Monday 25 July – Bev's Birthday
After a 10 hour sleep I woke refreshed
today. It was quite easy to shower, pack (BBB)and relax over
breakfast before heading west at 7:30am.
Our first stop was at Turkey Creek for
morning tea where we had shade and a cool breeze.
On the road again we saw a dingo
feeding on some road kill, horses and a few wide loads for which we
had to pull off the road.
Lunch was at Halls Creek where we
picked up our order from the baker and sat under a shady poinciana
tree (or maybe a rain tree?). Not our most pleasant stop.
On then to a pull off called Ngumban
Lookout where we met dozens of grey nomads in their caravans parked
for the night and waiting for the sunset views. I went for a bit of a
botanical exploration with Gill, Carol and Bev and we found
grevillea, triodia, solanum, and maybe a leschenaultia and quite a
few different species of Ptilotus all growing on the lateritic
plateau.
On again with Allan driving right into
the setting sun. We checked into the Fitzroy River Lodge in time for
dinner then again collapsed into bed.
Today was our longest drive so far at
648km.
Tuesday 26 July
Off to an early start today after a 6am
breakfast. We headed out to Geiki Gorge where we had our fifth cruise
of the trip. This one was quite different as it is limestone rocks.
We saw some freshwater crocs and lots of Fairy Martins gathering mud
to build their bottle shaped nests under the rock overhangs. This
keeps them away from the pythons.
We had morning tea at Geiki Gorge
before continuing west towards Derby. There were quite a few patches
of roadworks and lots of caravans to slow us down. The vegetation
changed continuously and eventually we came into the boabs and then
more densely wooded areas. The other thing that changed continuously
were the design and colour of the termite mounds.
Arriving at Derby we collected our
lunch order at the IGA bakery then headed for a park with shady trees
and grass. The Civic Centre was hosting an art exhibition to we were
able to look at that too.
A drive out to the jetty allowed us to
see the extensive mud flats and the tide rushing in under the jetty
pylons. We were rather intrigued by the white breasted wood swallows
on the power line that looked like a set of insulators.
Next stop was a quick view of the
'prison' boab but with the sun beating down we did not stay long. We
saw a few red-tailed black cockatoos in the trees nearby. They are
beautiful birds!
We then headed for Broome with the sun
in Allan's eyes again. Soon it was the chore of all those sitting in
the front seats (including me) to keep a lookout for animals on the
road until we reached our motel in Broome.
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