The distance between Port Hedland and Broome is about 600km and, not wishing to do this distance in one day, I decided to stop overnight along this leg.Cape Keraudren is about 150km from Port Hedland and near the start of eighty mile beach. It appeared on the map to be a good spot to stop and I was only planning to stay overnight anyway. The sign on the dirt road on the way in indicated there would be a $10 entry plus another $7.50 to camp. This seemed rather steep but I thought I may be able to use my National Park pass to gain me entry but unfortunately this was not the case as it wasn't a national park. The Caretaker at the gate agreed it was expensive for just one night but it was better value if you stayed for longer. I also got a lengthy explanation of all the hidden costs of running a campground. I suspected the biggest costs were really his wages and it didn't explain why other places were not as expensive.

It was late in the day and I just wanted somewhere to stop so I paid the man and went further on to find a spot to camp. It turned out to be quite crowded and I had to search for a while to find a place a little bit away from people with generators. I think the only good aspect of the place was that you could see the ocean. Apart from that it was a desolate, windswept, dusty place with smelly drop toilets and didn't have power or showers. It may be cheaper if you stayed longer but I don't know why anyone would bother to be honest.

That night I had to wire on a plug onto my new solar panel that I had purchased in Port Hedland. I had somehow lost my previous solar panel. I didn't have the old panel permanently attached to the camper but have been storing the panel inside the van and then putting it on top of the van when I was stopped. It was in Port Hedland that when I went to rig up my solar panel, I found that it wasn't in the spot I usually store it. After an unsuccessful search, I discovered the plug from the old solar panel connected to the plug on the car, but there was no wire and solar panel connected to the plug anymore. I therefore came to the sorry conclusion that I must have forgotten about the solar panel on the roof of the camper and driven away. I couldn't imagine the panel would have remained on the roof for very long before blowing off and tearing the wire out of the plug.

I did find a bit better solar panel (a 400mA panel rather than a 250mA) for a good price ($120) but I was very irritated at myself for losing the old panel. I did try ringing the places I had been to previously but nobody had seen a solar panel lying on the side of the road. Rats!

So far this trip I have lost my favourite stubby holder at Monkey Mia, my laundry powder somewhere else and worst of all my solar panel. I really hate losing things. The only thing I've ever wanted to lose in my life was my virginity but that was very hard to lose (and I think I've found my virginity again?)

The next day I dropped into the nearby Pardoo roadhouse to see if I get a gas cylinder refill. They wanted $19 for the 4kg refill and $2.11 for the diesel. I declined to purchase either and continued on up the road. Bloody rip-off roadhouses.

The drive towards Broome I found rather boring. I'm not sure why but it seemed even less interesting than the Nullarbor. The only thing to get my attention was the eagles eating road kill, the occasional roo and some roving cattle on the side of the road.

After nearly nodding off and driving into the bushes a few times, I found a 24 hour road stop (Goldwire roadstop). It was again full of tightarse campground fee evaders (like me) but the spot I found was better than at Cape Keraudren in just about everyway apart from the lack of an ocean view. I didn't hear any generators and there wasn't anyone coming around to collect a fee (which I was greatly pleased by!)

I had heard again that it was difficult to get into the caravan parks in Broome so I rang ahead to book a spot that night. I later heard that the previous year the police were turning away caravans from even entering Broome because it was that busy. The caravan park I wanted to go to said they didn't take bookings but if I turned up early in the morning I might get a site. I therefore got underway at 7.30 in the morning (it was humid and quite a heavy fog was present) and I got to the caravan park in Broome by about 9.30 only to find they were fully booked out. I then rang up my next choice of caravan park and they said they still had some sites available but they also wouldn't take a booking which was a pain. I therefore raced over to cable beach, where this caravan park was, and managed to get a site for 3 nights.

Broome only has a population of about 15000 people but this can double in the winter tourist season so it is relatively busy at this time of year. Broome is far more of a tourist based town than the Pilbara towns I had just been in which were mainly mining and service towns. Broome also has a large airport which brings in the tourist from all over.

Broome started out as a pearling town in about 1883. The town is named after the WA Governor of the day Sir Frederick Broome (I really think Broome should get awarded a tidy town award-the link between broom and tidy would appeal to me). A few years later a telegraph submarine cable linking Australia to Singapore was laid and this came ashore in Broome at Cable beach hence this was how Cable beach got its name.

