I haven't really had the time or the inclination to write about our time in Broome.
As the finer details of the trip are fading and my work/family/study etc... etc... are growing I doubt I will get around to writing the full description of our greatest holiday in, (can't remember how many) years!
Here's a very brief overview...
Left Darwin, I forget what date but it was a day or so later than we expected, so many little things to do before we go!
Easy does it as we roll out of town. Barely made it past the shire limits before we stopped for lunch at Coomali.
Stayed at the Katherine lowlevel caravan park on the first night and struggled with the dramas of having to unpack the entire car in order to get to all the stuff we needed. Night one.
The next day we headed west from Katherine. Everything from here was new to us, neither Sam nor myself had ever traveled any further west than Katherine. The country west of Katherine changed little by little until we reached the VRD and Timber creek where the Kimberly trademark Boab trees began to appear on the landscape... awesome!
Gregory national park looked like it was well worth some more time but maybe on the way back.
We did an average of about 300 - 400 km per day and had plenty of stops. The hidden valley caravan park in Kunnanurra was a pleasant stop with plenty of camping space. The red rocky escarpment all around was a great contrast to the monotonous flat land around Darwin. In Kunnanurra we ran into some friends who'd had car trouble and were stuck there waiting for a new diff!
Onwards we roll. Stayed a night in Halls Creek, I think it was pension day and there was lots of grog around... Not a healthy place to live.. so much drinking and fighting!
The lodge at Fitzroy Crossing was so detached from the township! Heading west you enter Fitzroy by crossing a couple of bridges over the Fitzroy River, but the lodge is on the opposite side of the river separating the wealthy, orderly tourists from the gritty town of Fitzroy and limiting any interaction between the immaculate mostly retired travelers and the reality of the places and people they/we pass.
Did a boat tour on the gorge scoured through an corral reef millions of years gone. Getting closer now to our destination can't remember our next stop but we were soon in Broome!
So many cars on the road as we arrived. We found our caravan park besides the speedway but more quiet and shady than most! Not that there was a choice anyway everything had been booked out for months!
Caught up with an Uncle and Aunty who were traveling the country counter clockwise and headed for Darwin. It was the night of stairway to the moon so we set up camp just in time to join them and their friends at some kind of surreal luxury hotel on a bluff overlooking the mangroves! Our heads were spinning as we mingled in thongs and shorts amongst people from all walks of life. There were more than a few rich and famous at this particular venue the best place to view a fairly irregular event!
The Pigram Brothers were playing too. What an awesome welcome to Broome. Spent a few days down at Cable beach, there was an unusual swell and I got so into body surfing and jumping around in the cool ocean that I wound up snapping a calf muscle and was semi crippled for the rest of the week!
As we had been warned Broome would have been cool about 20 years ago! I still enjoyed the place though! It was NAIDOC week and we spent a fair bit of time attending 'free' cultural events! What a stroke of luck! Thanks to all the people who contributed to such an awesome week especially the ladies who read to the kids at the Library and the folks down at the fish farm who shared their culture and history with us!
Went on a great camel ride with Ships of the Desert. I can highly recommend. They were over booked and gave us an incredible discount for altering our booking! It was a fantastic ride and the personalities of the camels were delightful.
So much happened I can't even begin to tell so I'll end on the note that it was a most excelent holiday! We discussed going back every year, but time will tell.
As the finer details of the trip are fading and my work/family/study etc... etc... are growing I doubt I will get around to writing the full description of our greatest holiday in, (can't remember how many) years!
Here's a very brief overview...
Left Darwin, I forget what date but it was a day or so later than we expected, so many little things to do before we go!
Easy does it as we roll out of town. Barely made it past the shire limits before we stopped for lunch at Coomali.
Stayed at the Katherine lowlevel caravan park on the first night and struggled with the dramas of having to unpack the entire car in order to get to all the stuff we needed. Night one.
The next day we headed west from Katherine. Everything from here was new to us, neither Sam nor myself had ever traveled any further west than Katherine. The country west of Katherine changed little by little until we reached the VRD and Timber creek where the Kimberly trademark Boab trees began to appear on the landscape... awesome!
Gregory national park looked like it was well worth some more time but maybe on the way back.
We did an average of about 300 - 400 km per day and had plenty of stops. The hidden valley caravan park in Kunnanurra was a pleasant stop with plenty of camping space. The red rocky escarpment all around was a great contrast to the monotonous flat land around Darwin. In Kunnanurra we ran into some friends who'd had car trouble and were stuck there waiting for a new diff!
Onwards we roll. Stayed a night in Halls Creek, I think it was pension day and there was lots of grog around... Not a healthy place to live.. so much drinking and fighting!
The lodge at Fitzroy Crossing was so detached from the township! Heading west you enter Fitzroy by crossing a couple of bridges over the Fitzroy River, but the lodge is on the opposite side of the river separating the wealthy, orderly tourists from the gritty town of Fitzroy and limiting any interaction between the immaculate mostly retired travelers and the reality of the places and people they/we pass.
Did a boat tour on the gorge scoured through an corral reef millions of years gone. Getting closer now to our destination can't remember our next stop but we were soon in Broome!
So many cars on the road as we arrived. We found our caravan park besides the speedway but more quiet and shady than most! Not that there was a choice anyway everything had been booked out for months!
Caught up with an Uncle and Aunty who were traveling the country counter clockwise and headed for Darwin. It was the night of stairway to the moon so we set up camp just in time to join them and their friends at some kind of surreal luxury hotel on a bluff overlooking the mangroves! Our heads were spinning as we mingled in thongs and shorts amongst people from all walks of life. There were more than a few rich and famous at this particular venue the best place to view a fairly irregular event!
The Pigram Brothers were playing too. What an awesome welcome to Broome. Spent a few days down at Cable beach, there was an unusual swell and I got so into body surfing and jumping around in the cool ocean that I wound up snapping a calf muscle and was semi crippled for the rest of the week!
As we had been warned Broome would have been cool about 20 years ago! I still enjoyed the place though! It was NAIDOC week and we spent a fair bit of time attending 'free' cultural events! What a stroke of luck! Thanks to all the people who contributed to such an awesome week especially the ladies who read to the kids at the Library and the folks down at the fish farm who shared their culture and history with us!
Went on a great camel ride with Ships of the Desert. I can highly recommend. They were over booked and gave us an incredible discount for altering our booking! It was a fantastic ride and the personalities of the camels were delightful.
So much happened I can't even begin to tell so I'll end on the note that it was a most excelent holiday! We discussed going back every year, but time will tell.
1 comment:
Sounds like a great time. I'm envious.
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