Western Australia WA – May 2023 – Month 4 – Temp 30 / 12 – Distance travelled 8,000km
Leaving Litchfield National Park behind we’re headed to Victoria River Roadhouse. The remote drive takes us past more of the spectacular ancient sandstone cliffs with only Parrots and birds of prey joining us on our adventure.
We are excited to cross the border into Western Australia, without fruit, vegetables, and nuts for biosecurity reasons.
First destination Lake Argyle. Me thinking just another lake, how presumptuous of me! Lake Argyle is a sight to behold! It covers a massive 75 km by 45 km wide area and displays hundreds of island peaks.
Don’t even think about finding fossils here. This land is millions of years old, from a time before animals came along. There are an unbelievable 30,000 freshwater crocs inhabiting the lake. We dared to take a dip at sunset, for once ignoring the stunning infinity pool at the campsite.
Next up rugged Kununurra. We camped at picturesque Lily Creek Lagoon. The birdlife was amazing and Freshwater crocs lazed around at the water’s edge. We hiked in Mirima National Park which had more of the amazing ancient sandstone landscape.
On our way to remote Wyndham on the Cambridge Gulf we stopped at ‘The Grotto’, you guessed it another gorge. We climbed down 144 steep steps to a deep pool (100 meters). Unsurprisingly we were the only once there. We had a quick dip before the 144-step workout back up the cliff.
Wyndham is a quiet place 100km north/west of Kununurra, where time has stood still. We checked out the port, and I tried ‘to catch the big one’ of the jetty, high up away from the crocodiles. The scenery was amazing gazing out to sea with not a soul around.
There we also visited the museum. We learned a lot about Wyndham’s past. I was drawn to the story of two German aviators Bertram and Klaussman who got lost flying their German Junkers seaplane Atlantis to Australia in 1932. They were forced to land on a remote stretch of the Kimberley coastline, near Wyndham. Then astonishingly survived 40 days in croc infested waters with little food and water. Bertram wrote a book about the saga and ABC TV made a movie ‘Flight into Hell’ in 1985. Their endurance and courage an example of what we are capable of.
We watched the sun set at the stunning Five Rivers lookout on Mt Bastion. There we had a barbecue dinner with some nice Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. It turned out to be a popular spot, as tourists from a Wilderness tour surrounded us and eyed off our Satay chicken kebabs.
Our way to Broome leads through the spectacular ancient Kimberleys, where a four wheel drive vehicle is a must to tackle the infamous Gibb River road.
We navigated a tiny bit of it to Emma Gorge, East Kimberley’s, which is part of the awesome El Questro resort. The drive was a little hairy in places traversing a few flooded crossings. We really did test our vans limits (and ours), but it was worth it.
Emma gorge is hands down the most beautiful and scenic of all gorges we have visited so far. The swim in the sublime plunge pool was breath taking and not for the faint hearted, because of its icy waters.
Our epic 1,300+ km outback journey to Broome required a couple of overnight stops at Doon Doon Roadhouse and Larrawa Station. Here the night skies dazzled and we could almost touch the Milky Way.
The Great Northern Highway takes us through the Indigenous settlement of Fitzroy Crossing. Here due to severe flooding the only bridge connecting us with Broome was washed away earlier this year.
A temporary crossing opened a few weeks ago! Lucky for us as otherwise we would have had to travel through the centre of Australia to reach WA and cross ‘swimming with the Whale sharks’ of our bucket list.
Did anyone say ‘Ocean’… oh yes Baby! Our next destination Broome lies on the Indian Ocean and I can’t wait to dip my toes into the sparkling turquoise waters and spend time at one of Australia‘s best beaches Cable Beeeach!
