A Kimberley & Pilbara Adventure

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Home Valley

Finlay, Millah, Lily, Katelyn, Sue, John & Helene cooking damper on a stick at Kellie & Lee's camp by the pentecost River

14th & 15th June 2012

Pentecost River Cockburn Ranges sunset

Our last two days at Home Valley Station were super easy. Just hanging out at the playground, down by the river, by the pool, at John & Sue's or Kellie & Lee's camp, or in and around the bar. The boys put the boat in again and also took a drive further up the Pentecost to a secret fishing spot. Unfortunately for them, there were no fish caught.

Pentecost River Cockburn Ranges

Pentecost River Sunset

Pentecost River Cockburn Ranges sunset

Monday, 25 June 2012

Home Valley

John & Lily feeding BigBen

13th June 2012

I didn't think we could relax anymore, but we managed to. Sitting around camp, chatting with neighbours, afternoon naps, chilling out at the bar. With the kids playing at the playground, it was pretty quiet around camp. We had some fun sinking in the mud to put the boat in the Pentecost River. We didn't get too far before we spotted one of the legendary locals. A large crocodile was sunning himself on the muddy bank and the girls become a little worried.

The Pentecost River

We had our own little cruise up and down a small section of the river. A few lures were cast and a livey set out but we didn't really try very hard to catch anything. John had a good afternoon sleep. The boat and dirt roads never fail to send john off to sleep. it was a quick trip to fit in with the tides, as Lily and John were going for a horse ride this afternoon. They really enjoyed their little horse ride around the campground. We were all supposed to go up to the bar to watch the State of Origin, but everybody was so tired that only Chris went up to watch the game.

In the boat on the Pentecost

Crocodile

The Cockburn Ranges above the Pentecost River

The Cockburn Ranges & Pentecost River

John & his pony.

Lily & Pistol

Home Valley Station

Driving across the Pentecost River

12th June 2012

All our supplies were extremely low, there wasn't even any baked beans left, and our camper battery needed to be replaced, so we did the final section of the Gibb River Road and back on the Victoria Highway and into Kununurra. Boy was Kununurra busy. A bit different to when we were here at the beginning of April. We phoned everybody we could think of whilst we had phone reception, did what we had to do and headed back to Home Valley.

The view through our very dirty windscreen

The Pentecost River crossing was a bit of a non-event, pretty easy and there was about twenty kilometres of the Gibb between El Questro and the Victoria Highway that was bitumen. We had deluxe sausage sandwiches with, cheese, lettuce, beetroot, tomato and red onion for dinner and enjoyed lots of fruit for afternoon tea. Everybody had really missed fresh fruit and vegetables and we were all really excited to be able to eat them again.

Cockburn Ranges

Drysdale to Home Valley

Cockburn Ranges

11th June 2012
Back on the Gibb River Road again. There is a lot more traffic and dust on the Gibb now as there are so many more tourists travelling the road. It has been a pretty uneventful day. We needed to get a powered campsite as the battery in the camper trailer has given up. The riverside camping is probably nicer but there is a playground and a pool nearby here. we didn't see the kids all afternoon as they were playing with the many other kids in the playground. Lily was very happy as there are loads of horses to pat here.

Cockburn Ranges

Our dust encrusted car & camper

Mitchell Falls

Little Mertens Falls

10th June 2012

We were up before the sun this morning and on the very bumpy, steep and windy road out to Mitchell Falls. The Pajero was lucky enough to get a break from towing the camper today and it helped us to take only an hour and a half to get out to the start of the walking track. The worst section of the road was the twelve kilometres into the national park day use area. We had considered getting a ride in the helicopter out of Mitchell Falls, but at $110 a person, even three year olds, we would be walking in and out. After a quick breakfast, we were on our way. It took us two hours to walk to Mitchell Falls. The walk is not overly challenging, just long with two water crossings. We had a rest and started the long walk back.

