Day 43 (22 June) – Pardoo to Broome (Broome Caravan Park) (A beautiful morning BUT VERY WINDY which fortunately dropped as we approached Broome – up to 31o during the day – 508 km)
We left just after 08:00 and travelled 14 km along the gravel road to the highway then headed North to the Pardoo Roadhouse where we refuelled hoping to make the Roebuck Roadhouse at the intersection of The Great Northern Highway and Broome Highway.
The wind was throwing us around and, I think, adding to the fuel consumption so we stopped at a quaint roadhouse, Sandfire, and refuelled before continuing.
It was a fairly uneventful drive up the highway with a couple of stops to check things and to remove the Jimny A-frame skirt and fully inflate the tyres.
We arrived at the Broome Caravan Park, checked in, set up and then I downloaded more of Jaz’s photos and took screen shots from the videos I took on the whaleshark trip.
We decided to go to the Tourist Centre to find out what’s worth seeing, found it closed so drove around just looking at the area.
We found a really nice brewery restaurant, Matso’s Broome Brewery, where we had a great meal, so good that we, atypically, stayed for coffee and dessert.
Day 44 (23 June) – Broome (Another beautiful morning – up to 28o during the day)
Updating the blog first.
One of the park workers had to remove a fruit bat using a rake. I asked him if there were lots around and he replied that this one was on its way to the local chinese restaurant. (Then he mentioned COVID, Chinese and bats …. )
We went to Bunnings to get some items then to the Visitor Centre. The Visitor Centr is the only one I’ve been to where you had to wait in a queue for around 10 minutes to be served – so many people wanting information and advice. A coffee and brownie (and breakfast wrap for me) at the Dragonfly Cafe then we went looking for Cable Beach. It wasn’t easy to find as a number of the roads are being maintained around Cable Beach. After travelling along the back blocks, we finally arrived at the beach where we had coffees, then Lyn had a swim.
Then, South to the lighthouse end of the peninsula where we walked out to the end of Cable Beach and Grantheaume Point. Magnificent views back along the beach (where we could see 4WD vehicles on the shoreline) and fascinating rock formations.
Back to the motorhome for laundry and repairs to the A-frame wiring.
We met, and had a long talk, with Gary who, with Annie, were travelling. They were farmers from Echuca and have sold the livestock and now are touring the countryside. They need to be back for the paspalum season in September, then they will be off again next year.
We had a great call from the girls again. Wren had been to kinder and Luna had been in day care. It’s always good to chat with them.
Dinner at Spinifex in Cable Beach. It is a really nice venue and we had great meals. As we were having dinner the camel trains for the sunset ride went past. We decided to book a late afternoon ride down Cable Beach on Wednesday as the sunset rides were fully booked for several days out.
Back to the motorhome where I approved a Camplify booking for Elsie for 5 weeks over Christmas and then we booked in a game of golf at Broome Golf Club the following day.
Day 45 (24 June) – Broome (Another beautiful morning, quite cool though and very windy. The weather bureau said 15o but feels like 10o – up to 27o during the day)
Updating the blog after a thorough reboot of my computer. It has been doing some funny things lately and was very slow last night with a few things not working (icons not populating, file explorer not loading, etc).
We went to the golf club and played 18 holes – a well kept course although the greens were a bit furry and slow. Only a couple of roos (one is hopping away in the background of the next photo).
A really nice clubhouse though with great views both over the port and the course.
On the way back we visited the port boat ramp, then back into town for coffee at The Dragonfly Cafe.
Back to the Tourist Park where Lyn had a swim in their great pool.
And finally. dinner at Johnny Sausage at The Mangrove Hotel. A fantastic meal – the main course was so tender – Tooth Fish. A little slow on getting our drinks though.
Day 46 (25 June) – Broome* (Another beautiful morning, quite cool though and quite windy – up to 28o during the day)
I tried to find a high pressure air blower to clean our equipment. I didn’t want to use water as that wouldn’t be good for the bikes. We have the air compressor to inflate the tyres but there isn’t a device that connects to it, fills a small reservoir then releases a jet of air – I think that’s a potential gap in the market. We had coffee in town at the Dragonfly Cafe again.
