Celebrations at Sawpit

We left Purnululu NP early Saturday morning and collected Val and Henry on the highway, headed for a free camp outside Halls Creek that was meant to be nice. We arrived at Sawpit Gorge and got the pick of the spots, on the river bed right next to a swimming hole and under some huge orange rocks, it was beautiful. The place is popular with locals so we had a few others camped nearby on Saturday night but got the place to ourselves on Sunday and Monday nights. 

Sunday was party day! Daniel's 35th birthday certainly had a food theme. He began with a huge pancake stack for breakfast and ended with roast pork and beef (with all the extras) then chocolate mud cake with rich chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream (all washed down with beer, champagne and Jack Daniels). The kids dressed up, with Emilia wearing a princess dress all day (even when fishing!). We all had a great day, even though our fridge packed up in the morning and we had to squash heaps into Val's (we made sure there was room for the drinks though!).

We spent the next day relaxing in our gorgeous spot, swimming and taking turns in the hammock. Daniel took the kids to the nearby Palm Springs, a warm spring and large pool where they spent a few hours jumping off the rocks. We were tempted to stay a few more days but decided the responsible thing was to get to Broome to get our fridge looked at

Looking over the swimming hole to our campsite

Daniel's birthday breakfast

Fishing in her party dress (which she insisted on wearing all day).

Fishing Princess

Getting ready for the celebrations

Mmmm. Two delicious roasts cooked by the birthday boy.

Cake time.

Jackson after he took a tumble in the bulldust 

The view between the gorge (you can see Val and Henry's van to the right).

Early morning picnic to enjoy the view.

The kookaburras up here have blue wings and much bigger beaks.

Emilia, Daniel and Henry after a big climb

Nudie swim

The picturesque cliffs at Sawpit Gorge.

We left Tuesday morning and did a huge day of driving (about 600km). The kids were fabulous so we just kept going to get closer to Broome. Daniel's habit of checking out gated tracks (where lots of people don't go because of the gate) paid off and we had a fantastic spot to ourselves near the Fitzroy River in Willare. We left before 7am the next morning to get to Broome. They took our van for most of the day to fix the fridge, which thankfully was only a blocked injector (probably due to the thick layer of Kimberley dust in the van) and only cost us $150. 

Val and Henry took us out for a lovely dinner at Zanders on Cable Beach where we all indulged. Emilia managed to eat nearly a whole berry sundae to herself even though she was meant to be going halves with Nanna! Poor Val only got a few scoops. We only spent two nights in Broome to restock for our next adventure, though we did mange some time playing on the gorgeous Cable Beach and dancing to live country music during 'happy hour' at the caravan park

What a sundae

She couldn't believe her luck

Cuddles with batman.

Posing princess

Dressed up in his favorite batman costume