14th September, 2014

Bright and early start to this morning to try and beat the heat again, 5:15 rise and shine, well for me anyway. We had breakfast and were on the trail by 7:00. This mornings walk took us along the Piccaninny Creek to Whipsnake Gorge with stop offs at Piccaninny Lookout and The Window.

When you walk you actually walk inside the creek, there is obviously no water left in it at this time of the year. You walk on sand, pebbles, small rocks and slabs of rock. The amount of erosion in the slabs of rock shows just how hard and fast the water must flow through here in the wet. Being out so early in the morning allowed us to see the Bungle Bungle in all it's glory (we could have been out earlier really), the sunlight is not as harsh, allowing contrasts in the rocks and trees and shadows to show up and still be visible. Not sure my photos will actually reflect that.

The Piccaninny Lookout allowed views across plains toward more of the Bungle Bungle and then back up the valley from where you had just walked.

The Window was, from our perspective, a non event. It was a piece of the Bungle Bungle with a hole in the middle of it, giving it the appearance of a window, if you were tall enough to look through it, maybe 9 foot tall.

Whipsnake Gorge was a magnificent deep gorge, you follow another creek bed up between two cliffs until you reach the end, where you are basically encompassed by the orange/red coloured stone of the Bungle Bungle. There were lots of dead Cane Toads in there and a couple of dried up water holes. In a way it was a smaller, less enclosed version of Cathedral Gorge.

The walk back retraced our steps to the car park, minus the lookout and the window.

When we started our walk it was 21 degrees on the cars gauge, we covered about 11 kilometres and when we got back it was 34 degrees at 10:00, good weight loss program.

Tomorrow we head south to Wolfe Creek Crater and then along the Tanami back to Alice Springs and then home by Friday week, the 26th of September, ready to start work on Monday the 28th, hooray.

Couple of stats before we head home.

Kilometres travelled - 11232

Average - 144 km per day

Average L/100 km - 19.87

Total Fuel Cost - $4179.69 or $53.59 per day

Average Price per Litre - $1.846 - Premium whenever we could get it

2265 Litres

Other expenditure - $9920 at $125.57 per day

Total nights - 77

13th September, 2014

Well after a very hot night, about 25 degrees, we awoke bright and early because all the windows in the tent were open and letting the sunlight in at 5:00 am. After breakfast we headed out to the Picanniny Car Park. It was a spectacular drive to the car park, with the Bungle Bungle domes appearing for the first time. We stopped to take a number of photographs along the way before coming to a stop at the end of the road. 

We walked the 'Domes' and 'Cathedral Gorge' and were amazed by new scenery at every turn. When we got to Cathedral Gorge there were a number of other people there but they slowly drifted off. When there were about half a dozen people left I convinced Alyssa to sing the song  'Somewhere over the Rainbow.' The acoustics in the gorge are fantastic, it's like a natural amphitheatre. You may remember the gorge from the Qantas ad in which the Australian Childrens Choir were singing 'Still call Australia home.' At the end the people that were left in the gorge gave her a round of applause. Later in the day we saw them again and they told her she would be famous, it must have sounded good. In the end we were the only people there and Alyssa sang it again, without an audience.

Anyway after that walk we headed back to camp for a quick snack before driving up to Echidna Chasm. The walk into the Chasm starts on a rocky creek bed before entering a narrow gorge. The gorge is 180 metres tall and made up of conglomerate, it slowly narrows and at one point it is about 800mm wide at the top. Obviously it doesn't let a whole lot if light into it, so good photos were pretty hard to achieve. Again we managed to have the chasm all to ourselves for 5 minutes or so, we are very lucky but it is late in the season. We visited a few lookouts on the way back to camp. 

Once back at camp we had cold showers to cool off in the stifling heat. 

At sunset we went up to a sunset viewing area with Dave and Linda and enjoyed a beverage or two with some snacks. The pictures aren't very good, there was too much foreground. 

12th September, 2014

Well our earliest pack up day for the trip today, finally getting it together, we were away by 7:30. On the way out of the park we saw Bob cutting his Boab nuts out of a Boab tree with a big stick with a knife attached to the end.

We stopped at Halls Creek for a quick lunch at the Bakery and then continued on to the Bungle Bungle turn off. After airing down we continued on along the very scenic 52 kilometre drive, which reminded Clare and I of the drive into the Bunyeroo Valley in the Flindes Ranges.

After setting up camp in the 38 degree heat we just sat around trying to keep cool, the walks can wait until tomorrow and Sunday. Dave and Linda came over for a pre dinner drink this afternoon, I think we will be sharing each other's company back down and across the Tanami, it would be nice to have a little reassurance out there.

