9th July - 14th August

We spent 9 days in Kununurra which we really enjoyed - lots to see and do. We then headed straight to Darwin with just two overnight stops as we had organised to fly back to Perth for 12 days - I needed a Grandma fix. We had a great time in Perth mainly catching up with the family, but didn't enjoy the cold weather. We needed a few days after returning to Darwin to thaw out. We were in Darwin for another week, and then travelled south about 80 km to Tumbling Waters caravan park, near to Berry Springs.




Hidden Valley national park in Kununurra

Ivanhoe crossing which used to be the main road to Wyndham

Some people have a death wish - there are crocs in that water

Brian at Ivanhoe Crossing

We took a two hour flight out of Kununurra which went over the Argyle Dam, Lake Argyle, Purnululu and the Argyle diamond mine.

Our Cessna

Ord River dam

Bungle Bungles

Argyle diamond mine

Lake Argyle

Ord River irrigation scheme - Stage I

We did a river cruise which first took us by coach 70 km to the Ord River dam where we transferred to a boat which took about 48 people and had two Yamaha 5.7 litre 4 stroke outboards and the boat was capable of 65 km per hour, but we were only doing 55 - still fun!

Overlooking Lake Argyle

On the boat cruise down the Ord River to Lake Kununurra

We stopped for afternoon tea along the river - fresh pumpkin scones and carrot cake - very good. This natural rock formation needs to be viewed at a particular time of day - hope you can all work out what it looks like.

Sunset over Lake Kununurra at the end of the boat cruise - great day

We visited a wetland area just south of Wyndham called Parry's Lagoon which was fantastic. Lots of bird life and a small saltie. We spent about 2 hours in the bird hide here.

Whistling ducks taking off - the noise was awesome

A great boab tree

We arrived in Darwin on 20 July before flying back to Perth on 22 July. We were able to store the car and van at the caravan park.

On return to Darwin we visited a lot of the WWII museums, etc. There is a lot of history and we were amazed at the actual number of bombings that Darwin suffered



The Aviation Heritage Museum housed a B52 bomber which virtually took up the entire hanger (which was purpose built). There were lots of smaller planes and memorabilia surrounding the B52. Well worth a visit






WWII oil storage tunnels under Darwin. By the time they were completed the war was over

The diesel in this tunnel would get us around Australia a few times - 38,475 million litres

While we were in Darwin there was a welcome home parade for the Defence Forces from Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. Steve and Ann, a couple we met on the road, were in Darwin as Ann's son had just returned from Afghanistan and he was in the parade. It was the first welcome home parade for our Defence Forces since WWII.

From Darwin we headed about 80 km south to Tumbling Waters caravan park - very peaceful and we are enjoying it. We booked for 3 days and ended up staying a week. Nearby is the Territory Wildlife Park which is absolutely fantastic and worth a visit - we spent over five hours there. Also nearby is Berry Springs Nature Reserve which is a natural spring forming three separate pools - water is the perfect temperature for just cooling off and the setting is very beautiful. We have spent a couple of days there floating around on our noodles - a great invention.

This is a man made monsoon at the wildlife park - hoping we don't experience the real thing

A small Wedge Tail Eagle at the wildlife park

Brian under the waterfall at Berry Springs











Ditto Helen








Heading off to Litchfield National Park tomorrow, then Kakadu and Katherine.

We will try to blog a bit more regularly, but from here to Queensland we may not have a lot of coverage.

15th June - 9th July

We booked into Broome for 7 days and spent a lot of that time doing maintenance and minor modifications to the van. We also caught up with Pete, Sally and Evie who we met at Cape Range National Park and spent some time at Cable Beach of course. We had to extend for two days because of a couple of health hiccups - Helen was admitted to Broome Hospital for 24 hours' monitoring after suffering chest pains and then the following day Brian's blood pressure was very high so we wer back in the ED - both given additional medication and a clean bill of health.

The following day we left the van in Broome and left for 3 days tenting at Middle Lagoon which is halfway to Cape Leveque along about 100 km of gravel road. Middle Lagoon was realy beautiful as was Cape Leveque (just a bit more developed). Back to Broome for three days before heading off to Derby to do a flight to the horizontal falls. Unforuntatley it was a neap tide and there were no flights for 4 days, so we headed off to Warman where we again left the van before heading into Purnululu (Bungle Bungles). the 53 km gravel road into the park is fairly rugged and took us 1.5 hours to complete. Set up camp at Kurrajong campsite for three nights and did all the walks over the next two days. We had campfires each night and met some great people.

From Purnululu we headed to Kununurra where we will stay for the next week doing a few of the cruises and flights available from here






Broome sunset

Some of Broome's famous camels

This was the small space where we had to store the van. Brian managed to get it in first try!

Our campsite at Middle Lagoon - Helen sitting around doing nothing as usual


Middle Lagoon

Cape Leveque



Cape Leveque swimming beach

The Prison Boab tree at Derby

Helen sitting around doing nothing again

Freshwater crocodile in Geikie Gorge

Geikie Gorge

Welcome to Purnululu

The road in was rough and dusty

Our campsite at Purnululu - yes, Helen sitting around doing nothing again

It was a tight squeeze but Brian made it - just as well he hadn't had a meat pie that day

Mini Palm Gorge

Echidna Chasm

Moonrise over the Bungle Bungles

The famous rock formations at Purnululu

Piccaninny Creek lookout

Piccaninny Creek

Cathedral Gorge - amazing!

Cathedral Gorge - this waterfall has carved the huge cathedral - note the people sitting on the sand at the base of the rock formation - gives an idea of the magnitude of the place

This notice is on the way in - sounds scary but we made it!

The only mishap was that we almost lost the front number plate which rattled itself off and the CD stacker jammed and the CB aerial snapped - all fixable