Simple day gets long

Day 18 Silent Grove to Broome

The next morning I woke up with a splitting headache and a bit of a fever, yeah. Our morning quick oats tasted a bit off and I thought it was because I was getting sick but actually it was because they had been stunk out by the fuel bladder which I kept in the same pannier. We packed up and set off. For the first half an hour my riding was as terrible as I was feeling, then all of sudden I came right....strange. Meanwhile Rod had taken off ahead and was riding up a storm. The road was really good, bitumen interspersed with (mostly graded) gravel. We passed through the King Leopold Ranges and then through onto Leonard River Bridge.

King Leopold Range

From here we took a quick 20km detour out to Windjana Gorge. I was really keen to check it out (nerdy Geologist) but Rod was a bit upset you couldn't swim there thanks to the resident crocs.

Walking into Windjana Gorge

Limestone Cliffs

View Inside the Gorge

The Locals

After a nice half hour walk up the gorge we remounted the trusty steeds and took off for Derby. This was the boring part of the Gibb, long straight roads with little scenery. With 50km left my main tank ran dry. Usually this isn't a problem but with the panniers on I didn't think I had the fuel to get to Derby. I slowed down to 80km/hr and plodded on. I made it to the roadhouse with 1 litre to spare...plenty aye. And that was the end of the Gibb River Road. At the end of the day it was a bit a let down. We didn't have the fuel range to go off to all of the gorges and while the road can be a struggle in a car on the bikes it was pretty easy.

Tick in the box!

We found a nice cafe/art gallery for lunch. We both had a coffee and a kebab, bliss! We were planning on spending the night in Derby but then we got a text from Rod's Sister in Law saying that half the Drown family  were in and around Broome for a couple a days so we mounted up again and rode 210km of bitumen. Along the way we visited the Derby Prison Boab Tree which has a very checkered past. Rod also wanted a photo of him and his bike under a big Boab by the roadside. The tree he picked had a big "The Lord's return is near" sign on it, classic!

PC Plod down the lockup

Rod on a mission from God

After 150km both of us had a serious case of "monkey butt". The last 60km couldn't go fast enough! We pulled into Broome and made for the caravan park only to receive a hero's welcome (well sort of with a lot of taking the piss) from the extended Drown family. We were then each given a beer (thanks Mark!) and told to get on with setting up camp. We then had a pleasant evening at the local cafe with the whole crowd.

Monkey butt!