We left Katherine to go to Katherine Gorge, just 30 km down the road. It was overcast but dry! The guy at the info centre told us there was a lot of water in the river so the ususal boat trips didn't go, only some speedboats and you really had to have a good stomach as it would be bumpy on the rapids. We decided to follow a track with would go around, half way there we couldn't go any further as it was flooded. Other tracks were flooded too. It was a short visit.
Back to Katherine, i had been reading about these wonderful hot water pools..........we found them..........CLOSED, due to flooding.
Up the road towards Darwin. On the right a national park with falls: 'closed, due to flooding'. Left hand side too: closed, due to flooding.
Then to Darwin, found a nice caravan park, had a swim in the pool and did a wash.
Katherine full of groups of Abos; a disgrace to their race. At 8am drunk and still drinking. Women too and they all look so filthy.
We left at 6 am and were prepared for the worst.. but is was not too bad at all. Kunamurra is much nicer as what i had expected, it looks clean and even the houses look nice. We drove on, crocodile country with lots of water alongside the roads but not too much on it! WE decided to do the long haul all the way to Katherine. It started raining again in the the last 10km but not too worry, we made it and had red rooster for dinner. Now at a camping with our own toilet and shower....yeah luxury...............
Got up early, people next to us had already left in their little blue comby. The first part went ok but the car was having a rattle in it, not sure what it was. Closer to Fitzroy Crossing we discovered the Flood Ways. There has been a lot of rain here due to cyclone Lua and today was no different. Our little duck doesn't like driving through water; the motor switches off when it gets wet so we were very careful.... In Fitzroy i had enough of the noisy car and said i wanted to find a mechanic but all i could see were pretty sad abos again, hanging around trees, sitting down, lying on the grass. Anyway found a mechanic: some thing needed the bolt tightened................$50 thank you, at least he was quiet from then on. On the road again..............quickly as the waters were rising and we might not get through. The first hurdle was a long on...........a long stretch of the highway under water, some maori fella who came towards us said we would be just fine, just take it easy. Well we did, very slowly and we made it. After that a couple of more times of very carefull driving but then........a deeper road with pretty fast flowing water. I must admit i was scared. We decided to take the risk, Got to the middle where the water was flowing the fastest and then the motor just about stopped. I grabbed my phone and money and decided to jump out but Martijn told me to sit still and be quiet. Tell ya what, i was just about shitting myself. He got the car going again, very very slowly and we did get out of the water. Halleluja. We finally reached a camping in Halls Creek..tomorrow further and from what i hear, it's gonna be another life threatening trip!
wow, got out of bed nice and early, ready to see the place. .......car won't start!!!! I call the RACQ, after 15 minutes i have the mechanic..........he tried for half an hour but didn't get it started. He calls the towtruck and our little yellow duck gets towed to the garage. Martijn and i go to the 'city', ofcourse it starts to rain so we get soaking wet. Broome isn't much: Abos sitting around everywhere doing fuck-all and staring at us.......very uncomfortable. We go to Maccas and eventually get chucked out (more or less; if looks could kill: you have overstayed your welcome) and we go back to the garage. Car is fixed in the mean time, after $206 - of which $29 parts......
we also need a new tyre so we drive around to get the best deal. We have a look at the famous Cable beach which is supposed to be the most beautifull beach...........NOT!!!!! The water is murcky and there are many rocks............... Queensland , you have so many better beaches!!!!!
we woke up real early as all the cars were leaving at around 4am, it was worse than Kings Cross on a saturday night!. We took the car to the mechanic, it was overheating in about 1 km...... He fixed it and we were on our way, via Port Hedland to Broome... we did try to access a dirtroad to eighty mile beach but the humps and bumps were to many and we decided to save our tyres and car suspension. Nice quiet camping in Broome, tomorrow we'll have a look at the place...
Had another swim in Coral Bay but due to the flies decided to move on to Exmouth............what a hole! Drove further into the national park and found turquoise Bay. The water was inviting but full of jellyfish. We walked over the beach around the corner and we could have a swim there but...no camping allowed so what do you do then.???? You move on. The distances are so big here, next town was some 800 km further: Karratha _ where we are now. The car was overheating the last 40km eventhough we had filled the coolant up to the top. Guess it needs flushing the system as there is some rubbish in it. Well, that's a job for tomorrow. Right now i think i'm gonna close my eyes.
ok, say the dolphins in monkey mia but to be honest, to see AND feed the dolpins in Queensland - tangalooma island is way better. I took off from the 'herd' of tourist and went in the water a bit further and guess what, i had a mate: a dolphin that came close enough to me. Now that was special! After this adventure back to Denham but....the caravan parks look shitty, there is no beach, just rock and those flies............... One look at Martijn and i knew what he was thinking: 'outta here', so we drove to the next interesting town: Coral Bay. It's 1 street to the beach. Got a place in a caravan park but again...............those flies. We bought fly nets to put over our heads. Had a swim, which was lovely.
An early start and on the road. through the national park, driving 110kph......Kangaroo on the road with a death wish........ We managed to miss him and he hopped happily along. flies, flies and more flies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway we get to the main road thinking there would be a servo but the first on in 129km further and we are so low alreay!!! We made it by driving 90km Thank Goodness. Again another long way to Denham and Monkey Mia, there are still flies but it's a little bit better but it is so hot!!! Tomorrow, after feeding the dolphins we go to Denham and see what it is like there.
