The Kimberley

Darwin is a much smaller city than you might expect. With a population of just 71,000 people there are essentially only 2 streets and a shopping centre that puts even the Pavillions to shame (that's the crap one in Uxbridge incase you don't know). However, it is full of nice enough folk (despite an obsession with country music) and after a pleasant couple of days lounging around a pool we headed off to Broome in our spanky new luxury camper.

The route to Broome goes accross the north west tip of Australia, through an area known as the Kinberley. The drive is... well to be honest it's bloody boring. The main activity is seeing whether on bit of long straight road is longer and straighter than the last bit of long straight road. 62km was the longest bit of road without so much as a slight curve - how very interesting. See the photo for an example.

The only minor bit of amusement came when we visited a town called Kunnunra. Behind the town is a big rocky hillock of sorts know as "Kelly's Knob". In fact, the summit of Kelly's Knob offers good views of the surrounding area, so the sign actually says "Lookout - Kelly's Knob".

Granted, this is only amusing if you know a Mr. Richard Kelly, even then you have to be aware of his historical fondness for exposing himself - but nonetheless we can all marvel at the coinsidental fact that his soon-to-be wife's name is Kimberley.

Oh yeah, Kerri has just reminded me that I have conveniently forgotten to mention that we ran out of petrol in the middle of freaking nowhere. I guess I had better take responsibility as I had refused to pay the frankly extortionate $1.90 a litre the the rip-off merhants at the Doon Doon Roadhouse were charging. What I failed to realize was that the next fuel stop was 200km away and I had only a quater of a tank left.

With no sign of life for 50 miles in any direction, our first reaction was to poo our pants and we fully expected to have to wait a couple of days for a spotter plane to rescue us. However, in a stroke of good fortune tha can only be described as divine, no more that 5 minutes behind us was a campervan eing driven by a couple of Germans. God bless them and their efficient nature! Not only did they have a jerry can full of diesel, but they also understood the workings of our Mercedes suficiently to get her started again!

I swear, I will never hear a bad word about them again.