Kununurra

Monday 30th June

We got away from Home Valley early before 8am. We crossed the Pentecost River and headed to the end of the Gibb River Road before going to the Kimberleyland Caravan Park at Kununurra.
We had a few things to do while at Kununurra:-

• Go for a drive to Wyndham and see 5 Rivers lookout, the Afghan Cemetery and the Prison Tree
• Go out to Ivanhoe Crossing, east and west side
• Go up to the lookout
• Go on a sunset cruise on Lake Kununurra
• Go out to Lake Argyle
• Get Ray a wheel alignment - this didn't happen though as the F250 is an in between size and doesn't fit on the car aligner and is too small for the truck aligner. So we will see what can be done in Katherine

Margaret under the sign at the end of the Gibb River Road

 John under the sign

Kununurra

 

Kununurra became a town in 1961 and is one of the youngest towns in WA. it has a population of 8000 although in the dry season this grows to 14,000. There are plenty of shops with both a Coles supermarket and an IGA. Kimberley Pink diamonds have their main shop here as well as many art galleries. There are waterways everywhere and extensive sandalwood and mango trees. It is also the home of the Ord River Irrigation Area which grow many crops. 

On Tuesday we went for a drive out to Lake Argyle. On the way we spotted Robyn and Danny our friends from the Gibb. We had seen them at Home Valley and they were heading to Lake Argyle and then on to Darwin. But they had a few car problems and had come into Kununurra to see about them. We found out later that they did  get them fixed and headed on to Darwin.
Anyway on to Lake Argyle. It is huge. It holds 21 times the water which is in Sydney Harbour and is treated like the open sea from a boating perspective.
We drove down to the dam wall, up to the lookouts and went to the pub for lunch, then had a walk around before heading back to Kununurra.

John and Maura on the dam wall at Lake Argyle

Margaret down beside the water outlet from the lake

Maura and Ray at one of the lookouts with lake Argyle in the background

Looking down where the water is released from the dam to flow down the Ord River to Kununurra. The water then gathers in lake Kununurra to be released for the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.

Margaret and John at the lookout

Part of lake Argyle

Looking out over Lake Argyle

















Wednesday 2nd July we headed to Wyndham
The town of Wyndham was gazetted in 1866 and has a history associated with the cattle industry and mining. It was born out of the Halls Creek Gold Rush and in it heyday as many as 10,000 people came ashore here to go hunting for gold. Live cattle export is done from Wyndham now.

Wyndham's major tourist attraction is the 5 Rivers Lookout on top of the Bastion range about 3km from town.

Ray and Margaret at the 5 Rivers lookout

The Cambridge Gulf from the lookout. 5 rivers flow into the gulf, hence the name, the Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack and Forrest Rivers.

Maura and Margaret at the lookout

Looking down on an area where a mining product is brought into Wyndham by boat and then transported to Kununurra by road.

Another view from the lookout

Looking up Cambridge Gulf towards the rivers
















Next stop on the tourist trail was the Afghan Cemetery. This cemetery contains the graves of the Afghan settlers and cameleers who provided an important means of transport between the cattle stations and towns of the region. The graves are large due to the lead camel being buried with his master.

The next stop was the Prison Tree. This is a tree where prisoners were held when trekking from Derby to Wyndham. They were able to be kept in the tree while a policeman kept guard outside. Very primitive.

This is the track through the tidal flats

Some burning of the undergrowth was happening. This is done to encourage new grass growth as feed for the cattle. It looks frightening but is quite controlled.

The Prison Tree. You can see the small opening where the prisoners got into the tree.

This is what it looks like inside. This was with a flash.

Ray, Maura, Margaret and John beside the Prison Tree

The sunlight filtering through the branches of the old Boab Prison Tree.














When we got back to our camp there was a small freshwater crocodile down in the water.

 

 

The next day, Thursday 3rd July we decided to stay local and have a look around Kununurra. First we headed out to the western side of Ivanhoe Crossing. You can't get across anymore for 2 reasons - the water is still too deep and there is a problem with the integrity of the concrete. Lots of people still fish off the crossing and big Barra are caught there regularly.

We then went to the eastern side of Ivanhoe Crossing.

Ivanhoe Crossing west side

Fisherman wading across Ivanhoe Crossing to try his luck

Ivanhoe Crossing east side. you can see quite a lot of fishermen trying to catch the elusive Barra


Some tadpoles near Ivanhoe Crossing


Next stop after lunch was Kelly's Knob lookout where you can see a great view of Kununurra.

The view of Kununurra from the lookout

A tree growing out of rock at the lookout 

 

On Friday afternoon we went for a sunset cruise on Lake Kununurra with a BBQ dinner. It was wonderful. We got picked up at the caravan park and taken to Zebra Rock to board the boat which then cruised down the Lake, past Elephant Rock and then down to watch the sunset whle having dinner. Then back to the marina, where the bus picked us up and took us back to the caravan park.

