Broome to Home Valley

Hi

Second update for you all. Good thing we had a test run of all the camping gear at Cape Leveque as it turned out they had supplied us with the wrong size tent poles. They were quickly swapped over, we resupplyed with food and tasty beverages as the bloke from the hire place called beer - 'make sure you stock up on tasty beverage there's none on the Gibb' - and we set off for Windjana Gorge. You can't swim at the gorge as its full of freshwater crocs, loads of them if you look close at the water you can see their heads just showing in the photo behind James

It is a beautiful walk through the gorge though. Lisa of crocs, bats and colourful cliffs. The next day we set off to Tunnel creek which is a cave about a kilometre long with a river running through it. Once again lots of crocs and bats. There were quite a few people walking through the cave so it felt pretty safe. The boys did get a bit freaked out once when we had to walk through a shallow part of the river. After this it was off to a place called Bell Gorge to camp for the night. We got there in time to walk the couple of Km into the bottom of the falls for a swim. It's one of the prettiest places I have seen and we probably should have timed it to spend more time there

Next day was to another camp site called Manning Gorge. We had a long walk into the falls here of about an hour each way and given it was about 40 degrees and the rough terrain and Rick climbing we were very proud of the way the boys handled it. We met several adults along the way who struggled with it. We spent a good couple of hours there jumping off the rocks and lazing around before heading back. The camp sites are pretty dusty dry affairs. They have at a minimum have a flushing loo and shower and beyond the cool looking Boab trees and views not much else

We had a big drive ahead of us the next day of about 300 km and had been told the road gets worse as you go along. We had planned to stop at Ellenbrae station for lunch as it famous for its scones. Turns out the scones are great but so is the tyre repair service as we picked up puncture just before the station. Sam had also picked up a middle ear infection the night before which is less than ideal but it turns out the station managers in the area also have a small pharmacy which they are allowed to dispense from after a phone consultation with a GP. We are very fond of Ellenbrae station.

We continued on to Home Valley station where we had planned to camp for two nights. Some of the stations also have flash cabins so after a brief discussion with the boys we thought we try our luck with one of these. The until conversation didn't go very well as it was going to mean we needed to book two expensive cabins. Fiona did some quick negotiating, Sam complained about his ear and the nice lady at the counter said we could all pile into in of their 'Grass Castle' rooms for 50% off. We are now also very fond of Home Valley station!

We are now headed off to El Questro station for three nights, then not sure after that as reports are that it is storming in Kakadu.

Fiona and I have loved the journey so far and the boys have had great time as well so long as we aren't to far from a swimming hole or icypole.

Hope your all well

Matt