Day 36 - Mathison Rest Area to Kununurra (410kms/4.5hrs)

We left the rest area around 8am and weren’t on the road long when we came around a bend and were heading over a bridge when we realised 2 cows were on the left hand side of the bridge. They had no where to go except for straight in front of our car and we couldn’t brake in time so sadly we hit one or maybe both of them.

Thankfully both cows ran off and once we could safely pull off the road we found minor damage to the car. We have a dent in the bonnet, a broken grill, a crack in the bumper bar, a bent number plate and broken number plate cover.

We were all very shaken up over it and poor Bronte was in tears cause we hurt the cow. The impact wasn’t too hard as our dash cam didn’t record the incident as an event.

Shortly after hitting the cow a kangaroo hopped across the road and then some eagles flew straight in front of us too. Not what we needed after the cow incident!

We stopped at Victoria River Roadhouse so we could look at the river and we spotted a kangaroo having a drink on the waters edge.

We fuelled at Timber Creek and then stopped at the boat ramp and spotted 2 saltwater crocs sunning themselves on the banks of the Victoria River. We also saw an army boat being launched into the river too.

As we continued driving we saw flocks of black cockatoos with both red and yellow tails - they were so pretty. We also saw lots of eagles and cows.

We then approached the NT/WA border and had to stop at quarantine for the car boot and caravan to be searched for fresh fruit and vegetables. We were all clear so we continued on.

We arrived at the Ivanhoe Village Caravan Park around 1pm (WA time - we gained an extra 1.5hrs).

After getting set-up we did some washing and then went for a swim to cool off.

We drove to the Ivanhoe Crossing and watched cars driving across and some kids walking across. The boys chatted to some fisherman.

We then went to target (the kids are missing the shops) and coles.

Had dinner then we were all excited about watching the dash cam to review the incident with the cow but unfortunately with the extra driving the footage was videoed over (we missed it by about 10 mins - so frustrating)