Our research is suggesting that the Gibb River Road should be fully open by early next week. We have decided that we are going to stick with the original itinerary and see how we go. So tomorrow we head off for Birdwood Downs for a couple of nights and then we are in the thick of it. Today was spent mostly prepping for the trip. We are looking at 3+ weeks off grid and who knows what is available in…
A few admin things this morning including hair cuts for both of us. I am trying to embrace the ‘grey’ nomad lifestyle, but after my cut today I’m not so sure I will last until I go back to work in a couple of months…. We booked a Dinosaur Adventure Cruise for the afternoon. It was run by the husband and wife owners of the company and was extremely informative about all things Broome and nature. We headed out and…
Swag night number 3 for this trip and for a non-camper I am doing ok! Another mild night and we could leave the canvas rolled back and watch the moon-lit night sky. A lovely colourful sunrise this morning and we watched it through the gauze of the swag. Karen put us to shame though, and was out exploring as the sun came up. This shot she took shows both our setups on the ledge. After brekky we started our pack…
We were up and going very early this morning with a list of things to achieve before heading back north to catch up with Karen and Kieran. We were very successful, with a new generator purchased as well as a solar blanket to boost the van solar when the weather isn’t fully sunny. We packed quickly and left the van in Broome ready for another swag night. Once we hit the turn off we were glad we only had the car with…
We were pretty organised this morning and were out of Middle Lagoon by 830. Even with the rain we got on Thursday night we were very impressed with how much the 4wd access road had drained since the drive in – gives us hope for the Gibb. We re-inflated tyres and continued a short way down the road to Beagle Bay, an Aboriginal community where the Mother of Pearl Catholic Church was set up as part of a mission over…
Well after so many days of cloud, wind and (less) rain the sun came out today! The van started collecting those solar rays and the batteries charged merrily away. The campground is so peaceful without the 20 or so generators running all through the day. Last night Bob and I decided to stay at Middle Lagoon for our last paid night tonight as arriving at Broome on a Saturday afternoon wasn’t going to assist with generator purchasing, and after a phone call…
We woke to a great view out of the van. Not surprisingly, it was overcast again. The boys had one last go at pulling our busted generator apart to see if they could find the problem. No luck. I think it is going in the bin so we can fit in a replacement when we pass back through Broome. Our electrical system is struggling severely after 4 nights off grid and literally no sunshine for the last 5 days. Kieran loaned us his generator and Bob…
An early start for us this morning with a sunrise walk to Squeaky Beach. Lovely rocks and the tide was quite low in the mangroves. Today has been another cloudy day, but we’ve dodged rain for the most part. We resumed our original program today with a relatively short drive to Middle Lagoon. The road in was 30km of corrugations, mud and water. I’m still in awe that we are driving these access roads given our lack of 4wding experience previously! We arrived in…
Well today was a bit of a weird day. It started well enough with our explorer cruise getting cancelled again, as expected due to inclement weather. We headed to the restaurant and had cuppas overlooking the water out of the wind. Karen and Kieran decided to go on a cultural tour while Bob and I went looking for parts for our brand new broken generator….without success. We met back up and Karen and I decided to do a jigsaw, and…
So today was pretty miserable. Cool, windy and drizzly. Our cruise we’d booked was unsurprisingly cancelled this morning. We’ll try again for tomorrow, but chances are it will also be cancelled. With no sun at all to power our solar charging set up we have had to fire up the generator to charge the van batteries. It could be a long week or so without sun…we feel so ‘lucky’ to be around here with the biggest dry season rain event…