On arrival in Katherine we realised that not only was it a Saturday but also school holidays so a visit to the School of the Air was just not on. It was interesting to see the temperature of the pool had decreased by about 10 degrees since the last time we were there, it is winter after all!! We spent the rest of the day restocking with the essentials – food, alcohol etc and Sunday we had a big washing day. We gave our next door neighbour from Strathmore, Gary, a call and arranged to catch up with him while travelling from Katherine as he was heading there from the west.
On Monday we were up very early to Skype Maggie for her 4th birthday. I had forgotten how exciting birthdays are when you are four. We are missing our babies and were very sad we couldn’t share her day.
We headed off along the Victoria Hwy not sure exactly where we would go. About 100 kms west of Katherine we saw a white ute (think Murdoch / Falconio) flashing its lights at us – Gary. We pulled over and stood by the side of the road catching up. He had caught a good size barra while at Timber Creek and gave us a sampler from his freezer. He also suggested we stay at Timber Creek overnight and told us the best place to camp. All the morning tea caravans whizzed by us but we knew we would soon catch up to them when they stopped for their 2 hour lunch break. We are amazed by the nomads that get up at the crack of dawn and head off before we have gotten out of bed. They always stop for m/tea by the side of the road, get their table and chairs out, put the kettle on and have tea and cake for about 45 minutes. Why would you do this when you can stay in bed for an extra hour? We zoom by them as they are sipping their tea and orange cake. We stopped for lunch at Victoria River and were not very impressed by the roadhouse caravan park (very red and dusty) so continued on to Timber Creek. We noticed that they had a 4.00pm cruise up the Victoria River so we booked in then headed to the pool. Stephen managed to get in but I settled for dangling my feet in – too cold. The cruise up the Victoria was good value with lots of birds and prehistoric critters along the way and then a very pretty sunset before heading back down the river in the dark.
Up late as usual and off to Kununurra. The drive from Katherine to Kununurra proved to be quite interesting with the landscape changing quite a lot. It was not long before blue gums, boabs and kapok trees soon became the main flora and the flat land gave way to mountains. We were finally in the Kimberley. On arrival in Kununurra we booked into the Discovery Big 4. Not the best of sites, right next to the ‘dump point’, but very grassy (must be all the fertilizer). We really had no choice as the place was full. We drove into town to replenish our fruit and vegies as you cannot bring these into WA when you cross the border. We also ventured over to the Argyle Diamond shop to try on whatever was on display. Lots of very pretty pink diamonds. Tried on a little treasure which I thought looked quite lovely on my petite hand. It was a brown pink diamond with a lovely emerald cut diamond on either side. I obviously have very good taste as it had a price tag of $29,000. After Stephen dragged me out of the shop yelling and kicking we crossed the road where we ran into Carol Stanesby from Winchelsea. Carol and Ken camped next to us at Kennett for many years and we had not seen them for quite some time. We arranged to have dinner with them the following Thursday evening.
Wednesday we mooched around, reading and swimming, as the temperature had crept up to about 35 again. Wednesday night the management of the CP runs a “happy hour” for the camping ground so we joined in the fun. We caught up with Kevin and Catherine who we have also met along the way. Thursday we ‘did’ the local attractions and the galleries and we also commenced our “best mango smoothie in Kununurra” competition. We had dinner with Carol and Ken and the ‘crap-o-meter’ was running very high with stories of our days camping together. Stephen very kindly allowed me to drive home that night.