Then off for a trip to the Broome Bird Observatory. The road was definitely for 4WD at stages. Around 32 km from Broome, we arrived had a chat with the guy manning the desk then went out and visited some of the sites he recommended. There may be up to 50,000 birds but, as this is the off season, only a few thousand and in out of the way places. Some photos below.
We came back to the camp for lunch then off to find the camels for our 15:00 camel ride down Cable Beach. As there is a lot of work being done on the foreshore we had to walk from the Surf Life Saving Club to the start of the camel rides. What should have been a 5 minute walk ended up being around 25 minutes as we also had to contind with a massive dump truck carting sand over the beach.
The camel ride was interesting, quite nice over the exposed sand at low tide. Our tour leader Alison introduced us to her team – Brenda, Francisca, Marie and Lou who was the ride lead. Alison allocated us to our camels – Lyn and I decided to take separate camels and although we started as 5 and 6 at the end of the loading Lyn was 10 and I was the last rider at 12. We mounted the camels from the back of the 4WD that was down on the beach then walked a couple of hundred metres down to the water’s edge then back again. Brenda was from Argentina and was closest to me. We had a chat about our Antarctic expereince with COVID and then she took films and photos os us at the end of the camel train.
As the tour started and finished a bit late, we stopped at the Surf Life Saving Club to watch the sunset and, just as the sun set we walked to the Sunset Bar and Grill for dinner. Our waiter was Arthur from France who looked after us well. Arthur forgot to include a galss of wine with one of the orders and, after I asked one of the other staff about the wine (when we ordered a second drink for Lyn), our drinks arrived and moments later another glass of wine appeared. I forced myself to drink them both and Arthur managed to remove one of them from our bill (thanks Arthur!). A great meal and, once again, we stayed for coffee and dessert.
A walk back to the car, back to the camp where I started loading the Jimny preparing to leave the next morning.
Day 47 (26 June) – Broome to Derby (Kimberley Gateway Caravan Park) (Another beautiful morning, a fair bit windy – up to 30o during the day up to Derby – 221 km)
A relatively slow start as we only needed to travel 220 or so km. We first went to the Roebuck service station at the intersection of The Savannah Way (extension of Broome Highway) and The Great Northern Highway. We pulled in an empty bay to refuel to find that the truck alongside was using both hoses. In total, he took around $1700.00 worth of fuel. After he’d finished we filled up and headed towards Derby.
Not much to see – lots of Wattle Trees in flower, fairly windy and then we arrived at Willare – it’s a great stop – good barrista coffee, accommodation looks good, nice looking pool and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Well worth the stop.
We continued on to Derby and checked in to the Kimberley Gateway Caravan Park where we met a couple of neighbours – Baz and Rhonda – who recommended a number of things to do from Kunanurra – The Gourmet Camp Oven dinner and the Ord River cruise. We also found out they will be on the same flight as us tomorrow and are staying on the houseboat with us. It’s always good to meet fellow travellers before a tour.
After setting up we took a trip through town – not very large – but well kept.
I purchased a tyre pressure reduction kit so that we could better reduce pressure in case of more 4WD driving over sand. I wasn’t sure what was up North but we were expecting to do some 4WD driving over the next few days.
A trip to the IGA and chemist to top up then back to the motorhome to prepare for the Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventure the next morning.
A quiet night despite the option to visit a resident astrologer in the park or to sample the delights of a South American pop-up cafe.
Day 48 (27 June) – Derby (Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventure) (Another beautiful morning, a tiny bit of wind – up to 27o during the day in Derby)
Off to the Horizonal Falls and overnight experience in Talbot Bay. We are to be picked up at 09:15 at the front of the caravan park. Our man picked us up – I think he had a bad night as he was pretty quiet. 6 from our caravan park and 2 from Spinifex Hotel a few hundred metres away. Out to the airport where we were ushered in to the mostly locked ‘transit lounge’. Most of us weighted ourselves and our bags understanding there was a 5 kg limit on a soft bag to go into luggage. As it turned out our planes were delayed out of Broome due to some debris on the runway which had to be cleaned up. The planes were turbine driven Cessna 208s with floats. So, when the planes and pilots arrived, no weigh in, just put the luggage in the float compartment and jump aboard. Seat pairs were allocated by our pilot Jules from the Philipines and I noticed that they took the heaviest (based on our pre-trip advice) combinations first to be loaded up front. Lyn and I were in the last row – excellent headroom and space as the seat was quite wide. We were provided wireless headsets so clould hear the pilot’s radio calls as well as commentary and instructions.
