Camping

Cape Leveque & Surrounds

While we spent a week camped at Middle Lagoon, we had time to check out some of the lovely spots along the road to Cape Leveque.  First a few photos of the road.  It was long, corrugated and very dusty!  We dropped our tyre pressures to 28 PSI and travelled along ok – no damage to the camper on arrival – just lots and lots of dust inside – we probably should have taped up our fridge vents!!  From Broome the road to Cape Leveque is unsealed until about 80km from Cape Leveque where it is then sealed all the way up to One Arm Point.  20130821-202002.jpg 20130821-202058.jpg 20130821-202023.jpg 20130821-202040.jpgOn our way up to Middle Lagoon we stopped in to check out the Quondong Point free camp areas.  These were only about 30minutes out of Broome and there were three camp areas off Manari Road.  It looked like a lovely spot but was quite busy when we checked it out so we decided not to leave Middle Lagoon early to come back here.  The track to the last Quondong Point camp spot was quite narrow so we copped quite a lot of scratches to the camper going along here and it was a little tricky to turn around at the end.  We think you would have to pick a quiet time at Quondong Point to nab a nice shady campsite as most of the sites were in full sun which would make it pretty hot in the middle of the day.

The first campsite at Quondong Point

The first campsite at Quondong Point

One afternoon at Middle Lagoon we headed out in search of icecreams to the nearby Whalesong Cafe & Campground.  It was only about 15 minutes drive from Middle Lagoon and it was a lovely spot (and it had full internet reception – if I had of known this earlier I would have taken the laptop up one morning on my own and enjoyed a cake and smoothie and gotten a couple of blog posts done – would have been lovely)!  The Whalesong Campground was only small and quite basic with its amenities but there were some nice sites with lovely views over the water.  The beach there was closed when we were there because a crocodile had been sighted so that was a bit of a bummer.

Lovely spot at the Whalsong Cafe and the yummiest mango smoothies!

Lovely spot at the Whalsong Cafe and the yummiest mango smoothies!

Looking out over the beach from Whalesong Cafe

Looking out over the beach from Whalesong Cafe

The very cool outdoor shower at the Whalesong Campground - looked like it was cold water only though!

The very cool outdoor shower at the Whalesong Campground – looked like it was cold water only though!

We took a full day trip away from Middle Lagoon and decided to check out the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, One Arm Point and the Kooljaman Campground at Cape Leveque.  It was a big day out – we left about 9am and didn’t get home until after 7pm!  It was a little bit of a pain having to air our tyres up again when we hit the bitumen after the Middle Lagoon Road and then air down again when we came back in that night but a small thing to whinge about really!!  If we had more time I would definitely have liked to try out one of the beach camping shelters right on the beach front at Kooljaman – something to go back for!

Our first stop was the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm.  This is a family owned and operated farm and it was really pretty – a great cafe on site with little sandpit for the kids to play in and the meals and drinks looked delicious!  We did the Pearl Farm tour which was something I had wanted to do in Broome and although the tour was good and really interesting – it was very expenisve ($140 for our family) and we didn’t really get to see a lot.  I was a bit disappointed too that we didn’t get to go out on the water to check out the oyster shells but that was a different tour that you had to pay extra for and was just too expensive for us.  It was a beautiful spot though!

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

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Family Shot at the Pearl Farm

Family Shot at the Pearl Farm

I love pearls!  This necklace was only $16,000!!

I love pearls! This necklace was only $16,000!!

The boys with the old pearl diving suit

The boys with the old pearl diving suit

From here we headed up to One Arm Point where you are required to obtain a permit ($10 per adult) from the local general store to enter the community.  One Arm Point had the most crystal clear water I have ever seen!  Again – if we had more time I would have loved to have come back and spent a day snorkelling and swimming here!  Another family said they saw some whale sharks here so we would probably have to be a little careful about where we swam!  There is also an aquaculture centre at One Arm Point that does tours for $10 an adult which looked quite interesting.

One Arm Point

One Arm Point

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Crystal clear water

Crystal clear water

Watching the amazing fast flowing current at the end of One Arm Point near the Trochus Hatchery

Watching the amazing fast flowing current at the end of One Arm Point near the Trochus Hatchery

We finished off the day with a late lunch and a swim at Kooljaman at Cape Leveque.  It was a lovely spot – a bit more commercial than Middle Lagoon but lots of different types of accommodation here which looked awesome.  The kids found themselves with a few scrapes on them after their swim as there were quite a few submerged rocks in the water – we might have been swimming at low tide I think!  Matt got some lovely shots of the kids here!

