A touch of paradise

I can't believe we actually have service out here


17th June - After a lovely quiet night in the caravan park in Denham we transferred the camper to the National Park. The road in is 4wd only and quite sandy especially towards to tip of the cape, the only hiccup was getting stuck in the sandy road when we had to move aside for another oncoming vehicle. 

A couple of times along the way we
skirted what was a lake on the map
but now a carpet of heather and the
road was very firm and level (a nice
change from the corrugations and ruts)

The road is very sandy between wheel tracks and as we had to mount the side we lost traction but it was just a matter of letting the tyres down even more and driving it out. We had planned on going to Gregories campsite but the driver we gave way to told us to go to South Gregories as they had just spent a few days there and it was perfect, so we took his advice and set up in a lovely big site to ourselves (only 2 other couples in the campground) right above the water’s edge, with a short path beside the camper down to the shore. 

How's this for a water view?

After lunch we went for a drive further up the cape and called in at the campsite we had planned on going to and are so glad we had to give way to that driver this morning or we’d have been very disappointed (no close to shore camping and a very difficult descent to the, mostly rock, ‘beach’). We drove on up to Cape Peron and walked out on Cormorant Point to see the cold and warm currents meet and a pod of dolphins rounding up there feed. Though it was out a fair way it was still something to see!!

Shovel nose shark

We called in at Skipjack Point on the way back and were rewarded by the sight of a number of sharks and stingrays in the bay below, we also saw a turtle and eaglerays as well as a shovel nosed shark. We spent ages watching and Ray noticed the surface breaking up straight out in front of us with birds swooping, then a couple of sharks went in for a feed. It was fantastic to have a bird’s eye view even though we’ve seen it so many times on TV. 

I'm guessing the new age lighthouse

Red cliffs at Cape Peron

Southbound

14th -15th June - We drove down to Carnarvon and set up for 2 nights in a caravan park. Quite a big town and having lots of work done on the waterfront and main street, it would be nice to come back and see what it’s like after all the changes. Lots of fresh fruit and veg here as it’s the main fresh produce provider for WA. In this small world I ran into a friend from Forster. She and her husband are spending about 9 months driving around Australia and we both ended up at Yardie Homestead at the same time! They are heading north east and had been to Carnarvon so recommended the blow holes at Quobba Point. Thanks Bill & Lynda, we went today and they are pretty spectacular. 

 

Carnarvon also has one of the 
longest jetties in the southern hemisphere.  


A bit cold and windy for any fishing and swimming today so visited the local Aboriginal Cultural centre and caught the last day of a very interesting, well presented, interactive exhibition there.  Also some great examples of local artists work.

16th June - Moved on to Denham today and because we went down around the bottom of Shark Bay and up the other side we crossed the 25th? Parallel twice - sounds a bit sci-fi to me. Denham is a lovely town.  We set up the camper in a caravan park in Denham then drove up the peninsula to Francois Peron National Park for Ray to have a fish in Big Lagoon but no luck. Will move the camper up into the National Park tomorrow, going up near the top. The water here is again so clear and blue, looks so inviting - a pity it’s a bit cool in the wind though.

On our way to Denham we called in at Hamelin Pool on the east side of Shark Bay to see the Stromatolites.
Note how clear the water is, just beautiful.

Whale shark tour photos

I got permission to use some photos from our tour so here they are. 
Photos by Krystal Vision www.krystalvision.com.au

Our beautiful dive boat 

Dugongs don't stay around very long
so lucky to have this photo

Proof Ray was swimming
with the whale shark

Just hangin' with the fish

Here is a video of the whale shark sorry it's not great it looks much clearer on our computer.

10th - 13th June - 10th - 13th June - Have been snorkelling every day except Sunday when it was wet and windy. We went to another spot called the Oyster Stacks, which is a coral reef where there are oyster covered rocks and it is the best place. We’ve been back a few times and yesterday was lovely and calm so we could get out a fair way and see lots more new stuff. We managed to get some photos today though it wasn’t so calm but it gives you an idea of the variety of sea life.

Having a whale of a time

7th June - Made it to Exmouth and the sun is shining. Camping at Yardie Homestead for a week and will go into the National Park from here each day as you have to wait in line at the Ranger station from 6am to have them tell you at 8am whether there will be any camping spots available and considering there is no drinkable water, no toilets or showers we decided it wasn’t worth it. Fortunately we bought an annual Parks Pass at The Bungles so can go in as many times as we want. 