11th September, 2014

This morning we were up bright and early, aware of the fact that it was going to be 40 degrees and we wanted to do a 3 k walk at Geike Gorge. We didn't get away as early as Clare would have liked but we left camp at around 7:30. On the way to the start of the walk we came across two Brolgas crossing the road. Clare was very excited, she had wanted to see them all trip and now she had. They are a very big stalk like bird and when they flew off their wing span was huge.

We started walking at about 8:00. The walk follows the western side of the gorge, sticking closely to the Devonian Reef and then ends when the river meets that side of the gorge. We then walked back along the sand, hugging the river bank. The colours in the gorge are amazing and they contrast the deep green of the water beautifully. You can go on a boat cruise but our funds have really dried up so the walk had to suffice. We did manage to see a freshwater croc and plenty of fish in the water.

On the way back through town we stopped off at the Old Fitzroy Inn. As we were walking in to have a look at the Art Gallery that now forms part of the Inn, we were welcomed by an old Aboriginal Fella, Bob. He was sitting on a chair under a big Boab tree and showed us a Boab nut he had just carved/ etched a drawing into. He was using a butter knife with a bit of clear tape wrapped around the handle, he tells us he sharpens it on the concrete, to etch his drawings into the nuts. We purchased one off him which he had etched a couple of Kangaroos, a Goanna and a Turtle into, for $25 and we also asked if we could take his photo so we could remember who had carved it, he obliged. In the Art Gallery the same thing was $40, Bob was onto something sitting there. While we were there we saw three Brolgas drinking in a puddle in the Fitzroy River.

From there we headed to the Dr Sawfish Glass Blowing Factory. We met Dr. Sawfish and Trent wanted to buy one of his hand crafted marbles. Trent had been trying to decide which one to get and had two he would have liked. He choose one and bugger me dead if the bloke didn't throw him in the other one he liked and few stickers for nothing extra. Not sure how Trent keeps getting freebies but he keeps winning.

Then we went back to camp and swam on and off all afternoon before heading up to the pub for another drink with a couple we have met from Sydney, Dave and Linda. The kids amused themselves for the hour at the campsite. 

10th September, 2014

Not a lot to report today for those of you following our trip. We left Broome just before 8:30 and drove to Fitzroy Crossing. Apart from some bridges over a few rivers, Boab trees and some wandering stock, there wasn't much to see, not even any photos.

When we got to camp at the Fitzroy River Lodge it was a balmy 38 degrees, a very dry heat as opposed to the humidity of Broome. We found a piece of shade, set up, went for a swim in the pool and then Clare and I went up to the bar for a drink. All the way out here they have Little Creatures Pale Ale on tap, how could I resist, Clare had a cocktail.

9th September, 2014

 This morning Clare, Trent and I made the short walk over to Cable Beach to have a swim, while Alyssa stayed behind to do some homework. When we got there we noted on the Surf Life Saving Club sign it said there were Jellies in the water that produce a mild sting. We thought we would risk it anyway and went for a swim.  It was high tide and the water was pretty rough by Cable Beach standards. Trent and I both got stung, it was a bit like being stung by a March Fly, only the sting continues a bit longer. The jellyfish were Tomatoe Jellies. 

We didn't stay too long and headed back to the van park for a swim in the pool - hard to take, I know. 

After our swim we went and stocked up in groceries for the next 10 days or so.

Then we headed off to Town Beach where they had markets on before the Stairway to the Moon.

It was amazing to see how many people turned up to watch the moon rise and shine it's light over the sand flats, producing the stairway. It was as if half of Broome was there, they really make something big of it. No photos sorry, the iPhone wasn't up to it. You will just have to take my word for it that it was worth staying the extra nights in Broome to see it.

8th September, 2014

This morning we decided to go and try our luck fishing at the Broome Jetty again, this time we were armed with some bait instead of lures and poppers. I had a bite pretty quickly but it didn't stick and then nothing for the next hour or so, when I needed to go to the toilet, so I left Clare in charge of my fishing rod. No sooner had I got to the end of the jetty, did Clare get a big hook up. She tried to pull it up and it bit off my 50 pound trace. From wat they described it was probably a big Trevally or a Queenie. Nothing else for the rest of our time there but only one other bloke caught a fish.

We returned for lunch and a swim in the pool and then at low tide headed down to Gathumen Point to find the dinosaur footprints. It has to be a very low tide and this was the first time we could view them while we have been in Broome. Last time (2003) there was one other family there, this time it was busier than a Bourke Street, Myer window viewing on Christmas Eve. No problems finding them with all those people there. 

Then we drove home the back way along the beach road back to the Port.