Day 153. Mary Pool Rest Area to Spring Creek Rest Area (Bungle Bungles)

Free camping in the Kimberley

Mary Pool

This morning we woke to a horrendous chorus of Corella’s! It sounded like 10,000 of them, but in reality it was probably more like 20 or so. In hindsight, there really isn’t a better way to wake up in the Aussie outback; but when it’s not even 6am when they start there ruckus, it can sometimes get just that little too much!

Our Camp at Mary Pool

We had a fair drive today, so the morning wakeup call was probably a good thing. Bec wanted to head down to the river straight after breakfast, to look for crocs; so after a hot brew and some weet-bix the three of us walked the 20 metres or so to the river bank and went exploring.

Scarlett catching fish at the weir

To Bec’s disappointment, we didn't find any crocodiles; but Scarlett and I had a ball catching more of the small fresh water fish that are trying to migrate up the river. They were so easy to catch, all we had to do was stand next to a pool that had water falling in it from the weir above, and wait for a fish that would try to jump up stream. As we soon found out, many failed; so we were able to pick them up off the embankment and drop them back in the water further upstream. (We like to help out the struggling stragglers when we can).

The mass exodus

During our rescue operation, we couldn’t help but notice the huge mass exodus! There were caravans of caravans heading out onto the highway at the crack of dawn; hitting the road early to continue their individual journeys. By the time we returned to our own caravan; there were less than a quarter of the vans still in the rest area (compared to when we started our morning walk).

The line up for fuel in Halls Creek

Soon afterwards, we hit the road ourselves; bound for Halls Creek, a mere 110km away to the east. The trip was uneventful, but that wasn’t the case once we hit town! As the next fuel stop was more than 400km away in Kununurra, we had to join in the huge line up for fuel at the Shell service station. It really was a circus; as there were lines of caravans facing one way trying to get into the service station, while Road Trains were struggling in the opposite direction trying to get out! I took the opportunity to climb into the van while we waited, to upload our blog regarding our Horizontal Waterfall experience, (while Bec sat in the car and crawled slowly closer to the diesel fuel bowsers).

Scarlett and an 'outgoing' road train



They tell it like it is up here in 'outback Australia'

After topping up the diesel, we parked in town for a little while longer to also upload yesterday's blog. Bec and Scarlett thought they might go exploring, and went for a walk through town. They soon returned laughing as they described to me what they had read on the sign outside the town’s Butcher. Luckily Bec took the camera with her and took a photo. Priceless!

Spring Creek

No sooner had we finished uploading our blogs, and a quick bite to eat; we were back on the black stuff heading further north east into the Kimberley. About 100km’s later we pulled into the ‘Spring Creek Rest Area’. It’s little more than a camping area, but its located less than 300 metres from the turn off into the Bungle Bungles. The dirt road into the Bungle Bungles is a little worse for wear, and we have been forewarned about its condition; so we plan on making our base camp here for the next three nights as we head into the Bungle Bungles doing day trips.

Scarlett - 'my princess'

'No Bull!'

Scarlett and I went exploring along the creek banks later this afternoon; and thought we might collect some firewood at the same time (ready for marshmallows tonight), when out the corner of my eye what should I see? I warned Scarlett not to make any sudden movements or loud noises as I slowly turned her around and believe it or not, but only about 10 metres from where we stood was the biggest meanest wild bull you have ever seen! The bugger was eyeing us off, and we didn’t want to cause any trouble; so we slowly backed away from him and retreated back to the caravan – that was only about 200 metres away! We were both laughing about the encounter and told Bec about it – but she wasn’t interested in coming out of the van for a look. So, armed with my trusty Nikon camera, Scarlett and I went back to get a photo of the brute as proof of our ‘near death’ experience.

Toasting marshmallows

Tonight we enjoyed more toasted marshmallows over an open fire, and afterwards Scarlett went and joined in with some other campers and watched ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’. She enjoyed the movie, but it was getting cold. As they were watching it outside their van, she was very happy when it finally ended, as she quickly returned to our van and went straight to bed.

posted by Shane