Judy & Brian Tour Oz

After leaving Fitzroy Crossing, we overnighted at Purnululu Camp Ground before making it the extra 250km into Kununurra the next day. We met Muriel and Paul for a chat and to make arrangements for dinner, which Muriel had organised already back at her van, cooking away in the crockpot. We spend a very enjoyable evening starting with Happy Hour and finishing with dinner, all washed down with some rather nice wine. We're not biased; we had red, white and bubbles... On Thursday we went out on Lake Kununurra for a 6 hour cruise that runs right up the full 56km length of the lake, right up the the Argyle Lake dam wall, and back. On the way we stopped to look at birds, creeks, gorges and crocodiles. We even squeezed in some afternoon tea along the way. Lake Kununurra, Ord River, Kununurra WA Snowflake Lily Lake Kununurra, Ord River, Kununurra WA Rock Wallaby Lake Kununurra, Ord River, Kununurra WA Folded sandstone strata Lake Kununurra, Ord River, Kununurra WA ...

Wasn't going to mention yesterday: drove 100km from Wyndham to Kununurra, parked the van, did the washing, cleaned the van out, restocked the pantry, etc. The chores just had to get done! Today we drove around to Mirima National Park (some still call it Hidden Valley). It's just near town and you drive up this windy road a bit until you get to a sign that says 'Pay Here', which is a parking meter type of thing in the middle of the road. They only wanted $11! We baulked, but then read the fine print: $5 for concession, which we thought was a lot more reasonable. A few hundred metres up the road, it ends. There are some well made and signposted walks, the signs telling us all about the native vegetation and the geology. Pretty interesting and definitely as good to look at as anything else we've seen. And only $5, bargain. Made ourselves a little picnic down by the lake at 'Swim Beach', where a few daring souls actually went in. Couldn't resist going ba...

Crossed over into WA this morning, but this time we were ready for the strict quarantine, having eaten and disposed of all plant matter and or bottle of honey. We stopped in Kununurra to replenish the car and the caravan; and ourselves of course with coffee and rock-cakes. Judy checked out Nina, and decided that if we fail to get pearls in Broome, then another champagne diamond, perhaps necklace, will do. Suitably refuelled, we ventured out where we had not been before, taking the road out toward Wyndham but turning south at the only junction, toward Halls Creek. The scenery continued to be spectacular with escarpments on either side and that glowing red rock and dirt contrasting with the vivid lime green foliage of the trees. You drive the entire way through a series of mountain ranges, collectively called: the Kimberly. We finally made it into our park, about 100 km north of Halls Creek, and which resembles a MASH set with its array of red-dust coloured canvas tents; ...

Here we are heading off to places we haven’t been before. It felt good to be out there discovering new things again. The scenery is forever changing and as we approached Victoria River we decided a stop to have a look around was required. We crossed the Victoria River which is still a full and mighty river. The country is now similar to what we have seen previously with red soil and huge rocky outcrops. We feel as though we are now back in the outback. Once again you can feel the age of this amazing country. All around there are the remnants of mountain ranges of long ago. All that is left is rock strewn hillsides and the odd outcrop of huge eroding boulders. After a well deserved short break and refreshing ourselves with icecream we headed towards Timber Creek for our lunch break. A delightful little stop under the shade of large gum trees for 30 min or so before the last 200km to Kununurra. It was starting to get a little tedious counting down the kilometres to the WA border but fi...