Fitzroy Crossing - Derby

We have seen two caravans roll-overs since we have been on the Highway.  This is the result of one of them.  The rest of the van was strewn along the roadside, nothing left of value.   We came across another one where it seems the caravan had also taken out a backpackers van, as the caravan, tow vehicle and little van were all smashed on the side of the road.   Noone seemed to have been hurt in either of these two instances.   There wasnt a great deal to see or do in Fitzroy Crossing, just the Geike Gorge cruise.  We opted for the 8a.m. cruise which is for 1 hr.  Have to admit it was just beautiful.   (Thanks Grant).  The rock formations here were totally different again to anything we had seen before.  Highly recommend this one.  Will add pics in next blog.   Then we detoured to Derby.  Sounded like a really nice place - lots to see and do.  We were wrong.  Not much here either.   Visited the "touristy" things but nothing exciting.

This was as excited as I got.  Our neice Tantri who is of Balinese/German/Russian heritage is studying to be a hairdresser.  When I saw this Salon in her name I had to snap the pictures.

A visit to the old Derby gaol was humbling.  To read the stories of the aboriginals - around 200 of them were locked up here over the years mostly for stealing cattle.   These "natives" were chained - neck to waist to legs and often marched 24 to 48 kms each day to serve their time in the gaol.  Corrugated iron and bars - bolts in the floor that they were chained to.   No shelter from the heat or the cold.   They wouldnt have understood our language or the fact that what they were doing was wrong.   When you read how they were so badly treated it makes you feel very sad.    The boab tree is called the prison tree.  Sometimes it was used for sheltering the prisoners, or just as a rest stop on the way to the gaol. I must admit that the stories we have read of the early settlement of Australia and the treatment of the aboriginal men, women and children are truly sad.  It was done in their best interests under circumstances that we thought were right, but are so wrong in todays world.       But then on the other hand, witnessing the people today, I sometimes think - Why isnt someone intervening in these families , when you see little kids, dirty and unkempt living in parks etc. 

Pics

The local bulls/cows dont mind sharing the campgrounds with us Im sure they love having their pics taken as they happily wander around the camps and chew on the grass.   The lovely bull below, just wandered in as we were having happy hour.  We were camped up on the Ord River and he came up from the river to check us all out.

This is a park in Wyndham.  We were looking forward to visiting this town.  Had planned to stay overnight at a free camp and spend the day here.  Arrived at 10 and were out of there by 12.  No way would we leave our bus here unattended, it was dirty and disgusting, nothing to see, the tourist brochures were quite descriptive of an old historic port etc etc.  but it was a nothing less than horrid.    Bordered up/smashed/trashed houses, vehicles etc.  This park was dedicated to the Aboriginal ancestry of the town, the signs were all broken, the weeds had overtaken the "park", the billabong was dried up, the bridges and paths overtaken by weed and trash, the statues, covered in paint and there were at least 3 aboriginal families strewn over the park, obviously living in the mess.   An aboriginal lady offered me a carved Boab seed pod for $30.  She had encouraged her 12 y.o. to carve it.  He needed to earn cash to support them. Further questioning of her, she had been thrown out of her community and now lived in the park, she told me she was much happier not having a house as she beleived it was best for her kids to be bought up with nature, here in the park.!!!!!!!   What hope does these kids have?   Anyway we decided this town wasnt for us and headed off down the Highway.   Quite disgusted with the Council for allowing such vandalism.

These are all pics from our trip down the Ord River.  You can see the beauty of the rock formations that are everywhere here in this part of W.A.    We then headed down towards the Bungle Bungles.   The MUST DO of this region.  We werent keen to drive in and see them by car.   You just cant see and appreciate them from the ground. But if you wanted to see them that way, then you really need to spend 2-3 days in the Park.  Its very much a 4WD high clearance drive in and around the Nat.Park.    None of us wanted to do it.  The alternative was to do a flight over them.  It was pricey and the budget just wasnt going to keep stretching, so we will save it for another time.   A quick visit to Halls Creek was next, fuelled up, checked out the Tourist Info, decided there was nothing there to see and kept going.  Now parked up at Fitzroy Crossing.  Off to Geike Gorge tomorrow for a cruise thru the Gorge.  Should be lovely, quite possibly the end of our gorges.  We have seen so many, all of them different and almost all of them beautiful.