A swim at Cape Leveque

A swim at Cape Leveque

Lunch under the picnic shelter

Lunch under the picnic shelter

On the beach at Cape Leveque

On the beach at Cape Leveque

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Fealy Kids - Cape Leveque 2013

Fealy Kids – Cape Leveque 2013

And of course we had to stay and watch the sunset and have an icecream on the deck of the newly built restaurant – beautiful spot!  And the woodfired pizzas they were cooking there looked pretty good too!

Newly built resaurant at Kooljaman

Newly built resaurant at Kooljaman

Sunset - Cape Leveque

Sunset – Cape Leveque

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Nothing better than an ice-cream at sunset - ok maybe and icecream and a cocktail would be perfect!

Nothing better than an ice-cream at sunset – ok maybe an icecream and a cocktail would be perfect!

On our way out after our wonderful seven nights at Middle Lagoon, we stopped in at Beagle Bay and checked out the lovely little church there.  Inside it is beautifully decorated with local shells and definitely worth a stop to see it – I had never seen anything like it!

Beagle Bay Church

Beagle Bay Church

20130821-202135.jpg 20130821-201925.jpg 20130821-202116.jpg 20130821-201908.jpgCape Leveque and surrounds is a really beautiful part of Australia and definitely worth the long and dusty, bumpy road in!

Categories: Camping, WA Camping | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Middle Lagoon

20130821-202412.jpgFrom Broome we headed north to the top of the Western Australian coastline and spent a glorious week relaxing and ‘taking a break from our holiday’ at Middle Lagoon.

Our week went a little something like this ……………………………………

Swimming

Swimming

Kayaking

Kayaking

The mission to build the biggest and best sandcastle we have ever made!

The mission to build the biggest and best sandcastle we have ever made!

Hard Work!

Hard Work!

Getting There

Getting There

Family effort with the help of some ringins!

Family effort with the help of some ringins!

The finished product - not a bad effort!

The finished product – not a bad effort!

Sunsets

Sunsets

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And lots of campfires!

And lots of campfires!

What it is all about!

What it is all about!

Middle Lagoon is a two and a half hour drive from Broome along a pretty rough, red sand and dirt, corrugated road, but it is worth the drive.  We did get a bit of a surprise when we reached the Middle Lagoon turn off the Cape Leveque Road and then realised we still had just over 30kms still to go!  And the road in to Middle Lagoon was rougher than what we had already travelled on the Cape Leveque Road so it was a very long drive!

The road in to Middle Lagoon

The road in to Middle Lagoon

Red sand and corrugations all the way

Red sand and corrugations all the way

We stayed at Nature’s Hideaway Campground at Middle Lagoon on an excellent site called site 5 on the Terraces (or Snob Hill as Trice and Geoff called it hehehe!).  Although it wasn’t directly overlooking the water like you can see in this picture (and those sites were spectacular!)

Beautiful ocean front sites!

Beautiful ocean front sites!

we really liked our site because we could still see the water but we had lots of shade too which the ocean front ones didn’t.  The shade was really nice to have in the afternoon when it was too hot at the beach and we just wanted to be chilling out around camp.

Our lovely shady spot - still with water views - the kids had lots of friends come to visit and play lego with them!

Our lovely shady spot – still with water views – the kids had lots of friends come to visit and play lego with them!

Relaxing watching a movie in the camper one afternoon.

Relaxing watching a movie in the camper one afternoon.

We did lots of relaxing at Middle Lagoon but we also had lots of fun as it just worked out that also here at the same time were the family we had meet at Lake Argyle (Geoff & Trice and the kids), plus the Rollason family we met at Cable Beach and another family we had met in the caravan park in Broome!  The kids had a ball having lots of friends to play with and Matt and I enjoyed some friends to talk to as well!  We were lucky enough to be given one night, a dinner’s worth of freshly caught spanish mackeral from a lovely couple at a neighbouring campsite.  This fish came to us filleted and all so all we had to do was cook it over the fire – it was so delicious!!!

