We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon before settling in to watch Origin Game 1. We managed to set our TV up outside so the four of us could enjoy the game with a few drinks. Not a very exciting game and unfortunately the Blues lost again.
Thursday we did some planning for our Gibb River Road/Mitchell Falls excursion. After much deliberation we have decided to put the caravans in storage and take the tents away for 5 or 6 days exploring this area. I did a bit of investigation and we are able to leave our caravans where we are staying for a reasonable fee. Much of the rest of the day was spent with Fridge problems. The Ransleys are having trouble with both their caravan fridge and their portable freezer. We shuffled around the food as best we could to accommodate while they get repairs completed. Sandra and I booked ourselves on a boat cruise of the Ord River for Friday. We enjoyed drinks and snacks on the waterfront watching the sunset colours change of "The Sleeping Budha" rock formation across the lake. Beautiful way to end each afternoon. We are still adjusting to the time change as sunset is about 4:30 and sunrise is before 6AM. Early nights and early mornings are the norm.
Friday morning we did a bit more organizing with the Ransleys before joining our boat cruise at 11:30. We were picked up for our Triple J tour at the caravan park and taken by bus the short distance to their wharf. We were joined by another bus delivering customers from another caravan park at the boat. Turned out to be about 20 people in total which allowed for lots of extra seats and easy movement around the boat.
The cruise was very informative about the history of the Ord River irrigation system. Amazingly simple technology but required a very strong political will, which is unfortunately not something we should be expecting anytime soon elsewhere in Australia.
The cruise took us down a number of inlets on Lake Kununurra/Ord River. Beautiful scenery and quite a bit of wildlife/bird life. The cruise took us all the way to the base of the Argyle Dam. The first 40 KM was static and level but the last 15 KM raised 10 metres and was quite fast flowing.
We spotted quite a variety of wildlife along the river with a number of freshwater crocodiles, wallaby, and bird life.
The return was fairly quick and we arrived on Lake Kununurra just in time for a spectacular sunset. Sorry about all the sunset photos but we really did cull quite a few! Great day and the tour is highly recommended by these travelers! Carol and Stephen greeted us with a baked dinner and the caravan park had live entertainment!
Saturday was an easy day with a bit of shopping and the Ransleys getting someone new to look at their fridge problem.
Sunday we got an early start for a 4WD trip up to Wyndham. We drove North where we crossed the Ivanhoe Crossing over the Ord River. This had been closed on our last trip and for a number of years due to high water. We made it across safely although I was a bit nervous in the Jeep. We stopped for a few pictures before heading North again.
Our first stop was Middle Springs which was a bit of a 4WD track off the main gravel road. Unfortunately, not much water, or it would have been a beautiful swimming hole.
Next stop was Black Falls which was impressive although dry. This would be spectacular in the wet season.
Our next major stop was the Marlgu Billabong. We arrived just after a tour bus which made it a fairly busy location. Again the site was hampered by the low water levels although we did spot a Brolga and some lovely water views.
The road while dirt was in good shape and didn't really require any 4WD skills other than the Ivanhoe Crossing. We spotted a few Wedge Tail Eagles along the way.
Wyndham was our next stop where we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at the Five Rivers Lookout. We had stopped here on our previous trip in 2011 but was very smoky and hazy. We had a better view this time but still had a fair amount of heat haze. A beautiful 360 degree view though overlooking the basin feeding five main rivers of the Kimberly. We would encounter most of them over the ensuing days of our adventure.
From Wyndham we headed South before turning into the King River Road. We traveled some 25 KM along this finishing at a rocky river crossing and the Prison Boab Tree. Along the way we passed a spillway, a dam, and a aboriginal art site.
The King River was quite interesting as the tide was going out and you could see metres of wet mud on each river bank. Apparently has tides up to 8 metres. We didn't spot any crocodiles but they would certainly be in the river and you wouldn't want to get stuck on the steep muddy banks.We returned home to enjoy another lovely sunset from our campsites.
We extended our stay for an additional two days to prepare for our tent adventure on the Gibb River Road. Unfortunately we had to relocate the caravans as our site was booked already. Our new site which we checked into on Monday morning was under a huge Boab tree. They estimate it could be 2000 years old. Very impressive but not our first choice to be parked underneath.
The Monday and Tuesday were spent organizing and shopping for our trip away. We were lucky enough to catch up with our girls via Skype as well. The weather continues to be unseasonably warm at 37-38 with hot nights. Even the locals are complaining as the hot weather never lasts this long into the dry season. The air conditioner has got a fair workout although the last few nights had cooled down a bit. Hopefully the trend continues cooler as won't be enjoyable in our tents if it stays too hot.
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