Muldys Movements

Last night the whippetts for a Wish guys, entertained us until late. They gave us Claire Valley wine and showed us at least 3 movies on there outdoor theatre gear. What great neighbours they were. It is a shame they are travelling in the other direction....They had a DVD of the Eagles when they last toured as well. The mood was all set for a great night. At the end of the night they pass a tin around to all of the campers for a donatiojn towards "The Make A Wish"fund.

Today we made it to Broome. We have booked into the Cable Beach Caravan Park, but we might move to another in two days. We will see how the lack of shade goes.

Geiki Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing

Hot, hot, hot....We left Kununurra at 7 am heading west to a nice shady camp with a pool and grass would be a bonus. We didn't find that untill we made it ti Fitzroy Crossing. A little oasis in the desert. It is home to Geiki Gorge. We wondered down for a walk and saw 1.5 meter fresh crocs swimming around. The ranger said we weren't allowed to swim in the gorge as it is home to a few salties as well. Back to our nice swimming pool.....

1920 Whippets

)Our neighbours at the camp site tonight is "Whippets for Wishes" about 12 guys driving Whippets -1920 vintage cars that look a little like Chitty chitty Bang Bang cars. Except they have put corugated iron on for a roof. They come from SA and are doing a 4 week run to raise money for the "make a Wish"campaigne. (raising money for terminaly ill children) Last trip they made $35,000 and they do differect treks every year. It cost each of them $3000 each to be part of the tour and I think they look for sponsors and donations on the way!

raising money for Make a Wish Foundation

Tomorrow we head for Broome. Hopefully it will be a little cooler on the coast and it should be about a 3 to 4 hour run.

Big Bertha is going well and holding together very well. I'm glad I put a fan inside her as it runs all night up this way....

We decided to practise "Rubbernecking" That is the name given to New South Welshmen because their neck is made of rubber as they need to look in all directions at which boarder they cross. Victorians are Mexicans, Qlders are Banana Benders, SA are crows and WA are Sand Gropers. Tas are Twin Headers but I don't know what NT's are??

rubberneckers crossing the boarder

We decided to only go as far as Timber Creek yesterday as it was 37 degrees. But Timber Creek didn't take my fancy. It was $25 per night to stop in a dusty, smokey hot hole, so we kept driving in the aircon Bulldozer untill we reach Kununurra WA. We had to go through a check point on the boarder, where a lovely yound gentleman wanted to go through my van! Woops, I should of made the bed. Bad luck now! He asked Tony where the pantry was in Big Bertha? Answer, we don't have one. We were warned about no honey, nuts, cane toads, fruit or vegies where allowed to cross the boarder, so we donated 2 potatoes to the cause. The lovely young bloke wont be getting a feed from us!

Inspecting Big BERTHA for cane toads

We made it to the Big 4 at Lake Kununurra. It has a lovely pool and we booked in here for 3 nights. we have a lovely views of the lake at our front door and a cool breeze flows most of the day.

KUNUNURRA view at Big Berthas Bedroom window

Today we went exploring Kununurra. First stop was "Hidden Valley" This is a smaller version of the Bungle Bungles. Next we need to stock up on supplies, so I thought I might find a cask of white wine and see if the rules have changed here. Yes they have, you can buy as many casks of wine as you wish but they are only one litre and they cost about $10 each. No casks for me. No licence is required and this is the rules for the top end of WA. Not untill you get to Port Headland can you buy a bigger cask!!!!!

Lost City

Hidden Valley also known as Mirima National Park

boab tree

Next stop today was "TFS" Prime Minister Julia opened this place up in May 2010. TFS is leading the world in sustainable Sandlewood supplies. There are 2,450 hectares of Indian Sandlewood established in Kununurra. This is the world's largest plantation. We learnt that heartwood is found at the core of the Sandlewood trunk. It is from this part of the log that the valuable Sandlewood oil is extracted through steam distillation. This famous ingredient then forms the base of some of the world's most famous perfumes including Chanel No5, Cool Water and my favourite Samsara. Growing demand and decreasing supply has seen the average auction price fise from $5,137 in 1991 to $138,000 per tonne in Nov 2008. This represents a compounded price increase in 21 % over the last 17 years. Maybe I should check this company out on the stock market? The government studied this area for 15 years prior to this company being established.

Sandlewood TFS corporated Ltd

Ivanhoe Crossing at Kununurra.

Fitzroy Crossing

Kununurra at Sunset

Sunset at Kununurra

We went for a 30km drive to the not very famous side of Nitmiluk NP. Edith Falls and it is a great place for swimming. There are lovely walks to more waterfalls and springs, but too hot for me to walk especially when it is 35 plus degrees.
We had a picnic lunch and a free swim in at Edith falls. Meet a few fellow travellers with a lot of character.. Fun fun fun and the water was fantastic.

Edith Falls

The fish nibbled my feet while I was swimming!

Our favourite happy hour at the Fig Tree Cafe at Big 4 Katherine Low Level Park

Fig Tree Cafe

We are still at The Big 4 At Katherine. Very homely indeed.

Katherine Hot Springs at our back door!

We hop on our bikes every morning and ride 1 km to the Hot Springs. We spend the morning there talking to all the other Vaners until lunch time then we come back home for a dip in the pool and happy hour. Life is tuff but someone has to do it.

We did our bit for the nation and voted at Katherine by postal vote.

After voting we thought we should pick up some alcohole. The shop opens at 2.15pm daily and closes at 6.00pm. It was 2.10 and there were 50 people waiting for it to open. Tony waited in the car for me while I went in for 2 casks of wine. White for me and red for cooking and Tony. I search the shop for casks and all I could fine was 4 tyupes of 2 litre ones!! That is all you have to choose from. So I picked up one white and one red. The end of the queue to pay for it was in the cool room. The fifty people were all in front of me. I;m on holidays so what does it matter.. I meet some lovely travellers in the queue anyway. After 20 mins of waiting, this young 20 yo guy said Lady you have to choose which wine cask you want, you aren't allowed 2!!! Why?? It is the NT law!!! I want to drink the white and cook with the red. You can buy the white if you choose but if you want more wine you can buy as many bottles as you want, just not more cask wine. I asked him if I could buy one cask and put it in the car and come back and buy the other. He said NO as you have to give me your drivers licence and I scan it into the NT data base and register you buying a cask of wine today. This stops all other purchases untill tomorrow.! Bazaar!!! So he escorted me around the shop and I purchased a bottle of Merlot for cooking and a bottle of Burbon to add to the coke we have. I not going into another grog shop in the NT while I'm here. ( I don't want my name on the register anymore....

baby whale in the springs

Lucky We went back for happy hour on rations!!!