After Kununurra you are flanked on either side by rugged mountain ranges so the drive is quite spectacular. The vegetation changes
all the time and there are lots of amazing boab trees. The boab is a deciduous tree which has leaves in the wet and in the dry (winter) their finger like branches make a great outline against the sky especially when there is a sunset. They also get a large fruit which is used by the aborigines as a bush food. The boabs can grow huge and were sometimes used as a Prison Tree in the early days – prisoners were held in the hollow truck of big trees. We were interested to see that some have leaves and others where completely leafless and maybe they are getting confused by the large amount of unseasonal rain that has fallen in the area.We stopped at Warrum for fuel and there we saw a white trike like Brian’s so of course we had to chat. They came from Newcastle and were heading to Broome. They also happened to be staying in the same freebie that we were. When we arrived we made sure we camped near them so lots more chatting could take place. That night there was a huge camp fire and everyone was invited. We like staying at the free stops as they are friendlier and everyone says hello.
This one was on the Ord River (which was a dry creek bed). These rivers are a great source of firewood as lots of logs and sticks get swept down and caught in trees during the wet season when most of the rivers are in flood.
Heading west again we past the Bungle Bungle turn off and made our way Halls Creek which was a gold mining town in the early days. Now it is a small aboriginal community and we noticed a big improvement in the town since last time we were here two years ago as these towns have been made “a dry area “i.e. you can’t buy alcohol. We just filled up with fuel and passed through.
Our next stop was Mary Pools which is a very popular free camp on the Mary River. There are huge shady river gums here so you definitely have to get here early.
We always try to arrive about lunchtime which allows us to have some time to relax as well. The vans kept rolling in all afternoon and one of the couples that we had been bumping into along the way ended up camping right near us unbeknown to us. 
It was great to see them again. Then low and behold another couple turned up. We cooked our meal on our camp fire again that night and our friends joined us around the fire.
On the road again towards Fitzroy Crossing the next fuel stop. The only supermarket in town had been burnt down. We went for a little drive around the town and there were lots of new aboriginal housing being built. They are very modern buildings.
The countryside becomes flat and rather drab and we arrived at the last free stop to find the tail wind had become a lot stronger.
Luckily we arrived here early as it became very crowded later in the afternoon. Both our friends ended up here and one couple came to our van for a game of Rummycub.
On the road again for the last leg of the journey west, right across WA to Broome. It started raining about 100 kms out of Broome and by the time we arrived it was bucketing down. This is very unusual as it is normally hot and sunny. We weren’t planning to stay very long in Broome as we had been here before and it is very hard to get a camping site unless you book months ahead.
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