Last night we went for a walk over to Lily Lagoon (2 minutes away). We took the torches – and just as well. This is what we saw when we got there :
Within a few metres there were 4 other sets of eyes out there! We didn’t hang around. Whilst freshies are supposed to be shy, the one at the edge of the lagoon wasn’t going to back off and gave a warning hiss at us. Hey, it’s his/her home – we weren’t going to argue!
Wyndham
On Tuesday we went for a drive to Wyndham (100km from Kununurra) which is the oldest and northernmost town in Western Australia. The Port handles live cattle export, nitrate for Argyle Diamond Mine, sugar and molasses, fuel and other goods entering and leaving the East Kimberley.
With a population of 800, Wyndham is a sleepy little town located on the Cambridge Gulf and is surrounded by some stunning scenery. A lot of business and government agencies transferred to the newer town of Kununurra when the Wyndham Meatworks closed down in the mid 1980’s.
Unfortunately the day we were there was very hazy so the photos really don’t do justice to the scenery, but here’s some shots of Wyndham.
If you hover over the photos you will see a description (well, on most of them anyway).
After looking around we had a really nice pie at the local bakery, then headed out to see some of the surrounding area.
We saw the Prison Tree – a big boab tree which was used by the early police patrols as an overnight lock up. I found it quite spooky in the daytime – I can only imagine how it felt to those locked up in it overnight! I was going to climb inside it for a photo, but there were too many spider webs. I know, I’m a wuss!
We also went to see the dam and the Aboriginal rock paintings. These paintings of Wandina spirit ancestors and animals have been done with natural ochre.
One of the best spots was Marlgu Billabong located in the Parry Lagoons Nature Reserve. These wetlands are an important feeding and breeding area for an amazing variety of birds as well as being a stopover point for migratory birds, some coming from as far away as Siberia.
Marlgu Billabong (Marlgu being an Aboriginal word meaning wild bird, consists of a boardwalk and shaded bird hide so visitors can enjoy watching the birds without them seeing you. There are waterbirds, waders, birds of the grasslands and birds of the sandstone country using this billabong. There is also the odd crocodile or two! Two of the following photos are of the croc – it’s a bit hard to see, in one of the photos you can see it on the left hand side just above the middle; and in the other it’s located about the middle of the shot – you can only see his eyes and snout. This croc didn’t move the whole time we were there.
The birds weren’t worried about the croc at all – and obviously the croc wasn’t hungry as it made no attempt to take a bird even when they were practically walking on top of it. I loved it here and could happily have stayed for hours. I’d taken the binoculars so could even see the brolgas down the far end of the billabong. A beautiful spot.
We also visited The Grotto – a swimming spot about 30kms from Wyndham. The pool lies at the base of some cliffs, accessed by about 140 steps. It’s estimated to be more than 175m deep. I would imagine during the wet season that there would be a few waterfalls which would be fantastic to see.
David went in for a swim but I preferred to take photos.
It was a big day, and we still have a lot more to see so stay tuned!
Last Sunday we went up in this
We’ve been walking around Kununurra, but seeing it from a plane is so much better
First we flew to the Argyle Diamond Mine (love those pink diamonds!) where we stopped for lunch and had a tour. Unfortunately they weren’t giving away any free samples that day 
, and more unfortunately, the diamonds for sale were way out of our budget! I didn’t even get any photos of diamonds, but here’s some shots of the mine:
It was really interesting seeing how huge the whole operation is. You don’t actually get to see much of the process as a lot of it is automated, but Doug does a really good job of explaining the separation of the stones from the surrounding rock (lamproite) and way it went through the the conveyor belts to the sorting area. Of course, this sorting area is the one place I really wanted to see but it also has the highest security in the mine so we couldn’t go in there. Apparently even the employees working in that section are subject to really strict security regulations, with every employee in that area having a security person handcuffed to them for their entire shift and they have to undergo a full body search every shift. We were told that these employees are amongst the highest paid on the site. The security person is changed every 2 weeks so a relationship doesn’t develop. I forgot to’t ask about what happens when they need to go to the bathroom!
To give you an idea of the scope of the mine, here’s a couple of shots from the air.
After leaving the mine we flew over Purnululu National Park (the Bungle Bungles). The flight was great, and it’s the only way to see scenery like this
And this
And then of course there’s this
We landed in the park to drop the other couple off as they were spending a couple of nights at a wilderness lodge.
On the way home we flew over Lake Argyle, the largest man made lake in Australia. Lake Argyle was once “Argyle Downs” , a million acre cattle station, and was created in 1971 by damming the Ord River, forming a storage reservoir to supply water for the country’s largest irrigation system. This waterway at times covers an area of more than 2000 square km, a volume equivalent to 54 Sydney Harbours! You can take a cruise on the lake, fish, bird watch and even swim in some areas of it. (there are crocodiles in the lake, mainly freshwater ones).
We’re staying at the Kimberleyland Caravan Park in Kununurra which is lovely and the pool is right behind our site and we’ve been spending a lot of time in it as it’s really hot up here, although not humid as it has been in Darwin.
Mainly we’ve been playing tourist – checking out the local sights. It’s just like being on holiday!
We’ve booked to go on a flight over the Bungle Bungle National Park (which includes a tour of the Argyle Diamond Mine) and Lake Argyle – this happens on Sunday so I’ll let you know how it goes.
We went to The Zebra Rock Gallery last Friday. I love this rock – it’s so beautiful and the colour variations are incredible. At the gallery they make jewellery, statues, decorative bits and pieces etc.
This rock is only found near Lake Argyle in the Kimberley area of WA. David bought a bag of little bits and pieces to play with – but I plan on pinching some of it to try making some earrings and a pendant .
After we left Mt Bundy Station we headed south, detouring to Edith Falls just near Katherine. For some reason we hadn’t stopped there on the way up to Darwin. It’s a beautiful spot, however when arrived there were also 2 buses full of German tourists there. It was very busy.
The plan was to stop somewhere around about Victoria River but somehow we missed the roadside stop so we kept going until we got to Big Horse Creek Camp Ground where we spent the night. Lovely spot right on the river – can’t swim there tho – big crocs call it home.
Going in to WA from the NT means having to go through a fruit and veg checkpoint – I’m glad I’d cleaned out the fridge before we got to the border and made sure we didn’t have any honey so the check went very well. We’d been told by others of really horrible experiences with the inspectors, but we didn’t have any issues at all.