Elliott

Elliott is About 200kms north of The Three ways, we heard about a free camp 11kms in, was told the road was a bit ruff and sandy in places, throught that we would try our luck and drive carefully and if to rough we could always turn back and head out. As the track was so bumpy I ended up standing up down the back in the motorhome and holding the TV and fan hoping they did not vibrate off the walls, I keep telling Warren it better be worth it the drive in.  Well we made it in and wow what a view, and the bird life. Ended up staying 4 nights at Longreach waterhole is which is 17kms long and about 1/2 k wide with enormous amounts of different bird life, a real oasis in the middle of nowhere.

We would sit out side all day with other campers just watching well over 2000 Pelicans in a line and hearding up the fish each dumping their held sunder then coming up for air in unison. What a show they put on so not a lot of houses work done those days as plenty going on out side. We where told about a fishing comp on the next weekend, can't understand why they would have one, as all the pelicans where having a great time fishing. Warren put his rod out, still had the bait on after been in all day so he gave up and left the fishing to the birds.

Lake Argyle 28th July 2014

We booked into the very busy lake Argyle caravan park and also booked into the sunset cruise with Greg the owner operator and prepared for the 2:30 pm cruise on the lake. Lake Argyle is Australia's largest waterway and is classed as an inland sea covering 1000 square kilometres or around 5 times the water of Sydney harbour. According to our Greg our cruise skipper there are around 25000 fresh water crocodiles in the lake and during the cruise we saw numerous although that didn't deter the ladies from having a swim in the lake. The cruise was very enjoyable and the host was very experienced and knowledgable and we all really enjoyed the afternoon on the lake. We arrived back at the caravan park around 6:30 just in time for happy hour.

The lake argyle dam is made of natural rock and clay from the area and at the base is 300 metres wide and really a marvel of engineering back in 1971. The length of the lake from end to end is 120 kilometres.

One of the best features of the caravan park is the infinity pool which is bloody cold but really refreshing so we all had a swim and a refresh in there. 

Andy and Warren went fishing early the next morning, Shelley and myself went for a early morning swim, oh my goodness was like jumping into a bucket of ice water.Andy and Warren arrived back and we packed up and drove the motorhomes down to the spillway where we had a fish for a while without any luck but saw a large salt water crocodile. The hydro power station has three turbines with only two running while we were there but the force of the water coming out of the turbines was terrifying to say the least.

Kununurra 24th-27th July 2014

Wyndham. Population 1000 hardy soles. Temperatures min, 12-27 and max 31-45 degrees. looking around Wyndham and from the lookout we could see the five rivers running into the bay they are the Ord,Forest,King,Durack and Pentecost. Also of interest on the way out of Wyndham we went into the Grotto gorge where we traversed 140 steps down a natural rock face into a deep rock pool. The pool is allegedly 300 feet deep and according to the other three was very cool and refreshing to swim in. We also visited the prison boab tree where in the 1800 the whites used to keep the young male aboriginals locked in the tree as a lever to be able to move the rest of the tribal family out of the way of the white settlers. The prison tree is still standing strong a defiant today and it is allegedly 2000 years old.

Kununurra

   Population 6000. Temperatures min,15-25 and max 30-45. 

We arrived in Kununurra and booked into the lakeside caravan park and set up camp right next to the lake where apparently a rogue salt water crocodile had somehow got into the the dam and the rangers were trying to catch it while we were there. A really nice spot which gave us a chance to stock up on groceries and other supplies before heading into lake Argyle and then heading further east to Katherine.

Kununurra was established in 1960 to service the ord river scheme. The ord river was dammed in 1971 for a storage reservoir supplying water to one of Australia's largest and most ambitious irrigation schems "Argyle Downs", a one million acre cattle station, was flooded to create a vast and beautiful lake, the biggest man-made lake in Australia. Prospecting and mining have been important to the development of the region and in 1979 diamonds were discovered near Lake Argyle.Andy,Shelley,Warren ans I went and check out the Hoochery, family owned and operated distillery, the oldest legal still in Western Australia located 15km from Kununurra producing a variety of products such as Ord River rum,cane Royale Liqueur and Aquardiente (an Australia Ouze) plus more, Andy,  Shelley & myself payed $5 for 3 sample taste glasses, did I like the rum, I would say give me Bundy any day. On our way back to camp, called into the sandalwood factory, love the smell of sandalwood. Next stop Lake Argyle

Broome 17th-18th July 2014

Broome population 16,321

Climate 

Max temperature 26-34

Min temperature 14-26

Annual Rainfall 575mm

William Dampier was the first European to visit the shores in 1866 and Roebuck Bay was named after his ship,H.M.S.Roebuck. However it wasn't until the 21st November 1883, almost 200 years later,that Broome was gazetted as a town and named in honour of then Governor of Western Australia. Sir Frederick Napier Broome. The discovery of the 'Pinctade Maxima' the largest pearl shell in the world, in the waters off Roebuck Bay, led to the establishment of Broome's pearling industry

In the first decade of the twentieth century Broome produced 80% of the world's Mother of pearl shell. The Lugger fleet peaked in 1913 with 403 registered vessels.

The development of the plastic button in the 1950s sealed the fate of the Mother of pearl shell industry.

With the advent of the cultured peal by the 1970s a Broome was producing 60% to 70% of the worlds largest cultured pearl. We walked out onto the Jetty which is so high up from the water it is unbelievable but them you find out Broome gets the worlds second highest tides then you soon see why the jetty is so high up (highest tides 10m) After we had walked out to the  jetty, we then went onto the boat ramp, and found my boat, don't need a trailer, as the has its own wheels We stayed two nights at the pistol club as it was the cheapest option for us at $28 per night with your own red dust to walk through on the way to showers and toilets. In Chinatown we discovered a hidden gem the worlds oldest operating picture theatre which started its life In 1913 when a master pearler Ted Hunter purchased a building and started the picture garden, know today as the world oldest picture garden and still in operating. After walking around China Town, we then headed off to see Cable Beach that everyone talks about, a bit of a let down, place was full of backpack singing and smoking weed, so that was a short visit. Well that's our adventure in Broome. That's all  folks unti next time. 

Cape Keraudren 10th-13th July 2014

We turned off at the Pardo roadhouse and headed into the Cape Kerdaudren camping site on the ocean front, found a nice spot and setup our campsite looking out at the massive inlet that had no water in it at all when we arrived. Amazingly at high tide there was 8 metres of water covering the inlet so we set about fishing off the rocks near the picnic tables and where the free wifi was and caught several pan sized trevally and bream. Min catching more than me but that's a comment for another time. Our travelling friends from Nelson were camped 2 k down the beach from us so each day we would have turn about walking to each other's camp for a cuppa. A very enjoyable camp site one of many along WA,s amazing west coast. On the way into the campsite there was a mudflat gold course that I decided to have a play at. Rather funny really with several old irons in a bag and a bucket with a number of old golf balls in it for those that what to have a go. The pins were a lot larger than the usual and were in facy 40cm in diameter so they game rules were, pick one club and ball and play using the one club so a lot of fun and my first hit for 2014.