Wayne Kerr Does the Desert

[Wayne Kerr]

I see how the local indigenous folk have come to believe that their ancestor’s spirits are inside these rocks .


^ I often wonder when I see things like if some rat bags have spent a few years chiselling away to scare the kiddies


^ A close up on the face of an ancestor of some lucky indigenous chap

[Wayne Kerr]

Here’s a whole heap of photos of the rock formations within the park without comments. I didn’t write anything mainly as I can’t think of what to say. When I first saw them it was like “fuck, that’s nice”, “oh fuck, that’s better” … anyway hope they load okay in here and enjoy.

[Wayne Kerr]

[Wayne Kerr]

[Wayne Kerr]

We got away late after spending half the day bashing around the bungle bungles. Johnny Longprong reckons he caught up with a Swedish backpacker whilst off exploring the rock formations by himself (well that was his story, but he did look very pleased with himself) and we were well knackered. He’s a bit of a health nut our old Johnny Longprong which is a bit of a surprise given the amount of beer he drinks, and he and Paul the photographer bloke always looked a bit nervous at the quarantine/border checkpoints. I think they may have had a little more stashed in their bags then they let on … the old whacky tobaccy I imagine. Seemed to do alright with the odd backpacker sheila though .

We were headed for a place called Mary Pool. To get to this place you need to cross a causeway and there are usually quite a few salt water crocodiles in the creek by the camp site, but it was the dry and there didn’t seem to be too many about (we hoped). I had my "persuader" handy in case they tried to get into the tent … I usually don’t sleep with the safety on the rifle off, but I did that night. Johnny Longprong knew I was “shitting pineapples” and gave me heaps. The other blokes missed the croc warning signs, so we kept our traps shut in the hope that Wally the horses hoof cook would get cleaned up by one whilst doing the dishes to add a bit of spice to the trip. Here's a few good photos on the way in .


^ Spinifex country in the west Kimberly area of Western Australia


^ Crossing the croc lined creek coming into the camp … Johnny Longprong and I only noticed the crocodile warning signs as we stopped to get some pics of the other guys coming across


^ Crocodile warning sign


^ Set my tent up a little further away from the creek then the other chaps that night and had the windows rolled up so I could see what was lurking around at night

[jizzybloke]

The pics of the rocks and stuff came out well WK, the only similar thing iv'e experienced is the Grand Canyon and my photos were shit.
People asked me what its like and you can't really explain, in the end i just said go and see yourself a verbal description can't do it justice.

[MeMock]

Wayne, what date where you in Kununurra?

[Jock Itch]

great thread Wayne !! - makes one wonder what the hell we're doing day by day doing the grind in the big smoke - should load up the Hilux at head out bush !!

Can't wait till Jock jr is a bit older to get out on some bush/fishing safari's !!

Maybe you'll have to bring Wayne jr next time and we'll make a convoy of it !!

[klongmaster]

magnificent colours in these rocks...

[El Gibbon]

Flock me Wayne, I enjoy all your threads but this one is spectacular...

"must ... green before you can'......

You've a great eye for photography and really am enjoying the Auz tour.

E. G.

[terry57]

Lovely stuff wayne. I ain't never been up there.

[babygirl]

Great thread! Those rock formations are amazing! What type of rock is it?
The pics of the reflection of the trees along the riverside are beautiful.

[Wayne Kerr]

I think you’ll find that the rocks are made of sandstone BG. Thanks for all the nice comments. I was initially a bit reluctant to post this on here as it isn’t really related to Asia or Thailand, but I guess that’s one of the nice things about TD. Glad to hear that some are enjoying it.

Anyway, back to road …

Next stop was Winjana Gorge National Park - . This bit I’ll again split up into three parts. The first bit (this post) is a look at the Tunnel Creek National Park. The second is the place we visited that was the location for a massive battle between a legendary aboriginal freedom fighter and the eurpoean settlers in the late 1800s. The final includes some shots from the beautiful Winjana Gorge.