Getting our hot plate ready to cook our fish

Getting our hot plate ready to cook our fish

Fish and Chips Middle Lagoon Style

Fish and Chips Middle Lagoon Style

Our delicious dinner - best fish we have ever tasted!

Our delicious dinner – best fish we have ever tasted!

The next day Matt and the boys were lucky enough to go out with Geoff in his tinnie and try a bit of fishing themselves!  Even though they came home empty handed they were so lucky having got to see whales, dolphins, a big sea turtle and lots of different types of fish!  The boys had a great time and Geoff we are so grateful to you for taking them all out!

Off fishing in Geoff's boat!

Off fishing in Geoff’s boat!

We really didn’t do much at Middle Lagoon – we spent a big day trip out exploring Cape Leveque and surrounds but other than that we just ‘stopped’ and although it was a little hard to make ourselves do it when there is so much to do and see – we’re really glad we did as it was a great rest.

An easy place to slow down for a week!

An easy place to slow down for a week!

Campfires every night.

Campfires every night.

On our last night at Middle Lagoon we decided to head off and explore some of the 4wd tracks around the lagoon – we ended up on our own private little beach to watch the sun set – it was beautiful!

Our own little beach all to ourselves!

Our own little beach all to ourselves!

Come and see .........

Come and see ………

A sunset picnic

A sunset picnic

Seen enough photos of this ugly mob yet???

Seen enough photos of this ugly mob yet???

Sunset

Sunset

20130821-203249.jpg 20130821-202859.jpg 20130821-203324.jpgMiddle Lagoon was probably my favourite place of the whole trip – it was worth leaving Broome for!

 

 

Categories: Camping, Travel, WA Camping | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Broome

20130819-220911.jpgWe know you have already seen lots of photos from Broome from our little video but we wanted to include a post about what we got up to in Broome for the five days we were there.  The short answer is not a lot!  Lots of swimming and hanging out at the beach watching sunsets mostly!  We loved Broome!

From Lake Argyle we had a big day in the car and pushed three quarters of the way along the just over 1,000 kilometres to Broome along the Great Northern Highway.  Unfortunately as we were now running on a time schedule we had to bypass the Bungle Bungles on this trip – definitely something we would like to visit next time though!!  We camped at a rest area just west of Fitzroy Crossing for the night and managed to get up and away early the next morning (second rig out of the campsite that day – a record for us – it is very difficult to beat the Grey Nomads onto the road in the mornings!!!) and we arrived in Broome just after 10.30am in the morning.  We managed to get a great site close to the amenities and pool at the Cable Beach Caravan Park.  The caravan park was huge and filled to the brim but it was lovely and shady with very clean and modern amenities.  The swimming pool was fantastic and the kids loved it even though it was freezing cold while we were there.  It was expensive at about $70 per night for our family of five but all of the accommodation in Broome is expensive so we thought it was pretty good value for money!  There were aqua aerobics classes happening in the pool and craft circles and a muscian performed one night we were there too so definitely heaps to do at the caravan park and the staff were lovely!

Kids built a cubby house on our great site at Cable Beach Caravan Park

Kids built a cubby house on our great site at Cable Beach Caravan Park

Kids cubby house

Kids cubby house

Awesome swimming pool at Cable Beach Caravan Park

Awesome swimming pool at Cable Beach Caravan Park

Even though we really liked the Cable Beach Caravan Park, I think next time we would stay at the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park  which is closer to town and located right on the beach at Roebuck Bay.  It is also right beside a great kids playground and small water park and has a nice little cafe right on site.  I don’t know what the amenities etc are like at the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park but we spent a lovely morning at Roebuck Bay exploring the rock pools and playing in the playground and water park – it would have been great to be camped right there I think – definitely with small kids like ours who dig all that stuff!

Exploring the rock pools at Roebuck Bay

Exploring the rock pools at Roebuck Bay

Water park at Roebuck Bay

Water park at Roebuck Bay

Lex not wanting her photo taken at Roebuck Bay - I was trying to capture the beautiful colour of the water!!

Lex not wanting her photo taken at Roebuck Bay – I was trying to capture the beautiful colour of the water!!