The pearling industry brought a lot of Japanese as well as Indonesians and people from other nations to the town which is still evident and promoted as a tourist drawcard. There is a Chinatown area and a Johnny Chi lane in town. The buildings all (even the McDonalds I think) seem to have a peculiar style to them. The walls mostly seem to be horizontally laid corrugated iron and the roofs are high pitched gable. I have read somewhere about "...built in the Broome style..." and I guess this refers to the construction style I just mentioned. It looks quite effective when nearly all the buildings are made the same way. But don't go thinking real estate is cheap here! However, it's possibly a bit cheaper (but not much) than the Pilbara mining towns where it's truly ridiculous.

I have heard the refrain from shopkeepers along the lines of "...things are expensive up here you know..." quite a few times in my short time here. I get the feeling that by saying this they somehow then have the excuse to have a big mark-up on nearly everything. Even the newspaper cost $1 more than the marked price?

I did find a second hand book shop (Woody's book exchange) which was good value. The bloke working there turned out to be very chatty and he ended up giving me heaps of information on what to expect on the Gibb river road. He has done a lot of camping along various tracks in the area and was able to give first hand accounts of the various campsites, river crossings etc. He turned out to be much more informative than the information centre lady.

There are some Dinosaur footprints located near Broome at Gantheume Pt., which is also the site of a lighthouse, so I drove out to have a look. I was there at low tide but it was not low enough to reveal the footprints which was a bit of a bummer. There were some concrete casts made from the footprints on higher ground but it just not the same as looking at the actual footprint made by an extinct animal 120 million (apparently) years ago.

Broome is home to Malcolm Douglas whom has made many TV documentaries in Australia and also has a crocodile farm open to tourists in Broome. I went to the farm to do the guided tour as this is when the tour guide (John was his name; Malcolm was busy that day) stirs up the crocodiles a bit so you can get to see them in action. The guide tells some amusing anecdotes along with a lot of crocodile behavioural information. Some of the specimens are huge with one being about 5m length. The crocs are bred for their skins and meat but a lot of the crocodiles arrive at the farm due to them being a threat or nuisance to humans.

I thought the crocodile farm in Broome was good but at first glance it seems run down and a bit ratty. This would be particularly apparent if you had visited the crocodile farm in Darwin (which I have). Malcolm Douglas has another crocodile farm about 15km out of Broome so maybe he is spending money on that facility and is deliberately letting the croc farm in Broome run down?

I really couldn't be bothered cooking that night so I ventured into town for a feed. I was expecting the town to be full of drunken tourists like Cairns and Airlie beach are. I was surprised and disappointed to find the place very quiet and subdued even though there was a state of origin Rugby League match on that night. The only partying going on was by the local Aboriginals whom were lurking around in the streets.

I decided upon some Thai food and got a sad table for one at a Thai restaurant. The restaurant extended onto the street and I amused myself by watching the other patrons doing their best to ignore the loud anti-social behaviour of the Aboriginals going on all around us.

I went for a brisk constitutional after I had eaten my Khai Phad Thai (a tasty chicken dish) and at one point I noticed a car stop in the middle of a round about which I thought odd. After a pause, the passenger window wound down and a camera flash went off before the car drove off. It was then that I noticed they had taken a photo of a couple of Aboriginals whom had flaked out on the side of the road. I guessed it was some tourists getting some happy (sad?) snaps for their holiday album. This got me thinking what do the foreign tourists think of some of our Aboriginals. I imagine it would be easy for people to come to some hasty premature conclusions of a very complex situation?

Cable beach in Broome is a white sandy beach that is very popular with the tourists. It does have surf but it's very small and I didn't think it was enough for me (which is really saying something). There were surfboards for hire on the beach and there were quite a few people paddling around. Cable beach is not renowned for its surf and is much better known for the camel rides on the beach. I saw the camels plodding along a few times but the idea of a ride on one didn't appeal to me for some reason. I also noticed a couple of pearl luggers sailing around with tourists onboard but again the idea didn't really appeal to me. I contented myself to having a swim and watching the sun go down. And it was free to.

