Stations, Towballs & Boabs, Kimberley WA

Sunday the 18th of November.... We woke, undecided on whether to stay another day in Kununurra, or leave. The boys decided that either way, they wanted to try their luck for a Barra at Ivanhoe Crossing. So off they went, leaving Nina and I to slowly wake up.

By about 8:30 they were back and Jack was still Barra-less.

We decided we'd move on so the pack up began and within an hour we were driving via the caravan park pool on our way out. 

We got back on the Great Northern Highway and as we continued out of Kununurra, the scenery continued to be just as beautiful as it was on the way in.

This time on the way out, we were surrounded by two ranges. On one side was the O'Donnell Range and the other side, the Carr Boyd Ranges.

This rock balances precariously at the top of the pile

This was big station country and there was lots of cattle on the road side along with lots of wild brumbies.

We stopped in Warmun to have lunch and laughed when we saw two massive bulls at the service station... Now that's a real cattle station!

Lining up to re-fill

Full as a bull

Next in line

Another full bull

There was lots of rebuilding work going on at Warmun. In March last year the whole community was washed away in a flood. 

We continued on down the track to be stopped about 20 kilometers out of Warmun while workmen removed a road train from the road after an early morning fatal collision. When we drove past the incinerated truck we understood how nothing could have survived in the twisted burnt cab. Too sad!

Our next stop was Halls Creek which is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert and famous for WA's first gold discovery in 1885.

We turned off to look at the attractions icluding this natural wall, named the China Wall. It's a sub vertical quartz vein which stands up to 6 metres high in parts. It lines the surrounding hills but it's length to this day remains a mystery....

The China Wall, Halls Creek

We were going to continue into Old Halls Creek but it was a gravel road and a thunderstorm was moving in so we turned around and headed back into Halls Creek (newer version, est in 1995).
Richard pulled over onto the side of the road when we all heard a strange noise. On closer inspection, the tow ball had snapped off and the caravan was detatched from the car. It was only still behind us thanks to the sway bars. We were all a little gobsmacked but grateful we'd avoided potential disaster. For a moment I thought we were up a Creek and it wasn't Halls....

No tow ball

Jack finds the old detatched tow ball 

But, Richard my handyman husband set to work, as only he could. After he'd jacked up the caravan (in the middle of a storm) he then proceeded to pull out a shiny silver new tow ball. This made Jack and I belly laugh. Who, other than Richard (always come prepared) Bennett would have a spare tow ball? It was one of those moments where you just had to be there.

Richard sets to work

The shiny new tow ball and my very clever husband and son

Half an hour later, soaked but potential disaster averted,  the shiny new tow ball was firmly attached to the red rig, which in turn was once again pulling the caravan... Phew, that was a close one!

We then headed to the caravan park in Halls Creek and set up camp for the night before heading across the road to the Halls Creek Tavern which was bound to house a few colourful folk.

Dinner was at the Tavern. It was nice to get a night off cooking.

 

Monday the 19th of November...we packed up early and after finding a decent coffee shop in Halls Creek (not as hard as we thought it would be) we were on our way. 

I did stop to take a photo of this monument in the local park. The story touched our hearts....

Russian Jack monument

The man pushing the wheelbarrow was known as Russian Jack and his story encompasses the hardships faced by all of our early pioneers who found themselves in the harsh outback. A gold miner in the Kimberley in the late 1800s, Russian Jack used his wheelbarrow to push a mate with typhoid fever from Fitzroy Crossing to the nearest medical facility in Halls Creek, more than 300 kilometres away. His mate lived to tell the tale. It is an amazing story of mateship and survival against all the odds.

Around 11 o'clock we drove over the Fitzroy River and into Fitzroy Crossing....

Waiting for the wet season

It's one of those iconic places that you hear so much about but there wasn't a lot to it... There were lots of locals sitting around outside the shopping area and in the streets and parks. It was a little off putting!  After visiting  and Aboriginal art gallery and the original Crossing Inn, the only pub still in its original state in the Kimberley, we headed off....

The original pub

We stopped for lunch at a rest bay about an hour out of Fitzroy crossing. 

The trip was long! Thank goodness the Boab tree in so many shapes and forms, big and small, kept our attention. I don't think we will ever get sick of looking at them. Each one has an aura that commands your attention.

By two o'clock we hit a T-junction and chose to head north to Derby...

Too many choices

We all had a chuckle when we saw these cows crossing near the "Beware of stray animals"sign... Too clever!

Clever Cattle

We arrived in Derby around 3ish and after setting up camp we went for a wander around the historic town, which was the first to be settled in the Kimberley.

 Beautiful Boab trees line the main street of Derby

The first stop was the Derby wharf where you can watch the highest tides in the southern hemisphere come in and out.... reaching around 12 metres. The wharf is preceded by more than a kilometre of mud flats because of the high tides.

We then went for a drive back out of town to see the historic Prison Boab Tree which was used to house prisoners in transit in the early 1900s before the Derby Prison was built.... Ingenious, again, if only the tree could talk!

The kids in front of the prison Baob Tree

The Prison Boab Tree

We went back to the park, I put dinner on and then we headed back out to a celebrity Boab tree. It's the Boab tree that appears in every travel shot with the sunset behind it. I have been keen for a few days to capture a perfect Boab sunset shot. So off we went, only to find that the people who were beside us at the caravan park in Darwin were also at the tree, trying to get the same shot.

Just before sunset

The sun about to set

The sun sinks quickly

My sunset picture

And one more for good measure

We all got our pictures of the Boab before watching an amazing sunset and the kids played while the adults chatted. It was dark when we left the celebrity Boab.

We had dinner, which was pasta, with the sauce and italian sausage that Mark and Lisa had brought with them (thanks guys it was yummy), while watching the X-Factor grand final.