Middle Lagoon is a popular place for caravaners and campers in the Broome region. It’s around 140kms north of Broome on the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberleys (not to be confused with the area around the town of Dampier in the Pilbarra).
We stayed on for a few nights after the wedding, tidying up the photos to make sure there were some good keepers, and just relaxing. 19 days after leaving home in Busselton, it was time to leave the newly-weds to have some time on their on, and start out on our return trip. Wow, we packed a lot into that 19 days.
With the wedding done and dusted, it was time for a bit of sightseeing and relaxation.
We’ve camped at Edith Falls before and loved it. It’s approximately 90kms north of the farm, and as Nikki hadn’t as yet been there we figured it’d make a good day trip. It’s in a National Park, so Mr Tilly had to stay behind. We figured he’d be okay inside the house with the air conditioning running (how wrong we were – more on that later).
A beautiful swimming spot for a refreshing dip
There’s a camp ground, a day use area, a kiosk, the lower area and another top area. The top area is accessed by a hiking track and has a beautiful swimming hole to cool off in after the hike I seem to remember from our last visit. This visit wasn’t about hiking though, it was about relaxation, so we stayed at the bottom pool.
Paul managed a quick dip, Kelvin dipped a toe in the water proclaiming it too cold, and Nikki (a non-swimmer) stayed clear of the water altogether. I though, couldn’t resist a chance to freshen up with a good cooling swim, and set out for the water fall. I’m not the swimmer I used to be so took it slow, with a few little rests on the way.
The waterfall’s a bit more powerful up close.There was another little creek area that Kelvin managed to get into
There were lots of birds and lizards including this little wavy lizard – if you’re quiet and can get close enough he lifts his front leg and seemingly waves at you. I loved the little Zebra Finches too.
On the way home we called into the Katherine Hot Springs, a favourite place for locals, tourists and backpackers.
Theres a lot of work being done in the surrounding areas of the Katherine springs to upgrade the area, so I look forward to seeing how it all turns out on my next visit to Katherine.
It was nice to get out and relax after such a hectic week. Clearly though, Tills hadn’t been happy at being left behind. He had tried to get out, ripping the floor vinyl near the door in the process. Oh dear! In fact, he wasn’t very well behaved on the farm at all. He ran wild chasing birds and butterflies and wouldn’t respond at all when we called him – and now he had destroyed the flooring. What to do with him! I don’t know – clearly some serious training is needed. He needs to be adaptable in the different situations our future planned travel is going to be taking us. Mmmm – wish us luck on that one!
As is often the case, nerves made it difficult to get good photos during the service. As is also the case at most weddings, some time was set aside away from the guests and pressure of the wedding just to have some fun and try to get some good photos. Paul was the photographer.
We arrived in Venn, 25kms south of Katherine on Sunday afternoon, five days before the marriage was to take place. Initially the only people that were going to be in attendance was to be Kelvin & Dara, Paul and myself, and the celebrant. I think Kelvin was concerned that if he started inviting friends to a wedding, then a wedding was going to be expected, and a wedding means money, an expense not wanted at this point of time in the newly-weds lives.
After two nights in Kununurra we made an early start for Katherine on the eleventh day into our trip. Our breakfast stop this time was at Big Horse Creek, which is situated on the Victoria River.
Again we had a few possible stops in mind for our next two nights. Our plan had been to have shorter days, with one more stop in WA, and then two stops before reaching Kelvin’s farm near Katherine.
We left Broome at 7am with a few possible overnight destinations in mind. One was Fitzroy Lodge caravan park, the next was Ngumban Cliff Rest Area, and the other possible was Mary Pool. We had Ellandale Station Rest Area pencilled in for our breakfast stop.