Boom! We are off and we spent our first night in the popular Umbrawarra gorge. About two and a half hours outside of Darwin, we made Umbrawarra the place in which to christen our ride. We had received a bottle of champagne from Julia and Daniel, our friends in Darwin, for the sole purpose of smashing over the car as they do with a boats maiden voyage. Well, I wasn't so keen on smashing a bottle over my car. Knowing my luck it would slip out of my hands and end up straight through the front windscreen resulting in a very embarrassing drive back to Darwin to get yet another screen fixed. So I opted not to do this. I Popped the cork, sprayed it on the car in celebration and away we went
The next few days were relatively uneventful as we headed towards Kununurra, a place we had been several times before. There was one place that struck our fancy though, the Keep River National Park, a small park on the border of NT and WA. A place for bird watching, checking out an Indigenous hawk catching shelter and art sites. There was a particular walk among the sandstone structures not to dissimilar to those that form the Bungles Bungles, where an ever recent bush fire left us walking through its smouldering remains. It was an incredible site to see the earth black against the red sandstone and vibrant green of the remaining vegetation.
We pushed onward across the border and quarantine checkpoint toward Kununurra. Our free camping plans fell through as the campsite appears to no longer exist so we retired to one of the caravan parks in town. An extremely leisurely day followed as we had time to kill. We went to a cafe, saw the sights of K-town then found the swim beach and hung out there until the afternoon. I had booked a helicopter flight for us both over Kununurra and the Ord valley for something special. We arrived at the hanger's reception. The five receptionists, all had cheeky grins on their faces. We paid our way and signed some paperwork. We then met our pilot Lance. Lance was a lovely bloke from NZ...whom seemed rather nervous. This was somewhat disconcerning. After our safety brief we jumped in our little 4 seater chopper and off we went.
The flight. Was. Awesome!!! We took in the sights over Lake Argyle, Kununurra and the Ord river. Before landing on a remote cliff somewhere in the hills overlooking part of the Ord valley. Lance took us to a perfect viewing spot. Then Lance, very awkwardly, made an excuse about making some sort of satellite phone call and took off! As Lance walked off, saying hello into a sat phone that was clearly turned off, I thought. Shit! This is my cue! As the sun set over the Ord valley, I worked up the nerve to take Nadine's hand, make a speech, get down on one knee and propose to her. Which, she said yes. As I presented the ring, it became official that we were engaged. This was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was also quite painful, as I had knelt into a tuff of spinifex and it was like needles in my knee. Lance nervously re-approached after hearing our laughter and I told him that Nads had said yes. And he was as stoked and relieved as I was. Apparently we where his first. A lovely picnic, champagne and beers were had and we flew back to Kununurra as the last beams of sunlight disappeared over the horizon.
We found another free camp and kept that in the memory bank for later. Just on the outskirts of town. This is where we made the decision to head to Wyndham. A small community on the north east coast of the Kimberly region. We took Parry Creek Road, the back track to Wyndham as we were told that it was quite pretty. I disagree. The best part of that track were the wedge tailed Eagles and brolgas that were about. And getting off it. Not that the track was in poor condition, just that there was nothing to see. In hindsight the main bitumen road leading to Wyndham, which we took to get out of town later, was far more interesting. There's not much in Wyndham. It's hay day was in the 80's and those days of a 3000+ population dedicated to the abattoir, meat works and export trade out of its port are long gone. We saw the big croc. And watched the sunset at the 5 rivers lookout with some beers. Which was the best part of town. Funnily enough it is where 5 rivers meet and discharge to the sea. It was also a great viewing platform to see giant penises that had been carved into some of the mud flats around the port by quad bikes. You have to make your own fun in Wyndham and it's always funny when there are dicks involved! The campsite also makes for some fun with its resident donkey and chopper to chase away the thousands of noisy corellas.
After leaving town we tackled the Kurunjie track. A stock route the circumnavigate's the Cockburn ranges. You can read about it on our other blog post, 4WD track report, on our website.
After returning to Kununurra for a large shopping stint and re supply. We proceeded on toward Purnululu national park. Home of the infamous Bungle Bungles. But not before staying at that free camp sight again and landing my first Barra worth talking about, in the Ivanhoe river. At 40cm, it was undersize, but was about as big as they get in these upper reaches.The drive into Purnululu, although not necessarily long or overly rough, I found to be really annoying. And at the end of it a mountain range that looks nothing like the post cards. In fact the bungles were, in my opinion, a bit of a let down. They are very unique and interesting and beautiful. But as a punter visiting you see but a fraction of the range. The best way to see it properly would to either do the 3-4 day hike through the lot. This was not an option for us as we made a decision early in the piece to not take any "big hike stuff". Or fork out the coin and see it by chopper and get a true appreciation of its beauty. What you can see is cool. But the highlight for me were not the infamous domes but two of the gorges you can see. Echidna chasm. Which at its widest point is only 6 meters. But at 70m deep is something reminiscent of that scene at the end of "Raiders of the lost ark". You can only appreciate it for two hours everyday as its the only time sun gets in there. The other was cathedral gorge. A massive hole and undercut amphitheatre in the middle of "dome country". With a permanent waterhole at the bottom, this place would be truly breathtaking in the wet season.
