A Day Ride to Wyndham: Saturday 10 August 2013

Dave and I rode to Wyndham from Kununurra today, along a surprisingly good scenic road, lots of long curving bends and interesting scenery, although the country was looking dry. We rode up to the steep Five Rivers Lookout at first, overlooking the Cambridge Gulf area which was salty marshy flat land. On riding through the main street of this dusty little frontier town, we both were frightened by a large savage looking orange bull dog; it raced out at us and did its best to knock us off our motorcycles! Both of us accelerated away, I tooted my horn and yelled some choice swear words at it. We then told a young lady at the Tourist Information centre, which was also the local petrol servo, and she contacted the Ranger, which was good.

Our next stop was a ride down to the Wyndham Crocodile Farm, but it looked so run down as if nobody was there, and I joked to Dave that it looked like the sort of place where they'd feed you to the crocodiles if you dared to go inside the dilapidated fences. So we kept on riding, before having a little walk along a brand new jetty, then stopping at the local Museum. This was such an interesting little museum, well worth stopping at. I read gory stories and saw photos of local crocodile attacks, including one horrible photo of a human body inside a cut open dead croc. Yikes! Lots of stories about life in old Wyndham, including how there used to be a big abattoir there that kept a lot of workers busy. Also there were stories of how strained relationships between the whites and the blacks were in the old colonial days; lots of sadness of land taken over by pastoralists with their cattle devastating Indigenous water hole and the angry reprisals.

We then stopped for a delicious little lunch at The Rusty Shed Café, run by a group of young women who were doing an excellent job. Why can't all cafes be so well run like this interesting little place? A lot of other tourists were calling in for casual meals. At a little gift shop in the dusty main street we tasted the inside of a boab nut…it tasted like meringue with a nice tarty tang to it. Then we rode the 100km back to our camp site in Kununurra, to have a welcome cooling swim at the swimming pool there.

Another hard day at the Retirement Office!

Sunday 11 August: Exploring Mirima National Park, Kununurra.

It was an "Up And At Em Early Day" so we could enjoy a good bushwalk before it got too hot. The temperature has been starting to get to be around 35 degrees, so we headed off from the back part of our caravan park, the Hidden Valley Park, at 7am, to go walking in the interesting rocky hills overlooking this place. They are orangey red sandstone formations, like a mini Bungle Bungles. We soon found the main walking tracks, some of which are well sign-posted with information about the plants and the geology of this ancient landscape. Lots of other tourists were also walking around; most of them had European accents. The Germans, Netherlanders, Austrians and some Italians are the most intrepid travellers we have been seeing. They are so well researched with their travels and they seem to really love the big country of Australia.

On the way back down from the Mirima National Park we stopped at the local cemetery, noting a lot of Aboriginal graves marked only with little aluminium plaques placed flat on the ground. Most of these had reached a grand old age, good on them. We were so pleased to have a nice cool swimming pool to relax in when we got back to our camp.

Monday 12 August: Zebra Rock Gallery and beyond. Today we rode to Zebra Rock Gallery not far out of Kununurra, and we oohed and ahhed over the interesting patterns in this local soft mudstone rock. It's only found near Lake Argyle, so of course we bought a bag of unpolished patterned rock for $25, to be stashed safely in our trusty trailer. One day we plan to make our family jewellery out of this. We gobbled up delicious mango smoothies; the mangoes being grown on the local farm, and we laughed at the antics of a ditzy kelpie that was trying to catch catfish swarming near a little jetty.

We also rode 42 km to see irrigated farms, mostly sandalwood plantations with their host trees (sandalwood is a parasite plant and needs a host tree), along with fields of butternut pumpkins and chia seed plants. It was actually easier seeing all the irrigated areas from the air flight we did 2 days ago, because the view from the road was limited. Before we headed back to camp, we checked out the views from Kelly's Knob, the town lookout.

Tomorrow we are getting up at 5.30am to pack up for a 7.30am departure to Katherine, a ride of 512 km. Because it will be hot it is easier to get going early.

The Hidden Valley Caravan Park has seen better days; 9 years ago I was staying there when it was new, but now the roads around the campsites are all pot holey and bumpy. But we have been really enjoying meeting all sorts of campers here, family groups and couples of all ages, all exploring our magnificent country. Quite a lot of "Permanents" here at the caravan park too, some looking a bit feral with even the sound of bongo drums coming from where their little hippie tent sites are. I have enjoyed our stay at Kununurra, as it has a relaxing feel to the place, and the climate is nice and warm. There are lots of Indigenous people here and they seem to be happy and friendly to us tourists.

Mrs Tropical Intrepid