Kimberleyland Tourist Park, Kununurra, Western Australia

Wednesday June 1st saw us traveling the 70 Km from Lake Argyle to Kununurra. We had a late start so as to not arrive there too early. We were booked into Kimberleyland Tourist Park which is a Top Tourist Park. We got a couple of roomy sites overlooking Lilly Lagoon which is off of Lake Kununurra. Very picturesque views! The amenity blocks are modern and clean. 4 Stars for these ones. Below is the view from our campsite!

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.

Argyle Lake, Western Australia

Monday morning was an early start as the Resort at Lake Argyle wasn't taking bookings and we were advised to be there early to get a powered site. We were aided by the 1.5 hour time change as we crossed the Western Australia border shortly after we left Saddle Creek.

We didn't have any issues at the Western Australia Border Quarantine as the guard there was finishing night shift, and was happy to move people through quickly. We traveled the remaining hour to Lake Argyle arriving at 8AM Western Australia Time. We were first in line and got a couple of nice powered sites immediately. Our's was huge with room to park a couple of cars on. Site was quite shady with grass as well. Amenities were close by and clean. Cleaned twice a day in fact. Let's say 4 Stars! The caravan park is quite large but has a high turnover as people only stay for a couple of days.

We had a full day left as were fully setup by 9:30. We enjoyed a couple of swims in the lovely infinity pool. Much warmer than our last visit is 2011 when it was the coldest swimming pool on our trip. Unfortunately the warm temperatures meant it was much busier as well. The girls got quite a bit of laundry done while Stephen and I did some odds and ends and a bit of computer work. We organized for a boat hire on Lake Argyle for the following day as well.

Tuesday morning we were up early for the boat hire. We set sail about 8:30 and had arranged for a half day rental. The boat was pretty good with a 40 Horse Power Honda motor so we were able to see quite a bit of the lake. That being said it the lake is so huge that we only covered a very small section of it. The colours were outstanding again and the scope of the lake is truly amazing. We managed to spot about 4 freshwater crocodiles during our trip and lots of bird life. We enjoyed a swim and a picnic lunch on board before returning the boat at around 12:30. Was a very enjoyable way to explore a bit of the lake at a reasonable cost. We had done the Sunset Tour on our first trip so didn't think we needed to do the tour route again this time.

We had a relaxing afternoon except for a bit of an ant invasion on the Jeep. Luckily Sandra looked out the window of the van in the late afternoon to see the Jeep crawling with small ants. They were dropping onto the car roof from dead palm fronds. We attacked them with full force with our surface spray(s). We then gave the car a wash and resprayed most of the exterior again. We must have been successful as no live ants the next morning and it looked like an Ant Armageddon had occurred! Needless to say we'll be a bit more careful where we park in the future.  We enjoyed a few more swims in the very busy pool in the afternoon as well.

Wednesday morning we got up early to get some photos at the pool. We were lucky enough to be the only people there when it opened at 7:30 and got some lovely photos. A magical place and view!

Victoria River Roadhouse and Saddle Creek Campground, Northern Territory

Friday May 27th saw us heading South again from Pine Creek. We traveled just over 100 Km to Katherine where we topped up our diesel and did a little bit of a grocery shop at Woolworths. We then headed South West towards Western Australia on the National Highway.

We traveled approximately 200 Km; arriving at Victoria River Road House in the mid afternoon. We had liked the look of the Roadhouse location on our previous trip when we stayed at Timber Creek. The Road House is quite reasonable at $25/night for a powered site. Quite a large area for caravans with most people stopping for only a single night to break up the trip. The sites are quite uneven with limited shade. The amenity blocks are basic and poorly maintained. Only 1 Star for these ones! We booked in for a couple of nights so we could explore a bit of the Gregory National Park.

We got setup and found the shadiest spot we could to try and keep cool. Rans and I went to the Roadhouse for a beer but it wasn't the best quality either. Enjoyed a quiet night with lovely sunset & sunrise.

Saturday we got an early start so we could complete the Escarpment Walk before it got too hot. Was a really good walk with outstanding views from the top of the Escarpment. Well signed but lots of climbing and steps. Not recommended for anyone with knee problems! Had a great view of the Victoria River and our campground from the top. Could see almost 360 degrees from a couple of lookouts. Lots of Kestrels and Hawks in the area. Was a unique experience to be able to look down on them at times as they flew around the escarpment. We enjoyed a break and snack near the top before heading back down. Just as much work going down and quite jarring on the old knees. Stephen was suffering by the end of the walk but we all made it down without incident. This is a great walk and it was disappointing to see that very few people experienced it. We don't think anyone else did it the day we completed it.

