This fortnight we discover some stunning rocks and some pretty quirky types in Marble Bar then rediscover Broome and unearth a few new delights before heading up to the Northern reaches of the Kimberly and tackling part of the Gibb River Road then on along the great Northern highway to Fitzroy Crossing. You can see more details on our adventures in Parrott’s OzLap week 13 video and Parrott’s OzLap Week 14 video

Off their marbles in Marble Bar Monday 5^th – Tuesday 6^th July

Monday of week 13 found us rattling across from Dale’s Gorge in Karijini to Marble Bar on the 65km dirt Hillside road ‘shortcut’. We came in to Marble Bar via the old Comet Gold Mine (now a ghost town) and found our caravan park at the base of the water tower. Marble Bar holds the record for the most days over 50c in a row (116 back in 1917) but was a very pleasant 25c when we visited. Three things to tick on a trip to Marble Bar are 1. Drinks or dinner at the infamous Iron Clad Hotel (the first pub in Western Australia to get Air-con), just to read the quirky signs, meet the even quirkier locals and sample impromptu live music or a game of pool.  2. Sunset from the water tower – walking track loops right from behind the amenities block in the caravan park or from behind the police station in town. 3. Visit to Marble Bar Pool, a natural waterhole 2 km out of town where the most striking deposit of Jasper (which they thought at the time was Marble – hence how the town got its name), Quartz and Citrine stone.

Back to beautiful 80-mile beach Wed 7-Fri 9^th July

We took the road out of Marble Bar, across more mining areas of the Pilbara and copped a second crack in our windshield from one of the hundreds of road trains in this busy area. Grrrr. We made it to the 80-mile beach caravan park turnoff at 4pm to find, as we feared, the Campground Full sign out. What to do….50km back or forward to the only other campground options – two rather dodgy roadhouses, or…maybe we could pull over at that lovely big Telstra Tower just up there…. So we did, and camped under the arial for the night and enjoyed watching Netflix with no buffering for once! We were on the road down to 80-mile beach at 8am, right behind the grader (thanks for the smooth ride in!) and snaffled a nice big, powered site for two nights, did the laundry and hit the beach. Three things to tick on a trip to 80-mile beach campground are: 1. Enjoy the outputs of the café – delish café grande ice-cream, best ever homemade sausage rolls and Devonshire teas plus a feature meal with fellow campers each night. 2. Ride, run, walk – or dive (if you must) along 80-mile beach forever in both directions and 3. Wednesday and Saturday market with live music, homemade goodies and cheap haircuts!

Broome or bust Fri 9^th – Wednesday 14^th July

We had to go back through Broome to continue on to the northern Kimberly region so we decided to visit a few old favourites. It was twice as packed as our last visit (if that’s possible) thanks to the school holidays and a surf carnival. The supermarket shelves looked post-apocalyptic and the cable beach sunsets like a New Year’s Eve party! Still, we managed to find a few new surprises (golf club, Oyster bar and Mabu Mayi café) and revisit some old highlights (cable beach walks and sunset, sun cinemas, Matsos Brewery!) which included: 1. Sunset drinks at the new, freshly opened Broome Golf Club with views over both Cable Beach and town beach (no restaurant yet but they allowed a few guys to BBQ on their own gas stove!). 2. Dinner at the Oyster Bar, Cable Beach with delicious zucchini flowers, fish tacos and crab linguini (but a seriously limited wine list with no local wines) 3. Mabu Mayi fully indigenous owned and run café at the Yawuru cultural centre in Broome for the most amazingly fresh and delicious food in a really chill setting.

Derby Wednesday 14^th – Friday 16^th July

Derby, 2 hours up the road is another casualty of covid with half the town shut down and a little worse for wear. There is however is a lot of indigenous history in this area (The Boab Prison Tree on the way in to town shares the horrors of the early settlers kidnapping aborigines for pearl diving) and a new and impressive Majuwan Arts and Cultural centre as well as some magnificent art galleries ( we were lucky enough to catch to exhibition of 50 years of the Kimberly Art Prize out at the airport which had fabulous art and photography). Thee’s also a brand new Spinifex hotel and the wharf puts on a pretty decent sunset over the tidal mangrove swamp. You can escape town and stay at Birdwood Downs cattle station 20km down the road. So the three things to tick on a trip to Derby are: 1. A visit to the Majuwan Arts and Cultural Centre to read about the Wanjuina spirits that created this land and hear the stories of indigenous life around the Kimberley, 2. Visit Mark Norval’s Studio and Art Gallery to see local aborigines at work, see Mark’s magnificent paintings and art and hear the story of this talented artists nurturing of indigenous art in Derby. 3. Sunset from the Derby Wharf and a pizza at Jila Art Gallery and Cafe.

Fitzroy Crossing Saturday 17th – Sunday 18th July

Friday we headed down the Northern highway to Fitzroy Crossing and checked in to the Fitzroy Lodge Van park. We were somewhat alarmed by the reviews on Wiki Camps which all spoke of high levels of theft in the area and this was confirmed by the reception staff who advised us to only book and pay for one night at a time as they did not give refunds if we chose to leave early due to security reasons! Well, we slept with one eye open and one ear to the ground and of course every kangaroo was a potential thief and every scratching lizard or bird a break and entry! Still we had a good night playing boules and eating chilli and the next day enjoyed a walk along the Fitzroy – Margaret river confluence and a 1 hour boat tour up Geike Gorge marvelling at the beautiful rocks, birds and crocs (of course).

Three things to tick in Fitzroy Crossing are: 1. Fitzroy River Lodge with its shady pool, tavern and good wifi to chill for a couple of days 2. Catch a local game of footy at the Fitzroy Crossing sports oval and 3. Geike Gorge walks and boat cruise up the gorge to see the beautiful limestone caves, 300+ crocodiles lazing on the banks and stay for the sunset to watch the cliffs glow.