Tunnel Creek National Park, little to the west of the Bungle Bungles, check it out here on Google Earth - .


^ Welcome to Tunnel Creek


^ A bit of information about how the tunnels were formed


^ Heaps of life in the underground


^ Some more nice rock formations in Tunnel Creek


^ Walking into Tunnel Creek -1


^ Walking into Tunnel Creek - 2


^ Walking out of Tunnel Creek


^ A lovely Boab Tree at Tunnel Creek

[Wayne Kerr]

Next stop was to check out the location of a legendary stand between an Aboriginal freedom fighter and the local white blokes in the early days. The story boards give some info (you made need your glasses) and the wrecked plaque to the deceased copper indicates feeling in the local community about who should have been the honoured one.


Aboriginal freedom fighter – storyboard 1


Aboriginal freedom fighter – storyboard 2


Aboriginal freedom fighter – storyboard 3


Aboriginal freedom fighter – storyboard 4


Aboriginal freedom fighter – wrecked plaque for copper killed in the stand

[Wayne Kerr]

Winjana Gorge National Park was friggin lovely. Few photos of the place below. We got into a bit of strife from the ranger out there for unknowingly camping in the tour operator section of the camp site (bloody 10 acres and no one in it) but Johnny Longprong smoothed things over. Big Kev is a bit of a lad and gave the poor young ranger bloke a bit of stick about being a bit of control freak government type. The gorge was magnificent the next morning and we saw many Johnson river crocs (freshwater, and only take your hand off it you put in their mouth types) – see the last few pics.

[tiswas]

As usual Wayne another truly fantastic thread, once again cannot find the right words to describe this.

[buad hai]

^The high quality of the photos is a big plus. Technically excellent, beautifully composed and enormously interesting.

Well done, again.

[Wayne Kerr]

^The high quality of the photos is a big plus. Technically excellent, beautifully composed and enormously interesting. Well done, again.

Just a handful of good ones picked from maybe thousands, so as you can imagine there are lots of crap ones. Much credit has to go to my travel companion Johnny Longprong who took most of the "artistic" type ones .

[Wayne Kerr]

After a busy morning exploring the gorge we were off to our next stop - the small coastal town of Broome on the northwest coast of Western Australia. We weren’t far out of the national park when we spotted these turd like looking structures on the side of the road … they were quite evenly distributed like in the photo below for a good 15-20 km in all directions. We gave bloody Wally the Cook heaps, asking if he’d started taking dumps like the real men on the trip and all that. He didn’t like it … but I reminded him that he should learn to expect such treatment for carrying on like a bloody horses hoof all the time.


^ Big turd like looking things on the way to Broome

First stop on the way was a place called Derby for lunch and a few cold beers to help soak of the smell of salt in the air again … you quickly forget how good the sea smells after a week or so in the bush.

Derby is a tidal port mainly used to export lead and other mineral concentrates from nearby mines. They load the stuff onto small draft ships which take it out to export ships waiting offshore. Beaches aren’t so inviting, and they have massive tidal ranges up there (about 7-9 metres) and plenty of hungry crocs about ready to clean up unsuspecting tourists. Made me wonder how many of the boat people that wash up in this part of the world end up as croc food … far more than the immigration mob in Canberra let on I imagine. Best thing about Derby is the freshwater sawfish burgers at the local fish and chip shop … check em out if you’re ever in town


^ Crappy looking beach in Derby Western Australia


^ Funny crocodile warning sign


^ The famous freshwater sawfish that the local fish and chip shop uses to knock up a lovely fish burger and chips

Derby has got some lovely Boab trees. The one in the picture below was used as a jail for local Indigenous folk as recently as 10 years I think.


^ Boab tree jail in Derby, Western Australia


^ The old Boab trees are a bit promiscuous and we spotted this one trying to breed with a gum tree

[Wayne Kerr]

Broome’s a bloody lovely place ... check it out here - .

