Day 57 (6 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, no wind – up to 32o during the day at Kununurra)
A slow start to the day. We wanted to have a look around town and see some of the sights recommended by the Tourist Centre.
First to the Mango Tree for brunch – a really nice cafe in town.
After brunch, we went to the swimming beach on the Kununurra Lake. As we were driving along the lakeside, I noticed the float plane that couldn’t be flown because they didn’t have a pilot (he pulled out of his contract).
Next door was the Triple J marina where we were to finish our boat cruise down the Ord River the next day. Further on was the barbeque boat hire place where I spoke with Sharon, the owner, for around 10 minutes about hiring a boat and also learning more about the float plane next door.
On the way back towards town we noticed a second Cessna 310 – VH-SUE (a 310P) – on the tarmac in front of Shoal Air. I was wondering if Shoal was the organisation that Joe wanted me to see while we are here – hopefully I can find out over the next day or so.
We then decided to go to Ivanhoe Crossing where we watched a few cars go across the low dam wall over the Ord River. It’s a fairly challenging 300 mm deep river crossing.
On the way back we stopped at the Zebra Stone gallery where Lyn bought some Zebra Stone rocks.
Back to the motorhome where I watch the Demons get beaten by the Crows – I’m getting used to the Demons losing. While I was watching the game, Lyn went and had a swim in the camping ground pool.
We had an early sitting at The PumpHouse, so drove there and had a great meal and then an early night.
Day 58 (7 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, no wind – up to 32o during the day at Kununurra)
Lyn thought it would be a good idea to hike into the Mirimar “mini Bungle Bungles” area to loosen up after the real Bungle Bungles hiking we did a couple of days before (and the attempt on Kelly’s Knob). We did 3 of the walks in about an hour or so.
It was time to post some presents back to Wren and Luna – especially the present for Luna’s 3rd birthday on 16th July. We encountered a large group of people near the Post Office and found it was the beginning of the NAIDOC week activities.
Back to the motorhome where we prepared to leave for the Ord River boat ride.
We were picked up by Josh in a large bus from in front of the caravan park just after 11:30 and then stopped for a few other groups before heading towards Katherine (and the NT border). Our turn off to the Argyle Dam was 35 km from Kununurra and only 7 km short of the NT border. We found out later that this was Josh’s first drive by himself in the big bus. We stopped at the Durack homestead which had been relocated from a site that was previously within the current lake area. It would have been 24 m underwater now if it had stayed in place. Next, on to the dam wall – an amazing Engineering feat because the dam wall is mode of rock, sand and clay. Apparently, the explosion to excavate the rock was one of the largest in Australia and could be felt as far away as Sydney.
We were then taken to the boat boarding area, introduced to Mabo, our captain for the day. It was a fascinating ride down the Ord River, seeing crocodiles, birdlife, magnificent scenery and being told stories about the area, features and wildlife. We had some amazing reflection scenes with the still river reflecting the background scenery. The trip culminated in a fantastic sunset near the pumping station that provides irrigation for the area then on past The PumpHouse restaurant before finishing at the Triple J marina where we were taken home by Josh in the bus.
We decided to have a small meal at the motorhome and then settle in for the evening.
Day 59 (8 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, no wind – up to 31o during the day at Kununurra)
Today we fly over Lake Argyle, the Bungle Bungles and the Argyle Diamond Mine site.
We were picked up at 08:45 by Chris in a minivan and taken to the Kimberley Air Departure Lounge. Actually, it was an office with a set of scales so we could be weighed before boarding. We checked in, were given a bottle of water each and then asked to wait outside.
As we were sitting there, I noticed a group arrived at Shoal Air next door so, while we were waiting, I went next door to Shoal to check on the 310s I’d seen in front of their office. I asked if they hired out aircraft and found they didn’t due to the insurance costs. I asked if VH-SUE was for sale and was told, “yes, it was but it had storm damage”. I didn’t ask any more questions!
So, back to Kimberley Air where our pilot came out around 09:20, showed us a map of the proposed route and asked us to walk with her to the aircraft.