Well with all that licked it was a busy week or so. Next is the Gibb river road and all it encompasses.
The next few days were relatively uneventful as we headed towards Kununurra, a place we had been several times before. There was one place that struck our fancy though, the Keep River National Park, a small park on the border of NT and WA. A place for bird watching, checking out an Indigenous hawk catching shelter and art sites. There was a particular walk among the sandstone structures not to dissimilar to those that form the Bungles Bungles, where an ever recent bush fire left us walking through its smouldering remains. It was an incredible site to see the earth black against the red sandstone and vibrant green of the remaining vegetation.
We pushed onward across the border and quarantine checkpoint toward Kununurra. Our free camping plans fell through as the campsite appears to no longer exist so we retired to one of the caravan parks in town. An extremely leisurely day followed as we had time to kill. We went to a cafe, saw the sights of K-town then found the swim beach and hung out there until the afternoon. I had booked a helicopter flight for us both over Kununurra and the Ord valley for something special. We arrived at the hanger's reception. The five receptionists, all had cheeky grins on their faces. We paid our way and signed some paperwork. We then met our pilot Lance. Lance was a lovely bloke from NZ...whom seemed rather nervous. This was somewhat disconcerning. After our safety brief we jumped in our little 4 seater chopper and off we went.
The flight. Was. Awesome!!! We took in the sights over Lake Argyle, Kununurra and the Ord river. Before landing on a remote cliff somewhere in the hills overlooking part of the Ord valley. Lance took us to a perfect viewing spot. Then Lance, very awkwardly, made an excuse about making some sort of satellite phone call and took off! As Lance walked off, saying hello into a sat phone that was clearly turned off, I thought. Shit! This is my cue! As the sun set over the Ord valley, I worked up the nerve to take Nadine's hand, make a speech, get down on one knee and propose to her. Which, she said yes. As I presented the ring, it became official that we were engaged. This was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was also quite painful, as I had knelt into a tuff of spinifex and it was like needles in my knee. Lance nervously re-approached after hearing our laughter and I told him that Nads had said yes. And he was as stoked and relieved as I was. Apparently we where his first. A lovely picnic, champagne and beers were had and we flew back to Kununurra as the last beams of sunlight disappeared over the horizon.
We found another free camp and kept that in the memory bank for later. Just on the outskirts of town. This is where we made the decision to head to Wyndham. A small community on the north east coast of the Kimberly region. We took Parry Creek Road, the back track to Wyndham as we were told that it was quite pretty. I disagree. The best part of that track were the wedge tailed Eagles and brolgas that were about. And getting off it. Not that the track was in poor condition, just that there was nothing to see. In hindsight the main bitumen road leading to Wyndham, which we took to get out of town later, was far more interesting. There's not much in Wyndham. It's hay day was in the 80's and those days of a 3000+ population dedicated to the abattoir, meat works and export trade out of its port are long gone. We saw the big croc. And watched the sunset at the 5 rivers lookout with some beers. Which was the best part of town. Funnily enough it is where 5 rivers meet and discharge to the sea. It was also a great viewing platform to see giant penises that had been carved into some of the mud flats around the port by quad bikes. You have to make your own fun in Wyndham and it's always funny when there are dicks involved! The campsite also makes for some fun with its resident donkey and chopper to chase away the thousands of noisy corellas.
After leaving town we tackled the Kurunjie track. A stock route the circumnavigate's the Cockburn ranges. You can read about it on our other blog post, 4WD track report, on our website.
After returning to Kununurra for a large shopping stint and re supply. We proceeded on toward Purnululu national park. Home of the infamous Bungle Bungles. But not before staying at that free camp sight again and landing my first Barra worth talking about, in the Ivanhoe river. At 40cm, it was undersize, but was about as big as they get in these upper reaches.The drive into Purnululu, although not necessarily long or overly rough, I found to be really annoying. And at the end of it a mountain range that looks nothing like the post cards. In fact the bungles were, in my opinion, a bit of a let down. They are very unique and interesting and beautiful. But as a punter visiting you see but a fraction of the range. The best way to see it properly would to either do the 3-4 day hike through the lot. This was not an option for us as we made a decision early in the piece to not take any "big hike stuff". Or fork out the coin and see it by chopper and get a true appreciation of its beauty. What you can see is cool. But the highlight for me were not the infamous domes but two of the gorges you can see. Echidna chasm. Which at its widest point is only 6 meters. But at 70m deep is something reminiscent of that scene at the end of "Raiders of the lost ark". You can only appreciate it for two hours everyday as its the only time sun gets in there. The other was cathedral gorge. A massive hole and undercut amphitheatre in the middle of "dome country". With a permanent waterhole at the bottom, this place would be truly breathtaking in the wet season.
Well with all that licked it was a busy week or so. Next is the Gibb river road and all it encompasses.