You can see on Google Earth that the joint is located on a big tropical bay. The area has been used for yonks to culture pearls, but being the bushman we are, and knowing that we could buy similar things in places like Beihai in China for a tenth of the price, we kept out of the pearl shops and spent most of the time at the local pub trying to get laid. Broome has about 15,000 residents, but lots of tourists from all over the world. Quite a lively little town and reckon I could easily spend a few months or years living there. A few pics of Broome below:


^ The lovely Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia … taken with my trusty mobile phone on my early morning run


^ Roebuck Bay in Broome, Western Australia


^ Rog the mechanic in his lucky yellow shorts


^ Roebuck Bay surf beach


^ You might of heard of the mob in Australia that hires budget campers to backpackers. They paint them in all sorts of weird designs and have stuff written on them that could only appeal to the mentality of a rock lifter ... they seem to be everywhere in Aus these days. Anyway, here’s their website should you be interested - Campervan Hire Australia, Camper Van Rentals, Wicked Campers Oz.


^ Good thing about these camper vans is that if you hang around long enough there’s a fair chance some hot little number will rock up … here’s a pic of Johnny Longprong going up to say g’day.


^ Camel riding seems to be quite popular in Broome … the business attracts all manner of butch women as this photo shows. It is estimated that there are over 500,000 camels in Australia … having initially been brought in with Afghan handlers to help explore the deserts. These days Australia exports the things back to the camel jockey countries to put some genetic diversity back into their racing animals. They don’t cause too much environmental damage but are bloody dangerous if you get too close to them as we were to learn the hard way a few days later.


^ The foreshore area on Roebuck Bay beach was a great place to have a few cold beers. This is taken from the local pub.

[Wayne Kerr]

One night in the township of Broome was enough and we were keen to get somewhere a little more remote. A quick check of the map and we put our finger on Cape Keraudren, about 400 km south of Broome, as the perfect overnight stopover. The Cape is located at the end of 80 mile beach and is basically a big croc infested estuary. We had a great afternoon checking out the mangrove lined creeks and were treated to a spectacular sunset over the Indian Ocean. Check out Cape Keraudren on Google Earth by clicking here - .

On the way there were came across this roadhouse that had recently burnt down. The owners were battling on in a makeshift shop with a few fuel pumps, and as you can see from the sign hadn’t yet lost their sense of humour.


^The Sandfire Roadhouse ... recently burnt down in an electical fire


^ This bloke was doing the trip on a big trail bike ... this was the temporary shop the poor old chap out there had set up after the fire


^ Sign at the old roadhouse ... I guess they got tired of answering the same questions day in day out ... might make a shirt like this in Thai for next trip out "What's your name?" ... "Where do you come from?" ... "Do you want a shag" etc


^ Lovely mangrove lined creeks at the Cape ... we spotted quite a few crocs lurking at about 2 or 3 metres


^ The tidal range there is about 9 metres ... so at low tide the place don't look so good ... fortunately it was high tide around sunset


^ These mud flats went out for kilometres


^ Our camp site at Cape Keraudren ... we were a bit "off our faces" at the time


^ Sunset from our campsite looking over the estuary and Indian Ocean in the background


^ Johhny Longprong and Big Kev ... the bloke on the left is 6'2'' tall ... the bloke on the right is a giant


^ Johnny Longprong


^ Sunset over Cape Keraudren estuary and Indian Ocean - 2


^ Sunset over Cape Keraudren estuary and Indian Ocean - 3

[dirtydog]

Do all Australians take their corks off their hats at night

[daveboy]

fantastic really enjoyed reading this thread .

[geoff]

Magnificent photo's. Well done.

Makes you want to go to Oz for your next hol.!!!!!

[HAMILTON]

yes. I've had a month there already. Cant wait to get back. Will spend more time the next trip. Thanks WK