I asked her name and she explained that she’d introduce herself and the aircraft out on the tarmac. Getting there, we were told her name was Rebecca and the aircraft was VH-TRX and she called the Cessna Caravan Trix. Rebecca had names for all the other aircraft also. We were all allocated seats with Lyn and I in the second last row. I think it’s because our combined weight is low. Rebecca provided commentary on the way out as she taxied the aircraft down the taxiway and then took off on runway 12.
We flew low out of the airport and then turned right to follow Lake Kununurra and the Ord River. I’d check the procedure in the ERSA earlier that morning and knew there were fairly strict guidelines on the flight path we were to follow.
Up along the Ord River and across the Packsaddle Plains and the Durack Homestead to Lake Argyle where we flew at 2500′ past the dam wall we’d seen the day before. Certainly a different perspective from this height.
On over the nearby stations – Lissadell and Texas Downs and on to the Bungle Bungles. They are Amazing! Words and pictures don’t capture the beauty and wonder of these hills. Here are some examples though.
We flew back via the Argyle Diamond Mine site and airfield then back to Kununurra, over the Ivanhoe Crossing before landing again on runway 12.
An incredible experience.
We were taken back to the caravan park by Daniel, who has his Commercial licence and flies the C210 and C209 aircraft. He wanted to get his float plane endorsement and so would have had to do a turbine rating at the same time. He explained that he now has to wait until the end of the season.
On the flight we were told about the Ivanhoe Cafe, which we’d seen on our trip to the Ivanhoe Crossing and Zebra Stone gallery a couple of days before. We stopped there for a great lunch then headed to Ivanhoe Crossing itself.
The Ivanhoe Crossing is a “To Do” activity at the end of the Gibb River Road. I stopped, let Lyn out – she wanted to film me going through – and headed across. I’d put the car in low 4WD and had been advised to keep the speed above 5 kph. I entered the water around 15 kph in second gear – slow enough I thought. However, around 2/3 of the way across I felt the engine lose power. Knowing I had to keep going (definitely not a good idea to stop), I kept the foot down and continued. I felt that I’d lost significant power and was very lucky to get across.
I kept going over the shorter, rougher and shallower second crossing then turned around and went back over the second crossing and stopped, waiting for another car to cross in the opposite direction. I was extremely apprehensive doing the return trip over the main crossing as I still felt the engine wasn’t running properly. I put the car in 1st gear, kept the revs up (which helped) and limped across. I made it across and felt extremely relieved to make it without further problems. We then headed back to camp so I could check out the Jimny more carefully. In hindsight, there were a couple of factors that caused the crossing problem. First, I think I drove too fast across the causeway, second I found the Jimny is not made for deep water crossings despite having the snorkel added. This is a picture of the second crossing.
As I couldn’t get much power as we headed back to the campsite, I tried several different techniques, finding that using higher revs helped.
I called Suzuki who advised the nearest service centre was in Darwin, found that we were still covered by warranty (5 years unconditional) and also found a local Suzuki marine dealer that I thought may be able to help. Steve, at Suzuki Marine, was great. He told me it was stupid to cross the causeway in a Jimny – ” There are lizards there that are bigger than your car”. He did provide advice to drive the car for a while to see if it dried out. So, I went and picked up Lyn, headed to Hoochers Distillery further out along the road Steve’s workshop was on, had a whisky then headed back (as he had suggested). All good, and so I called in on the way to thank Steve and cancel the booking we’d made for the following morning for him to check the car.
I booked a table at the Country Club, where we had a great meal then returned to the caravan park for the evening
Day 60 (9 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, no wind – up to 32o during the day at Kununurra)
Well, what an interesting day!
We decided to go to El Questro to see what everyone raves about. First, we went to the Ivanhoe Cafe – almost next door to our caravan park. A breakfast in the sun, a refuel of the Jimny, then down the road towards Wyndham.
We turned off the highway just after the Halls Creek intersection and headed to El Questro. On the way in we saw a sign to Emma Gorge, which we had been told was good. We were also told Amelia Gorge (further on) was better but a harder walk. We went to reception at Emma Gorge, purchased our day pass then headed in to the gorge at 10:00. About a third of the way in we realised we didn’t have our bathers or aqua shoes and there were swimming holes at the end of the gorge. It was a fairly hard climb over rocks, through river beds and over stony areas and we finally made it to a waterhole where people were swimming and jumping off a high rock. We had a look and were told there was another waterhole further on.