The next town on the journey north is Derby, about 230km north of Broome. I was about 50km into the journey when I noticed a bloke hitchhiking. I was in two minds whether to pick him up as I had a lot of junk on the passenger seat which I would have to move. In the end I did pick him up and he was on his way to Derby so it worked out well.

It turned out my hitchhiker, Mick, had broken down some 10km up the track out to Cape Leveque. He had an old bomb Hilux that was normally only used around Cape Leveque to launch boats but he had decided to take it back to Derby and leave it there. Unfortunately the fanbelt broke and the battery therefore wasn't charging. He stopped to fix this problem but when he got going again the clutch died. This shouldn't have been a problem except there are 16 gates along the track which necessitate stopping and starting which is difficult when you don't have a clutch and a half flat battery. He had managed to negotiate a few gates by putting the car in 1st gear low range and getting out of the car, running up to the gate to open it, then running back to the car and driving through the gate. Unfortunately the car went into a pothole on one occasion and stalled. Having a flat battery, the car wouldn't start and there being very little traffic on the road, he couldn't get anyone to help him.

Mick was quite chatty for the remainder of the trip into Derby. I learnt he was a boiler maker working on the Pearl Farm at Cape Leveque. His job was to refurbish a fleet of old boats that were used to go out to sea and lift up and clean and maintain the oyster lines. The oyster lines are lines upon which oysters are attached which are set at various depths in the ocean. I found out they culture the oyster by inserting something organic (often a piece of oyster meat and shell) which cause the oyster to produce a calcium substance around the inserted object which slowly forms into a pearl. This process would normally take about 2 years for a pearl to grow. The pearls have a high value as does the oyster meat. The shells are also sold off for a good price too.

After dropping Mick off in Derby, I drove off to the caravan park and checked in. Derby is noticeably more ramshackle than Broome. It is also smaller with much less tourists in the place. The sign near the town entrance says it is the "...gateway to the Kimberley and the Gibb river road...". When a town is said to be a gateway, it can often mean it doesn't have much to offer in its own right. Apart from tourism however, Derby is a service town for the surrounding cattle stations and the odd mining operations. Zinc and Lead are exported from Derby via the town wharf. The massive tides in the area (up to 12metres!) mean the loading operations are carried out via a barge at high tide at the wharf. This barge then heads out to sea, before the tide gets too low, and moors alongside the ship at anchor and unloads the cargo onto the ship.

I was listening to a talk back radio and show and the talk was about what people thought the boundary of the Kimberley is. The topic also covered whether or not the district is actually called the Kimberley or the Kimberleys. Some "expert" called in and said the district of the Kimberly (without the "s") was originally gazetted in 1880 and was to include the area from the 19th parallel (which includes Broome) and up to the border. The Kimberley is named after the first Earl of Kimberly, whom was the Secretary of state for the colonies.

The Curtin airbase is close to Derby. I understand Curtin is a "bare base" where there is no squadron permanently attached but is in a strategic location for the protection of the continent. There is normally only a skeleton caretaker staff at Curtin. It was also recently the location of one of little Johnny Howards refugee detention centres.

Derby gone bombed by the Japanese in WWII so the Japanese must have thought it had some value. No one was killed in Derby but Broome got bombed and I believe 70 odd people got killed there.

Derby has some magnificent Boab trees growing. They are native to the area (a sign I read said they arrived by sea from Madagascar about 190 million years ago) and are growing everywhere. They are certainly very eye catching and different and I've never seen them growing down south. A Boab tree on the outskirts of town has a hollowed out base and was used as a temporary Aboriginal prisoner lockup and is now a tourist attraction. Derby is said to have a Tropical Savannah climate which I gather means hot so I guess these Boab trees like it hot. I know it was getting warm in my camper with the thermometer reading about 35 degrees. And this is June; it must get pretty interesting in summer.

I rather annoyingly got my second puncture for the journey in Derby. Fortunately the puncture was on my pushbike this time and I was able to repair it myself. Derby being small and flat is a good place to explore on a bike (apart from the heat). However I accidentally managed to run over a thorn giving me a puncture. Hope it doesn't happen again.