We spent a couple of afternoons watching the sun set over cable beach which was just spectacular and a real treat to watch the sun set over the water for us East Coasters!!  Matt got sooooooo many great photos down there it was hard to choose just a couple for the blog!

It was soooooo exciting to arrive in Broome after so long in the cold and dirt and dust - we were all in heaven!!

It was soooooo exciting to arrive in Broome after so long in the cold and dirt and dust – we were all in heaven!!

First swim at Cable Beach

First swim at Cable Beach

Peter Prado on the beach - so different to the dirt & dust!

Peter Prado on the beach – so different to the dirt & dust!

The camels on the beach at sunset really are beautiful

The camels on the beach at sunset really are beautiful

The photographer!

The photographer!

Sunset

Sunset

We caught up with Matt’s Dad and Rema again in Broome and finally cracked open our bottle of champagne (a gift from Hans & Ang when we left Brissbane – thank you guys!!!) on the beach for an evening picnic!  We also met another lovely family that afternoon (big hello to the Rollason family – their blog is Rollinroundoz – check it out for some great photos!) and the kids had a great time playing with their new friend ‘Sam’ (sorry James – they just kept calling you that – I think you will always be Sam in our house!).  We got to meet up with the Rollason’s again at Middle Lagoon which was great!

Sunset picnic to finally open our bottle of champagne from Ang & Hans!

Sunset picnic to finally open our bottle of champagne from Ang & Hans!

Just your ordinary day for Peter Prado - on the beach with camels walking past!

Just your ordinary day for Peter Prado – on the beach with camels walking past!

The car park that is Cable Beach at sunset!

The car park that is Cable Beach at sunset!

The kids playing with their friend James

The kids playing with their friend James

And we did of course do a camel ride which was fantastic!  Pretty reasonably priced at I think $140 for our whole family for a pre-sunset ride of 45minutes.  We choose the pre-sunset ride because it was the cheapest and shortest.  We thought that would be long enough for the kids and we wanted to be able to watch the camels go past at sunset – not be riding them – we were pretty happy with our decision.

Poppy & Rema came down to watch us do our camel ride

Poppy & Rema came down to watch us do our camel ride

We choose the Blue Camel tour - run by Broome's original camel lady Alison Bird - and I got a few pair of tiny pearl earrings!

We choose the Blue Camel tour – run by Broome’s original camel lady Alison Bird – and I got a pair of tiny pearl earrings!

Tobes was a little bit frightened!

Tobes was a little bit frightened!

Lots of fun - definitely worth the $$$$

Lots of fun – definitely worth the $$$$

We also spent a lovely afternoon at Gantheaume Point.  We had a wonder around the rocks up at the Lighthouse where at certain times of the month with very low tides you can spot dinosaur footprints – unfortunately the tide was too high when we were there.  We ended up bumping into our next door neighbour from the campground (hello Marika and the boys!) at the point and they were very kind letting our kids have a turn on their surfboard and skim boards in exchange for a go on the green kayak. Lex and I had a good paddle around on the kayaks.  It was another beautiful afternoon!

Gantheaume Point

Gantheaume Point

Gantheaume Point

Gantheaume Point

Kayakers in the water at Gantheaume Point

Kayakers in the water at Gantheaume Point

Kayaking

Kayaking

Fun in the surf!

Fun in the surf!

Toby's first go at surfing and he managed to stand up first go - it was a fantastic surfboard for kids - thanks Marika!!

Toby’s first go at surfing and he managed to stand up first go – it was a fantastic surfboard for kids – thanks Marika!!

Jacko's first turn too - they made it look easy!

Jacko’s first turn too – they made it look easy!

Beautiful sunset Gantheaume Point

Beautiful sunset Gantheaume Point

On our last day in Broome we spent the morning at Riddell Beach.  It was rockier and redder than Cable Beach but we loved it as we had it to ourselves – it was very quiet!  On the way home we picked up some fresh prawns from the fish co-op and had yummy prawn sandwiches for lunch – so good!

Lex having a go in the kayak at Riddell Beach

Lex having a go in the kayak at Riddell Beach

Oh – nearly forgot – we also squeezed in a lunch at Matso’s Brewery which overlooks Roebuck Bay – reasonably priced and delicious!  We had a voucher for a free tasting paddle with lunch so Matt was happy!

Lunch at Matso's Brewery

Lunch at Matso’s Brewery

Mmmmmmm ....... Beer!

