After a lovely hiatus in a beautiful oasis, it was time to move on again. We left Kununurra and headed for Wyndham, which was a little out of the way, but we had not seen it last time. We were told it had a lookout called the 5 Rivers Lookout, where 5 rivers opened out to the sea. This was a must-do, so we must do it.

The drive to Wyndham was easy, but the drive to the lookout was something else. The sign said 3.7 kms winding road. They didn't tell us it was 3.7 kms straight up. The road was so steep we were in first gear all the way, and struggling. And the way was narrow, with tight curves, so once you started you had to keep going. But the views from the top were superb.

After this we started heading south towards Hall's Creek. The way here was windy and had some ups and downs (although nothing compared to Wyndham.) Rather than the ranges we had seen around Alice, which mostly ran in straight horizontal lines, the landscape here was pock marked with random ridges and rock formations every which way. It was like the land was a pot of boiling water, bubbling away, which froze solid instantaneously.

The other thing we noticed here was the termite mounds were becoming lumpy and globular, not tall and elegant like we had seen before. George thought they looked like poops of giant camels.

The third thing on this part of the journey was the stray cows. We had seen signs warning of wandering animals since we left Port Augusta, and had actually come across the occasional cow here and there. On this leg of the journey there were hundreds of them grazing by the roadside. And every now and then, just as we approached, they would decide that the grass was greener on the other side of the road and wander out straight in front of us. We were constantly on the lookout - "Cows!!" - and we would have to slow right down. By the time we got to Hall's Creek we were exhausted, and happy to settle for the night. Whether it was because we were further south or further west and closer to the sea, we found the night was cooler and there was a nice breeze.

That day as we travelled George had felt there may have been a problem with one of the tyres based on how the van was handling. The next morning he did some investigationing and found that one of the front tyres had a weak spot and was bulging. This could have blown at any time. It had to be changed. The problem was we were in Hall's Creek, and it was a Sunday. Everything was shut.

We did have a spare tyre, and George tried to change it but it was too heavy. We rang roadside assistance, and they came and changed it. But now we needed a new tyre to replace it. And everything was shut. There was one tyre shop in town, but they didn't think he would have it. So we decided to push on and try bigger towns along the way. But first, we needed to check the tyre pressure in the spare. But there was only one service station in town, and their air had broken down a few years earlier. The other petrol station had air, but it was shut.

We headed off with trepidation, but found it seemed to be handling well. It was 300 kms to Fitzroy Crossing, the next town. But we found on this leg of the journey the road was straight and flat, and there wasn't a cow in sight. Thank God, made it to Fitzroy Crossing safely. But it was still Sunday and the tyre shops were shut. But at least they had several petrol stations which were all open, and all had air.

So we decided to settle down and relax for the day, and jumped into the pool to cool off. The one thing at Fitzroy Crossing we hadn't seen on our previous travels was Geike Gorge, and we were told you could take a cruise there. We asked the lady at the caravan park, but she told us they had stopped the cruises the week before. However, while in the pool we met another couple who said there was a cruise going that afternoon at 4 pm which they were going on, and if we turned up we could join in.

So we drove to the gorge and jumped on. Now we were a bit gorged out after all the gorges we had seen, but this one was special and worth seeing - from the stark contrast of the white rocks below, and the black and red ones above, to the sharp edges and patterns that had been etched into the rocks by the waters over the years. There was also a very interesting running commentary by the skipper all the way about flora and fauna, and the various traditional aboriginal customs. Overall, the day ended much better than it had started.

The next day we had to decide whether to wait in Fitzroy Crossing until 9 am to check if they had our tyre, or move on to Derby. Although it was certainly bigger than Hall's Creek, it was still quite small. We didn't like our chances. So we pushed on another 250 kms to Derby - and first and foremost delivered the six boxes of mangoes we had been carrying.

Derby had two tyre places, and we checked them both, but neither had the right size. They said they could order them for us, but it would take a few days. We considered staying in Derby a few days - but we didn't consider it for long. It was quickly decided to move on to Broome. We had come this far without a decent spare. Surely we could last another 200 kms.

GeorgeY's Bit

Wyndham lookout is a special place to see the 5 rivers meet. As you gain altitude make sure to scan the air space for flight path of large commercial aeroplanes.

Hall's Creek is a good place to start an air service business. No need for aeroplanes here, just a compressor and a pressure gauge. The local council should put a road sign saying next tyre pressure check 330km each way.