It was around a 30 minute flight into Talbot Bay, fairly windy and choppy on the water landing. Some fascinating scenery on the way in also.
Once on board the pontoon, we were greeted by our boat crew, Tyler and Ethan, who gave the safety briefing and outlined the plans for the next activities. We were allocated our rooms – the label printer hadn’t worked in Derby so we had no name tags – that would have been so much easier and more friendly. After our briefing we took a boat ride to our houseboat home for the next few hours, (name forgotten). On the way in we were told to have a look at the water level which was at high tide so we could compare it with the later low tide level. On boarding, we were greeted by our hosts, Camille and Nick, and chef, Francesco. Then we were taken to our cabins for a briefing on the features of the cabin and then it was time for lunch. The housboat had 2 decks with an 8 seat table upstairs in the lounge and two 6 seat tables downstairs in the lounge area. A great lunch of Barramundi.
We had two tours – the first was through one of the creek systems around the bay, quite interesting where we could see many fish in amongst the mangroves and the second a fishing trip on their second tender. We caught 6 fish in our group compared to 5 from the first group. I hooked a big one that got away – the story of my fishing life. Back to the houseboat to swap fishing stories.
Time to travel to the Hozizontal Falls which by this time had dropped about 8 metres in the bay area. There was around 2 metres difference in water level on the inside and outside of the falls. The water flows from Talbot Bay into the middle bay via the wide falls and from the middle bay to the inner bay through the narrow falls. It really was fascinating reminding Lyn and me of white water rafting in New Zealand compned with being below Iguazu Falls in South America. Words can’t describe the scene and experience with up to 5 metres from one bay to the other. The largest when we were there was a 3 metre difference in the narrow gap the following morning.
After the exhillarating trip to the falls, time for a chat before dinner then eye fillet (or chicken for Lyn) and then an evening of talk in the upstairs lounge.
We’d met some interesting people – Dean and Chris from Leongatha (who knew Steve, the owner of the hangar our plane is kept in), Baz and Rhonda from our caravan park, Terry and Lyn, Rhonda and Dennis. All with interesting stories and experiences. In particular Damien and .. whio had been to the Arctic and Antarctic as well as many other adventures. They were in their forties so had packed a lot in so far.
Day 49 (28 June) – Derby (Horizontal Falls) (Another beautiful morning, a fair bit of wind – up to 25o during the day in Derby)
Up early the next morning for the second of oour boat trips through the horizontal falls, this time seeing the 3 metre difference in the narrow falls.
Back to the houseboat for breakfast then time to leave. The boat trip back to the main pontoon where we had a wait for our planes again. Our pilot, Jake, gort us loaded into the same seats as our first flight and then a couple of orbits over the falls on the way out, then 30 minutes back to Derby. I was surprised that we were only doing 145 knots – I imagine the C208 was slowed down by the seaplane floats as they are rated at 186 knots.
We were driven back to the caravan park by the same guy who appeared marginally better.
I had to watch the Demons be beaten by the Gold Coast Suns. They scored 1 point in the first quarter to 5 goals 7 points. Effectively game over and it looked like the team was still on the bye form the previous week. The Demons out scored the Suns for the rest of the match which showed how important the first quarter was and how poorly Melbourne started.
I had been having more and more probelms with my computer and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get it going better.
We had dinner at the Spinifex Hotel then back to the motorhome and more work on the computer.
At 19:00 we travelled to the back of the camping ground to hear a presentation and diaplay of the Solar System and heavens by PK (Padraig Koen) who travels around the country in his mobile home with a display screen on the side of his van. He has a telescope and camera which enables him to project on to the side of his van what he aims the telescope at (such as the moon as we arrived).
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