Video Transcript
Welcome to this brand new episode of Wout of the World, and this time, a truly big adventure.
We’re crossing the northern Coast of Australia. We start in Broomee, and we go all the way to Darwin in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. I’m looking forward to it. Oh, yes, we’re back. And this time, we fly off from the Netherlands to travel half the globe. We spend one night in the city of Perth, and let Jens decide what’s for dinner. Then we’re off to Broomee, to pick up our adventure machine, a 4×4 camper van of Broomee and Beyond. What I should tell you guys is that there’s something special about this episode because we’ve been here before. About one and a half year ago, we did the West Coast of Australia in a similar camper van of WA Experts, from Perth to Broomee. And now we take off from here, so it’s nice to be back. Let’s start there at our arrival in Broomee in the summertime. Wow, guys, it’s another super hot day today. It’s nearly 50 degrees celsius, and we just stopped for gas on the way. This is called the Savannah Way. It’s right in the middle of the desert. And there is a wind, but it feels more like an oven.
And I think when we get to Broomee, the first thing we need is a swimming pool. We’re here, guys. This is Broomee. After a month of traveling along the West Coast of Australia, we started in Perth, saw all the beautiful things on the way, and now we stepped outside, and already the air feels more tropical. It’s humid, it’s warm, and this is Broomee. We have four days left to explore Look at the area. It’s so beautiful here. Yes, guys, that area around Broomee is worth it. This is the most southern point of a region called the Kimberley Coast, a geological paradise where fossils, pearls, but even dinosaur tracks can be found. Broomee is a cozy little town, but especially the surroundings make it a great town. If you drive for 15 minutes to either side, you will find the ocean, which is blue, the mangrove trees inside, the red sands, and the beautiful rocks. The first stop that we make today is Roebuck Bay, just a little east of the town.
From Roebuck Bay, we drove about 15 minutes to the other side of Broomee, on the most southwestern point. It’s called Gantheaume Point, and you will find even more beautiful colours here. The green, the red rocks, and the most beautiful blue ocean I have seen so far here on the West Coast. And it’s especially beautiful from above with the drone.
Back in 1801, when Australia was still called New Holland, this cape was named after Honoré Ganton, during a French expedition.
At low tide, you can spot dinosaur footprints from the Coast. Again, we notice that this area is particularly quiet. In places like this, we are all alone. Could Western Australia perhaps be the traveller’s best kept secret?
From Broomee, it’s totally worth it to drive up north for an hour or so because there are two significant places along these dirt roads, and you’ll find the first one at about half an hour, which is called Willies Creek.
At Willies Creek, there are some oyster farms. At the oyster farms, they do not only catch the oysters, but they also find pearls in them. And the pearls they can sell, so it’s a real business over here. And after that, we’ll drive on to the next spot, which is James Price Point. On the Rocks, a beautiful view over the ocean. And I don’t have to tell you guys that the road over there is already very adventurous. So this is what an oyster farm looks like. I wasn’t expecting a barnyard with wooden doors, but this is incredible. And this is James Price Point with the beautiful red rocks. Back to the present and our new trip from Broomee. This time, guys, we’re really going to Broomee and Beyond, because that’s actually the company where we rented our camper, Broomee and Beyond. It’s an upgrade from the last time, is what I can tell you. Check it out. Now, this is what I call camping. We already find many birds. A yellow-spotted monitor lizard. Some possums and camels? Cable Beach is Broomees’ most famous beach. It’s 22 kilometres long. It has beautiful white sand and incredible turquoise water.
It’s bordered by some sand dunes and red cliffs, and it’s within walking distance of our caravan park. It’s about a 10-minute walk. At night, there’s the most beautiful sunset that you can watch on the entire Western Coast, and you can make a camel ride here on the beach. How awesome is that? Okay, that explains a lot. Apart from the clear beauty of this hotspot, it’s also the best place to hang out with friends and family, and plenty of space to place your towel, too. We spot this green tree frog and hang out at the local bar, where something really special is about to happen. While we’re sitting here, we saw over there in the water, Jens, what did we see?
