July 7th 2007
From Port Hedland we had a pretty easy drive to 80 Mile Beach, about 250 k’s, and found a very nice caravan park about 10 k’s off the highway and for once, everything we had been told turned out to be true.
The drive north was quite interesting again, the landscape changing all the time as we left the Pilbarra region and headed into the lower reaches of the “Kimberley” at least we were getting away from the red dirt for a while.
The park was very spacious with big shady sites, spotless amenities and nice neighbours which is a bonus.
The day after we arrived, being Sunday, was “Market Day” and a lot of the people in the park set up a small stall to sell their crafts etc. that they make during their travels it’s quite popular with about 10 or 12 stalls.
Judith put out a few of her Teddy Bears she had made plus her haircutting sign… and worked all day.
She was a real hit as the nearest hairdresser was 250 - 300k’s away and most of the campers were long timers and some were pretty scruffy.
Having spent most of Sunday entertaining J’s clients and keeping them happy while they waited in the queue, Monday was my time to fish, so I went down the beach with our next door neighbour (David) and brought home a 16lb Threadfin Salmon, got my photo taken for the bragging wall in the shop and was pretty happy.
Next day we went for a drive up the beach to the north, looking for shells which are very plentiful and quite different, anyway we drove about 20 k’s, got lots of shells and on the way back to the camp we noticed a spot at low tide that I reckoned would be a good fishing spot tomorrow on the high tide.
From Port Hedland we had a pretty easy drive to 80 Mile Beach, about 250 k’s, and found a very nice caravan park about 10 k’s off the highway and for once, everything we had been told turned out to be true.
The drive north was quite interesting again, the landscape changing all the time as we left the Pilbarra region and headed into the lower reaches of the “Kimberley” at least we were getting away from the red dirt for a while.
The park was very spacious with big shady sites, spotless amenities and nice neighbours which is a bonus.
The day after we arrived, being Sunday, was “Market Day” and a lot of the people in the park set up a small stall to sell their crafts etc. that they make during their travels it’s quite popular with about 10 or 12 stalls.
Judith put out a few of her Teddy Bears she had made plus her haircutting sign… and worked all day.
She was a real hit as the nearest hairdresser was 250 - 300k’s away and most of the campers were long timers and some were pretty scruffy.
Having spent most of Sunday entertaining J’s clients and keeping them happy while they waited in the queue, Monday was my time to fish, so I went down the beach with our next door neighbour (David) and brought home a 16lb Threadfin Salmon, got my photo taken for the bragging wall in the shop and was pretty happy.
Next day we went for a drive up the beach to the north, looking for shells which are very plentiful and quite different, anyway we drove about 20 k’s, got lots of shells and on the way back to the camp we noticed a spot at low tide that I reckoned would be a good fishing spot tomorrow on the high tide.
The tide here can be anything from 5 to 8 metres so it is fairly easy to find a potential gutter at low tide.
We took David & his wife Trish in the car the next afternoon and headed up the beach and our “SPOT” turned out to be a winner, over the next 2 days I caught two 20 pounders, David got one at 22 pound but Trish topped us all with a Mulloway (Jewfish) that weighed in at 27 pound.
Having caught 3 big fish we were then barred from the beach (that’s the limit) so we spent the next (and last) day washing the car and caravan before heading for Broome. (We didn’t have room in the fridge to keep any more fish anyway)
As you can imagine 80 Mile Beach has become one of our favourite spots…. I don’t know if we’ll ever return though, it’s a long way from home.
For those of you who didn’t pay attention at Primary School, somewhere along 80 Mile Beach is the northern (or western) extremity of the Woomera Rocket Range, which was surveyed in the 1950’s by Len Beadell who was commissioned by the government of the day to locate and survey a 1500 mile straight stretch of the country that didn’t encroach upon or pass over any civilization or settled area, in order to test fire the Jindivik, Australias first rocket.