I had another night where I really didn't want to cook (I actually don't want to cook every night) so I went for a meal at the Boab inn. The place was very quiet but I did meet up with a threesome from New Zealand whom I had spoken to earlier in the day. I ended up sitting at their table and chewing their ears off as well as my food. I wonder if people are noticing I have spent a lot of time alone and appear to need someone to talk to? During the meal I thought I was making interesting conversation about the differences between NZ and Aus, comparisons between Maoris and Aboriginals and how houses are built in NZ and Aus (e.g. did you know window double glazing is now in the new building code for NZ?). I must have talked to them for about 2 hours but it was only much later on, after I had left, that I had the suspicion that maybe they were only being polite and were glad when I left them alone? Oh well.

Leaving Derby I started on the journey along the Gibb river road. This road was built to bring cattle from the cattle stations to Derby or Wyndham (at the northern end of the road). Prior to the road being built, the cattle were walked through the bush to the ports. That was the era of the drover. Now is the era of the road train driver. The road now is also a popular road for tourists to travel and access the various gorges, pools and waterfalls in the Kimberley.

The road starts off as a bitumen road and then changes to a single strip of bitumen and then to gravel for the majority of it's' length. Punctures, broken windscreens and prangs are fairly common considering the relatively light traffic. Road trains stirring up enormous dust clouds and wandering cattle and roos are hazards but possibly the worst hazard are tourists in four wheel drives driving to fast.

The landscape is quite different and interesting. The distant mountains are generally a reddish colour and this contrasts well with the green and yellow Spinifex grass. The Boab trees and termite mounds are also quite peculiar. Even the cattle look different. They aren't your ordinary dairy cows here but are beef cattle with humped backs, turkey necks (a Dewlap) and quite large ears. I believe they are an African Brahman breed. In fact the country looks a lot what I would imagine the country in Africa looks.

Tunnel creek was the first place I stopped for a look at. This is basically a section of river that runs under a mountain through a tunnel. The river turns into a trickle in the dry season allowing people to walk through the tunnel. It does involve some wading in cold water but was easy going compared to Karijini. It is very dark however and required my Dolphin torch to see into the depths. I took my camera and got a lot of pictures which turned out totally black! I don't think the flash was good enough for the job. There were some interesting stalactites and rock formations to look at. The bats and Aboriginal rock art also added some interest to the place.

After tunnel creek, I backtracked towards the Gibb river road again and went to Winjana gorge campgrounds. I was hoping to get the place to myself but about around 50 other people had the same idea as me including my neighbours from the caravan park in Derby (whom got their ears chewed off by me for about half an hour!).

I had planned to make a dawn start on the walk up Winjana gorge as the early morning light is meant to make the place look special. I did manage to get started at the crack of 9 am; oh well. Winjana gorge is interesting due to the freshwater crocodiles that can be viewed sunning themselves on the banks of the river. I hadn't seen a crocodile in the wild before and have only seen them in captivity. I would have seen about twenty all up and some quite large too. Fortunately they were mostly all on the other side of the river.

Freshwater crocodiles are generally smaller then saltwater (estuarine) crocodiles and more timid of humans. Freshwater crocs have been known to attack humans but this is relatively rare to occur. The saltwater crocodile is a different kettle of fish and is downright aggressive and territorial. They often go for long periods without eating but sometimes kill prey, if they come too close, just because that's the crocs instinctive reaction. Saltwater crocodiles aren't known as great philosophers and have tiny brains and a bad temperament.

Another reason for the early start was so I could also get to Bell gorge and have enough time to do the walk and have a swim. I arrived at Bell gorge at around 2.30 in the afternoon and managed to fit in the Bell gorge walk. It wasn't a particularly long walk but it was over some rough ground. The water was quite pleasant.

The nearest campground to Bell gorge is Silent grove about 10km away. Both Silent grove and Winjana gorge campgrounds are in National parks and have flush toilets and cold showers which was better than I expected. They were both quite cheap too at $10 a night. The Park Ranger collects the camp fee at both campgrounds and both happened to be Aboriginal blokes. It was refreshing to see some content, pleasant and sober Aboriginals for a change (hope that doesn't sound patronising). The Rangers job covers many aspects in these remote areas including policeman, fireman, paramedic (e.g. if someone gets bitten by a snake), land manager, tourist information and guide, mechanic, plumber and garbo. One of the Rangers I was chatting to was telling me the job of collecting the camp fees took up a fair amount of time. I asked if they had tried having a volunteer camp host here in the past and the reply was yes and the Rangers would like to have a camp host here more often to free some of their time up.