A Walvis.
Yes, a Walvis. That’s a whale, over there in the water. So here’s another fun fact, guys. I don’t know if you saw how broad that beach was when I was flying with the drone, but now the water has almost come all the way to the cliffs. It’s a big difference. It’s a short walk to the water now. At night, we return to see the spectacular sunset. Everybody is gathering here like we’re counting down for New Year’s, so we’re anxious to see it. So guys, we went back to watch the sunset, and it is indeed beautiful. What can we say? The sky is on fire tonight. So guys, we had the most amazing first night in Australia. Of course, not the first night ever, but the first night this year. We slept up in this tent on the car of Broomee and Beyond. Here in Broomee, we woke up by the sounds of the birds and the sun burning on the rooftop. It’s an excellent first day. We are right next to the pool, so we’re going to have a swim here at Cable Beach Caravan Park in Broomee. It might be Australia, but it’s still wintertime over here.
We’re here in July, and the pool is supposed to be really cold, but I’m hot, so let’s go in.
Oh, crazy. There you go. Oh, yes.
We leave Broomee behind and start the road trip through the most adventurous part of Australia.
We drove for 2 hours from Broomee when we arrive at the little town called Derby.
And this is the gateway into the Kimberley’s to the Gibb River Road that we’re going to drive. It’s a beautiful scenery, but I advise you to stop here to stack up on gas, food, water, and everything you need for a couple of days or weeks when you’re going to drive into the Kimberley’s. In the first part of the Gibb, we drive to the Windjana Gorge, and we see more cows than people on the way. We better get used to this scenery because this is what the next month will look like. And I love it. About one and a half hours from Derby, we start seeing the spectacular Windjana Gorge, and it looks like we’re driving straight into it. What a start of our trip, guys. Even the kids liked it so much on the way, and they were looking outside to the beautiful views. And of course, that last one with the drone. Did you see the entrance of the Windjana Gorge over there? Tomorrow we’re going to make some hikes, but now we’re going to put up camp. Yeah. What a place to spend the night.
And in no time, we turned the car into a luxurious holiday home. Cheers.
Delicious camping food, guys. We got ravioli.
Good morning, guys. It’s a beautiful new day here just outside of the Windjana Gorge, where we slept on the campsite under the stars. It was a little bit colder this night because we’re sleeping out here in the desert, but it wasn’t any problem because we had enough blankets and the sun is coming up right now and we’re bound to make some beautiful hikes after breakfast. The first one that we’re going to do is called the Savannah Walk. I’m going to do that one with the kids because it’s just a small walk of only one kilometre. And after that, there’s a little bit bigger hike called the Time Walk. It’s called that because you get the feeling that you’re really walking back into prehistoric times. If we’re lucky, we’re bound to see some crocs today in there. Guys, this was so awesome. We barely left the campsite and we already saw the first wallaby sitting under the trees over there. Awesome.
The best thing about the Windjana Gorge is that the walk start right at the campsite.
In other words, we actually slept right between the crocodiles.
And this is what we wake up to. Wow.
So this is it, guys. Behind us here is the Windjana Gorge, and this is a sacred place for the Bunuba people who believe that there are ancient spirits roaming the gorge. Very exciting, and there are also crocs inside. We’re going to walk along this river here. It’s called the Leonard River, and we’re going to see the best views of Western Australia. We see Australian cranes, also known as Brolgas. And then we walk through this narrow passage into the gorge. We just walked like 15 minutes along the Leonard River on the time walk, and across the river, we can see on the beds, Crocodiles sunbathing, like seven of them. And there’s one just in front here, look. When we walk further along the Leonard River, they seem to be everywhere around us. But strangely enough, they are very peaceful. And the Windjana Gorge itself is one of the most beautiful gorges I’ve ever seen.