Mmmmmmm ……. Beer!

While we were in Broome I also managed a morning out by myself which was bliss!  I got some essential waxing done, checked out the shops and bought a new pair of togs – awesome!  Matt got his turn too and headed to the physio for a massage to try and sort his sore back out (lots of time in the drivers seat the problem we think!) – it didn’t really help but any time out on your own is a bonus!

I wish we had more time in Broome, it is a place that weeks could easily be spent in the blink of an eye!!  Loved it, loved it!

Sooooo hard to drag the kids away from the beach at sunset!

Sooooo hard to drag the kids away from the beach at sunset!

Categories: Camping, WA Camping | Tags: , | 9 Comments

Lake Argyle

20130816-214949.jpgLake Argyle was spectacular.  When we left Brisbane we hadn’t even really heard of Lake Argyle and did not have any plans to stop in there.  However, nearly every person we spoke to along the way on the trip said we had to go in and see it and we are so glad we did – it is really difficult to explain how beautiful it was.  So, some photos first.

The drive in to Lake Argyle was really pretty

The drive in to Lake Argyle was really pretty

Our campsite at Lake Argyle

Our campsite at Lake Argyle

The amazing infinity pool

The amazing infinity pool – it was freezing though!!!

The pool was an attraction in its own right!

The pool was an attraction in its own right!

The Dam wall

The Dam wall

At the lookout over the dam wall

At the lookout over the dam wall

The Ord River & release valves

The Ord River & release valves

Nice picnic spot at the bottom of the dam wall

Nice picnic spot at the bottom of the dam wall

The Lake is massive!  It is Australia’s largest fresh water lake and covers an area of more than 900 square kilometres!  We camped for two nights at the campground there and one of the perks of having our trip shortened was that we have been able to splash out on a few things we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford to do and one of those was a sunset cruise on the Lake.  We all really enjoyed the cruise which was good as it was very expensive!!!  The cruise started at 1pm in the reception area with a history on the building of the lake and we then spent the rest of the afternoon until about 6pm cruising around on the lake.  The photos give you a bit of an idea of what we got to see …………………

Cruising

Cruising

The boys got to have a go at driving the boat

The boys got to have a go at driving the boat

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We all loved looking out the back of the boat

We all loved looking out the back of the boat

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We got to spot our first freshwater crocodile

We got to spot our first freshwater crocodile

Fish feeding time

Fish feeding time

Euros on one of the islands on the lake

Euros on one of the islands on the lake

Just beautiful

Just beautiful

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Matt jumping off the roof of the boat for a swim in the lake

Matt jumping off the roof of the boat for a swim in the lake

Jack got in too but he was very nervous about swimming with freshwater crocodiles

Jack got in too but he was very nervous about swimming with freshwater crocodiles – beers were thrown out to all those swimming

Sunset

Sunset

Just beautiful

Just beautiful

The cruise was extravagant but we all loved it!  The other great thing about Lake Argyle was that we met a lovely family from Townsville here and spent a great night chatting to them around the campfire – we then got to meet up with them again at Middle Lagoon and it has been a real highlight of the trip for us to meet some great new friends!  Big shout out to Geoff, Trice and the kids – we’ll catch up with you again back in Far North Qld!!!

Lake Argyle is a definite must see in our book!!!

Cool guy performing some good music at the pub at the campground - he plays regularly at the Newfarm bowls club for any Brisbaneites!

Cool guy performing some good music at the pub at the campground – he plays regularly at the Newfarm bowls club for any Brisbaneites!

Great campfire at Lake Argyle

Great campfire at Lake Argyle

Categories: WA Camping | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Katherine to Kununurra

Loved seeing all the Boab trees as we came into WA - there may just be a few photos of them to come!

Loved seeing all the Boab trees as we came into WA – there may just be a few photos of them to come!

Once we had decided that we were going to head back north to Mareeba in a month’s time to be Mango farmers – we decided that we would push over to Western Australia as quickly as possible to at least get a couple of weeks on the beach there before our trip was over.  So we headed out of Katherine and aimed for Kununurra where we had managed to phone ahead and book the car in for a service and new tyres which it needed in order to do the many kilometres we had ahead of us!  The service and tyres were much cheaper in Kununurra then in Katherine and we could not get the car serviced in Katherine until the end of August – that was how far ahead they were booked out!!  So on our last night at Katherine Gorge – I cooked up as much of our veges as I could in a pre-cooked dinner for the next night, made a banana bread with our bananas and shoved as much apples, carrots and celery into the kids as I could manage in preparation for our crossing over the border into WA where you are not allowed to bring any fruit or veges in with you.