I’m not sure for what purpose but it worked and flew the required distance so obviously everyone was happy.
After a week at 80 mile we continued on to Broome where we also planned to stay put for a week (driving 300 to 400 k’s a day can become pretty expensive over here with petrol around 150c/ltr.
We’d decided to give ourselves a treat and book an ensuite site for the week which was nice for a change and only $24.50 a night, which is cheaper than some parks where we camp on gravel.
Just as well we stayed as long as we did because Broome was a very nice town and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We went on a sunset cruise one night, rode the camels along Cable Beach at sunset, did a tour of the local Pearl Farm and to top it all off we were lucky enough to be there for the “Staircase to the Moon” which only occurs on 2 or 3 nights each month during winter when the rising of the full moon coincides with the extreme low tide and the reflection across the Roebuck Bay sandflats towards the East, resembles a ladder that stretches right across the bay. (Quite spectacular)
The amazing thing was that for the 3 days prior to the staircase there was quite a bit of heavy cloud cover which made the sunsets quite beautiful, but no good for a clear sight of the moon, anyway our prayers were answered (again) and Saturday dawned with not a cloud in the sky so the experience was possible.
Sunday morning when we left it was cloudy again and we even had a spot of rain. (Someone must be looking after us)
While we were in Broome we had a visit from Ken & Robyn Short from Newcastle who we hadn’t seen for about 3 or 4 years, they are about to drive the Gibb River Road and can’t take their little dog into the National Parks so they drove down to Broome for a night to leave Sam in the “Doggie Motel “at the local vets office for a couple of weeks.
We had a very pleasant night catching up on their travels in recent years, sitting on the beach watching the sunset with some nibbles and a glass of wine or two…… (It‘s a tough life out here.)
From Broome we drove up to Derby for some more tourist activity which included one of the better days we’ve had so far on this trip.
Monday morning we left Derby airport at 8.00am in an amphibious plane headed for the “Horizontal Falls”
We travelled with Graham & Merlene Whitney, formerly from Glen Innes, who we have spent some time with in the last 2 weeks or so and only 4 others.
The plane landed on the lake near the falls and we were picked up by a small boat, taken for a tour of the falls and the surrounding waterways before being delivered to a magnificent 65ft yacht moored nearby where we were given morning tea and waited for the tide to turn and the falls to begin their performance.
The horizontal falls are created by the water rushing from one very large lake, which opens to the ocean,
into 2 other smaller landlocked lakes through a very narrow opening in the cliffs. Due to the huge tides that occur in this area the flow of water is frightening and actually builds up to a height of about a metre as it pushes towards the opening, the spectacle only last about 2 hours on each tidal movement but on a really high tide or an extreme low it really is a performance to be seen.
When the time was right we boarded the small boat again for the ride of our lives through the falls, the boat is a rubber Zodiac type craft with twin 200hp outboards and believe me, it needs everyone of them to get through safely as the opening is only about 10 metres wide and the water is pouring through at about 40k’s/hr.
We had 3 or 4 runs through over the next hour or so, which was great, took some beaut photos and video then they took us back to the yacht for a very nice lunch before being picked up again at 1.30 for the trip home via Cape Levique where we landed and were left for a couple of hours to have a swim and a good look around the camp there.
We were later picked up by 2 other small planes and flown back to Derby, arriving at about 4.30. (Not bad for a trip that is advertised as a half day tour)…..Not cheap but great value,
We took David & his wife Trish in the car the next afternoon and headed up the beach and our “SPOT” turned out to be a winner, over the next 2 days I caught two 20 pounders, David got one at 22 pound but Trish topped us all with a Mulloway (Jewfish) that weighed in at 27 pound.
Having caught 3 big fish we were then barred from the beach (that’s the limit) so we spent the next (and last) day washing the car and caravan before heading for Broome. (We didn’t have room in the fridge to keep any more fish anyway)
As you can imagine 80 Mile Beach has become one of our favourite spots…. I don’t know if we’ll ever return though, it’s a long way from home.
