Saturday. 12/4/2008

We had a bad night at the roadhouse park. Just on dark, the whole rear parking area filled up with road trains, and one of them that was close to our van site ran a motor all night. Lyn said she did not sleep at all because of it.

We started packing early, and were on the road at 6.30. There was not much to see other than a straight road with the 4 to 6 foot high grass along both sides. As we got closer to the Derby turnoff, we started to see bottle trees of all ages. Just around the turnoff there was a very old one by the side of the road. Also the usual mobs of termite mounds, with some of the north - south directional ones to be seen for the first time.

The road onward to Fitzroy crossing was not one of the smoothest we have found, but it was very quiet. Mainly passing through Kimberly pastoral land with masses of grass. Within a few weeks when it dried, there would no doubt be many fires there. About 50k before the town, we stopped for lunch, and there was smoke in the air. We passed through the small grass fires a few more miles up the road. As usual, the roads were unfenced, and so we found the odd mobs of cattle grazing on the road side. Again, we saw no kangaroos at all.

We were travelling on the only real sealed road in the Kimberly. All the scenic attractions were off on dirt roads all signed for 4-wheel drives only, and even then most were closed.

We had thought to stop for a bit in Fitzroy crossing but when we got there, there were only our indigenous brethren resting in the shade of trees, and walking around with their dogs, so we decided not to disturb them. We briefly did stop to take some pictures of the Fitzroy river itself before heading onward.

There were signs of rain ahead, so we were keen to find a camp for the night. The first rest bay turned out to be on top of a cliff, with the wind howling past, and blowing red dust everywhere. Further up the road we found a parking bay with a bit of shelter, and even though it still had some red dirt, we settled there.

Sunday. 13/4/2008

The sun rose early, since we had been travelling east, so we got underway at six. we had had a very good night on the side of the road. No disturbances. Very quiet and dark. Pity we could not stay in these sort of places all the time.

The sign was the best bit we liked about Halls Creek. It was very much an indiginious town, and all the shops seemed to be behind very secure fences. I called into the supermarket for bread, but they only had frozen loaves. It was interesting! Lyn was not keen to venture from the truck, prefering to keep guard.

All along the way we encountered cattle on the sides of the unfenced road. We also spotted two dingoes walking near the road in the morning.

Unfortunately, we also saw many dead cows too. Obviously hit by traffic, they were far too common.

We ended the day about twenty km from Kununurra itself. Found a quite nice parking bay and for once actually had some TV coverage for the night. About 9, another car pulled in, and using a torch, set up what turned out to be a one man sleeping bag tent, and slept behind his car for the night. He left at dawn, leaving a pile of toilet paper behind.

Monday. 14/4/2008

We got into Kunanurra early, and drove around a bit looking at there was of the town. It was much smaller than we thought. It was green and lush, but not as tropical as we had imagined. The ever present natives held corroboree in all the open areas. The photo is of the tourist center with a small gathering under the shade of the boab tree.

While we waited for the tourist center to open, I walked the town and found two of the job places I was looking for. When they opened we went to enquire about work, and found a lot of info, not all of it we wanted to hear.

The cleaning work around here involved "heavy work". we never did find out exactly what that meant. Maybe it involved moving people to get to the work? The mine work was very hard to get. One place had sent 93 resumes last week for 10 jobs, and only locals were getting a look in. We were directed to the IGA shop, and saw the manager, but there was nothing suitable available. While looking for the show grounds van park we saw a sign in the park opposite for cleaners. We saw them, and got the story, but it was the same old problem of not enough hours of work.

We were getting rather disappointed the more we saw, and decided to cut our losses, and make straight for Darwin. It is only $300 fuel and two days, and there has to be work there for us.

From our perspective so far, Broome was the best town to live and work, except there were no parks that allowed for Zebbie.

Geraldton had the most promise with its lower cost of living and plenty of work to come over the year, but it did have wind.

Kununurra, much talked about by others in very favourable terms, was not as expected, and while it might be great for a holiday, it was not the best for work.

The trip continues to Darwin - click here to follow.