Adventure to misadventure

We left Kununurra on our way to the Bungles and after much tooing and frooing about whether to drive through to the Bungles or take a tour we decided to drive. Mike was keen to drive in but was a bit apprehensive due to the condition of the corrugation and the fact that we have had to make small repairs already due to the vibration from a few quite bad dirt tracks (ie Gunlom where the electric brake instrument in the car fell of its hinges.. the screws vibrated out!!)  Tour now cancelled and we are on our way to brave the Bungle Bungles 200 klm round trip in and out 50 something creek crossings and corrugation +++ and we are even going to camp in there in our little 3 man tent from Big W.. haha.

We got 40 klm away from the turn off to the Bungles at an Aboriginal community called Warmun at the Turkey creek road house and stopped for fuel as there was to be no more fuel until Halls creek some 350 klm of travel away. "What is all that radiator fluid P#@*#@g out of the front of our car!!!!!!!!!!!!"    Oh yeah the radiator has now just dumped all it's fluid on the drive way of the road house and we are going NOWHERE. Well to cut a long story short we were stranded at Warmun with all the mangy camp dogs for 2 days. Very frustrating trying to communicate with RACQ in the initial stages. Lucky we had Ultra care cover which helped a lot with the cost of towing the car 200 klm back to Kununurra. 24 hours after we broke down someone arrived to tow Mike and the car but couldn't fit me and Pip so we were left behind to fend off the camp dogs and wait to see if we were ever gunna get out of here. Well lucky for us it was the radiator hose only and even more lucky was we were carrying a spare so the next day we were on our way. Mike had even more of an adventure on the way back to Turkey Creek but i'll leave those stories for him.

(this is Mike) - well i left Kunnurra the car is fixed and running like a dream - its about 7.00pm bloody dark and the spots are on - and im scanning for locals - big brahmas and roos not the other kind. i am about 60k from K and notice a roo sitting in the middle of the road - as i got close enough to see properly the roo is sitting on his arse bolt upright with his head missing and blood spewed across the road - yum road kill for dinner Lisa and Pip would be impressed. Another 50k further on I notice a bright flickering light - a little closer and it looks like a fire in the middle of the road - sure enough a bunch of back packers had broken down in their shit box wicked van and lit a bloody fire in the middle of the road top get someones attention - I pull up and miss the fire as the 2 girls in the group were waving the arms. there car had lost all electrics.  I said they should get the bloody fire off the road as quick as the can as road trains are through here regularly or they could end up being road kill themselves and they should consider hitching hitching back to Kununurra - there boyfriends agreed that was a good idea and asked if i would drive them.  Hmm - I thought for a nano second - lets just say there probably still there eating the remainder of there tinned food.

Further on a car load of  locals where all over the road behind me they are great at driving on the wrong side - playing chicken with the oncoming traffic - the car and them must have been full - these dickheads were behind me for about 10k just sitting behind me on the wrong side of the road. What the - time to get going. more adventure to come.......

Lisa Here again...A bit of a sore hip pocket from the break down expense (could have been much worse though we actually think we were pretty lucky we hadn't got into the Bungles when it happened. $2000 to tow out of the Bungles we were told by the tow group) and 45min down the road we arrive at the Mable Downs station the entrance to the Bungles drive. As you might have guessed we have now rebooked the tour... let someone else drive in. The local fellas in Kununurra at the tow and mechanics shops said they wouldn't take their cars in unless they were in a group. FACT 500 cars and vans are towed each season off the Gibb River road and 150 of the Bungles track just by this tow group. The first sight we see as we pull into Mable downs station caravan park is a Land cruiser sitting on its arse with no back suspension waiting waiting waiting for a tow.

Mable downs and the Bungles were fantastic, we took a station tour in a safari car in the afternoon ,went for a dip in the river ( Giggling Pip caught mike on video skinny dipping but I was banned from putting it on the blog much to Pips disgust)  the next day we went into the Bungles, what a place the pictures don't do it justice. You were right Trace you just cant miss this one!

Got carried away with photos sorry!! not all are named.. too many so they are all of the Bungles Somewhere!! LOL

Echidna Chasm

Echidna chasm

Cathedral gorge

the Domes at Piccinniny Creek

Hey Megano we met a woman at the Bungles named Rayleen who lives in Banora, says she knows you, described you as the young dark haired woman who walks her little boy to school right past her house, with a smaller chid in a back pack. I told her to stop and say hi "
}to you.. small world ehh.

Next day we are packing up to move on to Fitzroys crossing to check out Geiki gorge when what should happen ...... the winder on the van starts to play up and we can't get the roof down......... What the!! I could have cried. remembering the $2000 charge to tow out. We mucked around for 20 min and got it down but now we can't get back in without the worry of it getting stuck again. We make  a few phone calls once we are on the road and can get some reception and make the decision to miss Fizroy and drive through to Broome 850 klm away as that is the closest place there is a technician. We plan once more to sleep in the tent which we keep in the car, and again lucky for us the caravan park we were booked in for later in the week said they were totally booked out but woud find a spot for us somewhere due to ur circumstances. We arrived in the dark ready to pitch the tent in the "red dirt" when the guy running the park said.. Try putting the van up if you cant get it down in the morning we'll get the guy to come out to fix it" Yah it went up and the next day back down.. go figure we just drove 9 hours straight to get here and the bloody things working again uuuggghhhhh.... We take it and get it serviced because we don't want that to happen again in the middle of bloody nowhere.

Alls well that ends well we are in beautiful Broome for at least the next 12 days and yes it is great here. We sat at the beach yesterday and watched the camel rides which Pip is keen to do and ate yummy Thai lime garlic prawns. Ahhh we love the outback but gee its nice to see the beach again.