Tour Australia

We packed up camp, we’d been staying at the Lennard River unofficial campground near the Windjana Gorge turnoff, and headed west for Derby. The Gibb River Road from here to the end is partly unsealed and partly sealed. The corrugations are not over from this point so it is not smooth sailing to Derby.

We arrived in Derby just a bit before lunch time and did a lap of the main street and then headed out to the jetty. It was very humid in Derby, more humid than anywhere we’d been, so we were not planning on staying too long. Derby experiences the second biggest tides in the world and tides can reach up to 11.8m high! It was low tide heading in to a high tide when we arrived and it was clear that the tide was coming in extremely quickly and there were strong currents rippling under the jetty.

We did a quick stop for some supplies and then headed out to the Prison Boab tree not far out of town. The location is also home to an old bore which had a pool that an army official had built in 1944 and is home to a trough for stock. The bore no longer is operational and water is now pumped up to the trough using a windmill.

We had lunch and continued on our way for Broome. Not far from Derby it began to rain which was a nice break. It was still raining that afternoon when we made it to Broome and there were many puddles formed on the road. We booked in to the Palm Grove Caravan Park just off Cable Beach and settled in for a few days.

Broome Day 1

The next day, our first full day in Broome, we headed in to town for a look around. We found out that Broome is home to the worlds oldest operating picture garden. It is fascinating and the public is welcome to have a look around inside.

After wandering the streets looking in all sorts of shops and getting rained on, we finished up in town and went out to the Dinosaur Footprints which can be found out at Gantheaume Point. We had a quick look around but knowing that the tide was no low enough to see the prints did not venture down to the water. We did take some photos of the cast of the print which is up near the lighthouse.

That evening we drove out on to Cable Beach and enjoyed watching the sunset and a good break from the rain.

Broome Day 2

The next day, the last day of winter (31 August), we were blessed with some sun. That morning we did 4 loads of washing some general house work in the caravan.

After lunch we drove back down onto Cable beach and enjoyed a swim. The water was a beautiful temperature and we thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine!

 

From there we went and met up with our camel ride tour on Cable Beach and met the camels. We were booked in for an afternoon camel ride. It was a real nice way to wander down Cable Beach and back up in the afternoon sun. We really enjoyed the experience.

 

After our camel ride finished we quickly left and drove up to Gantheaume Point. This was our only opportunity to view the dinosaur footprints as the tide was going to be low enough and it was daytime. We walked down to the shoreline and spoke to a gentleman who gave us some vague directions. We had our visitor guide map and eventually found some of the prints. We found a second set but forgot to photograph them!

We then decided to look for Anastasia’s pool which has had some damage during a cyclone. We found the pool but were disappointed to see that it is now unusable and full of broken rocks and debris.

We hung around at Gantheaume Point and watched the sunset. It was very beautiful.

 

Broome Day 3

The next morning we woke up early and packed up quickly as we needed to get to the local plumber/gas fitter to try and fix our leaking hot water system. Unfortunately for us both caravans opposite us were leaving at the same time so there was a little bit of negotiating and a few glares from the wife opposite us but we got away. We arrived at the plumbers early and showed the local expert the issue. He removed the hot water heat exchange, welded up the issue and put it back in. We were super happy with the job he did and how quickly he did it. Thanks Broome Plumbing & Gas!

After a few more odd jobs in town we left and headed for Port Hedland. We camped at a nice 24 hour rest stop around 80km’s from Port Hedland. It was called De Grey Rest area and was equiped with toilets, a dump point and free wifi!