The Ord

Monday 6th July 2009
Fitzroy Crossing was behind us by 7am and we enjoyed the morning travel in the ever changing landscape of the Kimberley. The Boab Tree is still prominent in the area and amazes us with its resilience to bush fires. Wherever a fire has been through the bush the Boab survives almost without damage and the fire does not seem to affect its growth or leaves at all. I have also noticed that bush fires up here are mainly ground fires and don't do much damage to vegetation which is a meter or more of the ground.
One interesting effect occurs when there is a dry branch on the ground and it gets burned by a fire - the remaining ash, which is white, leaves an outline of the branch on the ground. The result is a magnificent piece of art by mother nature which looks a little bit like the outline of a crime victim drawn on the ground by police.
At the township of Halls Creek we refuelled and to our surprise were able to use a Coles 4c discount docket.
About 100km after Halls Creek we camped in a 24hr rest area beside the Ord River upstream of Lake Argyle.
The surrounding landscape consisted of hills which have the Bungle Bungle look and river beds which were mostly dry. The Ord River, where we were camped, was no exception - we took a walk in the riverbed which was full of trees and smaller vegetation but no sign of water anywhere. It seems a bit odd, but we collected our firewood from the Ord Riverbed where there is a supply of River gum branches washed down during the wet season and nicely dried out.
We spent the afternoon on firewood collecting and cutting but also managed to find time for a chat with other campers. A couple from Germany, Steffi and Christian out on holidays for one year, joined us during the afternoon and together with another couple from the caravan next door we lit had a campfire to keep us warm. Later on we even enjoyed a fresh camp oven damper before retiring to bed near midnight.