The sun had not yet risen as we quietly snuck out of Broome Beach Apartments and began our long haul of over 1000kms to Wyndham.

There was a low fog hanging over Broome as we drove out and soon the sun was peeking over the horizon.

We stopped briefly at Fitzroy Crossing for a coffee where Kerry got up close and personal with a black kite who wanted to share her bacon and egg roll – there was NO sharing – the kite got it all!!

A quick stop at Halls Creek for lunch….

We then drove straight through to Wyndham. The scenery along the highway varied as we drove across the savannah, past the Bungle Bungle turnoff and up through Turkey Creek.

The magnificent ranges looked awesome in the afternoon sunlight – a plethora of colours – browns, oranges, reds, ochres contrasting with the green foliage, white gum trunks and brilliant blue sky – God’s creation is truly amazing!

Arriving at Wyndham just on 5PM we moved our vans from the storage area back to our sites and set up. Rosie had to start a big cleanup before they even moved the van due to a strong odour detected once the door was opened….must have been the banana left in storage for the last couple of weeks….oops!!

We had happy hour and unpacked some things… Glen and Annette hopped in to bed early as tomorrow they leave us to commence their long journey home. We will all be sad to say farewell as it has been a great trip together so far..

Prep day today as we are leaving Broome tomorrow to do the 1000k (approx) trip back to Wyndham…

Cars received a mini service and check over…clean bill of health for all thankfully!

After the car services we went to Cable Beach for a swim with Carole, Joe and Leanne…again beautiful water temp and perfect conditions – even a wave or two so Gordie hired a surfboard.

Gordie and Trev both caught a few but Trev came off second best with a fin chop to the heel…..adding insult to injury with his already cracked heels that Rosie considers beyond help!

Branch was there to soothe Trev’s pain…..

We drove in to town to grab some lunch then did the supply shopping returning to the unit to pack cars, have showers then out for dinner at the Diver’s Tavern.

We bid farewell to Joe, Leanne and Carole – they will finish their time in Broome with  a Horizontal Falls tour….

Back to the unit for coffee and an early night aiming to leave here at 530am for the mammoth drive to Wyndham.

We all got up at about 6AM planning to leave for Cape Leveque by 645 – a 400K round trip from Broome.

The road out has been partially sealed but the first section was still dirt/ sand so proved an interesting trip for our fly-in fly-out buddies Joe and Leanne who came in the MacGyver Express on the trip in.

The road is being prepared for sealing and so there was a lot of roadworks with graders, rollers and water tankers busy in action creating the new surface for the laying of the tar.

Deep tracks on the side of the new road were being used as the access road so it made for an interesting drive – with photo opportunities everywhere. The new road will be amazing but will have mixed benefits…great for access to this beautiful area but in some way may destroy the unique remoteness of it…

We arrived at Beagle Bay for morning tea – no coffee shops so we grabbed some iced coffee from th local general store and had a look around.

The Beagle Bay mission was a Catholic run mission and the Church of the Sacred Heart  is famous for it’s unique interior decorations all hand done by the locals using shells and stone…

We drove on and came to sealed road for a while then turned off to Cape Leveque and hit the dirt again – this time fairly sandy but only 5 kms and we arrived at Cape Leveque (Kooljaman in the local dialect).

After paying the $5 pp access fee we enjoyed the day there with the spectacular red cliffs meeting the turquoise ocean and white sand.

We visited the west beach first which was unsafe to swim at due to strong currents bit it was spectacular to see nevertheless..

The eastern beach area which was reached by walking along a boardwalk was safe to swim in so we all enjoyed some time cooling down in the salt water after lunch.

The camping area there was rustic with beach shacks and a small store – a great place to come back to!!

The beach was yet another amazing vista of blue, red, white and turquoise…. refreshing water to swim in on a hot day!

Rosie got one back on Gordie with a big splash – which did not phase the superfish!!!

Glen and Annette got caught out by the fast incoming tide…

As the drive had taken about 2.5 hrs we reluctantly left to make our way back to Broome to avoid having to drive the dirt road after dark. On the way home Branch detected a potential slow leak in Gordie’s tyre….only time will tell if it is a reality!!

