The next morning we woke up at what we thought was 5:45 but time zones during daylight savings time get very confusing. Tasmania, Victoria, and NSW all have the same time zone on the east coast, but Queensland is one hour behind as they don't do daylight savings. Adelaide is a half hour behind Victoria and Co, while Northern Territory is a half hour behind Queensland (or an hour and a half behind Adelaide), also not using daylight savings. Once you get in to WA, even though it's a huge territory they don't do daylight savings either and it's an extra hour and a half behind NT or 3 hours behind the east coast, or 2 hours behind Queensland. Tasmania also starts daylights savings a month before the rest of them. Confused yet? Yeah, so were we. When we woke up at what we thought was 5:45 we were surprised that it was actually light outside with the sun coming up over the horizon about 30 minutes later. We hit the road at what we thought was a decent hour, listening to the radio who told us that it was actually a whole hour back than what we thought. So we actually woke up at 4:45 a.m with the sun rising around 5:30. Geeze--for people who get up at noon they really do sleep for half the day since the sun sets at 6:00! So, we made really good time to our first destination called Mirima or Hidden Valley National park. It's a smaller and 2WD-accessible version of a more popular national park near the Kimberley called Purnululu. It's once again a huge collection of the dome-shaped rocks that we found in Kings Canyon and Alice Springs. It was a short, nice walk and cloudy for probably the first time since leaving Tasmania.
As we continued our drive along the fringe of the Kimberly region (also called the last frontier as it's hundreds of thousands of hectares of complete wilderness--roughly the size of the UK), we noticed a dark cloud slowly building throughout the day. Sometimes it's hard to tell what is cloud and what is bushfire smoke in the outback, but as the sun started to set it just got darker and more ominous. Add that to the fact that we were driving pretty much alone along a stretch of outback highway and you've got the ingredients for a great horror movie. We also passed over the town of Wolfe Creek where the horror movie about a serial-killer who targets backpackers was made. I Wikipedia -searched the real story though, and the movie took substantial liberties about what actually happened--and where. But still, we pulled into a campsite for the night just as the dark cloud was moving closer and closer. That night we anticipated a huge storm bringing the torrential rain that is infamous during the Wet in the northern part of the country, but instead were treated to the most amazing lightening storm I had ever seen.
The heat that radiates during the day just builds and builds, and in the night releases in a spectacular display of lightening across the flat desert plains. No rain, just heaps of wind. It was like watching a giant strobe light with flashes going off simultaneously, one after another, with the occasional lightening bolt streaking across the dark sky. We literally just sat in our camper van and watched, with the show eventually lulling us to sleep as the thunder was infrequent and distant considering the amount of heat. It really was incredible--I had never seen a storm like it. (We made sure to move our van out from under the large trees and into a much more open area).
But, if you're lucky enough to get the calm evening skies, you are treated to some magnificent sunsets in the tropical north:
By morning, the clouds were gone and it was back to sunny blue skies. It was up early to explore the only part of the Kimberley that is accessible by 2-wheel drive: Geike Gorge National Park. It was a nice walk along a riverbank that gave nice views of the gorge and the river that runs through it. Apparently, though, in the rainy season the region has experience some crazy flooding, with the water level rising by up to 25 meters! It was nice and dry for us that day, though. John was lucky enough to spot a freshwater crocodile in the water! (Though it quickly disappeared underneath before we could get a photo).
After our short morning stop, we made good time to our final destination of Broome, a quaint town located thousands of kilometers from anywhere. Along the way we made a quick pit stop at a rest area for lunch that contained an enormous boab tree. These trees are found mainly in this region and can grow up to be several meters across and even more meters around. Check it out for yourself:
There is also a famous tree located a a town not too far from Broome (and by not too far we mean 200Km) called the Boab Prison Tree. During european settlement apparently one of these huge trees was used as a holding cell for aboriginal prisoners before they were transferred to the main prison. Another piece of not-so-great aboriginal history. But still, the tree was awesomely massive!
