn't take us long to get moving.
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