We all arrived home safely and went our various ways for happy hour/ dinner… Trev and I went to the Sunset Bar and Grill on Cable Beach for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary – delicious but too much food!!

We got up at the crack of dawn as Carole was keen to walk out on the Roebuck Bay mudflats to the WWII plane wrecks that were exposed at low tides – it was dead low at 710am and the walk out was at least half an hour so we got down to Town Beach at about 645 to do the walk.

Everyone started out fine but it was soon evident that the mud was very sticky and difficult to negotiate – shoes were coming off with the suction and the wrecks were not easy to locate – the distance was quite a way.

Much to Carole’s disdain most of us turned back not really feeling the passion to see a few twisted bits of metal in the mud – she called everyone “wooses” and kept marching on – followed by Trev, Gordie, Wayne and Jo…

There was some interesting life on the mudflats…

The rest of us walked back and watched for a while then walked over to the Town Beach Café to grab a coffee and brekky before church.

They did eventually make it to the wrecks and rescued a turtle stuck in the mud nearby which made the long sticky walk worth it…

After a delicious brekky and coffee we all headed to the local Anglican church for the church service – the building is heritage listed and is a typical example of early Broome architecture.

The preacher spoke really well on Psalm 90 and afterwards we had morning tea and met a lot of interesting people both locals and travellers – the church was packed with people even seated outside – great to see.

After church we went to the Broome Museum which was absolutely fascinating with great exhibits on the pearling history of Broome as well as the WWII events and great collections of indigenous and early pioneer artifacts and photos.

Our destination for lunch was the Shady Lane Café where everyone caught up.

Jo produced her you-beaut headtorch which had more lumens than the Hackfath model…trumped!!

Our hunger satisfied we went back to Cable Beach for another swim….

AS Wayne and Jo had missed out on the 4WD sunset on Cable Beach we decided to grab fish and chips and go back to Cable Beach with our 4WDs and watch the sun go down again – there were even more cars on the beach than the night before – it was like Pitt Street!!

The Pearl performed better tonight – no sinking into the sand!!

Back to the apartment for a relatively early night as we had a big day planned tomorrow – day trip to Cape Leveque!

The Broome Courthouse Markets were on this morning so we were all keen to go and have a look…and maybe pick up a bargain or 2…so we all met and went into town. Our fly in-fly out buddies Joe and Leanne arrived keen as mustard to get on with the day!

The guys were really eager to get around all the stalls but the jewellery stalls seemed to keep the girls in the one spot.

We all managed to pick up a bargain or two…..or in Rosie’s case a few…Dave had an increasing number of bags to carry much to Gordie’s delight!!

Leanne flexed the Amex card on a huge string of pearls…Joe was suitably impressed (NOT)…and Trev could not get over them!!

The markets were an eclectic mix of art, jewellery, clothes and food…..Carole picked up a lovely original print for home.

We sat and enjoyed the live music for a while…and Gordie and Trev managed to talk to a psychic who also informed them he was a Catholic when Gordie mentioned he was heading in the wrong direction….interesting mix!!

A fresh seafood stall caught our eye so we picked up some huge fresh tiger prawns that we planned to have for dinner on the beach while watching the sunset…

After the markets and a quick lunch we went down to Cable Beach for a swim. The beach did not disappoint – beautiful turquoise water at a balmy temperature with gentle waves breaking on the silky fine white sand – on a backdrop of a cloudless blue sky – picture perfect!

Trev did the annoying little brother thing and splashed Rosie getting her hair and sunnies wet – Rosie left the water in disgust and Trev (assisted by Gordie) had to come out and do some serious backpedalling.

We swam and enjoyed relaxing on the beach then returned home to get organised to drive down to the beach for the sunset.

Joe and Leanne travelled like royalty in the Titan on the way to Cable Beach for dinner at sunset…

The north end of Cable Beach has a 4WD access point – we drove around the corner and onto the beach and were amazed at the amount of cars on the beach!!

