Kununurra?? Where the bloody hell is that you're all probably thinking. And, nope, I did not plan to be here, because now I should be on a plane to Darwin. Oh well, more on why and where later. So hi everyone I've just finished my tour through in North WA through The Kimberleys and it was gorgetastic. I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible but obviously as the norm I do have tons to tell you. Day 1. The bus picked me up last Saturday and there was that awkward getting to know you all thing going on with the others in the group (or, as regulars on here know that in my case, sussing out the drinkers and smokers) as we made our way north via the Boab Prison Tree in Derby and our last bottle shop for 7 days, to Windjana Gorge in the Oscar Range for our first night of bush camping. That evening we all walked in the very dark Tunnel Creek which, was an underground riverbed with snakes and crocs - yep fun... Day 2. Ok by now I've started to suss out the drinkers (not to mention the farters and snorers - Ian, Gavin and Nahim, you know who you are) and everyone's a bit more relaxed with each other and considering were living with each other in very close conditions for the next week or so, that's good news. We all got up very early as the sun rose (you do tend to do this everyday when you're camping and loose all sense of time - i.e. bed by 9??) and then we walked through Windjana Gorge which was swimming with crocs - I did not get too close believe me. Ok an aside here on crocs - something I learnt. I thought all crocs could eat you. Wrong!! It's just the "salties" that are the nasty b*****s. The crocs in Windjana are "freshies" and they are the nice guys, just ankle snappers so it's safe to go near them and swim in the same water. However, there's one point that still made me a bit uncomfortable. Freshies stay in fresh water BUT salties aren't fussy and are just as happy in fresh and saltwater - swim in water where there are crocs? I don't bloody well think so. Anyway back to day 2. After the gorge we hit the Gibb River Road and Mark our Coach Captain (not a bus driver) sticks the bus in 4WD drive mode and we make our way to a couple more gorges - and both were stunning and had great swimming holes after the long walk over boulders and rocks to get to them. Good stuff indeed. And that night we made our way to our first real, real bush camp with just a spade and a tree for the toilet and as our coach captain used to say, plenty of lavatrees for everyone (ha ha... funny guy). Day 3. Yep you've guessed it, more gorges on the agenda today. I've started to forget the names of them all by now but it involved long walks in baking sunshine, I got my legs scratched to bits, I got cuts and bruises, I got wet, I got muddy but it was great and let's be honest it's all completely worth it. They've just come out of the Wet Season in the North so the bush is at it's best, just lots of green lush trees, lovely flowers and red, red soil and I love it. Day 4 - yep one more gorge I think, then we leave the Gibb River Road and make our way towards the huge Cockburn Ranges, which is via the croc-infested Pentecost River (and in this river, crocs means salties) and that's when the bloody bus looses a spring - now I'm no mechanic but gather that in 4WD mode, that's not good news. Anyway we've got to get the bus over the rivers and on to El Questro for our overnight stop, so our coach captain Mark gets a bit of wire and ties the spring back on - erm!! Pentecost River time approaches and Mark instills tons of confidence in us with the words "if the bloody bus breaks down in here I'm not getting out to mend it - there's salties in there" so we all hold our breath as he takes the bus through the river and phew it's made it. Which means we don't get eaten and can instead drive through pretty rough road to El Questro and our first pub in days - and thinking about it, our first showers too. But it's Andrew's birthday today (and he's an Irish fish) so we get our priorities right and hit the pub then fall into the showers. Day 5 - all clean and hungover we go for a great soak in Zebedee Springs (must be named after magic roundabout) and these are hot freshwater springs in a lovely forest setting. Then it's in a new 4WD bus and off to our next gorge for a final swim before the long drive to Purnululu National Park and the Bungle-Bungle Range. Day 6 - Bungle-Bungled out + realisation that I don't like going up in helicopters without doors. Day 7 - Off to Lake Argyle which is this bloody huge man-made lake slap bang in the middle of WA's East Kimberly Region - don't ask me size or depth but let's just say it's big (takes about 2 days to get round it in a boat). Anyway at another roadhouse loo and iced coffee top-up stop, Mark our Coach Captain gets an urgent message to call the office. He comes back from the phone looking a bit sheepish. "So, what's up" we all ask and then find out that only 4 of us have flights to Darwin booked on Sunday and the rest of us, including me have been forgotten about and there are no seats left. So we have to finish the tour a day early if we want to get to Darwin but none of us want to do that so we reach a compromise where the tour company agree to put us up in Kununurra until we can get flights. And because the flights are so busy (it's Diamond land up here) we all have to go on odd days and because I was one of the last to book, I'm one of the last to leave. So that's why this postcard is from Kununurra and not Darwin as planned. Day 8 - Lake Argyled out. Day 9 - Kununurra at the Kimberley Croc backpackers with Nicole and Andrew. All the rest are going to Darwin as more seats turned up. Andrew leaves tomorrow and then Nicole and I go on Tuesday. So what's to do here? Erm..... read a book and avoid sunburn and red dust.