On the way out of Katherine we had a quick dip in the hot springs which were just lovely – we thought they were as good as Mataranka!20130815-200321.jpg 20130815-200332.jpg 20130815-200451.jpg 20130815-200413.jpg

The drive from Katherine to Kununurra is just over 500km’s and is quite a scenic drive.  We stopped for lunch at the Victoria River Roadhouse and we showed the kids how to eat tomatoes like apples here (with plenty of salt) to finish off the bag of tomatoes I was still carting – I had offloaded a bag of carrots at the campground that morning but forgot about the tomatoes.

Nice scenary on the way to Kununurra

Nice scenary on the way to Kununurra

Lunch stop Victoria River Roadhouse

Lunch stop Victoria River Roadhouse

Lunchtime

Lunchtime

We were very excited to cross the border and the quarantine point in to Western Australia – madly eating the last of our apples as we approached the checkpoint!20130815-200950.jpgWe arrived in to Kununurra just before dark and found a site at the Kimberleyland Caravan Park on the recommendation of the ‘Families Travelling Australia’ Facebook group.  It was a lovely caravan park but very busy!  The caravan park is on the banks of the lake and has lots of shady sites (still dusty though!).  We arrived just in time to hear a pretty good musician performing in the park on the banks of the lake so we quickly set up camp and went down to watch.

We were all pretty excited to see green grass!

We were all pretty excited to see green grass!

Kids happy to be able to roll around and play without being covered in dust!

Kids happy to be able to roll around and play without being covered in dust!

Sunset at the campground

Sunset at the campground

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Peter Brandy performing at Kimberleyland Caravan Park

Peter Brandy performing at Kimberleyland Caravan Park

The 1.5hour change in timezone (back) messed with our body clocks a little as we were super tired by 8pm but we were all then up at 5am the next morning!  The early morning was ok though as we had to be checked out of the campground – dropped the camper off across the road at the park, and have the car dropped off at the mechanic all by 7am so for once we were happy to all be awake early.

We then spent most of the day having a nice breakfast at a lovely cafe called the ‘Wild Mango Cafe’ where we decided to do some ‘research’ in preparation for our mango farming journey ahead and try the pancakes with mango syrup as well as the mango smoothies – delicious!!

A treat breakfast out!

A treat breakfast out!

We then wandered around town and checked out all the shops before spending a couple of hours relaxing at the library where Toby and Lexi got to sit in with a local kindy class’s library session and Jack read another ‘Diary of the Wimpy Kid’ book.  Matt and I had a chance to research what we wanted to do with our time in WA and book our sites at Middle Lagoon and Cable Beach Caravan Park.  The Kununurra library was awesome – the best we have come across so far!

We made ourselves at home at the library!

We made ourselves at home at the library!

We finally picked Peter Prado up all spiffy looking with his new shoes and a morning at the ‘day spa’ and headed out to Lake Argyle at about 2pm.  A short but sweet stay in Kununurra.

Peter Prado with his spunky new BFG tyres!

Peter Prado with his spunky new BFG tyres!

 

Categories: NT Camping, WA Camping | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

So much to tell you!

I am madly trying to get this post out while we have reception here in Kununurra – we have sooooooo much we want to share with you all and after two weeks without any phone or internet reception – we have heaps to say!!!  We have just finished a very quick week on the Gibb River Road and are in Kununurra to refuel and restock on food before we spend our final week on the road heading back to Far North Qld.  I am sitting in the park ‘watching’ the kids in the playground and Matt is on the phone trying to get a few things organised for our arrival in Mareeba in ten days time.  From here – we are just going to drive each day until we decide to stop – lots of long days on the road coming up.  We are all feeling a bit sad that we did our last gorge hike at Emma Gorge this morning.  The last few weeks on the road have been amazing – so, so, so good!  Fingers crossed we get a bit of internet reception over the next few nights so I can pump a few posts out!