Just as we were leaving on Friday morning to drive to Wyndham our new best friends (Janet and Rob) arrived. We took the drive to Wyndham via the Ivanhoe Crossing dirt road. At the Wyndham end of this 70 kms stretch is Parry’s Lagoon, a wonderful wetland area. We were once more overcome by the beauty of the wetlands. We saw your Brolgas, your Rufus Night Heron, your Comb Crested Jacana, your Radjah Shelduck and of course your very large crocodile among loads of other beautiful fauna (Stephen’s commentary this time). We treated ourselves to a counter lunch at the Wyndham pub of barra and chips before driving to the port and then to the lookout over the five rivers. Friday night at the Big 4 is hamburger night and we queued up with all the other campers (pensioners) to enjoy our burger. We were joined by our new best friends, Rob, Janet, Kevin and Catherine for a drink after. We have for many years realised that you always surround yourselves with older friends, that way you are always the young ones, no matter how old you may be.
Saturday morning we rode our bikes to town for the Kununurra market. More mango smoothie tasting and some vegies and fruit cake purchasing. We also ran into Carol and Ken as they were heading off to the Bungle Bungles to go camping. By the time we rode home the temperature had climbed quite dramatically so we headed for the pool. After lunch we drove to the Stonecraft gallery to pick up a pendant I had ordered and to try their mango smoothies. They are leading the competition at this stage. The rest of the afternoon we watched the Magpies slaughter the Dockers on the telly. Saturday night a troupe of Gurkha from Nepal were camped in the grounds. They had been to Bradshaw Station training with the Australian Army. They put on an impromptu concert of Nepalese dancing and singing for the campers. One guy even did some Nepalese rapping??!! All in all, a great day.
Sunday Stephen drove for 2 hours there and back to Wyndham, as you do, to take 4 photos of the 5 rivers at high tide. I stayed at home and alternated between reading and swimming in the pool for the day. We watched some new neighbours set up their van, always good sport if tempers are short after a long drive. Sunday evening we had booked to go to a restaurant, the Pumphouse, with the ‘4 new best friends’. They have a wood fired pizza oven outside on the deck and we had some delicious pizzas for dinner washed down with some Crownies and a bottle of red. Stephen and I were keen to go to this restaurant as last year when we were in Kununurra it opened on the night we left so we hadn’t a chance to eat there. We all had a very nice evening, no shortage of chat.
Monday we ventured out to the ‘little Bungles’ or Mirima National Park for a walk to the lookout. We had only gone 600 metres or so when I walked over a rock and fell twisting my ankle. There was a loud crack and all was not looking too good. Fortunately the path ran parallel to the road so Stephen went back and got the car then carried me to the car, quite comical if my foot hadn’t hurt so much. We drove straight to the hospital where an x-ray revealed torn ligaments and fortunately no break. The doctor recommended I stay off it for two to three days then no bushwalking for 2 – 4 weeks. Groan! Our trip to the Gibb River Road looks like it could be in jeopardy. Unfortunately we had booked to go on a flight on Tuesday morning over the Bungle Bungles and a cruise on Lake Argyle in the afternoon so both were cancelled and our money was refunded, which was very lucky. After a long sleep in the afternoon (good drugs!!) we were joined for dinner by our friend Scott from Kununurra. Scott is a tour guide for Kimberley Cruises and we met him a couple of years ago when we did a 4x4 course in Melbourne and again last year when we were in Kununurra to go on our boat trip. He is a lovely young man and we spent a very pleasant evening with him.
The next two days we spent hanging around the van and pool as I wasn’t in very good condition to do much else. One good outcome was that we got to use the ‘disabled’ bathroom – no sharing. We had numerous discussions on what we might do and have decided to leave on Thursday and head for Broome where I will convalesce. Once I have fully recovered we’ll tackle the Gibb River road with the tent. This will be “real camping” not the wusses version in a van.
For when you next visit Kununurra the results of the mango smoothie competition using the following criterion in the judgement: flavour, consistency, size, ambience and cost were:
1. The Salad Bowl Café
2. Stonecraft Gallery (yes they produce zebra stone as well as smoothies)
3. Ivanhoe Farm Café
We also had a very exciting phone call from Ken and Maree to announce the early arrival of their first grandchild, Archer Henry. Rachel, Vin and bubs all well. Congratulations to the Maher family.
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