We are leaving Broome this morning and going through Derby to the Gibb river road. A section of the road had been closed due to bush fires but we found out this morning it was now open. Had we not had camper trouble and headed there after Cape Leveque we may have been in the middle of them so we were lucky I guess.
An expected 42 deg in Derby today so it will be warm when we stop there for lunch! Our car A/C is cutting in and out atm so we could be in for a hot drive.
Got to the Derby info centre and found out that although the road through the Gibb was open, a couple of the camp grounds are shut from fire damage. So we have decided to do the start of the Gibb, head down to Windjana Gorge as planned then onto the Great Northern Highway through Halls Creek. We then can do the eastern end of the Gibb which we were told is the best part.
We drove out to the jetty and enjoyed the hot breeze while having our regular wraps for lunch. It had hit the expected 42 deg.. the servo we fueled up at sold water bottles straight out of the freezer! Lovely icy cold water :) I walked over to the woolies looking for a floaty ring for Archie for Tunnel creek, didn't find one but I bought a box of lemonade icy poles for the kids (and big kids!)
We then headed back out of town to have a look at the prison Boab tree. It was cool to see such an iconic tree. It's where police and aboriginal prisoners used to rest on the way to Derby. The prisoners where chained and had to walk the 20 odd km journey. We didn't stay for long as it was so hot but we did enjoy our icy poles here :)