The Rangers were working a 10 day shift with four days off. One of the Rangers I spoke to l drove back to Broome (about 500km away) to his wife and kids on his time off. I got the impression he liked getting back to work for some peace and quiet.

The first road house on the Gibb river road is Imintju store which sells Diesel only. I was steeling myself prior to pulling level with the bowser for a $2.50 plus a litre price. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to find the price was $2.19 a litre. I never thought I would be happy to pay $2.19 a litre for fuel!

The store is for the Aboriginal community (Imintju) and passing traffic. I had a brief chat to the lady in the store and she said there were a mob of about 50 in Imintju and a few less in the wet season. Imintju is a dry community with the nearest source of Alcohol probably being Derby about 300km away. Although the store is open to everyone, the adjacent community is a closed community. I personally find the Aboriginal only communities almost racist. I've heard it said a reason for the closed community is to prevent alcohol being smuggled in but I would have thought a black person could smuggle just as good as a white? From what I gather a closed community can also screen off outside scrutiny and end up creating an environment where lawlessness and dysfunctionalism can fester? I have no idea if this applies to Imintju though-I'm white you see, so I'm not allowed in, and I couldn't tell you what the place was like.

The next roadhouse is at Mt Barnett and I was pleased at my decision to fill up at Imintju as the price of Diesel was up to $2.27 a litre. I paid my camp fees ($12.50) at the roadhouse and proceeded up the track to Manning gorge campground. Manning gorge falls were about three quarter of an hour walk from the campground. The first section involved a swim across a swimming hole. Styrofoam fruit boxes were provided so you could keep your clothes and camera dry while you swam pushing the box in front of you.Manning falls were flowing quite well and again the water was a pleasant temperature to swim in.

The road from Mt Barnett to Kalumbaru turnoff was reported to be in worse condition than the preceding section of road. The reports were correct with more corrugations, rocks and sections of road down to one lane due to half the road being very rutted from recent rain. There are numerous creek crossings but all were fairly shallow. From the Kalumbaru turnoff however, the road actually improved for some reason. Drysdale station is 60km north from the Gibb river road and has camping, fuel and a shop. I topped up with fuel ($2.29 now) and headed over to nearby Miners pool campground. This campground has less facilities bit does boast a very pleasant swimming hole beside it. My swim was my shower for the day so I made the most of it.

The road from Drysdale station was reported to gradually decline in condition and sadly the reports were again correct. The corrugations get worse and the road conditions suddenly change without warning. There were "Floodway" signs on the Gibb river road to warn you of an upcoming creek crossing but the signs aren't always in place on the Kalumbaru road. I really didn't want to cross that creek at 60kmph.

The corrugations were starting to take a toll on the poor old camper. At one stage I happened to notice a lashing missing on the camper. When I had stopped, I found one of the eyebolts on the camper had sheared off. A length of chain is shackled to this eyebolt which is in turn shackled to a turnbuckle. This turnbuckle has a hook on one end which hooks onto the cars chassis rail and because it is hooked, rather than shackled, it must have fallen off when the eyebolt sheared. Luckily I had decided a few years ago that I should double up on the camper's forward lashings so I still had one left. Maybe I'll find my lashing on the way out?

Another drama occurred after one of my frequent stops to check for punctures or anything loose or broken. When I went to restart the car, I found I didn't have any electrical power at all. The previous day one of the battery terminals had rattled itself off the battery terminal so I thought this had happened again. However this time the screw in bolt that is used to isolate the battery had disappeared leaving me with an isolated battery. Luckily I had only just replaced the terminal in Karratha and had kept the old terminal which had the same isolating bolt. After screwing the old bolt into the new battery terminal I was away again.

After travelling 100km from Drysdale, the turnoff to Mitchell Plateau is reached. The road deteriorates even further at this point with me averaging only 40kmh for the 85 km to Mitchell falls campground-yep, about 3 hours to do the 85k's.

