11-15 June 2016 - Days 70 - 74 - El Questro Gibb River Road

After dropping the van off in storage at Kununurra we drove to El Questro on the Gibb River Road.

El Questro described in one word would be awesome.  We all loved staying here.

It was actioned pack from the minute we got there.  You had to cross three small water crossing to get into El Questro which was exciting in it's self.  After successfully setting up the tent and everything in 1.5 hours we drove to Moonshine Gorge for a swim.  We had a quick swim and had a look around the campground before having a relaxing night after the day of driving.

We were up at 6am and the boys went fishing in the river behind the campground.  They didn't catch anything but had a fun time.  We then walked the Amalia Gorge walk which was nice with a half way pool which we ended up coming back to as the end pool was cold.  The boys found a rock to jump off and they were having so much fun that they inspired a single lady of about 55 years old to jump off the rock with them.  She ended up diving off the rock and told the boys that she would never usually do anything like that.

Then we went to Zedebee hot springs which was really busy as they close it at 12pm for the homestead guests.  We had a quick swim and then we drove to Branko's lookout which takes you along a very long single lane rocky river crossing.  When you first start the river crossing you can't see if anyone is coming the other way, so it is really nerve racking but exciting.  We made it but it was very bumpy.

We then went on the Chambelian Gorge boat cruise and they had a competition on the cruise that whoever spotted the first rock wallaby would get a bottle of wine and Michael won it.

After the cruise the kids visited the horse stables and watched the horses get washed.  They were loving it.

As we woke up at 5am and wanted to get out of the campground so that the kids didn't wake anyone up we decided to drive the 4x4 track up to Saddleback Ridge.  It was very steep and rocky and the view was unreal from the top.

The kids then went on a horse riding lesson.  They were super excited and had heaps of fun.

Then we did the El Questro Gorge walk this is by far the most challanging walk that we have completed.  Alot of people only make it into the half way pool as you have to wade thru water and hold your clothes and bags above your head to then climb up a massive bolder to reach the track on the otherside.  The track was mainly massive boulders and very tiring.  We saw 2 snakes on the way in. The waterhole at the end was small but very pretty.  We then made our way out but it was too dangerous to try and climb down the boulder to get back into the halfway pool so we had to jump off this massive rock face and pass our bags down to each other.  This is by far the highest thing that I have every jumped off and I don't think that I would have done it if I didn't need too.  When we finished the walk we were supper proud of each other and happy that no one got hurt along the way.

The next day we drove further along the Gibb River Road and crossed the Pentecost River on our way to Home Valley Station for the day to go land fishing.  The tour started off with us hopping in the back of a troop carrier with the guide Calum, and driving along dirt roads and getting thrown around in the back until we arrived at the river.  The kids loved it.  Calum then had to catch live bait in nets and the kids helped.  After lots of fun and the kids spotting a croc we didn't catch any fish.  The kids caught mud crabs and Michael had about 8 bites from barramundi.

On the way back we did the Emma Gorge walk.  It only took us 30 minutes to get to the end as we were practically running it as we really wanted a swim. This is the most stunning of the gorges so far.

We arrived back at the campground and went looking for our friends Tom and Michelle Bishop and their 3 kids.  They had arrived earlier and was lookinig for Michael to go heli fishing as they had a spare seat in their helicopter.  As Michael had missed out they thought they had bet to go out again and take him, so they did the next day. We had dinner and a few drinks at the bar listening to the live music.

The next morning Tom, Nigel and Michael went helifishing and they loved it.  Michael caught the biggest barrumundi of the day at 83cm in an area full of salt water crocodiles. Tom's cousin owns the horses stables at El Questro so the kids got to go on a longer and more exciting ride thru the campground to our tent, it was very exciting.   We all had a swim in the river behind the campground and lay on the grass and had a few drinks.  Christian and Laura the horse owners got the keys to the Zedebee springs gate and we all went for a swim on dusk, it was awesome.  Michael couldn't keep his fish as it was too big so we had cheese toasties for dinner as we had run out of food as we were meant to leave the day earlier.

6 - 10 June 2016 - Days 65 - 69 - Kununurra

We waited for the post office to open to collect Mitchell's next lot of schoolwork and then we headed to Kununurra.  On the way we stopped off at Timber Creek for lunch in the van and crossed over the border into Western Australia.

On the way we stopped in at the Zebra Rock Mine.  We had to drive along a dirt road and open a series of gates.  At the last gate Cooper noticed that the front stabilizing leg on the caravan had dropped down and was dragging on the road.  Michael quickly stopped after going thru the gate and then we noticed the damage.  The leg had wedged itself up into the floor of the tunnel boot and had damaged the slide that the BBQ is on.  We couldn't believe that it had happened and were trying to work out when it may have fallen down.  We tied the leg up as all the pins had broken off and drove into the mine.  We were not in the right frame of mind for shopping so we had a quick look and got out of there as quick as we could.

We drove into Kununura and dropped the van off at the Ivanhoe caravan park and walked up Kelly's Knob just in time to watch the sunset.

After dinner Michael and Stan inspected the damaged and it was bad but it could have been a whole lot worse.

It was a long day!!!!

The next day was my Birthday and after a few little hiccups it turned out be a great day.  Michael made me pancakes for breakfast and then we went to Ivanhoe Crossing that is a car crossing with water rushing quite fast over it.  We all loved driving over it.  Then we went to the Sandlewood factory for a yummy iced chocolate and some shopping, yippee...