But, in the meantime, I thought I would give you a quick update on what we have been doing since I last did a proper blog entry about our time in Katherine Gorge.

From Katherine we headed over the border into new territory for all of us – Western Australia – very exciting!  We spent the first two days in Kununurra (yep – we have come full circle as that is where we are today!) getting Peter Prado serviced and new tyres.

Boab Tree in Kunnunurra

Boab Tree in Kunnunurra

Then we headed out to Lake Argyle which was spectacular!

Sunset boat cruise on Lake Argyle

Sunset boat cruise on Lake Argyle

From Lake Argyle we pushed over to Broome (you saw our little video of our time there – so good!).

My photographer boy in Broome!

My photographer boy in Broome!

We then spent a week camping at Middle Lagoon and exploring Cape Leveque which was just so beautiful and relaxing!

Quality time at Middle Lagoon

Quality time at Middle Lagoon

Epic sandcastle Matt & the kids built at Middle Lagoon

Epic sandcastle Matt & the kids built at Middle Lagoon

One Arm Point - beautiful!

One Arm Point – beautiful!

Cape Leveque

Cape Leveque

We dragged ourselves away from Middle Lagoon and after talking to lots of other families while we were staying there – we decided to do a quick one week trip along the Gibb River Road to commence our journey back to the East Coast.  The Gibb River Road was not quite the ‘highway’ everybody said it was – saying it was in very good condition – it was still pretty rough but we have had a great time!

Freshwater Crododiles at Windjiana Gorge

Freshwater Crododiles at Windjiana Gorge

Tunnell Creek was definitely a highlight of the trip - amazing!

Tunnell Creek was definitely a highlight of the trip – amazing!

Bell Gorge

Bell Gorge

Manning Gorge

Manning Gorge

Branco's Lookout - El Questro Station

Branco’s Lookout – El Questro Station

And now it is time to hit the road home.  More detailed blog posts on all the fun we have had very soon – fingers crossed for reception tonight!

 

 

 

Categories: Camping, WA Camping | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We’re still alive!

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Just letting everybody know we are still alive! We have spent a wonderful week at Middle Lagoon and checking out Cape Leveque. Now we are about to do a very abridged trip along the Gibb River Road for the next seven days so unfortunately no phone reception again!

Heaps of blog posts to come next week! Hope you are all well!!

We are just leaving Derby now – fingers crossed for no mishaps on the Gibb!

Categories: Camping, WA Camping | 2 Comments

‘Toes in the Water’ in Broome

We’re jumping ahead a little with the blog posts, but we just wanted to share the fun we have been having here in Broome over the last few days, before we head out of reception tomorrow. We have loved, loved, loved our time in Broome. We will write a proper blog post about where we went, where we stayed, what we did etc when we are back in reception.

Enjoy Broome – Fealy Family style to the sounds of Zac Brown Band ‘Toes’.

Categories: Travel, WA Camping, Zac Brown Band | Tags: , | 15 Comments

Katherine Gorge

20130801-203656.jpgWe moved in to the national park campground at Katherine Gorge on Toby’s Birthday and spent the day eating birthday treats and hanging out by the nicest swimming pool we have come across so far!  The unpowered sites in the campground are lovely and shady and it is nice to be able to drive around and just choose a spot, and the big bonus is the free washing machines which we had been told about by some other travellers so I had saved up our washing to do here and put three loads on as soon as we arrived!  It did get very busy in the campground though.  We had two nights camping here and in that time we took a 4 hr, 3 gorges cruise and Matt and Jack did a walk up to the lookout at sunset.  We were a little disappointed as we had planned to spend a day kayaking and canoeing the gorge but when we went to organise our permits and canoe hire we were told that under 5’s were not allowed on the water at all (so that ruled Lexi out) and under 12’s were not allowed to paddle their own kayak/canoe so they boys weren’t able to paddle the little green kayak.  Such a bummer as I really think the best way to see the gorge would be from a canoe.  So that left us with really the only option of seeing the gorge via one of the fairly expensive for a family, boat cruise options.