After a morning walk, we head back to the campsite. While the sun out here is already burning. Once we get to the Gibb River Road, it’s very important that you check your tyre pressure. It should be around 30 PSI, so we have this little device, it’s now at 40, and after the Gibb River Road, of course, I have a device to pump them up again. We say goodbye to this natural beauty and continue our way on the Gibb River Road. Our next stop on the Gibb is the Tunnel Creek National Park. And back in the days, in 1897, this used to be the shelter of the leader of the Aboriginals called Jandamarra, and he was killed here in front of the entrance. Nowadays, you can make a beautiful walk, 2 kilometres long, in a tunnel formed by nature over millions of years. And maybe inside we’ll see some bats and crocs. A place of historical significance and a symbol of the resistance of the Bunuba people. But Tunnel Creek is also a little wonder of nature. Hidden between the rocks is the entrance to a natural cathedral and the tunnel. I can imagine this would be a good hiding place for the Aboriginal leader because over there it’s pitch black dark.
You can actually swim over here, but I’m not going to because there can be crocs in the water. So not me. So I’m now all the way in the back. If you take a little swim, you can see the hiding place here of Jandamarra. So everybody’s going in here with lights on their heads, swimming through the water, not afraid of crocs at all. But I don’t have my swimming shorts, so this is the end of the line. As we drive off, we see the first of many river crossings, and this is a tiny one – believe me. That’s it for today, guys. We’re still on a bumpy road in the Gibb, and we’re heading on over to the place where we’re going to spend the night. We use the app WIKI Camps for that. You have some free campsites, and the one we’re going to is called Boab Quarry. There’s supposed to be a nice swimming hole as well. We saw some gorgeous tunnels and beautiful animals today, and now it’s time to chillax.
This must be one of the most stunning free campsites in the world, on the rim of the dramatic King Leopold Ranges. Then we camp at Fitzroy Crossing.
Let’s see how fast we can do this.
Voilà.
At Fitzroy Crossing, we have a great time on the campsite as we prepare for even more adventure.
The Kimberley is spread across the entire northwestern corner of Australia, and it’s about the size of Germany, but it’s partially populated with only 40,000 people.
You have some canyons, you can make nice walks, there are swimming holes, there’s wildlife, and you can make one of the most beautiful road trips in all of Australia. Let’s go.
The road ahead is empty. We make one final stop before we leave civilization for a while. Well, we drove about 300 kilometres without any gas stations. So this one here in Halls Creek is very important to us. We don’t want to get stuck on the road somewhere, do we, Céline? And we needed some coffee. We’re now at the Purnululu National Park. But before we get to Bungle Bungles, there’s another 2 hours drive over an unsealed road. So what I do now is put the tires back at 30 PSI.
That’s right, Jens, but we still have to drive this very challenging dirt road for about two hours.
Most of it’s fine, but we do have to conquer the mud and the river crossings. How adventurous is this?
Awesome.
The further in we drive, the more incredible the views get. This is one of the most rewarding routes I’ve ever driven, and we seem all alone. But it turns out we’re not. Guys, over there is a kangaroo, two of them. They’re just eating the flowers, chilling.
These are actually no kangaroos and no wallabies either.
They are Western Wallaroos, locally known as euros. They’re so fluffy.
Almost there, and as we drive the last bit, we start to the typical Bungle Bungles landscape. The colours are absolutely stunning.
We’re finally here, guys. It took us first three 3-4 hours on a paved road, and then 2 more hours on an unsealed road with lots of river crossings. Super spectacular, adventurous. We even saw two kangaroos on the way, so life couldn’t be more perfect. And tomorrow, we’re heading to Bungle Bungle.
We fold out our wonderful holiday villa for the night, and we can’t get enough of this. Camping life. Walk of shame, guys. Walk of shame. You got to go, you’re going to get to go? Well, this one is actually pretty okay. As always, the animals are never far away in Australia.