So, on we went another 400 m or so. We found a second waterhole with fairly large waterfall cascading down into the pool below. Lyn decided to go for a swim, took off her shoes and shorts and went in. I decided to take off my shoes and socks only and to take a 360o movie from a flat rock inside the pool. It was hard enough getting to the flat rock over fairly rough stones in the water. After the swim over to the waterfall, Lyn had a relax then got out, put her clothes back on then we headed back down.
Around two thirds of the way down Lyn slipped and badly grazed her leg. She decided to continue without cleaning it or putting on a bandage but it was clearly troubling her.
I met a young man, Lachlan, on the way back and shared some stories with him as we walked, it certainly made the time pass more quickly as we travelled back to the carpark.
We have found that we have to slow down more and more these days as our bodies just don’t do what we expect them to do.
Back at the car, we cleaned up Lyn’s leg a little – getting some of the blood off – but not really fixing it. We had a drink at Emma’s Bar then headed off.
We decided to continue on to El Questro to see what so many people had raved about. On the way in we passed Amelia Gorge and decided not to try it after our experience earlier. So, we continued on until we reached the final river crossing in to El Questro. The indicators showed a depth of just under 400 mm which was higher than the Ivanhoe Crossing where I’d gone too fast and the Jimny had struggled. I drove in but slowed down the pace at which I drove through, managing to make it all the way without any problems.
El Questro was packed, cars everywhere and it wasn’t clear where the office was. We drove on to the airstrip, had a look and then decided to return to the main carpark and station reception area. Not being able to find a car park or the office, we decided to head back.
A very slow drive through the deep river and then out to the highway.
On the way back we stopped at the Diversion Dam lookout for the main dam across the Ord River which enabled Lake Kununurra to fill.
As we left the lookout area, I went down a road to the river, hit a very deep bump and the Jimny made some really bad sounds. It felt like the engine was missing one cylinder but the engine was running OK. The noise seemed to came from underneath the car. I got out and couldn’t see anything. Certainly, the wheels all seemed aligned and no obvious problems under the car. In trying to drive the car though, it would struggle in first gear and shudder badly, at higher speeds it sounded better (but still really bad) and so we limped back to the Kununurra township. I wanted to have a look at the car driving so we pulled into Bandicoot Road which is where we got the cheap fuel on arrival. I got out and Lyn drove the car away and then back towards me. I still couldn’t see anything, so we drove carefully back to the caravan park. As I was reversing in next to our motorhome, our neighbours Laurie and Geoff came over and asked if the car was OK. Laurie, a mechanic, said he’d heard the car and it sounded bad. We had a discussion about what it could be. I opened the hood and listened to the engine which was OK. I suggested to Laurie that he drive the car to see if he could work out what was wrong. As he drove it out and reversed it back in everything sounded OK again. I then tried driving it around and the problem seemed to have disappeared.
Later, we drove over to Sporties to have a meal and watch the final State of Origin game. A great game, really well coached by Billy Slater (ex Melbourne Storm), captained by Cam Munster (Melbourne Storm and who lost his dad the previous Sunday) and the player of the series Tom Dearden (Cowboys). A brilliant effort.
Back to the motorhome where later Lyn noticed a flat tyre! Thankfully, that made three problems – they always come in threes. I decided to leave it until morning to fix.
Day 61 (10 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, very little wind – up to 31o during the day at Kununurra)
So, another interesting day.
Overnight I checked the nearest tyre repair place and found one about 500 m away (at the other end of the Coolibah Crescent our camping ground was on but just down Ivanhoe Road) – TyrePlus. It opened at 07:00. I got up at 06:00, removed some of our equipment out of the back of the Jimny and got out the jack. I removed the flat tyre, put on the spare and drove down to TyrePlus to find them open just before 07:00. I left the tyre to be repaired – I was told about 2 hours. So, with some time, I refuelled the Jimny then ran it through the car wash. It’s probably the first time the area behind the spare wheel has been washed. Back to the motorhome where we decided to go to Windham if the car was OK. After driving around, I found that 2 of the three problems had fixed themselves and the third (tyre) was being fixed. I went back around 09:00, had the tyre guys replace the repaired tyre then went back to the campground where I reloaded the Jimny after putting the spare wheel back on. Lyn did a load of washing while I was doing this and hung it out to dry while we went to Wyndham. Laurie’s partner Christina came by and helped Lyn clean and rebandage her leg.