The King Edward river crossing is relatively deep with the level being at about the top of my wheels. It felt a lot deeper when I was driving through! I stopped to let the car cool down a bit before I dumped it in cold water. I have read doing this to be a good idea for a number of reasons. One reason being that the sudden cooling of the diffs, when going through a river crossing, causes them to contract thus drawing in water through the diff breathers and into the diffs. This is not where I want to have water.

I also took the opportunity to seal off the air filter housing with a piece of duct tape. Toyota have put a little rubber flap on the air filter housing which is meant to let dust out of a dust trap in the housing but not let air in. The rubber flap doesn't stop water getting in though which rather negates me spending the $400 on a bloody snorkel for the car.

This stopped time allowed me to observe some other people do the river crossing. The first character to take it on didn't stop first to check the crossing and I suspect he was alarmed to find out (to late) how deep it was. This first river crosser put the foot down when he was halfway across resulting in a bow wave that came over his bonnet. The second car I observed crossing was much more cautious. He was in low range and slowly but surely went across. He made it look easy even though he was towing a trailer. This gave me some confidence to give the crossing a go which I did without any hiccup.

Just across the river I noticed a track off the main track which I remembered the friendly 2nd hand book seller in Broome telling me led to some Aboriginal rock art. There were indeed some well preserved rock paintings to be found at the end of the track. I found out that night that some one of the styles of painting, known as Bradshaw art, has been determined (by Optically Stimulated Luminescence apparently) to be in the order of 17000 years old. Imagine that; these rocks were painted about 15000 B.C.! That's bloody old.

The surrounding bush on the Plateau has some sections dominated by the Mitchell Plateau Fan Palm or Livistona Eastonii (named after William Easton whom led a state government funded expedition to the Kimberley in 1921). These palms add interest and contrast with the otherwise dominant gumtrees in the area. Apparently the Mitchell plateau got its name from Sir James Mitchell whom was the state Premier at the time of the Easton expedition. The original name of the plateau is Ngauwudu.

Mitchell falls campground was a welcome sight after the narrow rough road. The waterfall is a bit of a hike (around 2 hours return) from the campground but there is a helicopter company based, rather incongruously, adjacent to the campground which offers flights up to the falls and beyond. I had wanted to do this but, being by myself, I had either to find someone else to come with me or pay double the cost (the normal cost was $95 for the 6 minute flight). Walking it both ways was sounding good at that stage.

There being no showers at the campground I headed down to the nearby creek for a paddle. Whilst there I happened to get chatting to a lady whom was also taking a dip. The conversation drifted from the road conditions, tyre brands and air pressures, the river crossing, the walk into Mitchell falls and then onto the Aboriginal rock art. The warm air temperature came up and I happened to mention that it was much more pleasant than back where I live and after I told her I live in Launceston she mentioned her son went to the Maritime College in Launceston. Turns out I've sailed with her sons' partner. Small world isn't it?

The next morning I headed over to the WA Heliworks office to see the lovely Allanah again. She informed me I could indeed fit on a flight at 11.00 Am going into the falls plus a bit of a sightseeing tour. This flight was about 12mins duration and would cost $145. It was a bit out of my budget range but I decided to do it anyway. There were 5 helicopters based at the falls with all but one not having side doors in the rear seat. This was a bit eerie at first with the only thing holding you in being a flimsy lap sash seat beat. It was even more interesting when the helicopter banked during a turn. The rotor down draft and the noise coming in through the open doors added to the experience.

The views over the rivers and gorges were superb. The country is still very remote with relatively little exploration having occurred until fairly recently. One of the falls in the area goes by the name of one of the founder of the Helicopter company (JCB falls).

The helicopter landed at the top of the Mitchell falls from where I spent the afternoon slowly walking back to the campground. There were a couple of pleasant swimming holes and a couple of rock art sites to look at along the trail.

That night when I was looking through the pictures I had taken, I realised I hadn't managed to get an in focus shot of the entire Mitchell falls. I didn't want to leave without getting a good photo so the next morning I walked back in to Mitchell falls and found a good spot to get a photo. The morning walk delayed my departure time so that it was not until 4.00pm when I had driven the Mitchell plateau track and crossed King Edward River. I had wanted to stay at Drysdale station that night but that was another 100km away and would be dark before I got there so I opted to stay at King Edward River instead. I swear the trip along the Mitchell Plateau road seemed even rougher than on the way in with my speed being around 20kmph on many occasions.