The Purnululu National Park or the Bungle Bungles is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it’s one of the major highlights of Australia.
The dome-shaped rock formations are over 20 million years old, and you can see the different stripes from orange to dark gray because of the different layers of sandstone. The most popular places to visit are the Cathedral Gorge, Echidna Chasm, and the Piccaninny Creek. The Aboriginal name of the Bungle Bungles is Purnululu, and it means threading sands. The rock formations are pretty unique to me as I have never seen anything remotely looking like this.
This morning we drove to the Piccaninny parking lot for the first two hikes.
We’re going to do the dome walk and after that also the Cathedral Gorge. To Together, it’s about two to two and a half hours, so it’s fine for Jens, and we got the carrier for Céline. So this is it, guys, the Bungle Bungles, and I’m going to show you the inside. We are here in July, and even though it’s high season, we can’t believe how quiet it is.
Our walk through the domes is breathtaking. It’s like an entire city with the rocks being the buildings.
I’m here standing inside the Cathedral Gorge, and maybe you can hear my voice echoing in this space here. It goes all the way up. The cliffs are really high and I can’t believe it, but I’m all alone here. Look at this. It’s truly one of the best places I’ve seen in Australia. So we’re back at the camper van, guys. It’s noon, and I can tell you, it’s getting too hot to do any more hikes today. So what we need right now is this.Cheers. Cheers. Best sip of Coke ever.
I fly the drone over the Piccaniny Creek, but as you can see, it’s totally dried out for this season.
And, did you know they have an elephant here?
The campsite. And now we have all day because it’s too hot to do anything, except for drinking beer.
Guys, we slept pretty good, but It was really cold tonight. I was wearing a sweater and everybody was just clamping on their blankets. We slept on a different campsite this time in the north side. Today, it’s time to see another phenomenon in the Bungle Bungles, which is the Echidna Chasm. Sun is coming up. It’s going to be a great day.
The place we’re visiting today is called Echidna. We’re here in the north of Bungle Bungles, and these red rocks behind me are Echidna, and inside you will find the Echidna Chasm. And in this Chasm, once a day, when the sunlight shines in, you get a spectacular view. We’re here mid-July, and today it will be around 11:00. It’s now nine o’clock in the morning, so we’re going to walk over there about one kilometre, and we have all the time in the world. So let’s go. The rock formation of Echidna is named after a local animal that looks like something between a hedgehog and an anteater. So you can see the resemblance, right?
The walk is already phenomenal, but the Chasm itself really exceeds our expectations.
After about a half an hour walk, we arrive in the Echidna Chasm, and now we just have to wait for the perfect light. Slowly, we begin to see the orange light coming in, and the Chasm lights up like fire. That’s it, guys, for the Bungle Bungles. We’re heading back to the Highway next stop, Kununurra. But did we enjoy the Bungle Bungles, guys? Yes. Oh, yes, we did.
After such an adventurous drive, it’s always fun for me to have some quality time with the car.
This is my job, putting the tires back to the right pressure. I can act like I’m a real mechanic, which I’m certainly not. But they used to be at 30 PSI. I’m putting them back at 40 because we’re going to paved roads again. So let’s do it. On our way to Kununura. After the Bungle Bungles, we drove for 4 hours to get to a little town called Kununura. From here, we’ll finish the northern part of the Gibb River Road and go to El Questro. But first, we chillax a little bit on this campsite called Kimberley land, next to a lovely lake. But more about this later, because we’ll get back here for even more time after El Questro. As always, the nature is stunning, and all around us, the Lily Creek Lagoon offers awesome views right from our camper van. But now it’s time for something different.
Park, water park, water park, water park, water park, water park.
So guys, in case you missed that, we’re going to a water park. You know what’s great about Australia? A kid’s attraction like this one is totally free. Did I say kids?
The Gibb River Road is a 660 km long dirt road built in the 1960s to transport livestock from remote stations to the ports of Wyndham and Derby.
