Just Bungling along

After leaving Ayers rock we headed up to Alice Springs.  It was very tempting passing the Kings Canyon turn off to ‘pop in’ for a visit but decided that due to the long drive in and hot weather for the walks (as spectacular as they are) we would give it a miss this time.

In Alice we took advantage of the Big 4 Caravan Park, where the kids had 3 pools to choose from and a huge jumping pillow! 

We stayed for a couple of relaxing days and also went to the Desert Park.  The Birds of Prey was fantastic, and kids really enjoyed it. Ash was a bit worried about the whistling kite swooping over our heads though.

After a bit of a stock up with food and water we headed out for the trek across the Tanami.  The road across the Tanami takes you from Alice Springs to Halls Creek in WA.  We’ve done the track before (pre kids) and it hasn’t changed much.  A lot of people think it’s a hard core 4wd type experience... but it’s not, it’s basically 800 odd kms of corrugations... two long days of driving in dust and bone shattering corrugations though. 

Some spots if you’re lucky are graded by the mines.  What a welcome relief if even for only a few km’s... but then back to the constant droning and shaking and bouncing.  We didn’t see much wild life either on the Tanami, apart from a group of camels at the start.

The first night on the Tanami we made it to a small camping area just after Rabbit Flat Roadhouse (which has recently closed down).  We had the desert all to ourselves, and that night it was very very quiet. 
Last time we came through here 11 years ago, we also camped at the same spot.  It was the night after the Peter Falconio murder.  Very scary back then and quite a bit eerie this time around as well. Kaz was eager to get going early next morning.

Being such a long distance and with Rabbit Flat closing down, fuel usage is a bit of a concern.  We’d had enough to just get us to Halls Creek, but we decided to play it safe and call into Bililuna for some diesel.  Being it was Sunday, we had to track the store owner down and ask really really nicely for a few litres of diesel... which is really all you get for $100.  $2.60 a litre!... unfortunately they don’t accept Coles discount vouchers!

Having that bit of extra diesel also allowed us to pop into Wolf Creek Crater before getting to Halls Creek.  Quick visit as it was very hot out there. Great view of the crater from the rim though.  Lee was trying to convince Kaz into staying at the camp ground next to it but the memory of the Wolf Creek movie was too much for her, so we pushed onto Halls Creek. 

Finally leaving the Tanami to hit the bitumen... (yes!)...

We arrived at Halls Creek, and stayed in the town caravan park... which had a pool... which of course the kids occupied 24/7. Not much to see around here, just a small town.  We did venture out to Caroline pool.  The water hole is where the local cattle come for a drink so it’s not the best place for a swim. Another stock up from Halls Creek and we were on the road again...

We stayed at the Bungle Bungles next, and the heat hit us with a vengeance!!  Two days of scorching weather reaching 41 degrees, and not a whole lot of shade at the camp ground.  We managed two of the walks to Echidna Chasm and Cathedral Gorge, which were awesome.  It was great to reach the end of the walks just to get some relief from the heat in the chasm and the gorge where it was much cooler. 

Echidna chasm is basically a walk into a ever diminishing crack in the rock.  It starts off in the open but then as you get into the chasm it gets narrower and narrower and cooler and cooler.  The kids loved it as it requires you to climb over rocks to get to the end. Some parts the walls of the chasm are just enough to squeeze through with big bolder wedged above your head!

The kids also found a Bower bird nest on the way out.  Unfortunately no Bower bird though.

The Cathedral gorge walk is not hard and the end is spectacular. 

It’s shaped like an amphitheatre, and every sound echoes inside it.  Even the sound of a dry leaf falling from above and hitting the walls sounds like someone tapping a metal pipe.  That’s of course when our kids were quiet enough to hear it.

The stagnant water in the pool is definitely not suitable for swimming, with a nice green slime covering the surface.  The kids took delight in throwing stones in to break the green surface and watching it cover over.  They also found a little frog and a water scorpion (which isn’t actually a scorpion) and a few fish in the pool.

With the heat up here, the kids have been great with the walks, although there has been a bit of whinging along the way, as kids do.  But how fantastic getting back to the car and switching that air con on!!!  We wished the trip back to the campground was 10 times longer, just to savour that cool temp before stepping out into the blazing sun again.  Lee often looking for extra places to drive to, to prolong the drive!

As we were camped beside a dry creek, Lee set up the camp shower over a branch.  It’s amazing how a bucket of water could also cool us all down and be so much fun.  Of course a cold can or two helps the adults. 

 

From the Bungles, we have driven up to Kununurra, which is where we are now... at the Kimerleyland CP. 

Yet again another pool of course and the kids are almost water logged.  Little Ben has improved his water confidence and has now ditched the swim vest so he can copy Ash and Alex with their cannon ball bombs. Look out when we get back nanna as I’m sure he’ll be in your pool a lot.