We decided on the longer 3 gorge cruise as that included a swim at a waterfall.  Unfortunately the waterfall wasn’t flowing so our swim was just in one of the natural pools along the gorge, which was absolutely freezing and we were a little disappointed again!  The cruise was great – very informative and we had a very funny tour guide who made our time on the boat enjoyable.  On the morning of our cruise Katherine Gorge had a sudden cold snap and we were absolutely freezing on the boat in the shadows – fine when we were in the sun.  We enjoyed the cruise and even got to spot a few freshwater crocodiles!  The gorge is very beautiful, some of the longer walks around the area would be spectacular as would seeing the gorge in the wet season with all of the waterfalls flowing.  I had high expectations of Katherine Gorge as it was one of the sights I was most looking forward to seeing and although we felt like it fell a little short of our expectations – the gorge was quite spectacular and the campground was fantastic so still worth the visit!!

Cheeky wallabies at the campground who kept trying to get in to our rubbish!

Cheeky wallabies at the campground who kept trying to get in to our rubbish!

Our boat tour - it was quite tricky trying to get good photos on the cruise with heads and bars in the way a lot of the time!

Our boat tour – it was quite tricky trying to get good photos on the cruise with heads and bars in the way a lot of the time!

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We had to change boats 3 times - this was the first changeover point

We had to change boats 3 times – this was the first changeover point

Aboriginal Rock Art

Aboriginal Rock Art

'The Cathedrals' Katherine Gorge

‘The Cathedrals’ Katherine Gorge

Just cruising

Just cruising

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Our stop for a swim

Our stop for a swim

Swimming spot

Swimming spot

Matt and Jack braved the cold water in the gorge for a quick swim

Matt and Jack braved the cold water in the gorge for a quick swim

Family Shot - Katherine Gorge

Family Shot – Katherine Gorge

View from the lookout - Katherine Gorge

View from the lookout – Katherine Gorge

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Matt & Jack did the 2km return (fairly steep) climb to the lookout to watch the sunset over Katherine Gorge

Matt & Jack did the 2km return (fairly steep) climb to the lookout to watch the sunset over Katherine Gorge

Sunset

Sunset

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Categories: Camping, NT Camping | Tags: , | 4 Comments

Edith Falls

DSC_0494 DSC_0395 DSC_0399 DSC_0389 DSC_0253 IMG_0059 DSC_0354Well looks like I am going to have to get two blog posts done tonight as I missed getting a post done last night due to the fact that I was feeling far too relaxed after having a bottle of champagne at sunset on Cable Beach (thanks Ang & Hans – we finally felt the time was right to crack the bottle of champagne you gave us and it was goooood!).  So, where were we?   Hmmmm – ok once we left Mataranka we headed north to Katherine and decided to camp for two nights just outside town at the Shady Lane Caravan Park.  We had received the news when we left Tennant Creek that the farming opportunity was going ahead so we needed a few days in Katherine to sort our heads out and decide exactly what our new plan for our last four weeks on the road was going to be.  The Shady Lane Caravan Park was lovely – the cleanest and nicest amenities we have come across so far on the trip and lovely big drive through sites.  We spent a morning shopping in Katherine to pick up a birthday pressie for Toby who was turning 6 while we were there, and also got Matt a new hat as we finally had to concede that we had lost his very trusty Ergon hat somewhere past Winton!!

After a morning in town we headed out to spend the afternoon at Edith Falls which is about 40km’s north of Katherine.  It was a beautiful spot and we had a ball swimming and lying around on the lovely green grass at the picnic area – it has been soooooo long since we had seen green grass!!!  We even got the trusty green kayak down and the kids thought it was pretty neat to be able to kayak right up to a waterfall!  We did the easy 3km return walk to the Upper Pools at the falls and it was well worth the walk!  It was so nice here, and we were happy to see at least one waterfall as we had now decided that we were not going to be able to make it through Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks in the time we had left.  The National Park Campground at Edith Falls was lovely, and cheap – only $15.90 per family per night – we would definitely recommend camping there and checking out Edith Falls!

The view from the Upper Pools

The view from the Upper Pools

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Matt & Jack swam right under the waterfall in the upper pools

Matt & Jack swam right under the waterfall in the upper pools

Tobes loves to kaya

Tobes loves to kayak

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Jacko got a shot of these fish using his underwater camera

Jacko got a shot of these fish using his underwater camera

Fish nibbling Matt's toes

Fish nibbling Matt’s toes

A lovely spot

A lovely spot

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