Little Mertens Falls

There is no correct wording for what we experienced at Big Mertens Falls on our way back, but I will do my best. A 37 year old Victorian woman walking with an APT tour group tragically fell at Big Mertens Falls and our family was present for the immediate aftermath. The remainder of the APT tour group moved away and the woman's husband and one tour guide remained. They were both in shock. I am not sure we will ever forget their faces. Chris dragged the devastated husband away from the sixty metre cliff edge and did what he could to make sure that the two men were ok. There was little else that could be done as there was no equipment or first aid kit with a shock blanket. The feeling of helplessness was hardest for Chris as he is trained to respond to these kind of situations. With heavy hearts, we continued our walk back to the car in silence. Everybody was very sad and the kids had the odd question but it was a general grey heaviness that accompanied us home.

Aboriginal artwork Mitchell Falls Walk

We stopped for a bit of a snack before getting back in the car. A gentleman approached us with our underwater camera that we didn't even know we had lost. In a funny turn of events, he found our camera after his had stopped working so he used our camera to take some photo's. We made it back to camp pretty quickly and packed up and headed back down the Kalumburu Road to Drysdale Station. We arrived pretty late and everybody was a bit worse for wear. A hot shower and dinner at the restaurant and bed. There were things that happened days prior to today that lead to today occurring how it did. For some reason, we were meant to have this experience. I am not sure exactly what it is we are supposed to take away from today; maybe in time......

Big Mertens Falls

Top of Big Mertens Falls

Michell Falls

Kalumburu to King Edward River

Price of diesel at Kalumburu

9th June 2012

It was a lunch time pack up today. The fish weren't biting anymore so we decided to head back down the Kalumburu Road to the King Edward River camp grounds. It took us a long time to pack up. Usually we are half packed up the night before we leave, but today we had to do everything. It was a bumpy three and half hour drive to the camp ground. We actually got stuck in a bit of a traffic jam trying to cross the river. There were people everywhere. There must have been about fifty campers in this camp ground in the middle of nowhere.

Kalumburu Road

We set up beside the river just as the sun was sinking behind the trees. Chris and the kids disappeared down the river with their yabby trap hoping to catch some Cherabin. It was a quick dinner and preparation for our big day out to Mitchell Falls tomorrow.

There are loads of these on the Kalumburu Road

Northern entry to Carsons River crossing Kalumburu Road

Some cool tree ferns Kalumburu Road

Sunday, 24 June 2012

McGowans Island - Kalumburu

Camp at McGowans Island - Kalumburu

5th to 8th June 2012

We spent five nights at McGowans Island. Most of our days were spent fishing. Everybody would go out in the boat in the morning and return to camp for lunch. Only the diehard fisher persons would head back out in the afternoon. We caught some amazing fish. It was pretty cool to see metre plus queenies and trevaly swimming around the boat.

The kids in their driftwood teepee's

Everyone caught awesome fish and it was so much fun hooking up and getting the fish to the boat. We had two run ins with some Barracuda. Chris ended up with a hook in the finger and I was unlucky enough to have a Barracuda jump into my lap and embed two lure hooks into my thumb. The kids made their own fishing rods from sticks, line and some lures they got in their RecFishWest goodie bag and actually caught fish on them.

McGowans Island - Kalumburu

View of camp from the boat

There are hermit crabs everywhere here and the kids played with them for hours every day; making them houses and having hermit crab races. For at least three nights during our stay, a fellow camper let off fireworks on the beach. We walked along the rocky foreshore and the kids made teepee's out of driftwood. Every evening was spent around the fire watching the sun sink into the sea and then the millions of stars twinkle into life.

Sunset McGowans Island - Kalumburu

There are some cool spiders in the grass which are not much bigger than a fifty cent coin and when you shine a torch on them at night, their eyes twinkle blue, green and silver. On most days out in the boat, we were lucky enough to see Snubfin Dolphins, the Kimberley's very own dolphin which is found nowhere else in the world and in very few numbers. It was definitely hard work on the car to get to and from Kalumburu, but the fishing was absolutely awesome and the location beautiful, so it was well worth the effort.