Elephant Rock near Lake Kununurra

Ray and John on the Sunset Cruise

Margaret and Ray on the Sunset cruise

John and Margaret

 

A float plane coming into land on the water on Lake Kununurra at sunset

 Sunset on Lake Kununurra

Bats leaving the trees going in search of fruit

Lake Kununurra

The sun has finally gone down

On Sunday 6th Margaret and John left to fly back to Sydney. Thanks for your company and we hope you had a great time.
We are off to the Bungle Bungles tomorrow and have a helicopter ride booked for Thursday morning and then we will drive into the park and have a look from ground level. We will leave there on Saturday morning and have a couple of days free camping on the way back to Katherine. I will do the next instalment of the Blog from Katherine.
Happy reading.



 



 

 



 



Part 2 Gibb River Road

Sunday 22nd June

We got away from Manning Gorge pretty early and had a slow, steady trip. The road to the Drysdale Station turn off was badly corrugated and at times we were down to 20kmph. We thought it would improve after this but no, it got worse to the Ellenbrae turn off. When we were here 3 years ago the road was really good. But this year there wasn't a big wet and the Gibb River Road was open early and consequently there has been a lot of traffic over it and it is really chewed up.

Ellenbrae

Ellenbrae Station is located 5km off the Gibb River Road. It is a working cattle station with about 4500 head of cattle bred for the live export market. It also has camping available with hot showers made by the unique hot water donkey system. They also do the most amazing home made scones with jam and cream. The gardens around the homestead are like an oasis. Karen and Jason, the managers care for the property like it is their own. They are the most amazing couple along with their 2 dogs Ned and Gus. Karen came down for a few drinks each afternoon and she has some great stories to tell. Anyone going on the Gibb should really drop into Ellenbrae.

This is John, Margaret and Ray relaxing in the gardens at Ellenbrae. We went up there every day to have afternoon tea or lunch. It was so cool.

This is a view of the homestead from the gardens. There are bird feeders all around which attract finches.

Ray, Margaret and John in the garden.

This is what the scones look like and they taste so good. Karen makes about 11 batches each day and there are 13 in a batch. And they sell them all.

This is one of the bird feeders. There is a little finch on the right but he is well camouflaged.

This is the Boab tree which grows in the garden. Karen told us that when the branches start to grow down then the tree is about 1000 years old. So this one has quite a bit of age about it.

This is the amenities area. Inside is the donkey for heating the water, a sitting down area, a toilet and a shower area with a big old claw footed bath and a rain head shower.

These are the instructions for the donkey. First person there in the morning lights the donkey and then you need to add some more wood periodically to keep the water hot.

This is Gus one of the little terriers

Margaret with Ned who jumped up on her knee.

This is the signpost to direct you to the swimming hole in the camping area

John, Margaret and Ray on the walk to sandy Gorge

Margaret and John beside the Ringers swimming hole.

Sandy Gorge just a short drive from Ellenbrae Station

Another view of Sandy Gorge















We were getting ready to leave Ellenbrae on Thursday 26th June when the battery on the truck was flat. We had done a lot of short trips, up to the station, collecting wood and the battery had drained. Luckily Jason was able to jump start us as we need a vehicle with 2 batteries to do it. We got away about 10am to head to Home Valley.

Home Valley

Home Valley Station is located on 615,108 acres of working cattle station. That's right, it is huge. It is located at the base of the Cockburn ranges and the Pentecost River runs through the property. It has a lovely restaurant called Dusty's Bar and Grill and a beautiful swimming pool. There is a spectacular lookout where at sunset the Cockburn Ranges glow and close by there is Bindoola Gorge. Home Valley Station is owned by the Indigenous Land Corporation and is a training facility for indigenous students to learn hospitality skills and stock skills.

This is the view from the car as we were approaching the crossing of the Durack River on the way to Home Valley

This is what our camp site looked like at Home Valley

The Cockburn ranges from the lookout at Home Valley, just before sunset

Another Cockburn range view

The Awesome Foursome at the lookout

The Pentecost River taken from Home Valley Lookout

Another view of the 4 of us

Enjoying sunset drinks at the lookout

The topless waitperson serving us drinks

The cairn at the lookout. And yes, Susie, we did add a rock to it.

Ray enjoying a sunset beer

Maura and Margaret being sun smart and wearing our hats

This is the half rack of ribs which Ray and John each had at Dusty's Bar and Grill.

John and Margaret all dressed up for dinner at Dusty's Bar and Grill

Maura and Ray dolled up for the night out. We had a good night and there was a C&W fellow playing as well. It was good to get dressed up a bit after 17days in the dirt.

Bindoola Gorge, a short drive from Home valley

The water hole at the bottom of Bindoola Gorge. No water flowing in as there was only a short wet season this year

The Pentecost River from the bush river camp at Home Valley. We stayed up near the homestead as we were uncertain what the facilities were like . But it had the same facilities so next time we will stay there.

The Pentecost River with the Cockburn ranges in the background

Ray and effie crossing The Pentecost















We left Home Valley on Monday 30th June heading to Kununurra.