The road from Kununurra to here, has been extremely boring.  Very little to see, much greener than the N.T. but towns/stops are few and far between.  Need to be very mindful of your fuel etc.  The only saving grace is every now and then you come across a magnificent mountain range, mostly rock, but the colors are stunning, reds, browns, blacks,trees and tufts of bright green grass scattered thru them.  Makes the long expanses of flat highway worth it when these turn up.

Kununurra

This is the view from our bus at the caravan park.  Parked up on green grass, have a lawn in front of us leading down to the lagoon, lots of birds and one very small freshwater croc.  Whilst we sit at the waters edge having happy hour he watches us, taking great pleasure in the waves of the fishing boats and cruise boats returning at sunset and giving him a roller coaster ride.  We go down at dark and shine the torch on him, whilst we have been told there are more in the lagoon he is the only one we can find.

 We spent 4 days in the caravan park at Kununura, a lovely spot by the waters edge, no complaints here.  The town is clean and tidy, lots of water here so everything is green.  Visited the small nature park here and saw some lovely rock formations.  Went out to the Hootchery Disillery, the oldest legal still in W.A.  Rum and liqueurs brewed here.  3 tastings for $5, as they start at 36% proof and go up to 75% it can be dangerous to try too many.   The chocolate/coffee/liqueur was my favourite but at $46 a bottle decided to give it a miss. Next stop was Mt. Romance, the sandalwood factory.    The products, from make up to skin care to insect repellant types were on display, to try and to buy.   This Company is the worlds largest single supplier of natural Indian sandalwood.  This is a huge project here in Kununurra, lots of big $$ invested, the plantations are everywhere, have been growing since 1997 and still have a few more years before the first harvest can be done.  Divided opinion as to whether its good for the town as it has eaten up a great deal of the land set aside for agriculture/food production and pushed the price of land up thru the roof.   The Ord river scheme provides a constant water supply and this town was going to be Australias Food Bowl of the future.  The Federal Govt own vast tracts of land and arent giving it up as easily as the food producers would like.

This is the dam at the Lower Ord River.  This water flowing out of here goes straight out, eventually to the Timor Sea.  They release, at the moment, 70,000 Litres of fresh water PER SECOND here.   Lake Argyle holds enough water to cover 22 Sydney Harbors and is full all the time, the water release is continual, being released into Lake Kununurra and then out into the Lower Order River.   It is an amazing thing to think there is so much water that they simply dont need it.   We took a cruise on both Lake Argyle and the Ord River, it was a full day, starting at 8 and finishing at sunset.   It was something we were so glad we did and is a MUST DO for anyone coming this way.   Impressive and beautiful.    Everywhere we drive its been dry and dusty and then you drive out thru the town and all you see is fields of green crops, a lovely site. 

Katherine NT to Kununurra WA

What a nice sight to see, the last time we saw a sign like this was in 1970.

We arrived in Katherine for the day to fill up with fuel, water, groceries, wash the car and bus and buy grog.  Of course, once again, we had to wait till 2.15 to buy alcohol, Woollies have stopped selling cask wine, so had to go to the bottle shop, almost double the price for a cask and only permitted to buy 1 cask per day.  They scan your licence, so you cant go back and buy another later that same day!!!!   Then off to WA,  Two roadside campstops, the roadsides so much nicer than anything we had seen before.  Not much to see or do between Katherine & WA, but the Gregory National Park rock formations and the Victoria River that runs thru it were stunning.   Cooked up all our fruit & vege before we went thru quarantine on the border and then we were in WA.

This is a boab tree, such a beautiful tree scattered thru both NT and WA.  It has leaves & flowers during the wet season but although it looks dead now it is alive and thriving.  Some of these are massive.    This was discovered by Lt.Gregory and is in the Gregory Nat Park.  His name, date and details are carved in this tree, where there was a small settlement on the Victoria River at Timber Creek NT.

