Day 110 The Lake at Ellendale – Geikie Gorge - Fitzroy Crossing 19th July - 20th July

We got our first experience of a Kimberley gorge with a journey to Geikie Gorge. The national park runs terrific one hour boat trips down the gorge. With a very funny and informative guide, we got a view of the gorge up close with its imposing walls from the water. We also got our first glimpses of freshwater crocodiles as they lined up motionless on the river banks, basking in the sunlight.

We took the road back to Fitzroy Crossing and camped at the large Fitzroy River Lodge caravan park for the night. It's had a bit of a resort feel to it, with a restaurant and hundreds of caravans lined up. Tomorrow we would tackle the repair.

We met a couple at the campground from Exmouth – Dave & Jan – whom we spent the evening with. Dave brought out his guitar and sang a few songs and tried to teach me the Travis Pick Pattern. He'd only been playing for 18 months but held a great tune. He tried to teach me some music theory which unfortunately went in one ear and out the other! Ah well!

Kapok Bush

Lunch at Geikie Gorge

Looks like a US President! Guess which one!

 Geikie Gorge

What a cute turtle

We took a trip to Fitzroy Crossing for supplies and to view the old crossing. Its a little bit of a depressing looking town, with what appears little to do for the locals. We then headed out to Leopold Downs Rd, a badly corrugated road that joins the Northern Highway and the Gibb River Rd. As Robyn let the tyres down, she noticed a hub cap missing on the camper-trailer. We had two spares, so I tried to put one on but they didn't fit! So it was bush repair time, and after some consultation from a passer-by I jerried up a temporary cap with an old coke bottle and gaffa tape. God bless Gaffa Tape!

Bush repairs with Gaffa Tape!

Day 109 Broome – The Lake at Ellendale 18h July - 19th July

Packing up in the mornings remains one of life's great challenges. We watched caravans pull out and then other camper-trailers, but try as we might it still took us ages to pull out of the Pistol Club's overflow caravan site.

We had to stock up on more supplies – gas, fuel and grog – as it get a little more difficult and expensive to get these items up in the Kimberleys, with dry areas in some communities - heaven forbid!

We tried to make some distance today and travelled eastwards bypassing Derby and taking the Northern Highway, a bitumen road which is part of the Savannah Way, connecting Broome in the west to Cairns in the East.

We got as far at the Lake at the Ellendale property, a lovely free campsite,. There, surrounded by gum trees and a small lake we camped in a spacious spot and set up. The kids gathered firewood and we set up a campfire for the night.

Strange signs at rest stops

Run off the road by big trucks

Day 106 – 108 Dampier Peninsula – Broome 15th July - 18th July

It was back to Broome to get the winch control box fixed. I dropped off the family at the Pistol Club campground while I waited at ARB all afternoon for them to fix it. It turned out that the wrong part had been delivered – so the capable ARB team in Broome welded up a new bracket which is probably a stronger solution to the problem. Its a shame that other ARB stores hadn't simply fixed this properly in the first place.

As it had been a miserable day for all – for me a very boring stay at the ARB store – and for Robyn and the kids, hanging around the camp-ground – I picked up pizza and DVDs to watch. I got back to the camp-ground and found the camper-trailer all set up. Robyn and the kids had done a terrific job setting it all up by themselves. It was a very special surprise and I was very proud of all of them and I think they were all chuffed with themselves too.

We also were greeted by our traveling friends – Gary and Sue and we had a couple of drinks to relax with them. Gary was generous with the beer and bought over chocs too! The next day, we all went off to see the final Harry Potter film at the cinema. We went with Gary and Sue and all sat there munching popcorn and eating ice-cream.

Chris & Fran, Sue & Gary

As we were in time for the Staircase to the Moon – we went to Town Beach to see if we could catch a glimpse. Cloud cover meant that we only saw a partial view, which was better than nothing! The Broome night markets were on, so it wasn't a complete loss as Robyn bought herself a snazzy pendant.

Nick and I went fishing on Broome jetty armed between us with seven rods and reels. After four hours there, though very enjoyable we had only managed to catch one fish between us – a good sized bream! Some fellow campers took pity on our family and gave us some garfish - so it was fish and chips for lunch!

There was a large protest/concert on Cable Beach to protest against the gas pipeline to be built on the Dampier Peninsula. There were huge crowds and good music being played by a live band from a catamaran offshore. Where else would you get that!

We said goodbye to Nick and Brigid and their kids, after watching the sunset again at cable beach and a couple of farewell drinks at their caravan park. Their 'holiday' in Broome was just beginning at The Cable Beach Caravan Park.

Sun-set at Cable Beach

It was time to get ready to pack for the next leg of our journey up the Gibb River Road and the Kimerley's. Broome has been a great holiday within a holiday but we are all looking forward to our next adventure.

Packed up and ready to go

Steve & Wendy - thanks for pikelets