We’ve decided to stay for an extended stay here of 5 nights (compared to our other spots) because it’s just so nice. Lots of things do around here (apart from the pool); a visit to Ivanhoe crossing (which is impassable at the moment);

a visit to the argyle diamond shop where Alex added a diamond to his gem collection!;

a trip to the Zebra Rock gallery for a souvenir for Ash, and yesterday a day trip out to the start of the Gibb River to go visit some of the places of El Questro.  It’s only a hundred odd km’s away, so an easy trip!  El Questro has some beautiful gorges and we all enjoyed the natural hot water of Zebedee springs. 

Moonshine gorge was also a fantastic spot to swim after the kids were assured there are no crocs in the water.
Today we hired one of the river boats here in Kununurra and attempted our own Gilligan’s island. The kids had to call Lee ‘captain' and not dad. Each of the kids had to salute the captain and had jobs to do on board... basically getting the captain food and drink.  It was very enjoyable and a highlight of our stay.  We just cruised up and down lake Kununurra, stopping along the way for a swim or to look at the birds.  Diving in was a bit daunting at first for the kids as the lake does have 'freshies' in it.

So another blog entry comes to a close... it’ll be sad to leave Kununurra, but we leave tomorrow for the ‘Gibb River rd’ and all the gorges. Bitter sweet.

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I'm all hot and sweaty sitting by the pool typing this, so it's time to join the kids for a dip.

The first week... and a bit.

Father's day 2nd September.  Alarm set for 6am for an early take off.  Quick detour via Macca's of course and we were off and running.

7 hours and 500km's later we got to Hattah, one of our favourite camp sites.  The kids met up with their cousins, Chloe, Zac and Luke, which they weren’t expecting.  Was a great surprise for them! 

We enjoyed the night camp fires with marshmallows, glow sticks and sparklers.  Adults enjoyed some alcohol consumption, of course!  Kids made an awesome log and rope swing, which was a highlight for them at this camp ground.  Well done Chloe for the idea behind that!

So from Hattah we left via Mildura and travelled into some very strong head winds.  After taking the ferry over the Murray at Morgan (which the kids were very excited about) we ended up only making it to Burra that night and stayed at a caravan park.  Fortunately it was opposite a school which had a massive slide and playground for the kids to explore.  Anyway we had a fairly restless night feeling like the tent was going to be blown over with the gale force winds. 

Next one night stop was at Glendambo which is on the main highway on the way up to the centre.  Had a nice pub meal as it was still too windy to do our own cooking. The pub itself is an old woolshed and had a lot of country character... enough for a commemorative stubby holder... the first for the trip.

From Glendambo it was a short trip up the road where we enjoyed a 2 night stay over at Coober Pedy. 

Whilst we were visiting the underground Church, (no we’re not religious, it was free viewing!) one of the locals hi-jacked us for one of her private tours of Cooper Pedy.  It was quite funny as she came screaming into the car park when she noticed she had some visitors there.  It actually wasn’t too bad, as her makeshift tour included a look through her private home which was very interesting.  They call them dug outs.  At the end she asked us to sign a visitors book at her home, then she explained to us she’d like to start up a ‘proper tour’ operation for travellers at Cooper Pedy. Bit of a relief as Lee was expecting her to pull out the bible and start converting us.

We also explored one of the underground mines, where hard hats were compulsory! (Safety from falling rocks or ceilings we assumed!).  The kids were allowed to take home a few opal samples which they were excited about.  Lee also took them to an opal shop to show Alex how expensive opals were.  The shop lady must have felt sorry for them and gave them all more free opal samples.  When we get home we may start up our own opal shop!

Back at the campground the kids were excited to know that they had a pool... until they felt how cold it was.  But the two fish, Alex and Ash still ventured in.
After a 7 hour drive from Cooper Pedy, with the obligatory picture of the border crossing...

we made it to Ayers Rock Resort.  The kids handled the long drive fantastically! It was amazing to see the ‘rock’ for the first time (kids first time).

First morning we woke eager to climb the rock. (Well, eager to climb the rock before Lee mentioned to the kids that lots of people have ‘died’ climbing the rock).  Unfortunately it was closed due to strong winds.  Instead we drove out to the Olgas and did the Valley of the Winds walk.

Later on we drove back down to see the sunsetting on 'the rock'.
Second morning we were in luck for the climb.  It was open so up we went.

Geez, talk about some hairy moments, Kaz can’t remember it being THAT STEEP!!!  Stressful?? “Kids hang onto the chains, don’t look behind, concentrate on what you’re doing, slow down”!  What a relief when we got to the top. Then the decent!  Kids were great, no problem at all.  We think Ben may be part mountain goat.  What an awesome feeling to have climbed ‘the rock’!!

Tomorrow we head up to Alice Springs to have a look around and stock up for the trip across the Tanami and into the Bungles...