Wyndham to Derby

So…. The trip to the Bungles was our reason for being in Kununurra, we'd done that, time to move on. We did the usual filling up on fuel, diesel for the van, and food for us and drove out of town, heading to Wyndham.

We saw lots of bird life, mostly birds of prey and they were mostly kites. There were lots and lots of wonderful boab trees too, various sizes and shapes.

 

We went straight to the caravan park in Wyndham and were pleasantly surprised to see shaded, grassed sites and a welcoming swimming pool. We were in for 2 nights. (They even had free wifi, but I was very remiss, just 'chilled out' and didn't connect). The park is also home to 'the largest boab in captivity', and some wallabies.

We had a 'nana nap' and then hit the pool. There were 5 others in like mind and we all just floated around chatting, no one was doing 'laps'.

The next day we left our chairs out to mark our pitch and went sightseeing in Wyndham.

We drove out to the port, inspected the rotting wrecks of the old port cranes, trains and other machinery then walked around the old port cemetery and the pioneer cemetery. 

We stopped and had a look around the museum before having an early lunch at the Rusty Shed Cafe. We both opted for a mango smoothie and a sausage roll – the sausage roll was bigger than most pasties or pies that I've ever seen. Definitely a meal, and thinking about it now, one that I should have photographed.

After lunch we drove out to the town's third cemetery, the Afghan cemetery.

 

The tourist 'blurb' stated that the graves were thought to be so large because the lead camel was buried with the cameleer! Intriguing, and we checked it out later on line; finding that it's against Muslim law to make any sacrifice at a funeral, and who would sacrifice a valuable animal like a camel in those days?

Then it was back to 'camp' for a nice cooling off swim.

We were so relaxed that we decided to spend another night here in Wyndham.

The only black spot was that we have ants again! Swarming around the outside power point, mercifully not in the van. Michael suspects that they're in the bodywork, insulation of the vehicle so before we get home we really are going to have to do something.

(To update the crack in the windscreen situation – it hasn't edged along any further for over a week, I think it may last the distance.)

On our third day in Wyndham we did absolutely nothing, just relaxed, read and did a few puzzles.

What an effort! That evening we actually had a few drops of rain. We could see the storm clouds in the distance, some areas were getting quite a bit of rain.

Heard later that the Bungle Bungles road had been closed due to rain, and both the Tanami Track and Gibb River Road were closed to all traffic. (These dirt roads are easily damaged if driven on when the ground is soft, so they are monitored and closed off if need be.)

Then it was time to hit the road again, before leaving town we drove up to the Five Rivers Lookout. The lookout is touted as being spectacular at sunset and we can see why, it was pretty dramatic in the morning light. 

We drove out of Wyndham and then turned onto the Great Northern Highway. There were the usual Kites flying overhead, quite a lot of straying cattle and surprisingly a few horses on the road.

 

There were a lot of 'one lane' bridges over the rivers and creeks, some with flowing water but we didn't encounter any flooded roads.

The termite mounds were the 'blobby' type that we had seen around the Bungle bungles, not the more upright, spire type that was in the Northern Territory.

Our knowledgeable Bungles guide explained that the difference is not due to soil or environment, the termites are actually different. They have been studied and have different DNA.

We then reached Halls Creek. 

We had heard stories about Halls Creek, mostly bad ones. Hearing about it, knowing about it and actually experiencing it are different things. We couldn't believe it when on the outskirts of town a group of people wandered into the middle of the road, it was almost staged. Then as we turned down the street to the caravan park we had to slow right down to avoid a group of people and then almost ran over 2 dogs!!

We were staying in town because it was the right distance and time to have a break and the option of free camping in the area didn't appeal.

We 'relaxed' a little and then walked across the street to the hotel for dinner.

We were in and out before the band started and the $10 cover charge applied.

(Don't laugh when I say that we watched the movie Happy Feet 2, on tv).

The next morning it was raining as we left town. There had obviously been some flooding over the road early in the morning, we could see lots of water on the roadside and the various creeks were flowing well.

We arrived in Fitzroy Crossing just after midday (would you believe that another group of people were on the road on the outskirts of town, one of them was apparently having a nap!)

We decided to stop for the day rather than press on to Derby. We saw the signs for the 3 caravan parks in town and opted for the one just off the main road, next to the supermarket. There was lots of shade but today that wasn't really a factor, we had to pick a spot that wasn't too boggy! The rain started again late in the afternoon and continued on and off all night. We both (silently) were a little anxious about how much we'd be sunken into the grass in the morning.

The next morning the sun was shining and the ground was surprisingly firm. At 8.15am it was 30degrees in the van, and the humidity was reading 85%. Thank goodness for power and the air conditioner.

We drove out to Derby with the a/c on but could still feel blasts of hot air in some places. there were some wonderful boabs and more termite mounds along the way.

We had booked into a caravan park in Derby a few days ago when we booked the Horizontal Falls tour. The tour was on Monday so we were in the park for two nights, Sunday and Monday.

The West Kimberley Lodge caravan park turned out to be one of the nicest with individual marked bays, each with an area of artificial lawn and a bollard light for each bay.

They also had a resident bird that I had trouble identifying. After asking the park owners I discovered that it was a Pheasant Coucal – it was hard to get close to photograph and was indeed a strange and wonderful bird.

The next day was THE day – our day trip to the Horizontal Falls.....and that warrants a blog post to itself.