Boat envy 

This is obviously a fishing haven, there are some serious boats here in the caravan park! We went to the boat ramp and jetty to check it out as a fishing spot and it was so crowded Ray dismissed it for fishing but we watched as boats came into the ramp.

8th June - Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay on the Ningaloo Reef this morning was just fantastic.  A pity the video and photos don’t do it justice. Immediately before we entered the water a little 1m reef shark came into the shallows (very reassuring) but we didn’t see it again and the variety of fish is just mind blowing.  We did the drift, where you leave your towel etc. at one end of the beach and go up the beach about 100m and out to the reef then follow the current back to the beginning. We did this 3 times then the wind picked up and we were getting cold, though the water was a lovely temperature - had to be for me to be in that long. Again too easy to get disoriented, following fish around and into the current, going out to sea so we had to keep watching how far down the beach we were. 

9th June - Went for a swim with a really big fish today!!  Ray has always wanted to swim with the whale sharks so we booked in to a tour. WOW, first a snorkel on the reef to make sure we were all OK with the gear & snorkelling, that was even better than yesterday. A reef shark swam into the reef as we began, we saw all the things you see on the underwater documentaries, big & small, just amazing. Back on the lovely boat and out to sea beyond the reef break where the water is deep blue. The captain found a Dugong that he followed until it surfaced. We saw a number of large sea snakes, turtles & a manta ray while waiting for the plane to spot the whale sharks, he even chased down some migrating humpbacks and we were rewarded with a trio not too far from the boat. Finally the go ahead to swim with the whale shark. It wasn’t a huge one and I only got to see a glimpse of it the first time and couldn’t catch up with the rest of the group to actually swim with it (not assertive enough says Ray). The next swim I got in the front and saw more of the shark but again they left me for dead but it was a beautiful sight and Ray got some film of the time he spent swimming with it. We had a lovely lunch on the reef and another snorkel which was amazing again but the wind had picked up and it was quite choppy so we didn’t stay out long though the temperature of the water is beautiful. We were very fortunate as the weather didn’t look too good this morning and gale force winds are predicted for this afternoon but the sun came out, the water was lovely and the crew on the boat were fantastic. Now we look forward to seeing the dvd of photos the professional took and remember this as something special - our big splurge for the trip!

Will try to add photos from whale shark trip later

Broome - Exmouth

5th June - A long day driving today. Back to Broome for more supplies, then on down the coast stopping at Cape Kenaudren, where the stairway to the moon was supposed to be visible. I am so disoriented here, north and south are in the wrong direction when I’m facing the ocean! The sun went down over the water so I couldn’t understand how the moon would rise over the wet sand at low tide but a fantastic orange moon rose up at what seemed to be 45 degrees from where the sun went down (who knows?) I think you had to be in a certain spot to actually see the moon reflected on the sand or have a vivid imagination!! With no protection at all and a roaring wind, we hardly got any sleep. Instead of the gentle waves lulling us to sleep, they woke us up as the tide came in but we never saw high tide as it was back to kilometres of sand when we got up. 

Salt plant at Porthedland

6th June - Packed up and got on our way again to Port Hedland (why did we want to see that?) and Karatha which was much nicer than Port Hedland but the caravan park office was closed over lunch and looked like it was full up anyway so we kept moving down the coast and found a roadhouse at Fortesque River where it’s blowing a gale again so we’ve batoned down the hatches and locked ourselves in the cosy camper, for the night. 

We had the first rain today, not bad considering we are usually washed out when we go away and end the holiday early, so we can’t complain and at least it washed off some of the red dirt. Just hoping it clears up or warms up when we get to Exmouth.

Dampier Peninsular

 

You will have to imagine these three photos lined up, I'm having trouble getting the photos to stay in the right place on this blog

31st May - 4 June - We stayed at Middle Lagoon, on the Dampier Peninsular, for 5 days, mostly having a relax. What a beautiful spot!! 

So quiet, we have a secluded campsite just to ourselves again with plenty of shade and a campfire, it’s pretty well untouched up here. The dirt road with many corrugations on the corrugations that are like a mini roller coaster, ensure only the determined get up here, though the long weekend brought a lot more campers and still there was plenty of room. We went snorkelling in the beautiful clear, blue ocean each afternoon (it’s been too windy each morning) and swam with lots of different types of fish, a turtle,  saw small stingrays that were doing a pretty good job of hiding in the sandy bottom or showing their bright blue dots to us, maybe to scare us off!! Some lovely colours amongst the coral. It’s so easy to keep snorkelling and not realise how far out you get just following the fish. Valleys between the reefs were like highways with every kind and size of fish all heading in the one direction, reminding me of 'Finding Nemo'. We’d see something new each time we went out.  A pity our video doesn’t do it justice, we were so close to the reef at low tide that the bottom was disturbed so the video is not real clear.