The camel trains were there preparing to take people on the famous Cable Beach sunset camel ride.

We found a spot and parked the cars up the beach – the Pearl got into a bit of difficulty and had to take a second run up…the “crawler” feature was put in to action to no avail and the Pearl’s wheels ended up buried in the sand…much to Branch’s delight….finally something to sort out!

As the sun set we enjoyed the prawn dinner and the spectacle of camels trudging over the sand flats with the backdrop of the setting sun….

The sun sank quickly but spectacularly into the sea providing an amazing array of colours in the sky as it disappeared.

It was time to depart – Rosie had hand dug out the front wheels of the Pearl and Dave managed to roll out backward without too much difficulty!

We headed back to the apartment and met up with Wayne and Jo who had arrived in Broome that day…

Everyone got together for a BBQ breakfast before heading out their various ways to get groceries, look around, organise car services etc.

The Bottomless Barista had finally perfected his latte!!

Rosie set off with Dave to buy her birthday present – a Broome pearl bracelet was on her mind!

We met for lunch at the Dragonfly Café where 2 years ago we had the best pancakes…unfortunately they were no longer on the menu much to Trev’s disappointment!!

After a coffee at the Green Mango Café we headed back to the apartment then Trev and Gordie went with Carole for a quick swim at Cable Beach while everyone else chilled (or wrote the blog!).

Joe and Leanne were to fly in to Broome late tonight and we heard Wayne and Jo were arriving tomorrow so the party was on the increase!

We all got together for a BBQ dinner at our accommodation and planned our day tomorrow – Broome Courthouse markets, a swim at Cable Beach….and relaxing in civilisation!

Happy Birthday Rosie!!!

We were all up with the crack of dawn wishing Rosie happy birthday and looking forward to the celebration out tonight in Broome at a restaurant – civilisation at last!

Everyone ate brekky and decommissioned the camp for the last time this leg of the Wild Adventure – Wells coming in first with the OCD neatness award for back of car presentation followed closely by the Hackies (or was that tarp hiding the truth??)!!

The Titan was not up to standard but at least everything fitted in and the Hunters have the self inflating mattress down pat!

Macgyver had repaired the WAECO fridge cord for the umpteenth time – Branch did not even bother appearing as it was such a mundane occurrence!

Once outside the national park Trev put the drone up to capture footage of our last few kms on the Gibb…

The landscape towards Derby was again different with rolling grass Savannah, boabs and more dry creek beds.

A bit more road kill was evident with majestic eagles and kites having a feed.

We arrived on the tar and inflated the tyres – Gordie and the Titan were overjoyed!!

Rosie had found a new use for baby wipes…cleaning out the red dust from the inside of the car doors!!

…but there was still a bit of dirt to come – and a grader working it – no wonder the Gibb was in reasonable condition!

We continued on to Derby where we stopped at the tip to dump our rubbish….

Then on to civilisation and a coffee at a bakery in Derby…..tasted great as did the pie and cream donut!

Leaving Derby we arranged to meet at our accommodation in Broome as Glen and Annette were keen to have a look around Derby briefly as it was their first visit.

We arrived at our accommodation – Broome Beach Resort – very salubrious – the only thing missing was a swipe card!!

Everyone settled in and washing commenced at a furious pace!!

As it was Rosie’s birthday we celebrated at the Diver’s Tavern enjoying a great meal and surprising Rosie with not 1 but 3 head torches (great minds think alike!!) as well as a mango and passionfruit cake.

Everyone was up early as the sun rose over Windjana Gorge.

The gorge entrance was between 2 huge limestone cliff faces and as we walked through everyone felt dwarfed!

The volunteer camphost had told us there was over 140 freshwater crocodiles living in Windjana Gorge and due to the poor wet season there was not much water left – what was there was putrid so no swimming…. Also too many freshies..

We rounded the corner and came to the waters edge – it was like Bondi Beach for crocs – they were everywhere….

big ….

small…

ugly….

Sunning themselves on rocks….

in the mud….

in the water!!

