Mia Mia Station {Caretaking}

We are still here and still care taking at Mia Mia.

The weather has been kind, and by kind I mean over 45 most days but still under 50 {oh how things change, I used to refer to 35 as hot!}.

 

 

 

Not much has changed, well not really.  We've had some rain and we all enjoyed sitting back and watching the storm, roll in and provide us with some relief.

We do however have a new house pet, 'Chocolate'.

 

Winning Station {Visiting/Working}

Back again and again it was like we had never left.

We arrived and hit the ground running.  J got right into work and the kids & I got right into schoolwork.  Well for four days we did school work, then Aggie and I disappeared for an epic shopping trip to Geraldton {honest it was just for bathroom supplies}.  We took off before the sun rose on the Thursday, leaving the two smalls in the capable hands of their Dad, Kim and four lovely Italian WOOFERS.

I honestly never thought I would say it but there is such a thing as too much shopping. We had three nights in Geraldton and after arriving early evening Thursday we hit the ground running Friday morning with our many page list.  We visited more places than I can even name and had filled the trailer.  Saturday saw much of the same with a few trips back to empty the car into the trailer and I am pleased to say that at just after 5pm we had an early dinner and then treated ourselves too ‘The Great Gatsby’ at the cinemas {along with everyone in Geraldton it would appear}. Sunday was another sun rise started and we got home Sunday just as it started raining right on 6pm.

Four every long but productive days and Monday was a day of rain!  I honestly though while the smalls and I did school work that we would have to do a quick move of the camper as the creek that has always been empty was quickly rising.

 

It was lovely to see Winning finally during/after some rain.  And thankfully come Wednesday the road in was open again which timed well as my folks popped up for the night to see us all. We had a lovely afternoon pottering, chatting and exploring and then listening to the great debate over who would be the new Prime Minister {I had no idea until I saw everyone standing around listening to the radio at the hanger}.  We ended up with Kevin Rudd AGAIN!

Thursday Mum & Dad took off at about lunchtime and we spend the afternoon pottering again.  The smalls annoying the Italians and J working.

Saturday was the busy bee at Winning Bush Gymkarna so we all piled into the cars to clean up and repair everything ready for the big event in a few weeks.  After getting covered in dust from head to toe we had some lunch and then left Justin and Nicola to head home again.

The next few days passed in a blur that was bib making for WBG {don’t ask safer not too} and thankfully we had 50 bibs {front and back so 100 squares} cut, painting and sewn together with sometime to spare.  Nana & Pop arrived somewhere here too {terrible but I can’t remember exactly when}.

The bathroom was finished {along with the other things that J did} and after a wonder feast for Kyle’s 17^th Birthday we hit the road with a solar hot water system on the car/camper and made our way to Lyndon

Robe River Rest Stop {Free Camp}

After leaving 80 Mile right up until the last minute we remained undecided on where we would spend the night before heading to Winning.  We had to go into Karratha to get some things I had dumped at the Hunters place, do a big spot again and post a few items.  So after getting to Karratha at a reasonable time we decided we would do all of this and then keep plodding along and find a rest stop.

We had some serious camper sorting do to and didn’t want to set up on the Hunters front lawn nor crash in the house {knowing they too had unpacking to do themselves}.

So we ended up on the Robe River for the night.

A nice area with plenty of space, although it did start raining right as I started cooking dinner.  Only a light drizzle but enough to be painful given the awning wasn’t pulled over.

J spoke to Rory from Kordarrie and we had planned to stop in there but it would all depend on how much rain they ended up with as to what the Twitchen Road would be like.  Rory said in the morning that we should be right, he hadn’t had that much and Yanery {his neighbor} had only had 8ml overnight.

So we headed that way.  The first few kms where wonderful, followed by a few puddles we could easily get around….. That didn’t last long till we had to ride the shoulder to get around some of the ‘puddles’ and then when we got about 2km from the driveway we wanted we had to go ‘bush’ only to discover that said driveway was under water.  After all that effort we turned around and headed back to the main road. 

Turns out that Yanery had infact had over 30ml of rain over night!

Fitzrory Crossing {Caravan Park}

An over night spot in a place that can be totally covered in water & is all grass!

