Kununurra to Broome April/ May 2011 Part 1

  Although we still hadn't got our mail we decided that we couldn't wait anymore and it was time to move on. However before we left Kununurra we made a slight detour to the Banana place and bought some bananas and watermelon. This is a Christian Radio place and they sell fruit as a sideline.

Morning tea was our first stop at the rest area at the junction of the Great Northern Highway and the Wyndham road. We then continued down the road to our lunch stop at Turkey Creek ( Warnum) which we had in a lovely shaded area in front of the roadhouse. We treated ourselves to takeaway.

 Our  overnight stop for this leg was at Spring Creek rest area which is opposite the turnoff to the Bungles which were not open to driving traffic when we were there.We set up camp down by the river/ creek which was flowing quite well but the water level had obviously dropped considerably as the sandy bottom could easily be seen. Mike , Kerry and I went for a walk up over the bridge and then went down under the bridge and found a safe place to paddle in some fast flowing water that was surrounded by rocks.
Anywhere in the north I don't trust the water as you never know where the crocs are .

 Kerry having a paddle at Spring Creek

 Spring Creek

 Although we were first in and a number of travellers came in to check out the spot we only ended up with another 4 camps for the night .
The next day we continued on to Halls Creek where we  arrived fairly early in the morning  and fueled up the vehicles and ourselves before going to the Tourist Information Centre . At the Centre we were advised of a visit to the Meteorology dept who send up a weather balloon each afternoon and were happy to have tourists attend.

 We generally found the Centre very informative about the road conditions  and had lots of brochures and souvenirs,. As we planned to watch the balloon go up we booked into the caravan park  and set up the 2 vans so that we had one large shaded area between us. Kerry was looking forward to seeing the Wedding and the boys wanted to watch football being a Friday night.

 Old Engine at Halls Creek

 We duly turned up at the Bureau and watched the balloon launch before heading out to old Halls Creek . We decided to head straight out to the old township and then stop at the other places on our way back. We also thought we might go out to Sawpit Gorge but Mike and Kerry decided that they had had enough of the rough road and opted not to go.

 Preparing the Weather balloon for release

At Old Hall's Creek  we wandered around the ruins and also visited the old cemetery. The caravan park seemed to be operational but very run down with only a few permanents there.

 On our way back we found the road to Carolines Pool which was poorly marked but looked a nice spot.

There were a few backpackers making the most of the water for a swim etc and  2 guys having a go at catching some of the very small fish.

 We then continued to make our way back and stopped at China Wall before returning to the Park.

Caroline Pool

 China Wall

For tea that night we made a Curry each and then shared them . The men then watched their footy while Kerry and I watched the the Royal Wedding .