The gorge itself was impressive in size – sheer limestone cliffs rising out of the sandy river bed…lined with green trees and beautiful plants…

some colourful flowers…

birdlife could be heard everywhere…we even spotted a bower bird nest….

The limestone cliffs were honeycombed with holes and small caves..

A fossilised nautilus specimen was clearly evident…apparently the whole area was part again of an early inland sea….or could it be the Flood??

The day was searingly hot so we walked for a while then turned back to camp for an early lunch.

Carole arrived from Broome on her guided tour – it was great to see her and Trev went back with her and the tour group into the gorge. After lunch we drove down to Tunnel Creek as did Carole’s tour group and did the Tunnel Creek walk.

Tunnel Creek was amazing – such a small entrance into the limestone cave/ creek system which is inhabited by bats, fish, crocs and crustaceans…

we were greeted inside the entrance by a freshie who appeared to be standing guard but was unmoved by all the tourist activity – and I was so busy concentrating on filming the entrance and the roof that I nearly trod on it – tragedy avoided by Kerry’s quick callout to me.

The creek flowing through has worn out the tunnel and limestone stalactites and formations hang from the ceiling. 

We waded through a couple of knee deep water crossings in the dark…

Water trickled in through small holes…

The aboriginal outlaw Jandamarra had hidden in this cave system from the troopers for 3 years in the late 1800s…eventually he was shot by another aboriginal tracker in the Tunnel Creek area. So much history in the area!

Glen and Annette had forged on early and we waited for Carole’s tour…we walked on through the cave system seeing small crocs red eyes gleaming at us in the dark, waded through the creek a couple of times and finally reached the other end where the creek flowed out into sunshine and a small billabong.

We caught up with Glen and Annette there and all sat down for a drink…

Some of the tour participants ventured into the billabong for a quick dip including Carole but we all held back having been spoilt by swimming in the pristine waters of Bell and Manning Gorges. The water in the billabong would have been polluted with crocodile poo and bat guano so we weren’t keen!!

After a short rest we made the return journey enjoying the cool of the cave as the outside was still scorching hot.

We drove back toward Windjana Gorge via the Lillimooloora Police Station ruins – incredible to think that in the 1800s this remote area had a police station!!

On our return we all hit the showers feeling pretty grotty after the tunnel walk – Rosie scrubbed her joggers in the washing up bucket on the food table much to Branch’s distress…the table needed a good scrub with all the washing powder still caked on it after the event!!

That night we had a visit from the local rescue kangaroo who the ranger had told us would not hesitate to come into camps looking for food – it was close to needing to be euthanised the ranger said as it was obese and so we were instructed not to feed it!

3 young German tourists set up camp right next to us – they were very friendly and wanted some advice as to what to see and do on the Gibb River Road so we used our new found knowledge to give them some tips and hints on an itinerary….

Everyone was woken with a lot shout of “Get out of it!!” coming from Gordon’s tent at 0200hrs…. Just prior to that we had heard a loud rustling and then when Gordie called out, the sound of tent zips in unison being ripped open was heard. We all jumped out and shone torches around – but nothing was seen. Whatever had been rustling around was long gone…but everyone was now awake.

The night was surprisingly warmer than at Manning Gorge and the stars, as always, were a myriad of sparkling diamonds in the night sky. We all went back to bed and woke to the sounds of birds at about 6AM.

We began to pack up when an older guy came over asking for help to jump start his car – Dave already had the Pearl running charging his fridge battery so he drove over along with Branch who had been having a bit of a dry patch with no real issues to deal with in the camp (or so he tough as potentially some issues were going undisclosed….)

Unfortunately the Pearl could not get their car going so MacGyver came over…and then Glen, Gordie with his generator, a couple of other blokes from the camp ground and finally the Landcruiser kicked into life – the couple were now heading straight for Derby unable to stop their car as a battery cell had collapsed and they needed a new battery.

The birds in Slient Grove were in abundance and very cheeky – Rosie could not help herself and fed them a weetbix which only encouraged them further…. Lots of bird poo on chairs, tents, my hand…the GOPRO!!

