Despite Carol's slightly sore head (ps funny how Tony doesn't mention his sore head! )we managed a relatively early start to our hiking this morning. We headed off to do the Bindaloo Lookout Walk at 7:30. The brochure described it as a 3 to 4 hour walk so we braced ourselves for a big morning. The walk took us through some really interesting country and provided several views back over the Cockburn Range and other sections of the Home Valley Station. I suspect Carol was a little disappointed when we reached the end of the trail. Not because of the view, in fact it was spectacular, but because it only took us 45minutes to reach the Bindaloo Lookout. From the lookout it is a sheer drop of 100m or so to the waterholes that make up the Bindoola Creek in the dry season. After a rest break at the top which included a bit of catching up on emails etc because from this high vantage point you actually get phone reception unlike at our camping ground, we started making our way back down. It was during the decent that Carol announced the good news. She had now worked out that because the walk had been shorter than expected we were now going to include another walk in the morning's program. Don't you just love her!
Off on the Bindoola Gorge Walk we now added another hour or so. It was a nice walk and the waterhole at the end was certainly worth seeing. On return to the campground we headed straight for the pool and gave our ageing bones a bit of relief after the 2 and a half our walk we had just completed.
After showers and a pack up we were on the road to Kununarra by 12:30.
The Gibb River Road remained as corrugated as ever for the remaining 30km of dirt before we struck bitumen at the entrance to El Questro Station. The crossing of the Pentecost River along the way caused Carol a little anxiety but in fact it was only a foot deep and our rig had no problems getting across the 200 metres of stony bottom.
After crossing the Pentacost the road skirts the edges of the Cockburn Range for about an hour providing absolutely stunning views the whole way.
I must admit reaching the bitumen after about 700km of corrugation was a pretty good feeling.
On reaching Kununurra we headed straight to Kununarra 4x4 and had a new shock absorber fitted to the trailer, Carol did a little shopping and we arrived at Kununurra Lakeside Tourist Park right on dark. We have a brilliant spot on the lakes edge and intend staying for a couple of days as Daryl, Delpheen, Jimmy and Shirley are due here tomorrow. Should be great to catch up with them.