The obligatory sunset

We went rock scrambling and Ray did some fishing, watched the sunset, walked the beach  collecting some shells and I got some craft done so we had quite a good relaxing time all up. It was lovely to just sit, listen to the bush and watch the birds.

We spent one day further up the peninsular, visiting the Trochus Shell farm at One Arm Cove and the Pearl Farm at Cygnet Bay then on to Cape Levique but when we got there what we could see of it didn’t look inviting and we had to pay at the reception to visit. Having heard that it was quite commercialised now, gearing mostly towards those who stayed at the resort and since we’d already felt a bit ripped off from the other 2 ‘tours’ we decided it was just as well to go back to Middle Lagoon. 

We had the first cloudy sky in almost 6 weeks, on Monday morning. Sounds like this could be the norm for the next few days at least.

Civilisation!!

26th May - 4 weeks we have been on the road now and we are at Derby, a short drive today and finally on to bitumen. Ray put air in the tyres as soon as we hit the tar and about 10k on it was back to red dirt again but not for long, then one lane of bitumen down the middle so that if another car came the other way we had to slow down and be prepared to go off to the side which, not too gradually, sloped down about a metre (interesting). 

The local High School was having a car wash at the service station we refuelled at so Ray paid a bit extra to wash ours as it was pretty bad (he said ‘you should have seen their faces when he pulled in). Now he’s happy that his car is nice and clean again but found some chips which are to be expected, I guess. Set up camp for a couple of nights in the caravan park and went shopping in a proper supermarket. Nice fresh bread for lunch then a nanna nap before heading down to a local Art Gallery then on to the jetty. 

Just a small part of the mud flats in
 Derby (sorry about the reflection,
most of my photos have to be
 taken out the window and I don't alway notice the reflections)

Mud flats everywhere here as the tide goes down 11metres from it’s highest point but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to see the tide in, we didn’t get back to it this evening. 

There are a whole lot of cyclists here tonight for The Gibb Challenge. I don’t envy them peddling bikes all the way along it but it seems to happen every year and I’m sure it’s a great adventure for them though they’d get to eat a lot of dust.  We heard that there were 400 cyclists plus support vehicles for each team so we’re doubly glad to be off there. 

27th - Civilisation? The cyclists were up at 3.30am packing up and a few talking and joking like it was the middle of the day.  A rooster was crowing from then on until dawn, kids down a few sites were woken and started crying and I’d hoped to get a sleep in! No such luck, anyway I got my washing done early and there was plenty, everything we touch is covered in red dust so our clothes get pretty dirty not to mention bedding etc. It all dried quickly in the wind and heat.

We went to the visitors centre which was very interesting with lovely souvenirs, I especially like the carved boab seeds, they are fantastic, the intricate designs done on them, which probably take hours to do, are amazing. We checked out the centenary mural at the entrance to the jetty and watched as many people, on the jetty, threw a line in the incoming tide. 

You should see the cars parked on the jetty and people lined up around the railing with at least 2 lines each but Ray only saw one fish caught, I gave up watching and photographed the sunset, which was pretty special over the water. 

We still didn’t see the water at high tide but it sure comes in in a rush and was higher than the day before. I’d say the mud flats are covered in the wet season and a king tide, there is just so much area for the water to come into.

28th May -  Not much to report today.  

On our way out of Derby we called in to look at the Prison Tree, a hollow old boab that used to be used to house prisoners overnight when they were being transported, it’s huge and just goes to show that even old boab’s go saggy!

We moved on to Broome and are staying 3 days at Cable Beach, the beach is like a postcard, beautiful blue sea with white sand. 

Deck chairs and umbrellas for hire
along the beach

It was all a bit flat but looks very inviting, if it wasn’t for that wind!! Went shopping again (we can only store so much). The handbrake on the camper gave out today so Ray had to go find someone who could temporarily fix it until we get somewhere that we can buy another one, there are no trailer businesses here apparently. 

