15 June 2002 The next morning we packed up and headed to Derby. The road was much better on the way out of Windjana Gorge than on the way in. After a while we turned onto the western end of Gibb River Road, which was dusty and corrugated but not nearly as bad as it…
Month: May 2016
Windjana Gorge
13 June—14 June 2002 The next morning we picked up some last minute supplies in Fitzroy Crossing, filled the petrol tank and the gas bottles, and headed out along the road to Windjana Gorge. This involved travelling for a short distance on the Great Northern Highway, then taking a right turn into Leopold Downs Road,…
Geike Gorge
12 June 2002 I got up at the crack of dawn the next morning and started packing up our camp at Mary Pool. We got caught by the heat, but at length the kids had said farewell to their friends from Mount Isa and we were trundling down the Great Northern Highway highway again. We…
Halls Ck to Mary Pool
10 June—11 June 2002 The overnight stay in Halls Creek was uneventful. We awoke early and broke camp, pleased to leave what was a very ordinary caravan park. We went to the tele-centre where I sent two emails I had drafted the night before, one to my colleague Gavin Mooney who is now based in…
Warmun to Halls Ck
8 June—9 June 2002 After we had packed up and filled the petrol tank, we drove onto the nearby Warmun Aboriginal community to visit the art centre. What we thought would be a quick visit ended up taking most of the day. Initially we took the wrong road into the community, and had to ask…
Purnululu day 2
7 June 2002 I rose with the sun the next day and made myself a coffee and went out for a walk to observe the area at dawn. There were dingo tracks in a clay pan close by the camp. You could hear the dingos howling at night, and we had spotted one on the…
Purnululu (Bungle Bungles)
6 June 2002 On the morning of our journey into Purnululu National Park, we all woke up in the dark. The kids ate breakfast; I threw down a few coffees and furiously packed what I could into the trailer and secured it. We were out the front of the roadhouse at Turkey Creek by 5.20…
Warmun (Turkey Ck)
5 June 2002 Our first day in Warmun was spent trying to catch up with schoolwork. This is a never-ending task that constantly manages to elude us. The big carrot on a stick was a 4.00 p.m. helicopter flight, which we all anticipated with relish. When the time came we crowded into a small demountable…
Emma Gorge
4 June—5 June 2002 Yesterday I got up early and started packing up the camp. We bought some ice and drove into Kununurra. Susie posted some letters and then we went to the tele-centre to check our email and send a fax to the manager of Curtin Detention Centre. The fax number was wrong, so…
Wyndham
3 June 2002 Wyndham lies 100 km north west of Kununurra on the Cambridge Gulf. We went on a day-trip there from Kununurra. Our first stop was a crocodile farm. Without planning to, we arrived at feeding time and got a guided tour of the place. First we were shown the sheds where the hatchlings…
Kununurra
30 May–2 Jun 2002 On the morning of our first full day in Kununurra the girls enjoyed the company of their three friends from Bondi. They all sat around playing a card game called Pig. We spent most of the rest of the day catching up on schoolwork and then went into town to post…
East Kimberley region
28 May—29 May 2002 We broke camp at Tumbling Waters and set out on the road to Kununurra. The drive was uneventful until we reached Gregory National Park, which announced itself with dramatic, rocky cliffs rising out of the surrounding countryside. We stopped there to buy some of the most expensive petrol ever. The park…
Wundercliffe 