We made our lunch then headed off to Wyndham – around 100 km from Kununurra. On first look it seemed fairly deserted and uninviting so we continued down the road to the port area. Not much there and we stopped at a pier on the way back and went for a walk along the pier.
We found another Jimny, that had been in our caravan park in Kununurra, alongside ours as we came back from the pier. The owners, Deb and Bernard, came back from the pier with their two dogs and we had a long chat about Jimnys, towing them and generally about travelling with them. They asked about our Jimny, having seen it being worked on the previous night. I explained the problem and Deb said they’d had a similar problem. They thought it was a drive train (4WD part) issue and that theirs fixed itself after they stopped and restarted their car. It sounded very similar to what we’d experienced.
We then went and had a look at the giant crocodile which appeared to be a highlight of the town. You can see the Jimny in the foreground being dwarfed by the crocodile.
Next, up to the Five Rivers Lookout – a great view from the hill behind Wyndham overlooking the Ord, King, Durack, Forest and Pentecost. Fantastic views from up there, where we had lunch.
We headed back into town but decided not to stop as the town seemed deserted and dilapidated.
We stopped at the Grotto on the way back with 144 handrail-less steps down to the swimming hole at the bottom. After the previous day’s challenges, we decided not to go down. We did help a couple of families find the way down as it was fairly hard to locate and not at all well signposted. I’d noticed all the signs on the road in to the Grotto had been removed from the posts – weird!
Back to town and then a relaxing afternoon (Lyn got the washing off the line) before having dinner at a very popular Gulliver’s Tavern. A really large pizza for me and Laksa for Lyn.
Day 62 (11 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, very little wind – up to 29o during the day at Kununurra)
Overnight I’d worked out that I need to do a couple of things: get the bikes out and ready for a ride into town; try to fix the light in the door handle for Elsie; update the blog and; do some financial work.
First, I unloaded the Jimny and got all the items out to air/dry/be sorted. Next, I unlocked the bikes and wheels and put them together. I found my bike seemed OK and the battery was charged but Lyn’s bike needed charging as the battery seemed flat. When I tried to turn on her electric bike, it didn’t work – maybe it’s a bigger problem. I also found that Lyn’s front wheel was missing the nut on the end of the spindle (that we keep in the wheel when the bikes are on the roof of the Jimny).
I then got the tools out to fix the light in the door handle on the motorhome. I’d had a look a few times earlier and realised it was a complex job and needed time. So, I pulled the drawers out (in front of the door handle bolt), managed to remove the bottom nut to find there was a second retaining nut, I removed the earth cable and the second main nut and managed to get the long bolt out through the handle. I thought I had to remove one of the switch panels to get at the top nut and bolt and, after a while, realised it was way too tight to do that. So, I removed a lower grub screw which allowed the lower bracket to be removed. I reconnected the wire which was broken and then found I couldn’t test the light as it couldn’t be earthed until it was reinstalled – the bolt carried the negative earth current. So, I reinstalled the whole lot and found the light appeared to work (a little hard to see during the day). Fingers crossed.
As we finished that, a lady walked past with her dog, Alphie. After starting a conversation, we found her name was Gail and her husband was Mark. He is an Engineer, had a spreadsheet for all the weights of their motorhome (an Avida Esperance) and was a pilot – a fair bit in common as I have a spreadsheet log for Elsie’s travels. We had a long chat about towing vehicles (they tow a Sierra).
All the items went back into the Jimny and then we decided to go to the Kununurra show, which happened to be open on Friday and Saturday, in the showgrounds directly opposite the Ivanhoe Village caravan park. As we walked out to got to the show at around 10:30, there was a lady, Renee, who was struggling with a bag, monitor in a cardboard box and a travel case. I offered to help and we walked in to the show office with her. We then found the show opened at 12:00 later that day and 09:00 on Saturday. So, back to the motorhome where I finally managed to get this blog text up to date (still having troubles with syncing the photos though).