I managed to find a camp spot that only had one other camper present. After apologising for ruining their solitude for the night, I ended up chewing their ears off too for about half an hour. I'm surprised they didn't pack up and go straight away. My neighbours did end up leaving very early the next day, possibly trying to avoid me talking to them again. I did have another visitor that morning in the form of a large bull. I said "hello" to him and he bellowed back at me, and then he left too.

About 120km down the road and 20km past Drysdale homestead, I came upon a Landcruiser that was wrapped around a tree. I had spoken to some people whom two days earlier had stopped at an accident and picked up the two occupants from the car and taken them to Drysdale station. I presumed this car was the car they were talking about as all the personal belongings were still in or scattered about the car still. When I first pulled up there were several other cars stopped and having a look at the damage so I wonder how long the car will last before being looted? What a way for your holiday to end up.

That night's stop was at a place called Ellenbrae back on the Gibb river road. The homestead and campgrounds are quite lush and sit on a small creek. I really liked the shower set up. It all appeared to be put together from bits of scrap from the property which certainly gave it a uniqueness. The water came from the creek and was heated by lighting a small fire in the "donkey" (water heater). It was great to have a hot shower for the first time in a week.

The road from Ellenbrae got worse again with more off the dreaded corrugations and rocks. The Pentecost river crossing is an interesting sight with the Durack mountain range in the background. The river crossing is not so deep (about half wheel height) but is very long at around 100m I guess. I again waited for the car to cool down a bit and took the opportunity to have lunch. While I was waiting, a road train turned up and went across the river which made an interesting sight.

About 15km from the Pentecost river crossing is the turn off for El Questro Wilderness Park. I had pulled up to look at the sign when I noticed the rear right tyre looked a bit flat. After checking with the tyre gauge I found it was down to 20psi and I could hear air leaking fro the tyre. After changing tyres I was gladdened to find the puncture was in the tread of the tyre this time and not the side wall. At El Questro I was able to get the tyre plugged for $20 which is much better than $290 for a new tyre. Hopefully it won't go flat on me again.

I had been meaning to rotate the tires front to back as I noticed the rear tyres have worn considerably more than the front. I took the opportunity to put the repaired tyre on the front of the car and the old front on the rear. I therefore ended up doing 3 wheel changes in a day.

Of much greater concern and dread was my discovery of oil on the outside of the drum. This oil has most likely come from the diff and has leaked through the wheel bearing oil seal, through the bearing, through the inside of the drum and made its way through the wheel stud holes onto the outside of the drum. The wheel bearings on my car have caused me some grief and the story goes back to last July before I left on my first trip on the East coast of Australia. Before I left Tassie I had the expert mechanic, whom had a Hilux too and had been to Cape York, to check out my car. He informed me that the wheel bearings in the Hilux can be a prone to failure on the rough roads and suggested I change them now. The car had done over 100 000km so I thought it would be a good idea to eliminate having any problems out on the road by changing them now. This job was done and cost around $600 to do.

Unfortunately in October of last year though, when I left Cooktown after completing Cape York, I started noticing some rumbling noised that sounded suspiciously like a wheel bearing failing. After limping into Cairns and visiting a mechanic, the verdict came in that it was indeed a wheel bearing and the mechanics advice was to replace both rear wheel bearings. This job got done and I had to part with another $500. I also had my $1200 pushbike stolen in Cairns so all in all I didn't have a pleasant stay in Cairns really.

In March of this year I noticed oil in the same place as now except on the left side rear wheel drum. This ended up being a wheel bearing seal. Too rectify the seal though involves removing the axle first, before the seal can be accessed and replaced, and the bearing is usually replaced after going through all that effort. The upshot of all this was another $300 bill.

You can understand my dismay then, after spending about $1400 on these rotten wheel bearings in under a year, I'm still having problems. Particularly given the fact I have been trying to nurse the car along and the problems I'm having shouldn't really be happening. I imagine many cars go through their lives without the wheel bearings being touched at all? Just too top things off, all this stress gave me a rather severe headache. I guess it was better than having a large tree embedded in my car bonnet though.