We pulled into Broome that evening, opting for another powered site at a caravan park located just next to the town beach. Might as well make full use of our awesome $1 camper van for the last night! I was able to do a proper load of laundry which was much needed, and we were able to prepare for our next leg of the journey. Turns out we wouldn't be able to get a relocation deal to Perth, and would actually stay in Broome for a few days. I didn't mind--as I actually thought it was a really beautiful place with wonderful beaches. Plus, with a sunrise like this, you could hardly mind a few days stay:
Yes, I really did take that picture our first morning in Broome, right as we awoke in the caravan park. It was like a scene straight from a postcard.
Unfortunately we had to turn in our nice camper van the next morning, but we traded it up for a nice hostel instead. The place we had stayed in Alice Springs was kind of a dump, but it was cheap so we put up with it. We had heard that Broome can be quite expensive since it's so far from anywhere, but luckily we arrived after peak season so the prices started to decrease and we were able to get a bed in an air-conditioned dorm for $24 each--which is actually quite cheap for Australia. But the place we stayed was actually a more upscale hostel, or a cheap motel. They had a big, CLEAN kitchen, free breakfast, a bar with cheap meals and drinks ($5 for a beer--unheard of!), double rooms with en-suite bathrooms, a pool, and clean dorm rooms which we elected to stay in. So it was actually a really nice place and the only people in our room were another British couple and thank goodness the guy didn't snore!
But yes, Broome was one of my favorite stops in our Outback trip. It started when we dropped off our camper van and we were chatting with the guy about how to get to town, as it was quite hot and there was a brochure at the depot for a local micro brewery called Matso's with some really interesting sounding beers. He told us the directions and we started the 20-30 minute walk. About 10 minutes in, the guy pulls up next to us in his car saying he is headed on his lunch break in the same direction and offers to drop us off. Nice guy--and he's native Australian! So we graciously accept the offer and he drops us off right at the brewery where we enjoy a delicious sample of beers including: Mango Beer, Ginger Beer, Chili Beer (John's favorite), and a really nice Pale Ale and Dark Ale. With our bellies full we make the walk to the information center where we can catch the local bus that drops us at our accommodation. After a nice afternoon swim, a hot shower, and some internet access, we were able to sleep in a real bed (with AC!)
Our few days in Broome were nice and relaxing. We were able to catch up on e-mails, blogs, trip planning, and luckily we were able to follow the election! In between relaxing in our room and enjoying the pool, we also made a few jaunts to the local beach, Cable Beach, as it's considered one of the best beaches in Australia--if not in the world. Indeed, the second night we made the walk out there to enjoy the sunset over the Indian Ocean.
Our last full day in Broome also coincided with the US elections. We followed the online action throughout the early morning on the NY Times and were very happy with the outcome. At least we may actually come home in April! To celebrate the occasion, we made the 6-Km return walk along the beach to an area called Gantheaume Point where, if you are lucky, you can spot 120 million-year-old dinosaur footprints at low tide! Unfortunately, the tide wasn't low enough during our stay for us to view the actual ones as they are often covered by the ocean, but at the top of the cliff they have a cast of the prints so that everyone can see what they look like. The region is actually well known for having dinosaur footprints of various species dotted all the way up the coastline--this particular one of the Megalosaurpod variety that they suspect is from the Late Jurassic period. Cue John doing his best impression of a T-Rex:
So yes, Broome was good to us. Beautiful beaches, an Obama victory, and enjoying the beauty of the red sands of Australia with the brilliant blue of the Indian Ocean. We headed back along the beach in the sunset, once again a fantastic sight:
Arriving at the backpackers, we enjoyed a cheap barbecue put on by the hostel that included a free beer or wine! Great way to end the day.
As we didn't get a relocation vehicle for the final leg of the trip, I managed to find a cheap one-way rental to Perth from AVIS in a mid-sized hatchback. We bought a cheap 2-person tent from Coles, filled up the solar shower, stocked up on our usual fruit, granola, and PBJs (no cooking utensils again) and headed out to make our last long journey along the wild West Coast!
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