We arrived in Kununurra on Sunday. It is very hot here 37c today Wednesday. Kununurra's claim to fame is the Ord River Scheme and Lake Argyle. This is the first park that has notices in the park – free water from the Ord River water your site fro your fellow travellers. We water our site by washing the car and van. The dam is huge – 87 times the Sydney Harbour. The Ord River is one of the most stunning river systems in Australia. The development of an irrigation scheme with a catchment area of 64000 square kilometers in the 1960s and 70s has seen the township of Kununurra flourish with a very successful agricultural industry. A vast ecological system has developed from the damming of the Ord River in two locations. The second location was dammed in 1972 creating Lake Argyle. What has resulted is an area rich in wildlife and scenic beauty as well as a huge area of irrigation channels which have enabled otherwise useless land, because of the lack of consistent water, to be developed and used for all manner of agricultural and grazing purposes during the Dry Season by means of extensive channeling and enabled the rains from the Wet Season to be harnessed and contained to be used as required. The present WA government has some crazy idea of trying to divert some of the water from this dam, which evaporates huge amounts each day and somehow take it to Perth which badly needs fresh water as it relies almost entirely on desalinated water at present. The Wet Season just gone was the worst wet for at least 50 years. There is still plenty of water in the lake, but it is six meters lower than usual. If the WA Government tampers again with nature, well who knows what the results might be.

We cruised the dam and river last time were here a few years ago and we going to do it again as we remembered how much we enjoyed it, but prices have risen so we thought twice about it.

We went out for tea last night to the Kimberley Hotel. Turned out to be good night out as they were having their Trivial Pursuit night so Ross and sat there and answered the questions on our own. It was fun! I think we would have got a good score.

Today we went to Wyndam which is the most northern town in WA. We went there because we haven’t been there before. We knew it was a small town and we presumed there wasn’t much to see. We had a cappuccino and a sandwich at a lovely cafe then we drove to the jetty and the wharf. The jetty had only been completed last year and took you right over the water. As Wyndam is in the area that has enormous tides it was interesting to see the water running very quickly as the tide went out. Then we drove to the lookout up and up and up till we got to what is called the Five Rivers Lookout, which is an area of river deltas where five rivers meet land flat as a tack when the tide is out and covered in water when the tide is in.. When we got up there the view was impressive. It was almost like looking down from an aircraft we were up so high. It gave us some great photo opportunities. On our way out of town we stopped at the Pioneer Cemetery. It is amazing how many people in the late 1800s and early 1900s died at a very young age. The oldest person there was 54 years of age, but most people were in their 20s and 30s as well as young children. There was one group which consisted of 12 workers who died from heat exhaustion in mostly the 1916/17 summer, while building an abattoir in Wyndam which was commenced in 1913.

On our way back we got to the Gibb River Road turnoff which also led to the El Questro

Resort so we decided to go for a look. We saw wonderful scenery, many birds gliding on the thermals in the mountains which looked great and we saw the El Questro resort at Emma Gorge which looked like a very nice place to stay. In order to get there we had to cross two water crossings which was exciting, but Ross knew what he was doing and we crossed quite safely. One thing we both remarked on was how some of the magnificent scenery we drove past looked pre-historic and we wouldn’t have been surprised to see a dinosaur or two come lumbering and roaring through the mountains.

According to the tourist pamphlet for Wyndam the scenery here was used as a backdrop for the movie "Australia" I am not surprised as the road known as The Victoria Highway between Halls Creek and Katherine has some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine.

We also took a look at a place called the Grotto which is a huge hole in the ground 300metres deep which in the wet season has a waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom. It has 140 steps leading down to the bottom. However it is dry season so no water, but still an impressive big hole.

Tomorrow Friday we leave Kununurra and cross the WA border into the Northern Territory. It is a little sad really as it means that the major and most exciting part of our trip is over.

We spent last night at Timber Creek which is a lovely green park with plenty of access to water because it is so close to the Victoria River. Every night someone comes down to feed the Kites and fresh water crocodiles. The lady doing the feeding said she called the birds the dive bombers and so they were as they caught the bread she threw into the air before it hit the ground. The freshwater crocs were only small, but they could give you a very nasty bite I am sure. I couldn't stay there for long as there were lots of march flies who decided that i was nice and tasty.

The weather is a bit cooler and the trip to Katherine today (Saturday 24th) was uneventful except for one of the legs of the caravan dropping and very nearly dragging on the ground, lucky that Ross is on the ball and always checking in the mirrors that everything is alright. We had to drive very slowly till we found a safe spot to pull up. Another thing now that we are in the Northern Territory is the maximum road speed is 130kph. Thankfully we stick to 90kph, but some cars passing us go so fast, its hard to believe it's legal.

Katherine has its tourist attraction Katherine Gorge or Nitmiluk as it is now known. the gorge itself is a beautiful and spiritual place so I can see why the Aboriginals have claimed ownership. We spent some time here in 2011 so even though the gorge is beautiful we see no need to do it again. We are staying at the Big 4 Low Level Park Katherine which is a huge park, where you are allowed and encouraged to wash the car and the van as well as water around you if you wish. We will stay for four days and then we will begin the southern descent down to home and what we now hope is fairly warm weather..