Wyndham Old Town almost left abandoned . Eerie !!
Interesting old town The post office still has the private boxes outside
We have left Turkey Creek & the Bungle Bungles now at Wyndham
This place is incredible! its like a blast from the past (circa 1950) the old town is in disrepair & the buildings have been abandoned like a ghost town !! A lookout is situated atop Bastion Range and features the fantastic view of the joining of 5 rivers….Ord, Forrest, King, Durack and Pentecost, all which enter the Cambridge Gulf and surrounding mangrove swamps, mudflats and hills. The mangroves are also home for the very dangerous salt water crocodiles ,Pics will include the old town and 2 lovely old ladies that run a very old odd shop !! And a VERY very large concrete crocodile !!!
Travelling to the Bungle Bungles
Travel is extremely difficult as the road is very hazardous & dangerous We went thru a 3 foot deep hollow filled with water,the track road is full of rocks at times,is very sandy at times,and at ALL times a permanent hard ripple 2 to 6 inches in height !! every few kilometres HUGE tyres with chains attached are placed strategically SO that some buses will ‘hook’ them to the rear of the bus and drag the tyre behind for a short time in order to try and reduce the ripples !! Dust created by vehicles using the road is extreme & can reduce visibility for following vehicles to zero !! Most drivers are courteous when approaching and will slow down to limit the amount of dust thrown up Sadly there is always the odd hoon !
Bungle Bungle Bee Hives
The drive out to the Bungles was 54 Km drive ona track that can only be used by 4 WD Once in the Bungle district the scenery was brilliant The Temp reached 38 apparently here in Warmun was the hottest in WA All fears of the heat vanished when sighting these magnificent structures The orange & black horizontal layers give the impression of giant beehives.The other travellers were great company Bruce the Driver and guide was very funny with his humorous anecdotes & jokes Since i was a lad at Gramme school I have wanted to see this incredible structure Today that dream was realized and is even better than I imagined Fantastic day began at 5.30am and ended 7.30PM A well worth trip highly recommended more action pics to follow These a quick upload
Onwards towards Turkey Creek
arrived in Halls Creek,a very small town with a large swimming pool (that is actually closed cos its winter 30%C today) Population largely aboriginal.We are camped on a sit that is mainly red dust!!and due to the heat had the Aircon on all night (Thankful for modern inventions !!)We have booked for a tour around the Bungle Bungles and I have dreamed for years of doing this .Naturally there will be lots of photos & on this Australian Election Day (voting is compulsory) we will have an early night due to our 5 am tour start tomorrow (Sunday)
Casual Day by the Riverside at Mary River
Annie up early today and May from next door gave us a knock at 7.30 to remind us to “store” stuff away because early leavers are sometimes NOT to be trusted Methinks he must have had a bad experience !!All equipment intact tho & NO problems Max & his lovely wife Val departed around 9 am Gave us lots of useful information 0n what to do & where to go for cheap overnights. We moved the Bus next to the very scenic river bed & almost immediately a large white Cockatoo started following Annie. She went to bus for bread and the Parrot followed just like a pet dog !! Our new next door neighbour hail originally from Germany & she is travelling in her 1600cc motor with her dog !! Its nice n HOT now with a lovely river breeze cooling us off, Lazy day by the river today Annie went down to he river to fetch a pail of water (seems Ive heard that somewhere before?) and was confronted by a crocodile !! Fortunately the croc is OK !! nothing day but things still happen Tomorrow we head to Halls Creek
Mary River ‘twixt Fitzroy Crossing & Halls Creek
Annie drove from FC and we stopped overnight at Mary River (a freebie) The site is very picturesque and a very friendly nomad of 10yrsgave us a complete camping site list from here to Adelaide We were sat out in the sun when a HUGE bull came & chomped the grass beside us !! he was followed eventually by a few more & they simply passed by without a care !!We are parked up by a large river (almost dried up waiting for the heavy rains around November) Their are a few minor problems with the Bus Hopefully will be resolved in Darwin (under warranty) The satellite is playing up and we are resorting to our Bali DVD collection !!! SO? Tonight I will ava few Bicardi n Cokes and all will then be OK (Im surprised Annie hasn’t slashed her wrists yet putting up with me for so long !! after 5 weeks on the road) Bloke next door (Max) kindly hooked up his Satellite dish tested ours. It seems we have a “dud” set box !! will have to wait till we get to Katherine to utilize the warranty !! All in all not a bad day !!! At least the stars put on great show
Jandamarra the Aboriginal story
In the late 1800s a young aboriginal a brought up by white settlers & he befriended a white Australian police officer He eventually turned into a renegade & killed his policeman friend retreating to the creeks His story has been made into a movie due for Australian release Nov 2010 The star of the Movie was in the pub tonight and we became good friends.The other lad in the picture is his brother Leighton & they were terrific company just wish they weren’t AFL fanatics !! We had such a good night pity we are leaving tomorrow & a spectal thanks to the bar staff who are also very friendly !!!
me.. Leighton and Jandamarra
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 