It was a lovely spot with great facilities to crash for the night before we all went out separate ways.  From looking at the pictures they had of the place it gets reasonably full in peak season which is scary given just how much space there is there.

We left here reasonably early and headed to Geekie Gorge to check it out, much to our bad luck we missed out on the National Park run cruise by about 10 minutes.  Still we managed to have a great walk around and view some of the wonderful formations.  Hard to believe that that whole area goes under water during summer rains sometimes.

Next stop Broome!

Windjarna Gorge { Gibb River Road }

We left Roebuck Plains Roadhouse reasonable early to make our way to Derby for a few last minute items before we started on the journey.

It, as always, was funny to watch how the scenery can change in such a quick way.  We knew we had really hit the Kimberlies when all you could see for miles where the Boab trees.  On the way into Derby we stopped at the 'Prison Tree'. It has a very sad history from the late 1800's involving the early settlers and Aboriginal people.

Next stop was Derby.  We literally came, saw & went.

It was hard to believe that after all of the talking, all of the planning and all of the anticipation that we where actually about to start heading on the Gibb River Road.  Of course it involved stopped for the 'must have' picture in front of the signs, even if we are technically doing it backwards.

Much to our surprise 90% of the road into heading towards the Windjarna Gorge turnoff is actually a real road. No dirt road, no mud holes, no corrugations but a reasonably smooth ride. With no stops between Derby and our final destination we made good time and arrived just before 2pm.

Windjarna Gorge is a National Park so there was a choice of silent & generator camping.  We ended up with the later due to our traveling partners {which given the lack of sun did work in our favour also over the course of the trip} and it meant that we managed a nice big area all to ourselves. I was even more impressed that it had flushing toilets, hot showers and even drinking water available.  Pretty good for $24/night.

After we had set everything up we decided on a walk up into the Gorge, which at the time I didn't know has over 100 freshwater crocodiles living in it.  No swimming for anyone traveling with this group {although there did appear to be some people game enough to do so}. The children did all however have fun playing in the mud just on the edge of the water {even with the crocodiles just behind them floating in the water}

 

Day two saw us pack up and head over to explore what Tunnel Creek had to offer.  Now we might have been on the road for sometime but given our set up we have not really had a need for headlamps or even water proof torches... Turns out that Tunnel Creek is actually a very dark tunnel full of water.  After my initial freak out it was absolutely amazing to walk through here & explore everything that the darkness had to offer and even better the random spots of light that came during the walk.  The smalls loved it, even if Kyla took a wrong step not long after we entered and ended up soaking wet!

When we got home the weather really did turn and provided very dark clouds over the ranges, which in turn mean a beautiful sunset. 

 

 

However this did also mean that we had another unexpected day spent here, hard life for some.  A morning washing and an afternoon crocodile tormenting, perfect!

Next stop on the journey is Silent Gorge......

Albany {Caravan Park}

Two nights turns to three when you get 50+mls of rain the night before you are planning on leaving.

Now I don't mind packing down in the rain, it isn't that much of an issue when you are setting up again a few hours later.  But after the road in front of us is turned into a river and it is still coming down in bucket loads when you are supposed to be leaving it is just easier to say 'I will take this ensuite site for another night' and that is what we did!

With no real plan on where to go and by when we decided to spend a few days in Albany doing some running around for supplies and other bits before we made our way somewhere else.  We splashed out with our own bathroom and it really wasn't too bad at $56 a night for all of us {cheaper than some places have quoted for just us on a normal powered site} and after so long without a real hot shower it was worth every cent we paid :)

Surprisingly the caravan park was a Big 4, the first time we have stayed in one and it had heaps of things for the kids.  A nature park with heaps of different animals, pool {although why anyone would have swam in the weather we had was beyond me, but some people did}, playground and a great camp kitchen.  Even better it had a massive drier that all but dried the washing in one cycle for $1!

Thankfully we managed to get out on our full day to explore some of the national park that is around Albany, drive around and look at some of the wonderful old houses and look outs.  We even took ourselves out for a meal, to a pub!  The wind farm was a great way to further the kids learning of all things electricity and we also spent half a day looking around the museum and the old boat {which was kind of scary to go down under the deck in}

After much twoing and frowing we have decided to make our way towards Kalgoorlie, going through the Stirling Ranges, Hyden and then heading up the Holland Track.  It should be good.