We went to Sun Pictures - the oldest running garden cinema in the world, opening in 1916 - and saw Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The perfect movie for the setting, half the seats are inside and the other half outside (I don’t know why you’d go to an outdoor cinema and sit inside) it was a beautiful night, a bit cool but we rugged up and took our pillows, as recommended, because the deck chairs get a bit uncomfortable. While the trailers were running a plane flew across over the screen very low - another missed photo opportunity - you don’t get to see that too often!!! It was a good movie and just lovely sitting under the stars to watch it.

29th May - Did some sightseeing today, Ray looking for fishing spots but had the rod in the car and his other gear in the camper boot so was a bit disappointed, maybe tomorrow. We wandered the shops in Chinatown. If you want pearls, here is the place to get them, every second shop seems to specialise in them (Ray’s lucky I’m not interested in them). Broome is a lovely town, I love the old style of the corrugated iron shops especially in Chinatown and it’s all so neat.

We spent a couple of hours driving onto Cable beach to sit and watch the sunset. 3 lots of camel ride companies paraded up and down the beach until after sunset, providing lots of photo opportunities (you may have noticed I like sunrises & sunsets). 

It's not every day you get to
follow camels onto the beach

 I have lots of photos to sort through just from this evening. Ray is happy, while we were waiting for the sun to set, he had his first swim in the ocean in a month and said it felt so good even if the waves were about a foot high. He decided he’s meant to be on the coast, I wondered how he thought he was going to survive the outback! 

30th May - We were going snorkelling today but by the time I got myself organised (I left my boardshorts in the van) and got down to the beach Ray was getting out because the wind was too cold even with his wetsuit on. He did have a good little swim around and see some fish before getting out but knew I wouldn’t be keen so we had a lazy day reading then late afternoon when the wind died down we went for a swim, it was lovely once I got in the few little waves were fun to 'body surf' in. 

Fantastic Falls & Gorgeous Gorges

18th May - Had the best shower in over 2 weeks this morning and by the way we got the shower tent folded easily, after looking at the youtube video again, nothing like the instructions but hopefully we’ll remember what to do next time. Left early to go to El Questro this morning, decided to only spend 1 night here.  Arriving at around 9.30am we set up quickly and set off to do a couple of smaller walks before lunch. The first to Zebedee Springs was a very short walk to a spring fed thermal pool, it was only small and there were already a number of people swimming and as we wanted to do another walk we decided to give it a miss and continue to the next one, El Questro Gorge. 

Walk in El Questro gorge

This was supposed to be an hour in to the halfway pool but only took us half an hour, taking photos on the way.  

Lower pool in El Q gorge

We were told the second half was quite a bit more rugged and there was no-one else at the halfway pool so we decided not to go further on and to take the plunge at the halfway pool. I took my usual time getting in but Ray got straight to it and it was lovely, such a lovely setting with a small waterfall over the rocks into this small deep pool and crystal clear.  

Sat on a nice flat rock in the sun to dry before returning. Well worth the walk in. 

View of Pentecost River and Cockburn
Range from Pidgeon Hole Lookout at El Q

We went back to camp for lunch and decided to do some 4x4 driving to a lookout over the property and maybe one more walk but the info at the walk was different to the info on the sheet we had and some people who just finished it said we wouldn’t finish before dark so back to camp to plan the next leg to Emma Gorge early tomorrow and on to Drysdale Station. 

El Questro is a beautiful property with lots to do and see, many creek crossings (a couple as deep as we want to go) and the 4x4 driving was great fun.  The campsites are very roomy and as there aren’t too many people here yet we have plenty of space to ourselves.

The car doesn’t seem to have a problem starting anymore so we wonder if it was dirty fuel and feel a lot better about taking it further on the Gibb River Rd.

Ray on a mission onEmma Gorge track

Emma Gorge pool
(the couple swimming
do have clothes on)

19th May - Packed up extra early today and left El Questro Station to go through Emma Gorge before heading for Drysdale Station further up the Gibb River Rd. We quickly walked Emma Gorge to the beautiful waterfall and pool at the end but 8.30 in the morning was a bit cold to go for a swim, though there was one brave young couple in there when we arrived. They confirmed later that it was quite chilly.  

The sight of the Cockburn Range is breathtaking with the sheer walls rising out of the slopes of the mountains as we travelled out of El Questro country. 

Cockburn Ranges from Gibb River Rd

The Gibb River Rd was in reasonable state for the most part and the Pentecost River crossing was a bit bumpy but not as deep as a couple of creek crossings at El Questro.