We then raced back to the caravan park to pick the van up to take it to the engineers.  Just as we were about to hook it up I noticed that it had a flat tyre.... Michael changed the tyre in record time with the help of the boys.  We got the repairs done and went to the Pumphouse for dinner with Robyn and Stan.  We arrived early and watched the sunset and had a few drinks.  The dinner was really nice and the kids loved it as they could see freshwater crocodiles in the water behind the restaurant.
It was a great Birthday.

The next day we drove to Wyndham for the day.  We stopped at the big croc statue and saw a boab tree that was over 2000 years old, it was huge.  We then drove up to the 5 Rivers lookout.  On the way back to Kununurra about 30klms from Wyndham we stopped at the Grotto.  You have to walk down 140 man made steps to the pool below that is over 300 ft deep.  This is where they hold the Red Bull cliff diving competition.  The boys all had a great time swinging from two different ropes into the water.  The water was too green for me to go in, I was happy to watch.

That night we went on the Lake Kununurra BBQ Cruise, we all had a great night with a nice barramundi dinner.  The view of the sunset and lake was amazing as it gave a mirror image of the sky and trees.

The next day Michael fixed the tunnel boot floor and BBQ slide and he did a great job, you wouldn't even know that anything had happened to it.  Then we went to Lake Argyl for the day.  First we swam in the caravan parks infinity pool and then we went on the sunset cruise.  Lake Argyl is 17.5 times bigger than Sydney Harbour.  After spotting lots of freshwater crocs and being told that over 30,000 live in the lake we all jumped in and had a swim and floated around on noodles while the crew thru cold beers out to you.  The boys even jumped off the roof.  Robyn and I were happy just floating around.   There was a little 4 year old girl on the boat that confessed to everyone that she was going to marry Cooper.  Poor Cooper he didn't want a bar of it.  It was very funny.  This was another great day.

The next day Michael took the boys to the skatepark for a quick skate.  We then decided to stay another night as we were all exhausted from the last few days.  So we got some lunch and went to the celebrity tree park in town and the boys kicked the football around.  We then back to Ivanhoe Crossing to try and catch some fish.  We had a few bites but didn't catch anything.  Home to pack for our first trip in our tent into El Questro as we are leaving the van in Kununurra.

5 June 2016 - Day 64 - Katherine

We didn't want to leave Gunlom Falls so we had a lazy morning and another swim.

We got back in the car and headed back out to the Kakadu highway along the dirt road and we realised that we wouldn't make it to the nearest road house to get petrol.  So we drove to the highway with only 2klms left in the tank and got on the CB and asked Stan if he take Michael to the nearest roadhouse 11Klms up the road to fill up the jerry can.  Thank god the roadhouse was so close!!!

It was a long day driving and we stopped off at the Lazard Lizard for luch at Pine Creek.

The car and caravan was covered in red dust from the drive in especially the bikes.

We didn't arrive in Katherine until late with just enough time to restock the food and alcohol.

2 - 4 June 2016 - Days 61 - 63 - Kakadu

Left at 9.30am and stopped off at the Didgeridoo Hut and the kids bought some aboriginal clapping sticks that they had been looking for.  So for the next hour in the car we heard a lovely impersonation of aboriginals playing clapping sticks, this was as long as we could stand it for.  Then they got put away, thank god!!!!

The next stop was a road house called Bark Hut on the way into Kakadu.  They had pet Emu's and Buffalo's and the kids got to feed them their breakfast.  The we had a quick game of pool before we got back on the road.

The drive into Kakadu was quite boring and couldn't wait to get out of the car until we saw alot of fires on the sides of the road.  It was back burning.  There were eagles flying everywhere trying to catch any insects and bugs flying away from the fire.

We stayed at the Kakadu Lodge Caravan park and after we had set up, Mitch said "I really need a soft drink from a pub".  So we headed to the pool and the pool bar for a drink.

The next morning we went for a walk to see some aboriginal art.  It was really impressive and very clear.  Robyn and Stan took the boys back to the caravan park so Michael and I could do a 6 klm walk that was advertised as being a cool place to spend the middle of the day and a nice waterhole at the end.  It was bloody hot with not much shade and the waterhole at the end was like a dried up riverbed.  Not impressed but it was good to do another walk.

It was back to the caravan park to relax in the pool except for the old Grey Nomads who think they can say what they want to you and told us that our kids couldn't read and were stupid for jumping in the pool. As you could imagine this didn't go down to well and a few heated words were exchanged.  The sign only said no jumping from the rock waterfall.  At this point we were keen to get out of caravan parks and get back to free camping.

That night we went to Ubir for the sunset.  We climbed a really high rock face and watch the sunset over a massive flood plain.  It was beatiful.

Then we drove across the Knotts Crossing into Arnhem Land but didn't see any crocs, it was pitch black by this time and the tide was coming in.

The next morning we drove to Gunlom Falls for the night.  37 klms of the drive was along a dirt road, it was abit rough but not too bad.  On the way in we saw wild bulls and horses.

Gunlom Falls was beatiful, we did the walk to the top pool and the view was inbelievable you could see forever.

We met a nice young couple from Melbourne Travis and Carley and their two kids.  That night we had a fire and sat up really late.  Even though we had had a few drink Michael and I were sure that a star kept jumping around so for the next few hours we sat there and laughed and debated if the star was really moving. It definately was!!!  The kids also spotted and dingo and a pack of wild horses in the campground.