Buntine and Buchanan Highways

20 September

Another cold and windy night and still very windy in the morning.
Back onto the quiet Buntine Highway with only a couple of cars a motorcycle and more road trains passing



But then suddenly a Brahman Bullock decided to run across the road in front of the Phillips’ vehicle. We couldn’t stop in time so hit it. We thought we had killed the bull, but when we got out of the car to check on the damage the bull had already got up and run away!!!! The car sustained a bit of damage though – bumper bar pushed in so far that the bonnet couldn’t be opened, nothing that couldn’t be fixed that night though.

Note the skid marks - checking to see if the bull is OK.

Most of the day was spent travelling with only a couple of stops. At one stop it was obvious we had just come out of one of the prescribed zones, an aboriginal reserve where there is a ban on liquor. There were beer cans littering the roadside everywhere.



We refuelled at Top Springs and unfortunately didn’t get going quick enough and got stuck behind a couple of semi trailers that were kicking up a lot of dust so we had to hang back a fair way.

We pulled up for the night to bush camp along the roadside on the Buchanan between Top Springs and where the it meets the Stuart Highway.

Halls Creek and beyond

19 September

Because we arrived at Halls Creek late in the day the day before we continued straight on to Old Halls Creek where we had planned to camp for the night, so we didn’t spend any time in Halls Creek then. We cooked our dinner that night huddled between the two trailers trying to escape the relentless cold wind.

The strong cold winds were still blowing this morning having blown all night. Chatting to one of the semi permanent, gold prospectors at the caravan park he said that this weather was crazy and unusual for this time of the year.

We checked out all the ruins of Old Halls Creek town.

The ruins of the old post office were being protected with an iron roof and behind a wire fence. Just as well else they may have been washed away before now. They had been constructed with spinifex and ant bed mix to make the mud.



The street signs were still in place in the middle of nowhere






But it was a bit strange that there were several Connor and Durack Street signs.

We stopped off to look at the Wall of China – an interesting seam of quartz in surrounding granite. You can see why it is called the Wall of China





We went back into Halls Creek to refuel and to check on the condition of the roads at the Visitors Centre. The advice was that we would not be able to go right through on the Tanami Track due to flooding of the Todd in Alice so we decided we would head back out through Old Halls Creek and west along the Duncan Highway to the NT border then on to the Buntine Highway.

We stopped off at Palm Springs along the way and then Saw Pit Gorge for a lunch stop.



It was then just miles and miles of gravel road and open country




with no other traffic until two road trains came from the other direction



We stopped off for the night at a designated rest area just over the border and set up camp in the red dirt. It was still very cold and windy

Where to from here?

to be decided - future plans will have to be changed again, due to weather conditions and road .........

Fitzroy Crossing

18 September

A pretty wild night, it was cold with plenty of wind but the wind had dropped a little by the morning. Leisurely packing up of camp but we were still on the road by 8 am and off to Fitzroy Crossing. Not much in the town itself but we were there just in time to catch the 9:30 boat tour of the Geikie Gorge. Well worth the $20 concession rate we paid for each of us. The write ups didn’t give the impression that the gorge was anything special but it sure was

and the commentary given by the tour guide was extensive and informative. This photo shows the 2002 flood level

There were also quite a few crocs out sunning themselves too

On the way back into the town we went via the old crossing bridge to check it out.

Refuelled in town before heading East on the Great Northern Highway to Halls Creek, stopping off at a very cold and windy Ngumpan cliff for a picnic lunch



Passing by some very interesting rock formations

and pulling over a couple of times for roadworks and for large loads



Seems that everywhere is windy and cold at the moment. The campsite at Old Halls creek where we pulled up for the night is no exception.

Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

17 September

Up early again this morning so that we could do the 7km walk into Windjana Gorge before it got too hot but also because we often manage to have the places to ourselves when we are early. This was no exception.

The cliffs of the limestone range of the Devonian reef are incredibly high in places here and contain nautiloid fossils



There were plenty of fresh water crocs in the little water that is remaining in the Lennard River that flows through the gorge



After packing up camp at Windjana we headed for Tunnel Creek and didn’t quite manage to get into the tunnel before a bus load of people on a tour. Fortunately they only went half way through the tunnel and by the time we got to the end of the tunnel and back they had left so we did manage to have a lot of the time in the tunnel to ourselves.








It was fun and an interesting experience, climbing over big rocks first at the entrance to the tunnel then wading through water seeing our way with torch light inside the tunnel. There were quite magnificent stalagmites and stalactites, with bats flying through them and fish in the water.



We had our picnic lunch in the car park before heading back out south along the Fairfield Leopold Downs Road, stopping off at the RAAF Boab Quarry to bush camp for the night. Interesting place, apparently it was used as a quarry for stone for the RAAF Air base at Curtin, hence the name of the site. We had the place to ourselves originally which was rather nice until after dark when a couple of vehicles turned up, but they stopped quite some distance from where we were. Other than them we shared the site with a couple of bulls and some roos.

On the road again

16 September

Cold and damp this morning in Broome with the occasional shower, but we did manage to pack up the trailers mainly in the dry.

First stop Derby to refuel and for lunch, then back out on the Gibb again, stopping off at the Mowanjum Art Centre on the way where they had some excellent examples of etched Boab seeds and Wandjina art. In fact the building was designed so that it looked like a Wandjini from the air.

We arrived at Windjana Gorge, our destination for the night in enough time to explore the area a bit before sunset.

Horizontal Falls

15 September

What a morning.

Up before sunrise, ready and waiting outside the front of the caravan park at 5:30m to be picked up and taken to the airport for a flight in a seaplane with Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures - http://www.horizontalfallsadventures.com.au/



The flight took us over the Dampier Peninsular across King Sound to the Buccaneer Archipelago and over the horizontal falls



We landed in the bay close to the falls and transferred to a boat the "Lady M" where we put on life jackets and then boarded a jet stream boat with two 250 horse power motors. We then sped off to the falls. What an experience. The falls didn't look much from the air and probably don't look much from these photos but the water was roaring through those gaps.

We were lucky we were able to go through them because if the tides are too high it is too dangerous.

Next we were taken to "The Shed" - the old Talbot Bay pearling platform, which is now the sleeping quarters for the tour operators.

Here we transferred to another boat and motored along through the bay whilst eating a breakfast, cooked by the skipper Adrian who steered as he cooked and pionted out the highlights of the bay to us.

He also told us about a proposal for a copper mine in the ranges either side of the falls. Needless to say we signed the petition against the proposal.

Sadly the tour was over but not before an interesting flight back to Broome in the seaplane, over the area of the Dampier Peninsular that we had travelled the week before.

This is view of Cape Leveque from the plane

The afternoon was spent stocking up on supplies as we will be heading out of Broome tomorrow to continue on our adventures.......