Day 61

Day 61 Halls Creek - ?

Well another example of the best laid plans not coming together. We had breakfast and discussed the

Closed

Changing landscape

options of where we were going to go to today. We decided in the end that we would go to Bungle Bungle Caravan Park that was 50kms out from the actual Bungle Bungles and was run by a station there and was only 1km from the highway. They offered guided tours of the place and flights as well, problem solved, it was only about a 100kms from Halls Creek. So off we went, we were going down the main

Delhi Time

Warmun local

road of Halls Creek and noticed a Police car coming the other way and Maureen said, I wonder if that is Ben Gardiner ( one of the kids who had played sport with our kids and we had been told he was up here), we should pull him over and see if it is. Sounded good, no problem with pulling over a cop car for a change, but as we were getting closer and ready to flash the lights and wave madly out the window, the lights went on and he pulled over a car and double parked on the road to stop him driving off and got out. Well it was Ben, Maureen recognised him from the mile off we were as she does, and we then went into a big debate as to if we should stop and say hello. I did start to pull up but as we got next to

Changing landscape

Changing landscape

him, I could hear him saying – This is the second time I have seen you…. And I chickened out from stopping in the middle of the road and blocking the highway to say g’day Ben, how they hanging? I didn’t think he would appreciate me making a road block whilst he told someone off. If there is anyone out there in contact with ben, please let him know we said hello.

So out of Halls Creek we went. It is a lovely little town and we could have spent more time there but we did want to push on and the Bungle Bungles were calling us. We drove through some lovely countryside. It was changing all again. The hills started to appear and with them the Boab trees that we had not seen since Fitzroy Crossing.

Changing landscape

Changing landscape

These looked a little different and seemed taller but it might have just been that the trees around them were smaller, not sure but they were back. We did pass a car on the side of the road that was facing the way we were driving but on the other side and there seemed half a dozen people with it with a sing song session going with a guitar. There bonnet was up, but they seemed happy enough. We arrived at the turn off to the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park and there was a van of three French tourists there, 2 girls and a guy. We

Rain on the windscreen

Changing landscape

stopped there as they were walking out to us, they were asking for a lift into the park as they had an ordinary minivan which the signs said were not suitable for the road in. we apologised as we have no back seats and went to the gate to go in and low and behold “Closed” due to 1080 Poisoning! The station was closed as they were doing poisoning but the park was open, they had just done it that morning! We went in as we had to turn around with the van on and went to the Van Park and there was no one there so we did our 180 turn and drove out. Another quick chat with the lovely tourists (they were heading to

Girt and Trude before the resort

Road into Paarry Creek Farm

Fitzroy Crossing and had been here 6 months and had another 4 to go) and we hit the road again. The decision was made to go on to Wyndham another 3 hours down the road. We pulled in at Warmun (was Turkey Creek but the local name is Warmun so they changed it, except the roadhouse which is Turkey Creek Roadhouse) we filled up our gas. Maureen got a sandwich for us and as we were eating it I suddenly thought I was in India! (you will appreciate this Mike) Not only was it hot and dusty, but as we were sitting there, 3 big Brahman Bulls wondered through the servo. Calm as you like, totally ignored by

Road out of Parry Creek Farm

Found Parry Creek

everyone and they just munched their way through and one lay down and started chewing his cud. The only thing that made me realise that I was not in India was that they were the healthiest looking cattle I had seen, oh and the two Rebel Bikies sitting next to us in the shade!

Back on the road and drove on. You could tell that some people got creative with the names of places again, such as Doon Doon and Waggubun and others such as Crocodile Hole ( which hole, front or back it did not say) or there were possibly two Mabels in town and two creeks needed naming so they named them after how they differentiated between the two Mabels – Big Mabel Creek and Little

Donkey at caravan Park

Plant

Mabel Creek, bet that went down well with the ladies in question. We drove on and started to listen to the Dockers in the grand final and it started to rain! Not that heavy, but constant. The ground was changing a lot now with lovely ranges and huge hills thrusting up out of the ground and the haze we had seen around them and guessed was smoke from the fires turned out to be rain and there were puddles on the road and I had to use the windscreen wipers and the dust was washed off the bonnet! We were now heading for a station stay (given that our last one had bombed today) at a place called Parry Creek Farm Tourist Park that was 14kms short of Wyndham and 8kms in off the road, no probs. Well we

Close as you can get to Port Wyndham

Crocodile Farm open - now closed

turned off and the road, I mean track or should I say Creek, was a little rough and had been flooded. No problemo, Trude was getting used to all this track travel and it would get better surely, this was a Resort, it said so on the sign! Well it was a resort, a last resort.

The drive in was fun, the road was rough as guts and we went along at about 20kmh, it was flooded and we had water all over the bonnet and then we hit the mud and Trude was not prepared for that and slid a bit before I got control. We got to the resort and there was no one there as in no vans or tents or anything. We could see the layout for tents and vans by the tops of the markers above the water, it was flooded out. So turn around and back out we drove, we hit the mud again but at a

Residency

Why it was never used

different angle and Girt went one way Trude went the other! We were on ice and trying to go in all directions at once. I got control of the slide but we hit a huge puddle, and I mean huge. Water (mud filled red water) went up over the top of the car, over the roof and down the other side. The Caravan got a good sloshing right up to the tops of the windows! Trude pulled us clear and away we went, just like kids in puddles, water over the bonnet, mud spraying everywhere, great fun, until we stopped and looked at the mess!

We drove on listening to the Dockers lose, but put up a good fight, until we hit Wyndham. The town is not much in size and really has not much to offer as a town, but it is still quaint and worth a visit. We found the Caravan Park and pulled in. The office is closed but a sign said pick a site and call a number to let them know, so we picked a site and unhitched Girt and set her up. We had arrived at about 3, as we had left by 8:30 this morning. We left Girt and went for a drive around town to see the sites. There was a crocodile farm, a lookout, the old port to mention a few. We could not find the lookout, we found the crocodile farm in the Botanical Gardens that had closed down and been converted to the farm and the sign said it was closed for the wet season! So we had a look at the port, but you cannot get to the port as it is closed off to the public! So back to Girt and as we drove back we stopped at the service station and it was the Tourist info place as well. Maureen went in and found that the lookout was there, you just had to drive through the housing area and it is not signed.

Our plan right now is to get up early, go to the lookout then go off-roading out to Diggers Rest Station to see the Police Boab as well as a crocodile pool then from the Station, we can continue on down to the Gibb River Road then back to Wyndham. The final route will depend on the road conditions.