Before we left for Bell Gorge we had a team meeting (aka everyone talking at once!) to sort out protocol for travelling together to ensure debacles like yesterday such as overshooting turnoffs/ missing turnoffs/turning the incorrect way do not occur in the future – and to ensure everyone is quite clear on where we are heading and what we are doing…. Suggestions were flying left right and centre – if this team had to care for critically ill patients they would have killed them all as no one would have received clear directions or messages – nor would they have remembered what was the correct type of info. ISBAR communication style was introduced and the team left for Bell Gorge with a better understanding of how to work together – the team that grows together works together!!

We drove the 10ks to Bells Gorge and began the walk along the creek bed and up to the waterfall and gorge.

The scenery was beautiful with lots of palms, pandanus and gums. We arrived at the top of the waterfall and took in the beautiful area.

We continued on down the descent to the falls which became a bit challenging as it was steep and lots of boulders to walk down but was really worth the effort.

Large rocks teetered on the edge of the cliff and there were huge overhangs – all looking as if they could fall at any moment!

The waterfalls were still falling and the pools were large and great to swim in.

Trev and Gordie filled up Rosie and Kerry’s waterbottles under the falls – the water was cool and pure – great to drink.

The rocks under the water were so slippery they necessitated a crocodile-like exit!!

After morning tea and a refreshing swim we left and climbed up the cliff, returned to the cars and drove back out to Imintji  – along the way Glen and Dave stopped to help Gerdie – a German woman who had a flat tyre – then we all met at the Imitji Community Store where we grabbed some icecreams and coffee. It was a great store with grass and shady trees out the front.

We drove on to Windjana Gorge through the King Leopold Ranges the landscape changed again to tall mountains ..

– past Napier Station and the very prominent Queen Victoria’s head rockface..

across the Lennard River which was dry…

We turned off to Windjana Gorge National Park and arrived at a great time to get good spots in the generator camping area.

We set up for the last time on this leg of the journey – by this time everyone was a well oiled machine and setup went really smoothly.

Len the park volunteer had informed up that you could not swim at Windjana Gorge as the water was putrid and there were over 140 freshwater crocs in the gorge – everywhere apparently and as we are approaching mating season the females were getting cranky!

Tunnel Creek was still flowing and Len gave us a very informative and descriptive narrative on accessing and walking through it – the guys were relieved as we could get in the water there…

After eating dinner we had listened to a talk on Daniel Chapter 2 which prompted a long and great discussion on how God works in peoples lives, end times and what we should have as priorities in our lives.

Another pack up and hitting the dirt again we left Manning Gorge for Silent Grove campground.

A quick stop on our way out at Mt Barnett Roadhouse for some more baked goods…

Along the way we had planned to stop at Galvan’s Gorge and Adcock Gorge – however talking to a couple yesterday they had told us that there was a dead croc at Galvans Gorge and the place stank – as it was a 1 km walk in and no opportunity to swim due to the rotting reptile we drove on for Adcock Gorge…

The Toyota Precision Driving team once again overshot the turnoff…..which was signposted….but no  real issue as they did make a u-ie and returned back finally rejoining the party.

The landscape was ever changing as was the Gibb River Road with some small tar sections appearing at times however still mostly dirt but in better condition than the start.

Adcock Gorge was a short walk in – easy and very picturesque with small waterlilies as well as larger ones and unusual red plants which we had never seen before.

The waterhole was beautiful – we had it all to ourselves and had a great swim and look around. There was a small aboriginal painting on the rockface. Again the waterfall was not flowing – the legacy of a poor wet season….

We drove on to Silent Grove with a brief toilet stop at Imintji…

Silent Grove is part of the Leopold National Park and is nestled at the base of the Leopold Range.

Bell Gorge is about 10k from Silent Grove and is the gorge walk we are planning to tackle tomorrow – apparently about 1.5km in and another beautiful swimming hole at the end.

We set up camp again and had lunch… and a shower to beat the tour buses who would come in and use all hot water..

Gordie was bent on having a fire tonight and climbed up the cliff to gather wood – again another faux pas – no collecting wood in this area despite the provision of fire pits…

So no fire tonight!