On coming car crossing the Pentecost

All other creek and river crossings were uneventful and we stopped at a little picnic spot above the Durack River and Ray had a short fish with one bite then snagged his lure so that was the end of that. We continued on to Drysdale Station, set up, did some much needed washing and dug in for the night. We passed through a lot of burnt out countryside on our way and found out that the Dept of Environment and Conservation burn off before it gets too late in the season for the new growth to appear, it always amazes me how quickly the green appears after a fire and especially out here - there must be a lot of residual moisture in the ground as we’ve seen lots of ground with lovely green grass and shoots on trees amongst the blackened bush where there has been a burn off recently. 

Road washout 22k from Drysdale

20th May - The Kalumburu Road from Drysdale Station to King Edward River is not too bad but has some wash outs, corrugations like speed humps  and many creek & river crossings as well as rocks to maneuver around which slowed us down now and then but on the whole we made good time. 

 

Crossing the King Edward River was OK because we followed someone else who’d waded across the knee deep, rocky, steady flowing river, I wasn’t completely comfortable but the car didn’t miss a beat and the camper just follows along really well, we hardly know it’s there. Both are very dirty after the past few days of mud and water, of course. 

We set up camp in the national park camping area by the river and went to find the local Aboriginal rock art.  Amazing to think that these drawings have been around for so long, some are in excellent condition and others have faded and been drawn over but it’s still something to see the real thing. Ray went for a fish further down river and I followed with the camera finding him way down near some rapids. 

I followed the rock shelf down to a waterfall of only about 3m drop and 5-6m wide but with an incredible amount of water going over and the noise was almost deafening. The whole scene was just beautiful, I would like to have sat and watched it until the sunset but then we wouldn’t have got back to camp before dark.  Another campfire lit and early night for us.

21st May - Packed up and set off at 7am for Mitchell Falls camping area. It took us 2 hrs to do the 80kms due to many corrugations and rough patches but we were fast compared with others we’ve spoken to. 

The scenery changed a lot on the way here, from the Aussie bush we are used to, to predominantly palm trees, then some other trees again and somewhere along the way there were just large rocks everywhere. 

We set up in the National Park camping ground which is again lovely and quiet with lots of space, we have a whole small section to ourselves with campfire which we used again tonight. 

We walked to Little Merten Falls and had a swim in the pool at the base, beautiful!! More rock art on the sheltered rock surface beside the waterfall which was again amazing to see. Spectacular falls into a large pool which we again had to ourselves, then we sat on a rock in the sun to dry a bit before walking back. Lazy afternoon and campfire tea again.

22nd May - Well today we had our first helicopter flight as we did a small tour over the Mitchell Falls and surrounds, only a 15min flight but enough to show the falls and how inhospitable the bush is out here, I don’t know how anyone ever found their way out of here when exploring. 

Mitchell Falls from Helicopter

What we had to ford to access
the other side to view the falls

We had been told that it was almost impossible to get across the river above the falls and be able to see all the tiers, so we decided to be helicoptered one way and walk the other, we found some others who wanted to do the same to cut the cost a bit and were dropped off at the top of the falls where you can have a swim before walking back to camp. As we got there someone was walking/swimming across to the other side and made it quite easily so Ray and the other guys went straight across. I was going to stay as I didn’t think I could swim against the small rapids we had to go through but others came back across down a bit lower and had no trouble, besides I would have regretted it later, I easily got across and so glad I did. 

What a site and the roar!! I’d love to see it during the wet season. We spent about an hour there and headed back, seeing another opportunity to see the falls from the other side we clambered over boulders to get some more close up photos. It’s not a long walk and on the way back some more aboriginal rock art to admire but we were tired out so it seemed a bit of a slog. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and planning the next stop.  

23rd May - We retraced our steps to the intersection of the Gibb River Rd and Kalumburu Rd. The ride was better than on Monday maybe because Ray lowered the car for this trip or maybe all the cars that went to the Falls flattened the corrugations a bit, though some of the road had deteriorated a little. 

We only took 1hr 40 mins to do the 80k back to King Edward River where we were met with about 10 of the off road bikers, who camped behind us at Mitchell Falls, walking their bikes across the river with some difficulty but they all got across and watched as we crossed, the flow felt a bit stronger today. Got to Drysdale Station for fuel and bread at a10.30 and moved on to the Gibb River Rd intersection for an early lunch before going on to Barnett River Gorge glad of the information from one of the bikers, who’d shared the helicopter ride with us, that there was a big hole in the crossing at the Hahn River as one of the riders had his bike washed down the river with him on it, almost drowning but for him grabbing a tree. He got out with his bike, drained it and got it going again, amazingly. I walked across to get a good line that we could go by, even then it was above my knees (not that that’s so deep, I guess). 

