Day 18 - Broome to Halls Creek - 718km

Away to an early start again and met some of the local wildlife on the road just out of Cable Beach..they didn't seem too concerned that they were holding up traffic!

Started to see lots of cattle beside the roads but fortunately they stayed right there and didn't venture out on to the road in front of us, however we did see some evidence that indicated a couple of the beasts had made some poor decisions regarding when to cross roads.

This is a roadhouse whose name i have forgotten and couldn't pronounce anyway, however it was just before the turnoff to Derby. This is very typical of the roadhouses out here in the never never. We didn't go up to Derby but continued on Highway One up to Fitzroy Crossing. The locals at the roadhouse warned us about lots of stray cattle on the roads ahead however amazingly the only cattle we saw in the next 235km were two dead ones!!

Off in the distance were a couple of quite significant bushfires however we fortunately didn't have to go too close to them. There were some smaller ones along the the route we travelled however didn't affect us at all. At least today didn't get quite as hot as yesterday although still managed 35 degrees most of the day. In fact was 34 at 9.00am!

These guys were a little too wide to argue with so had to pull over and let them go on their merry way. At least the car with the flashing lights in front of them wasn't interested in me this time!

The by now obligatory straight road photo and also one of those rare moments where I decided to open it up a little..Coz I Can!

Would have thought this bush would have seen what happens to the wildlife that strays onto the roads, never mind, just had to go around it and leave it be.

Leaving Fitzroy Crossing we had another 300km stint without any civilisation and arrived in Halls Creek about 2pm which was our destination for the night. The cladding on the Liquor Store shown below probably indicates the calibre of the local population as does the warning sheet in the motel room which provides the direct phone number of the local police station in the event of any "situations". Should be okay though as the hotel/motel we are staying in is surrounded by 6ft high barbed wire fence - and it's not to keep the dingoes out either!! AAhh...life in the outback!!

We have decided to alter our schedule a little here and use up one of our "spare" days so we will only go 360km up the road to Kununurra in the morning and take a scenic flight in the afternoon down over Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles. This will see us probably arrive in Darwin on Friday, a day later than originally planned.