I have been out of phone and internet service for a while now so there are many experiences to catch up on, so this may be a longer blog than normal. But wow it has been an amazing week! After my last blog we picked up our fifth road trip buddy, Evan. He flew over from my home town in the US to join in on this epic trip. After getting our new sweet 4 wheel drive we headed out to explore the top end of northern territory and Western Australia. Since my last blog we have gone through Kakadu, the Bungle Bungles, Kimberly region on the Gibb River Road, spent some time in Broome & are now sitting in Perth. For those that do not know Australian geography, we drove through the northern portion of Australia. From a about midway through the country to the west coast.

The northern portion of Australia is a lovely but a harsh environment. It is winter here, but in the north it has been getting above 35 degrees C most days (high 90s in Fahrenheit). It has been a little humid but thankfully not horrible. Here life is split into two parts, the dry season and the wet season. During the wet season it apparently downpours rain almost constantly. The whole country side fills with water rendering most of the roads impassable. The temperatures get up extremely high, you have to be a tough sort to get through the wet season here. The wet season shapes the landscape, it carves out huge impressive gorges and leaves wide open plains. The dry season is a time of basically no rain at all with the hot sun baking everything and everyone. Most of the rivers, creeks, gorges, and billagongs dry up exposing their beauty. So we have spent the last week in the dry season exploring the remains of the wet season.

As the wet season turns to dry it leaves saltwater crocodiles (the really bad crocs) in the small pools and creeks that remain, especially in Kakadu. It has been so tempting to go swimming in the crystal clear pools of water with it being so hot here, but we have been good where the saltwater crocodiles could potentially be at. There are a few areas the crocs do not go. We have enjoyed these areas by taking a swim & cooling off. Kakadu was full of stunning gorges & huge rock formations. There is a main road that loops through the park that is sealed (paved). Off this are dirt roads with a few creeks crossings, some good bumps, and some terrain to test the 4 wheel drive... ie Heeps of Fun!! After hiking through to Jim Jim falls & looking at the stunning Twin Falls and swimming in the drop pool there was a group there needing a tow to jump start their rig. Due to the circumstances at hand I had to tow them driving in reverse. Sadly there was a bit of an incident & I backed the rig into a rock bollard in the parking lot. This was my first time ever hitting something with a car that I did not intend to hit, so basically I got into my first accident that I caused. I suppose it is about time that I have something happen as I have been driving for about 10 years. Thankfully there was just some damage to the back indicator and bumper. So not so bad and we were able to help a few guys out, just sad my clean record is not as clean anymore.

After Kakadu we headed out to the Bungle Bungles. They are a series of beehive shaped hills with horizontal strips of red and dark brown colors. We got in a bit of trouble for setting up camp on the side of the road. It only meant a late night relocation of the campsite. While walking on some tracks we walked along the bottom of a deep chasm. At points it was just wide enough for one person to pass through. I have never been in anything like it before, it was awesome! The acoustics were great in the chasm, we were singing songs and sounding like a professional choir.

After the Bungle Bungles we set out to conquer the Gibb River Road. A 660km 4 wheel drive trek through the Kimberley National Park at northern parts of Western Australia. The Kimberley is amazing! There were a number of gorges, creeks & just stunning scenery! In the Kimberley there are primarily freshwater crocodiles, well at least in the parts we went through. With that being the case we were able to swim in a number of gorges and streams. We got to understand a bit more of how to act around crocodiles from talking and watching the locals. Some of the things you can do & not do surprised us. Towards the end of the week we got used to swimming in areas with freshwater crocodiles and watching out for signs of saltwater crocodiles potential presence. We went through this 500m long cave where we had to walk through waist deep water & climb over rocks with bats sleeping above. While there we knew there were at least 2 freshwater crocodiles in the cave from the people who saw them that morning. It seemed just to be normal. We were walking through with families that had little children and no one was too worried, but none of us ever thought in our life time we would walk through water where you knew crocodiles were & be calm about it. We did not see the 2 crocodiles in the cave, but we did see some crocodiles on the river shores & in some of the bodies of water as we drove through the Kimberley. There are so many awesome places in the Kimberley. It is just gorgeous. Our favorite gorge in the Kimberley was Bell Gorge, we set up camp near it Friday evening & spent all of Saturday relaxing in the Gorge. It was nice to just stop for a day & do no driving. Saturday night we stayed at the same place & had a few beers that were given to us from the neighboring campers. We set up a camp fire, turned up the music in the car and did some swing dancing. We taught a couple of the other guys in the camp ground how to swing & had a great night.

A bit tired of driving in the car on the Gibb River Road, Sally & I decided to ride on the top of the car luggage rake for a while. We just loved it & wished we could go everywhere like that. We had a few birds come and fly along near us, it was just stunning and gave us a different perspective to enjoy the scenery. Both Sally & I classify it as a huge highlight to our trip.

We got to Broome on Sunday evening with just enough time to drive through the town and get a quick snack before we had to sadly say goodbye to Natalie where she flew out to head back home. After Nat left we decided we wanted to enjoy a bit of the civilized life again, so dinner and a drink were in order. The problem was once again we were slightly gross. Since we were going to be camping again and did not have access to any showers, we headed into McDonalds and scrubbed up in their bathroom. We walked in dirty & smelly, then walked out completely different people, cleaned up & looking good! :) That night Vilma and I decided to sleep up on top of the car. We took all of the stuff off of the top and laid out our blow-up mattresses on top of the luggage rack & snuggled into bed. It was one of our best night sleeps, so nice and comfy but full of sand fly bites in the morning.

This past week we have driven 3264kms, along the way we have come up with a number of games to keep us entertained. At one point we played chicken with the on coming traffic. I don't think any of the other cars knew that we were playing the game, but we knew in our car! I also know that I won every time. :) Now before any of you reading this get too worried about my sanity let me explain. As we got closer to Derby the road had changed to a sealed (paved) road. Which was a nice change, but the problem was that this road was only wide enough for one vehicle. There were wide dirt shoulders, so in order for two cars to pass each other going in opposite directions both had to move halfway onto the dirt shoulder. So the road forced us to play a bit of chicken to see who would move off the road first. It kept us entertained while driving.

Another fun game was taking group photos. You know how you take a group photo & one guy has to run after hitting the button & try to get there on time & look cool & relaxed, while all the others have their perfect smiles worked out? Well we decided that was not fair for the one guy & decided that we all should have to run. So we set the camera up for 4 seconds. Then all ran from the camera to the photo spot & did whatever crazy thing we could imagine. A good way to keep your blood pumping & you get some unusual shots. Go ahead and try this game at home. :)

Ok, I am stopping here! I tried to not let this get to long, but we have done so much it is hard to tell what to leave in and take out. I have left out so much, but hopefully it gives you an idea. I am now sitting in Perth burnt from sitting on the beach in Broome & a bit tired. I have said goodbye to Sally & Evan now and will say goodbye to Vilma tonight. After that I am off to explore the Perth area & get a few things sorted for the next couple months.

~Laugh & Love Life~