Wednesday 10 June 2015


SORRY FORGOT TO PUSH THE PUBLISH BUTTON LAST WEEK JUST DISCOVERED THIS POST NOW - NOT DOING SO WELL WITH THE BLOGGING AMI!

KATHERINE (NT) - KUNUNURRA  -DERBY (WA)

Very excited to leave Katherine and get on the road.  Have travelled around 1400 km crossing into WA.

This is when you start realising the shear size of this vast land - kilometre after kilometre just fly by - the scenery has this slow gradual change where you think it hasn't changed and then you have another look and it is completely different.

Once we cross the border we are in the Kimberly where the tides can change up to 13 meters in one turnover.  For those of you who don't follow tides I think the average tide in Moreton Bay is around 2 mt sometimes as small as .5 of a meter.  

We are in the dry season now which gives the scenery a strange dry underneath but green on top look about it. And following the footsteps of the aboriginal people the country is often burnt off, which adds another colour to the pallet.  We cross land that is back in the hands of the Aboriginal people and most signage and brochures tell you who's land you are travelling on.   

Kununurra is great little town - the info tells you it is the youngest town in WA.  We travellers I think are the main income and support for the town but I think most people we meet understood this and were happy with their town and the growing population to support us.

We followed the Victoria Highway out of Kununurra - the more adventurous types go across on the Gibb River Road.Through Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing - not the most glamorous towns but are doing a good job servicing the local populations.  We had a visit to a place called Mimbi Caves they are on community land and the tours are run by the the landowners.  As you know we have Sammie with us and so visits to National Parks are out so anyway I rock up to the gate to meet the guide and say there will be one of us doing the tour and jokingly two of us if the dog can come! The guide says we have plenty of dogs around here bring the dog so Sammie went caving with us - he actually had loads of fun and the kids on the tour thought it was great.  

More miles and onto Derby - here we took a flight up over the Buccaneer Archipelago I will do another post for the trip.  





Lots of kilometres


The beautiful Victoria River


There are boabs and anthills everywhere - a burn had just been through this area but the boabs love the treatment.




Just thought you might like to know I really am on this trip.


The view from the Five Rivers Lookout at Wyndham on the Cambridge Gulf - which runs off the much larger Joseph Bonaparte Gulf - there is a lot of French names
 around this area - must find some info on the French guy who was exploring around the coast the same time Matthew Flinders was - his name will come to me.



This is Lake Argyle formed by the daming of the Ord River - I remember this from grade 8 geography.


Tiny little dam to hold back something like 24 Sydney Harbours.



Sometimes you just have to do the washing on the run. 





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1 comment:

Debbie Smart said...

Lucky Sammi to get to go caving. Loving your photos and blurb.....