Kununurra

So we arrived in Kununurra with a goal to getting our fridge/freezer fixed, in attempted to keep our food cold in the interim we added ice brought from a store in Halls Creek. However this was only a temporary fix, as soon as our tent was up. Katrina was cooking up a storm on our gas stove. Defrosted food of various meat groups were being added into pots and tin goods were being added into the mix. It was like watching an episode of ready,steady cook. After a couple of hours of cooking we ended up with a weeks supply of food ready to be place in the camp kitchens freezer for later consumption. By this time I was staving, wondering with dish being cooked would end up in my belly. In fact the best was left to last, we had a mixed grill of Steak, sausages, egg and there were still about 16 rashers of bacon left to be eaten. It was a meal fit for a king or at least a tried traveller like myself.

The next day we dropped off the fridge/freezer in the morning to be inspected by a company we had called the pervious day and headed to Wyndham. Once there we headed straight for the Five Rivers Lookout. At 330 Meters above sea level the Daharwi Range or Bastion Range provides a spectacular backdrop to Wyndham. From here you can see the 5 rivers that flow into the Cambridge Gulf; King, Ord, Durack, Forrest and Pentacost. The views were stunning over the surrounding mudflats and ranges. We also couldn’t resist getting a picture taken next to the 20 metre long crocodile statue. On the way back to base we stopped at a little place called the grotto, from the top as you peer down into the gully, you are unable to see the beauty below. At first we were reluctant to venture down as it was a steep descent with roughly cut steps, but in 40 degree heat we needed to cool off and decided to take the chance. As we started to make our way down, The Grotto started to reveal it’s secret; under the trees was a small spring fed pool.  It’s probably best if I let the pictures do the talking……

 

Once we had cooled off and taken a zillion pictures of the grotto we made one more stop before heading home, El Questro. It was at the other end of the Gibb river road and 100km’s out of our way, But we heard great things about this place and we didn’t want to miss out. Unfortunately we discovered that you need to purchase a day pass for many of the walks and natural pools, some of which closed at midday. As it was already late in the afternoon there was nothing we could do but head back into Kununurra and enjoy one of Katrina’s leftover specials!. I still had time to enjoy a few of the creek/river crossing on the way back..ACE!!!

The following day, bad news …. Our trusty fridge/freezer was kaput! It needed a new circuit board and as the fridge/freezer was a cheap import from overseas. Getting a replace part would be impossible, which meant it was now only fit for the scrap heap(may it R.I.P). The rest of the day was spent weighing up different alternatives of keeping our beer, oops I mean food cold. In the end we went for a shiny new Engel fridge, which I’m glad we did .

While we were throwing out money on a new fridge we also booked a flight over the Bungles Bungles.

So after a day of laying around by the pool relaxing and not spending any money, we were up early then next day and picked up by our pilot at 6.30 am and driven to the airport, Once all safety checks were done, us and one other passenger were strapped in, excited and a tiny bit nervous for take off in our little Cessna plane.   The National park covers an area of 239,723 hectares, of which the Bungles covers 45,000 hectares of banded sandstone domes. The domes were deposited 360 millions years ago, and caved by creeks, rivers and weathering over the past 20 million years with spectacular chasms and gorges. Due to it being hazy, caused by the dust and wind the photo’s do not do it justice and our camera was unable to pick the view as seen with our own eyes.  Which was a shame as it was quite simply specular, bouncing around in the air and seeing for miles around. The flight path also took us over Lake Argyle, the largest man made lake in the southern hemisphere and the Argyle diamond mine, the largest open cut diamond mine in the world. In total the flight lasted 2 hours and no sick bag was filled to everyone’s relief..thank god!