Monday 20 August – Well we seem to have set ourselves a new level of organisation as again we were away by 8am!  We’re getting the hang of this touristy stuff.  Today we had a 260km drive to Derby which went without a hitch.  We stopped mid morning at one of the roadside stops for the ever welcome cuppa, and this stop featured a massive boab tree which was quite hollow, so that was something really weird to see.  We chatted to some people there and one of the couples is two years into a five year travel plan, so they’ve still got a way to go.  They’ve even bought a new caravan mid-stream.

That's a man standing to the right of the base.

We arrived in Derby by lunchtime, and Zola really ruined her reputation trying to locate the address of the caravan park we had thought we would stay at.  So much so that we ditched that idea and went to the one we could find!  So we are installed in the West Kimberley Lodge, which interestingly is an adult only caravan park.  It is quite small (only about 22 sites) and the couple running it are very nice.  When I was booking in I told the woman (whose name I don’t know) that we would stay two nights, as tomorrow we wanted to do the Tunnel Creek/Windjana Gorge full day tour – a return journey of 390km, quite a portion of it on the Gibb River Road.  Without me saying any more she got on the phone to the Information Office and then delivered the shattering news that tomorrows tour was fully booked and they only run every second day.  And we really didn’t feel that we could spare two extra nights here, given the dates we have to keep in mind.  I was very disappointed as the kids all told us this was a must do, and we were really looking forward to it.  So I only booked for the two nights and we set up and had some lunch, all the while trying to work out a way of wangling the extra time.

After lunch, first stop was the Derby Hospital for Grant’s blood check and again it was up the putt, so he rang his doctor, had the dosage changed and has to have another blood test and report back on Thursday.  It’s starting to get at Grant a bit – all these blood tests when he was going so well at home with his readings.  But it is what it is, so we just have to get on with things.  Then Grant suggested that we should go to the Information office and see if we could put our names down for any cancellations on tomorrows outing.  So around we went, and when I asked the girl whether there are ever any cancellations she said no, but as there had been another couple also enquiring, she would know at around three o’clock if they would put on a bigger bus, so she took our names and phone number and said she would ring us when she found out.

From there we went for a bit of a drive to the wharf and walked around it, watching the rapidly changing tide come in.  Today was an eleven metre rise – and it was coming in quickly.

From there we headed back into town to find a hole in the wall, when my phone rang and it was Kym from the Information office, and we were in luck!  So we called straight around there and paid our money, so we’re in!  And while we were doing that we happened to strike up a conversation with another couple who happened to come from Dixon’s Creek, and when they asked for our daughters name and I said Amanda Hull, the woman said ‘Oh! She taught our grandchildren to swim!’  Two of their grandchildren go to school with Samara and Brody, so fancy that – they actually know Amanda and the kids.

It was then time to stock up the pantry a bit, so we went to Woolies and did that before coming back, relaxing a bit, then getting tea.  It’s been 34 degrees today, and now (it’s almost ten o’clock pm), Grant is sitting outside the van and it is beautiful.  We’ve just checked our requirements list for tomorrows excursion and we need to take our bathers, a torch and a change of shoes, so hang on for the next exciting episode.