Mary Pool and Halls Creek

Friday dawned overcast again, but as we drove east from Fitzroy Crossing to Halls Creek, the sky cleared up progressively, and then become overcast again. The people are stunned by the cool and wettish weather, and we notice that cars and shops have their heaters on full bore.

We left Fitzroy Crossing via the old crossing, now consigned to a corrugated dirt road, and not via the new bridge. Again, a fairly uninteresting drive but a break at Mary Pool (on the Mary River) proved to be a wonderful relief from the boredom. We had heard about Mary Pool before this trip, and from many people during the trip, but we didn't realise what made it wonderful. We thought, is it a great swimming hole? A majestic river? Neither, it is the wildlife there! The trees are heavily laden with thousands of noisy corellas (must be a cacophony at dawn), the languid river boasts equally languid freshwater crocs, and we also saw numerous other birds, cranes, sandpipers etc.

Not quite matching the corellas in number are the numbers of free campers there. We counted about 25 camps (vans etc) set up, and the people were some of the most friendly we had come across - must be the spirit of the free camper! Our friends Jo and Henry had warned us on how awful the long drop toilets were in this location. We can report that the camp toilets were clean, not smelly, and equipped with toilet paper (by the campers, by the look of it). The bowl itself was an intrguiging contraption, moulded in concrete and painted white, without a seat or a cover.

Hoping for good news, we got the dreaded bad news when we reported to the Halls Creek visitor info centre. The road to Purnululu National Park (the Bungle Bungles) is closed, and the situation won't be reviewed until Monday. A bit more rain is expected, what's more. Lots of people have been trapped in the park, and there being no supplies available in there, today they towed the light 4WDs out. Tomorrow, apparently, they're going to use a grader to tow out the large 4WDs.

So we're holed up at the Halls Creek Caravan Park - it's usually a dusty mess, but now its a muddy mess. I asked the owner why he doesn't have grass like they do at Fitzroy Crossing and he (nicely) lectured me on how big the Fitzroy River is compared to the non-existent Halls Creek, and how strict the water restrictions are here. This afternoon, we could have visited some attractions out of Halls Creek, such as the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater, Caroline's Pool, the China Wall and an oasis called Palm Springs but, you guessed it, they're down dirt roads which are firmly closed. So we did a walk of town, and saw more of the same old problems with the indigenous population. Quite a few young ones talked to us as we walked around, they are as bright as buttons, and its so sad to contemplate their limited opportunities.