El Questro turned out to be a good spot; I had seen El Questro featured on a travel show a few years ago and have wanted to visit ever since. El Questro has several accommodation types on offer from luxury to the campground (my level). I have heard El Questro referred to as "El Chequebook" however I didn't find things to be overly expensive compared to other tourist places in the Kimberley. There is a $15 entrance fee on top of the $15 per person per night campground fee which is a cost other places don't have. The entrance fee is to pay for the upkeep of the roads that get washed out every year during the wet season (El Questro is closed during the wet season due to the road being closed during the wet season). After driving on the "roads" around El Questro I felt they should be paying me to drive on them.

Roads and fees aside, there are some very nice gorges to visit in the area. Zebedee springs was quite crowded when I got there but I managed to find a spot for myself and sat in the thermal spring for about an hour. Very pleasant. I then drove out to El Questro gorge and walked up the gorge to a bit over the halfway point. The gorge consists of a rocky bottom with clear pools dotted along its length. The gorge is surprisingly lush with ferns and other plants growing everywhere. The Fan palms can grow quite tall in the gorge and look quite spectacular. The water was cooler but crystal clear and I managed to find a pool all to myself to wallow in for a while. The walk gets quite difficult the further you go and I wasn't inclined to continue on so I called it a day.

There were other sights and activities at El Questro such as fishing in Chamberlain gorge, horse riding, four-wheel driving and helicopter flights to name a few. These involved putting your hand deep in your pocket which I'm not inclined to do at the best of times.

I did drop into Emma gorge after having 2 nights at El Questro and walked up the gorge and had a swim in the pool. Emma gorge has a separate accommodation area, and is quite upmarket I believe, but is part of the El Questro wilderness park. The pool would have to be one of the better looking pools along the Gibb river road although it is quite cold. There is a warm spring in one corner of the pool which takes the edge off the cold water.

After Emma gorge there was only another 20 km or so to the end of the Gibb river road. I must say the drive and the sights along the Gibb river road has been very enjoyable and worthwhile doing. I think I enjoyed it more than the Cape York trip due mainly to all the swimming spots along the Gibb river road whereas the crocodiles seem to prevent much swimming at Cape York. Even though I got a puncture here, and none up to Cape York, I still found some sections of the road up to Cape York worse than here. Although there wouldn't be much in it.

I took the turnoff to Kununurra and then found a roadside rest area to do a service on the car. I was again overdue for an engine oil change and Caravan parks often frown upon vehicle repairs being done in their parks ( but they let bloody children into their parks!) so a roadside camp seemed a good alternative to do some car maintenance. I didn't find any sign of anymore oil on the brake drum this time which I was very glad about.

I arrived reasonably early into Kununurra, but not early enough to get into the caravan park I wanted to stay at. Things are rather busy at this time of year it would seem. I spent the remainder of the day restocking my food supplies and getting some replacement spares for the car and camper. I purchased some more diff oil and a bearing kit so when the bearing fails, at the most inconvenient time possible no doubt, I will at least have the parts ready.

Kununurra was built in the '60's as the administrative centre for the Ord river irrigation scheme and the large Lake Argyle. When you enter Kununurra from the south, the road crosses over a dam wall (the diversion dam) for Lake Kununurra which seems an odd site sight to see so much water in an otherwise dry place. Kununurra is close (about 35km) to the NT-WA border and the closest major city being Darwin at 855km away. Being so far east also means the return to early, pain in the butt, sunsets (about 5pm). Kununurra is also near the Argyle diamond mine which apparently is the largest diamond mine in the world?

I did find Kununurra more pleasant than I really expected. With all the stored water around, the place is quite lush and is a bit of an Oasis really. The town seemed neater than both Broome and Derby with a very nice council pool plus I found a good coffee shop/bookshop in town.

Kununurra is also as far north as I had planned to go. The temptation to stay to the end of winter is strong as the weather here is very liveable and pleasant, at this time of year, and the weather is so nasty and cold in the south of the country. Unfortunately though, my empty wallet will require me to start heading south and east on the long trip back home. There is some remote country ahead so the frequency of these blogs may decrease due to lack of mobile phone range (and my impending depression!). We'll see how it goes. Cheers!