We were going to free camp once we got to Kununurra but wasnt happy with where the camp was so have found ourselves a caravan park to go to.  Booked for 1 night, now staying 4.   The caravan parks here are chockers most days, most wont take bookings, you just line up and wait for someone to leave in the mornings and then you get their spot.  Even the Showgrounds that take only big rigs or those with pets is full.   Kununurra itself is a lovely town and we really liked the look of it.    But everything is closed, apart from Coles on Sundays, even all the touristy/souvineer type shops. Aboriginals here are as badly off as the other places we have come across.   Lots just aimlessly wandering around, houses, cars trashed, lots just living/camping just on the towns edges.

Pussy Cat Flats Racecourse & Golf Club

The first green on the 9 hole course in the foreground.  We are parked up on the actual raccourse section itself.

Termite mound at the rails

We are now camped up at Pussy Cat Flats, this is the local racecourse with both a rodeo ring and 9 hole golf course all combined.  The bar is an open corrugated shed, wire grills all around, the bar is only allowed to open after 4pm for service.   Where else could you see a termite mound built around the rail fence at the 1000M mark.   Lots of caravans and motorhomes here as it is very cheap.   This place got its name as it was the home of a large contingent of armed service personnel and just up the road was a large community of aboriginals.  The servicemen would like to visit the camp for some "R & R" with the local girls.   Heading off from here to Katherine 90kms down the road, then we will start to head towards the West.

The Goldfields

The bus after 20kms of dirt road, the hotel across the road.  All corrugated iron, with the cobwebs and dust holding it together I reckon.

The Grove Hill Hotel

We decided to take a detour on our way down and do some of the old Goldfields Loop.   22kms in on dirt was the historic and heritage listed Grove Hill Hotel - what a dump.  It was so bad we didnt even stop for a cold drink, opting to eat our lunch on the other side of the road next to a railway siding.   The lady behind the bar was a grump and wanted $20 per night to camp in her back yard amongst the junk!!!!!.  We had previously thought we'd perhaps buy a meal, a beer and camp out there.   Its also a museum, full of rubbish, signs everywhere "do not touch" but you wouldnt touch it anyway it was so putrid.   We've been told the hotel is up for sale for $760,000.  It is "heritage listed".

All the old cars in the photos are part of the camp grounds so you can imagine its not that flash.   If you want something to eat here, you apparently have to ring the day before and order it.   Plenty of people stopping to look, probably 10 cars stopped whilst we were eating lunch, saw no one buy a drink etc.

Then the boys took off for the day with the metal detector to do some of the old abandoned gold mines along this road.  It is 81km long all dirt and corrugations.  Needless to say they came back empty handed, It would have helped if they had remembered to take the map of the gold mine sites with them.

Heading South

This Indian family had come from Darwin for the Hot Springs.  Religion forbids them to be undressed (as in bathers) in front of each other and us.  So they all got in in their clothes and saris.

We are now heading down from Darwin to Katherine.  From Katherine we will make our way across to the W.A. Border.   We camped up for the night at Douglas Hot Springs.  This is a very popular place, especially for families on the long weekend.   The river itself is very unattractive.  In fact, it had only been opened to the public for two weeks when we arrived.  The water had been too high and a few freshwater crocs.  There was at least one here when we were in the water but we didnt spot him.  They stay away from you if they can.   You wonder whats all the fuss about this place?   But then you enter the water.  There is very hot water bubbling out of the sand - in some places the water is almost scalding as you cross, some waterpools are hotter than hot and then the river runs cold.   The two extremes then meet and if you sit just in the right spot, you can enjoy a hot bath, a warm bath and cold bath, all without moving a muscle.   It is the craziest sensation and we ended up sitting in the river for more than 3 1/ hrs. having happy hour drinks because we were there and felt it appropriate.   We wanted to visit Butterfly Gorge here but the road has been closed all year because it is still too wet and wont be open until some time this month.  Next time for that one.

We then took a drive out to one of the World War 2 airstrips that dot this region.  Here is the "graveyard" for many of the bombers that were bombed on the airfield by the Japanese or suffered damage during their flights.   Sadly, most of the significant aircraft were removed by scrap dealers and of course souvineer hunters over the years since the war.  But it was very interesting to just see the size of the runway and imagine how important this place would have been in the defence of Darwin by both the Aust and USA Air Forces bk in 1942.  This is us in formation on  7,200 ft long runway