With some time to kill we went in to town. Lyn needed some dressings for her leg so off to the pharmacy first then to the IGA for some much-needed snacks. I went to Red Sun where the guy was really helpful, only $5.00 for the spring and nut for Lyn’s bike wheel spindle.
I had noticed Laura in the jewellery pop-up so I went in and waited while one of the customers had their EFTPOS transaction declined a couple of times due to exceeding his credit limit. In a break of him trying his credit card transaction, I briefly thanked Laura for posting the comment on the site. Laura commented that we’d been doing lots and V’s (Veronica’s) boyfriend was now looking at the site also. We finished shopping and Lyn and I went back to Nina’s but Laura was still busy with more customers. They looked fairly serious so we left and went back to the caravan park.
Early afternoon, the show was open so we crossed the road and had a look around the show. Lots of very cheap items including showbags; some beef Jerky and preserves from Liz’s store; a number of rides; the mandatory produce, art and livestock awards; and a few major retailers trying to sell their goods and services. We called in at the WA department of Parks and Wildlife. where I had a chat with Toneya who had a 360o immersive video which wasn’t working properly. I said I’d send her a link to the PISCES app that we’d developed to help in Active Armed Offender training for police forces. (Unfortunately, police forces lost their discretionary expenditure due to the additional cost incurred during COVID so PISCES didn’t eventuate as a successful product.) The photo below is of the winner of the biggest pumpkin award, and the proud grower, at the show.
Finally, off to The Pumphouse where we were greeted with “This is your third time here, isn’t it?” I explained that it was only our second night but our third time would be on Sunday night. Another great meal, I had two entrees while Lyn had the Barramundi and then we enjoyed dessert there also. A beautiful moon rise over the water reminding us of the Stairway to the Moon from Port Hedland.
I was very disappointed on getting back to the motorhome to find the door handle light that I’d repaired wasn’t working – ah well you can’t fix everything.
Day 63 (12 July) – Kununurra (Another beautiful morning, very little wind at camp but pretty windy on the lake – up to 31o during the day at Kununurra)
We had an 08:00 start on the lake which was around 83 km from our camping ground. So, up early, gathered our gear, then set off, getting to the Lake Argyle Cruise carpark around 07:50 to find most of the passengers were already there. Our driver, Greg, loaded us onto the bus, then a pick up at the Lake Argyle Discovery Caravan Park with the famous infinity pool (we weren’t allowed to go in or even see it) and then we were driven down to the boat ramp – the only one on Lake Argyle.
Our captain for the day was Claire who helped us board, backed out of the dock then gave the mandatory safety briefing before heading off. An interesting commentary, especially about the dam wall made of local granite, sand and clay and only mined a few hundred meters from the dam wall site. They used a Coyote blasting technique and rumours are that it was observed on a seismograph in Sydney and as far away as Timor.
We saw short eared rock wallabies, lots of fresh water crocodiles, archer fish. cat fish and lots of bird life including pelicans, data birds, a sea eagle and kites on our trip over Lake Argyle.
Claire stopped to allow passengers to have a swim just before the end of the trip in a secluded bay, and within sight of the dam wall, then returned to the boat ramp to finish our tour – around 2 hours in total.
Lyn and I decided to drive up to a lookout where there were great sights over the dam, Ord River and Lake Argyle itself.
Then, a drive across the dam wall into the carpark near the Ord River boat ramp where we had boarded the Triple J river cruise a couple of days before.
There were a couple of kayaks being launched with people paddling down the river. The guy who dropped them off said they had one-, two- and three-day trips. We also saw the remains of a crocodile in the water very close to the ramp. It looked as though it had been cut in two. All we could see were the back legs and the tail in the rushes.
We drove back to the caravan park where I watched the Storm beat the Knights. A very close game for the first half hour with the Knights leading at half time despite a try just before the half time break by Melbourne. The Demons came out and played much better after half time.
During the rest of the afternoon, I fell asleep on the lounge outside the motorhome while Lyn had a swim.
Finally, off to the Kimberley Grande for a meal before returning to the caravan park and the show fireworks capping off another day up here in Kununurra paradise.
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