We managed the very rough drive out to Barnett River Gorge and I was thinking this could be a mistake, no-one would go out here! Wrong - there were 4 cars and more following us. 

We went to a lovely swimming hole and had a swim but didn’t actually get to the gorge, then went back a bit up the track to a camping spot where we set up for the night and again enjoyed another campfire but the bugs drove us indoors and still a few cars have come in the evening! 

I’d hate to drive this track in the dark.

We passed this car below on our way and a little way up the road was the bull

Why you need a bull bar
notice the hole in the passenger door
where the bulls horn broke off

The result

24th May - Where were we last night? Oh yes parked in the bush on a dodgy track. Lovely quiet night with a creek trickling a few metres away. We set off from Barnett River Gorge to continue our trek along the Gibb River Rd, stopping at Mt Barnett Roadhouse for fuel and some supplies but there were so little supplies and what was there was very expensive and we didn’t really need anything except some fruit which we bought a little of. It must be hard for the locals with so little fresh food to choose from. 

Photos above of Galvins Gorge - the one on the left showing the boab right on the edge 

Part of the road in to Adcock Gorge

Another part of the road in

We called in to Galvin’s Gorge, a short drive off the Gibb River Rd, with a waterfall into a lovely swimming hole but again 8.30am was a bit cool for a swim, then on to Adcock Gorge which is on private property but allows day visitors only. What a beautiful spot it is, well worth the rocky road in, another waterfall into a large pool some of which is covered in waterlillies, just gorgeous. We then went on to Bells Gorge which we were told at Bungle Bungle, was closed but must have opened in the last week so decided to camp the night in the national park at Silent Grove nearby, another lovely spot with good facilities (so glad to have a flushing toilet again). 

After lunch we went on to Bells Gorge -the camping there is not that great- to have a swim in the pool below the waterfall. Yet another beautiful spot and again worth the scramble down the cliff, though I nearly ended up down at the bottom again when I slipped or a rock moved under my foot, on our way back out. 

Bell Gorge

The water was cool but we had a lovely swim, I think I’ve had more swims this week than I’ve had in the last 9 years! The countryside is still shades of green though not so many shrubs, more gum trees - the varieties of which change all the time - and tall spinifex.  I particularly like an orange gum and grevillea that we don’t have on the east coast but I’d love to have at home, will have to look it up when I get back.

25th May - On the road again to our last gorges on the Gibb River Rd and the surface today was really good but we’ve seen more cars today than we’ve seen the last 3 weeks, the peak season is starting obviously so we’re glad we missed most of the traffic until now.

Looking back through beginning of
Tunnel Creek

 We went straight to Tunnel Creek, very interesting it’s just so dark and I don’t like going through water where I can’t see what’s on the bottom. Somehow I ended up wet to the thighs and I didn’t see anyone else that wet! Amazing to see what was a reef, uncovered, albeit by torchlight.

Looking to roof cave in about
halfway through tunnel creek

Water dripping from limestone

View from end of Tunnel Creek

Entrance to Windjana Gorge

Then on to Windjana Gorge where we set up the camper for the night and went for a walk through the gorge after lunch. Quite a few fresh water crocs on the sandbanks and of course Ray had to try and get close for a photo because we left the telephoto lens in the car. 

Freshwater Croc in Windjana Gorge

I think he was pleased to have seen them, it’s what he was looking forward to. Unfortunately the last kilometre of the walk was closed due to the damage done in the wet season but it was still a lovely walk, though I think we are ‘walked out’ now so it’s just as well we are at the end of the gorges trek.

Some of the exposed reef in
Windjana Gorge

Sunset on Windjana Gorge
from camp

Ray has got the scent of the coast so we seem to have sped through the Gorge region but I don’t think we could do them all in one trip though we could have spent more time in Kunanurra and anyway it’s a good excuse to come back and do the things we missed. The weather has been fantastic temps between 28 & 30 degrees, beautiful blue skies and for the first time no rain driving us back home early (not that we can go home early this time). I hope the weather continues as we explore the coast and spend more than one or two nights in one spot. Even Ray is looking forward to supermaket shopping (I don’t believe it) and we both are looking forward to having phone service and able to speak to the kids, hopefully tomorrow.