For those of you who didn’t pay attention at Primary School, somewhere along 80 Mile Beach is the northern (or western) extremity of the Woomera Rocket Range, which was surveyed in the 1950’s by Len Beadell who was commissioned by the government of the day to locate and survey a 1500 mile straight stretch of the country that didn’t encroach upon or pass over any civilization or settled area, in order to test fire the Jindivik, Australias first rocket.
I’m not sure for what purpose but it worked and flew the required distance so obviously everyone was happy.
After a week at 80 mile we continued on to Broome where we also planned to stay put for a week (driving 300 to 400 k’s a day can become pretty expensive over here with petrol around 150c/ltr.
We’d decided to give ourselves a treat and book an ensuite site for the week which was nice for a change and only $24.50 a night, which is cheaper than some parks where we camp on gravel.
Just as well we stayed as long as we did because Broome was a very nice town and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We went on a sunset cruise one night, rode the camels along Cable Beach at sunset, did a tour of the local Pearl Farm and to top it all off we were lucky enough to be there for the “Staircase to the Moon” which only occurs on 2 or 3 nights each month during winter when the rising of the full moon coincides with the extreme low tide and the reflection across the Roebuck Bay sandflats towards the East, resembles a ladder that stretches right across the bay. (Quite spectacular)
The amazing thing was that for the 3 days prior to the staircase there was quite a bit of heavy cloud cover which made the sunsets quite beautiful, but no good for a clear sight of the moon, anyway our prayers were answered (again) and Saturday dawned with not a cloud in the sky so the experience was possible.
Sunday morning when we left it was cloudy again and we even had a spot of rain. (Someone must be looking after us)
While we were in Broome we had a visit from Ken & Robyn Short from Newcastle who we hadn’t seen for about 3 or 4 years, they are about to drive the Gibb River Road and can’t take their little dog into the National Parks so they drove down to Broome for a night to leave Sam in the “Doggie Motel “at the local vets office for a couple of weeks.
We had a very pleasant night catching up on their travels in recent years, sitting on the beach watching the sunset with some nibbles and a glass of wine or two…… (It‘s a tough life out here.)
From Broome we drove up to Derby for some more tourist activity which included one of the better days we’ve had so far on this trip.
Monday morning we left Derby airport at 8.00am in an amphibious plane headed for the “Horizontal Falls”
We travelled with Graham & Merlene Whitney, formerly from Glen Innes, who we have spent some time with in the last 2 weeks or so and only 4 others.
The plane landed on the lake near the falls and we were picked up by a small boat, taken for a tour of the falls and the surrounding waterways before being delivered to a magnificent 65ft yacht moored nearby where we were given morning tea and waited for the tide to turn and the falls to begin their performance.
The horizontal falls are created by the water rushing from one very large lake, which opens to the ocean,
into 2 other smaller landlocked lakes through a very narrow opening in the cliffs. Due to the huge tides that occur in this area the flow of water is frightening and actually builds up to a height of about a metre as it pushes towards the opening, the spectacle only last about 2 hours on each tidal movement but on a really high tide or an extreme low it really is a performance to be seen.
When the time was right we boarded the small boat again for the ride of our lives through the falls, the boat is a rubber Zodiac type craft with twin 200hp outboards and believe me, it needs everyone of them to get through safely as the opening is only about 10 metres wide and the water is pouring through at about 40k’s/hr.
We had 3 or 4 runs through over the next hour or so, which was great, took some beaut photos and video then they took us back to the yacht for a very nice lunch before being picked up again at 1.30 for the trip home via Cape Levique where we landed and were left for a couple of hours to have a swim and a good look around the camp there.
We were later picked up by 2 other small planes and flown back to Derby, arriving at about 4.30. (Not bad for a trip that is advertised as a half day tour)…..Not cheap but great value,
I’d do it all again given the chance.