It was a tough route to travel, and it could take over a week to get from one place to the other. The route of the Gibb River Road crosses the traditional lands of many different Kimberley peoples.
We drive to El Questro from the Wyndham side of the Gibb, through no man’s land.
With some odd creatures here and there. The El Questro Wilderness Park covers 700,000 hectares and is one of the most unique places to visit in Western Australia. It’s located along the Gibb River Road, and it has rainforest, unique places to swim between the gorgeous, beautiful landscapes, and hot springs. We’re driving there within the hour from the town of Kununurra. Let’s go, guys. We arrived on the north side of the Gibb River Road at a place El Questro. Over here, we start with a beautiful hike, one of the most spectacular ones in Northern Australia, to the Emma Gorge. Because at the end of this hike, which is about one hour, you will find the most amazing swimming hole with cliffs at 56 metres high surrounding it. Let’s go, guys. So we’re just walking along the river, and every time we see the people passing, we ask them, did you see snakes? And so far everyone has seen them, and they say, you have to beware. Be careful, guys. Let’s continue.
Then we see the bush is moving, and there is definitely a snake.
But it’s apparently a common green tree snake, so not too dangerous. And now over to the great finale of this hike. Wow. So we did manage to finish the hike within the hour, and we arrive at Emma Gorge, which is indeed as pretty as they told me it would be. The only thing is the water is supposedly very, very ice cold. But there’s only one way to find out now, isn’t there?
I want to say it’s not that bad, but it’s like a thousand times. It’s really, really cold.
So guys, if you are doing the hike to the Emma Gorge, be sure to watch out for snakes, because that sign isn’t just there for fun. There are snakes here. It was just crawling on the path, and I almost stepped on it, so I had to do this weird dance to avoid it. It got away from me, and then it did like… But I got him on camera, and that’s what it’s all about. Yes, watch out for snakes and do a little dance to distract them. The best advice I can give you.
Cheers.
Yeah, it’s good. Just what I wanted after that hike, a baby and a bear.
We leave behind the Emma Gorge and drive through the incredible El Questro Wilderness Park to a place to spend the night.
Okay, guys, is this a car or a boat? I don’t know anymore because we’ve had so many awesome river crossings that it seems like we’re on a boat ride. But of course, it’s all thanks to this really amazing driver that it all goes super smoothly.
Who would have thought we’d find the best wood-fired pizzas here? We slept at El Questro Station, which is like an entire village in the middle of nowhere.
Really cool. You saw us eating here yesterday, listening to the music, having a drink. It’s really fun, but it was also really cold at night. It was almost zero degrees here. When we slept in the Tent, we had all our clothes on, two blankets. And luckily, we now go to something very warm because we’re moving to the Hot Springs called Zebedee, quite close to here. All set. Let’s do another hike, babies. The landscape here suddenly changes to this tropical rainforest. Wow, this forest.
After a walk of only 750 metres, we arrive at the first Hot Spring, guys.
This here is Zebedee Springs, and it’s right in the middle of the forest. Awesome. I’m going in. It’s deep.
There is no volcanic activity in Australia, but hot water runs through here from deep inside the Earth. And what a sight among these palm trees. Well, guys, we walked over here around 10, and it’s not too crowded. So if you want to avoid the bigger crowds, you should come as early as you can because it closes at noon.
I’m just stating the obvious here, but this is our kids’ favourite place in Australia.
We leave El Questro behind, and with that also, the Gibb River Road. We move to the first town that we see. It’s called Kununura, on our way to the Northern Territory. It’s a small town, but in terms of Northern Australia, this is actually the biggest town that we visit. We have a campsite here. It’s called Kimberley Land, right next to this beautiful lake. The lake is called Lily Creek Lagoon, and I already see a lot of birds. There’s supposed to be some crocodiles in there, and the nature is lovely. There’s also a lot of things to do here in Kununura, so we stay here for a couple of days to chillax and have some fun with the kids. This campsite was a favourite among our family for the vibrant atmosphere and for the views on that Lily Creek Lagoon. On my way to the restrooms, I saw a night bus eating a frog.