We returned to the caravan park to have some lunch before heading out sightseeing again. We took a fairly rough 4WD track down to the Old Victoria River Crossing. Surprisingly little water in a huge river bed as a result of a dry Wet Season. Would be something to see when it is really flowing.

Our last stop was at the Victoria River access/boat ramp. Again we were impressed by the size and dryness of the river bed. Would love to see during the wet season! We spent the late afternoon relaxing and trying to keep as cool as possible. Weather is still very hot at 37-38 degrees.

Sunday we had a bit of a lazy morning so as to not leave Victoria River too early. We were heading for a free camp near the Northern Territory/Western Australia Border and didn't want to be there in the heat of the day. We stopped in Timber Creek around noon to top up our Diesel. We also took advantage of Telstra Mobile coverage to make some phone calls and Internet catch  up. We stopped along the way for a quick lunch before arriving at Saddle Creek campground mid afternoon. This is a beautiful free camp with lovely views of escarpment. We were lucky we showed up when we did as is a popular spot and filled up quickly after we arrived. Would have been up to 20 other caravan/campers there. Unfortunately, the toilet block was disgusting. No stars for this one! Even the male campers were complaining about them.  We met two lovely couples from NSW that we enjoyed happy hour with. Bob & Lynn from McMasters Beach and Brian & Carol from Gunnedah. They had both come from the Wingham area near Harrington originally. Had a great visit with them and hope we catch up with them again along the road.

The night was very hot and we had to get by with our 12 volt fan. Had a fairly early night as we planned an early start for Lake Argyle in the morning.

Adelaide River & Pine Creek, Northern Territory

Sunday May 22nd saw us saying our goodbyes to Darwin after two relaxing weeks. We headed south again to Adelaide River to await the Ransley's return from Singapore. We decided to stay in the same caravan park there as our trip North as the Adelaide River Inn was beautiful.

We ended up close to our original site and backing onto the pool again. We met some nice people heading north to Darwin and enjoyed afternoon drinks with them on Sunday evening. Monday saw the Ransleys rejoin us at Adelaide River. Had a nice baked ham dinner to celebrate.

Took an easy day on Tuesday as the Ransleys got organized from their trip. We walked down to the War Cemetery again in the afternoon. Very quiet this time and we took some time to read some of the grave stones. Very moving!

Wednesday morning we got an early start and the four of us headed into Litchfield National Park. We wanted to revisit some of our favorite spots from our last trip. Buley Rock Hole was our first stop and luckily we were there before the crowds showed up. We enjoyed jumping into the Rock Hole at the top for quite a bit of time on our own. Lots of fun!

From there we drove down to Florence Falls where we walked down into the plunge pool at the bottom. Was getting pretty busy as the bus tours started showing up. We had a swim before taking a different walk back to the car park. We found a nice quiet pool near the car park where we had a nice cool down by ourselves before loading into the car again.

Last stop was Wangi Falls where we enjoyed our picnic lunch before another swim. Was very busy here but beautiful. Seemed like there was a lot more water in all of the locations we visited in Litchfield which was nice to see. We were a tired bunch by the time we returned to our campground in late afternoon. Great day!

Thursday morning we got up early and headed South about 100 Km to Pine Creek. We checked into the Pine Creek Railway Resort. This is another beautiful small caravan park. The sites are limited and only a few large enough for our van but we managed to get one of the large sites. Nicely maintained and clean park. Ensuite Toilets were clean but hot. 3.5 Stars for these ones. The Railway Resort is a bit of a themed building and quite intriguing. The pool was small but beautiful with the nicest surroundings of any pools so far on our trip. A tad on the cool side the day we were there though.

After checking in and setting up we had a quick lunch before heading off to explore Umbrawarra Gorge. This was a new exploration site for us that I had seen at the Katherine Info Centre. It's located about 25 KM West of Pine Creek on a dirt 4WD road. That being said the road was in great condition and we could have easily taken our vans into the campground located at the Gorge. Maybe next time.

The Gorge was definitely worth the visit. The walk is quite easy for the first bit but ends up with quite a bit of rock hopping. We found a place where we could have a swim to cool off. The water was still flowing but would be getting stagnant shortly. Our legs were aching a bit when we finished. Good fun though! We also stopped at the Pine Creek Lookout which overlooks the surrounding area and a large open pit mine which has been filled with water. Enjoyed a refreshing swim in the pool upon our return to the caravan park.