The next day we went with Graham & Merlene for a 350k round trip, part way up the Gibb River Road, to the Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, very nice but not quite as exciting as yesterday. The only excitement came when we found a colony of Freshwater Crocs (the harmless ones) and got some good close up photos.
We got back to Derby about 5.00pm and decided it was too late to start cooking so we all went to the local fish restaurant down at the jetty for a nice feed of fish and chips.
We said goodbye to Derby early next morning, topped up the petrol tank at 155.0 c/ltr, for the short trip to Fitzroy Crossing where we found a real nice caravan park out the back of the Fitzroy River Lodge, a pretty flash tourist resort on the banks of the river with petrol on sale at 147c/ltr. (Bugger)….. Booked in for one night only, then headed out to Geekie Gorge for a look and found a boat tour just about to begin so we jumped on board for a very interesting 1.5 hour trip up into the gorge with a pretty well informed guide.
As much as we often say one gorge is much the same as the other, they really are quite different in their own way and worth the effort to see. …..I figure there’s not much point in coming all this way just to drive from one town to the next.
Next morning we decided to stay an extra night as this is the first camp we’ve had in several weeks where they appear to have an abundant water supply and allow you to wash cars and caravans on site so we took advantage of that, it’s a good opportunity to hopefully get rid of the last of the Pilbarra dust and do some washing as well to catch up. The little washing machine is still doing a great job. J tells me I’m due for a haircut so that’s probably going to happen sometime soon as well.
Tomorrow (Friday) we head for Halls Creek then on to Kunnanurra for a few days (and more tours) before heading towards Katherine and Darwin…. We hope to be in Katherine by next Wednesday to watch the State of Origin, you don’t hear anything about NRL in W.A. but I do check the results on the net every week and I’m VERY happy that my Parramatta Eels are doing so well, unfortunately for J the Roosters are having another lean year.
We hope you are all well and thanks to those of you who Email occasionally, it’s good to hear from you.
Till next time
Love to all
D & J.
The next day we went with Graham & Merlene for a 350k round trip, part way up the Gibb River Road, to the Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, very nice but not quite as exciting as yesterday. The only excitement came when we found a colony of Freshwater Crocs (the harmless ones) and got some good close up photos.
We got back to Derby about 5.00pm and decided it was too late to start cooking so we all went to the local fish restaurant down at the jetty for a nice feed of fish and chips.
We said goodbye to Derby early next morning, topped up the petrol tank at 155.0 c/ltr, for the short trip to Fitzroy Crossing where we found a real nice caravan park out the back of the Fitzroy River Lodge, a pretty flash tourist resort on the banks of the river with petrol on sale at 147c/ltr. (Bugger)….. Booked in for one night only, then headed out to Geekie Gorge for a look and found a boat tour just about to begin so we jumped on board for a very interesting 1.5 hour trip up into the gorge with a pretty well informed guide.
As much as we often say one gorge is much the same as the other, they really are quite different in their own way and worth the effort to see. …..I figure there’s not much point in coming all this way just to drive from one town to the next.
Next morning we decided to stay an extra night as this is the first camp we’ve had in several weeks where they appear to have an abundant water supply and allow you to wash cars and caravans on site so we took advantage of that, it’s a good opportunity to hopefully get rid of the last of the Pilbarra dust and do some washing as well to catch up. The little washing machine is still doing a great job. J tells me I’m due for a haircut so that’s probably going to happen sometime soon as well.
Tomorrow (Friday) we head for Halls Creek then on to Kunnanurra for a few days (and more tours) before heading towards Katherine and Darwin…. We hope to be in Katherine by next Wednesday to watch the State of Origin, you don’t hear anything about NRL in W.A. but I do check the results on the net every week and I’m VERY happy that my Parramatta Eels are doing so well, unfortunately for J the Roosters are having another lean year.
We hope you are all well and thanks to those of you who Email occasionally, it’s good to hear from you.
Till next time
Love to all
D & J.
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