It made me very hungry, I guess.
We still enjoy the awesome setup of the camper van by Broome & Beyond. We fold it down and are on our way. In one hour, we drive the very scenic route to the next nature site at Lake Argyle. It’s family fun time. We arrived at Lake Argyle.
Lake Argyle is a stunning piece of nature, as you can witness behind me. But it was originally made by men. In 1971, the Ord River Dam was built, creating this 1,000 square kilometre reservoir. And nowadays, there are many species of fish living inside the lake. There are many species of birds, and some 25,000 crocodiles live inside here. We’re going to make a lovely boat trip around the lake, and we stay at the campsite right on the Riverside. The last part of the way looks very promising as we drive one of the most spectacular roads of this trip. We arrived just in time for dinner. Healthy food, guys. Well, and unhealthy drinks, of course. But there’s a lemon inside, so we got vitamin C. Cheers.
Cheers.
Good, good, good. About this campsite, there is only one in the entire area, and it’s on the very best spot. The drone gives us quite the preview. That pool down there is about as famous as the lake itself, which has everything to with the views. It’s almost sunset and everybody is gathering here for the best feature of this campsite at Lake Argyle, which is the view from the Infinity pool. Look at this.
We had a wonderful night’s rest here at Lake Argyle after seeing We had a beautiful sunset last night from the Infinity pool. The sun woke us up. It wasn’t that cold this night, so we didn’t use 100 blankets this time, just in time to get ready for our boat ride. Because today we’re going to make a four-hour boat ride. It costs a lot, but we’re supposed to see the entire lake and the surroundings. Let’s go.
With beautiful weather, we observe the colourful manmade lake. That’s actually the largest in Western Australia. And I got the camera ready to spot some wildlife. We were just at Crocs Bay, guys, and we saw about a dozen crocodiles, huh, Jens? It wasn’t very hard to spot the crocs since they loved to sunbathe on the shores. We did see a lot of them in action also, though.
We spot this Australian Darter, too, while Jens is on the lookout for crocodiles.
He just loves to be the tour guide.
It’s amazing all the animals that we see. We saw a lot of fish, we saw the crocodiles, and now we’re off to see the rock wallabies. These so-called short-eared rock wallabies are some of Australia’s cutest animals, only found along the north coast of the country, and I really wanted to take one home. Next to the Cormorants, we spot the nest of a black-necked stork, locally named Jabiru.
So, Captain, what’s our status?
Coming down to Croc Bay, check down a few crocs.
Went down here, fed a few fish.
Came down to Balami Island and checked out our short-eared rock wallabies.
Went down to Jabiru Rock, And now we’re over here on our mooring.
Remember those 25,000 crocodiles? How crazy are we to do this? At last, it’s time for a swim in the lake, and I even have a beer with me. So I say cheers to Lake Argyle. It’s nice, huh, Jens? Yeah, it’s nice. Having the fun that wewe totally forgot about the crocs. We built a sandwich for lunch and enjoyed the local beers. So that’s it, unfortunately, for this episode about Lake Argyle. But as you can see, it’s really worth your while. We saw all the animals, we saw the beautiful lake, we had a beer swimming in Lake Argyle. And I’ll see you next time because, of course, we have more ground to cover all the way to Darwin. Cheers. We jump in the pool for one last time before we get… On the road again. I just can’t wait to get on the road again to Katherine. There we go. So join us next time for the Northern Territory. A quick city trip in Darwin and our island hopping adventure in Vanuatu and Fiji.
Subscribe and travel along.
Wout of the World
Online travel show in Dutch and English with World traveler and actor Wout of the World. In dozens of episodes Wout takes you out for adventure all over the world, always in the most budget-friendly way. Enjoy over 120 countries from your couch, phone or the computer.