"Even the glory of the river ends at the sea." Russian proverb

Friday 7 on the morning of August we finish our last fruit but have to separate us from the remaining cloves of garlic at the border, Western Australia does not accept the importation of fruits and fresh vegetables or honey, fish, nuts... From back in the home state of Ronald we are leaving the Victoria Highway for a nice detour of thirty kilometres to the largest lake in the southern hemisphere by human. The waters of Lake Argyle, home to many thousands of animals, are retained by the Ord River dam built in 1973, including hydroelectric station supplies from 1996 the towns of Wyndham and Kununurra.

In the latter we stop for some shopping and a final round in Transportation Center to me ; just the time to want to tear his hair : I could pass the driving test after finding no less than five official papers proving my identity, filled three forms and pay the transfer fee that I have not had in the Northern Territory. Mais j’apprends alors que l’Australie Occidentale est le seul État qui ne donne pas le permis après le test de conduite, il faut encore attendre six mois et passer un troisième examen sur ordinateur… Je ne sais pas encore où je serai en février 2016 mais probablement pas en Australie. Enfin merci pour les informations et la surprise en regardant la pendule du Département des Transports de voir que notre journée vient de se rallonger d’une heure et demie : nous avons changé de zone, plus que six heures de différence avec la France. 😉

Puisque nous avons du rab pour faire les touristes, we disdain the small Mirima National Park that requires twelve dollars to get in and take a walk to the view of Kelly's Knob for insight height Kununurra, nothing fancy. We leave the city and ride to the junction of the highways of Victoria and Great Northern, where we leave behind the rest area a little too busy for our taste. Direction Wyndham, we leave the main road for a few kilometers on the Gibb River Road, Not that we're going to do more than five hundred kilometers of track crossing the Kimberley region but just to find a quiet place for the night. Quiet until about twenty-three hours when we are awakened by a very polite farmer explains sorry that we can not stay there, a history of cows fled, lure or trap that we have not fully included in our half-sleep. Everyone apologizes and tells us a place a little further, always on his land where we can spend the night without worry.

With the time change we stand the next day at six and take the opportunity to visit Wyndham early : the dead city has little interest if not his view of Five Rivers at three hundred and thirty meters, which offers one of the vistas breathtaking : the Gulf of Cambridge and its five rivers : King, Words, Durack, Forrest, Pentacost. The road goes no further than Wyndham and we take the South direction with a stop at the water hole Grotto which we descend the hundred thirty steps to enjoy the only place for a while. The arrival of other tourists revival us on the road in the middle of a rocky landscape in temperatures between thirty and thirty-five degrees.

After Halls Creek, the scenery changes slowly, the rocks become mere pebbles in places that extend over several square meters without a blade of grass, giving a deserted look in the flat landscape. After all the Great Sandy Desert is not far, more to the south. But there are also new to the sparse vegetation, a tree that we saw in Katherine but is more present in Kimberley which is iconic : the boab. likely shortcut name baobab, it is the Australian species of the genus Adansonia, probably arrived by water there 190 million years from the island of Madagascar which has six different species, another well-known being in Africa.

We make a detour through the first city established in the Kimberley 1883 : Derby and five thousand inhabitants, known for its huge boab once used as a prison-tree. We also find the ocean and the end - or the beginning, it all depends on perspective ! – the Gibb River Road which joined our bucket list – list of things to do before you die.

Tuesday 11 August we wheels and feet on the west coast of Australia arriving in Broome with pearls - exploited since about the years 1880 - and fifteen thousand five hundred inhabitants. We perform our little ritual city : pick up free brochures to the information center, ask them where are the free Wi-Fi hotspots where available, get to this point Wi-Fi - in this case the library, refuel at the cheapest station, some shopping in Coles then visit the rest of the premises ! We admire a moment in the turquoise waters of Roebuck Bay and meet in the parking lot of the Iris Beach, John and their friend Scuppers, the Toulouse goose saved from gavage, traveling by van when they do not occupy themselves of their ship 1939 and trying to raise awareness of the dangers threatening the Great Barrier Reef.

We spend the night thirty-five kilometers north of Broome on Willie Creek area located at the end of a track. The next day we help to both French and van silted, then talking with them until early afternoon. They are for several months on Broome and we indicate free showers the city in Cable Beach where we do not fail to make a turn before leaving the area to begin our descent from the West Coast. The more than five hundred kilometers between Broome and Port Hedland are quite monotonous but our evenings and mornings are occupied by a hunt that we think termites that live in the tent ! As large as a finger phalange, we identify their sounds, it will take us a few days to get rid.

The second anecdote on this stretch of road is our stop Pardoo Roadhouse justifies the ten dollars of his bag 5 kilos of ice by the fact that they are in a remote area, in course away from civilization and supplies ... Port Hedland is just over one hundred kilometers, we are on the main roads of the State, même au beau milieu du pays, sur une piste de terre et à des centaines de kilomètres d’un supermarché nous avons trouvé de la glace moins chère ! L’achat de glaçons attend notre arrivée dans la ville minière de Port Hedland où nous faisons également quelques courses dans le centre commercial de South Hedland et utilisons le Wi-Fi du MacDonald… Toutes les caractéristiques d’une région lointaine et sauvage ! 😀

Mon ail à 19,56$AUSD le kilo, putain ! Euh … I mean fuck !! Bon, ils n’ont pas trouvé les trois kilos de cocaïne, pfffiou … J’ai eu chaud !

J’ai eu chaud autour du lac Argyle aussi, qui tient son nom d’une ancienne « homestead » de fermiers-settlers, qui aurait été engloutie (enfin sur une période de deux ans !), si l’on n’avait pas reconstitué brique par brique ce ranch australien en dehors du futur (énorme) plan d’eau.

Stations d’élevage de bétail perdues au milieu de nulle part dans les années 1870, c’étaient des pionniers (après les prisonniers!) qui menaient une dure vie (hommes et femmes (des fois seules)) dans une rude contrée, ben vous savez quoi … La famille s’appelait McDonalds 🙂

Il y avait tout de même une montagne de sel dans le port (d’Hedland), c’est pas rien !

Putain de termites ! I mean … fuckin termites !!!

C’était le Modéré de Ronald 😉