THURSDAY 14 SEPTEMBER     KUNUNURRA TO FITZROY CROSSING   676kms

We left Kununurra at 6.15 am. The early start was helped by the fact that our systems were still on NT time!

Refuelled at Halls Creek – $1.65cpl; and at Fitzroy Crossing Lodge – $1.65cpl.

It was about 2.10pm when we reached Fitzroy Crossing, not long after we had stopped at the Mary River rest and camping area for lunch.

We were both ready to stop then, rather than make the next long stage to Broome.  Decided that the company had dicked us around for the past few weeks, so we were not going to kill ourselves getting to the site. We would do reasonable stages, and have some rest, each day.

The countryside between Kununurra and Fitzroy Crossing was seriously superb. As far almost as Halls Creek, it was very hilly and dramatic and stark. It evened out a bit after that, but still had mesas, plateaus and hills in the distance, to keep it interesting.

We noted several very good free camping areas – with toilets.

There was a new bridge over the Ord River crossing, but were still lots of single vehicle width bridges, with no sides, just low cement edging. I had forgotten about those!

Went into Fitzroy River Lodge – $25.

This was a park where caravanners seemed secondary to the main accommodation business of the hotel and motel sections. They said we could select our own site. There might or might not be a drive-through site left. If we wanted to use two ordinary sites so that we could stay hitched up, we could pay double! We found a drive through one – they were not all that busy.

Guests were allowed to use the motel pool, so we had a long and beautiful swim in that.

Just after dark, it was really pleasant to walk around the park. The lights from the rigs were really pretty. The cooking smells were nice too! It was balmy and warm.

I put a bit more effort into tea tonight.

We had noticed that the van wheels, especially on the left side, were feeling quite hot in the afternoons. They seemed better in the mornings. It was a concern, because we were not doing much braking to explain the heat!

M phoned, from Marla. She had detoured into Chambers Pillar on the way south and camped a couple of nights there – loved the place. She was timing her return south to reach our home in time to take over from the outgoing house sitters. She was quite happy to have a place to stay that wasn’t with her mother, for as long as needed. I gave her a free hand in dealing with the garden – pruning, tidying up and so on, as much as she wanted. Being the keen gardener that she was, I imagined the place would soon look better than it did when we were home.